by Donald Swan
“Yeah, copy that, Serenity.”
A power surge could burn out the instruments, and his project would literally be toast. He reached for the abort switch when suddenly the blue glow outside turned into a blinding white light, obscuring all view of the cockpit switches.
“Damn!” Adrenaline surged through Nick’s veins as he fumbled blindly in the direction of the abort switch. Then everything went black.
Nick pried one eye halfway open then let it fall shut again. Where the hell am I? He struggled to sit up, but his arms and legs just lay there like limp, wet noodles.
His brain scrambled to make sense of what had happened to him, but the screaming pain in his skull made it impossible to focus. Ah, geez, it feels like my skull’s going to explode.
Nick reached a hand toward his aching head.
Clank! The sound of his space suit glove hitting his helmet startled and confused him.
“What the hell?” One eye opened fully, then the other. He jerked himself upright. “Crap, I’m in space!”
Suddenly bits and pieces of the mission wiggled their way into his conscious mind. The launch. The warning signal. The white light! He must have blacked out.
Struggling to overcome his spinning head, Nick radioed mission control. “Serenity Base…. Serenity, come in.”
Only an eerie silence answered his plea. “Serenity…? Omega? Does anyone copy?”
One flip of the radio dial confirmed his fears. Not a sound on any channel. Not even the usual satellite telemetry.
“Great, the radio’s fried!” Trying to calm himself, Nick sucked in a tense breath then slowly released it.
A red glow emanating from outside drew his attention. “What the hell….” Outside the cockpit window, he could see…something. But it wasn’t space. Or at least not any space he’d ever seen before. The only thing visible in every direction was an odd, pulsating, reddish hue. No stars, no Moon…. No Earth!
“Shit!” He could handle just about anything fate threw at him, but this? Red as far as the eye could see, and no Earth? “Damn, that ain’t right. Serenity?”
He made another frantic check of the instrument panels. “Serenity, please respond.” Again, nothing but static answered.
The cold, hard truth of his situation crept slowly into his brain. “I must be in hyperspace!” He stared at the pulsating crimson hue beyond the window. “This…has to be hyperspace.” If he wasn’t so damn scared, he’d be excited. For years he had dreamed of seeing the inside of hyperspace. But right now it was the last place he wanted to be.
He wasn’t even sure if anything could survive in hyperspace. Little was known about hyperspace at all. One theory described it as a second dimension overlapping the known universe. Two dimensions existing in the same place at the same time. That theory—similar to wormhole theory—would allow communication, or even space travel, in a fraction of the time. A shortcut in space-time, theoretically. It would explain why entangled particles appeared to interact at speeds faster than light. And here he sat, smack in the middle of that big ole theoretical dimension.
“It’s no theory anymore,” he muttered. Another sigh heaved from his lungs as he let his head drop back against the headrest. He could just see the headlines now. Boy Wonder makes history by discovering hyperspace, dies before he can tell anyone. “Yeah, just brilliant, Nick.”
Overwhelmed by thoughts and fears, he stared out of the window at the barren red dimension surrounding him.
Oh God, what if I’m dead? Nick gave his head a quick shake. “Snap out of it! You’re a scientist for Christ sake.”
“Think, Nick, think.” He could clearly see that the hyperspace generator had been turned off. According to the readings, he had managed to hit the abort, but it was too late. The module had been sucked into hyperspace before the generator could shut down. The added energy from the anomalous power surge must have opened the window enough for his ship to be pulled in.
A curved piece of what looked like titanium drifted across his path. As it slowly spun around in the weightlessness of hyperspace, he could see part of an insignia clearly emblazoned on its surface. The Greek letter, Omega.
A few more pieces of debris floated past. It took his brain a moment to put the events together. The new space station? But it was too far away to be affected. The window couldn’t have expanded that large. Could it? If the edge of that window came into contact…. “Crap!” Nick wiped a shaky hand across his forehead. There were twelve men and women on that station. Did I just…? Are they all…dead because of me? I have to get back to find out what happened.
Wait, the probe. It must have been recording the radio chatter during the accident. He could get a better idea of what happened by reviewing what it recorded. Nick flipped through the time index. “This can’t be right.” He had apparently been unconscious for far longer than he’d realized. He checked his watch, surely the probe’s data was wrong. “Two hours?” He didn’t need the biomonitor on his fancy watch to tell him how high his heart rate was. It was about to beat right through his flight suit.
“Focus.”
He reached out his arm, aware of the annoying twitch caused by the massive adrenaline dump, and turned the time index dial to just after he’d opened the window. “There, close enough.” His finger hesitated over the play button. He sucked in a breath and pressed it.
Through his headset, the truth of what had happened was revealed in horrifying detail, the voices of the Omega crew clearly definable through the chatter. ‘Something’s wrong. The window’s expanding…it’s headed straight for us! Get to the EVA suits. Now!’ Then the screams, the horrible screams suddenly cut short. Chatter from Serenity base continued for a few more seconds, then silence.
Nick swallowed hard. Not long ago he’d been safely cruising the Lagrange point between Earth and the Moon. Now he was lost in a nightmare of undulating red hues. How the hell was he going to get home? Was it even possible to get home? Could he even face going home after knowing the terrible fate of the Omega? One thing he knew for sure, he was on his own. There was no hope of being rescued from hyperspace. He hadn’t prepared for this contingency. As if he could have prepared for this. The ship’s supplies were limited. A bottle of water, a protein bar, and enough oxygen for a short mission. That’s all he had. He would only last hours, at most a day, if he couldn’t find a way out of this hyperspace wasteland.
He sat there pondering his own mortality. What a stupid way for it all to end. He had so much potential. There was so much he still wanted to do. All the planning, and for what? Twelve people dead, a state of the art station destroyed, and him stuck in a tiny spacecraft in…somewhere. But Nick had never been one to give up easily, and he wasn’t about to now. After thinking over his options, he took a deep breath and flipped his helmet visor down. The only thing he could do now was attempt to open another window. A window back to normal space-time. Maybe. Hopefully. He wasn’t sure of anything at this point. This was all new, and so very little was known about hyperspace. Was it even possible to open a window from within hyperspace? Would it be big enough to get through?
The unique sound of Velcro broke the silence as he pulled the flap on the chest of his spacesuit. He reached into his pocket and rubbed the lucky coin that he had safely tucked there before the launch. The familiar feel of the good luck charm between his fingers somehow helped him gather his courage.
“Better to die quickly than suffocate in hyperspace.”
The thought of sudden death reminded him of the power feedback. Not good. Could he risk that power surge happening all over again? He paused to think it through before throwing any more switches. The surge must have been coming through the probe. It’s the only thing that made sense. There was a good chance he could avoid another catastrophe if he turned the probe off. He chewed his lower lip, deep in thought. He had an urgent need to get back to his own territory. He had to know what had happened back there. What if people were trapped in the station wreckage? There might be something
he could do to help. If anything, he needed to report what he had learned. The Omega crew deserved that much at least.
Deciding he had no other option, he turned the hyperspace generator on to full intensity. To his surprise a circular disc appeared in front of him. The spiraling disc expanded rapidly, opening a huge hole in the center as it grew. Stars peeked through from the other side of the open hole.
“Thank God,” he sighed, relieved to see something familiar again. “Please let this be my ticket home.”
Suddenly, the radio came to life with the chatter of multiple voices. “Grhorykz satyra komas terok ka nok.”
Nick turned up the volume and listened carefully to the strange voices. “What the…? What language is that?”
Nick was only fluent in English. But he’d been exposed to quite a few languages during his stint with the International Space Alliance. What he was hearing on the radio was unlike anything he had ever heard before. It sounded like Russian, only backwards.
“Hjasd kuscv kasemd.”
What the hell language is that? He tried the radio again, hoping to hear a familiar voice. “Serenity Base, come in. Serenity, respond please.”
As his module neared the window into normal space, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Something large and fast had entered the window from the top left and was on a direct collision course with the module! He instinctively rolled right, punched the throttle, and cleared the window just in time to avoid getting hit. A shadow passed over his module as the massive object blocked out the sun.
“Damn that was big!” He banked the ship to get a better look.
As he came around, the view out of the cockpit window almost left him speechless. “Uh, Serenity? Serenity, are you reading this?” he stammered in disbelief.
This couldn’t be possible! But there was no denying it. A large alien spaceship had plunged halfway into the hyperspace window. A really huge ship. The kind of ship that made Earth’s biggest transport ships look like mosquitoes. Nick stared with his mouth wide open. Following close behind the massive ship was a second, slightly smaller vessel. The two were locked in battle, exchanging weapons-fire. Brightly colored flashes blazed across the inky backdrop of space, exploding on impact with their intended targets. It all looked like a scene from the old sci-fi archives he used to watch—that vid of rebels fighting against the evil empire.
“I must be dreaming,” he muttered, still staring slack-jawed at the massive ships. Nick figured that any second he’d wake up all sweaty with his dog Mooch slobbering on his face, wanting to go for a walk. “Yeah, that’s it, just dreaming,” he said, hoping to convince himself.
Boom! A bright flash of green light washed over the cockpit. The module shook violently, jarring Nick out of his daze. Sparks flew from the console as a ship not much bigger than the module buzzed by at blazing speed.
Kabooom! A huge explosion, the magnitude of a nuclear blast, came from the direction of the large ships. The blast lit up the module’s cockpit with an intense yellow glow. Nick jerked his head around to see what had happened. The hyperspace window had collapsed with one of the ships partway through it. The immense forces tore the giant vessel to pieces in a second. Hit by the debris, the second ship broke in two. Waves of explosions rippled across the torn and twisted sections of the ship as they tumbled through space. A quick glance at the instrument panel confirmed his suspicions. The field generator was dead. Whatever they had fired at him had fused the circuits in the generator.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Three more blasts hit the module. “Shit!” It was all happening so fast there was no time to think. He was under attack, that much he was sure of, and he wouldn’t last long if he didn’t do something quick. Dammit, the module wasn’t designed for this kind of pounding. No weapons, thin titanium-aluminum shell, and if those blasts hit the fuel…. “I’m dead.”
The module was only a science ship. Fly straight, run an experiment for half an hour, and then head home. “You would think just once one of my plans would go right,” he muttered as his eyes searched the surrounding space for something, anything that would help.
Then he spotted his escape.
“Asteroids! Perfect. You bastards don’t know what you’re in for. You just shot at the wrong guy!” Nick Bannon was good at flying by the seat of his pants. In the past he had spent a fair amount of time hot-dogging it around the moon. Lately all he could get away with was a little free time in the flight simulator. Now all those late nights spent goofing-off in the simulator, seeing how many Gs the module could take before ripping apart, was about to pay off.
Nick steered for the asteroids. He quickly avoided one then banked and rolled around the next. There was no time to ponder who was attacking him. All he had on his mind was saving his own butt by whatever means necessary.
Boom! A blast of enemy fire blew chunks out of a nearby asteroid. Lumps of rock slammed into the module, causing minor damage to the starboard side. The impacts shook Nick in his seat. “That’s not good.” Those chunks of rock could kill him as easily as enemy fire.
Focus. You can shake these guys. Nick pushed the module to its limit and beyond. He knew engineers usually covered their asses by adding safety margins to their calculations, and he was betting the module could withstand more than the simulator program said it could.
The attacking ships hung in close, trying to get in a lucky shot. Sweat streamed down Nick’s face as he attempted to out-fly his mysterious opponents. With a burst from the forward thrusters, he abruptly reduced speed and pulled up hard, sending the blood to his feet. The space suit squeezed his legs tight in an attempt to keep enough blood in his head to prevent a blackout. But the pursuing ships clung like beggar lice. The pilots following him were good. Too good. Maybe, just maybe, he was out-matched.
As the blood was forced from his head by the intense Gs, Nick’s vision began to fade. He squeezed his glutes for all it was worth and struggled to stay conscious against the loss of oxygen to his brain. Just at the edge of unconsciousness, a bright flash lit up the asteroid field. This time the flash was orange. It could only mean one thing. One of the attacking ships had been destroyed by an impact with an asteroid.
Nick pushed back on the stick just enough to let some blood get back to his brain. His attackers were learning, adapting to his maneuvers and anticipating his moves. But one thing that they didn’t count on was his unpredictability. Flying by instinct and only guessing at the outcome was what had given him a reputation as a risk taker. Some just saw him as crazy. Others thought he was some genius hot-dog pilot. His friends called him ‘Bannon the cannon.’ But some at the I.S.A. liked to refer to him as ‘loose cannon.’
He rounded one small asteroid, then another. In front of him, a huge rock tumbled head-on toward him, its ice-crystal covered surface glistening in the light of a distant star. Nick smiled. This was going to be close.
The enemy anticipated his next move. They expected him to roll and pull up hard to clear the asteroid. Instead, Bannon pushed down on the stick in a last ditch effort to outsmart them. Firing the top thrusters, he attempted to clear the massive rock upside-down. Blood rushed to his head from the negative Gs. His eyes felt like they were going to leave his skull, like corks from a popgun. The straps over his shoulders strained to hold his body in the seat as the surface of the asteroid whizzed by above him. Then everything started to go red. Too much blood to his brain. He had pushed himself into a redout. It was a potentially deadly situation. Consciousness slowly began to slip away. He fought against the blackness overtaking his brain. “Just a little more.” He only needed to hold it together for a few more seconds and then he’d be clear of the killer rock.
The unexpected tactic had the enemy pilots scrambling to reacquire their target. Caught by surprise, they rolled over in a desperate attempt to keep sight of the module. In the chaos, they didn’t notice the small, fast moving chunk of ice-encrusted rock barreling in on a rogue trajectory. The rock plowed into the lead ship, driving the sleek c
raft sideways into its wingman. Both pursuing ships lost control and slammed into the huge, oncoming asteroid. The explosion was the last thing Nick remembered before passing out. And passing out in an asteroid field was the last thing he wanted to do.
He was only unconscious for a moment before a piece of debris glanced off the cockpit cowling, creating enough noise to rouse him from his slumber. Around him hundreds of asteroids floated in an ever-changing landscape, bumping randomly into each other in an unpredictable rock soup.
“Ha, it worked! You’re one damn lucky son of a bitch, Nick Bannon,” he crowed. He was alive, but he needed to get out of this asteroid field before his luck ran out. If he could just shake off the grogginess. Nick struggled to focus his eyes on the instrument panel. He needed to get the tumbling module stabilized before he had an up close and personal meeting with an asteroid. With a few well timed bursts from the thrusters, he was able to right the craft and proceed on course to what looked to be the edge of the massive floating cluster of rocks.
As he reached the far side of the field, he rounded a massive icy asteroid. From behind the huge, floating boulder, the silhouette of a ship came into view. “You gotta’ be kiddin’ me!” Would he ever get a break?
Upon second glance, the ship seemed to be lying there motionless. The unknown alien craft was large. Smaller than the huge vessels he’d seen earlier, but still much bigger than anything from Earth.
Earth. Where is Earth? His attention shifted to his family back home. By now, they must be worried and wondering what had happened to him.
“I guess Hank’s going to win that bet, after all. He may have trouble collecting though.” Nick let out a half-hearted chuckle. But his feeble attempt at humor did nothing to cheer him up. The reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. “Damn, where the hell am I, anyway?”