»Wow, that took a lot of imagination,« Enola Peshewa whispered sarcastically. »Better than Sweeney’s Planet.«
»Crashpoint is an oxygen world,« Sweeney continued unfazed. »The equatorial diameter is an estimated 12,600 kilometers. Unfortunately, I couldn’t determine the size more accurately. The planet’s atmosphere is denser than on Earth. There’s no axial tilt, so there are no seasons. According to my spectroscopic measurements, the oxygen content is about thirty percent. The atmosphere also contains nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and traces of methane. The temperature is thirty-two degrees Celsius on average.«
»Are there any signs of higher developed lifeforms, perhaps a technical civilization?« Takahashi followed up.
»A civilization that is far enough developed to force us out of the tachyon continuum?« Ultimus asked and looked into Takahashi’s flashing eyes.
»I’ve searched the surface with the telescope: no cities, no signs of buildings, no radioactive decay, not even ruins. The communications section didn’t receive any radio signals either,« said Sweeney. »I would argue that Crashpoint is uninhabited. The planet has vast forests, animal life may exist.«
Strovol was hovering next to Twinkle with knotted tentacles and without displaying his luminous body language, apparently looking for an opportunity to engage in the conversation. He seemed disturbed.
»The FTL drive … the projector was in perfect condition when we entered the tachyon continuum. I can assure you …«
»I believe you, Strovol,« Takahashi calmed the Taslanan. »You’re our specialist for such things. Did you feel anything with your fine senses, something that can help us find the cause?«
»Yes!« said Strovol strongly. »I was unconscious until recently. Twinkle has sent for me to pull me out of the projector. Nevertheless, I was fully conscious at the time of the accident. It was awful!«
Takahashi straightened in his seat.
»So … it was an accident?«
»A terrible tragedy,« moaned Strovol and pulsated in rich, red colors. »We were caught by an eddy current, a flawed sector of the otherwise homogeneous tachyon continuum, which hurled us back into normal space. To see how our ship was ejected through this wound while it was still enlarging and expanding was a frightening experience for me. No Taslanan has ever reported such a phenomenon.«
»What did you call this phenomenon or anomaly? A wound?« asked Ultimus stunned.
»A raptured continuum, a crack, which created a bridge to the normal universe that could not close itself because the energy from the higher continuum flowed continuously into ours,« Strovol explained. »We were ejected through this hole. I’ve never seen such chaotic field line patterns as those that surround this planet and our ship. It hurts to analyze these destructive patterns. If possible, we should leave the orbit immediately. As long as we’re in the immediate vicinity of this energy matrix, it will affect all our ship systems. The FTL drive cannot be activated under these conditions. We cannot achieve a stable transfer field.«
»The exit trail, that Rak’Fler detected!« Takahashi said surprised.
»Strovol’s right,« said Rak’Fler. »The anomaly is still present. If there is actually a crack in the continuum, then it hasn’t close yet. On the contrary, tachyon-medium emissions have actually increased!«
»The two Hawks are ready. We had to use emergency power to open the hangar gates. As expected, the two onboard computers have failed. The manually controlled thrusters work, though. The pilots can fly and maneuver, as long as they have enough conventional fuel,« Peshewa interjected.
Slight vibrations suddenly went through the ship.
Sweeney straightened up alarmed.
»We’ll soon reach the outer layers of the atmosphere again. We must act now!«
»Execute!« Takahashi commanded. He briefly touched a sensor pad on his seat and initiated the full alert.
Unstable Orbit
»There are new insights into our accident,« Takahashi announced over the intercom. The entire crew was able to hear his words. »It’s not only about stabilizing the Nebular’s orbit around the planet, we also need to maneuver the ship to a safe distance and separate it from Crashpoint. We only have a small time window. If we plunge into the atmosphere, then it’s too late! The two Hawk pilots will place the noses of their ships near the diffusers of the lateral control thrusters and try to push the Nebular, with combined maximum thrust, from the orbit. In one minute, I will initiate the lockdown state and secure all sections of the ship.«
Takahashi leaned back. His nostrils flared slightly as he ended the announcement.
That’s the theory. If the thrust pulses are not perfectly matched, then the ship starts to rotate and can get out of control ... if the ship’s hull breaks under the stress … if the pilots make just one mistake ...
A slight tremor and an ugly scraping sound ran through the ship, which was propagated from the hull to all sections of the cruiser. Shortly after, another, unlike heavier shock occurred, which caused an alarm to sound. The two Hawks had attached to the hull.
Takahashi just shook his head as Peshewa looked at him puzzled. Carry on!
»Both Hawks have just docked and report readiness,« whispered Enola and nodded at Sweeney. The Navigator established a direct comm-link to the two pilots. It was up to him to coordinate the thrust levels of the two Hawks and issue the necessary instructions to the pilots. There was no margin for errors.
»We begin with minimal thrust,« he commanded the pilots. »Don’t lose contact with the ship! Let’s stabilize the cruiser by applying a gentle counter-thrust. Activate your drives on my command … three, two, one, now!«
»Even though, the command central crew couldn’t directly witness the extreme maneuvers they, nevertheless, felt the sudden vibrations. An ominous humming prevailed in the air, which constantly increased in intensity, painful to the ears.
Takahashi had goosebumps as he heard the noise.
The vessel has been designed for extreme stress situations, it survived the violent re-entry into normal space and will also survive this maneuver, he thought with a worried expression, looking at Sweeney. He trusted his Navigator.
Sweeney issued the command to increase the thrust of both Hawks gradually. It was essential to prevent the Nebular from rolling around.
It sounds as if the ship screams in pain, Takahashi thought uneasily.
»The pressure sensors report critical values,« called Enola Peshewa alarmed. »Hawk-II has dented the hull and is stuck.«
»Keep going!« Takahashi replied steadfastly. »Then, the Hawk is stuck, so what? We can’t let off now!«
»Position toward the planetary horizon stabilized,« Rak’Fler growled enthusiastically. The extreme Hawk maneuvers were just down his alley. He liked these kinds of situations. The Krolakan displayed no trace of nervousness.
»The Hawks are now going to maximum thrust,« Sweeney announced and firmly clenched the armrests of his chair. »Either the ship breaks apart, or we leave this planet behind us!«
»Commander,« said Peshewa. »We’ve caught up with the abnormality on our orbit around the planet. It should appear in a few seconds above the horizon.«
»Do we still have enough power for the central display holo?« Takahashi inquired.
At the same time as the Hawks initiated full thrust, the central holo established, showing the disk of the planet below them.
»Now, we should see it,« announced Peshewa, breathing heavy, as the dome of the command central began to vibrate. The display flickered ominously and produced cascades of bright flashes.
»We’re moving! It seems to work!« Sweeney shouted frantically.
»Oh my God, what’s that?« Peshewa shrieked as a garishly, bright phenomenon, surrounded by flaming gas, became visible.
»A hole in space!« Strovol wailed in horror. »Don’t you see the tachyon wind? It flows into our universe and is continually increasing! The emissions cause me pain!«
»Why is the anomaly linked to the p
lanet?« asked Art Ultimus surprised, closing his blinded eyes.
»If the anomaly has existed before our arrival, then it might have interacted with the gravitational field of the planet. Perhaps, the reason also lies on the planet itself,« speculated Rak’Fler. »We may have created the hole, just then, when we were hurled out of tachyon space.«
A sharp bang let the command central crew cringe collectively, reminding them about the forces at play while trying to move the ship from the orbit.
»A structural reinforcement in the connecting module is broken!« explained Peshewa alarmed. »Tell the Hawk pilots to ease off with their thrusters!«
»Not now! Or, we’ll never make it out of here!« Sweeney countered. With a side glance at Peshewa, he whispered, »Just one more minute, okay? Just one more minute!«
Takahashi threw Ultimus a quick glance. The ship’s cell would not endure this stress for much longer.
A tear in the continuum
At first, the gravo-field generators and sub-light drives began stuttering. Sweeney didn’t wait long and used the minimum energy to further fly the cruiser away from the planet. Then the tidal drives indicated a meager energy flow, which increased significantly after a few minutes. The energy banks slowly began charging up again.
»Not much, but it’s a start!« cheered Sweeney and threw a quick, relieved glance at Takahashi. »Luckily, the Hawks still have a conventional drive and were not converted yet.«
»The Hawks maneuvered the ship out of the direct influence of the tachyon discharge zone! I congratulate you,« Ultimus exclaimed relieved.
»Let’s not celebrate too early,« Sweeney said dryly. »That was damn tight. We should check whether our beautiful ship is still intact, other than the bumps from the Hawks and that broken strut.«
»Tachyon discharge zone?« Takahashi asked and looked at Ultimus.
»Yes, I also call it a tachyon valve. I don’t know if that’s the best description for this phenomenon, but it’s kind of stuck in my head. We know of similar phenomenon reports from Klori’Tar, the Klorian. He reported that a crack in the continuum exists above his home planet, that discharges spaceship wrecks on occasion, which then rain down onto his home-world. He actually gathered a lot of this space junk to construct his Messy Unit. There’re definitely many tragedies connected to these finds. The Klorians never encountered any living beings who survived the unleashed forces and break up of their vessels. It seems that we were extremely lucky.«
Takahashi pointed at the display.
»Could Crashpoint eventually be the planet Klorian? What do we know about them anyway?« he asked.
»We don’t know much about the Klorians, unfortunately. They keep the galactic position of their home-world as the best-kept secret in the universe. Klorian could be located anywhere in the galaxy. Rumor has it that the planet might be somewhere in Scutum-Crux as our expedition team met Klori’Tar for the first time near the Crux Heart.«
»This planet is definitely not Klorian,« Sweeney claimed.
»How can you be so sure?« Peshewa queried.
»Well, we’re still alive, right?« he replied dryly. »Our ship is a bit banged up. Otherwise, she’s still in one piece.«
»You’re right, at least, most of us,« Takahashi agreed and briefly lowered his eyes. »Perhaps, it’s a similar phenomenon, albeit in a slightly different form.«
»We’ve left the immediate influence of the dimensional tear,« Strovol cheered. Apparently, he was able to assess the fatal energy field with his senses. »If we don’t fly closer to the planet, then nothing is going to happen to our ship. The integrity of our tachyon field will be re-established automatically when the interfering emissions no longer act on the projector.«
Takahashi took a breath of relief.
»Rak’Fler, keep an eye on this phenomenon. Tell me immediately when it leaves the orbit.«
»The Nebular is receding faster and faster from Crashpoint, current distance is 350,000 kilometers,« Sweeney reported.
»Do you want me to energize the plasma guns when the energy banks have reached minimal operation charge level for the weapons?« Rak’Fler inquired. »Perhaps, a well-placed shot might close that crack.«
»What a stunning logic. That’s absurd!« commented Peshewa sourly and earned a deep growl for her sarcastic remark.
»Rak’Fler’s proposal isn’t that absurd at all,« Ultimus interjected quickly. »I think that this opening is stable because it constantly drains energy in the form of tachyon wind into normal space. I envision it like the proverbial hole in a dam. Once an opening occurred, then the flowing water ensures that the hole won’t close. Maybe a shot across the opening could interrupt the flow of energy and dam it up briefly, long enough until the tear closes again.«
»The FTL drive is working again, our terra-grid computer is booting up as we speak. The sublight drive is ready again,« reported Sweeney.
»Very good,« Takahashi acknowledged and observed the tachyon valve, which, enveloped by a strange glowing gas, orbited Crashpoint like a miniature star.
»Shooting at it could make matters worse, on the other hand,« Takahashi muttered. »We don’t know enough about this phenomenon. Perhaps, it would be better to start up the FTL drive and to leave this solar system.«
»That’s quite possible,« affirmed Strovol. »I would, however, suggest leaving the inner system with the sublight drive to gain the greatest possible distance to the dimensional tear.«
»We should, however, collect the two Hawks again,« Sweeney advised with a sour grin and looked at Takahashi for a second. He cringed as he understood his glance. »Wait a minute … you don’t have any intentions of leaving this system.«
Enola Peshewa, Art Ultimus, and Rak’Fler looked surprised.
Takahashi slowly shook his head.
»You think, we should just keep flying, jot down the coordinates and take other notes? Perhaps, another ship should explore this phenomenon as we’re only on a maiden flight, right?«
Takahashi’s facial expressions seemed like a huge question mark. It looked as if he wanted his senior aides to supply the answer.
Art Ultimus smiled thinly. Tiny wrinkles formed at the corners of his mouth. He understood Takahashi’s rhetorical move.
Enola Peshewa mutedly cleared her throat.
»We should seize the opportunity to explore and better understand this phenomenon,« she suggested. »We know nothing at all about this solar system. We focused all the time on our problems. Now, as these are more or less solved, perhaps, we can gain valuable insights and provide important data for the Solar Union.«
»I don’t know about you, but the thought to just leave this tachyon something behind us makes me uncomfortable. The crew of the next ship might perhaps be less fortunate than us,« said Sweeney.
»What do you think?« Takahashi asked Art Ultimus, who was watching the phenomenon on the display holo in detail.
»I think, it’s extremely worrying that there seems to be a structural weakness between the tachyon continuum and the standard universe. The fact that we have encountered a second tachyon valve, similar to that on Klorian, is alarming. If there’re two, then there could be hundreds of these continuum vortices. We need to understand how and why they occur. I recommend using all capacities at hand to get to the bottom of this.«
Takahashi nodded approvingly.
»We’re on board a research vessel, then, at least, let’s act like researchers.«
»The Terra-Grid computer is now online,« reported Enola Peshewa. At the same time, important control elements, that had not been active in the past hours, came to life again.
»I have our position!« Sweeney shouted moments later with wide open eyes. »We’re in the Carina Nebula, about 8,200 lightyears away from the Solar System! The star to which this planet belongs is not listed on the star maps. The system is probably still unexplored.«
»8,200 lightyears is quite far from the original course,« muttered Enola Peshewa. »How’s that possible?«
»This system has a tachyon hub!« Strovol shouted surprised and hovered above a sensor field that was interfaced with the scanners. The gracefully floating, jellyfish-like being shone in all colors of the spectrum.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Ruby’s likeness appeared.
»The Taslanan has, as always, very reliable senses. Since the computer and the majority of our sensors are functional again, I can detect the characteristic energy fields which are enveloping Crashpoint. We’re dealing with a Genorantan portal according to the emissions. A direct location scan of the portal is not possible, however. The dimensional gash is still following the rotation of the planet and interferes with our scanners.«
»We’re going down! I want to take a look at the portal and the planet,« Takahashi decided and nodded at Peshewa. »Call the second shift to the command central. Mr. Sweeney and I will take the Hawk I and fly to the planet. Peshewa, Strovol, Ultimus and Rak’Fler, get ready, you’re also coming along!«
Course Crashpoint
The Hawk was vigorously shaken at the very first contact with the atmosphere. While Sweeney focused on manual control, diving through thick layers of cloud, Peshewa looked uneasily at the defunct status displays of the onboard computer.
»You can stare holes into the console, the computer won’t come online,« Sweeney hissed, earning a despising look from Peshewa. »At least not as long as we’re near this anomaly. Although the on-board computer of the Hawk is much smaller and less powerful than the Terra-Grid matrix of the Nebular, it’s based on the same principle and architecture. It was anticipated that it crashes …«
»Crashes?« Peshewa repeated while the Hawk was again shaken by strong turbulences. Her healthy complexion gave way to a pale face. »I think if the flight continues in this way, then I’ll get out!«
NEBULAR Collection 7 - Guardians of the Continuum: Episodes 31 - 34 Page 8
