by R. E. Weber
Although the air at sea level was breathable to humans, the relatively sparse vegetation resulted in reduced oxygen levels, equivalent to those found on Earth at an altitude of about four thousand metres. So although the air would sustain a person, any physical exertion was out of the question.
However, what Theo had not told Larissa was that the Antalothis Prime station also housed the quadrant outpost for the Star Agency. Although operations were conducted primarily from the command centre on the Polisian Moon, it had proven advantageous to have facilities available to field operatives no more than about fifty light-years from any given location within the Affinity.
Although the Star Agency had not required Theo to visit the station, he knew that it might help his superiors if he were to upload all his intelligence to the outpost’s secure node so it could be reviewed and then forwarded to Star Agency command. Hence, he had sent a communications package to the outpost announcing his intention to visit. However, aside from an automated response confirming receipt of the message, there had been no reply, which in itself seemed strange. But then if it was run by Polisians, pleasantries were hardly likely to be forthcoming, and in any case, it was probably just as well that he didn’t visit the outpost personally. That would only draw attention to himself when he needed to stay incognito in front of Larissa. Not that he’d had much of a reason to worry about her discovering the true purpose of his Ascent.
Despite the various locations that Theo had been required to visit for the Star Agency, there had been little if anything to report on. He hadn’t come across a single shred of information regarding the theft, loss or destruction of the null conduit weapon, and even the ability to carry out remote reconnaissance via his exofeed, while Larissa slept, had proven fruitless. And that very fact had caused Theo to doubt the true purpose of his mission. Had the Star Agency just been keeping him busy or making him feel useful while the top agency operatives were out doing the real work? Or was there something else going on?
While he knew that he wasn’t yet a fully trained operative, with all the skills needed to carry out any mission they decided to throw at him, he still had a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he was missing a piece of the puzzle. But in any case, his mission for the Star Agency had effectively come to an end. And Theo had been looking forward to spending the next few days with Larissa, free of duty and commitment.
‘Come on, Theo,’ said Larissa holding out her hand.
Smiling, Theo stood up and allowed himself to be led through the docking port, down a network of corridors and onto a massive observation deck overlooking the stunning water world. For a moment, Theo froze at the sight of the transparent floor at the edge of the deck. Then he took a deep breath and allowed himself to be led forward.
Although Theo had visited dozens of planets in his time living within the Affinity, many of which were largely covered with water, there was something very different about this world. The water was possibly the deepest blue he had ever seen, which truly gave the impression of the depth of the worldwide ocean.
Although the planet was ringed with clouds, they seemed far more uniform in shape and structure than on other worlds, as well as being more evenly spread over the surface. There were no polar caps in either hemisphere due to the steady winds that streamed around the planet, spreading the heat uniformly and keeping the surface temperature broadly similar everywhere. And then there was the reflection of the planet’s four icy moonlets, which gave the impression of ethereal, glimmering spectres, drifting eerily across the gigantic sea. The word Antalothis translated as the eternal ocean, and it wasn’t hard to see why.
‘Isn’t it incredible, Theo?’ said Larissa, squeezing his hand tightly.
‘It really is something else,’ replied Theo, mesmerised by the view.
‘The skimmer leaves in about an hour. It’s gonna be the best way to see the planet close up.’
‘But I thought this whole planet was a natural reserve?’
‘It is, silly. I thought you of all people would understand about cloaking technology. We’ll be able to get up close and personal to all those amazing life forms without them even knowing. It’ll be like the ultimate wildlife documentary. And besides, we won’t be landing, will we?’
‘Suppose not.’
Theo stared for a moment at the stunning world beneath him. Then he turned and looked around the observation deck, which was empty. It seemed strange that the station was deserted, at least as far as he could tell. And the lack of response from the local Star Agency outpost still bothered him, even though it wasn’t unheard of for such places to be temporarily unmanned when automated monitoring systems were so advanced.
‘Theo, come here. Look at this,’ said Larissa excitedly pointing towards the planet.
Theo stared in the direction Larissa was indicating. There seemed to be a very bright pinpoint of light reflecting in the ocean.
‘What is it?’ said Larissa.
‘Dunno,’ said Theo. ‘It’s not the reflection of a moon or anything because they’re not that bright. And the sun’s reflection’s over there, top right, so it’s not that either.’
‘So what is it?’
Focusing on the point of light, Theo zoomed in with his companion. Then he noticed something odd. The point of light seemed to be above the clouds rather than beneath them.
‘It’s not coming from the surface, Lari. It’s between us and the planet. And it’s moving.’
‘Is it a ship?’
Theo zoomed in as close as his companion would allow, but instead of the gleaming metallic hull of a spacecraft, all he could see around its intensely bright centre was a halo of dancing sparks. If it was a ship, it wasn’t like any he had ever seen. Focusing on the object, he selected Identify:
Subject: Electrical discharge.
Strength: Three hundred kalorams
Source: Interdimensional exit point
Cause: Unknown
Purpose: Unknown
‘Theo, what is it?’ said Larissa, suddenly serious. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. My companion can’t even identify it.’
As Theo stared at the description of the object, a cold sweat enveloped him. He knew of only one piece of technology that could create an interdimensional rift, although why his companion hadn’t identified it, he wasn’t sure. The object had been created by a weapon. And at that moment, he knew that they were under attack.
As he stared in horror, the energy discharge grew steadily brighter until it was almost impossible to look at, even with his companion tinting his vision. Then there was an enormous bang and a thunderous groan, and the room started tilting sideways.
Larissa screamed, then staggered towards Theo – almost falling over sideways as she ran – and grabbed his arm, squeezing so tightly that she almost cut off the blood supply to his hand.
‘Oh my god, Theo, what’s going on?’
‘We’re under…’
There was another massive bang and a distant rush of air as if part of the station had decompressed into the vacuum of space. Then the entire room began to creak and groan as if it were being twisted out of shape. Larissa and Theo were jolted sideways, and they both fell to the floor, landing hard on the cold, grey metal. Larissa screamed in pain as she fell on her side, her arm curled awkwardly under her. But somehow, Theo had managed to fall forwards, with his hands splayed out to cushion him.
For a moment, Theo lay on the floor, stunned at the ferocity of the explosion. Then he turned to look at Larissa. She had rolled over onto her back and was clutching her arm, her face contorted into an agonised grimace. Quickly, Theo scrambled towards her on all fours and lifted himself up onto his knees behind her. He hoisted her into a sitting position, resting her back against his chest. Then he gently lifted her arm and laid it on her lap, checking for swellings and breaks. According to his companion’s bio scanner, there were tears in the muscles and tendons of her shoulder and upper arm. But no bones were broken.
‘It’
s OK, Larissa. Just stay calm and rest your arm.’
‘I think it’s broken,’ said Larissa, her face screwed up in pain.
‘No, you’ve just twisted the muscle. You’ll be OK.’
Larissa turned to look at Theo, wincing as her shoulder sent a jolt of pain down her arm.
‘Yeah, but I won’t be OK, will I? Look at this place. It’s being torn apart.’
As Theo looked at the planet below, a huge, twisted, metallic arm drifted past the window, spinning end over end. As he watched, the arm raced away towards the planet, and within seconds it had disappeared out of sight. It was as if it had been yanked free of the station and pulled towards the planet. Then a horrific thought struck him.
The station was not actually orbiting the planet as such, or so his research had told him. It was suspended above the planet by a network of anti-graviton generators. Objects only remained in orbit when they were moving around the planet, with centrifugal force balancing out gravity. However, this space station was not flying around the planet. It was instead designed to suspend itself at any point in space, so it could easily move to anywhere above the surface to carry out scientific observations. But if all the anti-graviton generators were to be destroyed, the station would not remain in orbit. Like the metallic arm, it would fall into the pull of the planet, plunge into its atmosphere and be destroyed.
Suddenly, there was a massive thunderous boom and the room jerked sideways once more, almost throwing them back to the floor. Larissa turned to Theo and looked him straight in the eye, panic-stricken and terrified. Seeing her look of terror, Theo took her face in his hands.
‘Larissa, don’t panic. We’re going to be OK.’
‘No Theo, we’re not, we’re going to…’
‘Larissa,’ interrupted Theo sharply, ‘look at me.’
Larissa stared back, her breathing fast and shallow. ‘Oh god,’ she said breathlessly.
‘Larissa, please. Look at me. Take a deep breath and focus on me. Listen to my words,’ said Theo, altering his speech pattern to sound more formal – a surprisingly effective trick he had learnt to help him sound more authoritative.
Larissa squeezed her eyes shut and took a series of deep, long breaths. Then she opened them.
‘OK, Theo,’ she said shakily. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I want you to do exactly what I say, OK?’
‘OK, Theo.’
‘Right, can you stand?’
‘I think so.’
Theo put his hand under the shoulder of her good arm and gently lifted her to her feet.
‘Are you OK?’
‘Yeah, I think so. Now, what?’
‘OK, first things first. Pull up the hood of your suit.’
Using her good arm, Larissa pulled the hood over her head until all that was visible was her mouth, nose and eyes. Theo did the same and then looked back at her. Time to become ninja warriors.
‘OK, now take this,’ said Theo, pulling a small white tablet out of his utility belt and handing it to her. ‘It’ll kill the pain quickly.’
Larissa popped the tablet into her mouth and swallowed quickly.
‘Good. Now I want you to face me, put your good arm around my back and hold onto me. If you can lift your bad arm, do the same with that as well. It’ll help.’
‘But why? I don’t…’
‘Larissa, do it. Do it now.’
She stepped towards Theo and pressed herself against him. She lifted her good arm and wrapped it around him. Then she slowly lifted her bad arm, grimacing as she moved it, and draped it over his shoulder and around the back of his neck.
‘Is that OK, Theo?’
‘That’s great, Larissa. Now, can you try and wrap your legs around the back of mine, one at a time, so I’m completely supporting you.’
‘What the…?’
‘Larissa, we don’t have time. Just do it.’
Slowly, Larissa lifted one leg and snaked it around Theo’s, wobbling slightly as she positioned it. As she started lifting her other leg, there was a distant boom followed by a series of thumps and groans. Then, as an eerie silence descended over the room, they began to float up into the air.
‘What’s going on, Theo?’
‘Don’t worry, I was expecting this. The anti-graviton generators have failed.’
‘You mean, the artificial gravity isn’t working?’
‘It’s more than that, Larissa. The generators are the only thing holding the station in position above the planet. Now they’ve failed, there’s nothing to hold us in place.’
‘You mean, we’re going to be pulled down? We’re going to crash into the planet?’
‘Yes,’ replied Theo, surprisingly calm.
‘A... are we gonna die?’
‘No,’ said Theo firmly.
Then a message appeared on Theo’s companion:
Threat warning:
Structural integrity of station failing.
Atmospheric pressure dropping.
Anti-graviton generators non-functional.
Attitude unstable.
Station impact with atmosphere in 11 seh’nu.
Escape pods inaccessible.
Environment suits inaccessible.
Don’t sugar coat it, grumbled Theo to himself as he read the threat bot message.
‘Theo, what are we going to do?’ whimpered Larissa in his ear.
OK, so what were the options? The station had been attacked, and all its essential systems had been destroyed – by who or what, he had no idea, but that wasn’t important right now. The station was falling towards the planet with no means to stop it. There were no escape pods and no spacesuits that they could reach.
Would the observation deck remain intact as the station hit the planet’s atmosphere? Probably not. So he had to find a way to protect the pair of them. All he had was his personal shield, but would that encompass them both? And would it stay active long enough to protect them as they entered the planet’s atmosphere? The shields were only designed to last one to two minutes, depending on the companion’s energy reserves. Was that long enough? Or would it fail before the heat of re-entry had dropped low enough for them to survive?
‘Larissa, listen to me. I’m going to use my personal shield to create a bubble of protection around us. It’ll trap enough oxygen to allow us to breathe until we get to the planet’s surface. I…’
‘Personal shield, what do you mean? I’ve never…’
‘Larissa, please listen to me. There isn’t much time. In a few minutes, this station’s going to hit the atmosphere. When it does, it’ll begin to break apart. At that point, I’m going to activate my shield, which will surround us both.’ Theo knew that he should have used the word hopefully, but he didn’t think it was wise to panic Larissa any more than necessary. ‘The shield will protect us from the heat of re-entry until we slow down enough to fall without its protection. Do you understand me?’
‘Theo, I don’t want to die.’
‘Larissa,’ said Theo sharply. ‘Do you understand me?’
‘Y... yes, I think so.’
‘When I activate my shield, try to breathe slowly and don’t talk. We need to conserve oxygen. When we hit the atmosphere, it’s going to be loud because the shield doesn’t block noise. And it’s going to be bright too. We’re going to be surrounded by an orange glow. It’s going to look scary, but it’s just the air around us heating up. The shield won’t allow any heat through. OK?’
‘OK,’ replied Larissa.
‘We will survive this,’ said Theo.
Larissa stared back at him, her pupils dilated in panic.
‘I’m scared, Theo,’ she stuttered.
‘I know you are. But we’ll be fine, I promise,’ he replied before kissing her gently on the tip of her nose.
The minutes passed quickly, and as the planet grew steadily larger in the viewing window, an orange glow began to surround the station, accompanied by a violent juddering noise, which was getting steadily louder. This was it.
The station was entering the planet’s atmosphere. His personal shield option was pulsing in front of him, ready to select.
‘OK, Larissa, this is it. Close your eyes.’
As a deafening bang reverberated through the observation deck, Theo selected his shield option and a translucent bubble formed instantly around them. It had worked. There was a sudden jolt as a wall of burning hot air slammed into them, and they were hurled backwards, bouncing off the back wall of the observation deck like a ball bearing on a pinball table. Then the rear wall of the deck blew out and suddenly shards of metal were flying all around them as the deck exploded. As the shards hit the atmosphere, they pulsed bright yellow before disappearing in a flash. And everywhere they looked, the remains of the space station were disintegrating around them.
As they hurtled towards the giant planet-wide ocean, the debris field around them began to thin out as the larger shards of metal disintegrated in the steadily thickening atmosphere, while the bigger sections of the station span out of control away from them. The continual thunderous roar echoing around them was like nothing Theo had ever experienced before, even though he had been dropped many times from orbit by transport pod. Larissa still had her eyes squeezed shut, her face a permanent grimace of terror.
Threat warning: Companion power reserves falling below recommended levels. Estimated time until shield depletion, 1.2 seh’nu.
All he had was a minute of power, which had been less than he had hoped for. He peered around him at the translucent shield holding back the wall of fire. The fearsome orange glow seemed as strong as ever and was clearly not going to dissipate before the shield ran out of power.
OK, so what were his options now? His zero-point power supply would soon be depleted and the only way it was going to recharge itself would be to switch it off, which wasn’t an option. Of course, there was plenty of energy around them with the heat of re-entry, but there was no way to tap into that energy because it was outside the shield. The companion’s backup energy reserves came from his own body heat, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to keep the shield active – indeed it was barely enough for short-range communications. So what could he do? Where could he draw power from?
