“What the hell is that!?”
The young man who had spoken was wearing a simple blue jumper and a pair of jean of a slightly darker colour. His hair was so rowdy it seemed as if it was defying gravity itself, which was not that hard considering where he stood.
Above him, a gigantic dome of glass showed a perfect view of the planet Earth and the surrounding darkness of space.
The private research station was situated next to many other lunar hangars, and Nate knew for a fact that the one he was currently working in had nothing that differentiated it from its neighbours. They all had been built automatically by the army of robots sent here fifteen years earlier.
What he also knew was that amongst all the other hangars, this was the only one that now included a Hadron collider. Especially one weirdly sitting around a tourist spaceship in construction.
“Doctor!? Erwin!” Nate shouted as he followed the metal circle around the spaceship. Only his echo and the sound of the automatic door closing behind him answered him. He walked for a few minutes, avoiding a robot-builder welding a tungsten sheet on the lower part of the ship, before finding who he was looking for.
The old scientist was looking at his computer. He had put the screens in a precarious position on a messy folding table.
“Nate! Perfect, come here and see!” The man with greying hair, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and camo short pants, was giving him an angelic smile.
“What the hell is that!?” Repeated the young man.
“What is what…?” Doctor Gestalter looked at Nate’s extended finger towards the Hadron collider. “Oh, that? Yes, I decided to improve our propulsion system. I needed it for that. But come on and see! I just tested a double collision, and I understand nothing of the results. My friend Shinger told me either my accelerator or my measuring systems were failing, but I just checked everything again and there was no problem anywhere!”
Nate groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew that leaving the doctor three months on his own without surveillance was a bad idea, but he had had no choice. And now, instead of focusing on the ship, his hierarchic superior had decided to start hazardous experiments with even more dubious scientific tools.
“Where did the materials to build this come from?” Asked the young man bitterly. Even after three months, he had not forgotten that getting angry was useless when talking with his boss.
“Oh…Erm…mainly from the reactor and the pool? I think. I let the AI make the calculations.”
“The reactor…?” It was worse than he thought. Without reactor, the ship wasn't one anymore. Nate looked in despair at the futuristic building that would never reach the stars.
“My god, I’m fired. No, worse, Site will take us to court. What am I going to say to mom?”
“Nate! Are you alright? Did something happen on Earth?” The doctor was watching him worriedly, not once thinking that the young man’s despair was his own fault.
“No, my family is fine, no war in Europe.”
Erwin Gestalter looked at him angrily. “I know that! I keep in touch with the current news at least! If everything is great, come help me with my results, unless you forgot all about work after your holidays.”
Nate could have answered that he went back on Earth because of the astronaut health laws, but he knew it was pointless. He gazed upon the ship again, at the hard work that had taken three years of his life, then he looked at his mentor in front of the many screens set up next to the Hadron collider. He sighed.
Present: 2095 AD
“What the hell is that?” Asked the captain with authority.
Three persons were present in the ship’s octagonal main bridge, where the massive multi-screen computer took most of the space.
The woman dressed in UN military garb was sitting on one of the two suspended chairs in the room and was pointing at the picture of a ship displayed in front of her.
The other person sitting, a man dressed in a shirt and tie combo with well-groomed black hair, did not answer. The question had not been directed to him.
The third and last person in the room was a middle-aged woman, most likely in her fifties, wearing green medical staff clothes. She looked weak and timid.
She was currently floating in the air, holding herself in balance with one hand, gripping the back of the man’s chair. She lowered her glasses with her remaining hand to examine the screen.
“A mining ship?” She answered hesitantly.
“And this?” A new picture appeared on the screen.
“Erm…I don’t recognize…Ah no I do, it’s a tourist ship, isn’t it? The front was heavily modified though. Why ask me? Oliver knows about spaceships much better than I do.”
The man sitting next to the captain answered her: “Because I’ve got no idea what that thing in front of the Leisurer is. And that in five years of travel, we never found two ships at the same place at the same time. Not counting Shiina, we want you and your brother’s advice. He’s currently listening to us on comms.”
“She won’t like that.”
“Maybe, but I do not want any heroics today, I’ve got a bad feeling. I want to leave.”
The speakers crackled on, and a deep and masculine voice came out of them.
“If Oliver doesn’t feel it, I vote we go too.”
Tess Foncet, captain of the ‘Saviour’ spoke once more.
“Except that what Climber doesn’t explain, is that we received this transmission ten minutes ago.” She pushed the enter key of her mechanical keypad.
“…Saviour, we are the mining crew C157 affiliated to the spatial division of the United Nations, we have gone off-road to look for an SOS in the Jupiter system, and have found the distressed ship, but overlooked our fuel reserves. We are out of tritium and are orbiting around the transport ship. As of current laws, we ask for an emergency refuel to let us go back to the lunar space station. Captain Herl, over.”
The Saviour crew grew silent.
The woman in doctor garbs spoke first. “Well, what’s the problem then? Is crew C157 on our online list? Ah, no Jupiter is in front of us, isn’t it?”
For only answer, Oliver used his tactile notepad to start a search on the mining ship. Instantly, the computer informed them of the existence of the ship and the truthfulness of the miner’s claims.
Despite this, the frail woman did not seem reassured.
“No need of Internet and fast. Intriguing, isn’t it?” Said Oliver with a smirk.
The speakers crackled on again. “What’s the problem?”
“The computer answered immediately, while we should have to wait…four hours before we’re in a position to communicate with the lunar base. The mining vessel’s info is inside our internal database.” The doctor answered him.
“Same database that hasn’t been updated in ten years?”
“Mh mh.”
The speakers went silent for a moment before turning back on. “Could only mean it’s one of the first mining ships affiliated with the UN. Some of them are that old. What bothers me is what he called the other ship. Transport? I just saw the images, that’s a Leisurer, not a Transporter.”
“What are the chances they made a mistake?” The captain asked.
The speakers and Oliver answered simultaneously. “Zero.” Oliver continued: “A miner, especially if he’s been around ten years, can recognize any ship just by looking at its thermal signature. They have been orbiting the thing for who knows how long. Even Sam recognized the ship as touristic, and she has only been on board for two years! Not saying that to spite you or anything Sam.”
The woman lowered her head and answered with a little voice. “No, don’t worry about it.”
“It’s too perfect.” Honey, the voice on the intercom, spoke again.
The captain scratched her chin. “Go on.”
“We’re lost in front of Jupiter. No way any normal ship picks up any distress signal here, except maybe a mining ship looking for asteroids. Even then it would have had to go out of the usual routes, which would have cost more fuel. As such, fuel problem is the only logical explanation to their current state.”
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“So, according to you, they’re telling the truth?”
“Captain, we’ve been travelling together a long time, how often have we found mining ships short of fuel because of a human mistake. Especially with their captain confessing it was a mistake on their part? He just gave up his license forever! Then again, we would be giving up our own license if we do not help a ship listed in the UN fleet. Saviour would be finished.”
“Tess?” Oliver looked at the captain. She was thinking deeply.
“We don’t need to take the decision now, do we?” Sam asked.
The first officer agreed. “True, let us use our ‘onboard computer is slow when doing approach trajectories’ trick, and let us take one hour or two to think about it. Sam, could you analyse the other ship for me? The Leisurer? I am going to check on Shiina and bring her back inside.
He and the medic exchanged places, and Oliver flew off to the back of the ship, using the side ramps to pull himself away.
The captain sighed as she began activating their external comms system. “I don’t even need to lie to them, our computer is slow.”
The doctor gave her a compassionate smile, before starting to work on her own tasks.
One hour later.
“Excuse me?” The usually inexpressive face of captain Tess Foncet showed clear surprise.
“The Leisurer, which is actually in our list as well but recorded as a Transporter, is showing a thermal signature normally only found well…only found in supernovas.”
“I don’t get it.” Honey, the ship’s mechanic, always dressed in perfectly cleaned overalls, in his fifties like his twin sister, was holding himself steady in the zero-g environment through the side ramps of the main bridge.
“I admit I’ve never been much interested in those physicist concepts but isn’t the supernova when a big sun explodes?” Oliver asked.
“Not big, dense. In any case, our thermal scan is overloaded when aiming it at some places of the Leisurer.” Sam continued.
The only person capable of following the doctor’s conversation was unfortunately not present and as such, the other three were simply looking at her confusedly.
“Isn’t that impossible?” The captain tried.
Sam nodded. “Obviously. I’m not specialised on the subject, but my take on it is that our thermal scanner and our radio are faulty.”
“Shit.” Oliver rubbed his temples in what seemed to be the start of a headache.
“I don’t believe that, I check on those every day. They are our most important asset!” Honey shouted.
Sam lowered her head immediately.
Her brother slowly raised his hand to try and apologize, but the captain was faster than him.
“What is your point, Sam?”
“Erm…I don’t think the cause of the problem is our equipment. It’s just not grasping what it’s looking at.”
There was a short pause, broken by Tess Foncet.
“Saviour is quite the old piece of rust on space wheels, but one thing is undeniable, we have the best scanners in the world. Like Honey said, that is our most important asset.
“I know, I know, but the radio signal we received, now that I checked again without Jupiter’s influence, shows no sign of being an SOS. A neutron star can sometimes create short wave radio signals, I think this is something similar we’re witnessing.”
“Wait.” Oliver interrupted her. “If I understand this right you mean the Leisurer isn’t sending an SOS?”
“No…” Sam responded weakly.
“Then in that case, what are they doing here?”
The crew looked at the picture of the mining vessel on the screen.
“I…” Sam began.
“Yes?” Tess encouraged her.
“It’s really going to sound dumb…”
Honey put a hand on her shoulder. “Sis, I don’t think anyone here will say that of you, you’re the smartest in the group.”
She touched her brother’s hand tenderly, then continued.
“I think we found a secret governmental science experiment by mistake.”
The silence was heavy.
Captain Tess could not stop a grimace from escaping her lips.
“I knew I should have shut down my big mouth…” Sam said with self-loathing.
“Hey sis no, no. Simply, understand, that’s a bit much don’t you think? Why not an alien spacecraft too?”
The doctor’s eyes filled themselves with tears.
“Oh, erm, sorry. It’s just…” Honey began.
“Shut up Clarke.” Oliver ordered, before correcting himself. “I was talking to Honey, not you Sam.”
But the medic flew outside the room without a word.
“Shit.” Oliver swore.
“Let our doctor alone for the moment, we’ve got more urgent things to worry about than her feelings.” Tess’ words were harsh, but her expression showed that she felt disgusted about having to say them. “Whatever this is, we’re not looking at miners and a tourist ship asking for help. The fact that they are lying to us means that they do not have good intentions towards us. I will not put my crew in danger just because I could lose the ship or my licence. We have got everything on tape and our decision to bail is logical, we are leaving in ten minutes. Log the coordinates we’ll send a transmission to Earth as soon as we can.”
“Tess if we do that…” Oliver began.
“No we, I’m making the decision on my own. I want everyone in gear at their stations in two minutes.”
“…yes captain.”
“Understood captain.” Honey added. “I’ll warn Shiina and check on Sam.”
“Honey.” Tess said.
The mechanic looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t tell Shiina we’re abandoning them here without helping, or anything of the sort, you get me? We helped them, a simple technical problem solvable from distance, and we leave. I’ll tell her the truth myself once we’re far enough and I spoke with headquarters.”
Honey grimaced but nodded.
The captain and her first mate were alone in the main bridge, wearing their full EVA suits.
“Are you okay sweetheart?” Oliver asked after a few minutes.
“No. Not until I had some answers.”
The speakers in the room and in their helmets turned on, creating an annoying echo.
“Captain, everyone is strapped and ready. I’m with Shiina next to the reactor.”
“Will someone tell me what’s actually happening in this piece of…” A female voice sounded behind him, cut off by the end of the transmission.
“Good. I am turning the ship around. Give me the trajectory, I’ll do it manually.” Tess commanded.
“Understood. The ship is yours.” Her first mate answered her.
The Saviour, rescue vessel in the colours of the United Nations, began turning around in the space above Jupiter. Little compressed air propulsion engines spewed out their gases into the immeasurable void, first one way to accelerate, then in another to decelerate.
“Tess, we’ve got a problem.”
“What? Miners?”
“Their ship, there is some sort of…claw? Exiting its belly, it almost looks like a…”
Tess took a glance towards the image of the ship dozens of miles away from them.
She blinked in disbelief.
“There is a thermal reading as well, what the…”
She did not wait for Oliver to finish his sentence; she pushed the mic button to warn everyone in her ship.
“We’re under attack! Close your helmets and hang on!”
“Fucking shit they’re shooting at us!”
Tess was not listening to him anymore. Entirely focused on the controls of the Saviour. She quickly gazed at the distance between her ship and the fake mining vessel. Not considering missiles, which the Saviour had countermeasures against, there was no weapon capable of shooting effectively at this distance. No weapon except the one that the so-called mining vessel was currently using.
“Were not moving fast enough to avoid impact.” Oliver announced.
At the same moment, a heavy thud resounded through the ship’s fuselage, followed by the most terrifying sound in the world. Air rushing out into space.
“Shit, shit, shit…”
“Climber! Damage assessment!”
“…The shell went through the engine room. It went back the other side with no other damage because of the angle.” Oliver answered her after the briefest of hesitation.
“Clarke!?” Tess shouted while looking at all the screens. She saw clearly what kind of problems were popping up in the engine room and knew what her next decision would need to be. But she needed to be sure.
The speaker went live. “Yup.”
“Both of you alive?”
“Yup. Much debris though. One went through my shoulder. Shiina put on some tape, I’m ok.”
“Shiina?” Tess asked.
“He’s far from ok.” A young feminine voice responded to her.
“I’m ok.” Honey repeated.
“What about the reactor?”
It was the young woman who answered her: “The railgun broke through the hydrogen supply tube; we only have what’s already in the engine. Fuck! Captain, I’m not a kid anymore, next time…”
The captain shut off her comms and started to move her ship again.
“Tess? What are you doing?” Oliver asked.
“I’m putting ourselves in front of them.”
“Yeah, I noticed. Why?”
“Because I’m going to ram them. Use everything we have in the reactor at the same time in exactly three minutes.”
“The cannon is recharging.” He remarked in horror.
“Considering the speed of the first projectile, I’m estimating it’ll take four minutes.”
“…The ship's AI is telling five. You know that doing that will kill us all? The g’s…”
“No.” Tess reopened her comms. “Crew of the Saviour. Abandon ship. This is not a drill. In three minutes, either you are out or you are pancakes on the wall. I made a joke; you know what that means.” She removed her belt and began flying outside her seat. She stopped in front of her EVA closet and put on her jetpack.
“Tess, can you explain?” Oliver was now also out of his seat.
“No. No time. Did you program the launch?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Take your jetpack as well as the rope, we’ll need it.”
They flew outside the room into the main corridor, where the full Clarke family was already present. The captain opened her internal proximity mic.
“Captain!” Shiina shouted into her ears as she moved towards her. “What’s happening?”
“No time. Honey?”
The young woman in her spacesuit sidestepped so the captain could see the mechanic.
He was pale but awake. Then Tess met Sam’s gaze, and she became sombre.
“Everyone out, well away from the Saviour.” Ordered the captain.
Her crew stared at her in disbelief, but all of them followed her orders.
Once all inside the decompression chamber, the onboard computer started talking. It was the last place where the linguistic program of the AI was still functional.
“Decompressing.” Said a robotic voice in their helmets. The usefulness of decompression was debatable, as most of the air was already gone, but skipping the security protocols would have taken more time than just wait for it to be over.
“Shit captain, we’re not really abandoning the Saviour, right? It is our home.”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do, even more, I’ll send them our whole house straight in their faces.”
“Fuck, I told you we needed weapons on board, Gatling guns, not a normal gun in a locked chest and drones to intercept enemy missiles!”
“And I will give you the same answer as always, I am European, not American. We don’t put guns in our ambulances.”
“And you’re obviously wrong about that.”
Oliver’s helmet began beeping.
“It’s starting.” He warned.
At the same time, the door opened to nothingness, and the whole crew jumped into infinity.
It was almost entirely silent. No one was talking, Tess was hearing her own breathing, felt the slightest vibration of the fusion reactor turning on.
She looked at her ship, her hopes, her life, starting to pull away. Beginning to go at immense speed straight towards the mining vessel.
Her crew watched the scene unfold. She could not.
They saw the mining vessel start moving with its own retrorockets, then shoot a second and final shell with their railgun. But the overpowered weapon was preventing them to turn on their own engine. The railgun shell hit the Saviour in a massively destructive fashion, still without any sound. Despite the heavy damage, the spaceship pursued its route undeterred. Nothing would stop it from finding its target. It crashed a few seconds later, straight onto the mining vessel.
The explosion was reflected in Tess Foncet helmet, who finally turned to face her house getting blown away in a million pieces, all of it witnessed by the magnificence of Jupiter.
Tears flew from her eyes, the first time in a long time.
“Tess? Sweety?”
She could not wipe the water droplets in her helmet easily, but she did not care about it. Her gaze had hardened.
She was now staring at the Leisurer, far enough from the impact of the two ships to have stayed completely pristine, at least visually.
“Hang on to me and Oliver. Honey, give the gun you always keep on you to Shiina, you are not in any state to use it. We are probably going to need it. Sam, I need you to guide me, we need to conserve the most air and fuel possible.”