by B. C. James
They fanned out, Arnold and Briggs taking one side of the room and Sharp taking the other. One by one, they cleared the frost from the chambers then met back up at the opposite side.
“What’s your count?” Sharp asked.
“I got six on my side, Cap,” Briggs answered.
“I didn’t know we were supposed to be counting…” Arnold trailed off.
Sharp sighed. “I counted six as well. That makes twelve total.”
“Who the hell are these people? And why the hell are they frozen?” Briggs asked incredulously.
Sharp was wondering the same thing. At least the use of cryogenic stasis further confirmed his five hundred year estimate. Cryostasis was ancient technology that had gone out of use when more advanced propulsion systems had been developed. Cutting the travel time between stars had made cryosleep obsolete.
He paused, trying to think of a reasonable hypothesis. “I don’t know who they are,” he said finally. “But judging from the condition of their ship, and their use of cryo-tech, they must have been out here for a long time.”
Briggs moved to the closest cylinder and inspected it. “Sir, these chambers seem to be operational. They must have their own standalone power source.”
“That would account for the energy signature we picked up,” Arnold added.
“Maybe we could tap into it and power up the rest of the ship,” Briggs theorized.
“Good thinking,” Sharp replied. “Let’s see if we can find it. If we get the computers back online, we may find out who these people are.”
Sharp led the party back to the central ladder and pulled open a hatch in the floor below it. Entering, they found themselves in a long tube with three doors, one at the far end and two on either side of them sunk into the curved bulkheads. “Lander one,” Sharp said, reading the label on the closest door.
Briggs moved to the opposite door. “Lander two,” he read aloud. “They must be some kind of shuttles.”
They moved on, floating down the long tube to the far door. After pulling it open, they climbed through. A larger diameter corridor surrounded them, its walls lined with frost and crisscrossed with a jumble of intertwining white pipes and plumbing. Sharp brushed away the thick layer of ice from a label on the nearest pipe. “LN2,” he stated.
“Liquid nitrogen,” Briggs informed them. “These pipes probably run up to the cryochambers. I bet they’re fed from those spherical tanks we saw on the outside of the ship.”
They left the corridor and moved through another hatch that opened into the top of a dark octagonal shaped room. An array of control consoles and access panels crammed the walls. A ladder led down from the center of the ceiling, on its own at first then along the side of a round structure that jutted up in the middle of the floor and reached halfway to the ceiling. The circular structure had solid walls most of the way around, and a curved transparent door built into one side.
They climbed down the ladder and surveyed the room. “Engineering?” Sharp questioned.
“That’d be my guess,” Briggs replied.
“Okay, see if you can get main power online first. I don’t want to tap into the power for those stasis chambers if we don’t have to. I don’t want to end up draining the batteries and killing those people. If all else fails, we can run a power umbilical over from the Rojo.”
“Alright, Cap. Good thinking,” Briggs replied.
Sharp turned to Arnold. “Lieutenant, you’re with me. Let’s take another look at that stasis room. See if we can figure out who those people are.”
“They’re meat popsicles,” Arnold joked.
Sharp ignored him and led the way back through the hatch at the top of the room.
3
Awakening
In the darkness, the stasis tubes gave off a ghostly glow as Sharp’s flashlight passed over their curved glass one by one. He tried to shake off the sense of dread it gave him. It felt like a tomb. His first instinct was to leave the derelict behind and get back to the familiar safety of his ship. These people were in cryosleep. He could set a beacon and send a message to the nearest outpost to come pick them up, but his sense of duty was telling him to stay and make sure they were safe before he left them. What if their stasis chambers failed after he left? He didn’t want any more deaths on his conscience.
As he looked around the room, he noticed several ladders lining the outer bulkhead, dividing the cylinders into groups of two. His eyes followed the ladders. They led up to hatches above the cylinders that he hadn’t noticed before in the darkness. “Arnold,” he called, pointing to the nearest ladder. “Follow me. Let’s see where these hatches lead.”
Sharp pulled himself up to the hatch and pushed it open. He wiggled his bulky EVA suit through the tight opening and entered a small square room. On his right, two stacked beds were recessed into the wall, their neatly made sheets encased in protective plastic. On the left was a floor to ceiling locker. Next to it, a shallow alcove contained a short square box fastened to the floor, a small hole was centered on top inside of a circular pad. Beside it, a corrugated tube hung on the wall. A small funnel was attached to one end, and the other disappeared into the side of the box. Must be a vacuum toilet, Sharp thought as Arnold came up behind him.
“Nice cabin,” Arnold said sarcastically as he moved to the beds. “Should we take a nap?”
“You go ahead, Lieutenant. I’ll be sure to wake you up when it’s time to go,” Sharp replied dryly.
Sharp turned to the locker and pulled on the latch. The door swung open smoothly. Inside, a row of clothes was held in place by clasps at the top of the locker. The clothes were stiff from the cold, and they swayed gently as he moved his hand along them. He paused at a dark orange flight suit and pulled it free. As he turned it over in his hands, the patch above the breast pockets caught his eye. “Daniels,” he read aloud. Turning it to the side, he found a round patch on the shoulder. “Looks like we found some Earthlings,” he said, holding the patch up for Arnold to see. The patch contained an embroidered effigy of Earth. A rough image of the derelict ship sat in front of the blue-green globe. A streaming yellow tail of flames shot out from the tail of the craft, and half encircled the planet, curving behind the far side. Below the image, the stitching read: Endurance.
As Sharp studied the patch, the overhead lights flickered to life, illuminating the cabin. He looked up startled as Briggs’ voice crackled over the comm.
“I think I got it, Cap,” he reported.
“Good work, Briggs,” Sharp replied as his eyes adjusted to the light. “Meet us back in the stasis room when you’re done down there.”
“Roger that, Sir. Just got a few things to check out and I’ll be right up.”
Sharp pushed the flight suit back into the locker and closed the door, the lock clicking as it latched. He moved out of the cabin, and as he started down the ladder, the ship lurched violently. The unexpected movement pulled the rungs from his grip and sent him tumbling through the room. His flailing arms did little to control his fall, and he slammed into a stasis tube at the far end, cracking the glass. A stabbing pain shot through his arm. He winced and clutched at it through his EVA suit. All around him a groaning metallic shriek coursed through the ship’s bulkheads. He cradled his injured arm and rolled over. Just as suddenly as it began, the ship stopped moving, and he floated gently up into the air.
“What the hell’s going on over there?” Commander Cormac’s voice yelled over the comm. “That piece of shit nearly ripped off the docking boom.”
Sharp held his arm close to his body as he pushed himself down to the floor. When his mag boots gained a firm purchase, he looked around for Lieutenant Arnold and found him dangling from the ladder across the room staring back at him.
“You alright, Captain?” Arnold asked, concerned but with a slight smirk.
“Cormac, status report,” Sharp said, ignoring Arnold.
“The Rojo’s fine, Cap. Looks like the docking boom is intact, but the soft seal took so
me damage. That hunk of junk you’re on came to life and pulled away from us. We’ve moved to a safe distance and matched its course.”
As Cormac finished, Ensign Briggs floated into the room and made his way to Sharp.
“What happened?” Sharp asked.
“When the power came back on, the navigation system must have activated and fired the thrusters to correct the ship’s tumble,” he reported, looking down at Sharp’s cradled arm. “You want Arnold to take a look at that? He’s got medical training.”
“I’m fine. I think it’s just a sprain. The suit took the brunt of it,” he said dismissively. “Cormac, you get all that?”
“Roger, Captain. The ship seems to be holding steady for now. No sign of further thruster activity.”
“Alright, get Franklin out there to see if he can repair the soft seal. I don’t like the idea of being stuck over here,” he replied.
“Okay, Cap,” Cormac responded. “He’s not gonna like that. He hates spacewalks.”
“Tell him he’ll be walking all the way home if he doesn’t get that seal fixed,” he joked. “Keep me informed on the progress, Commander.”
Sharp turned back to the stasis chamber he had slammed into. The glass was spider-webbed out from where his armored suit collided with it. A tiny spray of gas misted from the center of the cracks. A flashing red light next to the chamber caught his eye. Under the light, a small display screen read:
STASIS CHAMBER MALFUNCTION
“Briggs, come take a look at this,” Sharp called.
Briggs read the display then moved to the console positioned between the pair of chambers. He tapped a few buttons and studied it for a moment. “Looks like the chamber is compromised, Sir.”
“How about the occupant? Will they be alright?”
“Couldn’t say for sure, Cap, but I highly doubt they’ll last long with the chamber malfunctioning.”
Shit, Sharp thought, he didn’t want to wake anyone up. He had planned on leaving them in stasis and letting the proper authorities sort these people out. Now, he had to. This person wouldn’t last long enough for another ship to reach them.
“Can you revive them before the chamber fails completely?” Sharp asked.
“Hmm, let me see,” Briggs replied, tapping away at the console and pulling up a new window on the display. “Yeah, I think so. This looks like the dehibernation control.”
Sharp sighed, he knew what he needed to do, but he wasn’t thrilled about it. At least it was just one person. He didn’t know what he’d do if he had to deal with all twelve of them. “Alright,” he finally said. “Let’s do it. I don’t think we have a choice.”
Briggs nodded and tapped a few buttons on the console. The screen changed to display a green horizontal rectangle, its empty interior slowly filling in from its left edge. Below it, a clock began counting down from five minutes followed by the words:
UNTIL DEHIBERNATION SEQUENCE
“Hey, you guys better have a look at this,” Arnold called from across the room.
Looking up, Sharp saw the Lieutenant perched over a control station on the far wall.
They made their way over and Arnold pointed at the screen. Sharp saw the same countdown display that had come up on the console Briggs had activated. “Ensign?” he questioned, one eyebrow raised.
Briggs jumped forward and punched commands into the ancient interface.
“Damn,” Briggs exclaimed with a frown. “It looks like the dehibernation countdown was activated for all the chambers, not just the damaged one.”
Great, Sharp thought, that’s all we need right now. “Can you abort the countdown? I don’t want a dozen thawed out and confused people floating around in here.”
Briggs tapped at the console. He grunted in frustration and pounded his fists on the side of the screen. “It’s got some kinda command lockout on it,” he said as he squatted down and opened an access panel below the console. He pulled out a bundle of wiring and yanked apart a large red connector. The screen went blank and Briggs stood up with a wide grin, looking proud of himself. Arnold quickly snapped him out of it, however, by pointing to another console a few meters away. The same progress bar and countdown was displayed on its screen. Briggs’ shoulders slumped, and his face sagged as he bolted to the console. “Dammit, these must just be access terminals. A main computer’s gotta be controlling the countdown from somewhere else.” He said as the counter reached three minutes.
“Can you get back to engineering and cut the main power?” Sharp asked with a hint of panic in his voice. “Maybe when the chambers revert to battery power, the countdown will stop.”
“I’ll try,” Briggs replied as he switched off his magnetic boots. Pushing off the wall, he sailed toward the central ladder. He grabbed on and disappeared through the bottom hatch.
“Arnold, get up to the bridge and see if you can shut it down from there,” Sharp ordered.
Nodding, the Lieutenant turned and left without a word.
Now that he was alone, Sharp could feel the panic welling up inside him again. If the docking boom was still attached, he might have run back to his ship. Attempting to occupy his mind, he returned to the console and began flipping switches and mashing buttons ineffectively as the clock ticked down past two minutes.
This is just great, he thought, I don’t want a bunch of five-hundred-year-old Terrans waking up to find me on their ship, that is if they woke up at all. As far as he knew, the effects of long term cryostasis had never been tested, they could all wake up dead.
If they did wake up, alive, he wasn’t sure how they would react to him. He’d only met a few people from Earth, but the ones he had met he hadn’t much cared for. They all seemed to have a pompous superior attitude toward non-Terrans. Maybe these ones would be different, he hoped. They were from a different era after all. An era before interstellar human colonization, and the wars that had followed.
The clock ticked past one minute. “Briggs, we’re under a minute. You almost got it?” he called over the comm.
“I’m working on it,” Briggs’ annoyed voice came back.
“Arnold, how about you?”
“Ugh, I got nothing up here.”
Sharp felt helpless as he watched the clock run down, impotent to stop it.
“Ten seconds Briggs,” he yelled.
“It’s no good, Cap. The damn thing’s locked me out of the power controls.”
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
The screen switched from green to blue and displayed:
DEHIBERNATION SEQUENCE INITIATED
Sharp’s shoulders sagged in defeat. “Arnold, Briggs, forget it,” he said with disappointment. “It’s too late. Get back to the stasis room.”
***
Sharp stared through the cracked glass, studying the man in the tube as his two crewmates came up behind him. “Can we shut down the sequence?” he asked, turning to Briggs.
“That’s probably not a good idea,” Arnold interjected with a smug grin. “We could end up killing them if we interrupt the dehibernation procedure.”
“How long we got till they wake up?” Sharp asked, turning to Arnold.
“According to the readout, about four hours.”
Shit, he thought, this little detour was really starting to eat into their schedule. He prided himself on always getting his shipments delivered on time, but he wasn’t about to leave these people out here all alone, especially now that they were waking up.
A flashing indicator in his helmet caught his eye. Looking over at the HUD, he saw his oxygen supply had dropped below fifty percent. “How’s your O2 looking?” he asked his companions.
“Fifty-six, Cap,” Briggs reported.
“I’m at fifty-two,” Arnold said.
“Cormac,” Sharp called over the comm. “Have you been listening in? Are you aware of our situation?”
“Yes, Captain. I don’t know why you guys thought it was a good idea to wake those people up,” she joked.
Sharp raise
d one eyebrow and shot a questioning look at Briggs.
“Sorry,” Briggs mouthed silently.
“How are the repairs coming?” Sharp asked, returning to the conversation with Cormac. “We’ve only got a few hours of air left over here.”
“Franklin is suited up and moving out to the airlock now, Sir. I’ll get you an estimate as soon as he takes stock of the damage.”
“Alright, tell him to get a move on. I want us redocked within an hour, we’re running low on O2 and I want to be refilled and ready before these folks wake up. I don’t wanna be stuck over here if things turn ugly.”
“Aye, Cap,” she replied.
“Briggs, you’re with me. Let’s get to the bridge and see if we can figure out who these people are and what they’re doing out his far. I wanna know what we’re dealing with before they wake up. Arnold, you stay here and keep an eye on things.”
“Why do I have to babysit?” Arnold complained.
Sharp shot him a stone hard glare to shut him up. He was under enough stress as is, the last thing he needed was to put up with Arnold’s bullshit.
Arnold rolled his eyes and turned away, mumbling under his breath.
Sharp moved to the exit and waved for Briggs to follow.
***
The bridge was brightly illuminated now that main power was back on. Sharp stared at the main control console. It was lit up like a Christmas tree. Indicator lights and displays flickered on the massive panel as he tried to make sense of it all. Briggs sat next to him studying a small display.
“Looks like they launched from Earth around 2095 and were headed to the Alpha Centauri system,” he reported.
Sharp raised an eyebrow. “Alpha Centauri? I’d say they missed their target.”
“Yeah, by about fifty light-years,” Briggs agreed. “The ship’s navigation logs cut off about five years into their trip. The power must have failed for some reason. They could have been knocked off course then, or anytime after that.”
“Poor bastards,” Sharp said. “Find anything else?”
