by William Wood
Calvin sat in the captain’s chair and stared out into the space ahead.
On the right side of the bridge was a large monitor. Astra put an image of the star system on it, with the focus on the center of the galaxy, where they were. In the center was a large dark spot.
“Have you ever seen anything like that before?” Astra asked.
“No,” Calvin said.
“It’s a big dead space. Everywhere the wave went it destroyed everything. All stars, planets, everything. All that’s left is debris.”
“Like a big void. I wonder how far it goes.” Even as he said that, he had a bad feeling the void stretched to all corners of the galaxy. How ironic would that be? The weapon that was supposed to save the galaxy from the Goremog, was actually responsible for destroying it completely. They achieved through tragedy what the Goremog hoped to do in conquest. Ironic, well, not really, there had to be a better word for it. Nightmare wasn’t strong enough.
“There’s one more thing I want to show you,” Astra said. “Ion had it transferred aboard before Aleria’s Hope went into combat.”
She led him down the stairs from the bridge, down the long corridor and to the cargo bay. There in a corner, sitting on a table was an object that looked like a coffin. Calvin approached it slowly. There was a richly decorated covering over the coffin. Calvin felt his arms get weak, and a sudden feeling of deep sadness overpowered him through every cell in his body. He pulled back the cover, and there, lying in a padded coffin was Jax.
“We placed him in suspension,” Astra said. “My father felt he should go home to his people.”
“That was kind of him,” Calvin said. “Thank you.” The suspension field gave his face a light blue glow, and he had a peaceful expression on his face. It looked like Jax was just sleeping, and Calvin wanted to wake him up.
“I’m sorry, Jax,” Calvin whispered.
Astra wrapped her arms around Calvin’s waist and held him. On their way out of the cargo hold, Calvin asked, “Is there
anything else you want to show me?” He meant for it to be a joke, but he
couldn’t make it sound like one no matter how hard he tried. Astra
responded with kindness,
“No sweetie,” she said. “I’m sorry, I just thought you might want
to know.”
“No, you’re right. I’m glad you showed me. His family will be
grateful. At least they’ll have some closure.”
Time passed slowly. One week, then two. They could still see
Dev and Wexton’s ship on the short range sensors, though they were
now reaching the limit of the sensors and were only seeing them
intermittently.
The days were filled with boredom. Sorenia didn’t offer any of the amenities Azure Frost did. For one thing, Sorenia was much smaller. It was built for work and little else. Astra found plenty to do. She discovered Arlandian literature from the database and spent her time reading about the culture she was about to live in. When not reading, she
either spent her time working on Scribbles, or tinkering with the engines. Calvin had a hard time at first. He went from room to room,
trying to stay busy. Though frustrating at times, they began to teach their
language to each other. Alerian proved to be very difficult to Calvin.
Astra picked up Arlandian quickly.
Boredom turned into contentment, and then to pleasure. He
found that he could be happy just being with his new wife. The days
passed slowly, but he would always remember them as the happiest days
of his life.
In the back of his mind he was worried about what they would
find when they finally reached New Arlandia. But the time spent with his
new wife, with no distractions, were nothing short of bliss.
For the first couple of weeks, Calvin went to the bridge and tried
to activate the hyperdrive engines. After two weeks, Astra programmed
the computer to notify them when the ship cleared the void and the
hyperdrive engines were available.
Ninety-five days after they left the Pentazian base, a message
popped up on the ship’s monitors that the hyperdrive engines were
available. Calvin and Astra went to the bridge.
“Are we out of the void?” Calvin asked, looking skeptically out
the front windows at the emptiness that engulfed them. “It doesn’t look
like it.”
“No,” Astra said. “But the field that’s suppressing the hyperdrive
is gone. Call me paranoid, but I’d like to run a quick diagnostic on all
systems, just to make sure. You can check to see our course is still
locked in before we jump to hyperspace. Is that OK?”
“I’ve done it every day, but sure,” Calvin said. “One more time
shouldn’t hurt.”
Astra performed the diagnostic quickly; all systems were
functioning normally.
“Let’s go to New Arlandia,” Astra said excitedly.
“No, wait,” Calvin said. “We’re not going to New Arlandia.” “What? I don’t understand.”
“I told you my people are terrified of what’s out in space.
They’ll panic if we drop out of hyperspace anywhere near the planet.” “So what do you suggest?”
“I told you about the secret group called the Laurites. They built
a base in an asteroid field on the edge of the New Arlandian planetary
system. We need to go there first. At least I know we’ll be welcome
there, and hopefully my father has come up with plan on how to inform
the government that our going home doesn’t herald in the beginning of
the end of the world.”
“OK,” Astra said. “You know best.”
Calvin pulled the lever down. The main engines deactivated, a
bright purple spot appeared in front of the ship and grew larger until it
wrapped around the whole ship. The ship vibrated, the stars blurred, and
the ship jumped into hyperspace. The blue clouds were comforting, and
it felt good to be back in hyperspace.
“That was different,” Calvin said.
“Yes, one of the last new breakthroughs our scientists made was
a new, faster hyperdrive engine. It was only used on a couple of ships,
they were upgrading ships when they had time, and they didn’t have a lot
of free time.”
“Cool. Now it’s time to contact my father.” They tried to contact
the Laurite base, but were not able to. They tried for five minutes with no
success.
“I was afraid of this,” Astra said. “There is still too much
interference to get a signal out. Look, the long range sensors are still out
too.”
“I guess we can just show up and surprise them.”
“I have an idea,” Astra said. “It might not work, but we can try
and send a flash message. It will be very basic; text only.”
“That’s a great idea,” Calvin said. “We can tell him what
happened, and that we’re going to go to the Laurite base. Hopefully they
can respond and let us know they’re all right.”
“That would be nice.”
Astra sent the message as soon as it was ready. It wasn’t
surprising when they didn’t receive a reply. Every day they sent a new
message, with an update. But they never received a reply. Calvin caught
himself checking the communications system every hour. He was getting worried. There was no indication that New Arlandia survived the super weapon. Even worse, the planets within scanning range had been destroyed. All that was left was debris; enough matter to account for a
whole world. T
hey hadn’t seen a single star or planet that survived. It was looking more and more like they were going to have to
travel back to the Pentazian moon and follow the Alerians. King Fulton
might have been right. There is nothing left of this galaxy.
Four months later, the Sorenia dropped out of hyperspace. On
the bridge, Calvin took a seat in the pilot’s chair while Astra sat at the
communications station.
“Ion said it would take a year to collect the segments,” Calvin
said. “He was close. I left home exactly 375 days ago.” When he said the
robot’s name he felt a twinge of sadness.
“The long range sensors are working again.” She worked the
controls, and displayed a star chart on one of the large monitors. There
were planets, and stars that were visibly intact.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Astra breathed. “The void doesn’t reach
out this far. I’m picking up several planets, and they all look intact.” “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time,” Calvin said. “I think communications are back up. Wanna give the base
another try?”
“Definitely,” Calvin said. Astra activated the communication
system and nodded at Calvin when it was ready.
“Laurite Base, Laurite Base, this is Lieutenant Calvin Range
aboard the Arlandian ship Sorenia, do you read?” The only reply was
static. Calvin tried for five minutes, but was unable to get an answer. “This can’t be good,” Calvin said.
“Do you want to try to contact the planet directly?” “No,” Calvin said. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. The
last thing we want to do is start a panic. My father told me this might
happen. We should go to the base. Maybe their transmitter is down or
something. I don’t know.”
Calvin increased speed towards an asteroid field that spread out
ahead of them. The field stretched fifty thousand miles across and thirty
thousand miles deep. It was dense but Calvin was easily able to find a
path to the coordinates given to him by his father in relative safety. The
computer led him to an extremely large asteroid. It was huge, as big as a moon. He brought Sorenia to a stop in front of a flat spot. The rock wall looked smooth. Astra activated the communication system, and with Astra’s help, they transmitted a code towards the asteroid. The reaction was immediate. A line appeared down the middle of the rock; it was a
massive door; big enough for a full sized battleship to fit through. Calvin and Astra shared a look. Calvin was excited; Astra looked
nervous. Calvin eased the throttle forward and took the ship in through
the opening. He watched on the rear view as the door closed behind
them. The inside of the asteroid was bathed in total darkness. Ahead, a
single source of light appeared. It looked like a tiny platform, floating in
the middle of dark, empty space.
“This is a hangar bay,” Calvin said. Astra activated a light, and
probed the inside of the hangar bay with it. They could see rough walls
that were carved right out of the rock. The space was empty, except for
two small ships that looked similar to the Sorenia. They both had deltawings and long tube-shaped hulls. Tiny white lights on floating buoys led
the way to the platform. Calvin steered the ship toward the platform. “This is a perfect place to hide a forbidden base,” Calvin said.
He looked over at Astra, she looked scared now.
“Hey, are you OK?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just suddenly got nervous. The
stories you told me, about your people. I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry,” Calvin said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I promise
you I won’t let anything happen to you. The people on this base are not
like the ones I told you about on the planet. They’re not scared of aliens.
They’re not afraid of what’s in space. That’s why they’re out here.” “OK,” she said skeptically. Calvin expertly maneuvered the ship
to the docking platform. For the last ten feet, a tractor beam seized the
ship and moved it into position. Calvin shut the engines down. All
sounds died, and it became very quiet.
They sat in their chairs and looked at each other for a second.
Neither moved.
“Let’s go,” Calvin said. They both stood, and Calvin took her
hand. They walked hand in hand down the main corridor to the airlock.
Astra examined a small screen on the side of the door.
“There’s a breathable atmosphere outside,” she said. “We don’t
need space suits.”
Astra stood behind Calvin as he opened the door. There was a soft whoosh as the air seal of the Sorenia was breached. Air rushed out of the ship and out into the base. The door opened slowly. Who would be there waiting outside the door? It was now time to find out.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE:
RECEPTION
They stood on a large round platform. The only source of light came from a single pole on top of the cylindrical elevator shaft in the center of the platform. It provided dim light to the platform, but not beyond. It was difficult to see, and every sound traveled for miles through the darkness. But that wasn't the most disturbing part. They were alone, and that told Calvin something was seriously wrong.
“That’s odd,” Calvin said. “I thought for sure there would be someone here to meet us.”
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Astra asked quietly.
“Well, unless there’s another asteroid floating around here that requires a secret code to get into; pretty sure.” Calvin led the way. Despite the fact that something in his brain was telling him to be careful, he wasn't scared. Astra followed him cautiously. He looked into the darkness as he walked, strange shadows in the darkness played with his eyes. He wished that he’d brought a weapon, just to be on the safe side. But he decided to trust common sense this time, even though the ship’s sensors couldn’t get a reading on the base because a dampening field was operating nearby. Anyway, what danger could there be?
They walked to the elevator and pressed the call button. The car was already at the top and the doors opened immediately. It was empty.
“At least the base has power.” Calvin said. The elevator offered them five levels to choose from. They started at the top and worked their way down. They found all the usual facilities one would expect on a remote space station to support the needs of the crew, but not a single person could be found.
They found a command center. It looked familiar. He’d seen it many times over the communication system when he contacted his father. They tried to contact New Arlandia, hoping maybe it would work from the base command center; it didn’t. They tried seven times and could not make a connection.
“Is this a scanner?” Astra asked, pointing to a control panel.
“Yes,” Calvin said. He pressed a button and it revved to life loudly.
“Wow,” Astra said. “It’s like being in a museum.”
“Funny,” Calvin said.
Astra operated the controls silently for several minutes.
“I don't see the planet,” she said. “Am I using it correctly?"
“Yeah,” Calvin said. “You are. But you won’t be able to see it. The planetary disruption network is hiding it.”
“Right,” Astra said. Calvin and Astra sat down in the command center and looked at each other.
“What now?” Astra asked. Calvin only had one idea left. His heart was pulling him home.
“We could go to the planet,” he suggested. “We're not going to find any answers here.”
“I thought about that,” Astra said.
“As a matter of fact, they did.”
“Then let's go,” Calvin said. “There’s nothing here, and I want to find out what's going on.”
They didn’t rush back to the Sorenia, feeling slightly more relaxed.
When they reached the ship, they closed the main airlock and took their seats on the bridge.
Maybe he'd come up with something on the way. Getting out of the asteroid was as easy as getting in. They transmitted the code and the door opened.
It was a two hour trip to the planet. Calvin felt a rush when he could see the planet with his eyes.
Calvin took the ship into the atmosphere and toggled the communication system. “Space Command tower, Space Command tower, this is the NAS Sorenia, requesting permission to land.” He took them to an altitude of ten thousand feet.
There was no answer.
“Space Command tower, do you read?”
Calvin steered the ship directly towards the Space Command Center, and lined them up for approach to the long runway. He was grateful that the coordinates were still in the main computer; the Alerians had kept the original files and programs and incorporated them into the new computers.
He didn’t hesitate, even though he wasn’t hearing back from them at all.
There was a brief spot of turbulence as they passed through the atmosphere. The planet never looked more beautiful to him.
They flew over the capital city; Astra stared out the window the whole time. Calvin felt a feeling of happiness; he loved the city, it was a wonderful place, and all the memories rushed through his mind.
He was home. The sun was setting on the horizon, and the reflection off the glass buildings was astonishingly beautiful.
“And that’s why it’s called the City of the Sun,” Calvin said proudly.
“Wow,” Astra said. “It’s beautiful.”
“NAS Sorenia,” the speaker came to life with a woman’s voice. “You are cleared to land. Proceed directly to runway one.”
“Acknowledged, control.”
Calvin banked the ship back out over the crystal clear ocean and set them on a nice gentle glide path toward the runway. He felt the eyes of the whole city on him, so he made sure his movements were smooth. The runway stretched out before them. Calvin decreased speed and took them in slow and steady. Sorenia touched down on the end of the runway and slowed to a crawl. Calvin taxied the ship close to the dome, where already, men and women poured out onto the tarmac to watch the ship arrive. They waved their hands in the air, cheering and shouting.