by Travis Sande
"Here, take a look." Derrick passed the device to Luke.
Luke looked up from his task and grabbed the device from Derrick. Luke immediately jumped to his feet with a look of horror. Without a second of hesitation he started moving out of the room.
"There's something there, there's something right outside that wall. It's not a recognized material but there's something there!!" Luke frantically pointed to the wall. “I have to get these results to the bridge.” Luke broke into a run and exited the engineering section.
Hank, Yanna, and Derrick all looked at the rear section of wall with a sense of dread that was palpable between them. Yanna crawled out from under a pile of electronics and shielding. Backing away, she never took her eyes off the wall. Derrick couldn't believe that something was just beyond the wall in front of them. What were its intentions and how could they find a way to reach it. Either in a friendly or hostile manner, both seemed out of reach.
“It’s right there?!” Yanna yelled out, breaking the tension filled silence.
“We have to get back to the bridge, move!” Hank ushered Yanna and Derrick out of the room. He stayed inside until both were safely out before moving out and closing the door. Hank turned around to face Derrick, Yanna was still standing at his side. “Let’s go!” Hank screamed at them and started running.
Derrick followed suit, turning to run away from the section of the ship. His heart was racing at the thought of a being dwelling just beyond the hull. Panic seemed to swirl inside him but never gained control. The ship raced by as the three of them sprinted as fast as they could. Hank stopped at the entrance to the galley and once again waited for Yanna and Derrick to pass before taking up a position behind them. Derrick and Yanna could see Luke just ahead of them, running with the scanner in his hand. Derrick was able to nearly catch Luke as they entered the bridge.
"Eilik!" Luke shouted and ran directly to Eilik. "You need to look at this."
Eilik turned to observe the density scanner in Luke's hand. Even his muted alien expressions weren't enough to hide his surprise. Reaching out, Eilik took the scanner from Luke and studied it even closer.
"Do you know what that material is? It's not anything registered within the scanner." Luke moved in behind Eilik, looking over his shoulder at the scanner.
"I do not. This is troubling." Eilik began adjusting the settings on the scanner. “I have never seen anything like this, It’s possible that it’s a malfunction in the equipment.”
"What?" Nik and Ben said nearly in unison as they joined Luke behind Eilik.
"The density scan has concluded that there is something beyond our hull. We need to alert the commander." Eilik said.
Derrick wasted no time as he ran to the emergency intercom system attached to the commander's chair. "Commander to the bridge." He said.
"We are under attack?" Nik said. "Is there any way we can communicate with whatever it is?"
"We are potentially the victim of an attack, yes. I am unsure of the methods used by this entity for communication." Eilik answered before Luke could.
Luke looked puzzled for a moment before adding, “We don’t even know if it’s a thing to communicate with. We have absolutely no idea what it is that’s out there.”
The commander rushed onto the bridge with Kim and Sian in tow. The three of them must have been working close because it took them seconds to arrive.
"What is it?" The commander yelled as he approached the crowd surrounding Eilik.
"We have confirmed the presence of an object of unknown material affixed to our aft hull. Derrick conducted a density scan and revealed this." Eilik handed the device to Lorn.
Hank grit his teeth, standing up. "So, we know where it is, let's get back there and cut the damn thing off the ship." Hank pointed to the bridge door.
"The internal workings of the ship are not capable of handling the RIP bubble energy. We would need to cut away the aft wall of both the engineering and rec area sections. We don't have enough material to reinforce a hole that size." Luke looked at Hank with empathy. “I understand how you feel, but we need to be careful here. The RIP bubble limits what we can do. If we breach the hull the entire ship would be torn apart by the forces at work here.”
Hank was seething with rage. Derrick noticed his breathing was accelerated as he turned to face Luke. “So, what do you want to do then, Luke?” Hank threw up his arms, directing his anger toward Luke.
"Even if you cut it away, what's stopping it from just reattaching in another place?" Yanna pointed out. "We know it has the ability to navigate within a RIP bubble."
"Okay, then we cut a hole and shoot it off or blow it up." Hank continued. “If we know where it is, we can cut into it without breaching the seal to the RIP bubble.”
"We still don't know exactly what we are dealing with. I would like to continue our current plan to get a physical look at this thing. How is the camera coming?" Lorn stepped in to reorganize the efforts of the crew.
"We are ready to try, everything is setup. We just finished mounting the first camera before coming up here. Hank should have access to the camera from his security feed. I will open the blast shields for one second and then reseal it." Luke moved to his station on the bridge.
"Let's take a look." Lorn moved into position to view the camera feed.
Derrick noticed Yanna with her head in her hands. He reached out and touched her back. She jumped at his touch and said, "I'm fine."
Derrick recoiled his hand and decided to leave Yanna to her thoughts. He nodded at her and moved over to Hank's station to watch the situation unfold. “You guys didn’t look ready when I saw you back there.”
Luke leaned over to address Derrick. “We had already mounted the first camera, we were preparing the next two.”
"Are we ready?" Lorn interrupted their small talk.
"Yes, the camera is already recording." Hank hit a few buttons on the panel in front of him.
"Opening blast shields for a one second look." Luke began retracting the blast shields on the aft porthole.
Everyone crowded around the monitor to observe the view of the camera. As the blast shields lifted a bright light immediately invaded the space and the camera went dark. No one was surprised as they expected the system to fail. The hope was that it gained some valuable material in that brief moment. Luke closed the blast shields and Hank brought up the recording.
"Okay, let's see what we got." Hank scrubbed through the reading and paused at the point of highest intensity. "I can't see anything." Hank smacked the panel with his hand.
"What are the other optic settings on the camera?" Yanna leaned in, looking at the readout on Hank’s console.
"These upgraded cameras have IR and Thermal included. Neither of which will be useful given the heat and light present in the bubble." Eilik chimed in from his position on the bridge. “They weren’t designed as a diagnostic tool; therefore, they are not equipped to handle exposure of this magnitude.”
“It was worth a shot, I think we can forego any additional tests unless we drastically change our methods.” Lorn stepped away from the area and back to the center of the bridge. “We know there is something out there, we need options on how to deal with it.”
"How can it be that bright through our modified solar shield?" Luke said. "You can't see a single thing, just light."
"There's simply just too much light present in the bubble. To get a picture of any kind we need to allow for certain wavelengths to reach the camera. No matter what wavelength we attempt to allow there is always going to be simply too much pollution. Even a single wavelength has been totally saturated." Yanna said. "It was worth a shot but the shield we setup was designed to isolate a single wavelength of light. Even that wasn't enough, and I can't speculate on any other way to limit exposure to the camera."
"Can we limit how much of the single wavelength enters?" Nik said.
"I'm sorry. When I say we isolated a single wavelength I mean that we were allowing less than zero point z
ero two one percent enter. There's nothing I can think of to reduce it further than that. There's simply too much energy stored in there." Yanna said. "We could try again with another camera, and maybe if I took apart several of our suits we might be able to gain an image. In my opinion it would be a waste of resources with a similar result."
"Considering our situation, we need all of the suits ready for personal use. We have established there is something on the hull, no need to continue wasting resources. We need to move forward with possible courses of action." Lorn reiterated.
"What about Hank's option, can we drill a small hole through the outer hull and physically remove this thing?" Derrick asked. "We can't just sit here while whatever this thing is carries us to its destination.”
"Even if we can remove it, there's no way to alter the course of this RIP." Eilik’s words were haunting as he continued. “We lack the capability to correct what has already been done. We are at the mercy of the course correction whether we deal with this presence or not. Our efforts might be better placed preparing for our potential destination.”
For a moment, the crew looked around at each other. Hopelessness was written on their faces. With no way to adjust their course, the ship was moving ever further off course with each passing second. Derrick noticed Yanna once again holding her head. He realized it wasn’t stress gripping her, she was engrossed in her thoughts.
"Can we just stop it? Anywhere has to be better than where it's taking us." Derrick said. "We could locate ourselves and perhaps relaunch in the right direction. We might not have the capability to reach anything anymore, but we could get substantially closer."
"The RIP bubble is no longer ours." Yanna said abruptly as she lifted her head from her hands. She began furiously working on her attached interface panel.
"Elaborate, Yanna." Lorn swung around to face Yanna.
After a few more inputs, Yanna responded. "There's been something that was bothering me for a while and I just confirmed it. When we first began this whole altercation, I noticed a strange jump in the energy concentration surrounding us. It was only for a fraction of a second before it stabilized. It was bothering me until Derrick confirmed that there is an object in here with us. I believe the reduced volume of our RIP bubble caused the jump when the second object entered. The only way it could stabilize is if the bubble itself expanded to compensate. I just confirmed that our bubble has expanded by roughly one thousand cubic meters. I believe the object has taken control of it and compensated for its own presence." Yanna said. "I believe we may be the victims of piracy." Yanna concluded her thought while shaking her head and scrolling through her interface.
"Space pirates?" Hank scoffed at the thought. He chuckled to himself as he recognized the situation for what it was. “Space pirates?!” He exclaimed. After reflecting for a moment, Hank continued. “I mean, I guess that actually makes sense given what we know. Space pirates?!” Hank was fighting with disbelief regarding their situation.
"I see no other probable alternatives given our situation. This would also explain the disappearances of past Vryl ships that experienced these uniform fluctuations. It was always a myth, a conspiracy, that something was taking our ships. I had never confronted that possibility in all my studies of the phenomenon. I feel foolish." Eilik seemed to give in to speculation and lament his past oversights.
"So, we have been abducted by an unknown object and we are helpless to resist?" Nik summarized the situation bluntly.
Derrick looked over at her and saw a distraught look on her face. She turned to face him and they both acknowledged each other with concern on their faces. Derrick turned his attention to Hank as he spoke.
"We aren't helpless, I still say we can cut a hole in the aft engineering section and bomb this thing." Hank kept pushing for the idea of brute forcing their way out of the situation.
"We can entertain matters that extreme when we get there. For now, as impossible as it sounds, I want everyone to get some rest. We have been awake and working on this for over twenty hours. Get some assistance from Sian if you are having trouble. Everyone needs to take and attach a communicator to their CCD. Text based messaging is no longer going to suffice. Eilik will remain on the bridge to monitor the situation. If anything changes you are authorized for full emergency alert. I have been spending the last few hours with Sian and Kim, as you know. We do not have the means to support an ongoing anxiety treatment. I believe that we have all come to terms with our situation and we can wean ourselves off of it. Our remaining stores will be reserved for emergency situations. Enough rest is going to be a major aspect of our mental health and ability to get through this. Being sleep deprived will get us nowhere, especially when we have no idea how long this will last. I order every one of you to get at least four hours of rest. If you can manage more then take more. We meet back here on the bridge in four to eight hours to continue dialogue. Dismissed." Lorn abruptly ended the discussion.
"Sir..." Luke attempted to interject.
"There's no exceptions, Sian and Kim have both seen cause for concern in every one of you in the last few hours. We can discuss other options once we have rested." Lorn dismissed the room.
Derrick felt like he was in a haze. The abrupt nature of the dismissal combined with all the new information they had just received had stunned him. He knew he was going to need a sleep aid of some kind; there was no way he was falling asleep. A small line formed in front of Sian as every member prepared to get some sleep aids from her. A small chuckle from Hank led to a bit of a laugh as everyone simultaneously made the same realization.
"We have to stay positive, it appears whatever has taken the ISO intends to keep it in one piece. This buys us time, time I intend to use. Let's just make sure we are taking every precaution to stay at the top of our game." Lorn consoled the crew. “Eilik will be in place monitoring everything in the event we are needed. We can’t allow for exhaustion induced ineptitude to hinder our chances at recapturing the ship. Sian will be attaching a remote activated stimulant dispersal unit to each of your CCDs. This will allow for us to rouse each of you if needed.”
"Use these once you are in bed, they will act quickly." Sian began handing out small white pills to the crew as they walked by. Once Derrick took the pills, Sian attached a small cylindrical canister to his CCD.
After taking their meds from Sian, everyone worked their way to the crew section of the ship. An ominous feeling overcame Derrick as he stared at the engineering door. Goosebumps ran up his arms and the hair on his neck stood up. Just through those doors was an alien intelligence holding them captive. Now he was going to sleep a few meters away from it.
Silence gripped the crew as they all slowly made their way into their quarters. Four to eight hours felt like an eternity with a threat of this magnitude, but the commander was right. There was no sense adding sleep deprivation to the list of enemies.
Derrick entered his quarters and disrobed while he moved across the floor to his bunk. The clothes fell as if he was leaving trail to remember the path to the door. He slunk into his bed and took the pills prescribed by Sian. Lying down, he closed his eyes in what seemed like an exercise in futility. Before he could feel the frustration of insomnia, he was out.
Chapter 11
FYRA
Kris and the general arrived safely back on earth. The two of them moved quickly from the docking bay into the main monitoring room. Admiral Lest had arrived during their absence and was filled in on all the details.
"Lest." Melissa announced her arrival.
"General, welcome back." The admiral turned to greet her.
"Have you been made aware of the situation and the possible courses of action?" Melissa didn’t waste any time getting into it.
"I have, and I intend to launch the FYRA as soon as possible." The admiral's words were a clear relief to Melissa as Kris noticed her shoulders immediately relax. "Kris, you will be accompanying them, your abilities are an asset we cannot waste."
"I understa
nd." Kris said in return. She had always wanted a position like this. It was one of the reasons she had volunteered for the surgery in the first place. She had wished it was under different circumstances but was ready and able to comply.
"The FYRA is prepping now with the crew assembling. There are a few last-minute changes to the crew compliment that you must approve. Including but not limited to the addition of Kris." Lest said before listing off the crew of the ship. "Chris Ohtom, Commander. Niri Sotul, Engineering. Michael Dace, Security. Angela Wori, Recon. Pamela Rofe, Physician. Ken Howel, Psychologist. Greg Yaste, Pilot. Kris Lorrie, Comms. Torrin, Engineering." Lest completed the list before continuing. "Ken Howel, Angela Wori, Torrin, Pamala Rofe, and of course Kris are all the late additions. Ken was assigned after he recovered from his ailment, he will be valuable in the event you find survivors. Angela was assigned instead of the bio expert as a recon and recovery specialist in case we are faced with the worst-case scenario. Torrin, the Vryl, will be accompanying you instead of the physicist scheduled. His expertise will be of utmost importance during the mission.” Admiral Lest paused briefly as he looked up from his list.
“I agree, we can worry about scientific research with future endeavors. We must prioritize the rescue of the ISO.” Melissa agreed with Lest’s view.
“Good, Kris will also be assigned for obvious reasons. With the addition of Kris, we decided it best for Pamela to join you. Her expertise in the rift implant technology will be needed. You need to approve them all." Lest turned the data pad over to the general.
"I will get these approved immediately." Melissa grabbed the pad and started going over it.
Kris found it strange that the general had recused herself from the mission yet was still tasked with approving all members of the crew. A message suddenly came through to Kris from the Triumvirate, breaking her concentration. An injunction was being placed on their efforts on behalf of Firk and the Vryl. During the injunction, Firk was going to negotiate the introduction of the Vryl as a temporary representative of the Triumvirate.