The Espurna was still inside the radiation area and it showed.
For anyone else on board the flight was smooth as silk but Jordi knew his ship and could feel small tumbles every now and then.
“Friday, is Jeeyze alright?” - he typed on the console they’d been using since starting the rescue, there was no need for anyone to listen to their conversations. - “I can feel it tumble a bit, as if she had an injury”
“Well, I can feel her nervousness and her desire to really leave this place as soon as possible, but I’m not feeling any hurt to be honest.” - answered Friday.
On another screen, the sun was spiraling faster by the second and it showed the radiation wave traverse through the system.
A couple of commands on the keyboard and he was seeing both the current state of the wave and how it was when they arrived. It was definitely bigger and wider.
“Would this be enough to explain these tumbles? You know, like wind currents affecting the in-planet flight” - Jordi asked.
The screen that was showing the radiation wave came alive with more data, images of the wave from every possible angle and data sent from the probes around the system.
“I don’t believe these are strong enough to affect us. The only explanation I can find is that the intermittence of the radiation wave is making it difficult for Jeeyze to get used to the sensation, but that would mean that our shielding is not as effective as we thought.” - informed him Friday - “Which is worrisome by itself, we don’t know how this radiation may affect us. I don’t detect any radiation inside the ship though.”
Jordi kept looking at the screens on the bridge. One showing all the details about the radiation wave, another one showing the different cameras inside the Espurna where he could see the passengers quietly occupying all space but without moving much, and another one still showing the structure that had been pulled outside the planet and was now floating in space being protected by hundreds of kirkuggers.
He typed some commands to see the other ships that were traveling towards the gas planet with them.
“Friday, can we get a better image of the kirkuggers that are accompanying us towards the gas planet?” - he typed the question with a furrowed brow.
As a response, the image became clearer. There were some parts of the other kirkuggers that looked melted showing the skin of the beast underneath.
While he was looking he saw the skin showing burns and then healing straight away.
“Any chance that the Espurna has some damage like this?” - he asked.
“When I realized what you were looking for I deployed a small probe and started looking over the whole ship. I can see some micro-fractures with similar damage” - Friday replied.
“So, the ship is hurting. The shields cannot handle the full blow of the radiation and the only thing protecting us so far is the healing abilities of the beast underneath. That’s just brilliant.” - he thought.
“You’ve probably done it but in case you haven’t, send those images to Xe’nia please.” - Jordi instructed her.
“Already did. We’re too far to see the kirkuggers near the structure and we don’t have any probe nearby. I added a recommendation for them to check each other with silent probes, so the pilots keep ignorant of the reality of their ships” - she answered.
“Good girl” - Jordi said with a whisper.
—
The journey kept going with Jordi looking at the images and worrying about how bad those burns would be.
Were all the ships that participated in the rescue operation about to get hurt? How important were those beings they rescued and the project they worked on to necessitate an operation of this caliber? And, how ethical was it to force those ships to get hurt?
The whole existence of the kirkuggers was in an ethical gray zone by itself but, to have them participate in something like this were they were bound to get hurt was another thing altogether.
Still, as far as he knew, the beasts underneath the kirkuggers were not enslaved and enjoyed their ‘job’. The docile and curious nature of that species was probably one of the reasons they were chosen but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.
And he had to admit the whole operation would’ve been impossible without them, seeing now in real time how those burns would appear and heal in a matter of seconds convinced him of that fact.
Another thought that occurred to him was that the beasts were probably not so different in behavior as dogs were in old Earth. A well treated dog was an inseparable companion that would sacrifice without any doubt for their owner, they would even overcome their own fear if needed.
He also had Ryoshi, a genetically modified cat programmed to be his companion and help fight the insects that would sometimes plague the ship. Insects that were part of the kirkuggers immune system.
Then he thought about himself. He had been enjoying his holidays up until the moment the Empire needed him and his ship.
“We’re all slaves, aren’t we?” - he said to himself - “We’re free until we are not.”
But he couldn’t deny the benefits the Empire provided to its citizens. Education, housing, entertaining, self-grow. Of course everything was to improve the whole of the Empire but he wasn’t so sure there wasn’t any other and better option.
A sudden beep jolted him out of his stupor. A screen showed they were approaching the gas giant and would be docking with the hospital ship in about ten minutes.
A couple of commands and he saw the station and the other ships around it, the image coming from a communications drone that was floating far from the gas giant, it was spectacular.
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From the dozens of kirkuggers that were still around to the newly arrived mobile shipyard to assist in repairing them. It really looked like the rescue operation that it was.
The hospital ship had a few others docked in and a couple queues around it, but they were moving quite fast.
The Espurna joined one of the queues and Jordi informed the passengers they were about to arrive at the hospital ship and should be ready to disembark.
—-
The process went quick and before they knew it they were already moving towards the gas planet, where Jeeyze could rest and recover.
“Video incoming, is Xe’nia” - warned him Friday and a screen changed to show the call.
She looked even more tired than before, the bags under her eyes even more dark and evident than ever.
“Good job again Jordi, and thanks for that report about the burns.” - she said - “We already had seen some radiation effects but your latest images are worrying.” - she continued - “We will direct all the injured first to the gas planet, where you will stay for an hour. We’ve been told it feels like a spa for the kirkuggers and it boosts their healing processes; after that you will go to the shipyard and they will install some newly designed sheets.”
“Once that is done we will evaluate which ships can continue with the rescue. There are still some beings inside the structure that need to be rescued.” - she finished, made a tired and painful smile and terminated the call.
—
After a few minutes the Espurna entered the gas giant’s atmosphere and a soft vibration was felt throughout the whole ship.
“I believe that’s what you would call goosebumps” - said Friday, again communicating through the ship’s speaker system.
The Espurna submerged itself head first into the atmosphere and stopped a few meters after every single part was covered where she would stay the next hour.
Jordi was on the bridge checking the rescue operation, dozens of kirkuggers were already on their way back and the hundreds that made the protective wall were still there waiting for their replacements to arrive.
The sun was spiraling a bit faster now but not enough to worry about it going supernova.
He brought up an image of the sun from one of the closest communication probes. Then an image of the planet-artefact they had found on the Alkagoria system. He wasn’t sure why but he felt he needed to see them side by side.
On one side of the screen, the sun rotating ever faster; on the other a metallic ball looking like a planet. What was it that made him look at it?
Friday was observing him as always, trying to anticipate his requests and understand his logic, but his actions now were confusing for her. Why look at the thing from the Alkagoria system?
Jordi recovered the details they sent from the probes there but they wouldn’t have detected the current radiation, they needed to adapt their scanners to detect it in this system. Still, his instinct wouldn’t leave that alone.
“Friday, open a channel to Xe’nia please” - he asked.
The call started but there was another epsilon instead, a thin male with short hair.
“Hi, sorry to say but Xe’nia is currently unavailable. I’m Pri’len, how can I be of assistance?” - the epsilon said.
“Well, I know it is a weird request but, do you have any close images from the sun in this system? I have the ones from the communication probe but they’re too far and I was thinking maybe you got better ones.” - Jordi asked.
Pri’len looked at him suspiciously.
“If it were someone else I would be activating all kinds of alarms and reporting you. But I have a note from Xe’nia saying to collaborate with you if you called.” - he answered - “I dismissed it at first but here you are.”
Then he looked to the side, probably some screen to his right, while typing some commands.
“I’m sending you some pictures we took when we first came into the system. No probes have survived getting close enough to take better pictures since the radiation wave accelerated” - he continued - “Someone important holds you in high regard, we don’t usually give this information”
“Thanks, I’ll try to be up to the task” - Jordi replied and started to look at the images.
Friday started looking at them as well trying to find anything at all but she couldn’t see anything weird.
“Huh, that’s strange” - Jordi said, he was switching between the third and fourth picture back and forth.
“Did you find something?” - an incredulous Friday asked
“Don’t know, maybe. There’s a dark pixel that doesn’t make sense to be there. Right here” - he said while pointing at the picture. The space was on the tip of a small solar flare and was indeed black on the fourth picture and bright yellow on the third.
“The background should be some other color. Probably bright yellow or red. This is too dark.” - Jordi said convincingly - “And since the next pictures don’t show it either we can discard a hardware error. There is something there that shouldn’t be.”
Friday was about to admonish him, to remind him that surely the team under Xe’nia orders would have seen a thing like that, but she had looked at those pictures as well and it had escaped her. Only when he pointed at it she saw it and once seen it was impossible to unsee it.
He then started playing with some filters. From what Friday could see he was trying to figure out what if that dark pixel was part of something else and the form of that something else.
“Come on! We need better resolution. Friday, send the report of what we saw on those images and a request for information about those drones they launched. We need to know what they did to improve on it” - he said with a serious voice - “While we wait for an answer, modify one of our drones to have a small jump engine.”
Friday immediately understood his idea.
“We cannot use the jump so close to the radiation. We have no idea what will happen when the drone jumps out to normal space, it could be disastrous” - she said calmly.
“I thought the jumps were physically one way and no matter could go the other” - Jordi asked
“In theory. But we also thought we knew everything there is to know about radiation and this thing is blowing the scientists minds off” - answered Friday.
“Point taken. Options?” - Jordi asked.
“Mmmmh. What about throwing it from the rail-gun, then starting the engine and then doing a slingshot maneuver? That’s the fastest we can get” - she said. - “And if we time it right we can also avoid the radiation wave at its strongest”
“Sounds good, let’s go with it.” - Jordi replied, and waited while Friday was doing it all.
She was doing the math for the launch, the route and the timing whilst preparing the drone and adapting the rail-gun to launch it.
She had more than enough processing power to do all that, and then some, and she enjoyed doing these tasks. She especially loved calculating the path for a slingshot maneuver, there was something beautiful in using the gravity of a bigger body to get more speed.
Meanwhile, a call came in, it was Pri’len.
“I have no idea how you found in minutes something that we have missed for hours” - was the first thing he said.
“Because I was looking for it*, you were just looking for something”* - Jordi replied.
“But how did you even knew something was there?” - Pri’len asked not hiding his surprise.
“Gut feeling. Same gut feeling I got in the Alkagoria system, I believe you can browse the information.” - Jordi explained
“I’ll do that after. I’m sending you the details from the drones we used, I don’t know if it’ll help much though, and I’m officially authorizing you to send drones towards the sun. Even though you were going anyway” - Pri’len said.
“See? We already know each other!” - Jordi laughed - “I’ll keep you updated, Espurna out” - and he closed the call.
“Sometimes you have a flair for the dramatic” - Friday sighed.
“Come on! The situation was calling for it!” - Jordi said smiling.
Friday didn’t even bother with a reply and checked the information they just received. The drones they used were exactly as she had expected, it was the evident move after all.
“A couple improved drones will be ready to launch in twenty minutes, adapting the rail-gun is taking longer than I thought” - she informed.
“Enough time to prepare myself a drink. Don’t bother asking, I want to do it myself this time” - Jordi answered while walking to the kitchen - “The mini-drones can clean after”
Luckily for him they had picked oranges before leaving the leisure planet so he started to prepare a couple of mimosas. It was going to be an interesting show, and if he was right things were going to get more complicated than they already were.