“You will not hide your wounds from me, I am your doctor,” Ludmilla told him bluntly, her tone making the statement an order.
“Sure thing, Doc,” came Bear's grumbled reply.
“Betty, I will need some local anesthetic and the clippers, the area around the wound will need to have the hair removed.”
“Yes, Doctor.” Betty went to fetch the indicated items, relieved to be leaving Bear's immediate vicinity.
“So tell me, Mr. Bear. How did you come to be in the company of the Captain? He is obviously quite fond of you, as is Lt. Curtis.”
“That, Doc, is a long story, better told over drinks—and I mean a lot of drinks—than across an exam table. But you're right, they are my oldest human friends.”
“Do you have any friends among your own kind?”
“Adult male polar bears have no friends. Just competitors and the occasional mate. That lack of social cooperation might be why you apes run the world and we don't.”
“You certainly seem intelligent enough—smarter than some humans I could name. Do you have any children?”
“I think so, lady polar bears don't let fathers hang around, afraid we might eat the cubs. That might be behavior that needs changing too. Jack has been trying to figure out how to help us talking bears. Of course, Jack's biggest problem is he's out to save the whole world.”
Ludmilla looked up and lifted one eyebrow questioningly. “From the deadly alien threat?”
“Hey, you watched the video. Those spider things didn't come from Earth and they fit my definition of hostile. You're not still angry with the Captain, are you?”
“Actually I sort of feel like a fool, now that the existence of aliens has been proven,” Ludmilla confessed, thinking, why am I sharing secrets with a polar bear? I guess it is like talking to a favorite childhood stuffed toy—he's all big and cuddly and trustworthy.
“You know Jack was really upset that you didn't believe him,” Bear ventured, then adding in a lower, confidential tone, “I think he likes you.”
“Really?” Ludmilla looked up from working on Bear's wound. “I am at a loss over how to apologize to him.”
“Just go ask to talk with him in private. He takes that ‘the captain's door is always open’ stuff seriously. Then tell him you misjudged him and you're sorry. Trust me, that will be the end of it.”
“You think so?” Hope rose in the Doctor's voice.
“Absolutely. If you're sincere he'll forgive you in a heartbeat. Babe, you wouldn't believe how many times I've had to apologize to the man.”
Main Lounge, Parker's Folly
Jolene was busy wiping down the bar and cleaning up the lounge area. Melissa, as the ship's horticulturist, had inherited the running of the main mess and bar since none of the normal food services staff had been on board when Folly took off. Since the fresh produce from the hydroponic gardens was intended to supply the mess it seemed like a reasonable expansion of her duties to put her in charge of the entire supply chain—from sprouts to plate. The bar was an added bonus.
The two women shared a cabin on the lower deck and they had naturally started talking. As a result, since Jolene had no real skills for any other shipboard duty, Melissa asked the chief to assign her as a combination waitress, bartender and cleanup person for the main dining area and lounge. Jolene had been happy to help and was actually feeling relieved—or at least less scared—until Tommy Wendover entered by the lower deck companionway.
“Hey Jolene, what ya doing?” said Tommy in a smarmy, ingratiating tone. He wanted something for sure.
“What are you doing here, Tommy? Crew ain't allowed in the main lounge unless the Captain says.”
“That's no way to treat an old friend. And besides, the Captain ain't here.”
“I said, what are you doing here?” Jolene looked around nervously for Melissa, or anyone else.
“Give me a drink, I been doing thirsty work for Colonel Ivan.”
“I told you, the bar ain't open. You're not allowed up here.”
Tommy reached across the bar and grabbed Jolene's wrist. “I said give me a drink, bitch!” he snarled. Snooping for the Colonel had given him some of his swagger back, however unwarranted.
“Let go of me you creep. I'll scream!”
“Go ahead, you can scre... ung” Tommy's remark was cut short by the impact of JT's right forearm at the base of his skull. Tommy released Jolene's wrist and slumped to the floor, on the edge of unconsciousness.
“Was this little gutter snipe bothering you Miss?” JT asked. He was on his way to the bridge from sickbay and happened to overhear the exchange of words between the two former stowaways. JT had pegged Tommy as a worthless shit from the performance he gave during the Captain's meeting a few days back.
“I told him he shouldn't be up here, but he wouldn't go away,” the frightened girl said, on the edge of tears.
“Don't worry, we'll take care of this.” Then addressing his collar mike, “GySgt Rodriguez, this is JT in the lounge. Could you send a couple of your Marines up here? We have some two-legged garbage that needs to be taken out.”
“Roger that, Army,” came the reply. “I can guess the human refuse you're referring to. Sanchez says he owes you one and I think I'll come along myself.”
Bridge, Parker's Folly, Intercept Point
JT had reclaimed his seat at the navigator's station just minutes before the alien ship was scheduled to come in range. Susan scooted aside and gave him a little hug. “Glad you made it back, you had us all worried up here.”
“Good to be back, Miss Susan,” he replied, as though they were still in the KWTEX News van. “As firefights go, that one wasn't so bad.”
The bridge fairly crackled with tension as all stations were manned and ready for Folly's first ship to ship engagement. Even LCpl Reagan, who had finally been released from sickbay, was on deck, sitting in one of the observers' chairs behind the Captain.
“Helm, the target is coming into range, reduce acceleration to zero. That should give us a bit more targeting time.”
“Aye Sir. Reducing engines to zero acceleration.”
“Mr. Vincent, prepare to fire on the enemy craft. Navigation, put the alien vessel on the forward display.” The transparent nose of the ship was overlain with a view of a distant object. That object was growing noticeably larger with each passing second.
“Yes, Sir. We are locked on, Captain.” The rate of closure was so high that human reflexes would not suffice. The ship's computer would actually fire the two forward rail guns when it deemed conditions optimal.
“Sir, it's gone!” cried JT from his console. He had zoomed in using the 20 cm telescope and just sent the live image to the big forward video display. Seconds later, the image wavered and the ship was gone.
“I've lost weapon lock, Sir!” reported Billy Ray.
“Captain, we just picked up a burst of radiation and now the alien vessel is gone from the sensors as well,” added Jo Jo Medina.
“What the hell?” the Captain said softly, more to himself than anyone in particular.
“Captain, do you wish to pursue that craft?” It was the voice of the ship's computer.
“What just happened?”
“No time to explain. Your decision, Captain?”
“Yes, pursue it!” Captain Jack was not one to dither over decisions during combat.
“Roger, initiating,” came the computer's unruffled reply.
The stars around the ship shimmered and then fled both fore and aft, leaving streaks like spilled watercolors. The ship itself shuddered, the way a horse's back twitches when a fly bites. Through the transparent bow, the watercolor streaks formed a ring of light that then swept through the visible spectrum from red to blue, to violet and beyond, expanding and dissipating as it did. Within the ring there was nothing at all.
Directly ahead, the nothing beckoned. It was not mat black, or shiny black, but absolute soul sucking black. It so voraciously devoured any remaining trace of light that
it appeared to almost glow black. Several members of the bridge crew were mesmerized, unable to look away from the yawning nothingness before them.
“Folly, opaque all viewports, shut off the video from the nav station. Now!”
“Yes, Captain.”
The crew found themselves sitting in a gray conical room with only the soft light from the control stations shining in their eyes. Billy Ray shook Bobby, breaking the nothing's spell.
“Dude, what the hell was that?” Bobby said in an almost reverent voice.
“When you stare long into the abyss, the abyss also stares into you,” Billy Ray recited.
“What, Mr. Vincent?” asked the shaken LCpl Feldman from the weapons console on the other side of Bobby.
“Nietzsche. From Beyond Good and Evil,” Billy Ray explained, “I just reckoned it fit.”
“Indeed, Mr. Vincent,” the Captain commented, adding to himself, the first part of that quote is ‘Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.’ Shaking off the words of the dead philosopher, the Captain returned to the task at hand. “Folly, we are flying blind, could you generate a synthetic view of the area around the ship and put it on the main display?”
“Certainly, Captain, but it will be quite uninformative,” the ship replied. “The ship is enclosed in its own isolated bubble of 3-space and should be quite safe as long as conditions are not altered.”
Wonderful, whatever that means, Jack thought. “Attention! Do not change any settings—leave the engines, the shields, the reactor, everything just as they are until I get some answers about what just happened to us. Dr. Gupta, please join me in my sea cabin.” Then over the PA, “Dr. Saito, Lt. Curtis, please come to the Captain's sea cabin. On the double, if you please.”
With that the Captain left the bridge with Dr. Gupta in tow.
Captain's Sea Cabin, Parker's Folly, Location Unknown.
Despite Dr. Gupta's highly excited state the Captain insisted on waiting for the other's to join them in his sea cabin. “Calm down Rajiv. Let's wait for Dr. Saito and Lt. Curtis to get here so we don't have to go over anything twice.”
“Certainly, Captain. But you don't understand! If what just happened is what I think just happened we have just stumbled upon the greatest discovery in the history of science.”
“Fine, we can all split the Nobel Prize.”
“You are joking but I am entirely serious. This is the most spectacular thing I have ever experienced.” Before the ebullient physicist could continue Lt. Curtis arrived with Dr. Saito in tow.
“Sir, I brought Yuki as instructed.” Military training prevented Gretchen from blurting out the hundred questions that were spinning in her head. She prayed that the Captain would make some sense out of this.
“Yes, Captain. I am also most anxious to discover the nature of the phenomenon that we have just experienced,” Dr. Saito added, with a perfunctory bow.
“Thank you for responding quickly, please be seated,” Jack began, raising both hands, palms out, gesturing for silence. “I think we should start by letting the ship's computer present its analysis of our current situation and the events leading up to it.
The two fidgeting scientists and the almost as agitated First Officer could barely contain themselves but managed to hold their tongues. The Captain looked at each of them in turn, his gaze projecting a calm that he himself did not feel inside. Raising his voice he called, “Folly, would you please explain what just happened and were we are?”
“Certainly, Captain. We have followed the alien vessel into alternate dimensional space and are currently en route to another star system. From the prospective of an observer in normal 3-space we are nowhere.”
The two physicists came out of their chairs shouting questions rapid fire while Gretchen sat back with her mouth agape. The Captain again motioned for quiet and the two scientists reluctantly complied.
“I think we will be needing a bit more detail than that, Folly. But first, is the ship in any immediate danger? Are there things we should not do, actions we should refrain from taking?”
“In the largest sense the ship is not in any danger, though transit through alter-space always carries some amount of risk. The ship should not try to change course or accelerate. The shields should remain up and the power settings left unaltered. Venturing outside the ship's hull is not recommended.”
“The weapons systems?”
“They can be powered down without affecting the transit.”
“You say we are in-transit, this implies that we will eventually arrive at some destination. What is that destination and how long will the ship be in alter-space?” If we are indeed traveling to another star system we could be trapped in this state for years, the Captain thought with some trepidation.
“I have calculated that transit should last around seven and a half days. As for the star system, I am not familiar enough with human naming conventions to identify it but it is roughly 30 light-years away from Sol.”
“So we are arriving somewhere, but not here?”
“Yes, Captain. Here is just the nowhere between two places.”
Yuki could no longer contain himself. “Thirty light-years! And you say we will arrive in just over a week? How is this possible?”
“That is correct, Dr. Saito. Perhaps I should explain. Captain?”
“If the ship is not in immediate danger and we are not about to find ourselves popping out in some strange star system at any moment I think we can proceed with a more detailed explanation.”
“Of course, Captain. The explanation lies in the multidimensional nature of the Universe...”
Crew's Dayroom, Lower Deck
The Marines and crew who did not have assigned action stations had gathered in the lounge area between what would have been the enlisted quarters and the chiefs quarters on a Navy vessel. Though they had felt the shudder when Folly departed normal space, the assembled personnel were not really aware that they had just become the first humans to venture into alter-space or to embark on a journey to a star system not their own.
Their interest was held by Tommy Wendover, who was cowering before the mixed party of crew and Marines. Those present were listening to Gunny Rodriguez and Chief Zackly discussing the fate of the aforementioned Wendover.
“So he was on the upper deck without permission, in the bar no less?” the Chief asked.
“That's where we collected him Chief. And that's not all,” the Gunny looked at Tommy with disgust. “He demanded a drink from crew member Betts, even though the bar was closed and he had no business being there in the first place.”
“Well that alone is enough for punishment.”
“Wait, there's more Chief. According to JT, he physically assaulted Ms Betts when she refused to accommodate his unlawful request.”
“I only grabbed her arm!” Tommy protested.
Cpl Sizemore raised a threatening fist and barked, “Shut your pie hole, maggot!” Tommy winced. Black and blue welts on the sides of the prisoner’s face bore evidence of previous verbal indiscretions and their result.
“I saw the bruises on the girl's arm, Chief,” reported the Gunny. “He definitely manhandled her. God knows what would have happened if Mr. Taylor hadn't come upon the altercation.”
“Well, Gunny. I think we have enough to go on, even without Mr. Taylor's testimony,” the Chief said, hands on hips. “Wadda' ya say?”
“Your deck, Chief.”
“Right.” The Chief rubbed one hand across the stubble on his chin as he eyed the man kneeling before him. “I wish I could put you on assholes and elbows duty but we ain't got no wooden decks. Instead, I think five days of solitary confinement on short rations might help to adjust yer attitude.”
“You can't do that, this ain't a trial!” Tommy whimpered.
“The hell I can't, you bent shitcan. Part of what chiefs do on a ship is smooth out little wrinkles like you without bothering the Captain, who has more important things to do. Be thankful that you ain't facing a
captain's mast, 'cause Captain Jack would surely put your sorry ass out the airlock.”
Turning to the Marines standing on either side of the prisoner, the Chief said “Haul this scumbag off to his new quarters.”
As Tommy was hauled away, the Gunny spoke to the Chief in a low voice, “I got a bad feeling about that boy.”
“I think you're right Gunny. That dickhead ain't even got the makings of a decent deck ape. As soon as he's back out he'll step in the shit fer sure.”
Captain's Sea Cabin, Parker's Folly, Alter-space Day 1
“So there have been a number of ways invented to get around Einstein's cosmic speed limit?” asked Dr. Saito of the ship's computer.
“That is correct, Doctor. Traveling through alter-space is one of the more primitive methods. Because of the curvature of space-time caused by gravity and the presence of multiple dimensions beyond normal three dimensional space it is possible to transit between gravity wells by passing through two points of equal potential. Such transits traverse significantly shorter distances than in normal 3-space”
“You are saying we are not really exceeding the speed of light, simply taking a cross dimensional short cut,” Yuki prompted, still trying to absorb what the computer was telling him.
“Essentially, Dr. Saito. The greater the potential, the shorter the effective distance and the faster the transit. But to access the short cut a ship must be headed on the proper vector—one that describes a course in 3-space between the two gravity wells—and traveling with sufficient velocity. A ship can then use generated gravity to slip through to alter-space.”
“The shudder we felt just prior to the transition, that was what let us through?” asked Dr. Gupta.
“Merely a side effect. A coupling between the ship's gravitonic drives and shields created a harmonically coupled distortion of local space. This allowed the ship to fall through the normal curved 3-dimensional surface of space into other dimensions that are normally not accessible. You might think of the oscillations as breaking the gravitational surface tension of 3-space.”
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