The Jumpgate

by Robert Stadnik

  The senior staff, including the chief medical officer, were assembled on the command deck. Everyone was checking ship systems one final time as the clock ticked down towards the start of the mission. No one said much as each person was struggling with their level of nervousness. Even Fotell was unusually quiet. No amount of preparation was going to alleviate their worries. None of them had ever embarked on such an ambitious undertaking. Traveling to another galaxy…it was unfathomable. They’d barely got used to the idea of being out of the solar system.

  “Captain on the command deck,” Lieutenant Nalus announced. Everyone turned and stood at attention as Captain Dewis emerged from his office. Fotell almost fell off her seat when she stood up on it. Luckily, Jacob was standing next to her and prevented her from falling.

  Dewis went directly to his command chair and sat down. “Status?”

  “We’re all set,” Jacob replied. “All systems show we’re good to go. Both the BEUSMIC and VFLEP are waiting for our signal to begin.”

  The captain nodded and looked at David. “Open the ship’s internal communications.”

  David activated the internal communications system. “Speakers open.” Jacob already knew the captain was going to give another grand speech.

  The captain stood up. “This is your captain. We’re about to embark on a momentous journey. We’re going to explore where our former mortal enemies, the Screen, came from. What we’re doing carries risk, but I’m confident you’re all up to the task. I’ve trained you all well. When we complete this mission, we’ll cement our names in the history books. Remember this moment, as you’ll tell your children you were a part of something remarkable. Be proud and confident in your abilities. You are the best of what TERRA has to offer. Remember that.”

  Jacob tried not to shake his head. That speech was just pure pomp and arrogance. He wasn’t doing this for the crew. He was doing this to promote himself as this great and forward-thinking ship commander. Your typical TERRA officer, full of himself. If they pulled this off, Jacob would not be giving any glowing reviews of Dewis to the command council or media when they got back.

  With his speech concluded, the captain sat back down in the command chair. “Open a channel to the alliance fleet.”

  David quickly switched from the internal to the external communications system. “Channel open.”

  “This is Captain Dewis of the SOLARA. We’re ready to begin.”

  “Acknowledged, SOLARA,” came the voice of Tretridic.

  “For the honor of the protectorate,” Sasasaduigriganabasas added.

  Jacob looked at Fotell. “Is the program ready?”

  “I have brought it online. It is ready to transmit.”

  Jacob looked at David. “Uplink the program to Alpha.” They had named each of the three gate components Alpha, Beta, and Delta.

  David programmed the SOLARA’s communication dish to direct a signal to the Alpha node. “Transmission’s being sent.”

  Everyone on all three alliance ships waited in anticipation for what would happen next. It didn’t take long. The Quix made the detection first as their sensors were the most advanced of the three ships.

  “We are reading an increase in power,” Sasasaduigriganabasas reported. “Alpha is drawing energy from its generator.” They had attached a n’quadrin power source to the gate as sensors showed the gate’s power supply had been exhausted. The cadri directed one of his officers to patch their sensor readings to the BEUSMIC and SOLARA so they could evaluate the data at the same time.

  Tretridic confirmed the sensor readings. “Power output is increasing.”

  “Beta and Delta are receiving power from Alpha,” Sasasaduigriganabasas added.

  Jonas closely monitored the energy readings. “It appears the entire gate is coming online.” He was excited to see the gate was coming to life. He couldn’t wait to unravel the engineering marvels it contained. Learning about wormhole technology would be a new frontier for him.

  “Just as we suspected,” Jacob muttered. They assumed the gate was designed so that all three nodes would activate in unison. It seemed that the assumption was correct.

  They watched on the holographic display as the nodes began emanating a blue color. Crew members on all alliance ships raced to interpret the massive amount of data they were receiving.

  Fotell was the first to report. “The node capacitors have peaked. I believe they are at full power.”

  Sasasaduigriganabasas spoke up. “Protectorate allies, we are not detecting any unusual variances in the power supply.”

  “We are reading the same,” Tretridic added. “The gate system appears to be stable.”

  Lieutenant Gimron was seated next to the captain and monitoring various sensor readings from her chair console. Most of the data was foreign to her. She was keeping an eye out for any unusual patterns. “Any emissions from the gate that we should be concerned about?”

  “I’m not seeing anything on sensors that would be harmful to organic life-forms,” Doctor Morrell said. He was at the operations table, reviewing the data coming in on Fotell’s station.

  “What about any traps?” Captain Dewis asked.

  Jacob didn’t see anything on sensors to indicate a trap. “Nothing is showing that it’s rigged.”

  “We did a comprehensive analysis of each node,” Jonas them. “Each component’s function has been determined and accounted for. There are no traps.”

  For Dewis, there was nothing stopping them now. “Then there’s no reason to wait. Initiate gate activation sequence.” Jacob’s instinct was to protest activating the gate, wanting to argue that they should spend a few days analyzing this new data. He held back from saying anything. He knew Captain Dewis wouldn’t stop now.

  “Relaying programming protocols to the VFLEP,” Fotell reported. The Quix’s computer system was far more sophisticated than either the SOLARA or BEUSIMIC, so it was decided they would handle the actual operation of the gate.

  “We are transmitting the activation program to the gate,” Sasasaduigriganabasas announced.

  It only took a few seconds for the gate to react. A succession of three bright lights flickered from the nodes, and then an energy vortex appeared in the center of their rotation. The vortex first emanated a red color but eventually transitioned to white.

  Dewis stared in amazement at the holographic display. “Report.” No one said anything. They were all transfixed by the wormhole. “I said report!”

  Jonas checked the displays in front of him. “We’re getting a lot of data coming in. It’s going to take a few minutes to analyze it.”

  “The energy displacement appears stable,” Tretridic reported.

  “We show the same,” Sasasaduigriganabasas added. “We are receiving a data stream from the gate computer. It is in Screen language; however, our computer micron is translating for us. It states the gate threshold is stable and safe to pass through.”

  “Pass through to where?” Michelle wondered. “Can we scan the other side of that aperture?”

  “The SOLARA does not have the sensor resolution to penetrate through the energy field,” Fotell explained. “Either the VFLEP or BEUSIMIC should be able to scan.”

  “The BEUSMIC should conduct the scan,” Jacob recommended. “The VFLEP is already connected to the gate’s computer. We don’t want to risk the gate sending the VFLEP false telemetry readings.”

  Tretridic had a better recommendation. “A probe would be best to use to scan the other side. We have one ready to launch.”

  “Go ahead and launch it,” Jacob requested, without waiting for the captain’s authorization. He already figured Dewis would want to take the safest course of action in learning where the wormhole went.

  Tretridic motioned to one of his bridge officers to launch the probe. “Initiating launch.”

  As the Onixin probe launched and headed towards the gate, the communications terminal beeped, which David quickly checked. “Captain, we’re getting a priority message from TERRA.
It’s a live transmission.”

  “Tell them we’re in a critical juncture of the operation,” Dewis replied.

  David sent the message. It didn’t take long to get a reply. “Sir, it’s Admiral Vespia. She’s demanding to speak with you immediately.”

  This was unexpected. Jacob looked over at the captain and could see he was hesitating what to do. “Captain, we can halt operations until you’ve spoken to her.”

  “No,” Dewis replied. He wasn’t about to halt the mission because of a call from command. “Continue the operation. Lieutenant Block, route the signal to my office.”

  “Yes, sir.” David sent the comm link to the terminal in the captain’s office.

  Chief Gimron waited until Captain Dewis was off the command deck and in his office before calling Jacob over. “Commander Diego, may I have a brief word with you?”

  Jacob directed her to a corner of the command deck, away from anyone being able to hear them.

  “Why would the head of the command council be calling us directly?” the security chief asked in a low tone. “Where’s the fleet admiral? This doesn’t make sense.”

  Jacob agreed with her suspicions. “It is unusual. We’re dealing with Screen technology here. Anything relating to them probably has the council worried. Them taking a personal interest in this mission isn’t too surprising. They may just want a status report directly from the captain, to allay their fears.” The commander didn’t buy his own explanation to Michelle. It was odd for the council to get involved directly with a mission. According to Vargas, the council was fine with Captain Dewis’s plan. Had something changed? Jacob didn’t want to clue Michelle in on anything until he knew what was going on with the council. There was no reason to start getting people riled up.

  Michelle looked around the command deck. “This mission already has a lot of the crew on edge.”

  Jacob was surprised by her statement. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Then again, the commander wasn’t exactly trying to stay in tune with the crew’s feelings.

  “They want to put on a brave front for the captain. But they’re worried about what we might find on the other side.”

  As executive officer, Jacob should have a sense of the crew’s morale. But he was so disconnected from them. They accepted him as their executive officer, but only because they had no choice. He accepted their disdain for him and, in turn, had no interest in them beyond what his responsibilities required.

  “As long as they’re focused on their jobs, that’s all that matters,” Jacob said. “I expect them to keep it together. Spread the word.”

  “I will,” Michelle assured him. “I just hope we don’t find anything worse than the Screen.”

  Fotell interrupted the pair’s little talk. “Commander, the Onixin probe has entered the energy vortex.”

  Both Jacob and Michelle hurried to the operations table. “What do you have, vori?” Jacob asked.

  “The probe is passing through the event horizon,” Tretridic reported. “Minor disruption to its signal.” A few more moments passed. “There, we are showing the probe has passed through to the other side.”

  Jacob was anxious to learn where the probe wound up. “What do you see?” He may not have agreed with activating the gate, but now that they had, he wanted to know what was on the other side.

  “We are patching the probe signal to both SOLARA and VFLEP.” Tretridic directed his probe control officer to route the signal to the human and Quix ships.

  Fotell nodded. “Receiving probe signal now.”

  Jacob reviewed the data as it came in. It appeared the probe had successfully exited into open space on the other side. But where did it emerge?

  “Astrological data coming in,” Nalus reported. “Based on the readings, the probe appears to have wound up in the Triangulum Galaxy.”

  “That’s the sister galaxy to Andromeda,” Michelle stated. “We’re practically next-door neighbors.”

  Jonas gave the chief an odd look. “You know how long it would take for a ship to reach that galaxy with a hyperdrive?”

  “It was a joke.”

  Sasasaduigriganabasas spoke up. “Now we know where the Screen came from.”

  “It would appear so,” Jacob muttered. He didn’t have time to dwell on it as Captain Dewis emerged from his office. “Is everything okay, captain?”

  “They just wanted an update on the mission,” Dewis replied as he took a seat in his command chair. “What’s our status?”

  The captain’s subdued response didn’t sit well with Jacob. The council wouldn’t bother calling a capital ship during a mission. They would leave any mission changes and specifics to the admiral assigned to overseeing the ship. There was more going on, the commander was certain of it. As tempted as he was to question Dewis, the commander remained silent, choosing not to follow up with additional questions. This was something he could deal with later, after they went through the gate.

  Jonas quickly got the captain up to date on their status. “The probe has successfully emerged on the other side intact. Scans indicate it’s in the Triangulum Galaxy.”

  “Is the wormhole stable?” Dewis asked.

  “Scans indicate the vortex is stable. Fluctuations in energy output are within tolerable limits,” Fotell replied.

  “Then I see no reason to wait.” Dewis looked to the navigation officer. “Prepare to set course through the wormhole.”

  That was the last order Jacob expected to hear. “Captain, we need time to analyze the data. Sending a probe is one thing, but a ship is entirely different.”

  Tretridic agreed with Jacob, even though it was the humans putting their lives at risk. “We need time to conduct studies on the gate while it is active.”

  “You and the Quix can do that on this side,” Dewis replied. “Navigation, prepare to set course.”

  “Delay that!” Jacob countered. Dead silence descended on the command deck as everyone turned and looked at the pair. No one had ever witnessed such a confrontation between a captain and XO.

  Dewis didn’t expect such a reaction from his executive officer. “Did you just countermand my order?”

  Jacob wasted no time defending his action. “You’re putting the crew at unnecessary risk. We know nothing about how the gate operates and how that vortex might affect organic beings. We could be destroyed just going through it.”

  “I reviewed the data we’ve collected and am confident in our chances,” Dewis replied. He looked at Doctor Morrell. “Do you see anything that might harm organic matter?”

  “No, captain. My analysis of the readings shows nothing to indicate we’d be harmed going through the wormhole.” As a doctor and scientist, Morrell wanted to add that, even though the data showed the wormhole appeared safe, they should spend more time analyzing the jumpgate and conducting tests. But making such a statement would reinforce Commander Diego’s stance not to go through it. The doctor was squarely on the captain’s side. He’d support Dewis, no matter what.

  Dewis looked at Jacob. “If you can’t follow my orders, I’ll replace you with someone who can. I’ll even let you leave SOLARA and go to one of the alliance ships.”

  Jacob was ready to take the captain up on his offer and put all this craziness behind him. Nothing good could come of this and he wanted no part in the captain’s decision. He was putting the entire ship at risk. But the commander hesitated. Even though there was no love lost between him and the crew, he couldn’t just leave them. He vowed never to leave people behind. He already did that once and was living with the guilt. Despite their feelings for him, he was their executive officer and had to look out for them. That meant he had to deal with all unpleasantness on the ship to look out for their welfare.

  Jacob looked over to Nalus. “Execute the captain’s orders. Set course for the gate.” That was the hardest order he ever had to give. He turned back to Dewis. “I’ll be putting a formal protest in my report that I vehemently disagree with this course of action.”

  Dewi
s reclined in his seat. “That is your right. Take your station, commander.”

  Jacob returned to the operations table. “Keep an open comm line with us,” he instructed the alliance commanders.

  “We will,” Tretridic assured.

  “Much success to you on behalf of the protectorate,” Sasasaduigriganabasas stated.

  Jacob said nothing more as the SOLARA’s thrusters activated and the ship moved towards the jumpgate. The command deck staff watched on the holographic display as the gate grew bigger. The vortex appeared more menacing as the ship got closer.

  “Expect to encounter some turbulence as we cross the threshold,” Nalus advised. “I’ve got kinetic dampeners at maximum, but we’ll still encounter some chop.”

  A million thoughts ran through Jacob’s mind as to what could happen when they entered the wormhole. Its energy could interact with either of the ship’s n’quadrin or plasma energy sources and cause a catastrophic reaction, human physiology could succumb to the vortex...his mind went over many possibilities. None of that matter now. Soon they would learn their fates.

  Everyone waited anxiously as SOLARA entered the wormhole. Sure enough, some turbulence rocked the ship, but it wasn’t too bad. They were in the wormhole only a few seconds before emerging on the other side.

  “That was quick,” David commented. He figured they would be in the wormhole a lot longer given their destination.

  “Ship status,” Jacob requested. He wanted to be sure SOLARA was intact.

  "All departments are reporting in,” Fotell announced. “No injuries reported, all systems are showing normal.”

  “Confirm our location,” Dewis ordered.

  Nalus double-checked her readings before replying. “We’re in Triangulum.”