Chapter Sixteen – Escaping the Bubble
Alexander leant heavily against the console across from where his brother still worked. He was exhausted. It was hard to believe that it’d been less than twenty-four hours since they’d been kidnapped by O’Lochlan, cast adrift in the pod and found themselves somewhere on the other side of the galaxy.
Not to mention that he’d put in a full shift before any of this mess started. Alexander was ready to find a bunk somewhere and just crash. Unfortunately, that didn’t look like happening any time soon. There was still too much to do.
“That’s the best we can do,” Pete said as he slowly stood up and arched his back.
“We have full power?” Alexander asked hopefully.
Zheen laughed. “Nowhere near it.”
“We should, however, have enough power by the time we’re ready to leave, to be able to get us back into normal space,” Pete clarified.
Alexander lifted one eyebrow at his brother.
“We’ve got the power cycling through the ion drive and back to the generator on a loop,” Pete explained.
“And each pass through the generator increases the power levels,” Zheen finished.
Alexander was impressed that Zheen seemed to be able to keep up with Pete. Usually whenever Pete got wound up with an engineering problem, only A.B. or one of the other senior engineers on the station could match him.
“What else do we need to do?” Alexander asked.
“I could spend a couple of weeks just in here, but for now, Engineering’s as ready as it’s going to be,” Pete answered. “Zheen and I are going to check out the flight deck.”
“Anything you need me to do?” Alexander asked.
Pete thought for a moment. “Not off the top of my head. I think Zheen and I have got things covered for now.”
Alexander gave a quiet sigh of relief. He wasn’t too sure that he was up for anything that involved a great deal of thought. And engineering usually did.
“I’ll check out the rest of the ship, then,” he said.
Pete flicked his hand in acknowledgement as he and Zheen headed along the corridor towards the flight deck. Alexander, though, turned right directly outside Engineering. The corridor was short. At its end was a small round porthole. Alexander hopped up on his toes to peer out. There wasn’t much to see, just more of the bizarre blue space of the Bubble.
He considered his options. There was a hatch below his feet and a doorway that led towards the back of the ship. He chose the doorway and stepped inside a long corridor. At least with the lights working again, he wasn’t finding it as nerve-racking as when they’d first come aboard the Star Runner. Spaced along the corridor were five more hatches set into the floor.
Alexander approached the first one. He stood looking down at it as he punched the orange button set into the bulkhead. It blinked on and off, before changing into a steady purple light. The hatch at his feet hissed open. Inside, a ladder led down to the next deck.
He quickly climbed down and found himself inside a small booth. The entire wall in front of him was clear; the walls and console lined with screens, toggles and touch pads. Most were labelled, but the weird hieroglyphics meant nothing to him. Everything was powered down. Behind him, a second hatch was inset into the deck beneath the ladder. Alexander took three steps and peered out through the glass.
The room beyond, the first of the cargo pods, went down two levels. It was completely empty. Alexander scampered back up the ladder, pausing only to slap the purple button, which changed back to orange once the hatch was closed. The second cargo pod was as empty as the first. The third and fourth, though, were much more interesting.
The majority of the third pod was taken up with rows and rows of containers. They were lashed together to the sides of the pod and stood piled three high. In the centre of the pod was a small mountain of raw timber, lashed to the deck.
Half of the fourth pod was taken up with containers; the other half with bulky machinery of some kind. Alexander was sure that it wouldn’t take Pete long to start exploring in there once he found out about it.
The last pod was as empty as the first two. From the control booth, Alexander could just make out the breach that they’d seen from the pod. The button to the lower hatch was a deep blue colour. He wondered if that indicated a lack of atmosphere in the cargo bay.
“Pete to Alex.”
Alexander started. He swivelled his head around. Pete’s voice had come from the wall somewhere behind him.
“Alex. If you can hear me, I need you to go to the shuttle bay and open the outer door. Nick’s on his way in with the Pod.”
Using Pete’s voice as a beacon, Alexander located a small panel near the hatch. There was a button beside it.
“Uh, Pete?” Alexander ventured as he pressed the button.
“Alex! Good to hear your voice. I was starting to wonder if I’d managed to get these comms working properly at all. Did you hear what I said before?”
“I heard, Peter. I’m in the control booth for Cargo Pod Five. On my way to the Shuttle Bay now. Alexander out.”
Wearily, he climbed back up the ladder and stabbed the button to lower the hatch before making his way back down the long corridor. Once there, he went quickly through the short cross-corridor before re-entering Engineering. At the far end of the room was a double-sized hatch. Alexander hit the button and waited for the door to open. It led to a short cross-corridor with a door set into the wall at each end.
Shuttle Bay Control was nearly identical to the cargo pod control rooms. It held the same transparent glass wall in front, a large console, and screens and touchpads lining the walls. The room beyond the glass was fairly small, at least in comparison to the cargo pods.
There were a few containers lashed against the left wall, but otherwise, the bay was empty. Once, it may have held two or three small craft, or even one medium-sized shuttle, but now, all that was left was a long burn mark slightly off-centre down the middle of the bay. Pod Nine would fit inside with plenty of room to spare.
Alexander frowned down at the console as he sat before it. A small light was blinking in the top right-hand corner. Tentatively, he reached out and poked the button beside it. Nothing happened. The button on the other side had similar results. The console chirped as he pressed the button above the light. Waves of lights lit up the room as every screen came alive.
Alexander pulled his hands away, afraid to touch anything. Without being able to read the alien writing, he had no idea how he was going to open the bay doors. He scanned the console, looking for anything that seemed familiar. His eyes kept being drawn to the centre of the board. He slowly reached out and flipped one toggle with his finger. The bay beyond was immediately plunged into darkness.
Wrong one, he frowned to himself.
He quickly turned the lights back on. This time, he tried sliding a bar up. Gears started grinding and he looked up with hope. At the far end of the bay, a clamshell door slowly rose. The slither of the strange blue space beyond the door gradually grew until it filled the far side of the bay.
A hint of movement beyond the door caught his eye. He squinted, trying to see. Suddenly, the boxy pod swung into view. It loomed larger and larger. Involuntarily, he pushed his chair back, while at the same time shaking his head at his brother’s recklessness. Nick was bringing the pod in way too fast, much faster than any sane pilot would.
Typically, though, Ace landed the craft gracefully; barely a sound could be heard through the deck plating.
Alexander slid the bar back down, closing the clamshell doors. He tentatively flipped a few toggles while keeping half an eye on the deep blue colour of the button near the lower hatch behind him. After the fifth toggle, the button started to blink. It finally settled back into an orange hue. He quickly pressed it and made his way down the ladder.
The door to the pod opened as he made his way ac
ross the deck.
“Hey, Alex,” Nick said as he jumped down to the deck.
“Hi, Nick, good to have you back. What’d you find?”
Just then, Alexander noticed a short, black-furred alien standing in the doorway. Two large ears pointed out from the top of his head above his shaggy copper-coloured hair. His hair was long, spilling down over his shoulders. Flicking from side to side around his legs was what could only be a tail. Alexander snapped his mouth shut, suddenly aware that he’d been staring.
“Uh, hi. I’m Alexander Daniels. Welcome aboard,” he said holding out his hand.
The alien stared at his outstretched hand for a minute before grasping his forearm. The hairs on his arm felt soft, almost like silk.
“Tran,” he said with a curt nod.
“Alexander?” Holas called from the hatchway, “Pete would like this second generator taken up to Engineering. Would you be so kind as to give me a hand?”
Alexander let go of Tran’s arm and jumped into the pod. Between the two of them, they deftly manoeuvred the generator out of the pod, across the deck and onto a small lift. It had a basic rail around its side and three buttons set into the controls.
Up, down, stop? Alexander guessed.
The lift jolted slowly upwards on the first button. Alexander rode the lift with the generator, while the others made their way up the spiral staircase. At the top, they each took a corner and headed through the door into Engineering. After leaving it sitting beside its twin, the four of them made their way to the flight deck.
“Good. You’re here. The generator?” asked Pete as they filed through the doorway.
“In Engineering, as requested,” Holas answered.
“Tran, this here’s my brother Pete. And that’s Holas’ daughter, Zheen,” Nick introduced. “Pete, Zheen, this is Tran’aak Zheelok”
Pete raised his hand in greeting; Zheen looked up and gave a brief smile. Tran returned their greetings with a nod before drifting off around the deck.
“How are we going Pete?” Alexander asked.
“Engineering’s as ready as it’s going to be. As is the flight deck. Zheen and I have just about finished shutting down and locking off as much power as we can. We know that coming into the Bubble drains ships; we’ve got no idea what’ll happen when we try to leave.”
“I shut down the pod,” Ace volunteered. Alexander noticed that he’d made his way to the horse-shoe shaped helm console and was now standing with one hand resting on the back of the chair.
“What about my cargo?” Tran asked.
Alexander looked over at him, puzzled.
“Tran’s got some cargo on his ship that he’d like to take with us,” Nick explained.
“This ship is new to us,” Holas remarked, “flying it could be problematic enough without the added complication of docking with another vessel. I would much rather that we just left the Bubble without the added danger of further damaging Star Runner.”
Even with his unfamiliarity with his species, Alexander recognised the look that Tran’aak shot Holas as disdainful.
“Cargo Pods One and Two are both empty,” he volunteered.
“And there’re hatches on the bottom of each Pod. I’m sure that we could do it,” Ace added.
“The generators do need more time to cycle up to full power,” Pete put in. “We have the time to spare.”
Holas looked from face to face before visible slumping. “Very well, as soon as we are ready, we’ll give it a try.”
“We’re ready now,” said Zheen a few moments later.
“Everyone take a seat and strap in,” Holas commanded.
Alexander retreated to one of the two seats in front of the starboard consoles. He found a strap, pulled it across his lap and buckled himself in. He looked up to see Holas standing over Nick who had obviously jumped straight into the pilot’s chair.
“Nick? What are you doing?” Alexander asked.
“I can fly this thing,” Nick stated.
“You probably could,” Alexander replied. “But I think for now it might make more sense to let someone who can actually read the writing on the console do the piloting. Don’t worry, Ace, you’ll get your chance.”
Nick sat frozen and Alexander was starting to wonder if he’d have to physically move his brother out the pilot’s chair when he suddenly stood up and moved to sit beside him. Alexander glanced across to where Pete and Zheen sat facing the port consoles and then back to Tran at the console against the rear port wall.
Holas seemed to study the board for a few minutes before his fingers started to move. A low hum grew as the engines were engaged.
The short hop across to Tran’s ship took longer than it did to mate Cargo Pod One’s hatch with Tran’s Black Lightning, which Holas managed on the fourth attempt. From what little Alexander could tell, Tran’s cargo seemed to contain a dozen large rectangular containers and a half a dozen pallets of textiles – mostly carpets and rugs. It was barely noticeable when packed into a corner of the huge cargo pod.
By the time that everyone was once more seated on the flight deck, Pete was able to announce that the generators were up to full power.
After successfully disengaging the two ships, Holas engaged the engines. The Star Runner banked and Alexander saw three or four ships drift across the screen. She was settled on a course, right for the dark curtain across space that they’d noticed earlier. The slight vibration in the deck plates increased as Holas increased speed. The weird bluish-grey space intensified, becoming almost too painful to watch.
The ship shook as Holas pushed more and more speed from her. Alexander turned his head slightly and squinted at the almost too bright screen. Suddenly, the Star Runner bucked. Alexander felt the sash around his waist tighten as he was bounced in his chair. The lights flickered. The vibrations under him seemed to stutter. The ship jerked, then surged ahead again.
Warning beeps and wails started to pepper the air around him. Alexander winced as a particularly high-pitched one went off right beside his ear. Suddenly, everything stopped. The light from the screen was gone. The alerts and beeps cut off. The shaking of the ship stilled. Star Runner was plunged into darkness.
“Did we make it?”
Star Runner Page 16