by Linn Schwab
“Do we have any docks available?”
“Seventeen is empty.”
Commander Michelson headed for the exit. “Inform the captain I’ll meet her there. And direct the fighter pilot to hangar two. Have someone escort her to the briefing room.”
“Yes, Commander.”
When Robin and her crew stepped inside the spur, Commander Michelson was waiting for them just beyond the airlock.
“Captain Starling,” the commander greeted her, “welcome back to Centaurus. Before I inundate you with questions, do you have any intelligence to share that you feel might be of a critical nature?”
“No,” Robin answered, fighting back a yawn. “We’re just trying to get back to Volaris.”
Commander Michelson looked each of the girls over. “I can see every one of you is thoroughly exhausted. I wish I could release you to get some rest, but at the moment I’m desperate for information. We’ve been mired in this fog for more than two days now, and so far you’re the first outside contact we’ve had. I’ll need you to accompany me to the briefing room. Once we’ve finished there, I’ll find some quarters for you so you can get some sleep.”
Robin nodded and followed her to the elevator. The rest of her crew dragged themselves along behind her.
Virginia was already in the room when they arrived, looking every bit as tired as Robin felt. Commander Michelson seemed surprised when she saw the black fight suit. “Well,” she said to Robin, “you’re certainly traveling in excellent company. And you would be?”
“Lieutenant Virginia Scot, Commander.”
“I’m Commander Michelson. Welcome to Centaurus, Lieutenant.” She instructed the girls to sit down at a table, then immediately inquired about the fog’s origin. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said. “This mess just came out of nowhere, it seems. Do you have any idea at all what might have caused this?”
“Yes,” Robin said. “We think it was a comet.”
“VC–122,” Mindy added.
“Okay,” the commander said, “assuming you’re right about that … how does a comet create a cloud of fog like this?”
“Our missile ships blew it apart,” Robin explained. “And I think some of it must’ve crashed into Pangea.”
“That makes sense,” Virginia said. “I was flying near the edge of Pangea when a wall of ice particles swamped my fighter.”
“So,” Commander Michelson said, “chunks of comet ice careened through Pangea, grinding themselves into little bits along the way. I suppose that would create a lot of friction. And maybe a good amount of fog as well. Can you give me some idea how much area it covers?”
“From what we’ve seen, it covers nearly all of Sentinel space,” Virginia said. “Your station is very close to the edge of it now. It seems to be shrinking or collapsing inward toward Valhalla.”
“So you were outside it then?” the commander asked.
“Yes. We were attempting to make our way back to Volaris after chasing off a pair of enemy cruisers. But both of us were running low on fuel, and this was the only station we could find. Volaris, and Orion, and all the other bases are still hidden deep inside the fog right now.”
“And what about these enemy cruisers you mentioned? Are they somewhere in this immediate vicinity?”
“No,” Virginia said. “They turned tail and ran. Captain Starling scared them off with a barrage of torpedoes.”
The commander seemed pleased. “Well done, Captain Starling. I’ll see to it that the Cricket is rearmed and refueled. And the same for your fighter, Lieutenant Scot. In the meantime, I’ll let you all get some sleep. We’ll talk again later when you’re better rested.”
She stood up and led them to an empty bunk room just a few doors down the corridor. The beds were all made and waiting for them, promising comfort for their weary bodies. As Robin rested on her back, looking up at the ceiling, she thought about the people she’d killed in battle, and found she was nervous about closing her eyes. Will their deaths haunt me the same way Christie was haunted? Will I hear them screaming? Will I see them dying? Will I ever be able to sleep again? Determined not to fall prey to that fate, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and tried to envision a familiar mountain in the distance, peaked with a glistening cap of snow. Thankfully, the mountain was there for her — a welcome distraction to help ease her into sleep … so long as she made no attempt to approach it.
“Anything yet?” Commander Freeling asked.
Lacey checked the radar screen. “Nothing, Commander. Same as before. We’re still hearing fragments of radio transmissions, but our radar isn’t picking up any contacts.”
Delia sighed and paced back and forth in frustration. For nearly three days now, Orion had been besieged by lingering fog. And for nearly three days now, the Calypso had essentially been trapped there, along with the Hornets that had come to assist her in tracking a prototype enemy destroyer. Though Jordan and Cora were happy to be reunited with their friends and former shipmates for a while, Delia was growing increasingly impatient. The radio was picking up pieces of transmissions that suggested there were enemy ships nearby. But visibility was severely limited right now, and the station’s scanners were practically useless, if they were even functioning at all.
“We should send someone out there,” she said to the commander. “Just to see if our radar is actually working. And if it is, what kind of effective range it has.”
Commander Freeling shook her head. “It’s still too risky. You might get lost or slam into something you can’t even see. I know you’re concerned about those enemy ships, but this fog favors gunships over fighters and destroyers. It shifts the advantage to vessels that can fire in close combat. How would you set up a torpedo attack on a target your scanners can’t detect, and you can’t even see till it’s right in front of you? I realize you’re eager to be of assistance, Captain Pomeroy. But this situation is best left to cruisers and dreadnoughts.”
“You’re right, of course,” Delia said. “I should be thinking more clearly. I’m letting my frustration get the better of me.”
“Stay fresh and rested,” the commander advised her. “When this fog passes, which I assume it will eventually, you and your crew may suddenly see a lot of action.”
“Yes, Commander,” Delia replied, then left the control room and headed for the elevators. After riding a lift down to the cafeteria level, she made her way to the observation lounge, where she found the Hornets sitting at adjacent tables. The room was filled with destroyer crews and fighter pilots who were passing time while waiting for the fog to disburse. After scanning the room for familiar faces, she took a seat in between Jenny and Nancy.
“Any news yet?” Jenny asked her.
“No. It appears we’re still stuck here.”
“Better here than out there,” Nancy said, pointing to the fog outside the windows.
When Delia looked across the room, she saw faces staring at her from all directions, and whispers being passed back and forth between strangers. “Maybe for you,” she said to Nancy. “But I don’t seem to be very popular here.”
“What makes you say that?” Jenny asked.
“Take a look around,” Delia said. “They’re all staring at me like I’m some kind of outsider. None of them will even speak to me beyond the exchange of polite hellos. Do you suppose they’re upset because I took Jordan and Cora away from them?”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Jenny insisted. “You and your crew are greatly respected and admired here. Since the moment we first set foot on this station, we’ve heard nothing but endless glowing accounts of how the Calypso charged into the midst of a lost battle and turned it into a victory. And the way Jordan and Cora are talking you up to their friends here, it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re all convinced you’re the greatest Sentinel in living memory.”
“Then why won’t they talk to me?” Delia argued.
“Maybe,” Nancy suggested, “it’s because the
y find you a little intimidating.”
“Intimidating? I don’t understand. Why would they find me intimidating?”
Nancy grinned and glanced up at the academic stars on Delia’s beret. “Well,” she said, “I can think of four reasons right off the top of your head. Maybe they just need to get to know you a little better, before they can see you as being approachable. You need to break the ice with them.”
“But how?” Delia asked, feeling helpless and perplexed.
“I think I know just the way,” Nancy said. She stood up and took Delia by the hand, then led her straight to the center of the room.
“What are you doing?” Delia whispered in protest.
Nancy winked at her and started to sing…
“Aaaa … capital ship for an ocean trip
was the Walloping Window Blind.”
A few others joined in for the second line…
“No wind that blew dismayed her crew
or troubled the Captain’s mind.”
By the third line everyone but Delia was singing…
“The man at the wheel was made to feel
contempt for the wildest blow…”
She added her voice to the rest of the song, and the mystique that had held her at arm’s length from the others quickly began to melt away.
“Where did you find her?” Major Richards inquired in a somber, stoic tone of voice. On a table in the infirmary lay Genevieve’s body, lifeless but lacking any apparent signs of trauma.
Chelsea sniffled and answered through her tears. “At the bottom of the station. In the center of that map room. She was just lying there in the middle of the floor.”
“Cause of death?” Commander Eldridge asked.
Major Richards shook her head. “None that I can see.”
The commander crossed her arms in frustration. “I’ve never been on a station before where so many people seem to die for no apparent reason. If for nothing more than the sake of morale here, we need to find out what happened to her. Miss Mitchell,” she said, turning to Chelsea, “take a few minutes to pull yourself together. I’m gonna need you to show me exactly where you found her.” She walked to the intercom panel and put a call through to the control room. “Janine?”
“Yes, Commander?”
“I need you to come join me in the infirmary. Whatever you’re working on right now, it can wait.”
“I’ll be right down.”
When the maintenance lift reached the bottom of the station, Chelsea headed directly for the map room. “It’s this way,” she said. The others followed her; Commander Eldridge, Janine, Meghan, and Brandi. She led them inside and stopped just short of the map device. “I found her in the middle of the portal,” she said, pointing toward the circular expanse of glass.
Commander Eldridge exchanged a puzzled look with Janine. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Just what exactly is this device?”
“We’re not really sure,” Meghan explained. “Normally it displays a magnified image of Valhalla. But right now all you can see is that fog outside.”
“So it’s a lens, then?”
“Yes. Something like that.”
Janine pointed to a wire connected to an outlet in the wall. “And what about this?” she asked.
“That wasn’t here before,” Megan said. “It looks like Genevieve may have been experimenting with the power supply.” She stooped down and examined the attenuator switch. “There’s no electricity running through this wire right now, though. Whatever she did must have tripped the circuit breakers.”
“So she may have electrocuted herself?”
Megan examined the switch again. “I wouldn’t think so. At least not at this setting. Strange that it would be enough to trip the circuit breakers, though.”
“I almost forgot,” Chelsea said stepping forward. She pulled a handheld scanner from her belt and held it out for Megan to examine. “This was lying on the floor beside her when I found her.”
“Can you tell what she was doing?” Commander Eldridge asked.
Megan reached for the scanner and examined the settings. “It looks like she was analyzing the properties of something. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably that lens.”
“What did she find?”
After fiddling with the scanner’s controls for a few seconds, Megan frowned and shook her head. “I can’t tell. It doesn’t seem to be functioning correctly.”
“How convenient,” the commander observed. “It’s almost as if someone wants this to remain a mystery.” She cautiously placed her right foot on the lens, and tested it to see if it would support her weight. “Is it safe to walk out there?”
“I think so,” Chelsea said. “It seemed plenty strong when I pulled Genevieve across it.”
Moving slowly at first, Commander Eldridge walked forward until she was standing at the center of the lens. “Is this where you found her?”
Chelsea nodded.
The commander looked down at what lay beneath her feet. Unless she remained standing perfectly still, the fog seemed to shift in confusing patterns. “This could certainly make a person dizzy,” she said. “I wonder if perhaps she may have just fallen over, and died as a result of blunt force trauma.” She leaned forward a little to test her balance and suddenly found herself staggering.
“Be careful, Commander,” Janine urged her.
She regained her footing and insisted, “I’m alright. Just a momentary lapse of balance is all.” She steadied herself and looked downward again, then without any warning she was lying on her back, confused and woozy, with Janine and the technicians kneeling at her side.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“You’re in the corridor,” Janine told her. “We had to pull you out of there.”
“Why? What happened to me?”
“You were just standing there like you didn’t even know who you were. Do you remember hearing us call to you?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t remember hearing anything.”
“Do you remember anything at all, Commander?”
She tried to think back. “Yes,” she said. “I remember feeling like something was crawling through my head.”
“Crawling?” Janine asked. “You mean like an insect or something?”
“No. It felt more like some kind of waveform. A transmission, or some other kind of communication.”
“Was there a pattern?” Megan asked her.
“There might have been. But if there was, I couldn’t make any sense of it. To be honest, the experience was quite humbling. I’ve never in my life felt so … inadequate. Not physically, mind you. I mean mentally. I feel like I’ve just been intellectually throttled.”
DWELLINGS 106
She was gone when he awoke, but he knew exactly where to look. She was sitting on top of the meerkat embankment, stroking their fur when they were brave enough to venture to her side. She didn’t even flinch when Karl walked up behind her unannounced. “You have no fear of anything, do you?” he observed.
“The meerkats know when there’s trouble,” she told him. “They would’ve run away if they thought you were a threat.”
He realized she was right and chuckled to himself. She’d clearly spent enough time among animals to develop a keen understanding of their behaviors. So much so that she didn’t even have to think about their actions. Her perceptions seemed to come to her effortlessly, almost on the instinctive level.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were one of them,” he said. “I keep forgetting you’ve spent so much time in the wild. Perhaps I should start calling you Tarzan Girl, to help keep your experiences fresh in my mind.”
“What does Tarzan Girl mean?” she asked.
“That’s a story I can tell you while we’re walking. Are you ready to resume our journey now?”
She got to her feet and brushed herself off. After scanning the horizon, she said, “It’s this way,” and started leading him in a southerly direction. A forest
awaited them in the distance.
“Are we too late to order breakfast?” he asked.
“There’s not much to eat in the grass,” she explained. “We’ll find something when we reach the forest.”
An hour later they arrived at the tree line and snacked on cherry–sized yellow tomatoes. When their hunger was sated, they entered the forest and followed meandering paths through the trees. They crossed several small streams and a shallow crevasse where a hillside had broken free and slid downslope. As midday approached they emerged in a clearing. JoEllen pointed toward a distant stand of trees, waving tall in the breeze with the ocean behind them.
“There it is,” she said.
From this distance Karl couldn’t see any buildings, or any signs of civilization at all. But as they drew nearer he saw girders and trusses stretching up among the treetops at peculiar angles. A post outside the tree line read:
BASE CAMP TWO
“This must have been one of their earlier settlements,” he said.
JoEllen led him through the trees, into what appeared to be an open village marketplace. The streets — if one could call them that — were paved with a material that resembled white rock, though much of it was covered with fallen leaves. The buildings were spread about in organic fashion rather than arranged in a tightly knit grid. Their bases were primarily stone and glass. Their peaks were comprised of soaring steel framework draped with patches of tattered fabric.
“That’s interesting,” he said. “These roofs sort of resemble Native American teepees. Do the academy buildings look like this?”
JoEllen glanced around and said, “No. The academies are much bigger than any of these buildings.”
“Hmm. I suppose size could be a limiting factor for this design. But I’m curious why they settled on this type of construction. Since all these buildings appear to share similar features, there must be some advantage to this type of architecture.” He took a few steps toward one of the buildings. “Shall we see if we can get inside?”
JoEllen followed him up the steps and stood at his side as he looked the entrance over. A pair of swinging glass doors blocked their way. He shrugged and attempted to push one open. With a little muscle, he managed to move it.