by Sam Lippert
Being an only child can be quite difficult for someone who is essentially sequestered in the Palace for safety reasons. To alleviate the loneliness and social awkwardness that would usually ensue, soon after the birth of an heir a call goes out to orphanages throughout the Empire for a child of the same gender and similar age as the new prince or princess. The suitable orphan, once found, is brought to live in the palace, and is raised with the royal child as a de facto member of the royal family. The Royal and the orphan develop a bond that is more than best friend, even more than traditional siblings, verging closer to that of twins. As the royal nears matrimony, the orphan prepares for a post-palace career, knowing they will always be treated as family in the palace.
Omany had been groomsman to Emperor Randalf, Remini's late father. It was this association, quite literally the entirety of his life prior to joining the order, which had led to a debt to his 'brother' that could never be repaid. Partial payment of which had resulted in Omany's current role as Remini's mentor. Another installment was made when Omany had chosen, against the laws of the Verstaten order, to not only reveal the Ways of the Body, Mind and Spirit to the young princess, but to teach them to her as well. A decision he knew he would one day have to pay a price for.
The Ways were a closely held secret. The First Elite of Verstaten, having thoroughly studied history, had decided that the general population of humanity could not be trusted with the control over the body and the access to the spirit plane that came about through the mental discipline of the Order. Not only that, the Elite were also quite aware that even the knowledge that the Order possessed these abilities would prove to be a danger to them all. Thus, revealing anything about the Ways to someone not accepted into the order was forbidden.
The amount of training Omany had illicitly provided to Remi's subconscious, while far short of that of a Verstaten cleric, was leaps and bounds above that of a normal human. The full unconsciousness brought on by the Twilight gas came upon her slowly, giving her time to prepare. Even as the agent took hold of her physical self, that enduring spark that was actually Remi burned bright, undimmed by the chemical.
Her training dictated that the first order of business was to do a full check of her unconscious body, and ensure there was no immediate danger to that part of her “self.” Her vital signs were stable, however it was obvious that her current state was the result of a chemical, not the lingering effects of Tenguary Fever. In fact, she could find no residual effects of the Fever on her body at all. There were no more damaged cells than usual, and no noticeable remapping of the neurons in her memory center. Once again she had the veloubious feeling. She was unsurprised that her memories were actually her own, but shocked that Marag was lying to her and keeping her sedated.
Even though it was unsurprising, she was relieved to know that the events of the last few months were real. Her time aboard the Nola had been pleasant as well as exciting. And Nathan... Better not to pursue that line of thought without the anchorage of her body! Obviously she could not trust anything Marag had told her. The only thing that was sure is that she was aboard the Kurufet Rising. She definitely needed to acquire more data.
First things first. Utilizing more secret Verstaten training she ordered her immune cells to create an antibody for the injected component of Twilight. While this would not help with her current state of consciousness, it would render her immune to any future injections. With one more check of her autonomic functions she was ready.
Astral projection, or spirit walking, was known to even the earliest of humans, however only a select few ever develop the mental acuity necessary to leave their physical body at any time other than during a near death experience. The ability was yet another of the Verstaten secrets Omany had taught the Princess. Under Omany's guidance Remi had done the spirit walk a handful of times, but this was going to be her first solo attempt. Luckily the Twilight gave her a bit of a head start.
She sat up, or rather her spirit self did. Omany had stressed that until she had much more experience in the spirit plane, it was important to act as if she were still inhabiting her body, at least as much as possible. That meant walking, not hovering or flying, and no “teleporting” from one place to another. It was easy for the inexperienced to lose their bearings and become lost, never finding their way back to their body. That risk was doubly so when traveling in space, rather than being safely planet bound.
She stood up and began to move towards the door. None of the physical features of the ship offered any resistance to her spirit form. She could go anywhere. The question was where to start. She made her way out into the corridor and traveled down to the next stateroom. Omany's quarters, or at least it would be had things been routine. She was not sure what she would find there, but it was close and seemed as good a place as any to start. Especially if Marag wasn't lying about Omany being dead.
Remi pushed though the doorway into Omany's small living space. Her teacher's spirit form was sitting, in lotus, on the floor. He looked up at her as she entered.
“I was beginning to think you were not going to come,” Omany said in his even tones. “Sit, we have much to share.” Remi sat facing the spirit form of the old man, 'folding' her 'legs' into lotus.
“I assume by your presence here that you have ascertained that although you are aboard the Royal Yacht, things are not as they should be.”
“Yes, teacher,” Remi responded. “General Marag came to see me when I awoke and gave me some story about my having had Tenguary Fever, but then he knocked me out using Twilight.”
“I am afraid that our old friend Marag is up to something nefarious. Let me relate to you our final minutes aboard the Nola as I saw them.” With that Omany recounted the boarding and firefight. Along with the use of Kalifet military equipment and personnel.
“As my body lost consciousness I was, of course, able to keep my spirit self awake and alert, much as I assume you did when Marag exposed you to Twilight. I slowed my metabolism down to a near death state, believing that the appearance of being dead would guarantee that no one in the boarding party would take steps to ensure it was the case. I was more than a little surprised to find Marag in charge. At first I thought it was some 'test' put on by your mother, but in retrospect I do not believe she would have ordered troops into a deadly situation as a 'test.' She is far to compassionate to waste life in that manner.”
“Are you aboard the Kurufet Rising now?” Remi inquired.
“Obviously.” her teacher replied, “as I am talking to you.”
“Forgive me, I should have been more specific.” Remi's spirit lips curled into a smile, knowing that Omany's chiding was playful in nature. “Is your body aboard Kurufet Rising?”
“Yes, it is currently in the morgue on the medical deck.”
“What about Nathan?” Remi asked. “Is he alright?”
“I do not know Princess. As you and I were being carried off the Nola, Marag's soldiers were smashing all of the electronics aboard. Marag ordered someone to 'take care' of Captain Daniels, but I do not believe he was killed, as I did not feel his essence enter the spirit plane. If he was left alive, however, he will not remain that way for long. The ship was totally ransacked and rendered un-flyable.”
“Then we must not dally here any longer than necessary.” Remi said in a very 'matter-of-fact' tone. “We must discover what exactly Marag is embroiled in, who aboard ship we can trust and then find a way to escape.”
“My thoughts exactly, Princess.” The duo began to plan. Omany let the Princess take the lead as nothing compares to real life when it comes to providing 'teachable moments.'
CHAPTER VIII
Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) or Spacewalk, whichever you wanted to call it, Nathan hated doing it with a passion! Nothing made you feel more alone in the universe than being individually wrapped in the cocoon of a space suit surrounded by the great abyss of interstellar space. Even the smallest mistake during EVA can cause you to wind up very dead. If you were lucky th
e mistake that killed you would be a puncture of your suit that caused all of your oxy to be replaced by raw vacuum, killing you in a rather quick manner. If you are the unlucky type you might find yourself slowly drifting away from your spacecraft to eventually suffocate or freeze depending on which lasted longer, your oxygen or your suit's batteries.
Nathan would not be on the wrong side of Nola's hull if he had any other choice, but the truth was he was risking possible death by going outside in order to sidestep certain death if he were to remain inside. Whoever had ransacked the ship really made a mess of things. Although as near as he could tell the core of the ship's systems were good, every piece of electronics necessary to activate, diagnose and control those systems had been destroyed. It was only a matter of time until the Nola was nothing more than a drifting, absolute zero freezer, with even the atmo on board frozen solid.
It was the contemplation of that fate that had brought Nathan to the exterior of his beloved ship. He tried to be prepared for anything, and given the age of the Nola it was always possible that some component might break down, leaving him stranded on some backwater world simply because a replacement part was not available. For this reason he carried back-ups of every critical component on the ship. Since every cubic meter of space aboard a trading ship, especially one as small as the Nola, was at a premium, he had to be very creative about how he carried these spare components.
Fortunately for Nathan, space that was at a premium on the inside of Nola was literally unlimited on the outside. This had led Nathan to affix the most vital of components in various nooks and crannies on the hull of the ship. This idea had seemed brilliant when he had done it, and it had taken over a month planet-side in the most sophisticated hanger facility he could afford to rent to accomplish the hull modifications in such a way that Nola was still aerodynamic and the components were protected if the ship's shields were to fail during re-entry. He had never intended to have to retrieve any of the components while not being somewhere that had both gravity and a breathable atmosphere, and truth be told, while this was not the first time he had needed one of the emergency components, it was the first time the need had arisen while marooned several dozens of light years from anywhere.
Because of his fear and hatred of spacewalking Nathan took every possible precaution when he was forced to do it, which was far more often then he liked. He had spared no expense on his spacesuit. His oxy tanks would last for four hours when full, and he made sure they were always full. The suit used fuel cells instead of batteries, they were rated for six hours, and he kept them at their maximum hydrogen capacity.
Even before he was outside the ship, he reached out and clipped a tether to the welded ring next to the airlock. The tether was a one-thousand meter long strand of braided carbon nano-fiber, with enough tensile strength it could have been used to tow the Nola. The fiber was wound on a winch firmly attached to a Kevlar harness secured over his suit. The winch allowed him to slowly pay out the line while keeping him firmly connected to the ship. For good measure his suit had emergency jets that provided two minutes of thrust, in case he found himself dislodged from the ship with his tether unhooked or, by some impossibility, broken. Finally, he had a pair of grav boots which, when activated, attached themselves to the hull of the ship with a satisfying 'thunk.' Most lifelong 'spacers' considered this overkill, but it still was not enough to make Daniels cavalier about going out an airlock while the ship was in space.
He walked across the hull with a thunk-clink-thunk-clink, identifying and detaching the components he would need to effect repairs. He carried each part back to the airlock, carried it into the lock, and lashed it down. Nathan would have liked to cycle through the lock with each component, just to ensure nothing got away from him and went floating off into the abyss, but because of the way the boarding party had savaged the Nola, he was stuck manually cranking the doors on the lock. Doing so for each part would just waste precious time, energy and oxy.
It took the better part of his four hours worth of air for him to locate all of the components, remove the protective shielding, detach them and return to the airlock. Finally, with about fifteen minutes left on his suit clock he was returning with his final part, the spare n-wave radio. He was taking a different route back to the airlock, so that he could stop and check the final FTL transtator for damage, when his boot caught causing him to trip.
A person tripping in microgravity looks absolutely nothing like a person tripping in a gravity field. When the action of gravity is involved, millions of years of evolution acts in conjunction with your reflexes to rapidly twist and contort your body in an attempt to keep that gravity field from sending you crashing to the ground. This reflexive action can work quite well in the usual planet-side situation, often keeping you from injuring yourself by falling to the ground, or at the very least allowing you to break your fall somewhat and mitigate any injury. In fact, this works so well it is practically impossible to make your body not do it when you encounter a 'trip' situation.
This reflex not only does not help in microgravity, it makes things worse. First, your body attempts to regain its balance, using the signals from your inner ear to do so. Unfortunately, those signals are meaningless in microgravity (this condition causes what many refer to as space-sickness), and in its attempt to prevent a fall that probably isn't going to happen anyway, your body flails around in an uncontrollable fashion. Without gravity, this motion actually sends you up and away from the bulkhead you are walking on, and in Nathan's case, dislodging the one grav boot that was still attached to the hull. Finally, in an attempt to protect yourself from injury from a 'fall' that isn't really happening, you let go of anything you might be carrying and throw your hands up in front of your face. The end result is that you have not only propelled yourself away from the ship, you have also introduced a lateral movement to both your body and whatever you were carrying.
So, when Nathan tripped he sent himself on a thirty-one degree trajectory away from the Nola, and effectively 'threw' the n-wave away roughly parallel to the surface of the ship. By the time he recovered from the initial trip and the shock of being dislodged from the ship and locked the winch to stop his momentum, he was ten meters away from the Nola and the n-wave was nowhere to be seen.
Nathan engaged the motor on the winch, winding in the tether which slowly moved him back down to the surface of the ship. He was puzzled by the fact that he had tripped. He knew every inch of the Nola's hull at least as well as he knew his own body, and there should not have been anything to trip him in the area where he had his mishap.
By the time his grav boots reattached to the Nola with their satisfying 'thunk' he had just under five minutes of oxy left. It would be cutting it close, but he had to know what had caused the incident.
He thunk-clink-thunked back, carefully scanning the hull before him with his eyes, an action which meant walking in a stooped position, due to the limited visibility offered by a space suit. Once he was actually looking, instead of relying on the image of the hull that was in his mind's eye, the protrusion stood out like a sore thumb. Something had been attached to the hull of his precious ship without his knowledge!
Squatting, Nathan deactivated the grav bracket that was holding the object in place, and carried it with him back to the airlock. He was not sure exactly what the apparatus was, but it did have an n-wave antenna on it, meaning there was likely circuitry inside that he could adapt to replace the n-wave unit the thing had caused him to lose. After all, he was going to have to disassemble the unit to figure out what exactly it was anyway.
* * *
Nathan worked for thirty-six hours straight repairing what he could of the Nola. He didn't have time to waste. The raiders had left him fuel, oxy and water, indicating either their tanks had been full, or they did not feel taking these items was worth their effort. He was, however, without food. Granted, if he had to pick which of the four necessities of space travel he was to be without, food would be the winner, still the lac
k of food provided a time clock on his activities. He needed to find a port where he could resupply and properly repair the ship. Only then could he even begin to look for Remi.
A little bit of work with the newly restored navcomp gave Nathan an answer that did not surprise him in the least. His nearest port was Nexus, where they had been headed before their trip had been so rudely interrupted. He nudged the Nola forward with thrusters to give her the tiniest forward velocity so he could engage FTL, as the gravity well that had stopped the Nola was gone, having been artificially created by the raiders to start with. It would be about three days travel time to Nexus. Time enough to get some sleep before cracking open the mysterious device and hopefully correcting his little n-wave problem.
* * *
In order for an interstellar trading spacecraft to function efficiently and safely, there needs to be a member of the crew with at least a functioning knowledge of: piloting, computer programming, electronics, n-wave physics, FTL physics, astrogation, hydraulics, nutrition, accounting, orbital mechanics, microfluidics and practical engineering. Since he traveled without a crew of any kind, and he generally had at least a week to kill between ports, Nathan had taken it upon himself to obtain at least a basic knowledge of each of the aforementioned skills, and something close to a mastery of the most important.
Therefore, when he had 'encountered' the device on the hull of the Nola he had little doubt that he could disassemble it, divine its function, and re-purpose at least a portion of it into a functioning n-wave transceiver.