Darkest Reach

by Eric Warren

  “He tried, but Cas objected. Said throwing her in there would only make things worse.”

  “Phew,” Laura replied, keeping her eyes down. “I feel sorry for him. He’s been through a lot.”

  Evie scoffed. “If there’s one thing that man doesn’t need, it’s pity. He’s fine.” She looked over to see Blohm eye her for a moment then turn away.

  “I don’t know. Can you imagine trying to come back into the same organization that betrayed you? I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

  Evie leaned closer. “It’s not doing him any favors. I don’t even know why he’s wasting his time.”

  She paused. “Well. If it were me, I’d want to recapture what I’d lost. He’s probably trying to figure out how to fit back in after so much time away.”

  “But not everyone can fit back in.”

  Laura sat back. “I guess not. Either way, it sounds pretty lonely.”

  Evie straightened her back, sneaking another glance at the hypervator. “Yeah. It does.”

  ***

  “You want me to do what?” Box asked as they made their way down the corridor. Cas had made a quick stop to sickbay where Xax had provided some pressure therapy to his temple to reduce the chances of swelling. If it felt worse he was to report back. He was getting sick of leaving sickbay with warnings to return if anything went wrong. He’d made it two years without seeing a doctor but ever since coming back to the Coalition it was like he found himself back in sickbay on a weekly basis. Fortunately Xax had allowed him to borrow Box for a few hours.

  “I need you to help me analyze the scans we took of the past, to see if we can find any way to communicate with this fucking thing that’s trying to kill us.”

  “And why don’t we just let the captain shoot it?”

  “Because that’s not what the Coalition does,” Cas replied, frustrated.

  “No, they only falsely accuse and try their officers, then sentence them to die working the cyclax mines.”

  “I wasn’t sentenced to die,” Cas replied.

  “Oh, excuse me. So working on a planet where you couldn’t breathe the atmosphere and where the dust was toxic once it got into your system was good for your health, was it?” He’d lapsed back into one of his old accents. Cas hadn’t heard him do that one since Devil’s Gate.

  He glanced up at the robot. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “This crusade you’re on is going to kill us all. And you can’t even see it,” he said in his normal voice.

  “Just…that’s not what this is. Just help me figure this out and if it doesn’t work the captain can blow the thing to kingdom come, okay?”

  Box mimicked a sigh, though he had no lungs or mouth to produce the real sound. “Fine. Lead the way.” Then, after a pause, “Should we gather the consul?”

  Cas rubbed his temple again. “Let’s give her some time to cool off.”

  “What did you say to piss her off anyway?” Box asked as they stepped into the hypervator.

  “I implied we were superior diplomats.” He shook his head; he should have known better. But it had been a slip of the tongue. Zenfor wasn’t the kind of person you belittled, and that had been just what he’d done. In front of the entire bridge crew. It was the second time she’d hit him though he couldn’t tell which had been worse. But he figured he was the last person she wanted to see at the moment.

  They made their way back into the weapons lab where, thanks to Cas’s limited knowledge of the system, he was able to access the scans using the Sil Time Stamp.

  “So you’re telling me she recorded these events in real time? From the light hundreds of light-years away?”

  “Twenty-seven light-years to be precise,” Cas said. “And fifty-four in this case.” He tapped the screen bringing the scans back up. “Let’s focus on Iphigenia. The scans from Genesis aren’t very clear.” Cas brought up the visual as well as the spectrum scans. They couldn’t see the creature on the visual scans as everything was dark, but the other screen was lit up with radiation across the spectrum.

  “What is this?” Box asked, pointing to one of the levels.

  “Something called Kryon Radiation. Ever heard of it?”

  “No.”

  “Neither has anyone outside of Sil space. I’m not even sure we have the capability to detect it.” He leaned into the spectrum screen. Iphigenia was running hot, her engines firing on all cylinders to keep her out of the center of the phenomenon. Did they know about the creature? Or had they seen something else?

  “The creature is emitting a lot of it,” Box said. “It’s coming off in waves, like pulses almost.”

  Cas turned to him. “Do you see a pattern?”

  “Speed it up, let me see the entire scan.”

  Cas worked the controls and the images moved to 100x speed. He watched as the Iphigenia was slowly pulled into the center of the field and then slowly disappeared from the visual screen. He checked the spectrum screen and the outline of the ship was still visible. But it was like it had been absorbed into the darkness on the visual screen. “What is happening here?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m seeing something in this radiation,” Box replied. “It has something of a structure to it. I think there might be something here.” On the visual screen there was a flash of light and on the corresponding spectrum screen all the feeds died, the entire area resorting to nothing but background radiation. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know.” Cas rewound the feed; the levels rose slightly then the flash again and everything was back, the spectrum screen dancing with activity. “I wonder if somehow the Iphigenia found a way to seal the disruption in space. But they had to wait until they were inside to do it.”

  “Maybe you should tell the captain to send one of these probes into the disturbance itself. We might be able to see what they were seeing.” Box’s eyes blinked rapidly.

  “What about the radiation, do you think there’s something you can work with?”

  Box nodded. “Definitely. Give me a few minutes to build a syntax. But if there’s a way to seal the creature back—”

  “Diplomacy first, Box. Then we consider sending it back to its dimensional tomb. This can work, we just need to give it a chance.” He wasn’t about to do something drastic until they fully understood the risks. What if this creature spent all those years trapped only to finally escape and it needed help? Or maybe Iphigenia was still stuck in there somewhere, even though the current scans showed no evidence of it anywhere. That distress signal had come from somewhere.

  “That flash at the end, show me that again,” Box said. Cas fast-forwarded the screens again, pausing right on the flash itself. “Run it back slow.”

  He did and saw what Box was looking for. There were intermittent pulses inside the light flash as well. Complex ones running for milliseconds before disappearing. “Is this part of it?”

  “I don’t know,” Box replied. “Maybe. But there’s enough it might indicate some sort of secondary communication attempt. A short one.”

  “Like a call for help?”

  “Or a scream,” Box replied.

  27

  Cas and Box stood in the command room with Evie and Captain Greene sharing the other side of the desk. No one had sat down.

  “You must be confident, Mr. Robeaux. I gave you two hours and you didn’t even take one.” Greene stared at the information they’d transferred to his desk. “Commander, have you taken a look at this?”

  Cas cast his eyes at Evie, worried she was about to shoot this down before even giving it a chance. But instead she nodded. “The commander and Mr. Box brought it to me as soon as they had the basic language set up.” Cas noticed Box’s eyes blink with admiration at his new title. He’d be hearing about that for a week now. “It seems viable. Better than anything else we have at the moment. If you want a solution that doesn’t kill the thing, this is it.”

  Greene studied the screen for a minute. “So how do you want to go about this?”

  Cas
leaned forward. “Two shuttles. We’ll have to affix them with the enhanced anti-grav modifications so we can get them out of Bay One. One will be equipped to transmit the radiation signals, the other the visual signals. At least hopefully this way the creature will respond to one of the two forms of communication. Whichever it responds to, that shuttle transmits our intentions and begins a dialogue. If all goes well, the creature releases Tempest.”

  “And if all doesn’t go well?” Evie asked.

  “Send one of Zenfor’s probes into the tear into the other dimension. We believe after the Iphigenia entered the tear it found a way to seal itself and the creature inside, if they were even aware of the creature. If the probe can determine the same solution, we can use it to seal things back up in the event the communication doesn’t work.”

  Greene stared even harder at the screens. “How confident are you the probe will be able to find a way to seal the creature back inside?”

  Cas sighed. “I’ll admit. It’s conjecture, sir. The scans from Iphigenia were limited. As were the ones from Genesis. But we saw a similar pattern with both ships. They did exactly what we’re doing now, and were still pulled in. There’s nothing to say our weapons will have any effect on the creature, it emits this—”

  “Kryon Radiation. Yes, I see it here.”

  “We can adjust the output of our engines to emit something very similar, but we can’t copy it exactly. But, sir, Consul Zenfor was the one who discovered it. Without her, we wouldn’t even know what to look for.”

  “You want her to be on one of the shuttles,” Greene said, leaning back in his chair.

  “I feel like it’s appropriate. She’s had experience with phenomenon like this before. If something goes wrong, I’d rather have her there than not.”

  “And if she’s unwilling to go? She doesn’t seem too pleased with you at the moment.”

  “We’ll have to do it without her. But like I said, I’d rather not.”

  Greene tapped the screen, shutting it down. “I have to tell you, Commander; I’m not thrilled with this idea. There are a lot of unknowns here and I don’t like risking my crew.”

  Cas stood his ground, his hands clasped behind him. “I understand, sir, but the other option is to try and kill the creature. Which you expressly said you didn’t want to do.” Finally, this felt right.

  “I have to agree with him, sir,” Evie added, causing Cas to shoot her a look. She agreed with him? “If we mean to stand by our ideals and uphold the tenets of the Coalition, it’s our duty to do everything to our ability to communicate with the creature before destroying it. The commander and Mr. Box have given us that ability. I believe it’s worth a shot.”

  Greene stared at Cas and Box a moment longer. “I want you to have an escort. I’m not sending two shuttles out there without backup.”

  “Sir, if we send the spacewings again the creature might interpret it as hostile, we could—”

  Greene held up his hand. “I need to know you have protection while you’re out there. If one of the shuttles is disabled the spacewings can tow them back to the Bay a lot easier than the other shuttle could. And if you’re planning on using any of the spacewing pilots for the shuttles then I’m confident Rafnkell will agree with me.”

  “We have one pilot covered, sir,” Box stated. Cas stared at him. They hadn’t even discussed crew assignments for the mission yet.

  “You’re volunteering?” Greene asked.

  “I am. Ca—Commander Robeaux will tell you I’m an excellent pilot.”

  Cas leaned in. “It’s true. He could park a mark eight starhopper like no one else I’ve ever seen.”

  “You continue to surprise me, Mr. Box. Xax tells me your work down in sickbay has been exemplary,” Greene said.

  “Thanks!” Cas shot him a look. “Sir.”

  “Okay, Robeaux. We’re giving this a shot. Coordinate with Diazal to get your shuttle crews assigned and get working on those upgrades immediately. How long do you estimate before you can launch?”

  “The modifications on the shuttles shouldn’t take as long as the spacewings. They’re more robust systems. Another hour, tops.”

  Greene nodded. “Very well. And if you decide to take Consul Zenfor, she will be your responsibility. I’ll need your word you’ll keep her in line and her fists away from any more of my crew.”

  Cas bristled at the phrase keep her in line. It was exactly what she hated about the Coalition. But he didn’t have much of a choice. “Yes, sir. It won’t be a problem.”

  “Commander, anything else to add?” Greene said, turning to Evie.

  “Yeah. Good work,” she said, the hint of a smile on her face.

  ***

  After leaving the bridge Cas and Box had made a bee-line for Bay One where the smaller shuttles were held. They wouldn’t need one of the larger models; they should only have three crew per shuttle. A pilot, an engineer and a backup in case things got hairy. But somewhere in his gut Cas felt like this could work. It was a long shot, but he believed they could do it.

  “I thought you were a doctor now,” Cas said as he and Box entered the expansive room.

  “Nurse, actually,” Box said. “It doesn’t mean I don’t like piloting anymore. But if you haven’t noticed, those sorts of jobs are already taken on this ship. Not that I could fit in one of those spacewings anyway. Speciesist contraptions…”

  “Are you sure? It could be dangerous.”

  Box’s eyes blinked in alarm. “Don’t you want me along? I am the best pilot you’ve ever known. I’d think you’d be happy—”

  “No, I am,” Cas said. “I just didn’t want you to feel obligated. Because of what happened back at Quaval.”

  “Oh, you mean when you ran off without me and nearly killed someone with your sub-par piloting skills?”

  Cas scowled. “Yes.”

  “I know why you did it.” Box hit him on the shoulder. It was meant to be playful but there would be a bruise tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow. “You like playing the hero.”

  “N-no,” Cas stammered. “That wasn’t it. I had a job to do and everyone else was just getting in the way.”

  Box waved him off. “Whatever, hero-boy. Couldn’t do that now, could you? It’d be another court-martial.”

  “I guess not,” Cas said. He hadn’t considered it but Box was right. If he tried anything like what he’d done before; stealing information from the ship, absconding with a shuttle, faking a core breach to get away; he’d be locked up for good. And yet he’d done all those things and here he was, still walking around, free.

  Box waved to one of the crewmen working in the Bay. He was hunched over a workstation. “Crewman Abernathy! Your assistance please!”

  Abernathy glanced up. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why did you send me all this information?”

  “We need to modify two shuttles,” Cas said. “And we don’t have a lot of time. I need you to assign us a maintenance team. Box will be in charge of making the modifications.”

  Box turned to him. “Running off again?” His yellow eyes blinked in their laughter pattern.

  “I have to gather the rest of our crew,” Cas replied. “Starting with a second pilot.”

  ***

  “No way, it’s not happening,” Rafnkell said, staring daggers at Cas. He’d made the quick journey over from the adjacent Bay One.

  “Chief. They’re the best pilots on the ship. And I only need one.”

  “I know they’re the best pilots on the ship. I trained most of them myself. There are plenty of shuttle pilots assigned to Tempest. Pick your guinea pig from them.”

  “None of them have the same levels of experience. This isn’t going to be like charting a nebula or landing on a planet. I don’t know what we’re going to encounter out there and I’d much rather have someone who’s already done it once.”

  Rafnkell continued to shake her head dismissively, her short blonde hair swishing as she did. “It’s not happening.”

  Cas groane
d. “Look, none of us is going to survive this if we don’t give this communication a try. We need the best of the best out there. I wouldn’t be asking if I thought we could do it any other way.”

  Rafnkell narrowed her eyes. “You could order me to do it. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t already. What’s your angle?”

  Cas couldn’t help the twinge of shame bubbling up within him. “I don’t want to do that again. I want this to be voluntary. I know it’s risky and I’m not willing to make someone take that chance if they don’t want to.”

  “Hmph.” She crossed her arms. “Anything happens out there I’m holding you responsible,” she said.

  “Fair enough.”

  “Go talk to the ones already in the Bay. If none says yes, I’ll…recall the others,” she said. Some of the hardness had left her voice, but her eyes remained stern. This was not a woman Cas wanted to push to the edge. He wished he could guarantee everything would be fine, but Greene was right, there were too many unknowns. It was a big risk.

  “Thank you,” he said. He headed back out of the small office in the back of Bay Two into the main area, where the five spacewing pilots stood in various positions. Grippen and Jann were turned away from him, engaged in a private conversation. Ryant wasn’t present, but three other pilots, Linkovich, Iavarone, and Blackfield were each at their respective ships, performing maintenance checks. Cas had never met them in person before, only knew them from their service records.

  Grippen waved Cas over. “What’s this I hear about a secret mission?” she asked, her eyes alight with excitement.

  “You heard right. I need someone to pilot one of the shuttles,” Cas said.

  “I thought you had two shuttles,” Jann said, regarding him. “I hope you’re not the other pilot.”

  “Very funny. Box volunteered to take the other spot. But I still need one more and I wanted the best.”

  “Of course you wanted the best!” Grippen replied. “Saturina here would love to volunteer.”

  “What?” Jann said, stepping back. “Maybe if I get to fly my own—”