NEBULAR Collection 7 - Guardians of the Continuum: Episodes 31 - 34

by Thomas Rabenstein

  »They behave like Zhuerpedian tzschaeshpen!« remarked Kel-Nar.

  »Do you Krolakans also have words that an average person can pronounce?«

  »They are nocturnal suckingleeches, about three feet long and quick like cobras,« replied Kel-Nar. »Of course, they’ve already noticed us. The know that this Solar System is inhabited. They feel distinctly superior. I can almost smell their attitude!«

  Kel-Nar’s hair on his forehead stood up belligerently.

  »They don’t need to run from us. They lurk and wait patiently until we come close and then bite us.«

  »What a crazy horror story!« Bennett commented insecure and rubbed his nose. »Also, where would such monster leech be? Maybe, it’s just an interstellar trader who got lost and doesn’t want any trouble at all.«

  »If I could have your attention,« Samura interrupted the discussion and transferred the image to the central display. »The object is now coming in range of our short-range scanner. My goodness! What’s this?«

  Bennett, Langlo, Samura and Kel-Nar stared awe-struck at the strange phenomenon that was displayed.

  »Well, if this is a test, then Peleus really pulled out all the stops,« commented Bennett dryly.

  In front of them, a light storm was hovering in space. A swirling and glowing medium of flashing, furrowed gas or plasma energy, surrounded a barely recognizable body, moving with constant velocity through space. The appearance resembled a rotating, tapered vortex. Its frontal opening seemed to absorb everything that stood in its way. At the center of the vortex, a barely identifiable, spindle-shaped object was embedded.

  »That’s not a test,« Bennett spoke out what everybody already knew. »I’m initiating a comprehensive scan of the object.«

  »Submit the visual data to Titan,« added Langlo.

  »The object cannot be completely scanned,« Bennett explained a second later. »This fluctuating energy wall affects our scanners. I’m transferring the scanned data to the computer and try to identify the type of ship based on stored comparison data.«

  »Is that a disguise field?« Kel-Nar asked. »If so, then maybe, we should put a warning shot across the bow.«

  »Negative,« Bennett concluded his analysis. »I think that the unknown ship is in a smooth transition between the tachyon continuum and the standard space. The bright aura is created by diffusing tachyonic wind which is flowing into our universe and dissolves.«

  »How’s that possible?« Samura asked surprised. »Is the crew in some sort of distress or is their propulsion system defect?«

  »I have no idea,« admitted Bennett. »It really looks as if one-half of the vessel is protruding from the tachyon continuum while the other half is still inside of it.«

  »Target distance one lightsecond!« warned Langlo. »I can already see the phenomena through the cockpit window.«

  »The diameter of the energy vortex at its opening is about ten thousand meters. The anomaly is moving at thirty kilometers per second toward Saturn,« said Bennett.

  »That could be a weapon,« warned Kel-Nar in a deep voice.

  »Rather unlikely,« replied Bennett, shaking his head.

  »We’re going on a parallel course,« Langlo decided. »Bennett, what does your search come up with?«

  »An identification is not possible. Unknown type of vessel,« Bennett replied briefly.

  »Well then,« whispered Langlo tensely and activated all available communication channels. Everyone who knew the astrophysicist closer also knew that the red spots on her neck were signs of her nervousness, strongly emphasized by her pale complexion.

  »Are you all right?« Samura asked. In response, she threw him a scolding look. The African raised his hands apologetically.

  Langlo pondered for a moment, then she tried to calmly speak in a firm voice, »This is the Firedrakin, a Solar Union ship. Welcome to the Human Solar System. We are on a parallel course. Please identify yourself.«

  Langlo switched off the radio transmitter and listened tensely.

  »What? Welcome to the Human Solar System?« Kel-Nar stretched the question.

  »Where is it written that you always have to start such a contact with an ultimatum?« Langlo replied, but kept her eyes glued to the central display.

  »Titan announces that a GCC Alert Squad is getting ready. We’re not to take any risks,« said Eno Samura.

  Langlo frowned.

  »Before these sleepyheads get here, we’re long finished.«

  Suddenly, the radio receiver sounded. First, they heard something like strong, white background noise, then scraping sounds, accompanied by strange raspy, snarling tones. Then, Langlo heard her own voice and message.

  »They send our message back to us? What does that mean?« Samura asked aloud.

  »That could mean, “Thanks we got your message”,« Langlo guessed.

  »That could also mean, “No thanks. We have no interest in a communication with you. Here is your message back”,« Bennet mocked.

  Langlo blushed for a moment.

  »The squadron from Titan will be here shortly. They will ask us politely to continue our assignment, and then they will take over.«

  »That’s not how I see it,« Samura grunted. »We discovered the object!«

  All three cadets turned to Kel-Nar who was panting softly, raising his nostrils.

  »It’s time to demonstrate our determination!«

  Langlo nodded in agreement.

  »We shorten the distance from one lightsecond to 50,000 meters!«

  Tachyon pull

  »That is absolutely spectacular!« said Bennett mesmerized and looked at the bright, flashing vortex field. »This close, and in direct line of sight, the entire picture looks much more powerful. I had no idea how incredibly reactive that tachyon wind acts with our universe. The ship itself is barely larger than a Pulsar Cruiser. I get a much better scan from this distance, but still can’t make a comparison to known ship types. We’re probably dealing with an entirely new type of ship in front of us.«

  »I’ve wasted some thoughts on this phenomenon,« said the astrophysicist and moved her hands a few centimeters above the drive controls. »Maybe this is a new, previously unknown variant of tachyon drive. Perhaps, the strange ship just uses a different technology than the GCC ships.«

  Bennett rubbed his nose and admitted, »There might be something to it. I’m going to make a few calculations to substantiate your theory, with your permission, of course.«

  »I’ve examined the response of the unknown again,« said Samura. »Especially the first sequence. Remember? These strange noises? They might contain phonetic patterns. I entered the signal sequences into the computer for analysis, even though our translators couldn’t do anything with it.«

  »The plasma guns’ pulse coils are charged and ready,« Kel-Nar reported and snorted decidedly. »I didn’t put my target tracking beam on the alien ship yet, not to cause a misunderstanding. But that will change immediately if we should be targeted and my detector begins beeping ever so slightly.«

  Langlo activated the communication channels again. This time, her voice was clear and much more determined than at the first attempt.

  »You have entered the jurisdiction of the Solar Union on an approach vector to Saturn! This is our last call. Identify yourself!«

  The cadets were holding their breath, waiting for a reaction, which, this time, came promptly, however, not as expected.

  First, the glistening flashes of light in the surrounding space sector were hardly noticeable. For the crew of the Firedrakin, these flashes were overpowered by the flares of energy from the vortex. Then, Bennett yelled, »Caution! The GCC Squadron from Titan has arrived! They performed a short tachyon jump! I count three large ships, two of which are clearly Krolakan battle cruisers, and a battleship of the Neo-Sapiens! At the same time, several Hawk squadrons arrived from three different sectors! I can’t tell you exactly how many plasma guns are being aimed at us right now!«

  »Again, these signals!« Langlo exclaimed lou
dly. »The strangers are reacting at last! Record everything!«

  »What’s our fleet doing?« Bennett asked impatiently.

  »The alien ship is encircled by at least forty units,« confirmed Samura, »and there’re still more units arriving! Good Lord! This is like a beehive. This looks like a planned attack scheme.«

  »They fired!« Bennett shouted alarmed. »Two, three, four plasma launchers fired from different GCC ships! Langlo! Get us out of here! NOW!«

  »Why?« Langlo stammered confused. »Why are our people shooting at the unknown ship? They’ve done nothing that would justify such an aggressive behavior!«

  »Incoming plasma charges! Impact in 15 seconds!« Samura reported with a calm voice.

  »This is totally unacceptable!« shouted Langlo and slammed her fist on the red button of the drive controls.

  Bennett took a deep breath, but then, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

  »Damn, Langlo! What’re you doing? You’re flying the Hawk directly into path of the approaching plasma charges!«

  Bennett wanted to jump up and wrestle the controls away from her, but a massive claw clamped down on his shoulder and pulled him back into his seat. Kel-Nar’s hairy paw was strong enough to pull him back without significant resistance. Kel-Nar’s warm, moist breath was suddenly close to Bennett’s ear.

  The weapons specialist hissed, »Trust my friend! Mutual trust is essential within a mission team. Langlo responds appropriately to the situation.«

  »We all gonna die,« Bennett answered with a painfully distorted face.

  »Early Detonation!« Samura shouted surprised with a pale face. »The plasma charges were remotely destroyed before they could reach us.«

  Langlo drew a deep breath. Trembling, he looked at Bennett who was sitting sweating and petrified in his seat. He quickly nodded at Kel-Nar.

  »Thank you, pack cadet!«

  »Don’t mention it, Langlo. The plasma charges came from Krolakan cruisers,« Kel-Nar growled. »Our charges employ self-destruct mechanisms. They can be destroyed on the way to the target, if necessary. You speculated that our cruisers would never shoot at a Union ship … and you were correct.«

  »I’m feeling sick,« commented Samura and leaned back in his seat. »I was never so fucking scared in my life!«

  »This is not over yet, so keep being scared for a while longer. By the way, we’re being hailed,« Langlo hissed with a shaky voice.

  The central display established with a flicker and showed a Neo-Sapien dressed with a heavy breastplate as well as a white-haired man inside the command central of a battle cruiser. The white-haired man wore the emblems of a Union Fleet Admiral.

  »Admiral Friedberg!« Langlo said surprised. The astrophysicist froze. She had not expected to face her highest superior.

  Friedberg was, like always, calm and self-assured. Nevertheless, deep worry lines had dug in his tanned face.

  »Cadet of the training flight Firedrakin, you immediately leave the staging area. You have exactly thirty seconds to move away from the vicinity of the attacker, then the Fleet will start a second wave of attack.«

  Langlo felt as if he had been thrown into ice-water. She suddenly remembered the comment of their instructor, Today, we focus on responsible behavior, sound training, and specialization as well as character and ethical maturity of our members.

  Langlo’s head jerked upward.

  »Admiral Friedberg. This is Cadet Malin Langlo speaking. Attacking this ship is a mistake. We were about to contact the aliens. The crew on board that ship hasn’t even remotely made an attempt of hostile actions.«

  »Twenty seconds,« Friedberg replied calmly.

  »Admiral, we’re shooting at innocent people!« Langlo made one last attempt while small tears ran from the corners of her eyes, showing her excitement.

  Friedberg’s glance suddenly seemed sad. It almost looked as if he wanted to give Langlo an apologetical nod.

  »Cadet Langlo, you completely misunderstand the situation. In a very similar anomaly, out in the Oort Cloud, we found …«

  The rest of the transmission was interrupted by a crackling sound. Moments later, the holo faded to gray. The computer showed a fault symbol and reported that the communication channel had collapsed.

  »The vortex! It expands!« shouted Bennett with panic in his voice. »Its diameter is growing rapidly! We’re being pulled directly into its ridges!«

  »Maybe Friedberg was right, Langlo. The strangers are now on the attack,« yelled Samura and hit the button of the Hawk’s emergency acceleration. However, an all-powerful undertow pulled the Hawk ever closer to the unknown ship, right toward the center of the vortex.

  The Fleet has fired, we’ll be atomized in a few seconds, Langlo thought resigning to the inevitable. She closed her eyes. Several hard blows shook the Hawk. When the hull of the small spaceship could no longer withstand the unleashed forces and eventually burst, the small group of cadets had already fallen unconscious.

  The good thing about this state is that you feel no pain, no panic, no horror, no remorse, no fear of death – at least until you wake up again.

  Free falling

  As Malin Langlo awoke from unconsciousness after an undetermined time, the first thing she heard were Samura’s panicked screams. When she cautiously opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but also let out a strangled cry.

  Langlo was in a free fall, a fall into a blue, bottomless void. At first, she didn’t understand what was going on before her eyes, but when she saw a white crystal cloud racing toward her at high speed, penetrating her with crackling noises, her eyes opened in horror.

  Oh, no! she thought terrified. Her thoughts were racing. The Hawk is gone! It simply disappeared or was destroyed, and we’re plunging into the bright, blue atmosphere of a gas giant!

  She was trying to change her body position, but couldn’t move a single millimeter. At first, she screamed out her fear and tried, with ascending anger, to free her body from the relentless grip … in vain. Only after all powers had left her, her pulse racing, she gave up.

  I’m stuck, head first, inside a viscous mass, which seems like a transparent adhesive. I’m looking directly down in the direction of the fall. I fall and fall, until the pressure of the gas giant is going to kill me or I burn up in the planet’s dense atmosphere. Why are the strangers doing this to me?

  »Langlo! You’re alive!« she heard Samura’s excited voice. »I’m stuck tight in this tough substance and can’t see anything. At least our spacesuits, the communication system, and the protective fields are still working. Where the Hell are we? What do you see?«

  Langlo closed her eyes and abruptly opened them again, but the horrible picture didn’t change.

  »Samura, believe me, you don’t want to know!«

  »I can see something that you can’t see. It looks spindle-shaped,« Bennett’s voice could be heard suddenly.

  »Bennet!« Langlo and Samura yelled relieved at the same time.

  »I can see what Langlo sees. I’m looking toward our back and can see that alien ship right above us. To be more precise, we’re inside an unknown, massive, tear drop-like substance which seems to be glued to the hull of the alien ship. Like ants in a drop of tree resin, if you allow me the comparison. Kel-Nar is located slightly above me. He’s still unconscious, but I can’t see any injuries from here.«

  »Bennett,« Langlo interrupted him with a cracking voice. »Is the alien ship intact or damaged? Are we crashing? Do you notice anything? We’re falling into the atmosphere of a gas planet. We can’t survive for long!«

  »Oh my God! Thanks for letting me know in such a gentle manner,« Samura hissed between his teeth.

  »Damn!« Bennett cursed. »I think this bubble is a kind of rescue system. The aliens probably have captured us somehow after the destruction of our Hawk and immediately executed a tachyon jump. Sounds plausible, considering the amount of warships, we’ve mobilized as a welcoming party.«

  »Why are we speculating?« Samura asked nervously.
»We have to do something. Otherwise, we’re soon only flattened, organic mush! The aliens destroyed our Hawk! The difference whether we’ve been saved or captured you haven’t worked out yet.«

  Langlo breathed nervously. Her voice trembled.

  »That doesn’t matter right now. I’m looking directly into this dark, blue abyss and see how we’re falling deeper and deeper. I’ve never imagined this in my worst nightmares. The atmosphere is getting denser, darker and eventually will turn from a liquid into a solid state. This gas giant seems to be similar to Neptune or Uranus.«

  »We’ll go together into the Incarnation Bubble of Light,« Kel-Nar panted suddenly. The Krolakan had just regained consciousness. »What planet is this?« he asked confused, but no one had an answer.

  »An unknown ship, a strange propulsion system. No one knows how far their ship can jump in an emergency. They’ve fled from our fleet, somewhat too hastily, I might add, and came out of tachyon space inside the atmosphere of a planetary body. Bad luck! In this case, for all of us,« Bennett replied sarcastically.

  »It could have been worse,« bleated Kel-Nar, sounding like a goat. »We could’ve ended up inside a sun. At least, we have the opportunity to enjoy the view a little.«

  »I could do without it,« replied Langlo with a hoarse voice. »We’ve just penetrated a dense layer of clouds. I think these are crystallized methane and ammonia clouds. We just fall through a zone which appears clear, probably mainly made up of pure hydrogen. Far below us, perhaps ten to twenty thousand meters, there’s an aggregation boundary. If we have understood the structure of such ice giants correctly, then we’re falling into an ocean of liquid hydrogen, as could have formed under these pressures.«

  »Can you see any details?« Samura asked.

  »No,« Langlo whispered. »How? This entire, damn planet is just one huge ocean, and we’re a couple of microbes falling from the sky.«

  »But … shouldn’t we be dead already?« Samura asked perplexed. The astrobiologist seemed to struggle with his thoughts. »We’ve already plunged deeply into the atmosphere of this planet and have not yet been crushed by the atmospheric pressure!«