“Thank you!” The voice responded. “We will be ready to evacuate as soon as you arrive.”
“May fate favour the merciful.” Basta responded as the communication ended. “Let's get to work.”
A few moments later the Endeavour slowed to make its careful approach and incursion into the asteroid field. As anticipated massive building, sized asteroids floated precariously around, threatening to crush smaller vessels into scrap. Nari powered up the protective countermeasures and headed slowly into the debris. She piloted the best course through the field, allowing the ship to repel smaller debris while moving around larger ones. It was slow going but with the piloting skill Nari had at her disposal and with the help of the crew it was easy enough to do it safely. Soon the ship moved towards the co-ordinates of the crippled vessel and found the small ship floating in space. Henry pulled it up on the view screen and was surprised to see it dark as well as adrift.
“Henry are you picking up anything from the ship?” Nari asked. “It looks dead in the water to me with no power.”
“I am getting no signals from the ship.” Henry replied. “No power, no life signs, nothing.”
“Can it be part of the Asteroid field?” Basta asked. “Could we just not be able to get any signal?”
“The signals are getting interference but we should be getting something.” Henry explained. “There seems to be legitimately no power coming from the vessel at all.”
“Are we too late?” Nari asked. “Did their systems fail?”
“Do a hull temperature reading.” Basta ordered. “Even if their power has gone out the air inside should still be running close to internal ambient.”
“It's cold.” Henry replied. “As cold as the rocks.”
“We are about to be attacked!” Nari said urgently. “This is a decoy vessel and the signal must have come from another ship.”
“Bring us about!” Basta stated urgently. “Get us out of here!”
As Nari manipulated the controls and the ship began to turn, two vessels emerged from deep in the debris field and began to close in on the ship.
“Two unidentified craft.” Henry replied. “They are moving into position to board us.”
“Evasive action!” Basta commanded, opening up the weapon controls on his panel and bringing them to bear. “We haven’t tested them but this ship does have some weapons. I will buy us as much time as we can, continue the retreat.”
Henry tried to compartmentalize what he had to do. He knew that Nari and the others were capable as well as the other crew. However, the large ship was at a disadvantage in the debris field as it needed space to fight and manoeuvre to fight at full capacity. This was literally the best trap the pirates could have set and their smaller vessels were on the ship immediately. Henry could feel the weapons in the ship powering up and firing but the small pirate vessels were well practised in the space terrain. As shots were fired only small asteroids or pieces of debris were hit, greater adding to the chaos.
“I can't pinpoint the shots.” Basta replied. “The targeting computers aren't shooting straight!”
“It is a side effect of the field.” Henry confirmed. “Unless we calibrate to it we can’t get a clear shot!”
The ship was rocked from some kind of energy weapon hitting a nearby piece of space debris, causing the bridge to shake and warning lights to come to life one after another.
“Minor damage.” Henry reported. “But if we take a direct hit we are done for!”
“They can hit us!” Basta responded. “How can they fire so accurately in here?”
“They had time to compensate their equipment.” Henry offered. “They probably have this all figured out.”
“We aren’t going to beat them with weapons.” Basta suggested. “We have to get out of here. In the open we are faster we just got to get clear.”
Another explosion shook the ship, a second energy blast slamming a nearby floating asteroid.
“Nari this is on you.” Basta said as he turned to the young woman on Con. “I know you can get us through safely but you now need to do so fast.”
“Normally I would say it wasn’t possible.” Nari responded. “But death by collision seems to sound better then death by energy beam.”
“Nari?” Henry said as he turned around. “If we can get to the outer field we can punch it to full speed, we will lose them for sure. There is a gravitational field we can piggyback. The drive is built for this and we can be ten million miles from here in moments if we can get clear.”
“Our lives are in your hands Nari.” Basta responded. “I believe in you.”
Nari nodded, taking the controls and lurching the ship to motion, she fired thrusters which made the ship move faster than any sane pilot would try in such a circumstance. Pieces of debris bounced off of the shielding and threatened to knock it out. The pursuing pirates stopped firing, focusing more on following at the unsafe speed. One of them clipped a nearby asteroid, the damage causing it to bank off and come to a stop. The other ship proved less willing to give up, following closely. It was gaining, matching the ship turn for turn. Henry did not have to ask to know they were lining up a shot. However, as he looked at the screen, he saw the ship lurch again, revealing something simple but in this case miraculous…open space. The ship shot out of the ship field and kicked in it’s engines. The pirate ship was forced to stand down, returning to the debris to wait for it’s next victim.
“Well done Nari!” Basta replied. “That was an amazing feat of flying.”
“Well we aren’t dead.” Nari offered. “So, I will look at that as a victory.”
“Damage report.” Basta commanded. “Are we alright?”
“All minor.” Henry replied. “Nothing that we can’t fix as long as we take it slow for a bit.”
Basta smiled. “Sounds good to me…once we are sure we are not being pursued by the pirates, we will slow down and do repairs…after that we continue on with our mission.”
-
Four
Henry was not immune to this feeling of nothing. Even with his boldness and passion he could feel the oppressive power of the darkness around him and even his hope seemed to be starting to tarnish. He had begun to wonder if there actually was anything out there when he got called to the bridge. He hastily went up, deciding something, anything to do to break up the nothing. It had been a year since the bandit attack and though the ship was repaired and restocked a few times were still issues in the area they had not taken into account. They were out in the outer reaches of earths solar system, an area known as the Kaiber belt and things were not like anticipated. Many of the controls were having issues, distorted by the strong magnetic forces of the area. He thought back to the last time he had talked to Winter, he had promised to go to mars to see her but it fell to the wayside. The attempted assault on the Endeavour had not been the only one, there was a growing sense of chaos in the outer sectors, it was like the wild west where action talked and law had little meaning.
“Do we have anything?” Henry asked as he walked onto the bridge. “Any sign of…well anything.”
“We got something strange.” Basta replied. “We are detecting signals.”
“Well even this far from earth our wave transmitters should still be in contact with earth?” Henry asked. “What is the issue with that?”
“It’s coming from out here, in the kaiber belt.” Basta replied. “The signal is too strong to be from a ship, there is something big out here.”
“Like a space station.” Nari stated. “It sounds ludicrous but that seems to be consistent with what I am seeing. What would something be doing out here…how could it be built. The cost and resources involved would be amazing”
“We are getting a signal.” Henry said looking to his controls. “They are asking to speak to the captain.”
“Route it to speakers.” Basta replied.
Henry nodded as the speakers picked up, the voice of a jovial man piping up. “Welcome to freedom one. We
are a collection of freelancers who refuse to be part of any of the so called allied space agencies
“Pirates then.” Basta replied. “We want no part of whatever you are doing out here.”
“You would so easily judge and apply labels?” The pirate replied. “Our sensors seem to be telling us you are big, likely UESA. You may not be able to scan us out here but I can tell you we are hiding some assets that you could not imagine. You comply with us or we will shred your ship into scrap.”
“He telling the truth?” Basta said softly as he turned to Henry. “I would be inclined to get the hell out of here but if he can back that up I don’t want to test him.”
“Like the asteroid field before we are getting weird readings here.” Henry replied. “I can get signals from a large station ahead but other than that there’s like…ghosts in the scans.”
“I can confirm that.” Nari replied. “We are within visual range of something on one of those large asteroids but I cannot see anything else.”
Henry went over the controls, the scanning technology, like everything else was still being tested to it’s limitations. As much as he had made it able to sense things and not let anything buy, it seemed the pirates had done the same to elude it. He soon found something in the scans, an energy reading, bigger than the station, bigger than he had seen before. “They have something…It is hot and powered up. Even if it is not a gun it would seem to be dangerous.”
“I am imagining you are searching for our weapon and weighing your options.” The pirate responded over the com. “We are sending vessels to your position, you so much as power up your engines and we will fire upon you.”
“We seem to have no other choice but to agree.” Basta replied. “We will stay still.”
The com went silent and everyone saw the readings of the shops lighting up from ahead and slowly making their way toward the ship.
“Henry...” Basta said as he stood. “I think we should talk.”
Henry looked confused, but given the circumstances he realised that he would likely be best not to waste time and comply. The pair walked down to the engine room, soon standing before Henry’s experimental space folding engine.
“You can’t be serious.” Henry said in shock. “This is untested, we have no way of knowing if it is survivable and we cannot be sure it will take us where we want to go.”
Basta did not look back, his gaze locked on the machine. “Henry, we have weapons but they are not as good as the pirates. While we have been making better engines and scientific advancements they have been building guns. If we try to run they will destroy us, we fight them they destroy us. I think we risk destruction one way or another, we might as well take the chance that offers the best odds.”
“I suppose that does make a lot of sense.” Henry admitted. “They have been putting a lot of resources into this place and at the very least we need to leave and warn people.”
“Do you need anything?” Basta added. “To like turn it on or prepare it?”
“No.” Henry admitted. “It is already on and linked to the ships systems. I can activate it by my console on the bridge.”
“Let us do it then.” Basta said, leading Henry back up to the bridge. Both men took their stations as Basta picked up a mic and slowly put it to his mouth. “All hands this is the Captain. As many of you know we have stumbled upon the pirate’s hideout. They have trained weapons upon us and are sending over boarding craft. Our odds of fighting them off or escaping are not good and I don’t need to tell you the fate of those found on ships taken over by pirates so far from earth or the Mars colony. As many of you know we have an experimental space fold engine that was developed by the same man who helped design this ship. It is my intention to activate it and fold away from here. I will not lie, this is untested technology and we have no way to guarantee success or our survival. However, the machine is much better than the fate that awaits us from the pirates. This is the new age of mankind, the age of space and exploration. For the first time since the mapping of the great seas of earth, humanity does not know what rests beyond the next corner. We, as the crew of the first vessel to explore deep space now face the next challenge. So, I am deciding to trust in destiny and the technology that has brought us thus far. All hands, brace for the fold and may our luck hold out just a little bit longer.”
No one said anything, everyone getting to work to do what needed to be done. Henry knew the machine, he knew that if there was a failure it would not be on his calculations or his handiwork. It was the last big step for the work he and Winter had done and this was the time to see if that step was ready to be taken. He activated the drive, not sure how to set it but planning to move somewhere in the direction they had come. There was a lot of space that way and it was unlikely that they would fold in a place where there was already mass or a planet. He did not know what would happen if for example the folded space was with the sun. Would it break space and time? There really was no way yet to know.
The pirate ships were closing in, within seconds they would be too close and within the area of the fold. It was do or die as Henry finished setting the sequence and hit the button. His last thought before it engaged was if it worked, if the Endeavour did disappear, the pirates were going to be utterly flabbergasted n what they saw.
There was a flash, all of the reality seeming to freeze as if it were holding their breath. Henry could not think, could not move, frozen but somehow aware of it. As fast as the freeze happened it was gone, things becoming normal again. Most of the screens were no blank, much of the power seeming to be off as well.
“Did it work?” Basta said as he looked around. “Did we make the jump?”
“Controls are dead.” Nari said as she looked around. “Though I would imagine if we did not jump we’d be hearing vessels locking to our docking hatches.
“We seem to still have artificial gravity and life support.” Basta commented. “Henry are we dead in the water?”
Henry was already at work, opening panels and checking the systems. “The electromagnetic spike was higher than the ship was ready for…call it an unforeseen issue. I should be able to reset them.”
“Sensors first.” Basta commanded. “We need to know if we are still where we were and if the pirates are still out there…everything else is secondary to that. We can worry about where we are after we are out of immediate danger.”
Henry worked away, other members of the engineering team working with him as they started restoring systems. The electromagnetic wave drive was still online and that meant that the other systems were easy enough to restore. Within moments he got his console back online and scanned the area. “No sign of pirates, stations, or the asteroids.”
“Well that us one thing less to worry about.” Basta commented. “What are you picking up? Any navigational beacons?”
“I am not getting any signals.” Henry admitted. “But it might simply be because of the long-range wave scanners not yet being online yet.”
“My station is back on line.” Nari commented. “I can’t see anything yet but I am getting gravitational readings.”
“Gravitational readings?” Basta asked. “What does that mean?”
“Well in space there’s nothing…free space that doesn’t affect the ship or it’s movement.” Nari explained. “It is like a leaf floating on a still pond. However, closer to the shore there are things that can affect the surface. It is very light but something is pulling the ship in a direction.”
“Can you compensate for it?” Basta asked.
“We are moving very slow.” Nari explained. “Like we are moving maybe two miles an hour…it will be at least twenty minutes before we are significantly moving in a direction.”
“I should have engines back on line long before that.” Henry replied. “Systems are coming back online…I should also have the view screen sensors working momentarily.”
“What kind of thing would pull us?” Basta asked. “Do you think we are in any immediate dange
r?”
“I think it is a planetary mass.” Nari guessed. “Nothing large like Jupiter, something smaller.”
“Like mars or earth?” Basta asked. “Could we be in orbit of one of our homes?”
“Well it is entirely possible.” Henry replied. “I did tell it to go in the direction of earth when I set the fold co-ordinates. However, I did try very had not to set it close to earth. If we are close to earth orbit then it was not intentional.”
“Well it sounds like it is a success to me!” Basta commented proudly. “We are the first living beings in the known universe so circumvent the speed of light. I think we should take a moment to realise how monumental this is.”
Henry could almost not believe it, it seemed like it was only a short time ago that he was just a wayward teen, lost in a world he thought had no place for him. However not only had he proven his worth he had helped save millions of lives, taken mankind to the stars and helped a crew move from one place to another in the galaxy faster than any travel ever witnessed by humankind. The size of the accomplishment was massive and it almost hurt his brain to try and quantify it. Henry realised he should say something, if this was history people would want to know what he said in this time. “I am just glad…it worked.”
“Well said.” Basta commented. “We have much work to do but we should take the time…when we have time to document this. I am sure the people of earth…or mars will want to know why we have very suddenly arrived.”
“Yeah.” Henry commented as he went over his controls again. “Though things seem to be working I still have no connection to the signal from earth or mars.”
“View screen seems to be booting back up.” Nari commented. “We will have our answers soon enough.”
“Good.” Henry said. “Because the readings I am getting make no sense.”
“Ummmm…Captain…Henry?” Nari asked. “You might want to take a look at this.”
“Hang on.” Henry commented as he rebooted the scanning systems again. “I think I might be able to get it back.”
“No Henry you need to see this now.” Basta added, his voice growing cold. “Because I think we might be a bit off on where we are.”
Waves: The Collapsing Universe Page 3
