Darkest Reach

by Eric Warren

  Finally, the door slid open to reveal Zenfor, her hair mussed and her clothes disheveled. “It hasn’t been six hours,” she said through clenched teeth. “I haven’t finished my rest cycle.”

  “May I come in? I found something.”

  She stood aside, allowing him entry. “Very well.”

  The room was sparse, all furniture other than the bed had been removed. Even the bed itself had been lowered so it was much closer to the ground than normal. “Like things clean?”

  “There was far too much clutter in here when we embarked,” Zenfor said, the door closing behind Cas.

  He glanced at her. Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe he couldn’t see her properly in the darkness, but she didn’t look quite right. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m having difficulty adjusting to all these biological functions. On my ship we don’t require sleep, or food, or anything else. I don’t enjoy losing consciousness every day, it’s disconcerting.”

  “I would have figured you’d be used to it by now.”

  “After a lifetime of not doing it?”

  “I guess I can see your point.”

  She crossed her arms. “What was so important it couldn’t wait?”

  “There’s another missing ship. The Genesis. Lost fifty-four years ago. I think it might establish a pattern. And I wanted to know if there was any way we could modify the probes remotely to search for it along with the Iphigenia. Finding one or both of the ships might give us a clue as to how to get out of here.” He paced the open room, wishing for something to sit on or at least lean against. His balance still wasn’t all there yet.

  “Yes, I can adjust the telemetry from here. If you have specs on the other missing ship I’ll attune the probes to search particularly for that ship as well. But we haven’t found any trace of the Iphigenia. Do you really think the older ship will still be there instead?”

  Cas shook his head. “I don’t know. But I think it’s worth trying to find out. At least it could give us a clue as to what is happening. And where that tear in space leads.”

  “Very well. Give me a few minutes to compose myself,” she said, disappearing through the doorway leading to the restroom. Cas glanced around for a chair or some other piece of furniture to sit on. Finding nothing, sat on the floor, his back against the wall.

  ***

  If Evie had ever needed a week off, this would have been it. Every hour they remained stuck in this place was another hour taken away from being able to see her father. If this went on much longer she wouldn’t be able to stop by at all. Was she a terrible person for halfway wanting that scenario? She’d have to tell his nurses they were on an important mission and she’d have to find the time later. The nurses wouldn’t say anything but she knew what they would think. Even after all their warnings to her about his condition. Dad might not even be there once this mission was over. But to be honest, he hadn’t been there for a while. Not the father she’d known, which hadn’t been that great to begin with.

  She made her way down the corridors, unable to sleep. She needed something to take her mind off all this drama. Zaal and Ronde were still hours away from attempting the hull vibration and there was little she could do to speed them along other than stand over their shoulders, worrying. It was better if she got some rest, but after thirty minutes tossing in her bed she’d grown frustrated and started walking the ship, hoping to wear herself out.

  And then there was this business with Cas.

  It made her so angry she didn’t even want to think about it because every time she did some irrational part of her brain switched on and she started arguing. Even when he wasn’t there she was arguing with him in her head and she hated doing that. It didn’t make her feel better and it didn’t accomplish anything other than making her more anxious. She really needed a distraction.

  Evie tapped the comm on the back of her hand. “Locate Ensign Yamashita.” The comm pointed her to the tactical simulator room. Evie double-checked the time. At this time of night? She had to hand it to Laura, she was dedicated.

  Winding her way through the corridors Evie made her way down to a bank of windows that lined the wall and looked down on the simulator. It was a lot like a gym, but with more dynamic hard-light projections that could adapt to a person’s personal training regimen. Laura had set it up so there was a mock tactical station from the bridge and she was running combat scenarios. Evie leaned against the small shelf that protruded from the wall and watched as the ensign faced off against some simulated Sargan destroyers. She did pretty good until she forgot to check one of the rear sensors and her “ship” was partially disabled by the blasts. However, she managed to swing the ship around so the Sargans could only hit the most heavily shielded part of the ship while she programmed a firing pattern that proved disastrous for the enemy. She was a quick study. It had been the right call moving her into the third shift tactical position, even though she was doing well in exobiology. But just because a person could excel in one field didn’t mean they weren’t suited for another. And to think, she never would have known if Laura hadn’t been on that mission to D’jattan with her and Cas.

  Ugh, Evie shook the thoughts away, instead watching as the simulation ended. Sweat poured down Laura’s face over puffy eyes, but she programmed a new simulation. How long had she been down here? The woman was unstoppable. Evie knocked on the glass a few times causing Laura to glance up. When she did, her entire face lit up, then turned to one of horror as she turned away, pulling her hair back and wiping her face. Evie couldn’t help but laugh and made her way down the adjacent stairs into the simulator.

  “Pretty advanced stuff,” she said as she walked into the room.

  Laura finished wiping under her eyes and tried straightening her uniform. “Commander, I didn’t realize anyone would be up this late to use—”

  Evie held her hand up. “I’m off-duty. It’s just Evie. I couldn’t sleep and just…happened by. Getting in some extra practice?”

  Laura nodded. “I want to be ready in case you need me. Lieutenant Uuma told me about how she was called in with little notice after what happened to Page and she had to go up against the Sil. I just want to make sure when it’s my turn I don’t let anyone down.”

  “I don’t think that’s a possibility.” Evie leaned against one of the hard-light constructions in the room. “You’ve been doing great so far.”

  “Yeah, except for when I screwed up in the conference room,” she replied. “I never should have questioned Zenfor.”

  Evie dropped her eyes and cleared her throat. “I wanted…I need to apologize for that,” she said. “I didn’t mean to call you out in front of everyone. I wasn’t considering all the consequences.”

  “Oh,” Laura said. “I didn’t take it…I mean I figured that was standard procedure.” She shuffled her feet, her eyes off to the side.

  Evie placed her hand on one of the hard-light consoles. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to throw you under the shuttle. I’ve been having a difficult time lately and it wasn’t fair. I’m really sorry.”

  “No, I didn’t feel—well, maybe a little.” She smirked. “Thanks, Command—Evie.”

  Evie returned the smile. “Have you had any ideas about how to solve our problem? Anything in here giving you any insight into something we haven’t tried yet?”

  “Nothing so far, I’ve just been running drills; I haven’t really been focusing on getting out. I figure that’s a better job for the navigation team.”

  “But you are an exobiologist. Any idea about that creature?”

  Laura tilted her head, her brow furrowed. “Creature?”

  “How long have you been in here?” Evie asked.

  “Um…not that long…” Laura glanced around, her eyes not meeting Evie’s. “What time is it?”

  “C’mon,” Evie said, all thoughts of her father slipping from her mind. “I’ve got something to tell you.”

  19

  “I shouldn’t be doing this,
but I fear if I don’t it will be the end of us all,” Zenfor said, working diligently on the sensor calibrations.

  They were back in the weapons lab, having come back down after she’d taken a few minutes to get ready and Cas had taken some time to sober up. He chugged as much water as he could get while she worked. “Doing what?” he asked.

  She glanced over his shoulder. “Nothing. Stay there.”

  “What are you doing?” he asked, inching closer with the water still in his hand.

  “I said stay where you are,” she snapped, rounding on him. He took a step back. “This is very sensitive work and I don’t need you watching over my shoulder.”

  He stared at her, noting her height. I couldn’t if I wanted to, even if you were seated. “But you can make the modifications, right?”

  “I’ll search for your missing ship,” she replied. “Just as I said I would.”

  “Okay, but how is it different? You already tried looking for the Iphigenia and didn’t detect anything so…”

  “I’m using a different technique,” she replied, returning to her stance of hunching over the control station. Cas leaned over to peer around her. He couldn’t even tell what she was doing, the screen was filled with nothing but alien code. “If we’re lucky we’ll be able to pick something up.”

  “You’re agitated,” Cas said, downing another gulp of water. “Is it because of this second ship?”

  “One is an anomaly, two is a method. Something is going on here and I hope we can find out what it is. Did you report this to your superiors?”

  “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Cas asked. He caught her eye over her shoulder again before she returned to her work.

  “Give me another few minutes. It will take a moment to see if we can use Tempest itself to augment the probes.”

  “Use Tempest. How?” he asked.

  “I can’t reveal that information,” she replied. “And as soon as I’m done I’ll delete all of this data from your computer systems. It will be your job to assist me so I don’t miss anything.”

  He stepped closer. “You’re using Sil technology, aren’t you? You said you’d never do that.”

  Her eyes remained glued to the screen. “When my own life is in danger it changes the circumstances. There is something wrong with this situation and we must discover its truth.”

  “I think we can all agree on that,” Cas replied. “You might as well tell me what you’re doing or I’ll just keep asking. I’m an engineer, curious by nature.” She huffed in response. “Okay, fine. But when the captain asks how we found the ship—”

  “You will tell him we used proprietary Sil information and it’s not available for his own use.”

  Cas rolled his eyes. “You are way too protective. You know we probably wouldn’t know how to use half your technology even if we got our hands on it, don’t you? I told you about what happened to the Achlys when they tried to duplicate one of your weapons.”

  “You would learn,” she replied. “In time.”

  “C’mon, give me a little preview. You’ve got to be dying to tell me. To use that superior Sil technology to gloat.”

  “If I tell you, will you cease pestering me?” He nodded. “I am using what we refer to as a Time Stamp. As you know the universe has a long memory which can be accessed due to the limited speed of light. I am adjusting and extending Tempest’s sensors to bounce a signal off a distant point just far enough away that the light from this system hasn’t reached it yet. We will then be able to watch what happened to the ship in real time. But I have to do it twice, one corresponding to twenty-seven of your years, and the other corresponding to fifty-four. Unfortunately because of the distance the information from the Genesis won’t be as good.”

  “And this was something you couldn’t do before?” Cas asked, astounded. Could Sil sensors really have that kind of range? He didn’t even see how it was possible.

  “Before it was only a gravity well and a missing ship. Now it’s become…important.”

  “I can’t even imagine the kind of intricacy you would need to build—”

  “It’s far beyond you, trust me,” Zenfor said. “But it isn’t foolproof. There are many variables. Time and distance are always a factor, but also the position of stars, the reflection point, the movement of the universe over the past thirty years and on and on. Regardless to say, they are very precise calculations. If I’m off by the smallest amount we’ll miss the events entirely and have to reset.”

  “Are you already looking right now?” Cas asked.

  “Of course.” He rushed to the monitor but Zenfor held out her hand. “What are you doing?”

  “I want to see. Imagine, seeing into the past? It’s like a miracle or something.”

  “This is for my eyes only,” she replied.

  He turned to her. “You can’t be serious. I know what the Iphigenia looked like. I’ll be able to pick her out quicker than you. I’ll also be able to tell if she’s damaged in any way. Or even by how the ship responds what the captain might be thinking. Might have thought,” he added, correcting himself.

  She held him at length a minute before relenting. “Very well. But remember, this is proprietary.”

  He glanced at the code flashing across the top of the screen. “I couldn’t remember it if I wanted to. I’ve never been good with glyphs.”

  “We will observe the Iphigenia first.” Zenfor made an adjustment on her inputs as the screen went from fuzzy to focused on the same dark part of space they now occupied. The Excel Nebula lazily floated in the upper right corner. Cas took note it looked almost the same, but not quite. There were tiny differences in its gaseous patterns.

  “And we’re seeing this as if—”

  “As if we were using a very long telescope on a distant planet. It should be accurate enough to gather solid data.”

  “Astounding,” Cas said, his eyes glued to the screen.

  “Here,” Zenfor said, noting the sensor pattern. “We’re getting the signal. The Iphigenia should be entering the system shortly.”

  “Do we have full sensors or just visual?” Cas asked.

  “Visual only. And all accompanying radiation wavelengths. But nothing else.”

  “Let’s hope that’s enough.” The sensors indicated the USCS Iphigenia entering the system. The ship moved within visual range of Tempest and Cas realized he was watching a ghost ship. Events that had happened twenty-seven years ago were playing out in front of him. He almost couldn’t believe it. The ship stopped short of the darkened area of space where the creature lived, holding position.

  “They’re scanning for life signs, I recognize the patterns in the visual bands,” Zenfor said, watching a second monitor. “But I’m also picking up something else. Something emanating from the darkened area. Possibly from the creature.”

  “Can you see the creature?” Cas asked, turning to her monitor.

  “No. It’s hidden just like it is from us. But I can see where it should be. Its emitting a massive amount of Kryon Radiation. So that explains it. I wonder if Iphigenia can detect that?”

  Cas shook his head. “What the hell is Kryon Radiation?”

  “Look at this,” Zenfor said.

  “Oh, shit,” Cas said. “It’s like a field of snares, and they’re sitting right on the edge of them. Is the creature producing those?” he asked. The screen was lit up with the signature of what seemed to be electromagnetic bands of some sort, swirling around the outer edge of the darkened area. If Iphigenia went inside, they’d be trapped.

  “I can’t tell,” Zenfor replied. “I can’t find the source of the strands. They might be a natural phenomenon to this part of space.”

  “And that creature has set themselves up inside, but for what reason? Protection?”

  “Unknown.” She stared at the screen with an intensity Cas had rarely seen before. A few moments later the ship moved just close enough so one of the electromagnetic bands touched the edge of the ship, latching on.

&nbs
p; “Is that what’s holding them in place? Is that what happened to us?” Cas asked.

  “Possibly.”

  “But then why didn’t your probes detect this…Kryon Radiation before?”

  She faced him. “I was using your technology, remember? I can’t scan for something you don’t know about.”

  “Even if it could be the problem holding us in place?” Cas nearly screamed.

  “Like I said. It was a minor inconvenience before. Now it is a problem.”

  Cas turned back to the screen. “Are we supposed to watch this all in real time? Can we move forward at all?”

  “I can use a closer reflection point,” Zenfor said. “But we might miss something important.”

  Cas shook his head. “No, that’s okay. Just make sure you’re recording this. We’ll need it to show to the captain. I want to know what happens to that ship.”

  “So do I,” Zenfor said.

  “What about the Genesis?” Cas asked.

  “I’ll set up a second stamp now,” Zenfor said. “Give me a moment.”

  “This really is amazing technology,” Cas said, continuing to watch the Iphigenia, having switched over to normal sensors. The dark gray ship barely stood out against the background of stars, but he could clearly see the SCAS logo on the side. “It’s like they’re still right there with us. Like we could send them a message right now and tell them to turn back.”

  “We can’t,” Zenfor replied.

  “Yeah. I know. I’m just saying it seems like we could. Like we could almost reach out…and touch them.”

  “You’re getting sentimental over people who are most likely long dead.”

  He turned to her. “How far back can you see? What’s the limit?”

  “I don’t know personally, but I don’t believe anyone has used it to look further than seventy or eighty of years into the past. The distances become too great for even our sensors to handle. And from Sil space we can only see so far. But we tend to know when you’re coming.”

  “That’s how your ships are always waiting for us when we cross your border,” Cas said, remembering how when they tried to contact the Sil in the beginning they’d been met with a hostile ship that had blown them out of an undercurrent.