by Steve Simons
Ed just hopes that amongst the few escape rafts that they manage to rescue, his friend Keiran is on one of them.
Ed changes the course heading and speed. As the captain finishes his call to the Geshbelhaus, Ed asks if he can speak. The captain nods and smiles. Ed says, "Bearing in mind what you said earlier about keeping people informed and avoiding panic, would it be advisable to inform the passengers that we are not doing a runner, but instead mounting a rescue?"
The captain agrees and suggests that the details be kept to a minimum at this stage, as all they wanted to achieve is reassurance not confusion and misunderstandings. Ed nods. The captain takes him by surprise suggesting that as Ed understands the situation well, he should make the announcement. Ed's face is a picture of horror, he can't believe that the captain has given him this task. Ed summons calm about himself, stops panicking and gathers his thoughts together then makes the announcement, "May I please have your attention for a moment. My name is Ed Glaceons, I am one of the flight crew. As many of the passengers and crew members will have probably observed, there is another craft near us and it has run into trouble. We are changing course in order to lend our help and pick up some of their passengers. There is another craft on its way to also lend assistance. If you have any concerns about this routine procedure, could you please discuss it with a member of the crew who will either answer your questions or refer your concerns to me or the captain."
The captain praises Ed for taking responsibility for the announcement and any follow up. He is interrupted by a call from engineering, it is the chief himself. The call makes the captain laugh. When the call is finished, he tells Ed and Fjas that the chief was never happy, he had complained that the craft is going too fast for them to get any readings.
Ed slows the craft right down and at the same time makes a minor course correction.
A few minutes later Fjas reports that most of the escape rafts were following the Cosmos 3 and seemed to be sliding relatively easily across the gravity wave.
There is a call from engineering, the captain announces that engineering have sent up the figures they need. Ed pulls up the information on the main screen, the figures make little sense, just columns and columns of figures. The captain pulls the chief's leg about the confusing figures and the chief gets his revenge by saying that the second tab shows a field diagram with key positions and directional vectors.
Ed clicks the tab and at last, here is something that they can all relate easily to. It even shows the current positions of the Geshbelhaus and Cosmos 3 craft. Ed is pleased that his course correction were "bang on the money" as a friend of his fathers often said.
The captain moves towards the screen, grabs a scriter and starts drawing a path from the Cosmos 3's current position to some arbitrary point beside the anomaly. He tells Ed and Fjas that he reckons that if they get themselves to this new point it will probably be the optimum position for the raft to slide to. The chief, now on speaker suggests a position a bit further back, then launches into a detailed explanation about the field patterns representing high strengths of attraction and others representing least resistance. The captain agrees to the new position then turns to Ed and tells him to make it so. Then says he's wanted to use that phrase for years, but never quite had the right circumstances or people around. Fjas asks if it came from an old movie. Ed says, "Not quite but you're on the right track."
Fjas reports that the escape rafts are making good progress in heading towards the Cosmos 3's new position. It would appear that engineering have got things right and that there is a high likelihood that they can save quite a few of the passengers. The bad news however is the fact that the Geshbelhaus is ever faster slipping closer towards the anomaly.
As the Cosmos 3 comes to rest, the crew prepare to start the embarkation exercise as the first of the rafts approach, having broken free of the gravity wave.
Ed has found himself with some time to spare, so he sends Richard an update on the situation. By the time Ed has finished sending his message, the first of the rafts is arriving. Ed gently adjusts the position of the Cosmos 3, so that docking should be easier. The first raft docks successfully and according to the chief steward the crew have set about helping the passengers aboard. Emergency accommodation has been arranged for them.
The next raft is approaching, but from a strange angle. Ed tries to adjust the Cosmos 3's position to make docking possible, but the raft completely misses it's docking arm and heads off out to space.
The captain suggests that Ed go down to the docking port and try to manoeuvre the craft from there, as it would be easier to get a more accurate fixation on the position of the incoming raft. Ed says that he has never done that type of manoeuvre from a docking port. The captain asks Fjas to keep an eye on things on the flight deck whilst he takes Ed down to a docking port.
As they reach one of the docking ports, they can see through the window that the raft, which had missed last time is making another run in towards them. The captain gives Fjas some instructions to turn the craft round a bit, otherwise the raft will miss them again. The captain explains to Ed, that these port steering stations are only intended for fine adjustment work, the main directional heading should be set by the flight deck and then the minute adjustments done down here. Ed waits for Fjas to finish his course corrections, then a green light appears on his panel. Ed takes the joystix and at first nothing happens, the captain points to the accept control buttons and tells Ed to stab these in order to take over.
There is a low rumble noise as thrusters kick in. The raft in front of them seems to be moving across the docking window. It is now heading for the docking arm or guide rail as some call it. After a while the raft bumps the guide rail and there is a scraping noise. Then a click as the guide rail latches into the docking eye. Ed operates another control and the guide rail gently swings the raft across, lining it up to the docking portal. There are minute adjustments taking place all the while, as the docking mechanism reads the alignment marking on the raft and gently guides it into place. Then there's a clunk noise as the two docking rings find each other and one neatly sits inside the other. It is amazing that 8 times out of 10 no human intervention is required with this sort of manoeuvre. These rafts and the docking equipment just get on with the job. Soon there is a bustle of activity as crew members prepare to help the passengers out of the raft itself. The airlock now opens and Ed hopes that one of the passengers aboard will be Keiran. However, it is not to be.
The captain checks in with Fjas and finds that there are four more raft heading in. The captain asks if any look as if they are in trouble. He is pleased to hear that Fjas thinks they are all on target and not showing any problems. The captain suggests that Ed stay down on this deck in-case any further manual manoeuvres are required.
Ed lends a hand helping the passengers out of the raft. The crew dart off to the next docking raft, prepared to repeat the whole exercise again.
The rescued passengers are quite shocked, but relieved that they have been safely rescued.
Ed wonders if they will have enough space for all the passengers, including the ones they already have. Then he remembers that the Geshbelhaus has about half the capacity of the Cosmos 3 and luckily the Cosmos 3 is actually running rather light on this return trip.
The next three rafts have no problem docking, so apart from lending a hand with getting passengers out of the rafts and helping settle them down, Ed has nothing to do. There is a long break until the next raft approaches and all seems to be going well regards its approach. Ed feels a bit out of things being down here, yet he knows he must stay, in-case there are any problems, then at least he can respond quickly. He consoles himself that at least he is doing something helpful.
The raft docks without problem, but then one of the crew reports that they cannot get the door open. Ed tries, but he also finds that it appears to be stuck fast. There are several anxious faces peering through th
e interconnecting windows between the docking bay and the raft itself. Ed signs that they have a problem, but help is on its way. He had to resort to signing as even the comms system was not working. Ed gets in touch with engineering and Garry says he will be 'up as soon as poss.'
Ed nervously paces the corridor and is glad when he hears the ever friendly voice of Garry as he says, "don't get yer knickers in a twist mate oi'l 'ave 'em out in a jiffy. Lets 'ave a look at things."
Garry checks out the controls, stabs a few buttons, checks some readings, then announces, "You fly boys are ruddy useless, couldn't you see that she's not latched in properly? All you gotta do is unlock and flip out the docking arm, it'll re-attach and bring her back in again. Unless the docking ring is damaged, she'll be alright. Good job you didn't manage to open the doors or you'd have drowned them and yourselves."
The reference to 'drowning' was a nice way of saying that the air would have been sucked out of both craft. Ed apologises for being so 'green' regards this operation, he'd never done it before.
Garry smiles and says, "Neither have I, but at least one of us read the manual."
Ed feels daft that he had not read that part of the manual. In his innocence, he never expected to be doing such a thing so early in his career.
Garry detecting that Ed felt stupid, says, "Don't worry, it isn't required reading for your lot, it is for us. Just a good job one of us techies was available eh?"
Ed smiles, now feeling a bit better about the situation. The raft starts heading out to space again, stops with a jolt and then heads back in again. There is a reassuring click as the docking rings engage. Garry checks the seals and nods, then says, "All yours mate, catch you latter."
Ed doesn't even get a chance to say thank you, Garry has gone.
~~~~~~~~
Chapter 13 - What Nothing More?
The time spent hanging around, just waiting, just hoping, that another raft will come along, was wearing on Ed and the crew waiting around down here. It has been at least 30 minutes since the last raft had docked and the passengers disembarked.
Ed had the feeling that he had been forgotten down here, but didn't want to call the flight deck and seem to be impatient, they may have their own worries that they are dealing with. Ed is most anxious about his mate Keiran, as he'd heard nor seen nothing from him. Every time a raft docked, Ed prepared himself to greet Keiran, but every time he has been disappointed. Now this long wait and nothing further coming in. He just hopes that Keiran's raft has not been drawn into that anomaly and that instead it is slowly working its way across to the Cosmos 3. Ed hangs onto that thought. Then in an effort to cheer up the crew who are waiting with him, he starts a conversation off about shore leave. There are various stories exchanged about the best and worst ever shore leaves experienced. Ed's ploy works, instead of being miserable and marking time, the crew are chatting and laughing, not noticing all the while that there are still no more rafts heading in.
Suddenly there's a call for Ed. It is the captain, he suggests that as there are no more rafts heading their way for the time being, the crew can stand down and Ed should come back up to the flight deck.
Ed passes on the message and as they disperse in their various directions, they say that they will meet up again soon.
As Ed enters the flight deck he can see instantly that the situation is not good. The Geshbelhaus is now a small blob against the ripples of the anomaly, which now incidentally looks more like a tunnel leading to nowhere. Although that said, there was still the slight impression, of something the other side of the ripples, but whatever it is, is so broken up that it is impossible to figure out quite what it is.
The captain, tells Ed that as the remaining rafts were being sucked into the anomaly, there was no point in leaving Ed on the recovery deck, in any case he thought Ed would want to see this for himself, horrific though it is.
Ed asks the question, that he already knows the answer to in his heart. "Is there nothing we can do for them?"
The captain shakes his head and reports that the captain and crew of the Geshbelhaus had done their utmost to try and slide out of the gravity wave, but it was almost as if it were specifically aimed at them and would not let go. The captain asks if Ed's mate had been aboard any of the escape rafts.
Ed shakes his head and points towards the screen and says, "He must be in there with the rest of them."
The captain suggests that he try to make contact, perhaps start with the captain of the Geshbelhaus. Ed tries to establish voice contact, but the signals are too garbled to make any sense. So Ed tries text, but this is just as bad, the signals so scrambled their comms systems couldn't even establish a link.
The three of them, the captain, Ed and Fjas, watch helplessly feeling the torment of the moment with every fibre of their being, as the Geshbelhaus, slips away from them. It disappears behind the anomaly, swallowed up in those ripples. The three men, none of them speak, but all feel the same way, they would dearly love to follow the Geshbelhaus and try and mount some form of rescue mission. They know, however, that their responsibility now lay in getting those that they have rescued and their own passengers to safety. They stand in silence, staring at the screen, almost as if they are expecting or at least hoping that the Geshbelhaus suddenly re-appear and head back towards them as if spat out by something that didn't like the taste.
The seconds tick by, no movement from either the screen, nor the men still staring at it. It is as if there were a bond between them. In fact there is, the disappearance of the craft, their colleagues, the reason for their trade. Their very souls reaching out to those, who have been swallowed up by that, that thing out there. Look around as much as they can, they can find no reason, no rationale, for this event. No one or thing to blame, apart from the anomaly itself. How can you hang blame on a nameless, faceless, thing? There has to be reason, there has to be purpose, there has to be....
~~~~~~~
Chapter 14 - The Invisible Foe
Shock the doctor had said. Well more like, "Extreme shock and trauma can do this, with care and support, he will recover, but I have to warn you that it could take some time."
Ed had not spoken since "the incident". Whilst Ed's family had not spoken directly with the captain, they had received a communication from him. It enthused support of Ed, acclaiming that he was a great officer and a tribute to the family, the Academy, the company and to himself. The captain had gone on to say, that although they had only served together on the one flight, he could see that Ed was capable of great things and that he wished Ed a speedy recovery and it would be an honour to serve with him again.
The whole almost read as a tribute after Ed's death. Although dead he certainly was not. Whilst there was no emotion showing behind those staring eyes, the medics had confirmed that physically there was nothing wrong with him. Ed's family, especially his mother, had hoped that the sound of their reassuring voices and the sight of their faces would bring him out of his staring existence.
Ed stares on, seeing nothing. Nothing, apart from his brain replaying that scene over and over again. The small escape rafts following the craft that they have come from, into that thing, like babies clinging onto the skirts of their mother as she falls into the fast flowing river. All those lives, lost. Lost to what, to whom? The invisible foe, the one that is most dangerous, you cannot defeat the invisible foe, you cannot find a weakness in what you cannot see. The same thing over and over again, there is no escape, no way out, no way to stop the invisible foe. Every time Ed searches for the least glimmer of hope, he comes to the same conclusions, there is no hope, there is no way out. What happened to Jason and the others will happen to Ed, it is inevitable, he may have escaped so far, but it is only a matter of time before the invisible foe catches up with him also.
Maria, starts to cry, Edward cuddles her to him and says that it will not help distressing herself so, he adds that they have to be strong for Ed's sake.
>
Through tears Maria says that she cannot bear the thought of Ed's torment and who knows what he actually saw out there.
Edward says that Ed is strong and will, with their support win through this thing.
Both Edward and Maria have seen this sort of thing before, when friends working for 'the service' have seen or done things that have been too horrific and it has sent them over the edge. It was somewhat different then though, a kind of unspoken thing, that was 'expected' now and again. Now it was totally different, 'up close', so to speak. This was their own son, they had never, even in heir worst nightmares, expected this to happen to their own flesh and blood. This was not a price that they had expected their son to pay, for taking an active role in normal everyday life. It just wasn't normal, it just wasn't expected. It wasn't right!
There's a sound at the doorway, they turn to see Jenny standing there, also with tear stained face, she sobs and mumbles that she should have never let him go back out there. The two women run to each other and hug. Both crying as much as the other. Edward feels helpless. He looks at his son, who just sits on the edge of the bed, staring out of the window, as if there is an answer to his quest just beyond the window pane. He just continues his unseeing gaze out of the window. Edward just cannot help but walk over to Ed, he gently sits on the bed beside him and hugs him close to him, in the vein hope that the mere act of the physical contact will bring him round from his nightmare. The nightmare that they all feel,even if they don't all share the same visions. They all feel the same sense of torment.