“That’s not my job…” Don stopped as Jack moved to within a few centimeters of his face and said in a level but harsh tone, “In case you’re too damned blind to realize it, there is no science mission right now. Either you use whatever skills you’ve got to help fix this ship, or I’ll lock you in some damned closet somewhere. You’re of no use to me here.”
Palmer pulled Don back. Once he was out of Jack’s reach, Don shouted, “You don’t have any right!”
Palmer put himself between the two men as he guided Don out and said, “Don...Don, lay off for now. Come, let’s talk in the hallway.”
Jack watched his first officer carefully usher Don off the bridge. He wanted to hear their conversation, but that wasn’t possible. Instead, he glanced at the damage report on his monitor to clear his mind. Its list of ship’s systems and statuses confirmed that everything was exactly as Palmer had described: several fractures in the heat shield required repair, and the starboard aerodynamic control surfaces were damaged.
“Captain” Devon said.
“Yes.”
“I’ve got some very preliminary readings from the analysis of the gyros.”
“Good, go ahead.”
“I think I’ve found a stellar mass object.”
“Explain,” Jack said calmly.
“There’s a zero-point-seven solar mass object at bearing one-three-zero degrees, at a distance of about nine-hundred million kilometers. I also read what seem like two planetary bodies nearby. One is roughly Neptune-size; the other is in orbit around it and is slightly smaller than the Earth.”
“OK, that’s a start. Why didn’t you call it a star?”
“I’m not really sure what it is. It emits very weakly in the visible spectrum; though I am seeing stronger emission in the infrared. But, it’s too large to be a sub-stellar object like a brown dwarf.”
“Put its spectrum on the main screen,” Jack said. The screen displayed a broad, smoothly rising curve that reached a rounded peak and then tailed back off again. It was broken occasionally by the sharp drops of atomic absorption. “It’s thermal radiation, but cool, maybe two or three thousand degrees,” he said softly. “Devon, you said it was zero-point-seven solar masses?”
“Yes sir.”
“That’s too big for a type-M dwarf. I wonder if it’s a white dwarf?”
“Sir?”
“It’s burnt-out stellar corpse; it’s what our sun will become in a few billion years. The fact that this one’s so dim and emits so deep into the IR means it may be ancient and must have died billions of years ago.” Jack took a deep breath and said, “How far are the planets?”
“I can’t give you an accurate number yet since I used an estimated distance to calculate their masses. I started by assuming that the AGC had to be in orbit around a nearby planet. When I found evidence of the two planet-sized objects I just mentioned through a precession I measured in the gyros, I then estimated the distance to be seven-hundred-thousand kilometers; the distance we likely traveled since the transit. This gave me what I needed to derive their masses and then the mass of the white dwarf. Now that we know where to look, we can use radar to directly measure the distance to the planets and get a more accurate reading of their masses.”
Jack followed most of what Devon was saying, but was much more concerned about their immediate situation. “I take it there’re no signs of power emissions, communications or any indications of civilizations or ships in the area?”
“None sir.”
“How about viewing the planets?”
“There’s not going to be much to see; the white dwarf isn’t putting out much light so everything’s dark. There’s just no ambient light with which to see them. But…we might be able to look at the planets in reflected IR light. Though, they won’t be much above absolute zero.”
“Ok,” Jack said, “but, I need you to do two things before that. First, concentrate on using radar and IR light to find any AGCs around the main planet. And second, let’s get a good gravitational map of the star system. Once we get engines back online, we’ll need that data.”
“Yes sir.”
Jack looked back at the damage report, but knew their problems were much more serious than the repairs. This star system was almost certainly dead, which meant there was no hope of trying to find supplies here. Add to that the fact that even when they did get engines back online, it would take them a couple of days to get to the AGCs. The bottom line was – they were going to use up nearly a quarter of their remaining food without anything to show for it.
“Jack?” a voice called to him.
He spun around and was surprised to see Nadya standing at the threshold of the bridge.
“Yes?” he replied politely.
“I need a word with you.” She glanced around the room and added in a hushed voice, “In private please?”
“Of course,” he said as he quickly got up. He exited the bridge with her and gestured to the small meeting room to his left, “Let’s go in there.”
Nadya followed him in quietly, and without saying anything closed the door. Her drained expression echoed the feeling of the entire crew.
Jack forced a smile and said, “In case I didn’t say it before, you’ve been doing an amazing job holding this ship together.”
“Thank you,” she whispered while looking at the floor. She drew a deep breath and looked up at him before continuing, “I came because I have a request.”
He knew what she wanted, but felt it best to let her ask. “Go ahead.”
She spoke softly, “I would like to lead a team on an EVA to seal off the hull breaches to secondary engineering. I want to ... to retrieve Kurt and Claire.”
“I know Nadya. I’ve been thinking about that too. But ...”
“But?” she said with an unexpected edge.
“But, our atmospheric reserves are at only nineteen percent. There’s simply not enough to re-pressurize that compartment after the repairs are done.”
“You’re wrong Jack. It’s not that big a room.”
“I know. But remember, we still need to complete the repairs and re-pressurize the shuttle bay. That’ll take our reserves down to ten percent; and that’s just too low.”
“Jack, we can’t just leave him out there like that,” she pleaded as tears formed at the edge of her eyes.
“We won’t leave him there,” he said reassuringly. “Once we’re able to replenish our supplies, it’ll be the first thing we do. They deserve that.”
Jack waited for her rebuke, but she just stood there, staring blankly into the room. He chose not to say anything more, giving her the necessary time to think things over.
She turned to look him in the eye and said, “We could still do the EVA and bring them back through the airlock.”
Jack didn’t need to think very long to realize it wouldn’t work. The bodies had been at near absolute zero for a couple of days. They would be rigid, brittle and sprawled in God knows what position. Trying to force them into a closet-sized airlock would damage them: it would be both a physical and emotional disaster. He didn’t want to explain the details to her, but had to say something. “I’m sorry Nadya, I just don’t think the airlock is big enough to do this.”
“Jack, you don’t know that for sure.”
“Let me give it some more thought, OK? I’ll let you know a little later.”
“Today?” she asked with forced calmness.
“Yes,” he answered. He was willing to say most anything at this point, just to push off the unpleasantness of finally telling her ‘no.’
She nodded and said, “OK,” before leaving.
He stood alone in the empty room, but wasn’t able to focus. There was too much to do, and too much to think about. Only a few seconds passed, though, before the intercom came to life, “Captain, respond please.” It was Palmer’s voice.
“Yes,” he answered.
“We need you on the bridge. Devon has picked up four radar contacts heading towards us.”
“On my way!” he nearly shouted as he dashed out of the room. As he pushed his way into the bridge he caught the tail end of something Devon was saying to Palmer, “...at high velocity. Approximately zero-point-five c. Time to contact: thirty seconds.”
“What do you have?” he asked.
Palmer answered him, “Four object are on course to intercept us.”
“Objects?” he asked.
“They seem too small to be ships; maybe two meters across.”
“Missiles or projectiles?”
“Unknown. They’ve made two course corrections to home in on us...”
“Their velocity’s changing again sir,” Devon shouted.
“Details,” Jack demanded.
“They’re decelerating,” Devon said with some doubt. “This can’t be right.”
“What?” both Jack and Palmer asked simultaneously.
“They’re coming to a complete stop. That’s too many g’s of deceleration. We’re talking about millions. It...”
“Devon,” Jack said, stopping his pilot’s protest. “Give me their locations.”
“One second,” was the reply. “They’ve taken up positions surrounding us: above, below, left and right. About a thousand kilometers off in each direction. They’ve matched our speed.”
“Put one on screen.”
“This is maximum magnification sir.” The screen showed a small, featureless, silver ball. There were no protruding instruments or obvious engines.
“What the hell is it?” Don asked as he entered the bridge.
Jack ignored him and said to Devon, “Are there any transmissions?”
After a brief pause, Devon answered, “I’ve just scanned radio and visible spectra. There’s nothing; they’re just holding position.”
Palmer spoke up, “Considering what we’ve seen so far, I recommend bringing our defenses on line. I know we don’t have much, but we were outfitted with a small compliment of missiles just in case. Plus, the high power drilling laser might be able to do some damage.”
“I don’t think that’d be wise,” Jack answered.
“Then, what do you intend on doing?” Don challenged.
“Let me at least track them with the targeting computer,” Palmer said. “We can’t be caught completely asleep.”
Jack gave in and said, “Ok, but do not power up any weapons themselves. I don’t want to give them any reason to start shooting.”
“Tracking on-line,” Palmer said. “Targets acquired...”
A brilliant flash of green light engulfed them. Jack tried to shield his eyes, but it was too bright, forcing him to bury his head in his arms. A second later it was gone. He looked back at the screen, but the view remained unchanged; the silver ball hung motionless in space. “Devon, status,” he called out.
Palmer shouted his response instead, “Targeting computer is down. I have no data at all.”
“Nav-systems and engines are still online,” Devon added.
“What the hell was that?” Palmer asked.
Jack just stared at the screen as he answered, “They must have detected your fix on them with the tracking system.”
“Jack, get us the hell out of here,” Don said loudly.
Jack looked around the bridge before responding. “All we’ve got are maneuvering thrusters; and that’s not going to do anything meaningful.”
“We should try to move off slowly,” Palmer suggested. “I mean…they came from that planet. Moving off might be a way to show them that we don’t want to provoke them.”
They sat in silence before Jack continued, “Devon, try a broadband transmission. Maybe we can make some sort of contact and let them...”
“Sir!” Devon interrupted. “Nav-cameras have picked up several bright objects directly behind us.”
“Distance?”
“Unknown. There’re dozens of them. They’re emitting in the x-ray and gamma ray spectrum as well.”
“Is it weapons fire?” Jack asked.
“No,” Don answered. “The intensity’s too low.”
A second blinding green flash engulfed them. Jack was quicker this time to cover his eyes with his arm. Again, it took only a second for the light to dissipate.
Devon was first to speak, “Engines and nav-systems are off-line.”
“Do we have any weapons?” Jack asked, knowing the answer.
“Everything’s down,” Palmer replied.
“Look!” Don shouted, pointing at the main screen.
The silver sphere quickly closed in on them and disappeared from the camera’s field of view. A second later, they heard four, deep, resonating bangs as the spheres made contact. An electric blue haze appeared around them; it was thin enough that he could still make out the stars. A split second later, the star field shifted.
“I’m not doing anything. The engines are still down,” Devon said. “But, it looks like we’re on course for the planet.”
“Devon, bring up a forward view on screen,” Jack said.
A small, pitch black disk was silhouetted against a dark grey, Jovian planet. The image grew quickly and within seconds filled nearly half the screen. The bridge was silent as they watched the scene.
“Devon, don’t zoom in, just give a static view,” Jack said quietly.
“I’m not doing that – our view’s been fixed at ten-times magnification. My readings show that we’re accelerating towards the planet.”
“That’s impossible,” Don shot back. “I don’t feel anything. We’re still at zero-g.”
“I can’t explain it, sir. Velocity is now at one-million k-p-h.” The Jovian planet completely filled their view and the dark disk was now large enough to dominate their attention. “One-point-one-million k-p-h,” Devon announced.
“Devon, check your instruments,” Jack said. “That’d mean we’re accelerating at nearly ten-thousand g’s. We’d be dead.”
“I have no way to precisely verify anything. But based on the rate at which we’re approaching the planet, it’s got to be close to right. I mean the trip should have taken us over a day, and at this rate we’ll be there in only another minute.”
“Put the screen at actual view, no magnification.”
The image shifted to show a near duplicate of what they first saw: an inky black disk set against a charcoal grey world.
“Velocity has leveled off at one-point-six million k-p-h. Contact in forty seconds.”
The black, earth-sized moon orbiting the larger grey planet, grew to fill their view. There were no details to be seen. The feeling of helplessness was paralyzing, but there was nothing they could do. Every instinct told Jack they were coming in too fast. He dug his fingers into his armrest and had the urge to shout out some orders for status or to do something, but it made no sense.
“Fifteen seconds,” Devon announced. “Wait, we’re decelerating. Velocity down to one-point-two million. One-point-one million...” Devon stopped talking as the view abruptly shifted. The black globe seemed to slide smoothly out of the way, and the screen was filled with the deep-grey cloud tops of the gas giant.
“They’re taking us into there? We’ll be killed!” Don shouted.
Devon ignored him and said, “Velocity is at five-hundred-thousand k-p-h, and dropping fast. I can’t tell if we’re going to hit or enter some close orbit.”
“How long?” Jack asked urgently.
“Ten or twenty seconds, it’s impossible to tell. Altitude is down to one-thousand kilometers.”
Jack stared at the nearly black screen. Slight wisps of charcoal grey fog on a black background were the only hint of any cloud patterns. The subtle patterns quickly spread out; giving them the only hint of their rapid descent.
“Entering the atmosphere now. Speed is twenty-thousand k-p-h.”
“Hull temperature?” Jack demanded.
“There’s no sign of any heating. They must be doing something, I just don’t understand,” Devon replied.
The last of the dark grey clouds fl
ew past as they entered the pitch blackness of the planet’s upper atmospheric layers. The inky fog unexpectedly pulled away revealing a clear zone. In the distance was an illuminated metal globe. It just hovered in front of them; its deep grey metal sheen was broken by rows of small yellow lights.
Devon broke their collective silence, saying, “Radar shows it to be about a hundred kilometers away.”
“My God,” Don said. “That means it’s got to be twenty or thirty kilometers wide.”
They closed on the alien ship fast and slowed only when it completely filled their field of view.
“We’re still approaching,” Devon announced. “I think they’re taking us into it.”
“I don’t see any docking bays or doors,” Palmer said.
The thought had already occurred to Jack as he found himself staring tensely at the still growing, perfectly smooth, curved metal wall. The rows of lights were now out of view, and the only detail they could see was their fast growing reflection.
“Sir, we’re not slowing down,” Devon said nervously. “Five seconds until contact.”
A wave of panic suddenly ran through Jack and he shouted, “Shit, grab on to something!” He turned away at the last moment; but nothing happened. Looking up, the screen seemed completely black.
The bridge was silent. Jack searched his senses for some hint of what was going on.
“I think we’re inside,” Palmer said.
Jack looked around; everyone’s eyes were fixated on the screen. “Devon, Put up a wide angle view.”
There was enough light now to make out that they were in some immense, dark cavern. The walls were pitch black. Randomly spaced along them were groups of cylindrical structures, lined with lights reaching in towards the center of the globe. Jack imagined them to be buildings with a myriad of lit-up windows; some reached heights of thousands of meters above the outer wall. They glided through the central void. The buildings seemed to be grouped in clusters, like stalactites. At this scale, his mind immediately thought of them as towns or cities. Their flightpath, though, kept them far from any of the structures.
Don broke the silence with the obvious if inelegant question, “Where the hell are we?”
Prelude to Extinction Page 29
