by Max Swan
“Yes sir,” Dexter replied, busily working his station.
A brief sensation of movement could be felt, often occurring when an orbiting vector is broken. They were on their way. He looked down at his station noting no other traffic in sector two-two-five, probably why they were being sent there.
“Ten minutes until Void insertion, Colonel,” Dexter yelled.
On the main monitor, the view of Bolaris from space isn’t too dissimilar from Earth. Only with an orange sun, the seas on Bolaris looked green. Bolaris is roughly the same size as Earth too, but it had three moons orbiting it. As it grew smaller on the monitor, Paul found himself welling up with tears. So many memories of that world, he felt as if he would never see Bolaris again. He wiped his eyes looking around to see if anyone had noticed, and sighed in relief when they were all concentrating on their tasks ahead.
“Subspace tear detected, starting plasma stabilization,” Dexter called out suddenly.
“Looking good there, Mr. Crimpson. Shut down the gravity well,” Nadir said.
“Yes sir,” Dexter called back.
As the gravity well began to recede, space started moving back to its regular position creating a kind of tunnel. The walls of the tunnel glowed brightly with white plasma energy being fired from Ship.
“Entering subway. Void insertion in two minutes,” Dexter called out again. Paul watched the white tunnel on the screen. At the end of it, a black circular shape loomed. He went to turn toward his station noticing how difficult movement had become. He brought up the gravity readings for inside Ship. It read one point six EG’s, and climbing. He swallowed, feeling the pit of his stomach drop.
“Sir, Ship’s internal gravity is malfunctioning. We’re now at one point eight EG’s, and climbing.”
Nadir puffed out his cheeks, making his face move wildly. Is that what that is, he thought?
Before Nadir could say anything, Barrett suddenly yelled from her station, “Sir, power levels are fluctuating wildly.”
Nadir grunted and tapped the top left side of his station. “Gordon, is everything all right down there?” Simultaneously, the lights began flickering inside the bridge. A station at the back blew up in a shower of sparks, making them all turn in fright. Paul jumped up and attended to it.
The deep voice of Ships Systems Manager (SSM) Captain Gordon Blake spoke with a hint of anxiety. “We’re losing power, sir. The computer is trying to compensate for the power loss by flogging the qdrive to make more. Internal gravity has increased as a result.”
“Have you discovered the reason yet?” Nadir asked.
Suddenly the Ship’s computer announced, “Warning: Emergency shutdown of qdrive initiated. Time to shut down thirty seconds.”
“Gordon, what’s going on?” Nadir shouted, almost jumping out of his chair.
“The computer has locked me out of the qdrive housing. Jesus, when this thing shuts down it’s going to release a gravity wave of immense proportions,” Blake said, his voice becoming higher pitched as he spoke.
Nadir looked up at the monitor. Fifteen seconds until the emergency shutdown of the qdrive, and forty seconds until they enter the Void. We’re screwed, he thought.
Dexter suddenly yelled, “Colonel, we can’t turn back now. May I suggest you meld with Ship, that way if we make it into the Void alive you’ll be in a better position to help.”
So much for leaving without the Garan’s knowing, Nadir thought glumly. “Very well, Good luck everyone,” Nadir said, then vanished.
The three now on the Bridge activated their seat harnesses, shrugging into them as they rolled over their shoulders and across their waists. Paul closed his eyes, feeling the weight of gravity push him down, making it harder for him to breathe. It’s my fault, he thought. Another attempt to assassinate me, and it looks like they’ll finally succeed. Only this time I’ve killed Dex as well, he forced his head to look at Dexter’s back. “I’m sorry Dex. Sorry for being such a screw-up,” he shouted to him.
Dexter tried to turn to look at Paul, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t speak, but he knew why Paul were apologizing. This rushed mission to prevent anything like this occurring, had probably played into the enemy’s hands. The computer countdown reached one, all power abruptly shut off.
Paul closed his eyes, bracing himself for what would be a brutal amount of gravity that could either crush him to mush, or rip his body to pieces first, then crush the leftover bits to mush. It depended on how the gravity wave hit them. He had heard of this happening before on a smaller Ship. It ripped that Ship into several pieces, all hands lost. Paul tried to remember what the cause of that incident had been, when the gravity surge hit. It felt as though someone dropped Mt Everest on top of him. Paul heard a frightful screaming, his screaming, as he contorted and squeezed under the heavy force. Sparks flew out of the stations, the monitors all cracked, and the sound of twisting metal filled the room.
Paul felt himself flying through the air eventually hitting something hard. He passed out briefly. When he opened his eyes, he found it difficult to breathe. He found himself looking down on the Bridge, from above. Paul heard moaning next to him, a woman’s voice. He tried to look around for Barrett but he couldn’t move. Below, a chair swayed on its bolts that held it to the floor. He watched it move as if being buffeted by powerful and invisible waves. It broke loose and as he watched it fly up toward him, he thought, I’m coming Sheena, my love. The Chair hit him hard in the chest and face. He blacked out immediately.
*******
Ship contorted and warped as the gravity wave spread in every direction from the qdrive, near the center of her. Nadir and Ship each passed out as the agonizing pain of things bending that don’t normally bend, racked through her body. Ship passed through the tear, still being carried along by a well of gravity into the Void. Her old body too tough to be torn apart by the gravity, survived the assault. As Nadir came to, he had to wonder about the small crew he had who weren’t protected by Ships body. He tried to search for them using Ships psychic abilities, but he could not sense them.
Feeling bitterness well up inside him, invading him like a sour taste in his mouth. Damn you, Appleton, he thought! Now your precious Goddard is probably dead, and the information he is carrying gone. Why couldn’t you debrief him on Bolaris?
Chapter 2
Paul sat up, his head felt as though it might explode. His sight seemed blurry, and he felt nauseated. He reached up to his left temple, to a lump that hurt when he touched it. As his sight cleared he found himself on a balcony, lying on a lounge chair wearing a blue silk robe. The sound of ocean waves crashing could be heard not far away, and the smell of the sea on the breeze somehow filled him with comfort. The large orange sun and greenish sky left him in no doubt where he is. He is back on Bolaris. A woman suddenly walked out on the balcony in silhouette to the sun, carrying a tray of drinks. After placing the tray on a table, she turned toward him in silence. He couldn’t see her face in the shadow, but her shape seemed oddly familiar to him. He rubbed his eyes again.
“Sheena?” he said sitting up in a hurry, making his head spin.
“About time you woke, sleepyhead,” she teased.
Paul slowly rose from the chair and began walking toward her. When he got close, he grabbed her and forced her face into the light.
It’s Sheena, he thought as he stared at her face, my Sheena. Her blond hair floated in the breeze, while she looked at him playfully. He kissed her deeply on the lips. She responded, embracing him, holding him close as they kissed. Paul felt as if he never wanted to let her go, but eventually she pushed him away, drawing a deep breath as she did.
“After this morning, I’m surprised you still have the strength,” she smiled knowingly.
Paul suddenly felt as if he had a million things he needed to say to her. The words stalled on his tongue though, and a strong sense of déjà vu overwhelmed him as he looked into her blue eyes. His whole universe seemed to coalesce into that moment he knew so well. S
heena suddenly went limp in his arms. Her head fell back, her mouth and eyes open wide, in a comic expression of shock. Paul knew immediately what this meant, as he had seen it before.
“Sheena!” he screamed, shaking her. “Sheena!”
Red blood wet his hand, coming from the back of her head. He rolled her head to the side and found a hole the size of a golf ball. Her brain had been vaporized.
“Nooooo,” he whispered in anguish, clutching her body close to him. Grief welled up inside him, ripping his heart in two as he gently lowered her body to the ground.
Looking up he spotted a dark figure at the other end of the balcony watching him. The humanoid figure stood silhouetted in the sun. Paul began to feel whomever the stranger might be, they were somehow enjoying the moment too much. A hand fell to the side of the stranger, and Paul could see the outline of a weapon. Rage instantly boiled inside him, “You fucking bastard!” Paul lunged, running toward the figure. The assassin raised his weapon, but Paul kicked out, and the weapon went flying across the balcony. Grabbing the assassin by the shoulders and pulling his face into the light revealed Captain Jane Barrett.
Barrett, he thought wildly, Barrett killed Sheena? The real assassin was never captured, Paul never knew who did it. However, Command suspected it was a Vaman, the Garan’s preferred assassins. Barrett is a bitch, but a murderer? Doubt gripped him. It doesn’t make sense, he thought. Still his wife’s lifeless body lie there, as he searched deep in Barrett’s eyes to try to find a reason for this act of treachery.
“Why? Why did you do it?” he pleaded, demanded. Paul forcefully held Barrett up against a wall as he looked into her eyes. He could feel her body tremble in fear under his strong grip.
“Major, I-I don’t know what you are talking about? I-I haven’t done anything,” she said, struggling in his grip. Trying to pry herself loose.
Paul felt someone kick his shin and turned his head to see his friend, Dexter Crimpson, trying to get his attention. “Paul, what the hell are you doing?” he yelled. Paul looked up from Dexter, realizing he isn’t on Bolaris after all, but on the Bridge of a Ship. He let go of Captain Barrett and spun, knocking Dexter on his backside as he did, to find Sheena’s body gone. No, not gone, just not here. He stared at the floor blankly as tears ran down his cheeks, he staggered to a nearby chair sitting heavily. His hand absently rubbed the lump on his forehead, staring at the floor trying to understand what’s going on.
Dexter approached him cautiously. “Paul? Paul, are you OK?”
Paul said in a whisper, “What’s going on, Dex? I was back on Bolaris, when Sheena was killed.”
Dexter put his hand on Paul’s shoulder as a gesture of comfort. “You weren’t there, it was just a dream.”
“So real,” Paul whispered, wiping his eyes.
He looked up at Captain Barrett and felt his face go red. The last thing he needed is to give the IO something she could report to her superiors. She’d enjoy that too much, he thought. “Captain, I-I’m sorry for grabbing you like that. That gravity surge kinda fucked me up,” he said.
Looking to the ground she shrugged. “It’s OK.”
Paul noticed the bruises on Dexter’s face, “You look as if you were hit by a truck, Dex.”
“I think I’d prefer the truck,” Dexter replied, rubbing his limbs.
“I’m sorry, you guys,” Paul said shaking his head. “I think the q-drive malfunction is sabotage.”
Captain Barrett’s head shot up with an audible gasp, but Dexter remained unmoved. Paul knew that the Brainiac had probably worked it out long before he did. “I don’t know what information you have in that implant of yours, but it must be important if they’ve gone to this much trouble to kill you,” Dexter said, sitting on a step next to Paul’s feet.
Paul sighed wearily. “It isn’t the first time they’ve tried.”
Paul’s confession prompted Barrett to complain. “Oh that’s just terrific, why didn’t anyone tell us we’re carrying Gara’s most wanted.” Barrett had been a reluctant space traveler the whole of her career in the EMC. She had hoped on graduating from the Academy she would get a desk job as an analyst. Instead, her superiors decided her aptitude suited working in deep space. The Void always seemed to magnify feelings that nobody liked her, or trusted her. It made her feel lonely, which led to suspicion. The EMC shrinks called this ‘Void Sickness’.
When travelling through the Void all technology ceases to function. Physicists theorize that reality as we know it in ordinary space, doesn’t exist in the Void. The biological mind can function there because it can maintain its own reality, the ‘think therefore I am’ principal. While a computer, for example, cannot maintain its fundamental programming if those fundamentals suddenly disappear. However, the biological mind is not perfect, and even it can malfunction in the Void. Leading to a form of psychosis called Void sickness. Normally, the neural implants in human brain keeps it under control, but mild symptoms can still present themselves. Occasionally, a severe episode can happen too. Once the affected human is back in normal space though, the symptoms instantly disappear. Creating the expression: What happens in the Void, stays in the Void.
“You signed up for this life, Captain,” Dexter said, having no interest in Barrett’s feelings.
“What of Blake and Huang, they could be injured?” Barrett said.
Dexter turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “The fact we’re alive means the fail-safes worked. So there’s a good chance they’ve survived as well. Still it’s a good idea, someone should go and check on them.”
Her hands went to her hips as she threw her head back. “Are you crazy? It’ll take me hours to walk to Enginelab.”
“Even if they’re alive they may still need help, and as far as I can tell you’re the only one fit enough to make the trip,” Dexter said. He looked back at Paul who still looked lost in his grief for Sheena. He wished Paul would say something to Barrett that would make her be quiet, or go away. Yet, he knew Paul probably hadn’t heard anything Barrett had said. Dexter looked back at Barrett watching him with an air of expectation. “Take a medical kit with you, and use a bike, it’ll be quicker,” he said.
She stared at him for a moment, first with a look of surprise followed by repugnance. “Since when do you order me around, Brainiac?”
Dexter shrugged in mock defeat. “Really, Captain, a moment ago you were swearing blue murder about the possible casualties in Enginelab. But when I press the issue you suddenly couldn’t care less about them. What kind of officer are you?” he said, laying it on. He wanted her to leave.
She suddenly spun and left the Bridge in an obvious display of haughtiness, leaving Dexter shaking his head. IO’s were responsible for crew evaluations and had bad reputations for ruining careers based on minor infractions of EMC rules. Marines generally kept their distance from them for that reason. Still, Dexter worried about more important matters than the threats of a supercilious IO.
First, his friend is now in a complete funk, what he hoped to avoid. Sheena’s death occurred five years ago, and since then Paul has been acting recklessly. General Appleton on Bolaris had asked him to travel with Paul to Earth because they had serious concerns about his mental health. Although they wouldn’t tell him too many specifics, he gathered that Paul had been a survivor of a recent attack on another Ship. Paul was the reason for the attack, and this worried Command more than anything. Command knew he blamed himself for the deaths that had occurred. In the same way he blamed himself for Sheena’s death.
Second, though they were alive now, it’s possible that once they exited the Void the malfunction will recommence, and kill them. All he could do is hope Captain Blake is alive in Enginelab, and taking steps to prevent that. Dexter sighed to himself hoping Colonel Nadir had a better handle on things than he did at the moment.
*******
Colonel Nadir and Ship had been trying to gain control ever since the qdrive malfunction occurred. Their efforts so far seemed as futile
as banging their heads against a brick wall. Only this metaphorical brick wall is a well of gravity that’s hurtling them through the Void at a speed that beggared belief. A speed beyond anything Nadir thought possible. Nadir and Ship agreed that all they could do is to try to guide the gravity toward the exit vector that they had originally intended. What would happen once they reached this point he couldn’t even begin to imagine, as nothing like this had ever happened to his knowledge. Nadir is suddenly struck by the irony of their circumstances, that like the crewmen inside Ship, they had now become mere passengers caught along in an irresistible force of nature. Like a boat, being carried along by a raging flood.
The fear coming from Ship is turning into panic, and as her Keeper, Nadir knew it’s up to him to try to placate her. He could feel her heart beating fast, visions of terror filled their collective minds, making him feel uneasy as well. The trip from Bolaris to Earth would normally take four standard weeks in the Void, but Nadir is having a premonition that the exit is approaching much more quickly than he thought possible. He calculated how much time had passed, it felt like a week. Ship again radiated a mixture of fear and wonder to him that they had made the journey so fast. Still, he isn’t confident they’d arrive in the Sol System as they hoped. Yet he’s certain that the exit into ordinary space would be nearly as brutal as their entrance into the Void. Nadir again worried how his small crew would fare with another enormous surge in gravity. It took nearly all of their combined psychic energy to keep the crew alive the first time. Could they do it again? On reflection, Nadir decided Command’s decision to rush this mission with so few crew was sound. It’s bad enough knowing five could die as a result of this sabotage, how would he feel if Ship had her full complement on board? He thought of Colonel Abdul, and they prayed for him.
*******
Paul had spent the last week drinking heavily, much to Dexter’s frustration. The last thing Dexter wanted is Paul to arrive at Earth an alcoholic, especially because Command thought he had some information worth going to all this trouble for. He had tried to get Paul to temper his drinking but it seemed hopeless. The prospect of enduring a few more weeks of Paul’s alcohol fueled self-pity is another thing Dexter is dreading. As much as he liked Paul, listening to him lament about how it’s all his fault, and how he had failed Sheena is tiresome. Paul would claim it helped him sleep as the nightmares he had been having were dulled by the alcohol.