The Gauloi

by Donald B McFarlane

  “Negative.”

  Something was pulling the Gauloi towards the planet, but what?

  “Central, source of propulsion towards the planet?”

  “Unknown.”

  Not good. Looking towards the ceiling of the bridge, Runo considered the options and came to one conclusion, the ship lodged in the side of J-Hold was somehow pushing them towards the nearby planet.

  Leaning Forward, Runo toggled through the external cameras again and found the image of the object lodged in the side of J-Hold. Without any contradictory evidence, Runo suspected that it was this object that was having an impact on the ship’s position, whatever it was.

  “Central, time to intercept planets rings?”

  “42 hours.”

  “Central, will the ship survive impact with the rings?”

  “Negative. The rings of the planet are solid matter travelling at high speeds. Without active shielding, the hull will be compromised.”

  The message to Nadolo Prime and the company was going to take roughly nine days to reach their respective recipients, seven days after the ship was going to be cut to ribbons by deadly water. Brilliant.

  She didn’t know what was lodged in J-Hold, but it didn’t matter anymore. If the object jammed in the side of the hull was somehow dragging the Gauloi to its doom, she needed to sever J deck from the rest of the ship, and she needed to do it in the next 42 hours.

  Standing up from her seat, Runo picked up her helmet and walked off the bridge. Reaching the crew stasis room, she checked that the other four crew members pods were still in the green, then walked back to Deck 3.

  The ship was nearly silent. With the lighting only flickering on ahead of her as she made her way back to Deck 3, the place felt eerie. Runo knew that the only people on the ship were either in stasis or locked on Deck 3, but there was something about moving around by herself on a 170 metre long, five decked ship that gave her the creeps.

  Reaching the hatch for Deck 3, Runo put her survival helmet back on, and peered through the portal deck and spotted five figures laying where she had left them, the sixth was standing next to the hatch to J-Hold, hands on the wall.

  Opening the hatch got the figure’s attention, and they turned around slowly to watch Runo walk into the room.

  “Hello.” The male said.

  Runo closed the hatch behind her and walked towards the figure. He was gaunt, unshaven, and much older than her.

  “Hello.” She replied.

  “My name is Prub. I’m one of the senior engineers.” The male said. “I work for the company.”

  Runo nodded. “Flying Officer Runo.”

  “Where am I?” Prub asked, taking a few unsteady steps away from the wall.

  “You’re aboard the Gauloi, en route to Mella II.”

  Prub shook his head and looked down at himself. “I feel that something is wrong here.” He looked back up at Runo. “Why are you wearing a Haz-Mat suit, and what happened to me? I have lost a considerable amount of weight, and.” He paused. “I think I just woke up from stasis.”

  Runo stopped in the middle of Deck 3. “Something has happened to the ship. I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet. What is the last thing you remember?”

  Prub rubbed his cheeks. “We were at AnBarn Central. Booked on a two-day journey to Mella II, as you’ve said.” He looked at the five other figures lying on the ground. “When I came to, my stasis pod was open. The deck was mostly blacked out, and I felt hungry and thirsty.”

  Runo started walking over to the ration dispenser. “Would you like some food and water?”

  “Anything you’ve got.” Prub replied.

  “What happened once you were awake?”

  Prub took the snack bar and the cup of water from Runo, downing the water in a long gulp.

  “It was dark towards the bow, and towards the stern, I could see a faint glow, and to the bow, I could hear voices.”

  “You mean towards the hatch?”

  “Must be.” Prub replied. “I got myself out of the stasis pod, and slowly made my way to the exit.” Prub opened the snack bar and took a small bite. “On the way to the hatch, I started seeing bodies. All in various stages of decay.” He took another bite. “When I reached the door, these five were already there. They were sitting in silence, but once they heard the other compartments opening, this one.” He pointed at the woman. “Started hammering away with the tool on the hatch.”

  “How long were you out of your pod?”

  “Just a few hours.” Prub replied.

  “And you’ve lost so much weight? Already?”

  “My pod must have been compromised.” Prub said. “Something malfunctioned with life support.”

  Runo nodded.

  “But that doesn’t explain the skeletons.” Prub said.

  “No.”

  “Do you know our position?”

  “Roughly.” Runo answered.

  “And our time since departure from AnBarn Central?”

  “I believe so.”

  Prub took another bite of the bar. “I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job, Flying Officer, but to me, something seems seriously wrong with this ship.” He took another small bite. “What is it?”

  Runo looked to the floor. “I don’t know.”

  “I’m an engineer, but not the space-craft type. I specialise in mining, rock samples, that kind of thing. I don’t think I can help you with what you’ve got going on with your ship, but I am good at research, and what you’ve got on your hands is a mystery.” He took another bite. “Now, if you’ll have my help, I propose we start with getting these five up and around, hearing their stories, figuring out their skill sets, and seeing if we can’t solve this mystery together.”

  Runo looked at the thin male and smiled. It was good to have someone else on her side to figure out what was going on.

  The five other refugees from J-Hold were still alive when Runo got around to tending to them. They were all malnourished, some severely. Prub assisted Runo with every request she made, even taking charge of the five when she went to the bridge to report to the company.

  When she had finally sat down in her seat on the bridge, a single message was waiting for her on the screen.

  FLYING OFFICER RUNO. CONFIRM POSITION AND STATUS OF SHIP.

  It was an automated message, but it wasn’t from the company. It was from something called Heresy Alignment.

  The first thing that caught her attention was that her message had been received and replied to so swiftly. That shouldn’t have been possible. Unless the Gauloi really had been out for almost 200 years. The second thing that disturbed her was the organisation that sent the reply. Heresy Alignment. That was something she had never heard of. That worried her.

  Shaking her head, she confirmed the ship's position, which was 3725 light-years from Nadolo Prime, and sent the star plot the computer was giving her, along with a damage assessment in reply.

  The reply was almost instant.

  FLYING OFFICER RUNO. YOUR PRESENCE IN THE RESTRICTED ZONES IS FORBIDDEN BY HERESY ALIGNMENT PROTOCOLS.

  Runo smiled. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react to that notice. Somebody thousands of light-years away was telling her that she was in the wrong. A lot of good that was going to do anyone.

  WAIT AT YOUR POSITION FOR JUDGEMENT.

  “What the hell?”

  Reaching forward, Runo started punching a response into the computer.

  “Who are you? I need to be connected to the company.” She typed in reply. Either her initial distress call hadn’t been received, or it had been intercepted.

  There was a long delay before the next response came in.

  ALL IS CONTROLLED BY THE HERESY ALIGNMENT. YOU WILL WAIT AT YOUR POSITION FOR JUDGEMENT.

  This was getting weird. If she couldn’t get through to the company, the next logical step was to send another transmission to the Imperial Fleet and request extraction.

  “Central, prepare an encrypted message to
Imperial Fleet.” Runo sunk back in her chair. She was getting a little worried. She needed help, not threats from some crack-pot at the other end of her comm-link.

  Looking at her screen, she watched it turn red, indicating that she had an encrypted channel which should only be accessible by Imperial Fleet networks.

  “To any Imperial Unit, this is the Gauloi out of AnBarn Central. Please respond.” She sent the message.

  GAULOI

  The message came back over the encrypted network. Perhaps she was making progress.

  CONFIRM LOCATION AND STATUS OF SHIP

  Runo sent the same information that she had sent earlier and waited for the reply.

  GAULOI. YOUR PRESENCE IN THE RESTRICTED ZONES IS FORBIDDEN BY HERESY ALIGNMENT PROTOCOLS.

  Fuck you. Runo leaned forward and turned off the comms unit. There was no point in a running dialogue with whomever she was in contact. All she could do was hope that the company or Reach Command had received her distress call and wait.

  Walking back to Deck 3 she thought about the exchange she had just had. It didn’t make sense. If things had changed so much in the Empire during their absence, who knew what that would mean if they tried to return there. Runo knew they couldn’t stay where they were. They had to get the engines up and running and move away from the planet that they were being pulled towards before they were sliced to pieces, but once that was accomplished, then what?

  Travelling back to the Imperial territory at sub-light speeds was not a viable option. Assuming they could get the engines up and running again, they had two choices, wait and hope that rescue arrived, or try and find an inhabitable planet nearby.

  Then there was the question of getting the jump drives on-line, but no one in the crew was rated to repair those systems, and she doubted that miners were up on those systems either. So that option was fucked.

  “Focus.” She said to herself. She knew that there were more immediate threats to deal with first, namely figuring out what the heck was going on in J-Hold.

  Reaching Deck 3, Runo opened the hatch to find the six survivors from J-Hold were all sitting up and chatting lively.

  “I see everyone has recovered.” Runo said with a nervous smile on her face.

  “Mostly.” Prub said.

  “I demand to know what is going on!” A woman barked from a seated position. “Immediately.”

  Prub pointed at the woman. “This is Zaka. She’s part of the mining companies senior management.”

  Runo stopped in her tracks for a moment, her eyes focused on Prub before turning to look at Zaka. When she finally did, she saw a dishevelled and focused looking woman in her 40s.

  “I,” Runo took two steps forward. “I can only tell you what I’ve told Prub, and that isn’t a lot.”

  Zaka kept her eyes locked on Runo. “I want to hear everything you know.”

  The other four strangers also had their eyes fixed on Runo while eating and drinking the refreshments she had provided. Everyone knew something was wrong, now they just wanted to hear it from someone who didn’t look like they were on the verge of death.

  Shaking her head, Runo recounted everything that had happened since she had woke from stasis, including the bit about the Heresy Alignment. When she was done, there were some stunned looks on faces, but there wasn’t the overwhelming sense of panic and dread she had been expecting.

  “Prub, mate, what do you think of all this?”

  “Oto,” Prub put his hands up. “I don’t see why she’d be lying.”

  “Wait.” Runo looked at Prub. “You know each other?”

  Prub nodded. “Oto and I work together on the survey side of things.”

  “Ten years together.” Oto added. “On and off.”

  “What about anyone else?” Runo asked.

  “I recognise you.” A young male said, pointing to an older woman. “You and I have worked jobs before.”

  “Mining Team Five.” The woman replied. “My name is Dupina. I’m a miner, just like almost everyone else on this transport.” She jerked her thumb towards the hatch for J-Hold.

  “Blinji, Mining Team Five.” The young male said.

  Runo looked at the last individual in the room, a startlingly attractive young woman. “You. Are you also a miner?”

  “No.” She replied.

  “What’s your name, girl?” Prub asked.

  “Inkana.”

  “Do you work for the company?” Runo asked.

  Inkana nodded.

  “But you’re not a miner?”

  “I can tell you she’s not on my staff!” Zaka blurted out.

  “What department are you with, girl?” Prub asked.

  “Entertainment.” Inkana replied sheepishly.

  “Oh.” Prub said, looking over to Runo, shaking his head.

  Runo looked at the girl. She was clearly embarrassed, so she didn’t press further.

  “Well.” Zaka pushed herself to her feet. “Now that we know who everyone is, we’ve got three miners, one engineer and one whore.” She nodded while smoothing out her jumpsuit. “As the senior representative of the company, and since this ship has been contracted by the company, I am assuming command.”

  Runo puffed out her chest. “You can assume all you like, but you’re not part of the crew, and I’m not taking orders from you.” She looked at Prub. “What do you think?”

  The old engineer rubbed his chin. “I’d advise we confirm that the Gauloi is sound, life-support, engines, jump-drives. We go over everything, just to be careful. After that, find some better clothing, maybe a more nourishing meal. Once that’s accomplished, we need to check on what’s really going on in J-Hold.” He looked over to Zaka. “No disrespect miss, but this isn’t the boardroom.”

  That put a smile on Runo’s face. “Blinji, Oto, Dupina, what do you know about star-ships?”

  Dupina, the second eldest in the group raised her hand. “I’ve got some knowledge about life support systems.”

  “Okay.” Runo said, walking over to a cabinet by the entrance to Deck 3, she retrieved a datapad. “Follow the directions to primary life-support and see what you can find out. Take Blinji with you.”

  Blinji jumped to his feet, offering Dupina a hand up, and followed his team member off of 3-Deck in search of the life support systems.

  “I think Oto and I could have a look at the jump drives and engines.” Prub said. “We might not be starship engineers, but we’ve got a lot of experience with machinery.”

  Runo nodded. “Good plan.”

  “And what would you like me and the whore to do?” Zaka asked, throwing a harsh glance at Inkana.

  “Since you are the representative of the company, and clearly an astute corporate mind, I’d like you to accompany me, along with Inkana, to the bridge, and have a look at the transmissions we’ve received, and see what can be done.”

  A small smile crept across her face. “The bridge?”

  “The bridge.”

  The old executive pushed herself up from the floor. “That does sound like where I belong.”

  “Good.” Runo said, starting to take off her survival suit. “Shall we?”

  The bridge was just like Runo had left it, and when Zaka walked into the cramped compartment, she had a deflated look on her face.

  “You were expecting something more?” Runo asked.

  Zaka shook her head. “No.” She slowly panned around the room. “I just thought it would be bigger.”

  “The Gauloi is just a modest handi.” Runo said. “Why don’t you sit here, this is the Ship Master’s seat.”

  Zaka took the seat offered, her eyes continuing to scan the room until they finally fixed on the ringed planet that was looming large in the forward windows. “Is that?”

  “That is the closest world.” Runo confirmed. “We’re either being pushed or pulled towards it.”

  “What type of planet is that?” Zaka asked.

  “Gas giant.” Inkana said meekly.

  Runo looked over at the
attractive young woman, who had taken the medical officers chair on the far left of the compartment. Her feet up on the seat, her knees pulled to her chest.

  “Yes.” Runo confirmed. “It’s a gas giant. We wouldn’t be able to land there.”

  “Are there any other planets in the system that support life?” Zaka asked, the faintest hint of panic in her voice.

  “I don’t know.” Runo replied.

  “Well, shouldn’t you maybe, scan for other planets, in case we need to land?” She asked.

  “Ma’am, this ship can’t fly at the moment, and only has an escape pod that can transport the crew, which is only five people.”

  Zaka smiled. “Well, there are only six of us.”

  “Let’s focus on the task at hand.” Runo suggested.

  “How right you are, Flying Officer.” Zaka said.

  “Central, what is the status of other planets in the system?” Runo asked.

  “Single planet capable of supporting life within the system.” The robotic AI replied.

  “Central, distance to the planet?”

  “500,000 kilometres.”

  “Central, location of the planet?” Runo looked at Zaka. “We’re almost on top of it.”

  “Planet located astern of Gauloi.”

  “I don’t know why it’s not showing up on the external cameras.” Runo said, bringing up the external views and rechecking them.

  “Would the Gauloi be able to make that trip?” Zaka asked. “Or the escape pod?”

  “The Gauloi.” Runo replied. “If we had fuel.” Runo rubbed her head. “The escape pod could make that distance also. But it’d be a one-way ticket to the surface. I want to hear what Prub and Oto have to say when they’re back from engineering.” Runo shook her head. “And let’s not forget all the cargo we’re transporting. I don’t think the company would think highly of us if we leave a few thousand souls and abandon ship.”

  Zaka nodded, contemplating the thought. “Very true.”

  “The first thing we have to do is somehow get control back of some form of thrust, and once we’ve got that, then we can start making plans.”

  “There might be something else.” Inkana said.

  “She speaks.” Zaka barked.

  “Shut up.” Runo demanded, then turned her attention to Inkana. “What do you mean?”