Harbinger

by Stephen Christiansen

  A loud bang resonated throughout the Harbinger as the hydraulics to the bottom bay doors started up. The mechanics whined as the two large doors began to open. This procedure would have only happened if both ships were leaving at the same time, or that there was only one ship in the bay. Normally, if one ship wanted to leave on its own, it would use the bow door.

  As soon as the door opened, Vincent started the maneuvering of his craft. This was only complicated by the free floating, second ship that hadn’t been secured. The craft bounced off of Vincent’s and knocked his ship forward, making it collide with part of the bow door before it was allowed to proceed to drop through the bay door.

  The unmanned craft bounced around the docking back a couple of times in its free float until it smashed into the singularity regulator control booth.

  “Warning...Breach in warp core. Detonation imminent ”

  “Waring...Singularity regulator offline. Implosion imminent.”

  Chapter: 42

  Vincent pushed the throttle forward. He knew that once the singularity regulator went then the gravitational well would suck the Harbinger and everything on it into the size of a pinhead. This would also include everything around the newly created event horizon of the black hole. If he didn’t get out of here and fast then he would end up finding out what the inside of such a black hole would look like and not only was that detrimental to his health, it wasn’t even on his bucket list

  The landing craft’s engines whined in protest against the gravitational pull that was already being created. The ship started to shake. The controls started to fail.

  Pieces of the Harbinger were starting to break off. Loose pieces of the hull started to fly toward the aft section. The bow was starting to bend and warp inward. Bulkheads were being ripped apart and debris was sent flying momentarily before they were caught in the gravitational pull and was sent flying back toward the ship.

  “Vincent!” Eric yelled.

  Vincent gave no response. There was nothing to say. Either he got them out of the pull that was dragging them backwards or they were going to die.

  The security officer continued to push the throttle forward even though the stick wouldn’t physically go any further. The instrument panel already showed the engines reaching its critical limit as the warning bar had reached well into the red zone. Warning lights were blinking across the dashboard telling him that the system was overheating. Emergency lights were flashing all about the ship.

  Vincent ignored everything. His eyes found the controls that he needed and started to make the adjustments. Life support was shut off, interior lights were shut off, navigations were shut down and finally the artificial gravity was turned off. All unnecessary instruments were powered down.

  Eric immediately felt the cold of space start to creep into the ship. It wasn’t much, just a slight drop, but the freezing cold of space against their solid metal exterior would eventually freeze the ship. The warmth of the interior wouldn’t last more than an hour or two even if they were able to manage to pull away.

  Then Eric felt the next sensation. As the artificial gravity went, his body went into a free float. He started to grab at whatever he could, but every move he made only twisted his body in mid-air. On top of this, his space suit made everything he did more difficult. His movements were slow and his body was bulky.

  Even though Vincent felt it getting colder, he knew that his only chance was to make it to the planet below and that wouldn’t be enough time for them to freeze. With his seat harness in place, the loss of the gravity didn’t affect him. He simply continued to ignore his surroundings and even tuned out Eric’s desperate pleas.

  Instead Vincent redirected all of the conserved energy toward the maneuvering thrusters. This gave his craft a slight push forward. He suddenly turned toward the port side and then toward the starboard, slightly rocking the ship.

  Eric couldn’t help but start to bounce all over the place as the pull of the engines from one side to the other and the pull of the small, yet very powerful and building, black hole behind them tossed him about. His body bashed up against one computer system, against the hull and then into floor before heading back up to the top of the ship.

  The smaller craft groaned and strained as Vincent continued to rock the ship with every bit of energy he could muster. Back and forth and back and forth until…

  A large section of bulkhead of the Harbinger broke off from the main hull and flew toward the tiny landing craft. The massive section sailed toward the small held ship, not with speed, but with mass. The collision would be catastrophic to anything it struck and the ship would not only be ripped apart but its trajectory would be knocked back. The craft would be…

  The bulkhead was suddenly caught by the gravitational pull of the growing singularity. Its trajectory was pulled back and as it came back toward the aft of the Harbinger, it crossed the back section of the landing craft and cut between the ship’s thrusters and the path of the singularity.

  It was all that was needed for the ship. The sudden break in the gravitational pull that was blocked by the bulkhead and the mass that was needed for the engines to push off of was all the difference that was needed. The ship broke free from the tether of the singularity and was shot forward under the power of its full engines.

  The Harbinger took the last bit of stress that it could handle before it finally succumbed to the gravitational pull of the singularity that it had been carrying. Its bulkheads buckled and started to fold in upon themselves as if they were paper. Metal twisted and bent. Windows shattered and let in the vacuum of space. The Harbinger shifted again before falling into a ball of twisted and gnarled metal. Again and again the remains of what was left of the Harbinger continued to fall upon itself until its parts were shattered into a million shards of flying debris to be sucked into the very small, yet increasing mass of the black hole.

  As the landing craft raced at full speed, its hull started to shake under the strain that had been put on it. Yet despite the fact that his world was about to break apart, Vincent continued to move his hands across the control board. With one hand on the steering control, he tried to gain navigations back.

  Several electrical explosions blasted across the control panel. Systems started to go down from being overloaded. Radar, sonar, and the 3D imaging systems all went out. Landing gear was fried. Environmental controls were gone. All that Vincent had left was very limited control over the thrusters, and even then that was touch and go.

  “Come on! Come on! Hold together. Just a little while longer you piece of junk, just a little while longer.”

  Vincent spoke to the craft as if the ship could actually hear him, and continued to speak to it as if it had the ability to actually hold itself together by sheer will. All he had to do was guide it to the planet below, fly through the atmosphere and land this bucket of bolts while flying blind.

  He banked hard and started his descent. The gravity of the planet hit hard and, with the new acceleration, Vincent was pushed hard into his seat. He was glad that he was strapped in since any movement that he would make would throw him toward the back of the ship and join Eric bouncing around all over the place.

  Vincent’s nose started to bleed from the building pressure. His eyes started to blur. Consciousness started to fade, yet he wasn’t going to give in. The only way he was going to survive was if he stayed awake and made the landing. He could pass out later.

  “Hold it together soldier.”

  The voice came from his past as Vincent remembered his drill sergeant coming in over the loudspeaker.

  The G-force simulator continued to spin around and around pushing Vincent into his chair until he felt that he would actually meld into it. His body shook and he didn’t know how much more he could take.

  “This is what a forced entry into a planet’s atmosphere feels like,” the sergeant continued. “You may never have the misfortune to have to experience this, but if you do, you’ll need to know how to survive it. Now, go th
rough the landing procedures.”

  Vincent nodded at the command from the past. He needed to keep it together long enough to land.

  What seemed like fire flared across his windshield. Superheated atmospheric molecules danced all around the ship. Vision was reduced to nil and the heat inside of the ship started to increase. Without the life support systems online Vincent knew that there was now a threat of being roasted alive, and even though he had his space suit on, it would only protect him for so long and without his helmet being on, his face would be fully exposed.

  Parts of the heat shielding layers, which now looked like scales from some reptile, started to fly off the ship. The hull echoed with each strike until one smashed against the ship’s windshield.

  The windshield fractured with a small divot. The glass had been specially tempered to withstand the superheated temperatures on an entry into an atmosphere; however it was now being stressed beyond its ability to handle. A loud snap followed as the small puncture splintered into a spider web shape. A second snap and two large splitting cracks shot across the glass.

  Eric had stopped bouncing around and he was almost glad for that, almost. He had felt a rib or two crack and he was sure that he had dislocated his shoulder. However, now he had bigger problems.

  With the entry into the planet’s gravitational pull, Eric was yanked to the floor with thud. The blow took his breath away and added to the already growing pain on his ribs. The sudden downward descent shoved his body backwards, up against one of the bulkheads and he could feel the pressure start to build.

  On top of this, the heat was building up inside the ship. Oxygen was starting to be depleted. The air was hot and thin and breathing was becoming difficult. Sweat was pouring off of his body and stinging his eyes.

  The initial clouds parted as Vincent dropped below the cloud line. The scene before him was what he had hoped it wouldn’t be. Without the radar, he could only have hoped for a clear landing trajectory. He was wrong.

  The mountains from this side of the planet rose before him like some towers of stone reaching for the heavens. Crags and shards of hard rock came at him at odd angles.

  Vincent banked right, then left, trying to avoid the quickly approaching columns of death. An impact with one of those at this speed would only leave a scorch mark where the ship had been with no other evidence that it had ever been there.

  The ship continued to shake as it descended with the speed and momentum that it had accumulated. Maneuvering was difficult at best. Another near miss sent the ship vertical. Another set of crags rose before them and Vincent made another attempt to bank hard.

  It was too late. The bottom of the craft clipped the massive column and sent the ship into a spin.

  Vincent continued to fight with the controls as they started to plummet at the wrong angle. Sparks flew across his board as the maneuvering thrusters finally gave way. Smoke streamed from several places off of the ship. Vincent gave one final pull on the steering and finally brought the nose of the ship back up, but it was too late. They were going down.

  The crags of rock and stone gave way to vegetation. Large trees dominated the scene, as far as he could see. There was nothing he could do but try not to make the landing too rough.

  At first the craft skimmed the top of the trees, breaking and snapping the limbs and tops, sending debris of wood and foliage flying to the ground. As the ship descended, its mass started to slam into thicker portions of trees. Another engine died. Glass shattered as the windshield took all that it could take. Air rushed in and blew branches all inside.

  Finally the ship’s momentum slowed enough that once it hit the thicker portions of trees the craft’s flight pattern was completely disrupted. The ship tumbled end over end as it continued to drop and smash through the plants all around it.

  The ship hit the ground hard. A portion of its starboard wing had broken off. Both rudders were gone.

  A loud snap echoed throughout the already disturbed forest as the tree that had finally stopped the ship cracked and broke. Its massive form fell with a thundering crash and smashed into the craft, sheering off another wing.

  Silence came over the area like a heavy blanket.

  Chapter: 43

  “Vincent? Vincent?”

  Eric’s body hurt all over. He was sure that he was bruised from head to toe and in some spots that he didn’t know could be bruised. On top of that, it was hard to breathe. His suspicions about fracturing a couple of his ribs were more likely a reality and he would have to see what he could do about it later. With this, his left shoulder was definitely out of socket and hurt like hell. Yet he pushed through all of this to get to Vincent.

  He also pushed through the fact that Vincent might be a murderer, might be a smuggler, and might be a saboteur. Vincent had already shown that he was willing to let everyone implode within a black hole and was willing to abandon everyone to an empty, cold, and dying ship. He was hyper-aggressive, rude, and difficult to get along with. But, Eric knew that if he wanted to survive, he would need Vincent’s help and hopefully he would be able to convince Vincent of this as well.

  Eric had no idea how long he had been out, but he was sure that plenty of time had passed. When they came crashing through the mountains and then the forest, it was day time. Now it was night. This was still no indication of how much time had passed. They could have been heading away from a setting sun and it could have gotten dark very quickly. This planet could be spinning faster than Earth so its day could be shorter, or the reverse could be true and it could be longer. For all he knew, those last rays of sunlight he saw before he blacked out could be the last rays for a long, long time.

  Currently it was dark outside, yet there was some form of light that lit up the sky in a soft form of illumination, similar to the moon on Earth. However, with the huge trees of the forest all around them, the light was filtered. Large patches of shadow covered the area and what little light that did reach them wasn’t strong enough to light up the area and show details.

  To add to this limited illumination was the red emergency lights that had lit up and had created an eerie glow about the interior of the ship, but it was enough to see by. No other lights were on, not even the lights from the pilot's control panel. This meant that power was out all over the landing craft. Only the emergency power was on and that would soon be depleted.

  Lack of power would be a huge detriment. The hydraulics to the back door wouldn’t work so the rovers wouldn’t be able to be accessed. The rovers would have to remain with the ship, and that was if there was anything left of them. By the way that they had bounced about, Eric doubted that these rovers were functional. The best he could hope for was to salvage some of their supplies.

  Lack of power also meant lack of heating, and if the atmosphere changed at all, it would also mean lack of oxygen. With power, these ships could produce oxygen by extracting what they needed from the air around them and they could maintain heat. Not anymore.

  Communications was also out of the question. There would be no calling for help. These crafts had a limited range on their communication systems but could reach a passing ship if it were close to the planet. So, even if he could get the power on, at least for the communication systems, then it would only be by sheer luck that he could reach anyone.

  No power also meant that the radar was gone. He wouldn’t be able to figure out the terrain or check to see if anything was coming his way. With this, and the lack of lights, he was practically blind. He would have to conserve every bit of energy that he could find.

  He would also have to salvage every bit of survival gear, supplies, and everything else he could think of. After that he would have to decide if it was safer to stay here or try to strike out and find a better source of food, water, shelter, and try to make nice to any civilization that might be in the area.

  A risk or not, an individual that he could trust or not Eric still needed Vincent. They could increase their chances of survival. That was if Vincent …


  Eric let out a gasp. The massive tree limb had come through the windshield and had impaled Vincent through his body and through the seat. Blood had splattered everywhere and lay thick upon the floor around the pilot’s chair. The security guard’s form was slumped forward and was motionless. There was no doubt about the scene that was before him, Vincent was dead.

  Chapter: 44

  Eric knelt outside the landing craft and vomited once again. The stress, the violent ride through the atmosphere and the grotesque way that Vincent had died had finally gotten to him. What was left of his last meal had now emptied out of his stomach.

  *This thought resonated in his mind as he slowly recovered. Eric didn’t remember the last time he ate and now his stomach was angry at him. His body was sluggish and it was hard to think. He knew that he had to start thinking about survival, but he wasn’t going anywhere without food in his system.