Crew throughout the ship panic at the sudden change in gravity. Kitchen hands cuss again as pots and pans slide and fall.
Regent Voknor stares at them from the view screen before continuing on. “Few creatures impress me, fewer still do so positively. Be safe George.”
The screen suddenly returns to the view of the stars. Cindy considers everything that just happened and in a moment of clarity, realizes that the Gamin can control her systems, at any time and from a great distance.
George is surprised to hear a familiar yet alien voice through his earpiece. “Be careful and go home. It’s too dangerous for your kind out here.” George smiles, he knows it was Sharz who stayed the Regent’s hand.
Joe turns to Cindy and says with awe. “They not only sent us specs, but adjusted our gravity as well.”
Cindy tilts her head a little at his statement of the obvious. “Plot us a course for home.” She turns to George and stares at him. What the heck was that all about?
The next few days are very busy ones for Olaf, Patrick, and George, as they work almost feverishly replacing internal plating with gravity plating. Each time they drop to sub-light speeds, the trio replaces as many sections as they can. The rest of the time is spent scavenging what they can to make more plating. Eventually they run out of things to convert, as the suits have limits on what they can create from energy alone. George sits back and considers their dilemma, while at the same time, understanding why the Gamin wanted so many raw materials from Earth. What do we do now?
Chapter Six - Life’s End
Location:
Starship Terran
Twenty Thousand Light Years from Earth
The days have turned into weeks as the crew of the Terran make their way home. Each time they stop to recharge the main drive, the bridge crew examines distant stars as best they can. It is during one of these jumps that a maintenance man happens to be near a section where Earth installed plating meets the Gamin gravity plates. Standing on the gravity plating, he waits for the shift to sub-light speeds before proceeding. He watches the standard plates in shock as they buckle a little then bend slightly. They then straighten back out right before his eyes. It was only a small bend, but it was there. The deck vibrates beneath his feet as usual. Walking over, he examines the section and finds the weld joint is broken. His mouth goes dry as his mind races. He finds George, and reports his findings.
Meanwhile on the bridge, Joe stares numbly at a flashing star on his navigation screen. “Cindy, I have something you should see.”
Cindy stretches, then walks over to his console, and after a moments consideration replies, “Well, though I would love to investigate I think we should follow Regent Voknor’s advice and head straight home.”
“As you wish.” Joe replies, a little disappointed.
Cindy glances at George’s empty terminal. Where is he now? She wonders.
Elsewhere in the ship, George and Olaf are investigating their previous repair work. Both men are wearing the Gamin bodysuits, as they usually do.
George sighs as Olaf points at yet another section of damaged deck plating and says, “See! Where we have installed the new gravity plating everything is good. But over there.” Olaf points to a section they have yet to tackle, “The welds are all breaking up.”
“We’re out of materials to do anything more than patch it up.” George answers, concern clearly in his voice.
“Well we need more then!” Olaf states bluntly.
“Easier said than done my friend.”
George heads to the bridge while Olaf repairs yet another broken weld. George wonders what is holding the ship together. Every day he, Olaf, and Patrick, spend more and more time repairing broken welds, and now the reports of them actually buckling during the shift to sub-light speeds, concerns him greatly.
Arriving at the bridge, George wastes no time in relaying his thoughts. “Cindy, we have a new problem, well actually it’s an old problem, but we just became aware of it. Well that’s…”
“Spit it out.” Cindy interrupts his senseless ramblings.
George breaks out in a sweat as he tries to find the right words. “Well, as you all know we have been repairing broken welds all over the ship. It seems every time we change speeds, the plates that were installed on Earth, buckle.”
“Okay,” Cindy says, not quite understanding what this means.
Joe suddenly stands up and exclaims. “Oh no. The metal is flexing because it is not part of the internal gravity system.”
George smiles. Someone gets it! “Exactly, the RMC has no IGD to work with!” He states.
Joe frowns a little. “Hang on, I thought the IGD didn’t rely on the RMC.”
“It doesn’t, the IGD is independent, but it still relies on RMC data in order to function.” George replies matter-of-factly
Cindy shakes her head in confusion. “Please explain this in English!”
George nods to Joe, who takes a deep breath before beginning. “The Internal Gravimetric Dampeners access the data provided by the Relativistic Mass Compensator which in turn receives its input from the Dampening Shields.” He looks at Cindy doubtfully. “You following me?”
Cindy nods slowly as she begins to understand. “The plates we installed on Earth just sit there and...” she stops and looks at Joe as her brow tightens.
Joe continues for her. “The gravity plates don’t move, the kinetic energies generated are absorbed by the power grid and fed directly back onto the Dampening shield.
Cindy’s jaw drops. “But the standard plates can’t do that!”
Joe smiles as he shares another thought. “That’s why, even though we have been out of power at times, the ship has still had dampening shields, but just for the split second needed to keep it intact.”
George steps forward to speak as a chill climbs Cindy’s spine. She holds a hand up to stop him from speaking. She stares fearfully looks at the bridge crew and asks. “What about the exterior plates?”
Joe’s eyes go very wide, Andrew’s jaw drops, and even John feels a creepy tingling sensation in his head as they all imagine what is happening to the hull.
Cindy turns to George and says. “You’re going to tell me we need resources to fix the exterior plating.”
George nods as Cindy puts a hand to her chin. She chews on her lower lip as she weighs their options. “Well our timing could not be better. Joe has found another flashing star. The last one had an abandoned Gamin ship, perhaps we will be as lucky this time!”
George wanders over to Joe as yet another thought springs to his mind. “Do you think that the limitation to our speed and the constant calibrations being needed on the main engines are related to the external hull plates failing?”
Joe’s mouth drops open as he gazes at George in surprise. He is a lot smarter than folks give him credit for. “You know, I bet you’re right!”
Cindy stretches, then sits back in her chair, her mind is made up. The fewer speed changes the better. She issues her orders. “Get a detailed scan of that system with the flashing star. We will use the main drive once more only. I want us close to whatever planet it’s referring to, but do so as safely as is possible. Let’s all hope we find what we need to repair this ship.”
While the main drive recharges, Joe and Andrew figure out exactly which planet the flashing light refers to and plot a course.
John studies their intended route with raised eyebrows and questions. “Pretty close, don’t you think?”
“Well,” Joe shrugs his shoulders, “One jump and we’re all the way there.”
John studies the trajectory carefully then shrugs his shoulders. “Three hours at factor six, no problem.”
Cindy arrives back on the bridge, having spent the last few hours reviewing fractured welds. “I want everyone to get some sleep, Olaf, George, and Patrick, are going to be a while.”
Even as she speaks, George is riding in a Gamin shuttle with Edwards piloting. They silently assess the external hull of the ship.
In some places, sections have broken completely off, exposing the Terran’s superstructure. Where pieces still cling to the ship it has the effect of looking like scabs flaking from some terrible wound. Neither man speaks as they fly back to the shuttle bay.
The hours go by quickly. The bridge crew is assembled once more. Cindy gazes at them proudly, George’s private report is still fresh on her mind. Cindy gives George a silent nod as he meets her gaze with a resolve. She sits in her command chair and wonders. We have come too far to have the ship fall apart now. She lifts her head and smiles as she considers the amazing experiences they have had already.
“Punch it!” Cindy says simply.
John taps the main drive control, then ramps their speed up quickly and efficiently. “Factor six. ETA, just under three hours.” He glances nervously at Joe and Andrew one more time.
Cindy tries to ignore the vibrations that travel up through the deck plating as she enjoys the beautiful cascade of colors that bombard the ship. Soon though, the tremors through the floor increase in tempo and can no longer be ignored.
Peter has remained very quiet these last few days and speaks up quite unexpectedly. “If this is all there is, then the journey has been a grand one.”
“Here, here,” rallies Radclyf. He turns to Hayato, and bows respectfully.
George stands at his console and wonders what they can do. Racking his mind for ideas he notices a symbol flashing on his screen. The flashing symbol goes away a few seconds later. He examines the ship’s systems one more time, but Joe who has been diligently monitoring power usage beats him.
“Dampening shields at one hundred-ten percent.” Joe reports as he turns to George and looks at him quizzically.
George just shrugs his shoulders. Joe looks back at his system again and notices that the system is automatically directing more power to compensate for the failing hull. Just as he relaxes, the flooring shudders once more.
Cindy taps her chair’s console. With a heavy heart, she announces. “All crew members are to evacuate to the command levels. This is not a drill, we will be sealing all bulkheads in five minutes.”
Joe gulps as he readies his console. The five minutes pass very quickly. With one more glance to Cindy, he taps the controls that will effectively trap anyone that has failed to comply. Andrew and John continuously compare notes as the minutes turn into hours.
Each time the vibrations increase, the ship’s systems automatically allocate more power to the dampening shields. Joe cringes as a new symbol appears on his console. George also has the same one on his. Joe taps on his symbol, displaying the same data that George is already reviewing.
“Dampening shields at one hundred-sixty percent, and overloading. Estimating fifteen minutes until system failure.” Joe reports with unease.
John pipes up. “Eight minutes until we drop to sub-light speeds.”
Cindy pats her chair’s armrests. Just a little longer. The minutes seem to drag on.
Finally, John readies his hand over his controls. He counts down the seconds. “Dropping to sub-light now.”
John reduces their speed to half the speed of light, the shuddering as they transition seems fairly normal. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief as the ship makes another successful leg of their journey.
“SHIT.” John hollers. His eyes are locked on the view screen. Slamming his hands onto the console he shuts down the sub-light engines then activates every forward thruster he can in an effort to slow them down.
“Hold on!” John shouts out.
Cindy looks forward, the sight raises the hairs on the back of her neck. Her fingers dig into the armrests as her feet push down, willing the ship to stop. Before them are hundreds of small ships swarming around a massive space-station. Gas is clearly venting from numerous holes in its hull. A monstrous ship hangs off in the distance. The planet beyond the station is shrouded in grey clouds, but that view is cut off quickly as the space-station looms closer, filling their entire view screen.
Alarms blaze, warning of an imminent collision. Joe slams his hand onto his console, the main view disappears as armor plating slides into place. The Terran is traveling at close to ten percent the speed of light when they plow headlong into the damaged space station. Weakened and damaged armor plates peel from the ship like tin foil. With a surprising lurch, the ship stops. As it does so, the power flickers, but stays on. John powers the ship’s thrusters in a myriad of combinations, but finally gives up.
“We’re stuck.” John reports despondently.
Numerous symbols are flashing on consoles all over the bridge as the crew sits there dumfounded.
Everyone is suddenly thrown to the deck or forward into their consoles. They actually felt the impact to the rear area of the ship. Another massive shock wave travels through the ship, knocking those getting up back down.
Joe stares at his console in morbid fascination. “Hull breach, main hangar deck. Emergency bulkheads are holding.” He shouts out, being unnecessarily loud.
With a gulp, Joe reviews the growing list of damaged systems as yet another powerful shockwave travels through the ship. Cindy nervously glances around the bridge as she considers their options. Stuck, and being fired upon, by an unknown assailant.
“Shut down everything, life support, gravity, everything. We’ll play possum.” Cindy orders.
Joe stares at Cindy for a moment and asks. “What about reactor control? I can only do so much from up here.”
“Just do the best you can.” Cindy replies.
The bridge crew quickly complies, then sits nervously as they await their fate. With the entire crew being on the command levels, there is no one in reactor control, or so they think. Olaf considers contacting the bridge to find out what is happening, but hesitates. What the blazes is going on? Having felt the lurch, and then the subsequent shockwaves emanating from the rear of the ship, he can only guess. As the ship’s systems power down, he frowns in confusion, then suddenly gets it. He reduces the power output from all the reactors to a negligible trickle, just enough to run the cooling systems. Then he walks over and hits the main breaker. No more power will go to the grid now. He smirks, hoping that is what the desired effect is. He smiles as his power bypass system kicks in, the reactor’s cooling systems will keep running no matter what.
Joe stares at his readout in confusion, then it goes blank, along with the ships lights.
“The main breaker just tripped,” Joe says in surprise.
Cindy sits in the darkness as the silence envelops them all. Another massive impact can be felt from the rear of the ship. Those who have drifted off the deck plates are unaffected; the rest can feel the shockwave travel through the ship. The minutes tick by as everyone waits for something to happen. Still they wait, even as the air turns stale, and the temperature starts to drop. Cindy shudders fearfully in the cold. We only get one shot at playing dead.
Finally, Cindy speaks up. “George, I need you to reset that breaker.”
George connects his suit to his console, then smiles as he reads the message before him. He grins even more as he sends a reply, and then says. “Olaf is in reactor control. He should be right on it.”
Cindy does not know what to think. Reward him for his forward thinking? Or reprimand him for disobeying orders? “Very well, power up the basic systems only. John, you’re with me.”
As the gravity, lights, and life support, come back on, Cindy sees John staring at her in surprise.
“I want to see what’s going on, we’re taking a shuttle.” Cindy states.
Joe hesitates, then slowly speaks up. “Um, there is a hull breach in the main hangar deck.”
“I know. Activate the navigational shields. We only need a few minutes to get to the shuttle.” Cindy replies confidently.
Joe stammers. “But that won’t stop the air escaping, plus I will have to cycle bulkheads to even get you there. Even then, we have no idea how bad the damage is.”
Radclyf walks over to Cindy and hands her two smal
l objects. Each is a short tube with a raised central section. “Re-breathers. They only last a short time, but they work. Put the central piece in your mouth, then breathe in and out through your mouth only.”
“I didn’t know your government had these, thank you.” Cindy is quite surprised.
“They can sustain a person for up to fifteen minutes.” Radclyf states proudly.
The trip to the hangar deck is tough. As soon as they pass the last bulkhead, the extent of the damage is clearly evident. Air whips past them as it escapes the ship. The navigational shields are almost ineffective at containing the atmosphere. As soon as they enter the hangar deck Cindy gasps, almost knocking the re-breather from her mouth. The rent in the ship’s hull is enormous. But what makes her gasp is the inside view of the space station which they have impaled. John hurries her along. Once they are inside the shuttle John signals Joe to cut life support to the hangar deck. He opens the ramp allowing them to fly out.
With the shuttle’s view ports open, they both stare in shock at the sight before them. The Terran has not only impaled the space station, but twisted once inside. Ironically the very same twist that has them jammed in place also protected the main engines. John pilots the shuttle carefully through a maze of damaged gadgetry as they examine their ship.
Cindy points to the breach they made when they collided and says, “I want to see the space station.”
“Yes ma’am.” John replies.
Only once they clear the massive hole and enter free space, does the true scale of things become apparent. The station is enormous, even in its badly damaged state. Gas and debris vent from numerous holes, while complete sections seem to be missing. The aperture they created is but a small scar, in comparison to some of the damage already inflicted upon this construct. John squints off into the distance, then speechlessly taps Cindy on the shoulder. The object of his attention is a massive spaceship. Hundreds of small dots approach it, then enter various openings in the cigar shaped vessel. Once the last of the dots vanish, it heads their way. John shuts down the shuttle’s power as a precaution, while they view this ship in awe.
Initiation Series: Series One Compilation (Terran Chronicles) Page 50