Through Glass Darkly Episode 1

by Peter Knyte

  It’s always entertaining when people get their first taste of a fully equipped lensing range, and this occasion was no disappointment. Both for the agents and for Hughes. I brought various targets and trophies into view, including some preserved body parts from the miasmic creatures we’d run into before, which with the right type of Aetheric charge running through them still reacted like living tissue.

  And then we slowly cycled through the relevant parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum until whatever it was suddenly became visible. More than once one agent or the other would step out of the viewing booth as if to confirm that what we were looking at through the lensing screen wasn’t actually visible to the naked eye.

  Hughes had to stop a couple of times, but seemed to quickly adjust, and be ready for some more.

  But after half an hour of taking it nice and slowly, I thought it was time to make my point about how complex the different lenses and filters were to operate.

  ‘Ok, that’s enough of an introduction. Time to see how these things need to be used in action. We know that these Lamphrey type creatures can somehow shift which bit of the invisible light spectrum they refract visible light into. We’re guessing it’s somehow related to the other changes they can make to their physiology, as again, most of the time they don’t seem to be able to change quickly.

  ‘This means you’ll need to run through the relevant bit of the spectrum with the standard lens and filter combinations until you find your target. That’s just over a hundred combinations on each eye, and ideally you’ll run through those combinations in parallel to save time.

  ‘It can be quite overwhelming the first few times, so just take a breath and prepare yourself. We’ll only get half the experience in the booth as we watch what’s happening on our screen.

  I quickly changed the remote settings for the test rig that Hughes was wearing, so that it would run through about forty different combinations on each eye, hitting the bit of the spectrum what would reveal the target about three-quarters of the way through the spectrum on the left eye. I set the lens screen in the booth to use the same lens combinations as that same eye, and then once everyone was ready I started the automatic sequence.

  Jenkins lasted for barely a second in the booth before he had to look way, while Frazer managed practically the entire sequence. Hughes, exposed as he was to the different combinations for each eye, lasted for about half the sequence until just after the object became visible, but then had to rest his head in his hands for a minute to recover his composure.

  I thought about showing them how a fully trained lensman could work through the different combinations in just a few seconds, but they were all looking a bit green, so decided to skip it and move straight on to showing them how we could create a few viewing scopes which wouldn’t necessarily give a clear picture, but would allow an untrained officer to see if something was there that wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

  CHAPTER 9 - AWAKENING

  We were just about to finish constructing the first batch of multi-spectrum scopes for the search teams when Dr Zimmerman called us over the ships intercom system.

  ‘Mr Hall, are you there?’ He asked. ‘This is Dr Zimmerman.’

  We confirmed we could hear him and explained we were almost finished.

  ‘I think you may wish to return to the bridge,’ he continued. ‘The Captain is looking much better and the light on his mask appears to have stopped pulsing and is now just glowing with a steady light.

  ‘No, wait. The device over his kidneys is showing a similar steady light now also. I don’t know if this means he’s about to wake up.’

  It was a promising sign, and even though we’d only been away from the bridge for an hour or so, I could tell that Jenkins and Fraser were eager for us to be getting back. We quickly finished the work we were doing on the scopes, bundled them all up and set off back down the ship to the bridge.

  As we moved through the ship I thought I could detect a subtle change in the background noise of the ship, almost as though something else were about to happen.

  A few moments later and we were back on the bridge with the doctor and the Captain, who was without doubt looking much better. He was still in his chair, but now he was sat much more upright and didn’t appear to be being held in place by the web of Arc energies that had held his slouched form in the chair before.

  The doctor was watching his patient very carefully and barely took his eyes off him to acknowledge our arrival before turning back.

  ‘The device attached to his forearm also appears to have fully recharged now and it’s just the one over his heart that is still pulsing, though even that appears to have slowed considerably,’ he commented almost absently as we walked over to join him.

  I could clearly see that the Aetheric capacitors on each of these devices had indeed gone back to being permanently illuminated with their distinctive pale green glow, while the one over his heart was noticeably slowing until just a couple of minutes later it too finally stayed permanently illuminated.

  As if on cue, the still form of the Captain seemed to stir, and then take another deep breath, before slowly opening his eyes.

  He was still clearly tired, and while he looked much better than before, he remained a little pale. After a moment of looking around he was prompted by the doctor about how he felt, and while he hesitated for a moment, eventually he replied.

  ‘Tired. But I don’t feel as physically drained anymore.’

  He asked how long he’d been unconscious for, and was pleasantly surprised that it had only been an hour.

  ‘I thought it would’ve taken much longer for me to recover to the extent I feel I have.’

  I realised then as he was talking, that while he still looked weary to his bones, he no longer struck me as someone who was dying. It hadn’t occurred to me previously that I’d been thinking of him in that way, but it was clear to me now.

  Indicating he’d like to stand, the doctor went to assist him, but the Captain, while still a little unsteady just about managed it himself.

  ‘I realise you’re still not feeling like yourself Captain, but I’d like an explanation of what has happened here if you feel up to it,’ broke in Agent Jenkins. ‘I trusted you when you asked to come back here to recharge your devices, but you made no mention of the effect that your presence would have on the ship, or of the strange energies that would protect you once you were here.’

  ‘That is certainly a reasonable request and a fair point Agent Jenkins,’ replied the Captain looking straight at him. ‘And while something strange and wonderful appears to have happened here. What that is, I can’t pretend to understand just yet.

  ‘A lot of the engineering station appears to be operational again, perhaps if I were to take a look . . .’

  But before he could even take a step toward the instrument panel, that strange hum that appeared to come from the centre of the ship became noticeable again.

  ‘Captain Hughes?’ Was Jenkins simple question.

  ‘It sounds like the main Arc reactors in the heart of the ship, which generate the vast majority of the energy that the ship runs on,’ the Captain replied looking perplexed. ‘But with neither the engines, weapons or any of the other major equipment on the ship in use there’s no reason for them to be any more than idling.’

  ‘Can you shut them down from here?’ The other Hughes asked.

  ‘Yes, yes we should be able to at least power them down. They can’t be deactivated altogether from here, but we can control their output and where that power is routed to.’

  The volume and tone of the reactors was steadily increasing as the Captain moved to the engineering consoles.

  ‘Yes, it’s definitely the Arc reactors,’ explained the Captain as he examined the wall of dials and switches. ‘They’re creating a lot of power, but I can’t see where it’s being routed too. The console is still configured to share the power equally between all systems, but none of them are using any.’

  ‘C
ould it just be draining away?’ I asked. ‘Because of damage across the ship.’

  ‘It’s possible,’ replied the Captain. ‘But you’re talking about enough energy to power a large part of this city, and it would have to be going somewhere.’

  As the sound of the reactors reached that same high tone as before, the ship suddenly jolted as another one of the hawsers that had been anchoring it also gave way, causing the ship to rock backwards alarmingly for a moment, before again settling at a much gentler angle.

  ‘That was the main line which was anchoring the nose of the ship to that building over there,’ interjected Fraser. ‘But I could swear it was one the cables that had become embedded into the concrete of the building when your ship appeared. I was looking straight at it and it just fell away from the wall it was sticking out of.’

  ‘It sounds like your reactors are still working Captain,’ commented the other Hughes.

  And he was right the noise from the reactors, while it had dropped momentarily was building up again very quickly.

  ‘The reactors aren’t responding to the controls,’ replied the Captain, his hands moving across the control panel feverishly. ‘This doesn’t make any sense. This panel is clearly operational, but the controls are being ignored.’

  The ship rocked again as another cable fell away from its mooring, and then another. Until within the space of a few minutes the ship was completely free of all its moorings.

  ‘Perhaps we should consider abandoning the ship for the moment,’ suggested the senior FBI agent, ‘Until we understand what’s going on.’

  ‘I’m afraid that isn’t an option Mr Jenkins,’ replied the Captain turning back to the rest of us. As the Captain of this vessel I am responsible for it, and as such I cannot allow several hundred thousand tonnes of metal and glass to float uncontrolled above this city, free to cause untold damage and risk to its residents.

  ‘We have to try and fly this ship to somewhere which won’t present so much danger to the public, and I’m going to need all of your help to do it.’

  ‘Central Park must be the nearest open space, away from any buildings or large numbers of people,’ suggested the doctor. ‘There’s a zoo at the southern end, but if you could make it beyond that, there’s a lot of open space, including the water of course.’

  Jenkins nodded his approval, but then asked. ‘What will you do if we can make it to the Park?’

  ‘We have take things one step at a time for the moment,’ replied the Captain earnestly. ‘With most of the engines damaged, limited control over our altitude and a lot of the steering unresponsive, this could be a very short flight. But I promise you, if we can get to an open space I’ll do everything within my power to make this craft safe.’

  With that the Captain took the helm himself, and after asking Fraser and the doctor to go and identify what if any remaining engines we had left, he turned to me and Jenkins for help with some of the other important controls and instrumentation that would be required if we were going to try and fly the crippled ship.

  Even as we started to hear back from the doctor and Fraser about the few remaining engines that seemed to still be intact, I was aware that the ship had started to drift sideways toward one of the tall apartment blocks that stood to our starboard. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if we struck such a structure with the colossal weight and bulk of the Goose traveling at even just walking pace, but the damage would be enormous at the very least

  We were around four hundred feet up above the streets, but still well below many of the rooftops. If only so much of the ship hadn’t been damaged we could’ve just increased our buoyancy and soared over the city with ease, but instead we were going to try and weave our way along the comparatively narrow 7th Avenue.

  Jenkins had just finished informing the authorities on the ground about what was happening when we heard the first of the engines kick back into life, closely followed a few minutes later by second and third.

  We were still hoping to hear some more starting up when Fraser and then the doctor appeared back on the bridge.

  ‘I’m sorry Captain,’ explained Dr Zimmerman. ‘But the rest of the engines are either missing or so badly damaged that they’d be of no use even if we could get them started again.’

  ‘Thank you doctor, Agent Fraser,’ replied the Captain. ‘From my instrument panel it looks like you’ve managed to start one starboard lower aft side engine, one portside upper forward engine, and a smaller manoeuvring engine also on the forward upper-port side. Is that correct?’

  Seeing the look of incomprehension of their faces, he patiently rephrased his question.

  ‘You’ve managed to start one engine at the rear of the ship on the right hand side, fairly low down on the body, as well as another two toward the front of the ship, on the left hand side and higher up, roughly over there,’ the Captain said pointing through the ceiling of the bridge.

  ‘Yes, yes that’s right,’ replied the doctor after thinking about it. ‘But the propeller blades on the bigger engine toward the front seem to be slightly damaged at the ends.

  ‘Thank you gentlemen,’ commented the Captain with no further ado. ‘Now if you could please take up positions at either side of the bridge where you can each see forwards and backwards down the sides of the ship. I’m going to need you to estimate how close to the buildings we’re coming as we progress.’

  The first manoeuvre was going to be the worst. The ship, although now almost level, was still angled across 7th Avenue, with the stern of the ship spanning some of the lower buildings on 7th all the way over to the back of some of the Broadway theatres on 51st Street.

  Unfortunately, while several of the buildings around us were low enough for the ship to move over on its Starboard or right hand side, there were a couple of hotels, offices and apartment buildings on the other side of the ship and directly in front of us on the other side of 7th Avenue that the Captain would have to try and find some way to avoid.

  ‘Mr Hall, you have the engine controls.’ the Captain began. ‘I’m going to ask you to bring engines three and fifteen gradually up to a quarter power. Leave manoeuvring engine seven to idle for the moment. On my mark though I’m then going to ask you to stop engine fifteen, put it into reverse and then bring it back up to a quarter power.

  ‘Do you understand these instructions, and the controls you’ll need to use to complete them?’

  I confirmed I did.

  I could see on the ground the Police had moved all the spectators a long way back from the ship, right the way back to the junction of 51st Street. I just hoped it was going to be far enough.

  ‘When you’re ready Mr Hall, bring the engines up to quarter power.’

  As a member of the senior staff I’d had some rudimentary training to familiarise myself with the basic bridge controls and operation, but that training felt a long time ago and nowhere near sufficient as I slowly moved the throttles forward for the two main engines we had at our disposal.

  ‘A quarter power on both engines Captain,’ I confirmed, following the standard shipboard protocol when carrying out orders.

  In contrast to the power of the twelve engines that we would normally have had operating, these two were going to take a while to get us moving. But they both came up to a quarter power without any problems.

  It seemed like the entire ship started to creek and complain, but very slowly the Goose started to inch forward.

  ‘Very good Mr Hall, now leave those engines exactly where they are until I tell you otherwise.’

  The ship continued to inch forward, very slowly picking up speed until we were moving at a slow crawl directly toward the hotel on the opposite side of the street. It was still at least sixty feet away from the leading edge of the ship, but I knew even if we cut the engines to nothing we would continue to glide forwards for many times the space we had unless the Captain did something.

  ‘Now Mr Hall, on my mark I’d like you stop engine fifteen, put it into reverse and grad
ually bring it back up to a quarter power.

  ‘Mark.’

  I was amazed my hands weren’t shaking as I carried out his orders. Though as I gradually powered down the engine I had visions of it refusing to restart, or not having enough power in reverse because of the damaged rotor blades. But I moved it into reverse, restarted it without a problem and then started to once again apply the power. Again it seemed to respond without any issues. Though as it came back up a quarter power the groaning and creaking that came from the frame of the ship increased so much it made me wonder whether the damaged frame could take the strain we were applying.

  ‘One quarter reverse power on engine fifteen Captain,’ I confirmed.

  Still we continued to crawl toward the hotel in front of the ship, but just as I was beginning to think the Captain had misjudged the situation, the nose of the ship started to swing almost imperceptibly to the left.

  ‘Dr Zimmerman, the stern of the ship should also have started to swing around slightly now. Please let me know if our tail starts to get too close to any of those buildings.’

  ‘Yes Captain,’ was Zimmerman’s rather wide eyed response.

  ‘Captain,’ Fraser interjected. ‘We’re only about twenty feet from the apartment block on this side, and closing, slowly.’

  ‘Thank you Mr Fraser,’ was the Captains simple response. ‘Please let me know every thirty seconds whether we’re still closing or drawing away.’

  We were within fifty feet of the hotel in front of us by now and still steadily closing and sliding sideways to the left, while our tail was moving in the opposite direction.

  Fraser let us know a few seconds later that we were still slowly closing with the building to our left. Followed by Zimmerman a few seconds later telling us that the tail of the ship on the other side was swinging toward a tall building on 51st Street, and he wasn’t sure how close it would come.