Discovery (Terran Chronicles)

by Jackson, James

  “OK,” she says not quite understanding what this means.

  Joe suddenly stands up.

  “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!”

  Joe frowns a little. “Hang on, I though 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.”

  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 looks at Joe as her brow tightens.

  He 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 the ship intact.”

  George steps forward to speak when a chill climbs up Cindy’s spine. She holds a hand up to stop him from speaking. She gulps and fearfully looks at the bridge crew.

  “What of the exterior plates?”

  Joe’s eyes go very wide, Andrew’s jaw drops, even John feels a creepy tingling sensation in his head. Cindy turns to George.

  “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.

  “Get a detailed scan of that system with the flashing star. We will use the main drive once more only. I want us as close to whatever planet it’s referring to, and 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.

  “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 still on her mind. She gives him 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 up and smiles as she considers the amazing experiences they have had already.

  “Punch it !” She says simply.

  John taps the main drive control, then ramps their speed up quickly and efficiently.

  “Factor six. ETA in 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 vibrations 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, giving him a respectful bow.

  George stands at his console and wonders what they can do. Racking his mind for ideas he notices a symbol start to flash 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.” 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 gives another shudder. Cindy taps her chairs console, her heart heavy.

  “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 system automatically allocates more power to the dampening shields. Joe gulps as a new symbol appears on his console. George also has the same one on his. After a moment he has translated what the symbol means.

  “Dampening shields as one hundred-sixty percent and overloading. Estimating fifteen minutes until system failure.”

  John pipes up.

  “Eight minutes until we drop to sub-light speeds.”

  Cindy pats her chairs armrests. Just a little longer. The minutes drag on until finally John readies his hand over the controls while counting 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 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.”

  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 as though 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.”

  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.”

  With a gulp he 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.”

  Joe stares at Cindy for a moment.

  “What about reactor control? I can only do so much from up here.”

  “Just do the best you can.”

  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’s happening, but hesitates. What the blazes is going on? Having felt the lurch and subsequent shockwaves that came 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’s what the desired effect is. He smiles as his power bypass system kicks in, the reactors 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,” he 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 that 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 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.

  “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 she sees John staring at her in surprise.

  “I want to see what’s going on, we’re taking a shuttle.”

  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.”

  “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 small 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.” She is quite surprised.

  “They can sustain a person for up to fifteen minutes.” He 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.

  “I want to see the space station.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Only once they clear the massive hole and enter free space, does the true scale of things become apparent. The station is truly 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 but a small scar in this construct in comparison to some of the damage. John squints off into the distance, then speechlessly taps Cindy on the shoulder.

  The object of his attention is a distant 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. He whistles in surprise as it draws closer.

  “Those sections that jut out are hangar decks, each one looks to be larger than the Terran, and that ship has dozens of them. I can’t even imagine how big that ship is.”

  Cindy stares in shock as it silently glides past them. The distant sun reflecting off its hull plating as it goes. A shimmering, like the heat shimmer on a hot road, covers the entire vessel. As it passes, John points to other projections that stick out from the ship.

  “Sub-light engines, and would you look at that” He stops talking as the ship’s main engines engage right before their eyes. A battery of bright lights appear at the rear of the ship then in a kaleidoscope of colors, it vanishes.

  Suddenly the shuttles speakers come to life. The noise is an unfamiliar garble. After a few minutes the garble repeats itself. The next time though, they are both shocked to hear a metallic sounding voice.

  “To anyone that can hear us, this is the science station ‘Theta’. We are in need of immediate rescue. An Atlan warmonger has devastated our planet and crippled this facility.”

  While the message repeats itself, Cindy and John can only stare at each other in stunned silence. John shrugs his shoulders as he does not know what to say. Cindy has no idea what they can do, but her conscience won’t let her ignore their plea either.

  “Well, let’s answer them.” She says reluctantly.

  John touches a symbol on his control panel and nods to her.

  “This is Cindy of the Earth starship Terran. We,” she looks at John and shrugs her shoulders, “accidently collided with your station.”

  The stations transmissions cease yet there is no reply. John sits back confounded for a second, then he suddenly jerks forward.

  “Oh yes! Repeat your message, I bet their system has to translate it, like ours did.”

  Cindy repeats her message three more times, pausing after each attempt.

  “Cindy of the Earth starship Terran, this is Golward of the science station Theta.”

  John and Cindy jump.

  “Station Theta, I am so sorry we collided with you.”

  “We were doomed anyway, our life systems are failing, we need rescue.”

  “Our ship is badly damaged, but if we can help we will. How many of you are there?”

  There is a long pause.

  “Only forty-s
ix, out of seven hundred twenty-nine. We have examined your life systems and they can sustain us.”

  “We shall make preparations, but our main hangar deck has a hull breach which will make things difficult.”

  “We must hurry, we will use our escape capsules to transport to your ship.”

  “Please, you are welcome aboard.”

  When there is no reply Cindy turns to John.

  “Let’s get back.”

  As they fly back, Cindy looks at the planets swirling grey atmosphere. The image is oddly familiar. With a growing sadness she recalls the barren planet where they found the partially destroyed Gamin ship. John sees her expression and is also saddened, it is unlikely that there are survivors on the planet. John taps a few more symbols then not being sure what to say, contacts the bridge.

  “Uh folks, we’re going to get some visitors, the stations survivors.”

  On the Terran’s bridge Andrew and Joe just stare at each other. Radclyf turns to Hayato and with the smallest of gestures, the two combat veterans depart. Andrew taps his console.

  “How many are we looking at?”

  “We’re told there are forty-six survivors.”

  “Very well, we shall be ready.”

  Arriving back inside the Terran’s hold, they are both astounded to see three Gamin body suits suspended from the ceiling. Cindy is further surprised that she does not need to use the re-breather. The three men dangling above, are spraying some kind of substance over the damaged portion then adding layers of metal. Cindy turns to John and speaks with admiration in her voice.

  “That man never ceases to amaze me.”

  John nods his head in agreement while gazing upward, staring at the hasty repairs being conducted. A high pitch whine makes them both turn around in alarm. A bullet shaped capsule enters the hangar then slides to an unceremonious stop near them. It is quite small, barely larger than the suits being worn by the men above. As it stops, it tilts over to rest on one of two fins that project from its bodywork. The capsule is soon joined by another, then another.

  George and his colleagues have noticed the unusual activity below. Once satisfied that Olaf and Patrick have the temporary repairs under control, he makes his way to the hangar deck.