Although the civilian security had cleared DH and TO for passage, they weren’t ready to go through the portal yet; they still had to power down their ship and run last-minute checks to their systems. DH, as normal, checked all the systems on the console while TO ran from floor to floor making sure everything was ready for a full power down.
A few more switches had to be pulled, a few more systems properly shut down, and there were a few mechanical processes that TO needed to stop manually. When it was all done, TO went back down to the main living area where DH was just shutting down the systems of the console.
The lights in the living area shut down just seconds before the screen that had been on since they started their trip faded to darkness. They could still see thanks to the lights from outside the ship, but even for a synth it was quite dim. A moment later, the artificial gravity gave out, and the two lifted into the air. It wasn’t a big problem; they could easily reach the ceiling to push themselves around.
“Are we good?” TO asked.
DH reached out and clutched at the wall, “Nope.” They said, looking like they might be sick, “I don’t think I like this anti-gravity thing.”
“Right… You’ve never been in zero gravity.” TO muttered. They reached out and took DH’s hand. “Come here and hold on to me.” They said. They pulled DH towards them and allowed DH to hold on to them for extra support.
“Everything’s ready?” TO asked. DH just nodded. TO activated their chip so that they could send a message back to the portal security guards; with the ship powered down, they couldn’t send messages over long distances, but the dock was close enough that they could send a message over a local connection.
“We have shut all systems down, and we’re ready to go.” TO sent. Not even a minute later, they got a response.
“Confirmed; please prepare for transport.”
Moving slowly so as not to make DH too uncomfortable, TO made their way towards the bed and used the wall to pull themself down towards the mattress. The ship lunged as the anchor ring went into place around it and caught the ship in its own gravitational pull. The new artificial gravity pulled DH and TO down onto the bed.
“I guess I should have asked if you were comfortable sharing a bed while we travelled like this.” TO said, their ears flicking down slightly. They wanted to be very careful, and not assume that DH was comfortable with things.
DH still looked a little queasy, but despite that they gave TO a quick smile, “Of course.” They said. DH reached out and took TO’s hand. “I mean… You’re still scared, right?”
TO glanced away as their ears burned; a synth that was afraid of travelling through portals; that was laughable. Still, maybe after the first time it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe they were less scared of this situation, and more just afraid of going through something new and strange.
“I shouldn’t be.” TO muttered. They lay back on the bed, but they didn’t cuddle into DH as they normally would; instead, they lay on their back and gave DH’s hand a squeeze. Sometimes, if they were laying on their side, their arms might go numb or their back might hurt if they lay at an odd angle; if they couldn’t move, then they didn’t want any discomfort.
Being on their back was best for this.
There was a slight pull and a shake as TO assumed that they passed through the shield around the black hole, and got pulled forward by the black hole. DH quickly shifted closer so that their sides pressed together.
“It’ll be ok.” DH said.
“You don’t know that.” TO said. Still, they were more amused than anything else, and just happy to have DH by their side.
“Maybe… But it’ll be ok so long as you’re here with me.” DH said, but they suddenly sounded strange. DH’s voice seemed to slow down. Even as they gave a chuckle, it seemed to draw out more slowly, and there was an odd lag as their ears flicked down and flushed; For the first time TO could see the blue creep up their ears. It was like reality was slowing down. “Sorry, was that corny to say...” DH frowned, the expression crossing their face even more slowly, “There’s... something... wrong-”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Suddenly, it felt like the ship lost control and was zipping through space with no thrusters or guidance. The lights from the dock faded away, leaving them in total darkness. There was an odd feeling that overcame TO, like the seconds were stretching out, passing and not passing all at once; TO could think and could feel, but while their mind was moving at the same pace as before, it felt like their body couldn’t. More and more they felt like they were moving slower and slower until even a blink seemed to take an eternity.
Days? Months? Years? Everything seemed timeless. Still, it wasn’t unpleasant; TO wasn’t Hungry or uncomfortable, and didn’t feel restless at all.
Then, suddenly, they felt time rush back to them. It was as though Everything they had been trying to say or do just snapped back into place, as though physical reality was trying to catch up with them. The ship jolted back to a stop as the ring on the other side of the portal caught their ship.
“-.. Wrong with meandidon’t-” DH coughed as they choked on all the words that tried to come out of their mouth all at once. They sat up, clutching at their throat and wheezing. As DH caught their breath, they looked about frantically as the lights from the dock on the other side filtered into the windows, “Is... Is it over?”
TO sat up slowly, as though testing their body to see if they could, “I think so?” They said.
“That... I didn’t like it.” DH said, shuddering. “It felt like it took forever at the time, but now that it’s over-”
“It felt like it only took a second.” TO said, finishing DH’s sentence, “It was like time got stretched out, and then-” They stopped, remembering the odd description that DH had read off the console just the day before as they tried to figure out what going through the portal might feel like. “It was like time got stretched out, and then snapped into place!” TO said, raising their hand to their mouth as they suppressed a low giggle, “It was like… Like time was a rubber band!”
DH stared at TO for a moment, their ears flicking forward in confusion until finally they shook their head and laughed, “Time was a rubber band.” they repeated, “That explains it I suppose! Still, they could have explained it better, they could have-”
TO and DH’s chips went off at the same time. TO shifted on the bed and grabbed their communicator so that they could see the message. “Probably just notices telling us we’re on the other side.” TO said. Sure enough, the communicator had a message from Docking Control.
“Do not power up your vessel. Please confirm your identification.”
TO typed in their new call numbers and sent it off. “Do you think it’s safe to get up?” TO asked, “or should we wait?”
“I think we’re good.” DH said as they stretched, “We’re locked into the gravity ring and we’re still moving, so we must be going to the dock.”
TO got up and went to the tiny window nearby; they couldn’t see much, but they could make out the approaching structures before them.
“That seems right.,” TO said, “I hope we’re in the right place though... If we were, then they wouldn’t need to ask for our Identification, right?”
Before DH could respond, another message came in on the communicator. TO grabbed it and checked, hoping for confirmation that everything was alright. It was another message from Dock Control. “No, your former assignments.”
TO froze. Their former assignments? Why would anyone need those? Their former assignments, the numbers that they had as mere trainees, were no longer theirs and were no longer important
“Why do they need that?” DH asked, their ears pinning back.
“I don’t know.” TO said. Their first thought was to send a message to Ark-1, but they realized that if they tried, their messages wouldn’t get through until they powered up their ship. Even if they could send a message, hadn’t they been sent off with the expectation that they could handle unexpected situations on their own? If they had a situation just in travelling through portals that they couldn’t handle, then they weren’t doing their job very well.
“... I’ll tell them.” TO said, “As far as I know, it’s not confidential information, and it’s fairly useless to civilians, isn’t it?”
“Yeah...” DH said slowly, “Tell them, and see what they say; we can ask why they need it later; they’ll have to respond to us once we’re cleared.”
TO nodded and sent back a message; “Former assignments are no longer associated with active duty synths, and these assignments no longer have any association with us. Regardless, our assignments were 09T07 and 70H67.”
“Maybe it’s part of the extra security measures?” DH said as they leaned back on the bed; still the way their ears twitched told TO how nervous DH was, “Maybe they’re just asking to see if we’re actually synths.”
“We just cleared the first security checkpoint, and got cleared for transport; who else would we be?” TO muttered, their ears flattening out as they watched their communicator.
“Space Pirates?” DH ventured, “I imagine having a synth vessel would be useful for space pirates.”
Their communicator beeped with another message. DH lunged forward and hung off TO’s shoulder as they read along with them.
“Do not power up your ship: if you do, we will open fire.” was all the message said. A moment later, a video came through showing a panoramic view of a dock which had at least two dozen ships stuck in the rings and powered down.
One such ship was another synth vessel; Avery’s.
“That’s why we didn’t hear from them.” TO said, their ears pinning back as their shaking hand started sending a message back, “They couldn’t send a message because their ship is still powered down.”
‘What do you want?’ TO sent back. They turned to DH, “If we power up, they’ll open fire.” TO glanced back at the video; yes, most of the ships were cargo which likely had a small crew on board, but there was, of course, Avery’s ship, and at least one giant civilian passenger vessel.
“That civilian ship might be carrying hundreds of civilians.” DH muttered, “If they open fire…” their ears flicked down as they looked at TO, “I don’t like civilians, but I don’t want them to get hurt.”
TO nodded, feeling their wings puff out around them; who was this, and how dare they do this? How dare they take control of this port? How dare they put so many people in danger? How dare they threaten one of TO’s friends? Why did they do this? What did they want?
A message came back, a single word in reply, “You.”