The floor smelled of grease as Abby walked through the workshop to her table. The others had been working on the Warp drive repairs all week, and did not yet think to clean after themselves. 

This was the fourth day in a row; four days of tinkering away at that cursed metal sphere. The thing had smashed into the ship mid-warp, shutting down the ship’s drive, stranding them in the middle of nowhere.

Everything she tried to make sense of it had failed. It was not a man-made thing, that much was clear. A metal sphere, the size of an apple but light as a feather, and always cold to the touch. 

“You are not leaving me any options here.” she said, grabbing an old rusty drill from the wall to her right.

“Open says me.” 

The drill began to whir. She put it to the sphere, and could feel the drill glide upon the orb’s surface. She forced the drill into it.

Beep.

Abby put the drill away, looking at the sphere curiously. “Did it just make a noise?”

It began to rise. She backed away, not wanting to get in the way of whatever it was doing. A sudden thump resonated through the entire ship. All went dark, as she heard the sphere drop to the ground.

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An EMP?

The lights came back on with a hum. The sphere sat on the floor, slick with grease. She looked around; the engineers toiled away not paying much attention to what had just happened. The ship was old and barely kept together. It was a miracle the thing still worked.

She picked up the orb and cleaned it. Feeling its oddly cold surface in her hand.

This… thing just being an EMP bomb does not make sense. There has to be more!

She looked around again making sure no one was looking her way. She smashed it against the table with all her might. The sound it made was metallic, yes, but quieter than she had expected.

The thing began to rise again. The thump came again. The ship went dark. She heard the sphere drop. The lights came again. 

She looked around while picking up the metal orb. The engineers looked frustrated at being interrupted twice in row.

As she stared at what was, apparently, an alien EMP bomb, the speaker on the far side of the room came on. It was only ever used by the captain to announce when and where they were departing from and when they would arrive. 

“This is your captain, an unknown vessel has been spotted approaching the ship. We have tried to establish communications, but they have not yet answered. This can turn violent. I advise everyone aboard to gather their essentials and make for the escape pods.”

Abby stared at the orb, she had not considered how menacing the thing looked under the sharp lights of the workshop. Leaving the orb behind she made for the pods.