Like any week that we’re testing a Propulsion maneuver, it starts with drama.
“I don’t see why you refuse to get close with me, yet you cavort around with that electrician.” Ivanka accuses.
“We’re not sleeping together, Senior, we just watch anime and talk about scifi.” She raises an eyebrow at me as though ‘just hanging out’ with a person you’re attracted to is a foreign concept. “We bonded over almost dying and found out we have a lot in common.”
Now Petra’s looking at me funny, “This seems like more of a ‘haven’t yet’ situation.”
“It’s not like that. I like being chummy with a woman that doesn’t seem to be manipulating me.” I eyeball the both of them, Ivanka smirks, Petra at least is a smidge embarrassed. “And I kind of like the attention right now, so can we leave this alone, please? Especially since all four of us might be ripped apart and scattered across space-time tomorrow.”
“You are being dramatic. Large-scale testing of this phenomenon has been very successful.” Ivanka waves her hand in dismissal. She continues staring at me until Petra tugs on the corner of her tank top and pulls her into their bunk room.
Now all I want to do is kiss Katie.
/Hey Katie, have a big maneuver tomorrow, and just wanted to make sure you had a plan to stay strapped in and safe/
/I do. Thank you for your concern/
I do not miss the icy version of LS1 O’Connell. /Do you want to have dinner together tonight?/
/No thank you. You should be focused on tomorrow instead of me/
Ouch Katie. I used to like it when she bit me, but now it feels like she’s taking chunks out. It’s been two months and her responses are just getting colder. Her comment about still loving me though she’s hurt propped up my hope for a long time. And lately it’s been Melissa that’s been giving me healthy emotional feedback. Katie is right though: I should be focusing on tomorrow’s maneuver. It’ll be the biggest shock to the ship that we’ve experienced and we need to jet extra matter into the thrusters to have the blob of antimatter react at roughly the same time. Or more accurately to have the outer shell annihilate to hyper-compress the middle bits continuously until we force a rift to occur. There also needs to be enough energy to keep the rift open while the whole ship is pulled through, or it cuts a piece of when the rift closes.
My team and I found this out when pieces of tables would go missing with our target apparatus. One guy was leaning onto the table when it disappeared and lost his hands. That was a mess.
My alarm goes off, telling me I have another meeting to go to. Engineering wardroom in ten minutes. Being in the Chief’s mess, I am extremely close to said Wardroom and float there in all of three minutes.
“Mercer, are you always eating?” one of the junior officers asks.
“Yes sir. Sugar and caffeine keep my brain buzzing. And everyone loves a hyper chipmunk at a meeting.” Just for that comment, sir, I’m stealing some coffee. I grab an extra cup for Commander Nugget as well. When he comes in I hand it to him and he nods his thanks.
“Got any zingers to tell me before the CO comes on, Mercer?”
“Not that I can think of sir, all the risk is on the wrapper.”
“No grand speech about the excitement of space, boldly going and all that?” He smirks, and I wonder if he’s pulling my leg, or that my uncharacteristic lack of excitement is worrying.
“I love space, and I love my brain baby, but the best case scenario is that we materialize 100+ light years away from here and half the crew immediately vomits, with the knowledge that we have to do it at least one more time. Worst case, half the ship rips away and the ones who live starve to death. We’re paving the way for exploring new solar systems, but we’ll likely never see them ourselves. Like, this is all great, but it’s also kind of a letdown that I can’t put my boots on a moon.” I shrug, realizing as I look up that the CO has been keyed into my sad rant.
“Now that Mercer has brought the mood down, lets keep it there by talking procedure.” And that’s what we did, for two hours. Checkpoints and thresholds, multiple back-out points, and the point of no return. At the end of it all Captain Morris addressed the whole crew.
“ISS Copernicus, this is your Captain speaking,” nice, in-flight entertainment, “When you signed up to board a space vessel, inherent risk was in large bold letters. We’ve experienced some of those risks on the second and third stages of our voyage, but here we are, orbiting Saturn thanks to our highly-skilled engineering team. Tomorrow, we rely on them again to help us light the way for a new era of Humanity, one where Sol is not the only star we can orbit, not the only system we can inhabit.
“Most of us will not be around to lay those bricks or watch those crops grow, but future generations will because of the candle we hold in the vast, empty dark. The first step is always a risky one and tomorrow will be no exception. Tomorrow, we test an ability that until recently was relegated to science fiction stories: Faster than Light Travel.
“We will be standing down all non-critical crewmembers to the HAB and the kitchen will be open for service in the HAB as well as the Forward Wardroom for officers and the Chief’s mess for all enlisted this evening. Get a good meal and a good night’s sleep. Copernicus out.”
Dang, no wonder they have CO’s go through public relations training.
“Well, lets hope this doesn’t end up as last supper as that sounded.” Everyone at the meeting either sneered at me or gaped in disbelief. Oh shit, the mental strain is getting to me. “Aww, damn. Sorry folks.”
“Mercer, get fed and go to bed. I need you sharper than this tomorrow.” Nugget orders as he shakes his head at my carelessness.
I grab a tray of pork cutlet and mash potatoes with gravy and rolls. It was way better than I had expected and I have the gravity experiment to thank for that. I then grab a change of clothes and take a shower in grav before heading to crew berthing to watch bullshit superhero movies while I drift off.
I’m on the edge of dozing off when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I take off my headphones and turn to see Melissa peeking open my rack curtain.
“Hey Penny, mind if I watch with you for a bit?” I look at the scant space on my coffin rack.
“Sure. Super heroes though.” I wedge myself into the back corner and Velcro my screen to the bottom of the bunk above me while Melissa shuffles in with her back to me and her head on my arm. In zero g this is a little odd, but my arm won’t fall asleep.
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I hit play and the tight black pants on the heroine while she’s posing basically says look at my ass.
“Ah, I see why you’re watching this then.” I jab a finger in her side and she squeaks like a mouse would sneeze.
We watch another 45 minutes until the movie ends, the next one in the que is an old Captain Marvel movie that I wouldn’t mind watching again. Before the credits are finished, Melissa rolls toward me but doesn’t look at me.
“Do you really think we’re going to die tomorrow?” The question is timid, as though if she spoke it any louder it would make it true.
“No, Mel.” I pull her into a hug, “If I knew we were going to die tomorrow, I wouldn’t be doing it. Sure, it’s more risk of death than anything the US Navy is currently doing, but everything we’re doing out there is a world first event, so that’s pretty exciting.”
When she looks up I can see that she’s on the edge of tears, “You’re really not scared Penny?”
“Oh, no. Don’t get me wrong. I’m terrified. I just know for a fact that the tech works, I’ve been transported by it, and I know that you, and the rest of our team is going to crush it tomorrow and give us the best chance of emerging alive.
The next movie starts playing, but I’m paying attention to the short brown head of hair tucking into my arm and the soft shakes of crying that her shoulders make. I start thinking about the rest of the crew, the nervous ones finding comfort where they can and the confident ones basking in their routine for a major maneuver. And then me, and how empty I feel right now, even though I’ve achieved so much of what I set to reclaim, I should feel so much more satisfied. But without this small comfort of a friend being afraid next to me, my glass would feel so empty.
“Wake up Penny.”
“What? Mel? I guess we fell asleep.” I look around and see that Melissa’s standing upright reaching in to pat my face. I look at the time and my alarm would go of in twenty anyway.
“I wanted to say thanks for keeping me company and calming me down.”
“Of course. But it’s my turn to save your life this time.” I chuckle at how funny I think I am.
She flicks my nose and grabs my face? “Shh. One more thing to say before chow.” She pulls me toward her for a quick kiss that leaves me stunned. “For luck.”
“Yep, definitely my turn,” I mumble and hear her laugh all the way out of crew berthing.
When I get to Chiefs’ mess, I see what must be the last of our fruit stores, some coffee cake, and a majestic assortment of toaster strudels. I wrap half a dozen in napkins before jamming them in my pockets. Come to me my pretties. I then fill my no-spill bottle with bite-nib with coffee, one side pack with water and the other with celebration horchata. Petty Officer Mercer prepared for risky maneuvers!
Tablet hooked up to ships logs and my HUD to propulsion systems with insets for bell order and nav, reactor control, and engineering compartment pressure alarms.
“How long has the collider been running and why is our anti-matter inventory only at 40%?” I ask the team being relieved of their watch in Propulsion.
“Overnight orders were to maintain less than 80% plasma and 50% antimatter until all of the supervisors got on station.” He doesn’t look thrilled, but knows how to follow orders.
“Thanks EM1. Any anomalies?” I say as look at his watch log.
“Hm? Oh, yeah, the new valves come unseated when the collider comes online with only two TG’s online. The whole containment array dips, in fact.”
Shit, really? That’s a change in procedure writeup I need to make. “Oh, good, it says that the anti-matter inventory was zero before that evolution. Good to hear. Can you submit a work ticket on that procedure before you turn in?”
“Can do Mercer. You got the watch?”
“I relieve you.”
“Don’t wake me up today Mercer.” He smirks at me, knowing what’s coming.
“Just put up the baby cage before you konk, you gonk.” He shoves me into the console and mutters “nerd”, laughing down the corridor. Good to see someone’s in light spirits.
/Helm, DE Propulsion. I don’t see a thrust cone attitude check in the logs. Please advise./
/Copy, Propulsion, wait/
/Mercer, DE XO, in light of the recent repairs, CO only wanted to move them once/
/Roger that Ma’am/
/Eng Chief, DE Propulsion, pending thrust cone reposition to warp maneuver angle, Propulsion go for increasing antimatter inventory to warp maneuver settings/
/EA, DE Eng Chief, Concur with Propulsion. 4-TG operation with nominal battery and capacitor charges. Chem thrust inventory 80%, breakaway charges primed/
/Copernicus, DE EA, Engineering ready for warp, except thrust cone positioning from Helm/
/Copy EA, Helm align three main propulsion cones to indicated warp angles/
/Roger Copernicus, adjusting thrust cone angles/
/Propulsion, increase antimatter inventory to 80%/
/CDR Nugent, we only briefed 60% Sir/
/Mercer, Naval Reactors reported inconsistent results on large-scale testing at 60%. You have an order pending Sailor/
/Roger Copernicus, inventory at 43% and climbing/
“Set Zeta hatch protocol, secure and lock the HAB.” The order from Captain Morris comes in, but in reality they’ve been slowing the HAB down for hours.
Ninety minutes later, A-M inventory is 80% and the HAB is in the final stages of being secured.
“Alright team, tethers on, strap in, and hold on to your butts” I stifle a squeak when someone gets a quick handful of my ass. I look over to ET2 Hunsaker, who is giggling at her console.
/For luck Mel?/
/Seemed lucky, l just wish I had a quarter/
I snort, loudly. Bold move lady.
“ET2, put the collider on standby and mag field to HOLD.”
“Uh Chief, there’s an interlock saying I can’t de-couple the Collider while a warp maneuver is in progress.”
“De-couple? What the fuck?” I re-tether at her station to look at the console. Yep, the program has crossed standing down the collider with de-coupling the collider.
/CO, XO, EA, warp programming preventing standing down collider during warp maneuver because of program error confusing stand-down with de-couple. Need Command over-ride to edit the program, or local control stand-down. A-M inventory 82%/
/Copy Propulsion, FC1 has been authorized to edit out collider automatic interlink control. EA, realign collider to standby via on-site control/
/RC Chief, DE EA, realign the collider. Stay on station/
/Aye sir/
Minutes later, the collider is showing re-aligned and A-M is sitting at 87%
“If you haven’t foamed up and pressurized your suit, this is your last chance.” I put my helmet on and spray that crap around my head.
/Propulsion, DE Copernicus. I need a go no-go on warp maneuver with new A-M inventory/
/Sir, if no other settings have changed from the briefing, a minor cone angle correction according the a chart I just sent should make propulsion go for warp/
/Copy, propulsion. Helm, adjust thrusters to the chart, Engineering. Go no-go/
/Go, Sir/
I feel a sharp tug on my suit elbow and I see Melissa trying to shove an orbital chart of Titan in my face. And I shove her hand away. She pulls my shield release handle and pulls my face toward hers.
“/PENNY!! We’re out of position!!/” she both yells and chats at me.
I grab the tablet and look. We should be leaving the orbit of Saturn, not Titan. That’s a whole lot of matter behind us.
“Fuck.” My hands start jittering and I can’t re-align my displays properly in my HUD.
Melissa pulls my face at her again, stares me in the eyes and mouths “You got this.”
FUCK! I’m the only one who can get this. And I’ll need all the Universe-be-damned luck I can get. I pull her in for a quick kiss and shove her shield back on and mine just after. I sit on her lap and pull her and MM2’s screen closer to me and start changing thrust angles and plasma distributions so that we can bleed some antimatter in ancillary explosions before a warp event occurs.
I’m so tied up in fixing our positioning error, that I don’t notice the next one that undoes all my work until it’s too late to stop it. Engine order is at all ahead FULL, when we briefed 2/3. Full shoots the majority of our inventory out in a plug with a huge buffer of plasma to keep annihilation from the cones and to shape the annihilation warp region. I leap off Melissa’s lap just in time to anchor my feet to the floor while I hook into my harness.
The ship lurches and the boots fuck up my knees and ankles while the harness catches my elbows and does something equally as painful. The ship lurches me back into my seat and I somehow manage to fumble my harness on and disengage my boots before I completely black out from pain.