Sunspots and Forever Dark Omnibus

by Gary Martin

  When I got back from my last trip to the Sun, things were different. Ez had convinced me to hand in my notice, due to her bonus and promotion, and I did. The boss was not happy, and offered me loads more money to stay, which was very tempting. But I explained to him that the shifts were destroying my personal life, and money wouldn't change that. He seemed okay about it, but said he'd keep the position open for me as long as he could. I suspected he knew he couldn't get anyone else and hoped I'd have a change of heart. Things were actually looking good for a change. It didn't take long though, for everything to completely fuck itself up.

  12

  There’s a knock at my door.

  “Go away,” I shout. I’m not interested in talking to anyone. I’m quite happy being alone and miserable.

  The door opens anyway, and it’s Kerry.

  “Have you calmed down yet, Mister fucking fisticuffs?” she says with a grin.

  “Yeah, pretty much. I’ve just been day-dreaming for the last hour or so. I honestly don't know what came over me, he's been trying to get under my skin ever since I started here. I think he may have just pushed me too far this time. What's happened anyway? Did you have your stupid trial?” I ask.

  “No, and it wasn't my stupid trial. Robert is sedated in the sickbay. I think you may have broken a rib or two, you feisty fucker. Getting him up the ladder was a pain in the fucking arse. Have you ever tried to get a twenty stone blabbering fat man with broken ribs up a ladder? Jesus. After we managed that, I politely asked Tim to stay in his quarters until we reach the hangar bay. He seemed fine with it, and he just went. Odd bod, that one. Best leave him be until we've sorted this out I think,” she says.

  “Do you still think he's responsible for our dilemma?”

  “I don't know. Fuck, neither do you, John. In about three hours we'll find out, and one of us'll look like a prick. There was something else though. When we finally managed to get Robert up the ladder and in the sickbay, and got Tim in his quarters, Mark and I decided to look at your instruction manual, you know, to see if we could get an idea about how to join up with the hangar bay.”

  “Fair enough, it's the only way to be sure,” I say.

  “Here's the thing though, the entire section has been ripped out. We had a hunt around your office, in your desk draws and in the cabinet. Couldn't find the fucker anywhere.”

  “Oh … that's pretty weird. Did it look like it'd been ripped out recently?” I ask, confused.

  “How the fuck would I know? There’s no way you can tell how long ago pages were ripped out of a book by just looking at them.”

  “Fair point, but that's really not good. How are we going to link up with the hangar bay?” I ask.

  “When we get close, we'll slow the hell down and hopefully some system will kick in and do it automatically. But the ship's so old that I doubt it’s got anything like that. We're going to have to spend the time we have left looking for some sort of docking clamp control that no one has ever seen or noticed before, I guess.”

  “We're a little bit fucked, aren't we?”

  “That's an understatement, John. We are completely fucked.”

  “I'll go and look in the cargo bay. As that's got the only airlock to the hangar, it'd probably make sense that the controls to couple the hangar are in there somewhere.”

  She looks at me and smiles.

  “Look properly this time.”

  I smile back.

  “Fuck you,” I say.

  Kerry turns and leaves my quarters, and I follow her. She heads up to the bridge, and I climb down to the rec deck, walking through it towards the cargo bay.

  Tim had spent time in here trying to figure out what had happened but didn't have any luck, and I doubted I would either. Although, if he was responsible for the situation, then he probably had enough time in here alone to cover his tracks. I walk up to the control panel next to the airlock, but slip on something before I get there. I find myself lying on my back on the floor again. The back of my head was still hurting from before, and now it fucking kills. It's pounding in time with my heartbeat. I sit up and look around for what it was I'd slipped on. It's a small patch of translucent slime, now smeared across the deck and on the bottom of my boot. I pull my finger through it, but there’s not enough of it to give me a clear idea what it is. It’s possibly the same as the stuff I slipped on in the inspection tube earlier. Strange, it has a similar texture to KY jelly, but not quite, it's more … slimy, I guess. What is it then? I don’t have time to consider it now, so I wipe it on my trousers again and stand up. Without thinking, I grab the DANGER: WET FLOOR sign that is propped up against the wall next to escape pod 1, and put it over the area where the slime is.

  I then walk back to the control panel. I type in my password and it shouts at me again. I look around the door to see if there is anything else control-like, and follow the wall down towards the outer doors for the escape pods. Nothing but pipes, piles of spare parts and bad lighting. This is useless, there isn't anything in here. I start back for the hangar bay airlock, when I look down and notice a small square area that's a slightly darker blue than the rest of the floor. It has four small ragged holes around the edge, and a larger hole in the middle, which has some cut wires protruding from it. Something has been removed. I kneel down to get a closer look, to see if I can work out if it's been removed recently or not. Not that I'd be able to tell, but I notice it has the same slime as the stuff I slipped on next to the airlock and inspection tube all around it.

  I’m suddenly worried. Is there something on board with us? I think about telling the rest of the crew, and then decide not to. I'd be laughed off the ship. After what’s already happened so far today, it just isn’t worth it. I think I may be jumping to some massive conclusions here anyway. But what happens if I don't tell them, and we all get killed by some sort of giant slime-dripping alien monster? I guess it wouldn't really matter because we'd all be dead. But at the same time, we'd be hailed as the first humans to discover and come face to face with extra-terrestrial life. That unfortunately went on to eat us. There's nowhere for something like that to hide on this part of the ship anyway, it's been searched level by level (badly) and I'm sure it would have been spotted by now. Unless it's a shape shifter … Time to stop this stupid train of thought and get to the bridge to tell Kerry that I haven't found anything except wires protruding from the deck where something, possibly the hangar release control, used to be. I may omit the slime part.

  I head back out to the rec deck and climb up to the bridge. On the way there I decide to get off the ladder onto the habitation deck and look in on Robert. I'm not sure why, I don't really want to say sorry to him, but I do feel crappy about literally kicking him when he was down.

  I get to the door, which is slightly ajar, and slowly push it open. It creaks on its hinges and I'm in. He's sitting up and watching something on the small old holobox on the wall. He notices me and flinches. He pulls the sheets up slightly. He actually looks terrified.

  Guilt suddenly kicks in, and I automatically apologise.

  “I'm really sorry, the um … stress of the situation?”

  “Yeah … that's fine … we're all … um …” he manages and trails off. He looks a little afraid, or maybe just a bit dopey from the sedative. He's breathing heavier and faster than usual and I'm pretty sure he just wants me to go, so I do.

  “If there's anything I can do …” I say.

  “Okay … fine …” He replies and quickly looks back at the box.

  I walk out. That made me feel a little bit better.

  I close the door behind me and decide to look in on Tim, maybe explain to him why he's been asked to stay in his quarters. He might be able to give me some perspective. I walk down the corridor and knock on his door three times. He opens it slightly and puts his head through the gap.

  “Yes?” he says, wide-eyed.

  “I thought we could talk, maybe have a hot or cold beverage?”

  “Why would you want that? Jud
as,” he says.

  “What? No. What?” I’m confused. “I wanted to talk to you about …”

  “About why I've been confined to quarters? I already know that. Kerry said you thought I was probably the saboteur – which I'm not, by the way – and that it was a good idea to stay out of your way until we reach the hangar bay and work out what's happening. I'd imagine that should be in less than an hour now.”

  Cheeky bitch.

  “I don't think that, I never thought that. I was the only one who's had your back this whole time. But I suppose it probably makes sense for you to stay here, under the circumstances.”

  “Yeah, you guess. And I liked you.” With that he moves his head back in and slams the door in my face.

  That did not give me any perspective.

  13

  I walk back through the corridor and over to the ladder, grab the rail and head up to the bridge. Once through the hatch, I quietly get up on to the deck. I stand behind Kerry and Mark for about twenty seconds before anyone notices me. Mark looks around.

  “Oh, hi John. I didn't see you there.”

  “Hello,” I say back. Kerry turns around on her chair.

  “Did you find anything in the cargo bay?” she asks.

  “No, it looks like there may have been some sort of control once, but it's been ripped out and only some wires are showing. By the way, I just spoke to Tim.”

  Kerry visibly tenses up and looks a bit sheepish.

  “Didn't I say leave him be?”

  Suddenly the proximity alarm starts blaring out, and the bridge’s lights turn red. Kerry looks at me with an apologetic smile, and turns back to her console. I look out of the viewport and the hanger bay is pretty damn close now, and getting closer at quite a speed.

  “Mark!” I shout through the blaring alarm, “I thought you said six hours? This hasn't even been five.”

  “That's what the computer said. We must actually be going faster than what we're rated at,” he shouts back.

  Kerry turns to him.

  “Or the hangar is going a lot slower than you estimated. Either way, we have about ten minutes.”

  I put my hands on the back of Kerry's chair.

  “When are you going to fire the retro thrusters?” I ask.

  “When I'm good and fucking ready. Who's flying this thing? It's not you, is it? It's me,” she shouts.

  I move my hands.

  “Fair point, can you at least turn the alarm off then?”

  The alarm turns off abruptly, and I end up shouting the last few words.

  Kerry chuckles to herself, and turns back to me.

  “Now, Mister Captain sir, I shall fire the retro thrusters, and we shall slow down at your pleasure, if that pleases you. Then we’ll prepare for fuck knows what.”

  “Thank you, ma'am,” I say.

  She smiles and turns back around. She presses a few buttons on her console, waits a few seconds, then she tries the same sequence again, waits a few more seconds, and then retries it.

  “What the fuck?” she mutters to herself.

  I lean over her shoulder.

  “Anything wrong?” I ask.

  She continues trying the same sequence of buttons, and after nothing seems to happen a seventh time she bangs both of her fists on the console in frustration.

  “Fuck, John, the retro thrusters ain't firing, and we're too close to avoid a collision. We're going to hit the hangar at full speed in less than ten minutes.”

  Mark stands up, looking like he's going to freak out again.

  “Sit down Mark, it'll be fine,” I lie to him. He sits slowly, but I know what he's thinking. The escape pods are only two decks below us.

  “Kerry, what would happen if we shut the engine off? With that piece of metal Robert found? Would that help?”

  “No John, I've shut it down already. Without the retro thrusters the inertia will carry us forward at the same speed indefinitely. And we’re going pretty fucking fast,” she says.

  “Shit, we've got to think quickly. Um, where are the thrusters’ main controls, or how do we get to them?” I'm really not good at thinking on my feet.

  “The retro thruster junction box is at the far end of the top inspection tube, where you were earlier. The fuel pipes to the thrusters themselves are underneath the box, and made of rubber, and stupidly thin, so it's possible for them to get easily blocked. It's a really, really dumb design, made worse by the amount of times it's bodged back together.”

  Oh bollocks. Can this be my fault? I'd forgotten all about dropping the spanner and it wedging itself between the fuel tank and what I thought were random tubes. No one told me to be careful of anything except for being electrocuted. It would have to be a really dumb design if a small spanner wedged against them could stop the retro thrusters firing.

  “Um … it's possible that I may have dropped a spanner in the gap underneath the box earlier. Could that have blocked the pipes?” I ask.

  “You fucking idiot. That'd definitely do it, what did I just say? It's bad design. Why didn't you say anything about this earlier? And how did you … oh never mind,” she says, waving her hands in the air.

  “I was trying to undo a bolt, Robert was being a prick, and the engines suddenly turned back on. In shock I dropped it. I thought I was going to get electrocuted,” I say.

  “Well then, in that case, you have about nine minutes to get the spanner out of there, or we're all going to die.” She turns to Mark. “Get to the escape pods, and prep them for launch.”

  I turn towards the hatch, ready to get my ass to the engine room as fast as possible, when Tim pops his head up looking panicked.

  “I noticed through the viewport in my quarters that we're not slowing down. Why haven't you fired the retro thrusters? Are we going to hit the hangar?” he says.

  “Yes, I dropped something onto the thruster fuel pipes and now they're not working, I've got to get down there now!”

  “I can do that. I've flicked through the manual and seen inspection tubes, and know where the retro thruster junction box is, and I'm nimbler on my feet than you.”

  “Okay, good. Fucking go, then!” I shout.

  He slides down the ladder and I follow him. I look back at Kerry.

  “You get to the escape pods too, and leave the thrusters’ controls turned on so they fire as soon as the tube is unblocked.”

  She nods, grabs Mark, and they follow me down the ladder. I get into the engine room and Tim's already getting into the top tube. I shout after him.

  “If you're not at the junction box in three minutes, turn back or you'll be crushed. The top tube will be directly underneath the hangar deck when it hits!”

  I climb up to the top tube and look in. He's making really good time; he looks like he's almost halfway down the tube already. He shouts back at me:

  “Close the hatches, just in case. You wouldn't want to be sucked into space if this doesn't work.”

  I don't argue, and shut all three hatches, but don't lock them. I don't want to trap him in there if I can help it. Selfishly, I decide to leave the engine room and climb back to the bridge and maybe watch the carnage from the highest vantage point. I reason that if he succeeds, all will be well and I won’t be needed, but if he fails I don’t want to be in the line of fire. The bridge is probably the safest place on board. We're heading towards the hangar bay from underneath; it should hit its housing first, which the inspection tubes run along the top of. All of that's on the engine room level, at the bottom of the ship. Best case scenario if Tim fails: it may shear off the housing, taking the fuel tanks and some of the engine room with it, leaving us heading towards the Sun with no fuel or power to stop ourselves. All other scenarios pretty much mean we die instantly. If we're going to die, at least I went down with the ship. As a Captain goes down with his ship. As a shift manager goes down with his ship … Actually, fuck that. If I'm not the Captain, then I mean to live.

  I get off the ladder at the rec deck and run towards the escape pods in
the cargo bay, hoping they haven't been launched already, and find Kerry and Mark walking back in from the cargo bay.

  She looks at me and shrugs her shoulders.

  “Guess what?”

  I look at her blankly.

  “Neither of the fucking escape pods have had their oxygen tanks replenished.”

  I wonder briefly if it was my job to check that.

  Suddenly, a countdown starts over the intercom.

  “Collision in sixty seconds.” It states in a calm female voice.

  “I think we should head to the bridge, it’s probably the safest place on the ship if Tim fails,” I say to them both.

  “Collision in fifty seconds.”

  We all climb the ladder to the bridge: Kerry up front, Mark in the middle and me last. I suddenly realise Robert has no idea what's going on. It's probably for the best, and there isn't really time to warn him now. Ignorance is bliss.

  “Collision in forty seconds.”

  We climb out of the hatch and stand on the deck of the bridge. We all stare at each other. Kerry then looks at Mark, grabs him and gives him a massive kiss. He kisses her back, not looking surprised by it.

  “Have I missed something?” I say.

  “Collision in thirty seconds.”

  Kerry looks at me in disbelief.

  “You really didn't know? Fucking hell. Really? Whenever you fall asleep in your office on shift, we pretty much constantly fuck.”

  “Collision in twenty seconds.”

  “I absolutely did not know that. I also didn't know you knew that I fell asleep on shift.”

  “Oh we did, but we didn't really mind,” Mark says, with a sly smile.

  “Collision in ten seconds.”

  “Brace yourselves, this is it,” Kerry says.

  We all grab hold of the handrails that are intermittently spaced on every wall, and hold on for dear life.

  “Collision.”

  We look at each other, and for a moment nothing happens. I start thinking maybe it won't happen, maybe what we can see happening through the viewports isn't real, maybe the retro thrusters have fired. Even then it would be too late. At the speed we were headed towards the hangar deck this late in the game, it would have made no difference. Kerry grabs hold of my hand. I look into her eyes: they are wide, but she is smiling. She looks like she has accepted the inevitable. Then it hits.