“Your senses for one.”
“What about them?”
“Well take eyesight for instance, normally the human eye can see a certain range of the electromagnetic spectrum, what we would describe as color. After the procedure however, I could suddenly see all of it, every frequency, from radio to gamma rays. It was the same thing for my hearing. Suddenly I could hear any sound on almost any frequency.”
“Like the sound of the engine aboard the alien ship,” Anna interrupted.
“Yes, like that. The nanites also let me 'see' thermal and particle radiation.”
“I can't even imagine trying to make sense of all that.” said Anna.
“It wasn't easy at first, believe me. They had to keep us in isolation chambers after the procedure and slowly expose us to very small amounts of sensory stimuli, so our brains had time to adjust.”
“But the sheer amount of information, how do you keep it all straight?”
“We get training to block out information we don't need and just focus on a few specific things,” Andrew explained.
“Kind of like when you focus on a particular voice in a room full of talking people.”
“So when you look at me, what do you see?” Anna asked.
“It depends on which sense or senses I'm focusing on,” replied Andrew.
“Obviously, I could just focus on seeing you the way a normal human's eyes would. On the other hand, I could focus on wavelengths of light beyond the human visual spectrum. Or I could see you in terms of your thermal signature. I could focus on the decay of carbon fourteen or other radioactive substances in your body.”
Out of the corner of her eye Anna noticed Aziz swiveling his chair to face them.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop,” he said.
“But if you can see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, does that mean you have like x-ray vision and stuff. I mean can you see through the ship's bulkheads for instance?”
Andrew turned to face him before answering.
“Sort of, I can't generate x-rays, so it doesn't work like an x-ray machine or anything. However if there is a source of x-rays nearby, then to a certain degree I do have x-ray vision. The star in this system for instance, that's a massive source of x and gamma rays. Most of that radiation is being blocked by the ship's hull, but enough's getting through to let me see through very thin materials.”
Aziz grinned.
“Thin materials,” he said, still grinning.
“That doesn't include clothing does it?”
“Ensign,” Anna cut in before Andrew could reply.
“Sorry Commander,” Aziz said, straitening in his chair and swiveling back to face his view screen.
Anna turned back to Andrew.
“So, about your original question,” he said, choosing to ignore the interruption.
“I changed in so many ways after that procedure, I really couldn't tell you what was the result of changes to my brain and what was just due to my changed circumstances.”
“I understand,” said Anna.
“I should get back to monitoring those sensors.”
“I'll go help Major Clark search the ship,” said Andrew.
Anna nodded and went back to the sensors station. Andrew was almost through the door when she spoke.
“Hey Sergeant.”
“Yes Commander?”
“You can't really see through people's clothes, right?”
“Well I've never actually tried it,” he replied, a slight grin spreading over his face.
“But if you'd like,” he said looking at her.
“What!? Hey, no that's not what I-,” Anna protested.
“Sergeant, don't you dare, that's an order.”
“As you wish Commander,” he said, still grinning.
“Just, go help Major Clark,” she said, now grinning too despite herself.
“Aye aye, Commander.”
Chapter 47
Lieutenant Harbid glanced at the navigational display, then proceeded to peel the wrapper off his bar of combat rations. Darmst turned in the co-pilot's seat.
“That's your second bar, how can you stand eating that stuff?” He asked.
Harbid took a bite and chewed before answering.
“Have you ever even had human combat rations before?”
Darmst shook his head.
“No, but I can smell it from here.”
Harbid shrugged and took another bite.
Just then, the ship's auto-pilot beeped. Harbid looked down at the navigation console and switched on the ship's comm.
“Katie.”
“Yeah, what's up?”
“We're five minutes out from Earth orbit, get everyone set.”
“Will do,” Katie replied.
Harbid took another bite of the ration bar and then put it aside.
“That harness going to fit you?” He asked Darmst.
Darmst, who was fiddling with the flight harness built into his seat, grunted.
“I think so,” he said.
“What about you?”
“The shoulder straps are a bit loose,” Harbid replied.
“But it should be good enough.”
Harbid tapped commands into his console.
“Disengaging auto-pilot,” he said, grabbing the flight control.
The forward view screen now showed Earth, rapidly drawing closer.
“So that's Earth,” said Darmst looking up at it.
“Yeah,” replied Harbid, also looking up at the screen.
“It's been years since I've been here.”
The com beeped and Katie's voice filled the cockpit.
“We're all set back here,” she informed them.
“Copy that,” Harbid replied.
“Have the automatic landing beacons picked us up yet?”
Darmst examined his control console.
“Yes, we're receiving an ID and destination request.”
“Good, enter the security code and landing coordinates Katie gave us.”
Darmst began typing.
“There,” he said a few seconds later.
The navigation console beeped, asking for confirmation to relinquish flight controls to the automated landing system. Harbid tapped the appropriate button and let go of the flight controls. The ship slowed a little and they smoothly descended towards the planet.
Harbid looked up at the main view screen, he could see one of the civilian space docks now. The great transparent structure gleamed in the sunlight. Hundreds of ships, just tiny specs at this distance, moved around it. The ship descended still further and they slid into orbit.
“Here we go,” said Harbid glancing at his console.
“Thirty seconds to atmospheric entry.”
He switched on the com.
“All hands, brace for deceleration.”
The ship lowered its nose and plunged into the atmosphere. Flames obscured the main view screen as they plummeted. Then the ship's landing thrusters kicked in, Harbid and Darmst were pressed into their harnesses by the sudden deceleration. The ship slowed and leveled off, the view screen cleared and they could see the towering skyscrapers of Imperial City. The ship flew over them, to the city’s edge. They approached a large complex, filled with nanite armor buildings and surrounded by a high, solid metal fence.
“I really don't like the looks of this,” said Darmst as the ship began to descend.
“Relax,” said Harbid.
“Admiral Constantine-”
He was cut off by a shrill warning alarm blaring through the cockpit.
“Someone just opened the airlock doors!” Harbid shouted over the alarm.
“What?!” Exclaimed Darmst.
“Don't ask me why, we're still twenty meters in the air, the ship's safety system just cut the automatic landing sequence,” he added.
Harbid grabbed the controls as the ship slid sideways and began to spin.
“Hold on,” he yelled, as he wrestled with the flight controls.
<
br /> “We're no longer over the landing pad,” said Darmst, checking the view screen.
“I know,” Harbid replied through gritted teeth.
“Ten meters,” Darmst announced.
The ship had drifted over one of the buildings. Harbid banked, trying to pull it back towards the landing pad. It was working, just not fast enough. The rear of the ship smashed into the building's roof and scraped along its outer wall. The ship bucked and shuddered under the impact. Harbid managed to get the landing gear deployed a split second before they hit the ground.
He cut the engines and turned off the alarm, then activated the com system.
“Katie, are you there?”
“Yes, I'm here James,” she replied.
“Is everyone okay back there?”
“Yes, we're fine, how are you two?”
“We'll live,” said Harbid, undoing the straps on his harness.
“Any idea what happened?” He asked.
Katie was silent for a moment.
“It was Visha, she escaped.”
“Escaped, how?”
“I'm not sure,” said Katie.
“Everyone was focused on getting ready for landing and somehow she managed to get out of those binders. Before anyone could react, she opened a section of the airlock doors and jumped out.”
“She jumped, from that height?” Darmst asked incredulously.
“She's a cyborg,” said Harbid.
“A twenty meter fall probably isn't a big deal for her.”
Harbid got out of his seat and left the cockpit, Darmst followed him.
When they entered the cargo bay everyone was standing by the airlock doors, they could see the section of the doors that Visha had opened.
“We've got visitors,” said Katie as she saw them approach.
Harbid looked out trough the opening and saw three men in plain clothes approaching the ship.
“Are those Constantine's people?” He asked.
“I'm not sure,” replied Katie.
“He said three men would meet us, but there's also a signal they're supposed to give so we know it's them.”
One of the men reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small device.
“Hang on,” said Katie.
The man pressed a button on the device and the next moment three blue flashes of light emanated from it.
“That's the signal,” she said.
“You sure?” Harbid asked her.
“Yes, I'm sure.”
“All right then,” said Harbid, turning to face the shengyet.
“Time to get off this ship, it's probably best if Katie and I go first. Follow us out and stay calm, we don't want to spook anyone.”
Harbid and Katie exited the ship and walked towards the three men. They simply stood there, waiting for them. When Harbid glanced behind him he could see the shengyet filing out of the airlock. The three men in front of them didn't even flinch at the sight of them; Constantine must have told them what to expect. As they drew closer, one of the men stepped forward.
“Lieutenant Harbid, Ensign Smith?” He asked.
They nodded.
“My name's Jack, Admiral Constantine sent me,” he said, holding out his hand.
Harbid and Katie both shook it.
“It looks like you had some problems landing,” he remarked.
“You could say that,” said Harbid.
“Did the Admiral tell you about the prisoner we had on board?”
Jack nodded.
“This was her doing, she escaped during landing and she's probably loose on this compound somewhere.”
Jack scratched the back of his head.
“Well that complicates things a bit, the Admiral had this base cleared to accommodate your friends,” he said, glancing over at the shengyet.
“It's just the three of us here and that's nowhere near enough manpower to search it.”
“Can you get more people?” Asked Harbid.
Jack nodded.
“Yes, but it will take a while.”
“She'll most likely be long gone by then,” said Katie.
“Probably,” Jack agreed.
He turned to one of his men, who nodded and began tapping on his wrist pad.
“He'll get us some re-enforcements, for now why don't we get you and your friends inside?”
Harbid nodded.
“We've got one of the barracks set aside for you to use, follow me.”
Chapter 48
The Twilight drifted through the asteroid field, every once in a while an asteroid would gently bump against the ship's hull.
“Careful Ensign,” said Anna, her eyes glued to the bridge's main view screen.
“I'm being as careful as I can,” Aziz replied.
“These asteroids are packed pretty dense and this ship doesn't exactly turn on a dime. Now would be a good time to have those shields back,” he added.
“I wouldn't count on it,” Anna replied.
“From what Chief Nolan tells me, all the systems our new friends installed are just as damaged as they were after the crash. Jones' people fixed everything else, but they had to disconnect all the alien technology to get the ship up and running.”
“Figures,” said Aziz.
The bridge door opened and Major Clark entered.
“What's our status?” She asked.
“We're two kilometers from the nearest mining capsule,” Aziz reported.
“That should be close enough,” said Anna.
“Cut forward thrusters and go to station keeping.”
“Aye Commander.”
Anna turned to Major Clark.
“Did the search turn up any vacuum suits?”
Major Clark shook her head.
“No, it looks like all the ship's vac suits were destroyed in the crash and Jones' people didn't bother replacing them.”
“So what now?” Asked Anna.
“All we've got is the Sergeant's armor, so he'll have to go out there and retrieve what we need,” said Clark.
“Chief Nolan should be able to talk him through it. We've also managed to cobble together a thruster module. It should be enough to get him to the capsule and back.”
Andrew stepped into the airlock, the inner door closing behind him. He ran a check on the control interface for the thruster jury rigged to his back. There wasn't much to check, just a single chemical thruster. He would have to aim himself at the capsule, engage the thruster briefly to build up speed, then drift to his target on pure momentum. He'd had to remove the armor's recon drone dock, something the little drone hadn't been particularity happy with. It had wanted to come with him, but the young woman had convinced it to stay behind.
“You ready Sergeant?” He heard Graham's voice in his helmet speaker.
“Ready.”
“All right, depressurizing airlock,” said Graham.
“Airlock depressurized, opening outer door, good luck Sergeant.”
The outer airlock door slid open, revealing the velvety blackness of space. Andrew carefully walked to the opening, grasping the outer airlock's door frame with both hands. Slowly, he pushed himself outside, careful to still maintain his grip on the door frame. He felt the ship's artificial gravity disappear as he exited. He moved to the left of the airlock, maintaining his grip on the frame with his right hand. Andrew leaned forward and placed his armored boots against the ship's hull. He activated the navigation software in his helmet's heads up display. A navigation marker appeared over a small object in the distance. The software also showed him the orientation of his thruster relative to the target. He adjusted his angle so it was pointed directly at the capsule. Carefully, he let go with his right hand and activated the thruster.
Slowly, he began moving away from the Twilight.
“You're good so far,” Anna's voice came over his helmet's speaker.
“Sensors show you perfectly aligned with the capsule.”
Andrew checked the telemetry data being fed to his a
rmor's display by the Twilight's sensors. He was one point eight kilometers form the target traveling at five meters per second. As he watched, his speed increased to six meters per second, then seven, eight. He turned off the thruster and tried to keep as still as possible, his legs straight and arms tucked against his body.
Andrew's heads up display now showed one point two kilometers to target. In the distance, large and small asteroids drifted in and out of his field of view. The harsh blue light of the system's star illuminating one side of them. He checked his display, point seven kilometers.
“Get ready,” said Anna.
“You'll be hitting that capsule with quite a bit of force, make sure you don't bounce off.”
“Got it,” Andrew replied.
He checked his display, half a kilometer to target. Andrew could see the capsule now. It was bigger than he'd thought, about half the size of an imperial troop shuttle. He scanned the scratched and dented hull for a place he could grab on to. The capsule was quite smooth, the only potential handholds he could see were the mining drone docking ports. The problem was they were small and the angle he was coming in on would make it hard to grab hold of one.
Andrew was almost at the capsule now. Well if he couldn't reach a handhold, he'd just have to make his own. Using his left hand to help brace the impact, he brought back his right arm and activated the armor's blade above his right wrist. Andrew slammed into the capsule, at the same instant he plunged the blade into the capsules hull. He bounced off from the impact, but the anchored blade kept him from flying off into space.
Thin wisps of smoke emanated from where his blade had pierced the hull. Apparently some of the internal components of the capsule were still operational, or they had been until he'd stabbed into them. Slowly, Andrew pulled himself over the hull until he was able to grasp hold of one of the drone ports. He retracted the blade on his right arm and activated his com.
“I'm at the capsule,” he reported.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Anna replied dryly.
“Interesting docking technique.”
“It got the job done,” Andrew replied.
“Fair enough, but if you do that to my ship on your way back here, you and I will have words.”
“I wouldn't dream of it Commander.”
Andrew looked over the surface of the capsule.
Imperium: Contact Page 37