Chapter Seventeen: Electronic-fog
With a deep pulsating sound, a silvery disk rises from the floor of the immense hanger. It’s bathed in a bluish electronic-fog that extends 25-feet in all directions from the hull. The rocky floor heats from the interaction with the fog that is a byproduct of interaction with the slipstream. Squat landing gears retract rapidly, with a nary a clank. Esty, deftly manipulates the warp-bubble, causing the saucer to slowly move forward. “Esteeeeeeeeeee!” Talia’s, circuits skip a beat. She’s disoriented and confused about the situation.
The saucer slowly moves closer to the unyielding rock wall of the hanger. “Are you sure about this?!” The tall android shields her face with an arm. Doom is imminent, she’s sure of it! Even though her circuits knew better.... And, Jax.... Well, Jax sees a ghost for his first time ever! As the ship passes out of phase with this universe, and rubs elbows with all other realms, and haunts, a fleeting glimpse of a misty specter, moving phantomlike through the hanger, warms his blood. Cold and uncaring it travels, and then disappears into the rock wall, as if it never truly existed.... the young man swoons, as his deepest desire becomes a reality! Albeit a fleeting one....
The tall monitor that circumnavigates the bridge, brings the terrible scene into the bridge compartment as if there are no walls whatsoever. Others, perform their duties through high levels of anxiety, even though the physics had been explained and understood. It’s just not natural, traveling through solid rock! But, they’re not in their own natural universe anymore.... The saucer and occupants, exist outside our universe, in an out-of-phase condition. Therefore, not subject to the exact laws of physics, we love so dearly.
“Calm down, Talia.” Omari calmly reaches, holding his partner in a reassuring embrace. “This part will be over soon. Close your eyes, my dear.” And with that, the leading edge of the flying saucer, breaks past the inner-surface of the rock-face, as if it wasn’t there at all. While, in actuality, it is .... and it isn’t. The large monitor fills with a fuzzy image of granite, as the machine slowly passes through. Outside the ship, a bubble of twisted space-time extends 25-feet in all directions from the hull. Neither the ship, nor the rock is destroyed, but rather, temporarily transmuted into differing energies. As this happens, the rock is heated but not damaged, as radiation-byproducts drain harmlessly into the slipstream and surrounding substratum of the mountain rock. Within a bluish-haze of light, the saucer is cradled in an out-of-phase bubble of warped space-time that extends like a protective bumper.
An outsider, looking up at the mountain, would notice a thick, ghostly fog, forming on the rock-face, followed by a shimmering disk of blue light that penetrates, as it leaves the mountain behind. Upon exiting the mountain, the craft magically travels through fat tree trunks that block its path to freedom, without snapping or touching a single one. The day is early, the sky clear and calm, as it climbs to the height of the mountain, and hovers just below a layer of clouds. The commander wishes to get an idea of her ships performance, before sailing off into the wild blue yonder. Also, it’s a good idea to monitor the airspace nearby, for anything out of the ordinary.
The mountain complex has been powered-down to an idle-configuration. The required energy needs were carefully calculated to prevent the terrible discharge of excess electricity at the surface. The Jacob’s ladder, will create no more havoc unless emergency warrants. While Esty and her friends are gone away, there will be no earthling visits to the complex. Besides, everyone else is pre-occupied with running their own lives, without allocating precious resources away from home. If truth be known, Doctor Max, wouldn’t have been surprised, that most of the settlers on Oberon Prime and Titania Alpha, prefer the domestic lifestyle, over the unpredictable and often tumultuous life of space adventure. Omari and Talia are exceptions to this rule, as the adventures of late, have put the spirit of exploration into their circuits. That, plus they don’t have any youngsters of their own, and have taken a shine to Nyla and Wil’s little brood of monsters. Although, lately they don’t act like the little monsters they used to be!
Esty, sits atop her beloved command chair, beaming like a queen. She glances around the darkened bridge, surveying her motley crew, and enjoying the bravado and excitement in their countenances. Talia’s outburst is not duplicated amongst the others. They remain focused on their duties, anxious about this first flight, which is basically a test flight, before landing at the habitats for needed supplies. The commander feels a mixture of emotions. She’s about to embark on another mission! A completely different mission than usual! It’s been a long time coming, but she still feels torn about leaving the safety of her nest. A lot has happened since her carefree days of pirating the space-lanes. She wants to set sail for her home-worlds, but realizes how critical the fuel-quantity is. Half-way across the galaxy is much too far! .... for now.
In fact, she ponders that her home-worlds may even be destroyed.... or worse. Her universe sometimes feels upside down, as of late. Her only true source of comfort, sits with Braxton and Magnus at the helm. With Gort at her side, the universe seems less threatening. She catches his eye, offering the stoic warrior a wink of approval. He’s been so brave through all of this, adjusting like a champ! He winks back, knowing he made the right decision to join her new crew, instead of acting the fool. With Esty at his side, he can endure the worst that the universe has to offer.
“Are you sure the ship passed through the rock without damage, Esty?” Magnus inquires.
“We’re traveling out of phase, with everything you have ever known.” She explains, yet once again. “While partially in the slipstream as we are now, the laws of physics that you know, don’t exist. We are neither here, nor there.... but somewhere in between.
“But we can’t hit anything big, right?” Magnus requires reassurance. “Like a planet or star?”
“At high speed, even the rock-face we just went through, would have destroyed us. And it wouldn’t have been so good for the planet either.” She responds, with a laugh.
“Okay, I’ll make a note.” He jokes, nervously. “Avoid hitting mountains, planets or stars. Got it!”
Esty, loves her central command-chair! It’s a lofty perch, from which she truly shines. It even has her name on it, in case some wiseacre wonders if it’s rightfully her place. But, not even Jax is brave enough to wonder that one aloud. Gort, tightens his restraints in anticipation of the flight. The ship and occupants will enjoy inertial-dampening as a byproduct of being out of phase with this universe, but things happen. To not be strapped in during such time, is a danger that rarely ends well. Gort’s job is to supervise the new pilots, while they apply their skills at flying an alien spacecraft. Each of the headband-eleven, has hundreds of hours in a flight-simulator, so Esty is confident that they won’t inadvertently fly the ship into the planet. Gort.... Well, Gort isn’t so sure! .... It’s in his nature to be pessimistic.... ever-vigilant!
Nyla and Wil, are happy to sit at the communications console with Talia and Omari; out of the way, and still able to perform duties, if necessary. Amy and Kara, sit with Cooper and Toby, at the reactor-control console. Max, Shirley and Tina, occupy duty-stations at life-support. Adam and Jax, operate the astrogator console, each looking smug at being included in the flight crew. The Zenarawan’s, along with Harper and Ling reside off to the side in additional seats that were installed for the special occasion. They have the best seats in the house, because they can observe all areas with just slight turns of their heads. There only duty.... give moral support. Esty’s comments about the slipstream, has the furry-ones nervous. Because, now they are dead, but not dead! .... Alive, but not alive! .... The people of the stars, have powerful medicine indeed!
“Cooper, Toby.... monitor the reactor parameters closely.” She orders, firmly. “It’s been a long time since the old girl has been out of the barn.” She loves displaying her immense knowledge of human vernacularisms. It seems to help her fit in better.... Gort is amazed at her command of the human langu
age, until he remembers how she does it. He in turn, will have to rely on the Zenarawan’s to communicate with anyone other than Esty or the earthling androids.
The atmosphere on the bridge is electrified! In fact, throughout the ship, a feeling of static-electricity flows through the air, as the reactor spools mightily, deep in the belly of the beast. Hairs stand on end, which really annoys the Zenarawan’s to no end! They seem as chia-pets having a bad-fur day. However, soon that subsides, and is replaced with a deep-base sound that will always be in the background, as long at the ships heart beats strongly. A palpable feeling of power radiates throughout the vessel, as the reactor stabilizes after such a long pause in activity.
Esty swoons! .... Her circuits feel a thrill that’s rivaled only by her ancient memories of sexual pleasures. Her baby has come back to life! The proud machine speaks to her through the data that pour into her display. Like a medical-diagnostic, she analyzes, and sees that all is as it should be. All around the bridge, the main view screen shows a beautiful day on Oberon Prime. The visual sensation for the many, seems as if they’re traveling on a magic carpet. From this vantage point, valley’s and forest, run for a far as the eye can see, just beyond the big electronic-window.
“Cooper, how are the reactor parameters.” She asks the unnecessary question, hoping to see if the human is paying attention.
“Commander, the reactor-core has stabilized at 27-million-degrees-Fahrenheit.... Magnetic confinement holding steady.... All looks good, Esty.” Cooper, beams with pride at her new position as chief engineer.
“That is accurate; thank you, Cooper.” Esty is happy with the flight so far. She reaches for her own helm controls. “Okay everybody, hold on to your butts! Because, here we go!” As she manipulates the warp-bubble, a thrill goes through her circuits that would embarrass if truth be known! She adds power and direction to the beautiful craft.... the sky’s the limit! The silvery disk within a ghostly sheen, rises into the air at a dramatic rate. Bernoulli, doesn’t even recognize the sleek machine as it rips into the upper atmosphere without ruffling the thinning molecules. Traveling partially within the slipstream, the saucer evades creating a sonic-boom. The angle-of-attack, becomes nearly vertical, as her pride and joy races towards outer space. She wants to do barrel-rolls in celebration, but even with inertial-dampening, vertigo would go off the charts for her new crew, and that would never do!
It takes only 30-seconds to reach her goal of 500-miles above the planet. The ship barely got out of an idle-configuration, not needing to enter the slipstream completely. All around them, the universe and planet, shimmer with beauty, lighting up the monitor in a display of marvelous glory. Ahead, the space elevator counterweight looms large. She adjusts a dial, and the shimmering effect is compensated for. Revealing an incredible blue planet on one side of the bridge, and the milky way, splashed across the other side. The moment is surreal, leaving everybody speechless. Even the stony-hearted Gort is moved to near tears. It had been so very long! .... The humans and Zenarawan’s are beside themselves with a mixture of fear and admiration of the event happening before their very eyes. None of their species has ever been off planet; the thrill is truly indescribable.... and frightening!
“I forgot how wonderful being in orbit is!” Talia exclaims, after regaining her wits. The last time she had launched from a gravity-well, was a much more violent method, long ago.
“That’s my girl! Welcome back!” Omari, is happy she didn’t blow a circuit breaker earlier.
Everyone, including the ecstatic commander, releases their restraints and floats freely. Raznalli, and his family are the first of their kind to enjoy the realms true weightlessness. The experience is almost too much for them. Due to the tumultuous avalanche of emotions flowing from the humans, they divert their mental receptions. Only Gort, communicates with them calmly, as the moment grips everyone else with a tsunami of emotion. The monitor is so clear, so precise, that the non-android animals are almost afraid to venture too close to the walls, for fear of being lost forever. Space, and all its glorious depth, greedily reaches for them with virtual fingers of ice. But, Mother Nature’s cold heart of vacuum is denied her lust, this time around. She’ll try again, never giving up hope for more victims.... vacuum, abhors life.... of any kind!
Suddenly, the magic of the moment is broken! A transmission emanates loudly from the communications console. “Wil; this is Cody. Do you copy?” An excited tone.... Before the free-floating android can adjust his trajectory and return, the call comes through several more times. Each, more frantic than the last.
“Go ahead, Cody. I copy your transmission five by five.” Wil can’t imagine the emergency, but is glad they were able to meld human technology with that of the alien comm panel.
“Where are you, Wil? I’ve been trying to reach you on your walkie-talky.”
“You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you.... What’s up?” He enjoys the play on words that Cody couldn’t possible understand at the time.
“Well, we just received a transmission from Earth, or at least from that direction. Are you still planning on stopping for supplies before flying off into the unknown?”
“Yes.... Well, I think so. Why?” Now Wil’s curiosity is peaked. Cody would never call, without a damn good reason!
“Well, we’re still deciphering the message. It’s strongly coded. But, so far we’ve noticed a peculiar number sequence within the text, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you!” Now, Cody has his chance for mysteriousness, even if the timing isn’t perfect.
A laugh assaults Cody’s ears. “Okay, okay. Good one. Now, spill the beans my friend.” Wil, retorts firmly.
“Well, I hope your sitting down,” he says to the weightless android. “because the numbers we’ve deciphers so far .... belong to Carter! .... They’re his old serial-number, from when he worked at Higgs-Boson Airfield.... That’s all we know for now. Do you copy?”
“I copy.” Wil, and the other androids are shocked beyond recognition! They never thought for one moment, that they would ever again speak of Carter in the present. Even though the transmission was probably 50-years-old. After long moments of shock, Wil calls back. “I can’t believe it! .... We’re on our way, Cody. And, believe it or not, we’ll be there in only a few minutes. We’re arriving in the saucer, so make sure the defenses at both habitats are powered down. If you copy, please repeat.”
“Okay Wil, I copy that.... power down the weapons systems. I’m on it now. Cody; out.” And the console goes quiet, leaving everyone wondering if it wasn’t some wild space-dream.
It takes an awful lot to top the feelings of being in orbit above a beautiful planet, but those words from Cody slam into four androids like a speeding comet. It can’t be, they all think before speaking. It just can’t be! .... An old friend, whom they thought about often, but out of reach, has seemingly reached out for them. Surely, the universe is playing a warped trick on them, they figure. Somehow, a stray pulse of radiation has somehow spontaneously formed into Carter’s numbers, without any rime nor reason, they conclude.
“Oh my!” Nyla responds excitedly. Unable to fathom such a turn of events.
“How can this be?” Talia wonders aloud. Her circuits, heating from the thought.
“Carter? .... Our Carter?” Omari is stunned. Confusion takes a bite!
“Esty, we had better cut our fun-time short, and return to the planet.” Wil informs firmly. “There’s a landing site near the Einstein. You can’t miss it.” Now, Wil is sounding like a commander!
Esty responds favorably. “Of course, Wil.” She floats back to her throne and straps herself in tightly. “Is everybody ready?” She inquires. And after a sufficient number of responses, she tweaks the warp-bubble, rolling the ship over and accelerating into the voracious gravity-well of Oberon Prime. Outer hull temps remain unchanged, as the partially de-phased vessel goes through the atmospheric gasses without true contact. The Zenarawan’s however, are sure they’re going to die! They really have no
idea what’s happening, except that it’s plain to see that the world is coming fast.... to smash them to pieces.
Gort, is nothing, if not observant of others. Seeing his new furry friends in such a quandary, he pierces their mental turbulence, calming their spirits. The descent into the abyss takes longer than the rise. Esty can accelerate the ship into space at breakneck speed, because there is no planet to hit. But, going the other way, takes finesse and calculation. She feels the rust fall away from her navigation skills. Becoming almost dangerous once again, she has an insatiable rush for excitement....
Most earthlings of the twin-habitats in the valley, are outside to see the spectacle. The rumor of spaceships in a mountain is well known, but very few had ever laid eyes on one. They don’t have to wait very much longer. Soon, from between puffy clouds, come such a silvery jewel as to make them wonder if it’s even real! .... A 200-foot-diameter shimmering metallic-disk, flying at more than 2000-mph is enough to take the breath away from the strongest of people. Especially when it passes only 300-feet above their heads. No sonic shock-wave or other disturbance is noticed on the ground. The craft truly leaves an impression of other-worldliness on the observers.
After the buzz, Esty pulls back on the controls, twisting the warp-bubble, causing the saucer to rise sharply, and bank hard for another pass. Emergency or not, she’s bound and determined to put on a show for the earthling’s below, and also for the ones with her. She doesn’t disappoint! However, after several more passes, and not even breaking the sound barrier, she tires of the reckless demonstration, and comes to a hover over the improvised landing zone. It looks stable to her trained eyes, so with landing gear extended, she allows her baby to sink onto the four cement pads that were installed at just the right spots. Idling the reactor, the ship once again synchronizes with the phasing of our universe, the electronic-fog evaporates, as if it were never there. She climbs down from her centralized perch, feeling like a conquering hero!
Wil opens the hatch, and steps out to a hero’s welcome, stealing Esty’s glory. Nearly everyone that follows, is equally embraced. They’re used to Esty’s exotic features, but Gort.... Well, Gort causes them to reel back, as the scarred-one exits to a deflated welcome. Silence rules! Jaws drop open, with stares that could ignite a fire. While they are used to Esty, this one seems like a junkyard dog, in comparison. All he’s missing is the spiked-collar! Well, Gort didn’t think it possible, but he feels hurt. He must be getting old, he thinks. However, he takes it like a proud warrior, knowing that his features are not too everyone’s taste.... He can’t even gaze into a mirror, without it nearly cracking from the stress of reflection!
Now, Wil is nothing, if not observant of others. Seeing the look on his new friend’s face, he goes back to the ships hatch and showcases Gort. He takes the gray’s arm and raises it high, as one might a prize fighters arm. “This is Gort!” He yells loudly. “He is our latest friend and hero! So, please put em together for this fine fellow!”
The crowd goes ballistic! With Wil’s enthusiastic endorsement, Gort is welcomed into the masses, as one of the family. Such a warm turn of events, has never happened for the grizzled old gray. His heart is moved for these funny looking creatures from Earth. After passing amongst the people, he joins back with his own group, and they head into the Einstein habitat for a debriefing of the developing situation. Ever vigilant, Gort recognizes the entrance, passageways and especially the bridge. One always remembers where they almost got killed! Remaining quiet, he reflects somberly, following the group deeper into the familiar habitat.
“We’ve finish analyzing the message.” Cody announces proudly, and with no small amount of trepidation, adds. “It’s not exactly filled with detailed information.” Passing the written message to Wil and Nyla, he waits for reaction. The message simply reads.... ‘149005-Ganymede-Help’
“You’re sure that’s all there is?” Nyla inquires with a dreadful tone.
“Yeah, we’re sure, Nyla. It just keeps repeating.” Cody informs, matter of factly.
“Oh my!” Nyla reinforces her earlier assessment. Her circuits are shaken.
Wil puts his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry my dear. We’ll get to the bottom of this.... or die trying!” He looks expectantly towards Esty. “Do you think we have the fuel to stop at Ganymede? It’s a moon of Jupiter, and in Earths neighborhood.” He raises both eyebrows in an effort to make it so....
“I don’t know this Carter, but it sounds like we had better have enough fuel!” She gives a nervous laugh.
Gort receives interpretation from Raznalli, who’s at his side. “Esty,” he chirps and clicks rhythmically, “we must do everything we can to help.” His words, calm her circuits.
“Yes, yes we have enough fuel.” She risks an exaggeration, hoping for the best. “Let’s find out what’s happening at this moon named Ganymede. It might be fun!” .... There! That was easy, she thinks, and I’m even starting to believe myself, that there’s fuel enough; she concludes.
The next 24-hours are truncated to just 3. The desire to leave and find Carter is strong. But, supplies must be gathered for the journey. The needs of the humans, Zenarawan’s and Gort must be met, before flying off into the void. Concentrated food-stuffs, hygienical items, medical kits, and extra clothing, are high on the priority list. There is no shortage of helpers to move the items to the saucer. Many tearful goodbyes are exchanged between the dirty-dozen and their many friends in the colonies.
“Now, don’t go and get all squishy, Ella.” Tina begs, while wiping away tears of her own. “We’re not going to be gone very long.... I promise!” With that, the last of the humans enters the craft, with Wil climbing the short ramp after her. He turns to wave at the crowd, wincing as his back-pack swings and hits the edge of the hatch. Of all the things in the universe he didn’t need to do, being rough with his package of goodies, is at the top of the list.
“You boys better cover your nads!” .... Wil yells, jokingly, “It’s about to get non-Newtonian around here!” Then, seeing great angst among the many, he relents. “Just kidding! Just kidding! You’re safe. You’re safe!” He waves, turning back to the entrance.
It’s a tremendous turn-out. A crowd to be proud of! Wil enters the ship with cheers aplenty, and the hatch closes, revealing a perfectly seamless hull. Many wonder if the hatch was ever really there in the first place.... or just a hallucination. Suddenly, the large flying saucer didn’t seem so friendly anymore! An alien thing, that just ate some of their best friends! They instinctively begin backing away to a safer distance, mumbling words of uneasiness at each other, hoping the children will be safe.
The air vibrates with an other-worldly, deep pulsating-sound. The immense power before them, pounds against their chests! Birds in the vicinity, squawk bloody-murder, as they frantically fly to safer haunts. The sleek saucer begins to shimmer, becoming bathed in an electronic-fog that hugs the outer surface of the hull. The crowd gasps from the phantom-like vision. And again, when the landing gear simply vanishes into the belly of the beast! Without even a wobble, the heavy saucer hovers just a few feet off the ground. Inside the craft, Esty is filled with the joy of watching the crowd’s reaction to her simple stunt.
Outside, the gleaming and shimmering flying saucer, hangs on the edge of the slipstream, partially out of phase. If the de-phasing were more intense at this point, the craft would seem to disappear before their very eyes, as it slipped between universes. However, being in such close-proximity to the center of the planet, the intense gravitational forces would tear the machine to pieces. So, Esty doesn’t show off too much for the crowd.
“Cooper, has the reactor stabilized?” The Commander inquires.
“She’s good to go, commander.” A dutiful response, from a smiling face.
“Do you concur, Miss Toby?” She knows better than to leave out the assistant engineer.
“Yes, Esty. All parameters are in the green. She’s ready.” Toby beams with pride.
“Braxton
, Magnus.... are you ready?” Esty inquires, firmly.
Both young men give a thumbs-up, and Gort monkeys the fancy move.
“Alright then!” She looks around the bridge. “Braxton, please take us to orbit. No showing off.... we simply can’t afford it anymore.” It pains her to throttle the young man’s natural desire to show off, but physics is physics, no matter what universe you’re in!
“Aye Aye, commander!” And with that, he manipulates the warp-bubble of twisted space-time in just the right way, causing the saucer to gently rise from the community of stunned individuals. Some doing as Wil jokingly suggested.... even though it wasn’t truly necessary. Into the puffy clouds of a beautiful blue sky, the flying saucer climbs gracefully. Being slightly out of phase, it nary displaces any air-molecules at all, leaving Bernoulli jobless, but not homeless.
Into the upper-atmosphere, they streak! Velocity, ever-increasing! One side of the circular monitor fills with the beautiful image of the blue-green planet below. While the other side is emblazoned with the sparkling jewels of the milky way. Esty’s circuits are on cloud-nine! The thrill of having a good ship, a strong solar-wind at her back, and a capable electro-mechanical body to control it with, nothing could be better! Into the great void, she zooms once again. Velocity quickly causing the beautiful planet to shrink noticeably on the aft monitor. The journey to Earth will take about 28-hours of ships time; while about 4-weeks will pass on Oberon Prime. Due to full de-phasing, time dilation is not severe between the slipstream and other universes. The math involved is trans-universal, and truly mind-boggling!
Oberon Prime’s star, grows smaller as they speed into the void. “Braxton, put the ship into automatic-sequence.” Esty instructs, knowing the actions of a mere mortal are not quick enough to keep up with the necessary inputs, to control the delicate de-phasing out of their universe and into the slipstream. With pre-ordained coordinates for the Sol star system already inputted, the incredibly complicated star-drive, will follow the navigation computers precisely.
“Copy that, Esty.” Braxton acknowledges, relinquishing manual control. “Okay commander; ships computers have synchronized with the star drives.” The young man announces, proudly.
Esty sees that his actions are accurate and flawless. “Good work, Braxton.” She praises, adding. “Miss Cooper, how long until we warp into the slipstream?”
Cooper and Toby are already on task. With hands and eyes busy, the young engineers manipulate dials and switches, monitoring the data that pours in. Cooper quickly has the answer, but not much time to say it. “Esty, we’re approaching full de-phasing in 22-seconds.” She announces nervously, as the ships powerful drives accelerate them toward the vanishing point.
“Thanks, Cooper.” She hears many around her counting down, under their breath. Anxiety is so thick, it could be cut with a laser! Even with the benefit of inertial-dampening, transitioning into the slipstream can be unnerving at best, and disorienting at near worst. Especially for newbie’s, who are still green behind the gills!
There comes a slight shimmer throughout the structure of the craft. Almost imperceptible. But, Esty knows her ship well. Any captain that sets sail over and over with the same vessel, quickly learns the tiniest of nuances as it sails along. The ship sings to her. A haunting siren-song for sure, but it’s true music to her circuits. She’s extremely impressed with the sensitivity of her new body. It reports external happenings, in ways that her biologic one could not easily detect. And, as her old trappings would often tell in advance of a rougher than usual phase-transition, her new android-frame adds another layer of sensitivity to the prediction.
“Hold on everyone!” She yells forcefully. “This one might be rough!” She adds, with dread in her tone. Just as her warning registers with the crew, a ghostly shimmer grabs hold of everything within the confines of the electronic-fog. Everyone notices a vibration, as the warp-bubble interacts with denser than usual dark matter in the space through which they travel. Sometimes, dark matter will ‘clump’ while in close-proximity to a gravity-well. Esty wonders if they jumped while too close to Oberon Prime. Planets and crews have been destroyed by such miscalculations in the past. However, the vibration begins to diminish, as the transition continues. Just a glitch in the matrix, she thinks, as the old girl shakes off the rust of inactivity.
Nyla speaks up excitedly. “Esty, is this normal? Shouldn’t we abort....” Her words are cut short, as an incredible blurring action takes everybody by storm! Humans, Zenarawan’s and Androids alike, notice their surroundings seem to be dissolving! Like a sand castle in a hurricane, everyone and everything, suddenly develops ghostly trails. Disorientation grips many. Jax, knows he’s died and become a corporeal spirit, roaming the deep void of space, without so much as a planet to haunt!
This temporary effect of the transition into the slipstream, brings forth this distortion. The warped-bubble of one universe, transitions into a dimension where all known rules of physics are tortured in comparison. However, within moments the misty out of focus phenomenon clears and goes away, like a bad dream that evaporates after awakening. The interior of the ship and all hands, are back to what seems normal. Except, things are far from normal! Within the highly-twisted warpage of space-time, the group of astronauts are protected from death, only by the protection afforded by staying inside of the warp-bubble surrounding the ship. It’s a delicate balance, that only Philippe Petit could appreciate.... In fact, Jax didn’t realize it at the time, but the slipstream is the ‘tight-wire’ of energy he told Nyla he was going to walk between worlds. The main difference, is that he’s not walking, but rather riding. All while strapped in tightly.
“We’re riding the slipstream! .... Is everyone okay?” Esty inquires, as she checks the data on her side panel. To her trained eyes, all systems look nominal. Her old ship has successfully made the leap once again! Within the slipstream, they ride a twisted wave of energy, that moves through the other dimension like a ripple through a pond; taking the ship and crew along for the ride. She begins to lust for the action to come. It had been so very long since she had the chance to explore. The chance for action! And she’s never been to Earth, so the lust is pure and undiluted.
Everyone, except for Esty, is still in shock from the transition. They’re not sure if they’ve died, and come back to life, or went beyond even that. After regaining composure, Adam reaches, giving Jax a healthy pinch on the arm. “Hey! What’s the big idea!” Jax reacts explosively.
“Just seeing if we’re still alive, is all!” Adam responds smartassingly.
“Well, you could have pinched your own arm, you numskull!” Jax retorts, and soon everyone is reaching and pinching the person next to them. Much laughing and excitement breaks the tension, as they realize that they’re all still very much alive! .... Above, the monitor shows streaks of energy flowing past in a psychedelic pattern that seems to hypnotize if stared at for too long. Esty, dims the intensity of the screen, and the bridge darkens to a bearable level.
“Wow, Esty! What a ride!” Jax exclaims. “Did we just come back from being ghosts?”
“My dear, Jax.” She says hauntingly. “May you never come closer!”
Breaking Interstellar: Cosmic Lives Matter Page 18
