by Isaac Hooke
Some came from the fabric of his clothes, others directly from his skin. The strands seemed to emerge from particular spots: the tops of his wrists; the sides of his elbows; the center of his shoulders—essentially all the spots one would expect to find strings on a marionette. They flowed downward, into the ship. Also, a particularly large thread emerged from the center of his torso where his belly button would be, and it twisted around behind him to follow in the same general direction as the others. The threads wavered slightly, like a candle flame, as if disturbed by some ethereal wind.
He passed a hand through them, disrupting the flow, but the threads always reformed.
“You’re like a creepy puppet,” Sinive said. She glanced at her own arms. “Do I have them, too?”
“No,” Tane said. “Just me.” He glanced at the others in turn, confirming that.
Lyra exchanged a worried glance with Jed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lyra asked Jed.
“I didn’t see them,” Jed replied.
“I don’t blame him, I didn’t either,” Tane said. “These threads aren’t exactly obvious.”
“Don’t move.” The Bander lifted his glove and the familiar red beam emerged. Jed moved his hand up and down, sweeping the scan over Tane’s body.
When the beam reached his face, Tane was momentarily blinded. Tane held his breath the whole time, hoping there was no other alien device—or entity—lurking inside of him.
Jed shut off the beam. His eyes were defocused as if examining the results via his HUD.
Finally Jed shook his head. “He’s clean. I got nothing.”
Tane exhaled in relief. He glanced at his arms and legs in confusion. “But then what are these? And how come they only appeared after we entered orbit?”
“I don’t know,” Lyra said.
“Why do I always get the impression that you know more than you’re letting on?” Tane told her. “Especially when you say that.”
“It’s a false impression,” Lyra said.
“Is it?” Tane asked her coldly.
“The dwellers have certainly marked you in some way,” Lyra said. “That’s all I know.”
Wanting to divert attention from himself and the creepy threads emerging from his body, Tane decided a change of subject was in order.
“So,” Tane said. “You never did tell me: what’s the Essence overflow vent?”
Sinive was still staring at him with slightly frightened eyes, but she blinked away the expression to answer him. “When we make a jump, while we’re trying to secure the endpoint, we’re still Siphoning a ton of Essence into the universe and not really doing anything with it. If that Essence is unable to flow outside of the ship via the overflow vent, it will collect in the Chrysalium hull, slowly dissolving it. Hull integrity will fail, and the ship will rip apart.”
“I can see why you’re so worried about those crillia,” Tane said.
“I’m more worried about the dark threads coming from your body at the moment,” Sinive said softly.
“Do you know something I don’t?” Tane asked her.
Sinive shook her head. “Only that no one has puppet strings like that. No one.”
Lyra, Jed, and Sinive retired to quarters. Tane took the empty seat vacated by Lyra.
“I never said you could sit there,” Nebb said.
Tane didn’t answer.
Nebb shrugged. “Grizz, you have the con. Make sure the kid doesn’t cause any trouble.”
“Understood,” Grizz said.
“Watch him, Positron,” Nebb said. “I don’t trust someone who has black threads emerging from his body.”
“Neither do I,” Positron said.
Nebb got up and left. Positron glared at Tane with that digitally animated visor, daring him to say something.
Tane just ignored the robot and sat back in his seat. He wondered if he should return to his quarters, too. But Jed would probably be there. Mmm, he wasn’t really in the mood to bunk with the Bander.
He gazed at the moon on the view screen. As Lyra had promised, 57A was lit up now that they were close to it. The celestial object was nothing like the moonscape he had digitally decorated his room with. No, this moon was dark, ominous. Grayish-blue clouds covered an equally grayish-blue surface. He was glad they weren’t going down there.
As the minutes ticked by, his lids grew heavier until he closed them entirely.
TANE HEARD a loud beep and started. The deck rumbled momentarily beneath him. He felt groggy, and realized he must have fallen asleep. He didn’t think that would be possible, not in these hard-back chairs.
“What is it?” Tane said.
“Problem,” Grizz replied.
Positron was still glaring at Tane.
Nebb entered the cockpit a moment later, as did Lyra and Jed.
Tane gave up his seat to Lyra.
“What’s going on?” Tane said.
“We’re going to have to make an emergency landing,” Nebb said.
“Why?”
Nebb’s eyes were defocused. “The crillia penetrated the Essence overflow vent, exposing it to space. They also breached a nearby deck, causing an explosive decompression. Bad luck on our part. We can’t make a jump until we repair the vent. Because of the deck breach, the Essence will flow right back into the ship, and consequently the hull.”
“Can we make repairs from here?” Lyra asked.
“No,” Nebb said. “Not while those crillia are still attached and stuffing themselves. We’re going to have to land. Besides, like you said, any drones or people we send out there are at risk: the crillia could swarm at any time. Grizz, take us in for a landing.”
“This is a colonized world in our universe…” Lyra said.
“That is very true,” Grizz said. “Big Boss, might I recommend a landing pad in Daaena, capital city of the 57A colony? If we touchdown near a shipyard, we could use any processed elements they have on hand for repair. Sure beats mining asteroids or moons for materials.”
“Sounds good, pick a shipyard,” Nebb said.
“I thought we weren’t able to interact with objects from our universe?” Tane said.
“I never said that,” Lyra told him. “We can interact. It just won’t affect anything in our universe when we do.”
“So any elements we use for repairs will actually take?” Tane said. “And won’t disappear when we leave or something?”
“They will take,” Lyra said.
“I’m surprised smugglers don’t come down here more often then,” Tane said. “It’s like a treasure trove of free items for the taking.” He started to imagine all the possibilities. What if he could find a shop selling nanotech? Or a weapons store?
“Some do,” Nebb said. “Why do you think I was here? But let’s just say, they’re not exactly free for the taking.”
“The dwellers have stolen many copies of human weaponry this way,” Lyra said. “Sometimes at great cost—when any kraals, including dwellers, from other planets arrive on a new world, the native kraals aren’t particularly pleased.”
“They’re not going to be pleased when we land either, you’re saying…” Tane told her.
Lyra glanced at him, but didn’t answer.
An eerie blue light filled the display screen.
“That would be atmospheric reentry,” Nebb said in answer to Tane’s unasked question. “Normally the flames would be orange. But not here.”
In moments the “flames” subsided and the Red Grizzly pierced the grayish-blue cloud coverage to reveal the rocky surface below. There were swaths of green next to small buildings and silos—likely farms. This particularly moon obviously had environmental conditions that supported limited farmland, otherwise Tane would have been seeing more of the towering hydroponics farms his homeworld was known for, either that or orbital farms.
Scattered buildings appeared ahead, and soon they began to cluster with increasing profusion until the structures covered the land in all directions. Skyscrapers app
eared in the distance. Hundreds. They all appeared blurry and insubstantial, just like the interior of the Red Grizzly and its crew.
“This is certainly one heavily populated moon,” Tane said. “At least in our universe.”
“57A,” Nebb said. “It’s the trade hub of the system, and the only terraformed moon.”
Via his chip, Tane read about how Daaena had started as a small dome colony. Special satellites served as magnetosphere generators, and orbital mirrors redirected and concentrated sunlight from the upper atmosphere to the surface. Terraformers had transported space icebergs from the outer system equivalent to two thousand cubic kilometers into orbit above the moon, where they were broken apart and allowed to enter the atmosphere as rainfall. The terraformers injected phytoplankton into the resultant seas to help with oxygenation, and in a couple of centuries the air was breathable enough that the dome could be removed from Daaena. The city only multiplied by leaps and bounds since then.
“I’m picking up free-form kraal clusters in the city,” Grizz said. “They seem disorganized, random. Likely these kraals have not evolved the baseline intelligence necessary for advanced tool creation, let alone Siphoning.”
“So they’re essentially animals, you’re saying,” Nebb told the AI.
“Yes,” Grizz said. “But animals are still dangerous. The eastern side of the city seems to be free of them. I’m choosing a landing site in a shipyard there. With your permission…”
“I’ll have a look,” Nebb said. His eyes defocused and then he nodded. “Seems all right. Take us in.”
The Rapier class vessel approached a wide hangar set upon the rooftop of a tall building, essentially a skyscraper. Smaller, circular landing pads surrounded the hangar, and extended out over the edge of the building. Half of the pads were occupied by ships. The Red Grizzly landed on one of the empty platforms.
On the display, the hangar and other ships appeared hazy, and almost slightly translucent—but he couldn’t see inside any of them, so that couldn’t be the case. It must have been due to the strange way light reflected off objects here.
On his HUD, Tane noticed there was still no connection to the Galnet. It was obvious by now that the galaxy-wide mixnet simply didn’t work in this universe.
Nebb waited several moments. He stared at the display, which cycled between the various external cameras.
“What are you looking for?” Tane asked.
“Waiting to see if any kraals emerge from those ships,” Nebb said. “Or swarm onto the rooftop from the building’s exhaust vents. But so far it’s dead quiet up here. That’s a good sign.”
“More good news,” Grizz announced. “Sensors indicate the previously detected clusters of kraals have not moved.”
“Maybe they haven’t noticed us,” Tane said.
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Nebb said. “A ship landing in a place that never sees vessels? They’ve noticed. But I’m hoping the kraals don’t care, or are too afraid to investigate. Grizz, send out three drones to scout our periphery. Meanwhile have the repair drones waiting on standby.” He stood up. “I’ve got some crillia to clear.”
“Scouts launched and repair drones on standby,” Grizz said.
“Positron, you’re with me,” Nebb said.
“Aye boss,” Positron said.
“I can help, too,” Sinive said.
Nebb glanced at her doubtfully. “We don’t have enough shield generators.”
“I don’t need one,” Sinive insisted.
Nebb sighed. “You sure you feel rested enough?”
“I’ll stop by sickbay and inject a pick-me-up,” Sinive said. Nebb hesitated, but then shook his head; before he could refuse her, Sinive added: “It’s going to take you a while to clear away those crillia, especially if they’ve burrowed deep into the hull. The repair drones can’t start until we get them all removed. Let me handle the aft port engine while you and Positron concentrate on the overflow vent. The faster we get those crillia cleared, the faster we can leave. You know I’m right.”
“I can help her,” Jed said.
“And I’ll go, too,” Tane said.
“I don’t need either of you, you’ll just get in the way,” Sinive told them.
“Actually,” Grizz said. “All three of you will be helpful. The crillia congregated over a wide area of the hull around the aft port engine. Based on my best guess analysis of the sensor data, it will take one person approximately twenty to forty minutes to clear it all, accounting for weapon overheating. But with three people, the aft port will be done in seven to fifteen minutes.”
“There you go,” Tane said.
“I’ll just take a couple of weapons with me and swap between them,” Sinive said.
“It will still be faster if the Bander and Ugly come,” Grizz insisted.
“What about the overflow vent?” Nebb asked Grizz.
“Given the small affected area, the vent is best handled by two individuals,” Grizz said. “With you and Positron working together, I estimate a ten to twelve minute completion window. Once the repair drones take over, we’re looking at another thirty minutes repair time, if we split the drones equally between the damaged areas.”
“So you’ll let me help?” Tane asked.
Nebb glanced at Lyra.
“It’s your ship…” the Volur said.
Nebb’s eyes drifted to Tane’s arms and the dark threads emerging from his body.
“Look, I’m not one of the aliens,” Tane said firmly. “I’m on your side.”
“So you say,” Nebb told him. Finally he seemed to make up his mind. “The faster we get off this hunk of ice, the better. You and the Bander go with Sinive. Clear the aft port engine. Once that’s done, stand watch until the repair drones finish the job. Grizz will help you get suited up.”
“We need spacesuits?” Tane said. “I thought the atmosphere was still breathable in this universe?”
“In theory it is,” Nebb said. “But in practice, I’m going to have to say no. I want you all in suits.”
“I have to agree,” Lyra said. “Contagions are known to exist in the Umbra, even on worlds that are safe in our own universe. Think of those contagions as microcrillia.”
“Speaking of which, Grizz, activate full contagion protocol,” Nebb said. “Drones and crew are to be run through the decontamination wash-down upon return.”
“Consider it done,” Grizz said.
“I’ll meet you at the exit ramp,” Sinive told Jed and Tane. “I’m swinging by sickbay.”
“I’m coming with you,” Lyra told her. “I could use a boost myself. I also plan to join the landing party. Strictly in an observational role.”
Jed shoved past. “I’ll wait for you at the ramp,” he told Tane.
Before Tane could move, Lyra, Sinive, Positron, and Nebb were all pushing past him, leaving Tane alone in the cockpit.
Nebb paused in the corridor to look back at him. “Well come on. Get out of the cockpit.”
Tane followed and the hatch sealed shut behind him.
Nebb, satisfied that Tane wasn’t going to wreak any havoc in the Red Grizzly’s cockpit, turned his back on him and hurried through the tight corridor.
“Grizz, you’re going to have to show me where I can find a weapon and a spacesuit,” Tane said.
“I’m highlighting the location on your map now,” the ship’s AI replied.
Tane made his way to the indicated spacesuit closet, which was close to the passenger quarters. He noted that the breach seals were all closed along the way. Given that the planet had a breathable atmosphere, there was no chance of explosive decompression, so it didn’t make sense to him until he remembered that Nebb had activated “contagion protocol.” Seeing as there was already a deck breach, those seals were probably a good idea if contagions tainted the external atmosphere.
When he got to the spacesuit closet, he noted there were enough suits for six passengers, as required by starship code: one suit for every passenger the v
essel was rated to hold. The crew would have their own closets, which would contain anything from ordinary spacesuits to specialized power armor, whatever the smuggler fancied. Probably spacesuits—Nebb didn’t strike Tane as the spendthrift kind, and he doubted a smuggler would have much need of power armor.
When Tane examined the spacesuits in better detail, he realized that most of them seemed in fairly bad shape, with gray areas worn onto the white exteriors, and fraying threads on the elbows and wrists of a few of them. Definitely not a spendthrift. All the suits otherwise triggered the same item description on his HUD.
Armor: Spacesuit I.
Model: Safari I-40 Rev c.
Item type: Common.
Weight: 50 kg.
Armor rating: 5.
Armor effects: Protects against cosmic radiation and provides a complete pressurized environment, allowing the wearer to operate in the void.
Spacesuit specific:
Oxygen tank: 100% (eight hours remaining)
Spare tank: 100% (thirty minutes remaining)
Extra features: Headlamp offers optional illumination. Cargo pocket in right thigh contains suit repair gear including patches and mini laser cutter.
He was a little dismayed that none of the suits came equipped with shield generators, since an armor rating of five was essentially useless against lasers, plasma bolts, or any attacks really. But hey, he couldn’t really expect more from a civilian outfit. And besides, he was only really wearing it for the pressurized environment.
Tane chose the suit that seemed the least shabby, and Grizz guided him through the process of putting on the various assemblies.
When he attached the final piece—the helmet—a friendly male voice spoke inside the suit. “Prepare for pressurization.”