by Matt Verish
Cole did his best to cover up his stumble, but it only made matters worse. He admired a rare, beaming smile on Lin’s otherwise haggard expression. Those intelligent eyes, mysterious and full of life and excitement, could not completely eclipse the puffy bags hanging heavy beneath. Only intense research could make her this excited, overlooking their narrow escape. It was a form of mania she’d displayed the moment she had accepted the freedom to continue her work. How had he not noticed her exhaustion earlier?
“Been busy digging my own grave.” He entered the “lab,” admiring the machines she had gathered aboard to further her research. He lightly dragged a fingertip across the one piece of equipment that had originally been secured beneath the Olympus Mons nature center on Mars. A collider of some sort, named Colossus. “But something in my gut tells me you had a hand in prolonging my funeral.”
Lin raised an eyebrow. She looked at an empty chair beside her, and Cole accepted the offer. As he stepped over an ocean of wires to reach her, he immediately felt the heat radiating off the collection of electronic devices now encircling him. He sat down and collected her hand.
“So, what’d you do?”
An ever rarer mischievous smirk graced Lin’s face, though it was gone in an instant. “I saved us,” she said as her Rook resumed its usual place near her head. “In the only way I knew how.”
Cole prepared himself for another one of her verbose, technobabble explanations. He squeezed her hand. “And just how did you save us?”
“By successfully transporting us to another universe. Atomic Particle Deconstruction, a process which temporarily altered our physical bodies into an energized state, allowing us to safely travel through the black hole by creating a wormhole jump point inside the event horizon. Thus we were able to travel at the necessary speed of light to survive the journey.”
None of her words registered. “Um...would that be the Cosmic Particle research you’d mentioned before?”
“Correct.” She was positively elated, shaking almost.
Two words finally parted his mind fog. “The same research your crazy father said wasn’t real? You somehow managed to make it work and send us to another universe.”
“Yes.” She squeezed his hand in return, laughing.
“Another universe?”
She smiled her brightest smile, and he could have made love to her right then and there. “Another universe. We’re...” he gestured all around himself, “...in a separate universe from the one in which we live?”
“The multiverse exists, and I have finally, scientifically, proven it.”
Cole let go her hand and fell back into his seat, the enormity of her explanation beginning to assimilate. His girlfriend, Doctor Lin Dartmouth, daughter of the fanatical genius, Kingston Dartmouth—better known as The Singularity—had helped the crew of the Icarus to evade certain death by transporting them to an alternate universe. An entirely new plane of worlds, where everything was completely new and undiscovered. A place upon which science had only speculated for centuries. She had managed to not only prove its existence but discover a means of travel there as well.
Fuck me!
Cole smiled back in spite of himself. Against all odds, the impossible had been achieved. The crew of the Icarus were the fortunate brave souls forging a path in a universe untouched by man. It was the very definition of what NASA had set out to accomplish with their Uncharted program. Now Cole was living it, experiencing a form of the dream he had always hoped to achieve.
Too bad no one outside this ship will ever know about it.
“The multiverse! Sure, why not? I believe you. I mean, it’s not anymore unbelievable than the life I’m currently leading.” Cole threw up his hands as a sign of forced acceptance. “I’d ask how any of this is possible with only a closet room full of bizarre, high-tech machinery, but I wouldn’t understand your explanation anyway. So, I’ll just skip that part and say...” He sat forward and hugged Lin, holding her tight. “...you’re amazing!”
Lin tensed, though Cole had expected it. Despite their budding romance, she was closer to and more familiar with quantum computing than human emotions. “Thanks,” she said, suddenly sheepish. “Though it’s you who should receive accolades. If you hadn’t risked yourself by collecting the necessary materials and allotting me the time to finalize the calculations, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Wherever here is,” Cole said, pulling away. “Any chance you know the answer to that question without having to give me a full dissertation?”
Lin shook her head, her smile diminishing.
Cole shrugged and stood. “Hey, we’ll just add it to the growing list of items requiring our attention. But before we can explore our new universe, I should probably tend to our crumbling ship. She took a little abuse before we did whatever it was we did to get here.”
Lin flicked her hand downward and pressed an invisible button. It was the universal sign for shutting down augmented reality in Ocunet. “Anything with which we should be concerned?”
“Yeah, probably,” Cole admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “But we have nothing but time to conduct repairs, and that’s way better than being vaporized.”
Lin’s smiled strengthened; she rose with her Rook behind her. “I should check on CAIN, then.”
The AI was one topic Cole was hoping not to discuss. Since having reestablished itself with the ship’s mainframe, CAIN had gone dormant. He feared the worst.
“Are you sure you want to do that? You might not like what you find.”
Lin nodded with reservation. “I have to attempt to troubleshoot for a solution. Besides, it’s as you say: we have nothing but time.”
Cole’s smile hid his true feelings. Time enough until we run out of food, air, or the ship collapses. “If anyone can save him, it’s you. But don’t you want to come to the bridge first and see the untouched space canvas?”
He saw her hesitate. It was clear that she was more interested in the execution of her experiment, not the point to where it had led them. “Don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere. ‘Sides, I have to fill in the others about our situation and convince them not to kill me.”
Lin looked relieved. “I’ll keep you updated on my progress.”
Cole glanced at her new Rook—the one containing the mind of the Singularity. “Maybe Kingston’ll give you a little assistance while you’re down there.”
Her response was only a blink, leaving Cole feeling incredibly awkward. To ease the tension, he leaned close and kissed her on the cheek before heading back to the bridge. As he walked away, he could swear he felt two sets of eyes staring at the back of his head.
~
“Can’t do any hull repairs.”
Cole stared down at the mechanic, hands on his hips. A part of him regretted having utilized the drone to distract the Asterius. The small, confiscated vessel had been their main resource for heavy duty external repairs. Now that it was destroyed, they were left with only one option.
“We’ll have to use the spacesuits to fix what we can.”
Rig folded his arms. “I’m all for manual labor, Nugget, but can either of you do more than yank a stick to make this bird move?”
Cole had minimal training in mechanical engineering, and from Emmerich’s grim expression, she had even less. “How bad is the damage?”
Rig grinned, knowing exactly why the question had been asked. “Mostly cosmetic, but engine one is struggling, and there’s a small breach in one of the bunks. Yours.”
Great. That explains the emergency seal blocking my entry. “Well, Rig, I guess you’re in charge. We’ll follow your lead.”
“Just a minute.” They were the first words Emmerich had spoken since their conflict with Admiral Preston.
Cole could already feel the tension begin anew, knowing exactly what she would say.
“What happened?”
Cole decided to return a simple question with a simple answer. “We escaped.”
“So help m
e, Musgrave....”
“You’ll what? If you want answers, I suggest you take your inquisition to Doc,” Cole snapped. “Though you better be nice to her, because she’s the one who saved our asses.”
Emmerich’s jaw clenched. “Would her actions explain why nothing outside the ship registers on our charts?”
“It would.” Cole was already tired of talking to her. He had not forgotten what she had done back on the asteroid alongside his brother. The longer he stared at her, the more he wanted to break her face. “Does it matter what happened? We’re here now. Alive.” He could see she wanted to press the issue, but the weight behind his words had deflated her attack.
“Looks the same to me,” Rig said of the current view of outer space. To the inexperienced eye, it looked little more than endless darkness, sprinkled with salt.
Cole grinned. He knew better. That was not Sagittarius A* low on the horizon. It was... He had not the slightest clue what it was. A closed door on my past life.
“Nobody wants to get out there and explore it more than I do,” Cole said, still marveling at the beautiful sight, “but we can’t until we patch up the Icarus. Are you with me?” Rig was already heading toward the lift. Cole waited for Emmerich’s miserable nod.
“We may have escaped,” Emmerich said, “but we only prolonged the inevitable.”
Cole shook his head. Regardless of his current feelings toward Emmerich, there was no need to fan the flames of discord. He gently grasped her forearm. “Chrys. I won’t claim to understand your obsession with your staunch opposition to my every move—nor do I want an explanation—but I do know you have your reasons. We’re probably never going to see eye-to-eye, and that’s fine. As much as I want to smash your head in, I do—on some microscopic level—appreciate you keeping me on my toes.”
Emmerich arched an eyebrow. “You’re an asshole.”
Cole smiled and squeezed her arm. “Coming from you, that’s a compliment.”
She sighed, but, her nod carried with it a sense of acceptance.
He let her go and rubbed his hands together. “You ready to help me help Rig screw up repairs?”
Emmerich’s attention, however, was on the viewport screen. Something about her expression sent a chill down his spine. He accessed his Ocunet, and enlarged the distant, stationary object. The information that appeared could not be correct.
He reread the words and knew that he had spotted a ghost.
11
ABANDONED
The history surrounding the disappearance of the Daedalus was widely known, though the details were sketchy at best. Aside from Cole’s alleged involvement, and the security footage that incriminated him, there was next to nothing proving the ship had been destroyed or had ever even existed. Regardless, the court of public opinion had rendered the Musgrave name guilty, despite the verdict to the contrary. His legacy forever tarnished, Cole lived his life until society redirected its hate toward the next major scandal.
Cole could never forget the traumatic experience. A familiar phantom pain flared beneath his gloves as he gazed upon the vessel he was certain he had sent to the furthest depths of hell. It was here, in an unknown universe, like a nightmarish monster hiding in the underworld, waiting to spring out of a child’s bedroom closet and spread its torment. The child was Cole, and his monster, the Daedalus.
It was rare for Cole to be at a loss for words; he had his mother to thank for that. The thought she could have survived his murderous attempt scared him to death. However the closer they got to the battlecruiser, and the longer he gazed upon the massive ship’s hull, the more he doubted anyone aboard was alive. The Daedalus was intact, though it had been shut down. Initial scanners turned up empty.
It’s been here nearly fifteen years, Cole thought, wondering if the entire crew had died upon arrival, or if they had slowly starved.
“How are we supposed to dock?” Emmerich asked.
Cole shrugged. “Maybe we can find an empty escape hatch and force our way in.”
“If any of the pods launched,” Rig noted. “Might be the whole damn crew is dead inside.”
Cole cast the mechanic a quizzical glance. “Glass entirely empty kinda guy, eh?”
“Hey, I just call it like I see it. You saw what that scanner said.”
Cole nodded. “Point taken. Even if somebody survived the trip here, oxygen and supplies would be long-since depleted.” He drummed his fingers on the console. “Maybe I’ll just make a nice Icarus-sized hole for us to fly through.”
“No.”
Cole squeezed his eyes shut. “Care to explain, Chrys?”
Emmerich sat up straighter. “That I have to explain myself makes me seriously doubt your status as captain.”
“No, don’t,” Cole said, raising a hand to stop her. “I’ll play this game.” He looked up at the viewport screen and rubbed his hands together. “I get three chances. One: You would consider it sacrilegious to unnecessarily damage such a reputable vessel before conducting a thorough investigation. Two: Watching dead, exploded soldiers’ bodies floating out into space would be gross. Three: You don’t actually have a reason, and you’re just trying to piss me off yet again. How’d I do?”
Emmerich’s face was red. “Just don’t damage the ship.”
Lin’s Rook hovered beside Cole’s face. “I have to agree. Inflicting damage upon a stationary vessel like this may alert whatever security system may still be in place, sending the entire computer system into lockdown and rendering the mainframe inaccessible. The stored information could offer us answers.”
Cole was drumming his fingers again. “Fine, we’ll do it the usual way: choose the path fraught with danger, and hope for the best.”
Rig chuckled.
Cole caught the briefest of glances between Lin and Emmerich and wondered what sort of silent message had been conveyed. “Alright, let’s find our rabbit hole.”
A schematic of the Daedalus appeared on the viewport screen as the Icarus cruised along the surface of the massive ship. They inspected each pod on the starboard, dismayed to find them all intact. As they made their way over to the port, the search came to an abrupt halt. Here they located a gaping opening large enough to dock ten squadrons of cargo vessels. The damage was immense, though any sign of debris was nowhere to be seen.
“Sagan’s ass, that’s a big hole,” Cole said, marveling at the destruction. “What happened here?” He immediately regretted the question.
“You of anyone here should have a solid idea,” Emmerich said.
Cole was shaking his head before she finished. “This wasn’t me. My assault was from the inside.” He pointed at the damaged hull. “This was an exterior attack.”
The viewport screen automatically indicated a location where large portions of thick steel was curled inward like some creature’s half clenched fist. Other charred areas further in were completely melted, indicating direct blasts from a very powerful energy-based weapon. Such a discovery may have cleared Cole of any wrongdoing, but it brought forth a terrifying new realization.
Something in this new universe had attacked the Daedalus.
~
“I told you this platform would hold.”
Cole was glad for Rig’s switch toward optimism. He himself was not quite so eager to land in the badly damaged pod bay. While the attack may have happened years ago, whatever had inflicted it could easily return.
“Alright. Time to suit up, boys and girls,” Cole said to the uneasy crew. “We got a lot of work ahead of us. Aside from exploring this ghost ship, we’ll have to put Humpty Dumpty back together again while we have a nice, flat surface to work on.”
“There’ll probably be parts we can use in the engineering bay,” Rig suggested.
Cole snapped his fingers and pointed at him. “Good thinking. Take the portable cargo arm for any big parts, and try not to have too much fun knocking things over.” He ignored Rig’s grin. “We should also keep an eye out for any usable supplies. I’ll leave that to
you, Chrys.”
“I’d like to accompany you aboard to conduct my own investigation,” Lin said.
The protective boyfriend in Cole wanted to tie her down to a chair and lock her away somewhere safe, but he knew she was a capable woman. Lab work might be her forte, but there was a side of her that housed unexpected heroics. Besides, he wanted to know what it was she was investigating. He smiled and nodded.
“This is a survival mission,” Emmerich said to Lin. “Not some science experiment.”
“Really?” Cole said before Lin could retort. “Again with the assholishness? Are you that shortsighted, or do you just live to make everyone’s life aboard this ship a living hell?” He stood and angrily brushed past her. “We need intel as much as we need supplies.”
Cole was grateful to not receive an argument from Emmerich. He did, however, hear her mutter something unintelligible before standing and joining the rest of the crew as they suited up. A large part of him wanted to confine her to the bridge to be rid of her, but four sets of hands were better than three when scavenging a ship the size of a small city.
EVA suits properly secured and magboots engaged, the crew of four waited for the lower cargo bay to pressurize before opening the payload door to step down and explore the unknown. Each of them was armed, though only Emmerich had her rifle drawn. Everyone had their own assigned locations to explore; Cole was to accompany Lin for reasons mostly selfish. Despite the damage, he knew she would be able to crack the ship’s code to infiltrate the mainframe. He had nagging urge to uncover the truth of the Daedalus’s fate.
Emmerich, as expected, disapproved, though Cole ignored her attempt to convince him to cover more ground. Rig, also as expected, did not care what anyone did. The mechanic was focused solely on bringing the Icarus back up to speed.
You understand that she’s right, Lin communicated via Ocunet text. Her Rook, while capable of braving open space, was unable to properly vocalize in a vacuum. It hovered next to her, silent.
“That must’ve pained you to say that,” Cole said, switching the comm so only she could hear him. “I know how close the two of you are.”
