To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Dire straits indeed,” the chief engineer said. “I don't know,” he said when all eyes turned to him. He spread his hands apart in supplication. “We're doing everything we can.”

  Doctor Asurabi was confused and terrified. He suggested that they vampire the two shuttles as well as getting rid of excess equipment in order to free up mass and fuel. “That won't work. It's not enough,” Chief Shiku said. “We could cut off entire sections of the ship and it probably wouldn't make a difference. Not at this range.”

  “The current will push us further away,” Jamey said. “Whatever it is, it's there. It is real,” he said doggedly, looking about defiantly to first Ben and then the other senior staff members. “I'm not sure how to … I don't know, tack? I guess you could call it that, tack against the current and keep our course.”

  Ben frowned as the others turned to him. He spread his fingers but didn't argue with Jamey's analysis.

  “Captain, I … hesitate to bring it up, but a few people have even suggested volunteers to suicide,” Ibraham said. “To free up life support for the others,” he said hastily.

  The captain eyed him for a long drawn out moment. Jamey sucked in a breath. The XO looked at him then turned her attentive eyes to the captain. Jamey looked at Juliana who was shivering. She caught his look and bit her lip and looked away. Jamey frowned thoughtfully. He looked at Chief Shiku. The other man just shook his head. “I … appreciate their willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. It hasn't come to that. We're all getting home. One way or another. All of us,” he insisted.

  “Can we … rrr …rig her for a long term voyage?” Juliana stuttered, fighting for composure. “Is there a way to go into I don't know, cold sleep? Cryogenics?” Juliana asked desperately.

  “Not a chance. It'd take us a thousand years to get back to Sol. We don't have the life support to last more than a month. Maybe two if we stretched it,” Andrea said. The communication's officer hung her head in despair.

  “Even if we could, I do not have the technology to do that,” Doctor Asurabi said gently. “Or the skills to get someone into a survivable hibernation.”

  “I'm sorry. I heard it brooded about in the grapevine and …” she held up her hands, still looking down. She fought a sob.

  “The crew … many are hysterical. They know we're in a crack. When people are in a trap, they look for anyway out of it even if it is completely implausible,” the XO said. Juliana nodded in agreement.

  “Five hundred light years … that's some kind of record,” Ibraham said. “We've never jumped this far, no one has! What gets me is how we got so far off course! We were in hyper eleven weeks right?” He turned to Ben.

  “Yes. We checked; the virus did try to throw us off but we kept track. We were in the exact time we were supposed to be. The best we can describe it …” Ben gulped as if swallowing something unpalatable, “ … is we hit something. If it wasn't just the virus, something … I don't know grabbed us and threw us off course,” Ben said. His eyes were blood shot. “I don't know how else to explain it. A riptide current is the prevailing theory,” he said shooting a look at Jamey.

  “We didn't go into another band. I know that much,” Jamey agreed with a nod. “The hyperdrive was practically idling. We don't have the power, and I monitored the drive.”

  “You could have been spoofed,” the navigator said tiredly. “We've been over this, yes I know. But the possibility exists.”

  Jamey watched the others look at him. He frowned. Carefully he framed his reply, forcing himself to remain calm. “I cut as many systems out of the link to the drive as I possibly could. We also inoculated the computer's firewall to stop the virus, then ran a scan of the inactive files. The virus was in your software Ben, not the drive computers. And there is no way, no way that drive could move us as fast as it did! Not five hundred light years! Not that fast!”

  “So you say,” Ben said, practically accusing the other man.

  “What are you saying Ben? I caused this?? I'm trying to fix it!” Jamey snarled, finally losing his temper.

  “Enough. Arguing about that isn't getting us anywhere,” Captain Locke said, eying them both. “Focus on the now. Where do we go from here?”

  No one had an answer to that question. They all sat their staring at nothing. Slowly a few heads were hung in defeat. “That's what I was afraid of. I want options people! Work the problem; don't be the problem!” The captain snarled.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  “So there really is no hope?” Kathy asked, searching Jamey's face for an answer when he returned to their quarters. She could tell from his body posture, his slumped shoulders, and drawn face that it was bad. She already knew it, but to see the doubt in his eyes … she stared at him, feeling that doubt pass through the air like an invisible miasma to infect her. “Can we … I don't know, shut the force emitters off? Cut power to them and nonessential systems? Jettison cargo?”

  Jamey shook his head. “Without the emitters inside we'd be paste all over the walls,” he said. She bit her lip. “Cargo …” he frowned then shook his head. “Less mass means less mass to transit into hyper, but I doubt it would be enough. I'd have to run the numbers. Getting rid of the shuttles alone would help.”

  “Suck them dry of parts and fuel first?” Kathy asked hopefully.

  Again Jamey shook his head. Her face fell. “The shuttles don't have any fuel in them, they take it on board when we use them. They do have batteries though. Nothing big enough to help,” he sighed. She sucked in a breath, shaking.

  “Hey! Don't give up now! We are going to try. We can't give up. There has to be something we haven't figured out,” Jamey replied valiantly. She could hear the false hope there.

  Kathy looked away, biting her lip. She didn't know what to say.

  “Hey, hey, it's okay,” he said softly, wrapping her in his arms. That broke the damn that held back her tears and fear. She sobbed, hugging him tightly as he stroked her hair and back gently. He tried to sooth her quaking body but soon he too was crying and shaking.

  “It wasn't supposed to be this way,” he whispered.

  “I know,” she choked out.

  Jamey and Kathy held hands, together they murmured about their plans and cried over their lost future.

  Jamey refused to give up; he had one last spark of hope, a desperate idea. Whatever this was, it played into Doctor Kershall's theory of hyperbridges. He was sure of that; it was the only explanation that fitted the facts. If they could get into hyper again, even briefly, they might, just might be able to ride the current again to wherever it might lead. Certainly a star system was better than the empty void!

  The next morning he went to Chief Shiku to put it into motion. They didn't have enough energy to get into hyper with their mass so they lightened the load as they'd discussed. The shuttles were stripped and then ejected. Their batteries were drained into the hyperdrive's capacitors and then jettisoned. Batteries not needed by various devices were also drained and ejected.

  Work robots were ruthlessly drained of their power then ejected into space. Any stores not needed were ejected. Even interior bulkheads and walls were cut out and tossed. Anything that wasn't structurally necessary went out the locks.

  Work crews used the spares to rebuild the computer as others cut back on the power to the life support. They couldn't trust it, so Chief Shiku and Berny directed them to make a separate system not tied into the ship's systems; then when it was complete they moved the hard wired connections over. Once that was done, they powered down most of the old hardware. It was a daunting task that took them over a week to complete.

  Power was still a major problem. They had to have more. The chief engineer built an electrolysis machine to process the water to lengthen life support as well feed the hydrogen into the fusion reactors for fuel. Jamey and others were injured trying to make the fuel; for Jamey it was minor, welding burns from the work. Kathy bandaged him up. She was quiet the entire time; he could feel her distress.

  The ca
ptain called a meeting to discuss their limited progress. “We're getting somewhere,” Jamey said. “We can't give up,” he said doggedly.

  Chief Shiku looked exhausted and mulish. “We can't. It's that simple. We don't have enough to get over the threshold needed to charge the capacitors … it's not enough. You just can't squeeze blood from a turnip,” the chief told him wearily, shaking his head. “Hell, you are the guy who wrote the math on it!” He waved a bandaged hand in disgust.

  “Even if we have enough energy to get in we'd fall right back out of hyper totally drained within seconds,” the navigator said, shaking his head. He looked like hell. They all did. No one had had a shower in weeks. Their voices were hoarse from stress and the dry atmosphere.

  The senior staff took the grim report hard, just about everyone had been holding out for some sort of miracle.

  “We've got some other issues. We haven't announced it, but we've had a couple deaths,” Andrea said with a heavy heart. The others stared at her. “Two people have committed suicide. It was a joint pack it seemed. Miley and Osiris. They left a note if you want to read it,” she said waving her tablet. No one raised a hand to volunteer. She shook her head and set the tablet down in front of her with a sigh. “They've given up. I can't really blame them.”

  “We're going to see more suicides then when it sinks in to everyone. We're already dealing with a lot of fights,” the captain said grimly.

  “I can … I can try to apply what we were doing with the new drive to this one,” Jamey said. They stared at him. “It is a long shot but the only one we've got left. I'll need some help and a lot of luck,” he said.

  “You'll be in our prayers,” the captain said with a nod.

  Jamey turned to the design of the hyperdrive, desperate for an answer. He tore his fingers up trying to rewire the drive. He was shocked several times but grimly tried to keep working despite the near death experiences. Kathy was called to treat him since he refused to leave and the chief engineer refused to pull him. When she saw Jamey's tear streaked face as she bandaged his hands, she bit her lip. She got up and pulled him to his feet. She wrapped an arm around him and led him away, head down, disconsolate. Several people wept over that last gasp of hope dying.

  Chief Shiku watched him go, tears tracing down his face. “Damn. I guess we engineers aren't the miracle workers everyone hoped,” he said softly.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Kathy grimly reported Jamey's injuries to the senior staff the next morning. She'd slipped him a sedative to keep him asleep to heal. They were somber; he and the chief were their only hope. They talked to the chief who said they had enough power for life support for another 2-3 weeks. More if they discharged the hyperdrive capacitors in a controlled way. “But do we want to live like that? Going mad waiting for the air to run out?” He shook his head wearily. His face was drawn, eyes sunken in despair and exhaustion. His hands shook as he tried to pick up a bottle of water. He looked at it and then flung it aside.

  “Six more people have committed suicide since yesterday,” the skipper said heavily. “Two are in sickbay sedated after attempting to slice their wrists,” he said. They winced. “Mack tried to hang himself with a wire but it was too thin, it snapped. He's also in sickbay sedated.”

  A bang on the end of the table made them jump. They turned to see the XO with a closed fist tapping it over and over onto the top of the table. Her tapping slowed as she regained her composure. “They are killing themselves, and it's not going to do any good. There isn't a quick fix, no last minute miracle. A ship isn't coming,” the XO said quietly, shaking her head. She shook a bit, but managed to get it under control. “We all know the schedule; Icarus won't be finished for years.” She shook her head. “Damn,” she sighed, hunching her shoulders. “So much for ticker tape parades and writing our own tickets,” she swore. She cursed for a minute before she ran out of breath or stopped caring to say them out loud. She looked haggard, the Captain thought. Even she was giving up. “I hate the idea of … just giving up. Giving the bastard who did this to us what he wanted. He won,” the XO snarled. She looked around the compartment. The other junior officers weren't looking at her. Only the skipper would meet her eyes.

  “Well,” the captain said loud enough to get their attention. “He or she didn't completely win; we got the warning off. Our final defiant scream of anguish and betrayal,” he said, lips puckering in a sour bitter smile. “I hope they catch him and fry him.”

  “Me too. But knowing how perverse the universe works, they never will. And he'll sit there jacking off and giggling while replaying our SOS over and over,” the XO growled.

  “I don't like it anymore than you do. But we can't fight the inevitable. Everyone dies. We get to choose how we die. Some already have,” Kathy said quietly as she came to a decision.

  “The suicides won't make much of a difference in the long run,” the XO said, shaking her head. She closed her eyes in pain at such anguish and sacrifice. “All for naught. I know some mean to spare us, spare themselves … choose their own ending but … my god,” she whispered then licked her dry lips. She looked away. “I need a drink.” she laughed bitterly. “Several.”

  “We're not accomplishing anything right now. Go check on your departments, try … try to keep spirits up. I know it isn't easy. Get some rest everyone,” the captain ordered. One by one the others left, mumbling softly that they were sorry they couldn't do more. Everyone had their head down.

  Kathy watched them go. She made no effort to get up and follow Doctor Asurabi. Nor did the exec. “I … I think we know we can't go out. I think the others are right,” she said.

  “What?”

  “We choose our own way out. Either we give Jamey his shot and try to jump … but that will leave nothing left for anyone to find,” the XO said.

  “I don't like that. I mean, I want to go down fighting, or preferably, not go down at all. Jamey is trying his best, or was. But he … he lacks the full knowledge of what they did in Sol. Plus the proper parts. This ship isn't designed to do what he wants it to do,” Kathy said, shaking her head.

  “If we die here …”

  “If we die here, we will leave a ghost ship. One that will sail back to Sol someday,” the Captain said. “Evidence if nothing more.”

  “I don't want to go out with a whimper. If we are going to die, let us do it honorably. As … as painlessly as possible,” Kathy said with a death's head smile. The two senior officers stared at her. “It's the only option. I'd rather do that than find someone trying to kill themselves in the head or find their … their bodies. To try to revive them only for them to die with us later.”

  “I … I don't know,” the XO said softly. “Have we come to this?” She asked tiredly, turning to the captain. “It's your call, sir,” she said. “Everyone’s given up. They are asking to transmit their last messages to their families. Juliana's been …” she shook her head. “People aren't bothering to work their shifts; those that do barely go through the motions. They just stare at the bulkheads or fight tears.”

  “So it has come down to this,” Captain Locke said softly.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  The next morning the Captain ordered all crew to remain in their quarters to rest and pray. He gave instructions for them to record their messages to home in that privacy. He and the XO would remain on the bridge.

  With the Captain and XO's support, Kathy slowly increased the carbon dioxide in the air too as well as introduced an airborne sleep agent that lulled the crew into slumber, then programmed the ship's patched together computer to shut off the life support when the oxygen level dropped below the ability to sustain life.

  She, the captain, and XO donned emergency air masks once they were certain everyone else was asleep. The XO programmed the ship to head for Earth. “Power won't last long. The reactors will deadline in less than two months even with us gone,” she warned.

  “Long enough,” the captain replied as he tapped at his own keyboard. “Course is set?”<
br />
  “Set and locked skipper. Waiting for your go ahead.”

  “The order is given number one,” he said simply. She nodded and clicked the execute button. The ship lurched once as she gave a final burst of power to her fusion drive, a kick to get her moving in the right direction to home. “It'll be a long time before our bodies find their way home, but we'll get there eventually. Allah willing,” Captain Locke said.

  “A true Dutchman. A ghost ship. We're becoming a legend in a way I'd hoped we'd avoid,” the XO said. The Captain nodded.

  While she had been busy at work with the drive, the captain had programmed the ship's computer to continue broadcasting omni and directional broadcasts until the power ran out. “Someone, somewhere has to know. They have to get the bastards. They have to see what we saw,” the Captain said.

  “They'll know our story,” the XO agreed. She pulled her mask down and wiped at her eyes angrily. She went and pulled out a bottle she had been hiding. “I know you don't drink skipper but …”

  “You,” he said shaking his head. “Allah may forgive but I'm not taking chances this close to meeting our maker,” he said with a smile. The XO chuckled.

  “To each their own,” she said. “I'm going to get rip roaring drunk then pass out. And when Saint Peter picks me up, I'm going to give him a big ass kiss with a lot of tongue,” she quipped. The Captain stared at her then laughed. The laugh was muffled under his oxygen mask.

  “As you said, to each their own,” he said, nodding to her as she took off her mask and started drinking the whiskey. He noted Doctor Castill standing near the dolphin tank. “Something we can help you with, Doctor?” He asked.

  “I'm just saying my goodbyes,” she said over her shoulder. She patted the tank. Kaku looked at her, rolling slightly. His eyes were sleepy, glassy. He was fighting the effects of the drug, trying to stay awake.

  “I wish we could have given everyone a chance to do that,” the Captain said, then turned to his XO. She was out, snoring softly, head against her right shoulder, whiskey bottle in her lap. Her glass slipped from her nerveless fingers. He sighed. “But perhaps it is just as well. It has been an honor ladies.”