Strange New Worlds

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “De Toro, any word from the Satori’s people?” Dan asked.

  “Still trying, sir. No response yet. But I’m not sure our signals are reaching far from the ship. Whatever that interference was, it’s getting worse as we move closer to that thing out there.”

  The screen flickered. For a second, Dan thought he saw Beth’s face there. He rubbed his eyes. Wishful thinking wasn’t going to help save her. Then the screen flashed again. “What’s causing that?”

  “No idea, sir. The system seems to be running normally.”

  The screen jumped a third time. This time Beth’s face was even more clearly visible there. Dan froze, then glanced over at De Toro.

  “I saw her too, sir.” The lieutenant bent over his console. “I think we’re picking up a stream of data from the planetoid. It might be the Satori’s crew have figured out how to piggyback their own communication onto the aliens’ communication systems.”

  “Good job, Beth!” Dan murmured. He stepped back to his chair. “Can you get her back?”

  “Working on it,” De Toro said. “Wow! Whatever was jamming our signals is gone entirely. And…there we go!”

  The screen snapped and hissed. It went black for a moment, then lit back up again with Beth’s face floating there.

  Floating was the only way Dan could describe it. All he could see was her head, from about the chin up, floating in a cloudy environment. She opened her mouth like she was speaking, but no sound came out. Her eyes narrowed into a classic Beth look — the one that said “this stupid machine will bend to my will or die.” Dan had to smile at that. She closed her eyes, then opened them again.

  “How about now?” Beth asked.

  “Hear you loud and clear,” Dan replied. “Good work! The Inde is inside the sphere. Send us your coordinates and we’ll get a shuttle out to pick you up.”

  Dan gestured to De Toro, who nodded a reply. He’d get a shuttle ready to go pick up their missing team. Soon as they had a location, they could get Beth and then get the hell out of there. Just because the alien ship hadn’t seen them as a threat yet didn’t mean they were safe.

  “You need to stop the ship. You’re in danger,” Beth said.

  Dan didn’t hesitate. If there was anyone in the universe he trusted implicitly… He turned to Ensign Scott and snapped, “All stop.”

  “All stop, aye,” Scott replied, working the controls. The ship fired thrusters to stop its forward motion. Then it flipped end over end and used the main engine to slow still further.

  “Want to tell me what’s going on?” Dan asked.

  “You’re danger-close to a singularity. It’s contained, but the damage made a mess of things, and your proximity almost set off a containment failure,” Beth said. “I’m keeping the thing together for now, or the Inde would’ve already been vaporized. But there are gravitational anomalies in the area right around it. Wander into one…”

  “Bad, I take it?” Dan asked with a wry grin.

  “Ayala assures me it would be fatal,” Beth replied. “The shuttle should be safe so long as it moved further away from the center, rather than toward it. I’m sending you coordinates now.”

  “Got them,” De Toro said. “Launching a shuttle.”

  Beth’s face on the screen flinched like she was in pain. Her visage straightened again after a moment, but Dan didn’t doubt what he’d seen.

  “Are you all right? Is your team safe?” Dan asked.

  “The team is fine. I’m another story,” Beth replied. “But it was worth it to save you.”

  “What do you mean?” Dan asked. He felt panic rising in his chest and fought it down. She was in danger. Whatever it was, he’d get her out of it. Just like they’d always done for each other.

  “I’ve basically got my thumb on a proverbial kill-switch here,” Beth replied. “The whole system is only holding together so long as I stay focused on it. I take my hand off the controls and boom.”

  Dan ran a hand through his hair. “How big a boom are we talking?”

  “A contained singularity suddenly going free? I have no idea,” Beth said.

  He didn’t know what that would look like either, but it would be bad. Really, horribly bad for anyone nearby. Including Beth. Damn it all, there had to be a way to save her! Dan wasn’t willing to just give up.

  “Shuttle is closing on their position now. Major Ayala reports he’s ready to blow a hole in the inner hull as soon as we’re close,” De Toro said.

  “We have comms with him again?” Dan asked.

  “All communications seem to be back up. The jamming is gone,” De Toro replied.

  “Give me a direct link to Ayala.” Beth might not be able to put her own needs above the others around her, but Dan was willing to bet Ayala felt about the same as he did.

  “Major Ayala here, sir.”

  “Major, I’ve been in comms with Captain Wynn and have a general feel for the situation. She’s stuck in there, and if she leaves, the whole place blows?” Dan asked. “Any further data you can give me?”

  “Sir, I don’t think the containment failure will happen the instant she leaves, no,” Ayala replied. “How long a rescue effort would have, I don’t know. A minute or two, at least. Maybe longer. Wormholes are out. Might blow the whole thing up early. Captain Wynn feels like it’s in pretty bad shape.”

  Minutes to get clear of the catastrophe that would engulf a world-sized object wasn’t nearly enough. But Dan latched on to Ayala saying ‘maybe longer.’ That meant there was a chance, and if even a sliver of hope remained, he was determined to follow it. A rough plan started forming in his head, one that made him smile. Beth wouldn’t approve, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d done something like this.

  “Get them onto the shuttle and back to the Independence as quickly as possible,” Dan ordered. “Ensign Scott, get us underway. The shuttle can link up with us as we depart, but I want the ship well clear of any potential blast area, and that means moving out now.”

  “And Captain Wynn?” De Toro asked, his voice soft.

  “We’re not giving up on her just yet,” Dan replied, his voice tight. “Get me a communication link to the Satori.”

  Thirty-Four

  The force of the wind was like a physical blow against Charline’s entire body. She gasped involuntarily at the sudden freezing cold. The air blasted around her, tossing her back and forth inside the cockpit. Only her harness held her in place at all while the canopy slowly forced itself open, the hydraulics struggling against the mighty air currents.

  Finally, it had lifted all the way. Charline frowned. Linda had a clear path for a leap, but her friend wasn’t moving. Linda stood there huddled against the side of the hatch, staring wide-eyed at Charline.

  “Jump. You have to jump,” Charline muttered under her breath. She knew Linda couldn’t hear her, but she couldn’t help mouthing the words anyway.

  Linda clung to the doorway for what felt like forever. She looked half ready to jump, half terrified at the prospect. Charline ground her teeth together in frustration. There was literally nothing she could do to help her friend. She had to reach this decision on her own. Linda’s survival was entirely in her own hands. But Charline kept her eyes locked on her, like she could somehow make the other woman jump through willpower alone.

  She was already growing numb from the freezing cold, which meant the shuttle had reached a significant altitude. The wind howled through the cockpit, tearing at her like it wanted to claw Charline out of her seat and hurl her into the empty sky. That wasn’t a real concern. The straps of her harness pinned Charline in place securely enough. But would Linda be able to make the leap, or was it already too late? The same hurricane blasts freezing her body would try their best to carry Linda away, as well.

  Charline blinked, and in the space of time that her eyes were closed, Linda vanished. For a panicked moment, she thought her friend had tried the jump and failed. That Linda had missed the leap or been swept away by a gust. But surely, she would�
��ve heard or seen something if that been the case?

  It was more likely Linda had given up and retreated back inside the shuttle. Charline couldn’t blame her. Already, the roaring wind was so strong she couldn’t imagine someone surviving the jump. She shivered, the cold biting at her through her uniform. The button to close her canopy was there, just inside her reach, but Charline couldn’t bring herself to give up on her friend. Not yet. Not while there remained even the glimmering of a chance.

  Like she’d been summoned by the thought, Linda appeared again in the open doorway. Charline exhaled a pent-up breath in a single huff. Where there was life there was always hope, and she wouldn’t stop trying. Not ever.

  Her friend was carrying something in her hands, tugging at it. Charline couldn’t imagine what could possibly be so important that Linda had wasted precious moments to go back for it. Then she got a good look at the object. It was a hook, attached to a long cable. Of course! The shuttles were equipped with a mechanical grapple for hauling heavy objects. Linda dropped the hook and sent it sailing down toward Charline.

  It banged against her raised canopy with a vibration Charline could feel through her seat, even if she couldn’t hear it over the howling wind. She winced. If that thing so much as put a crack in her Armor, they were both dead.

  Linda saw the problem and played out more line. The wind whirled the hook away. It passed tantalizingly close to Charline’s grasp. She reached out but missed. It swung around again but remained just outside her reach.

  Catching the hook was going to be harder than it looked. The same harness keeping her safely strapped into her Armor was preventing Charline from reaching out far enough. It swung past her again, twirling in the gale.

  “Damn it.” Charline reached down and unbuckled the harness. She clung to her console with the other hand, locking her legs around the seat as well.

  Then she stood up. The wind tore at her, trying to haul her out and fling her into the open air. Air which was getting thin. It was already growing difficult to breathe. They were running out of time. Charline reached out for the spinning hook as it swept down toward her again.

  It impacted her right arm with a crack that she felt all the way to her shoulder. Pain flashed down the limb. Her hand went numb. She’d broken something in the arm, or at least hurt herself badly. Charline pushed the pain from her mind as best she could, stifling a gasp, and reached out with her other hand to snatch the hook out of the air. Her fingers caught it, and she sat back down, using the weight of her body to drag the hook down inside the cockpit.

  The wind wasn’t done with the hook, though, trying to tear it from her hand. She used the momentum of the air’s pull to slam the hook into the side of her cockpit. It caught there on a handlebar. She held her breath, hoping it would hold. The line went taut — Linda must have seen her grab it and took in the slack. Smart woman. Charline felt dizzy as the pain came rushing back. She looked up and saw Linda already hooking her suit to the line.

  Moments later, the scientist was half-sliding, half-falling into the cockpit. Linda landed all but on top of Charline, twisting her right arm. She cried out at the sudden pain of bones grinding together. Yeah, something was definitely broken.

  “You’re hurt!” Linda shouted over the wind.

  “No time.” Charline shook her head and pointed. “Hit that button.”

  Linda did as she bid, slapping the button hard. The Armor’s canopy slid back down into place. Hydraulics strained and squealed, but then the rush of air slowed and finally stopped. There was a quiet hiss as the cockpit returned to internal air supply.

  The sky was growing darker. Was she blacking out? Charline smiled through gritted teeth. The cockpit was small enough for one person, but it was far too small for two. Bad enough at the best of times, but every movement Linda made sent waves of pain through her arm.

  No, the blackness was space. They’d finally reached the upper atmosphere. Charline saw the planet’s curves below her through her screens. The shuttle’s gentle acceleration kept her pressed back against her Armor’s straps, but they were definitely high enough to be in freefall now. She glanced at her console, watching for the red telltales that would indicate a breach in the airtight compartment. If her armor had been punched through during the fighting, it would leak atmosphere. She listened at the same time for any hissing sound of escaping air.

  There was nothing. Charline heaved a sigh of relief and settled back. “We’re okay.”

  “You call this okay? We’re in orbit!” Linda said.

  “The armor can handle it. It’s designed to be able to operate the space,” Charline replied. She deliberately omitted her concerns about leaking atmosphere. The seal was unbroken, so they were OK — for the moment, anyway.

  Linda snorted. “Sure, but is it also designed for reentry?”

  That, at least, Charline had a good answer for. “All I need to do is let go, signal to the Satori, and they’ll come to pick us up. That’s why I had to wait until we were in freefall.”

  “Oh. That is a good idea,” Linda admitted.

  Charline glanced outside, checking the area around her arms before commanding the Armor to release its grip on the shuttle. She was immediately glad she had. Small spider robots dotted her arms. A few of them had dug in against her suit’s metal plating, clinging like limpets. Others had managed to attach themselves to both her armor and the shuttle itself. If she tried to break loose, she would jostle those and probably damage them. Who knew how the rest of the spiders might react?

  “We got a problem,” Charline said softly.

  “Just one? That’s a relief,” Linda replied.

  “Well, I guess it’s technically more than one. We’ve got company out there. Some of the spiders have grabbed on, and if I let go of the shuttle, the ones all over my Armor might decide we’re a threat after all,” Charline said.

  “But the Armor can hold out against them, right?” Linda asked.

  “For a short while, sure. But out here even a small crack in our air seal is going to be very bad for us,” Charline pointed out.

  “Well, shit. Where do you think they’re taking us?” Linda asked. Then she looked at the screen showing the shuttle. “And what are they doing out there?”

  Charline looked. The spiders on the outside of the shuttle weren’t quiescent anymore. They’d become active and were hauling bits and pieces out of the shuttle, attaching them to the ship’s nose. “I have no idea.”

  They were building something out there, but what? More spiders were coming out now, dragging thick cables from inside the shuttle and attaching them to the device. Power supplies? They were hooking something into the shuttle’s systems. Upgrading it, maybe? The design looked familiar somehow.

  Then she realized where she recognized it from. Charline had seen a similar design, all right. She’d even helped repair it. “Holy shit. They’re building a wormhole drive.”

  “What? How?” Linda asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe they’ve always had the ability,” Charline replied. But then why steal the shuttle? If they could make a wormhole drive, they never needed the ship. “Maybe they somehow scanned the Satori and got the designs?”

  “Mmm. Either way, we’re about to take a very long trip somewhere,” Linda pointed out.

  “Maybe. Maybe not,” Charline said. She reached around Linda with her good hand and started pecking out commands on her keyboard. She’d been a programmer long before she was piloting combat Armor. The robots had to be connected to the shuttle’s computer systems to control it, and she could still interface with those same systems.

  “Gotcha,” Charline said. Lines of code scrolled by her screen. Her smile faded. Way too much information to process. The raw amount of communication going on between those robots was stunning. She couldn’t understand any of it, either. Maybe with time she could come up with an algorithm to translate it, but they didn’t have enough time. There was only one being alive who might be able to manage it quickly enou
gh.

  “Satori, this is Colonel Foster, calling for emergency assistance. Please respond.”

  Majel was her best hope.

  Thirty-Five

  “Major Ayala and the other members of his team are aboard the rescue shuttle,” De Toro reported. His voice was flat, the knowledge there was one person the shuttle hadn’t been able to save still down there taking the victory out of the words. Beth was still trapped there, sacrificing herself so the rest of them could get away.

  “Understood,” Dan said. Leave Beth behind? Hell no, that wasn’t happening. Dan had an idea in mind that could save her. There was a way to get her out, but it was risky. It wasn’t the first time he’d attempted something of this sort, and ironically, the last time had been to rescue Beth as well.

  The idea of losing her inside that thing made him willing to take any chance and pay any costs necessary to save her. He tapped his radio, opening a link to the Satori. Now that the aliens were no longer jamming their communications, maybe he could find a better solution. “Majel, I’m told you can’t jump in without blowing the whole mess up.”

  “I suspect Major Ayala is correct in that assessment,” the AI replied.

  Dan drummed his fingers. “A lone fighter might be able to slip in there, grab her, and get out before the whole thing went up.”

  “I don’t think you’d have time. From the information Major Ayala passed along, my guess is the fighter would get caught in the explosion.”

  Dammit, there had to be a way. Dan wasn’t giving up on Beth without a fight. “There must be something we can do!”

  Majel was quiet for a moment, which usually meant she was deep in thought. Dan all but held his breath, praying the AI could figure out a solution to their predicament. He checked the local scan while he waited. The Independence was already clearing the planetoid’s inner shell. Once the ship was completely out, they’d be able to accelerate much more quickly. The distance between Beth and any hope of rescue would grow exponentially at that point.