by E. R. Torre
Even as Vaughn finished his assessment, the crew felt the first chill of space intruding into the cockpit.
“Is there any way to create a new oxygen recycler or heater?”
“Not in the time we have.”
“How much time do we have, Mister Vaughn?”
“We have enough oxygen to survive a week. But without heat, we freeze in a little over two hours.”
“Can we get to the space suits?”
“The corridor outside the cockpit and the elevator line were ruptured. We open either door and we’re finished.”
Captain Reveles’ eyes moved from the Navigator to the rest of her crew. Condensation formed with each of her breaths. The crew looked up to her. In the years they traveled together, they faced many dangers and she got them safely to port each time.
Back then there were options. Today and at this moment, she had none.
Captain Reveles returned to her chair and sat. She felt a chill pass through her body and buttoned up her jacket.
The artificial gravity, thankfully, was still working and if her crew were to perish, they would do so while sitting in their posts. The Captain took a moment to think before speaking.
“It’s a miracle we’re still alive and I’ll be damned if we spend the next couple of hours waiting to die. How are the communication systems?”
“Functional, though barely,” Vaughn said. “It will take at least a week for any signal to arrive at the Pandora Displacer.”
Captain Reveles drew a very sharp breath. She furiously considered what to do. Finally, she had a thought. She slammed her good hand down and said:
“I know there’s a ship following us. It’s time to call her.”
“Sir, even if she’s there, why would she help us?”
“We’re going to make it so she has to,” Captain Reveles said. “Do we still have access to our torpedoes?”
“The aft torpedo only,” Vaughn said after checking his instruments. “But the launch bay door is crushed and sealed. We cannot fire.”
“We don’t have to,” Captain Reveles said. “Open all communication lines.”
Vaughn pressed a series of buttons.
“Communication lines are open, sir.”
Captain Reveles spoke.
“This is the Cargo Vessel Apokalupto off the Skryty corridor. We are inside the Mesa Asteroid field and have sustained life threatening damage. We carry a cargo of Nulo minerals, estimated value fifty thousand credits. We offer this cargo to any nearby vessel willing to come to our aid. However, you must arrive in the next two hours. If you do not, we set off a Taslin Torpedo and this vessel, and that valuable cargo, will be vaporized.”
Captain Reveles motioned to Vaughn and he shut the communication systems off.
Thirty minutes passed and the cockpit grew increasingly chilly.
The Apokalupto received no reply to their message nor was it expected. At least not that quickly.
“They’ll make sure we’re in as much trouble as we say we are,” Captain Reveles muttered. “For all they know, we could be laying a trap.”
More minutes passed.
Close to one hour after the transmission, Apokalupto received a response.
“This is Captain Cornerstone of the Iconoclastic,” a male voice said. “We received your transmission, Captain Reveles.”
“Iconoclastic,” Captain Reveles repeated. The distaste in her voice was great. “I should have known. Cornerstone’s ship was parked awfully close to our bay on Proxima.”
“We are near,” Captain Cornerstone continued, unaware of what Captain Reveles just said. “We should be in your quadrant within the next hour.”
Captain Reveles’ teeth chattered and her breath came out in thick clouds. She motioned to Vaughn and he opened the communication lines.
“Thank you, Captain Cornerstone but that won’t work. You’ll make it just in time to watch us blow ourselves up.”
Captain Reveles again motioned to Vaughn and all outgoing communications were shut off.
“They’re much closer than they’re willing to admit,” she said.
A few more seconds passed before Captain Cornerstone sent out another transmission:
“We’re moving as quickly as we can. Perhaps we make it there sooner. Please hold on as long as you can. Iconoclastic out.”
Yet more minutes passed.
First Officer Vaughn checked and double checked the torpedo controls.
“What is it?” Captain Reveles asked.
“Torpedo controls are coming in and out,” Vaughn said.
“Then we need to set a timer,” Captain Reveles said.
“We certainly can, Captain. But given the state of our systems, once we set the timer, we may not be able to stop it.”
“I won’t let Cornerstone get what’s ours,” Reveles said. “We’ll risk it.”
Slowly, agonizingly, the crew waited.
Captain Reveles felt her consciousness drift and at one point she thought someone called out to her. She shook her head and said:
“Status?”
It took First Officer Vaughn a few seconds to answer. His face was deep red and he couldn’t stop shivering.
“Timer is down to twenty nine minutes.”
Captain Reveles reached for her communicator. Before she could activate it, brilliant lights flashed from the asteroid maelstrom.
“What’s happening?” Captain Reveles asked.
“More energy bursts,” Vaughn replied. “I’m reading heavy energy releases. It’s as if… as if there’s a war going on in there.”
The crew watched the light bursts behind the whirling asteroids grow larger and larger.
“It’s coming closer,” Captain Reveles said.
As she spoke, her communicator came on.
“Apokalupto?” Captain Cornerstone said. “Are you still there? Hang on, we’re fifteen minutes away!”
Captain Reveles checked her watch and swore.
“So much for being far away,” she said. “Turn off the torpedo timer.”
“Aye, sir.”
Vaughn pressed a series of buttons on his computer.
“Sir!’ Vaughn yelled. “The torpedo timer was already… it was already shut off!”
The words were so shocking it took Captain Reveles a few seconds to realize what he said.
“They’re already here!” she roared.
As soon as she spoke, the Apocalupto shook.
Hard.
“Gravity hook,” Vaughn said. “Their ship is under us! The Iconoclastic is trying to steal our cargo bay!”
“The bastards,” Reveles said. “Set off the torpedo!”
First Officer Vaughn pressed more buttons but nothing happened.
“Sir, I’ve lost control over the torpedo! They must have disabled the system before… before their last communication.”
At the edges of the view-screen they saw the cargo bay of the Apocalupto. It vibrated with each tug of the Iconoclastic’s gravity hook. That vessel slowly rose up from under their ship. It moved away, parking no more than twenty miles from the Apocalupto.
“Very clever,” Captain Reveles said. “They took a risk our sensor equipment was down and we wouldn’t see them coming.”
Captain Reveles held back her fury.
“There has to be a way to get to the torpedo,” she muttered.
“Sir, there’s nothing left to try.”
Captain Reveles got to her feet, too quickly, and stumbled. She neared Vaughn’s side and looked over the damaged monitor of his computer station. She pressed buttons, desperately, in an attempt to gain access to the weapon.
“Sir…” Vaughn said.
Captain Reveles slammed her hands over the controls. Nothing worked. Nothing made a difference.
“Sir, there’s… there’s nothing left to try,” Vaughn said. “We’ve lost. We’ve… we’ve lost.”
26
Despite what her First Officer said, Captain Reveles continued pressing buttons.
The ship shook even more as the gravity hook struggled to pull the cargo bay free.
“Shit!” she yelled.
Everything Vaughn said was correct. At this point, the Iconoclastic could do whatever it wanted.
“Shit,” she repeated, softer.
She stepped back and laid her hand on Vaughn’s shoulder before returning to her chair. The bridge shock even more. One of the security clamps holding the cargo bay snapped. Captain Reveles’ attention returned to the view-screen. More of the cargo bay was visible.
So too were the brilliant lights coming from beyond the whirling asteroids.
“The Gods help us,” Captain Reveles said.
And then, incredibly, another ship emerged from the maelstrom. It was similar to the one which crippled the Apokalupto. This ship, however, made it only a short distance before an energy blast flew out from within the maelstrom and slammed her.
The stricken vessel slowed and spun, her body turning from deep black to ashen gray as it drifted closer to an asteroid lying in its path. The ship smashed into the enormous rock and, as if it had turned to glass, shattered into thousands of pieces.
Seeing this, the Iconoclastic immediately released its gravity hook and the ship’s thrusters came to life. Aboard the Apocalupto, the shaking stopped as the crew watched the Iconoclastic flee.
“Fucking cowards,” Captain Reveles said.
While the Iconoclastic disappeared into the distance, another vessel emerged from the maelstrom. It too was dark and its body very sleek but its shape was noticeably different. It slowed, as if to check on the remains of the ship that emerged moments before. What appeared to be energy weapons along the ship’s body glowed.
The ship remained before the asteroid the fleeing vessel smashed into for a few seconds before spinning around.
It faced the Apokalupto.
The vessel was at least twice as large as the Apokalupto and slowly moved toward it.
“What… what is it?” Vaughn asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“Neither have I,” Captain Reveles said.
The lights along the mysterious ship’s body dimmed and, once they did, it all but disappeared into the darkness. She moved closer and closer to the Apokalupto before coming to a stop directly in front of the damaged vessel.
“Now what?” Reveles muttered.
Like the vessel that emerged and slammed against their ship, this spacecraft also had the ability to alter its shape. Her bow seemed to liquefy and a long, thick tendril emerged from it. The tendril stretched out until it touched the Apokalupto.
“Are they… are they after our cargo, too?” Vaughn asked.
“I don’t think so,” Captain Reveles said.
The crew watched the vessel connect to their ship.
As it did, Captain Reveles recalled a long forgotten childhood memory. It was from the time her father worked in the Kalarian shipyards. She heard many a sailors’ lore back then, words she hadn’t recited since she was a child.
“She’s black like the night and can change her appearance at will…” Captain Reveles muttered.
Vaughn recognized the verse.
“She’ll move like light, untouchable and untouched, unseen unless willing to let herself be seen,” he finished.
Vaughn felt a fresh wave of chills.
“In school, they called it the Song of the Ghost Ships,” Captain Reveles said. She collected her thoughts before continuing. “One day, we sang it at the dinner table and father got so angry. He told me ghost ships don’t exist, that they were a stupid fantasy. But the way he talked… it was… it was like he knew what he was saying wasn’t true but he tried so hard to convince us otherwise. I’ve heard many rumors of mysterious ships spotted in galactic graveyards. Waiting…”
For several long minutes the crew watched as the ship floated before the Apocalupto.
And then, incredibly, they heard the sound of their ship’s life support systems switch on. A stream of warm air flowed through the Apokalupto’s vents and into the bridge.
“What in Hades?” Captain Reveles said. “Vaughn?”
“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “Life support was completely gone. Unfixable!”
“Then what could have…”
Captain Reveles faced the main view-screen and the mysterious vessel before theirs.
“They fixed our life support?”
“It’s the only explanation, sir,” Vaughn said.
The crew moved to the largest of the vents.
“Sir, we still don’t know what she’s up to,” Vaughn said.
“At this point, if she wants our cargo, she can have it,” Captain Reveles said.
The crew of the Apokalupto sat back and enjoyed the warm and very fresh air.
After a while, the mystery ship retracted its tendril and moved. She passed the Apokalupto and stopped before an asteroid wall. A light emerged from the ship and a fearsome burst of energy was discharged.
A portion of the asteroid before the vessel was vaporized. The ship continued firing, digging deeper and deeper.
Officer Vaughn was incredulous.
“Sir, she’s excavating a tunnel through those rocks!”
Having finished making the tunnel’s opening, the mystery ship entered it. She continued burrowing and her lights faded as she moved farther –and deeper– away.
“She’s just going to leave us here?” Vaughn said.
“Check the engines,” Captain Reveles said. “Let’s see what else she fixed.”
The crew returned to their stations and did as ordered.
Vaughn leaned back in his chair, both incredulity and relief on his face.
“Sir, we have power to our remaining thrusters!” he said.
“Enough to move?”
“Slowly,” Vaughn said. The smile on his face was incredibly bright. “More than enough to get us out of here!”
“Then let’s go!”
“Aye aye sir!”
Vaughn pressed several buttons and the cockpit vibrated as the ship’s remaining engines came to life.
“Follow our benefactor’s path,” Captain Reveles said. “With any luck, she will take us to the Displacer.”
The Apokalupto spun around and entered the freshly created tunnel.
“Any signs of the Iconoclastic?”
“None sir.”
“Good,” Captain Reveles said. “We’ll meet up with her again, and when we do…”
Captain Reveles let the thought slide. She took a moment to admire the tunnel their vessel was now flying through.
“Imagine the energy needed to do something like this.”
“Sir, do you… do you think that was a ghost ship?”
“They exist,” she said. “That much I’ve always believed.”
And in that moment, so too did the surviving crew of the Apocalupto.
27
Very Far Away…
Saint Vulcan, her features almost completely hidden behind her space suit, hurried to the edge of the spherical tinsel glass.
A partition opened and she stepped through it and into the base. Left behind was her spacecraft and, just past it and half buried under a gray, ashen surface, was the Displacer she and her craft emerged from.
Lights came on along the walls of the base and its outer door closed and sealed. Other locks and security features activated.
Saint Vulcan removed her suit and clothing until she was nude.
She pressed buttons on the wall beside her and a large glass panel slid away. There was an empty cavity beyond the panel and Saint Vulcan stepped into it. Lights flooded the chamber as a medi-scanner activated and checked her body.
It was a very long time since she was last here and she wanted to verify she was not compromised by being so very close to her Masters’ ships.
The exam took several minutes and, while it tested Saint Vulcan’s patience, it was wise to be cautious.
In time the medi-unit finished its job and Sain
t Vulcan exited the scanner and opened a side door which led into a dark closet.
Despite the darkness, she did not stumble while moving through it. She found several suits and assorted clothing sealed in plastic and chose one. She stripped off the seals and dressed.
It was while doing this Saint Vulcan noticed a light frost on her skin. She checked the room’s temperature.
Negative 218 Fahrenheit.
“We’ll have to do something about that,” she said.
There was no reason to risk damaging her outer layer of skin.
With the base warming, Saint Vulcan made her way out of the medi-unit and into the living quarters.
She walked on, ignoring the closed doors at her sides before reaching one final door at the corridor’s end. This door opened to reveal an elevator and Saint Vulcan took it to the top floor. When she reached her destination, the doors opened and lights streamed at her through several windows.
Past those windows was a flat and gray field. There were small hills and rocks but the terrain was monotonous and lifeless. Over it and in the sky was absolute darkness.
She walked to one of the windows and below it found a series of computer panels. She hit several switches and the long dormant machines came to life. Ancient circuitry conducted detailed analysis before many hundreds of lines of information appeared on the various monitors.
Saint Vulcan took the information in and felt a growing sense of anticipation.
“How silly,” she said.
There were no detectable external threats. There were no machines or sources of energy within a five thousand mile radius. She was utterly alone, at least for the moment.
Saint Vulcan checked the life support systems and found the temperature in the base was up to negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
“That’s good enough,” she said.
Saint Vulcan stepped past the computers and to another of the windows.
Far away, in the horizon, a dim light appeared. It grew brighter and brighter as the planet this small world orbited rose into view. That planet was nearly as dead as the rock orbiting it.
