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Episode 51: Into the Satellite
"What's happened?" Starsha's thoughts raced through her mind as she dashed through the palace entryway and down into the sublevels where the main power crystal waited.
She reached the magnificent object and stopped.
Starsha laid her hand on the glowing crystal. The beat of its pulsing heart flowed through her fingers. She could feel it radiating through her entire body. Her hand grew warm as she left it pressed against the crystal.
"Yahweh, protect them!" she pleaded, holding out her other hand. "Connect with the Eratite vessel's engine core." She ordered the Interface.
"Connecting now." The A.I. replied.
Starsha held her breath and waited.
"Everything good for takeoff?" Derek called back to Sandor who occupied the seat behind Wildstar. "This is some plane. I can see why you've been hiding it."
"It wasn't ready for use." Sandor replied simply, and then said, "We're ready to go."
"Alright. Let's get out there and see what that thing is." Derek did one final check of the plane's systems, and asked the crewman on duty in the hangar, "We clear to take off?"
The radio crackled, "You're good to go, Wildstar."
"Thanks."
The bay door slowly opened and the ship shot out into the void.
Derek looked around and wondered again how he would ever manage to keep his bearings out here if the plane's systems decided to go down. He looked at his instruments. To his relief, so far, all of them were working just fine.
"Guess the carbon fiber's doing its job." Derek stole another glance back at Sandor. "So what're we doing once we find this thing?"
"We'll figure that out when we get there." Sandor said, "But one thing's for sure; we have to knock out its power center. Turn it off."
"Well, here goes nothing." Derek muttered to himself. He pushed the plane onward, hoping that luck would keep smiling on them. It was an awfully long way out to whatever was trying to rip the ship apart.
Venture stared down at his station, watching every tiny move of every instrument.
He was glad that they were working again. At least they had that going for them.
"Why did the engine start giving off that field right when we needed it?" he thought, his mind conjuring a hundred possibilities, several of them rather unpleasant, including the thought that Starsha might have sent them into this trap knowingly and that everything up to this point had been a ruse to get them out here alone so that they could die.
He shook his head hard and blinked a few times, trying to rid himself of that particularly awful thought.
He dared a glance away from his terminal for a moment.
Off to his right, Eager was staring at his instruments too, trying to make out anything useful.
The tubby guy had a good handle on stellar phenomena, even before this trip. His resources hadn't been the greatest, but Chris Eager was one of the best in his field.
Mark looked over his left shoulder.
Homer was listening intently to the comm equipment, making sure they hadn't missed some sort of signal from what that thing was out there.
Dash, a bit farther away than Homer, seemed to be thinking about something, though what it might be, Mark had no idea. In Derek's absence, Dash was acting gunnery chief. If they needed to launch an attack, Dash would be the one to head up the effort until Wildstar returned.
Mark looked back out into the void before them.
It was unnerving to peer out into that much emptiness. So many times he'd looked into that deep blackness and found it hard to look away.
He stared deep into the outer darkness, letting his mind float out into it. Out in the void it was silent – nothing to disturb his thoughts, or his peace.
An alarm sucked him out of his trance and his eyes shot down to his station.
"Captain, the pull's getting stronger. The autopilot can't hold us here anymore." Mark reached down to the navigation controls and frantically tried to pull with the auto-navigator.
"Auto-pilot disengaging." The computer droned, not caring that its lack of will might just be their undoing.
Mark gripped the controls so hard that his knuckles turned white. He wrenched the ship to port, trying to steer her out of the field.
"It isn't working, Captain. I can't get her out. And we're fighting to stay where we are. The stress on the hull is rising." Venture's voice wavered as he said it, worry creeping into his already concerned face.
"Pull with everything you've got, Venture. The longer we give Wildstar and Sandor, the better our chances are." The Captain replied.
"I'm trying, Sir, but the pull is so strong."
"Just do what you can." Avatar replied, "After that, it's up to God."
No one commented on the captain's statement, but several found comfort in it. All eyes were riveted on Mark as he held on for the lives of the entire crew.
"It's so… empty out here." Derek said under his breath, "Not even asteroids or space trash, or anything like that." He glanced back at Sandor, "You think this place used to be something else? Before it was a trap, I mean."
Sandor stared out the back window for some time, then said thoughtfully, "Perhaps. The area's very clean; nothing out here that might endanger passing ships. But I can't really say what it once was. Maybe when we get to that unit we'll know more about this place."
"Yeah, maybe. But don't you think this is strange? Why would there even be a trap here – if this is a trap. Maybe we just wandered into something that stopped working. Is this thing even Gamilon? How do we know that we aren't just flying towards some big space creature that eats ships for lunch?"
Sandor nearly laughed at the last conjecture. "Wildstar, if whatever it was were alive, we would have known that by now. It's most likely some sort of satellite. Though what its purpose is, I can only guess at this point. And you may be right. It may simply be malfunctioning."
"What if we can't fix it – or stop it?" Wildstar asked, his voice a bit shaky.
"We have no choice but to stop it." Sandor replied, deathly serious.
Derek didn't respond, just put his head down and took a deep breath. He felt like space was closing in around him. "What if this is the end?" he thought.
He looked up, straining to see the tiny speck that was their destination.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" He thought, irritated that he could do nothing more than he was already doing. He pounded his fist into a bare piece of hull. Pain shot through his hand and up his arm, but he didn't care. The more he thought about the situation, the angrier he became.
Thoughts of Nova, Mark, all the others whisked through his mind. What would happen if he couldn't save them?
"Don't let the stress get to you too much, Wildstar." Sandor said from the back seat.
"Why shouldn't I?" Derek bit back. "We're sitting out here in the middle of this stupid wasteland in space floating towards something that's trying to kill us all and we can't do anything to stop it! What are you doing that makes you so qualified to tell me not to be a little crazy right now?!"
"Praying." Came the simple answer.
Wildstar was so taken aback by that one single word that he said nothing. Instead, he turned his eyes towards their goal and found that his anger had quieted, replace by something else entirely. "Nova, if I never see you again… well, I'll be sorry I didn't have the chance to tell you… something I've wanted to say for a while now…"
"Connection successful." The Interface announced.
Starsha watched as the engine core user interface appeared before her. She skimmed various reports quickly, noting that the engine was already giving off a cancellation field for what appeared to be a strong magnetic pull coming from…
She accessed the radar data. Whatever was pulling the ship in was eighteen hundred megameters away and pulling them in fast.
"Yahweh, help them." She prayed.
The power indicator caught her eye and she saw that the Eratite ship was running on minimal power, thirty percent at best. It was a miracle they were able to resist the magnetic pull at all.
"Prepare to transfer power." Starsha told the Interface.
"Transfer preparations will be complete in five minutes."
Starsha flipped through various security cameras onboard the ship while she waited for the Interface to finish what it was doing. She saw so many faces – ones she'd seen before while she was aboard the ship, and so many others she didn't recognize, but longed to be able to meet and speak with.
She hoped that they all would make it safely to Iscandar and back to Erats.
"Preparations complete."
The young queen took a deep breath, and, hand still pressed against the glowing crystal said, "Begin transfer."
She braced herself for the wave of pain she knew would come.
An instant later, her body felt like it was on fire. This time was worse than the first; every part of her being felt like it would melt with the intense heat caused by the transfer. The crystal pulsed wildly as it sent energy through the queen's connection with the ship's engine core.
Starsha saw the darkness starting to infringe on the corners of her vision.
She fell to her knees, but stubbornly kept her hand against the crystal.
She let out a cry of pain, but through it she uttered another prayer, "Bring them through this, Yahweh. See them to the other side."
She felt her hand slipping from the crystal. "No! It isn't finished!" Her mind begged her body to obey her, but it didn't listen.
Her finger started to slip off the smooth surface.
Just as she was about to lose contact with the power source, strong hands took her by the shoulders and pushed her back towards the crystal.
"Let's get this done." Adam's voice came as a welcome relief. "I don't know exactly what you're doing, but I know you're sending them help."
"Thank you." She managed weakly, "Whatever happens, don't let me lose touch with the crystal until the transfer is complete."
"You got it." Adam replied, supporting the Iscandar queen as she continued the transfer of much-needed power to the Argo's engine core.
Twenty agonizing minutes later, they arrived.
"What is this thing?" Derek looked at the grayish, tubular mass floating in front of the small plane.
"Looks like a satellite, or some kind of communications hub." Sandor replied. "Whatever it is, it's been here for a while – at least two years I'd say."
"How do you know that?" Derek asked.
Sandor pointed to something displayed on the side of the satellite. "One of those symbols is a '2,' and some of the others seem to represent time, but they're nothing like the ones we've seen so far – the ones that indicate days, weeks, or months."
"Oh, right." Derek replied, "Didn't know you knew that much of the Gamilon language."
"I've been putting in a lot of study hours." Sandor replied.
"Well, we made it in one piece." Derek quipped as they pulled up alongside one of the oddest satellites he'd ever seen.
"Should we open the cockpit and go in on tether lines, or should I try to stuff this thing into one of those openings all over this thing?" Derek asked, reaching for his tether line.
"Tethers." Sandor replied, "The EVA suits can withstand the field. They're not metal. And going in on tethers will keep us connected to the plane if something should happen."
"Alright." Derek agreed, fastening his tether to his suit and waiting for Sandor to do the same.
Once the two men were suitably attached to the plane, Wildstar popped open the cockpit.
Derek pushed himself up out of the plane and towards the satellite. He thought Sandor was right behind him, so when he landed near one of the circular openings on the satellite's surface he was puzzled to find that his fellow officer had already landed.
"Hey, Sandor! How'd you get here so fast?"
Sandor didn't answer Wildstar, just took out a small device that Derek didn't recognize.
The young man shook his head and started to walk through the opening in front of him.
"Don't –"
Sandor's warning was cut off by a dazzling display of light as Derek was flung away from the opening in a brilliant, tiny explosion.
"Whoa! What was that?" Derek asked, still dazed from the shock and light.
"Force field." Sandor replied. "I tried to tell you. Is your suit damaged?"
Derek checked his HUD. "Nah. It's fine. But my fingers and toes feel like a bunch of bees are crawling all over them."
"Don't touch anything else unless I say you can." Sandor instructed as he reached out and grabbed Derek's tether, pulling him back to the satellite's surface.
"Whatever you say." Derek replied, relieved that his little mishap hadn't caused any permanent damage.
Once his feet were back on the satellite's outer casing, Wildstar asked, "So, how so we get in?"
"We need to find the power source for the force field. All of these openings," Sandor pointed to the various holes all around the satellite, "Are protected by these fields. There's no way we can get in without disabling the field generator. I'm scanning for anything that could produce these fields right now."
Sandor looked down at his little device again.
The two men were silent for twenty long seconds before the science officer's face lit up.
"This way!" Sandor pointed towards the top of the satellite.
The science officer started walking up the side of the thing and Derek followed him, feeling strange walking on what was akin to the outer wall of a small building. It was like walking up the side of a house.
A few moments later, Sandor stopped in front of Derek and pointed to a small, black object.
"Looks like a flower, or a squid, or something with a lot of arms." Derek commented.
"That's the generator." Sandor said, "I'm sure of it."
"And what if that's just some random space slug that decided to make its home here?" Wildstar quipped.
"I highly doubt that." Sandor replied, "It's giving off signals to all possible entryways."
"So how do we shut it down so we can go i – Whoa!" Derek's hands shot up to cover his helmet's visor as an explosion tore through the blackness in front of him. "I guess shooting it works."
Sandor tugged on Wildstar's tether, "Come on, let's get back down to that opening."
Derek followed without another word.
Soon the opening came back into view and Sandor pulled out his scanner again. He studied the device for a moment, then looked at Derek and nodded, "Go ahead and try walking through it again."
Wildstar took a tentative step forward, then another. He stood at the threshold of the opening, took a deep breath and closed his eyes before stepping over the lip of the opening.
No bright lights punched him out into space this time.
"It's down! The force field's down!" Wildstar exclaimed, feeling the weight of his shipmates' anxiety more acutely now than he had when they'd launched.
He opened his eyes and looked at what lay before him.
A long tunnel, lit by a dim orange light, snaked into the satellite.
"It may only be down for a few minutes." Sandor replied, stepping through the porthole and into the giant alien satellite. He walked past Derek and started down the tunnel. When he saw Wildstar staring blankly he motioned for the young man to follow. "Come on."
Wildstar took a second to react to the science officer's admonition, but once he did, he quickly set a hot pace for Sandor to follow.
The passage walls were rough, pocketed everywhere with tiny holes. Some seemed to hold light sources, while others contained some sort of electrical component that neither of them had ever seen before. Unfortunately there wasn't time to stop and examine them as Argo was still in dire straits.
That wasn't an option they could even afford to consider. They had to find the core of this this - shut it down now. The alternative was… the death of Earth herself.
With love of their homeworld driving them onward, the two followed the trail of energy emanating from the satellite core.
"Captain, our power's coming back!" Orion's voice came to Avatar.
"How?" The Captain asked.
"Don't know." Orion replied, "But I'm glad it is."
"Auto-pilot reinitializing."
Venture slumped back into his seat, relieved to let the computer take the helm again. His arms felt like jelly from pulling so hard for too long.
"Power's up to one hundred percent again, Captain." Orion said.
"Very good. Do we have enough power to get away from the pull of this magnetic field?" Avatar asked.
"Afraid not, Captain." Orion replied, "The field is too strong, and the ship's made of so much metal… she can't pull free."
"Alright." Avatar replied, then said to Venture, "Keep us right where we are. If the field starts pulling us farther in… we'll just have to hold on until Wildstar and Sandor find another solution."
"Aye, Sir." Venture said, willing his limp hands and arms to reach out and grasp the controls – just in case they gave out again.
"Wow…" Derek whispered, "Is this the power center?" He looked all around the expansive cavern. Another ten minutes of walking and twenty of avoiding robotic sentries had led them into this room. The walls were a deep red, as was the floor and ceiling. Everything almost looked like it was covered with hundreds of crimson power cables, like everything in the satellite connected here. Everywhere he looked, he saw red.
Derek stepped into the cavern cautiously, his eyes falling on what had to be the energy core.
In the center of the room towered a giant red knot of cords, connected to the ceiling and floor like a giant hourglass. It glowed with intense heat, almost like it was alive; Derek could feel the warmth all the way from the room's opening.
"Let's disable this thing and get out of here." Derek said to Sandor through the suit's mic. "This place is giving me the creeps."
"I'll need a few minutes with it." Sandor said, "Turning off something like this may prove a challenge. We've never interacted with anything like this before."
"Just get the thing offline." Derek said curtly, a feeling of dread creeping up his spine. "Something doesn't feel right here."
"I agree. I'll work as quickly as I can." Sandor started towards the core with slowly, careful footsteps.
He reached the core without incident and Derek started to breathe a little easier. But just when Sandor reached out to touch the blood-red, corded core shell, they heard a strange voice, feminine, and frightening.
"Li-atah…"
The voice started as a whisper.
"Li-atah…"
Then rose in volume, ending in a fearsome roar.
"MEESA MASHEENA!"
"Uh… Sandor, what did she just say?" Derek asked, the feeling of dread from before now transforming into an acute sense of danger.
"She said, she has us and is going to kill us." The science officer supplied, "Get out of here as fast as you can!"
Episode 52: Out on a Limb
Starsha felt like her whole world was burning. Breathing was an agony she desperately wished she didn't need. The crystal was sending an enormous amount of power this time. Whatever happened, it had taken the bulk of the Argo's energy.
Just when she thought she could bear the pain no more, the Interface announced, "Power transfer successful."
The searing pain disappeared, replaced by an all-encompassing ache that radiated through her entire body. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and slumped over, her hand falling away from the power crystal, leaving a tiny trail of smoke behind.
"Your hand!" Adam's voice came to her through a fog. She felt like she was in a thick cloud bank. Everything was fuzzy and Adam's voice sounded quite far away.
She tried to wave him away. He didn't need to worry about her.
"Your hand is burned." Adam said again, trying to get the young woman to realize that she really had hurt herself this time.
"I'll be… alright…" Starsha managed, fighting to keep herself from falling to the polished floor.
"No, you need this looked at." Adam insisted. "I'm getting Alex. We'll take you up to your room."
"But the ship…" she protested weakly.
"You can't do anything else for them now. And you certainly can't help them if you die." The Eratite chided, his brown eyes holding much concern and just a bit of irritation. "Why did you let whatever you did go on so long? Why didn't you stop it when your hand started burning?"
Starsha looked at Adam, the fog over her mind having cleared a bit, and said, "It is not my life that matters, Adam Avatar. It is the lives of those who would come to save Erats. If I must give up my life or my well-being to ensure their arrival… I will."
Adam didn't say anything in return. Instead, he helped the young queen to her feet and got her over to the glass bench close by. Making sure she would be alright while he fetched his friend, he quickly left.
An eerie laugh permeated the room. Wildstar sprinted for the open door he and Sandor had just entered. Just before he got there the orifice slammed shut.
Red cords melted over the door, encasing the entrance in a hopelessly thick layer of impenetrable crimson. Derek whirled around, looking frantically for another exit – anything that would spell a way for them to get out.
Seeing nothing, he turned his eyes back to Sandor.
The science officer was standing near the core in the center of the room. He had a hand out, trying to get ahold of the core – establish some kind of connection with it. Sandor had a small device in his hand. Derek didn't know what it was and there wasn't time to find out, but whatever Sandor had planned, he would need time to execute it.
"Sandor!" Derek called to the other man through the suit comm system. "I'll –"
"Be quiet, Wildstar!" Sandor's sudden rebuke confused Derek, then the science officer continued, "It hears us. Don't say anything."
Then it dawned on Derek. He had heard the core speak. The only way he could have heard it would be through the EVA suits' own comm systems. With his helmet on, he couldn't hear anything outside the suit.
Wildstar shivered. This A.I. had already gotten into their systems. If it had hacked them that easily, what exactly could this thing accomplish…? Could it get at the Argo from here? What would happen if the ship got too close? Would the A.I. shut down life support? Kill everyone on board?
"Not today, you crazy computer." Derek muttered under his breath.
"Wildstar, I said not to say anything." Sandor chided again.
"No, Sandor, I want that Gamilon machine to hear me this time." Derek said defiantly, "We're here to shut you down! You can't just grab our ship out of the sky and threaten to kill our friends! Maybe it works that way where you're from, but it doesn't work that way on Earth, and it's for sure not going to work that way right now."
"Yes. It will."
Derek's eyes widened as the A.I. answered in perfect English this time.
"How can it know one of our languages?" Derek thought, horrified that the A.I. had somehow already gotten a hold of the Argo and her knowledge of Earth and her people.
"I know many things." The A.I. said, almost as if she'd read Derek's mind. "Your language is simple. It was not hard to extrapolate from listening to you two speak."
A tiny bit of relief came to Wildstar when the computer said that. At least this thing hadn't breached Argo's computers – at least not yet.
"It will not be long now." The A.I. continued. "Soon I will have your ship… in pieces. And my world's Leader will be most pleased to see the wreckage of your humble vessel."
"I don't think so." Derek growled and whipped out his astro-automatic. Finding something that looked important, Derek fired into the mess of red.
"FOOL!" the computer screamed into Derek's ears, leaving them ringing. "I am not some rodent you may scare away!"
Everything, the floor, walls, ceiling, even the core itself began to writhe. Sandor threw himself towards the core and caught it, wrapping his arms around the tall, red pillar.
Derek fought to keep his footing. It was like riding out the worst earthquake he'd ever seen. The floor rippled violently. Red cords everywhere waved and writhed.
Just when Derek thought he couldn't keep his feet any longer, three crimson cords shot up out of the floor and grabbed him, by two feet and a hand, pulling him to the writhing floor.
With his free hand Derek reached for his weapon, which he'd dropped in the chaos. He strained towards the gun, lying just out of his reach. He pulled so hard against his bonds that he felt his joints starting to pull themselves out of place.
His ankle popped and with a yelp he stopped straining. Just when he did, a fourth cord snaked out of the floor and grabbed his free hand, forcing it too into captivity.
Now face-down on the floor, Derek looked up, trying to find Sandor.
There! Still holding onto the core, the science officer was doing something with the strange red nexus. It looked like he was trying to…
"Hey, computer. You think tying me to the floor is going to stop me?"He challenged the A.I., trying to keep its attention away from Sandor.
"Yes, Eratite." the thing replied. "I'm sure it will. You do not have the power to resist me. None of you do. You do not possess the strength of a machine. There is nothing you can do now. But I must move on to your annoying friend – the one you're hoping I won't notice as he tried to override some of my programming."
Derek's heart jumped into his throat. There wasn't anything more he could do for Sandor now.
Dark red cords writhed towards the science officer and grabbed all four of his limbs just before he finished what he was doing.
"Almost there." Sandor thought as he reached out to start the program he'd written to infiltrate the A.I. and turn off some of it security functions. He hadn't had time to write anything more elaborate than that. But just as he reached out to tell the device he'd brought to begin its work his hand was snatched out of the air by a thick garnet cord.
He moved to use his other hand, but it met the same fate as the first appendage. Then his feet were captured too, leaving him at the mercy of the A.I. and its sea of crimson servants.
"You thought I wouldn't catch you in time?" the A.I. asked, sounding quite full of itself for a computer.
Sandor didn't say anything.
"You think I'm stupid, foolish Eratite?" the computer continued, then lapsed into its own language again, letting out a string of curses upon Erats and her people.
"You may think I've underestimated you." Sandor began, then looked at the device still attached to the core. "But did you ever think that perhaps you have underestimated us?"
The A.I. growled, "Explain yourself."
With one great yank Sandor tore his hand free of the bond that held it. He reached for his device and with one simple tap, the program was live.
"How? What have you done, foolish man?" the A.I. bellowed, then said something that puzzled Derek as he lay on the other side of the room. "Cyborg! You are not merely flesh and bone as your companion is! You tricked me into capturing you!"
The cords hiding the door melted away, revealing the opening once again.
"I will not be beaten so easily!" the computer screeched in anger.
Derek feared for their lives more now than he had mere moments before. What had she meant calling Sandor a "cyborg"? That didn't make sense at all.
But how had the science officer torn through his bonds the way he just had?
Derek tugged at the cords around his wrists and ankles again. He could barely budge them, much less rip them apart.
He looked on in amazement as the science officer ripped off the other cord holding his second hand with no more effort than it might take to rip a piece of paper in half.
The computer roared again, "You have not won, fool! You have – merely – postponed – the…" the A.I.'s words trailed off and the red light that permeated the room grew dim.
"I'll get you out of those cords." Sandor said to Derek over the suit's comm. "But I need to make sure that the core had been shut down first. It'll only take a minute or two now that the security measures are off.."
Sandor reached out and tapped a few things into the device he'd used to silence that dreadful A.I.
"Done." The science officer announced detaching the gadget and putting it back into its pocket. "That magnetic field should be off now."
Derek watched as Sandor ripped off his two remaining bonds and made his way through the mess of the knotted, red room. Once at Derek's side, the XO ripped away the four cords that bound the young man.
"How…?" Derek asked, rubbing his wrists as he checked for damage to his suit.
"Not important now. I'll tell you later. We need to get out of here."
Suddenly another voice – this one different from the A.I.'s blared through their suit coms.
"What's it say, Sandor?" Derek asked.
"We have five minutes to get out of here before this thing blows." The XO replied, "Let's get out of here."
"Right behind you." Derek said without protest.
Sandor led the way back through the maze of tunnels they'd followed to get to the core. The way was dark now that the satellite's systems had been shut down and more than once Derek was afraid they wouldn't make it back out in time.
With twenty seconds to spare he and Sandor hastily boarded their plane and took off.
Derek jetted away from the satellite as fast as the plane could fly.
Behind them, the satellite lit up like a bonfire. In a flash, the grey mass was gone.
Derek started to breathe a sigh of relief, but was stopped short when he heard Sandor say from the back seat, "What on Earth is that?"
Derek turned the plane back around so he could see whatever the other man had.
His eyes got so big he thought they would pop out of their sockets.
"Whoa…" Wildstar breathed.
The sight that met the pair's eyes was like nothing else they'd ever seen before.
"I guess we know why that thing was sitting out here in the middle of nowhere…" Derek said, voice low in complete awe.
"It was hiding that." Sandor added, "Whatever that is."
Outside, near where the satellite once was, a thing of brilliant beauty stood, its great presence stretched from one end of their field of vision to the other. Its sheer size was more than Derek could take in all at once.
A web of blue light danced inside a gigantic diamond-shaped frame. In the center of that frame floated a dark circle. It almost looked like someone had shot the middle out of an enormous kite before laying it on its side.
"What is that?" Derek asked.
"I don't know, Wildstar." Sandor replied, "Let's get back to the ship. We can find out more there. I managed to retrieve some of the data off of the satellite's mainframe before it was destroyed. Maybe that will shed some light on what that is and whether or not it's dangerous."
"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Wildstar said, absently turning the plane around and heading back towards the ship at best speed.
"It's a gate." Sandor announced to the rest of the officers and Captain Avatar.
"Okay. A gate to what?" Derek asked.
"Another part of the galaxy." Sandor replied. "But it isn't operational yet."
"Wait, what?" Derek asked. "What do you mean 'yet'? You're not thinking of messing with that thing are you?"
Sandor was about to answer when the Captain held up a hand to silence them all. "We've lost a lot of time. If this gate proves to be a way we can make up that time, we need to consider it."
"But, Captain, how are we even going to get it working again?" Mark asked.
"Sandor is working on an answer to that question." The Captain replied, "We don't know much about the gate yet. We only know that it is old – quite old. At least a hundred years."
"Is it Gamilon?" Eager asked.
"No." Sandor answered. "It isn't. But obviously they knew about it and valued it, or they wouldn't have hidden it behind a trap as deadly as the one we've just escaped."
"I don't know about this, Sandor." Eager said again, "Somethin' isn't right here."
Sandor looked at every officer in turn, "I don't know what lies on the other side of that gate, or even if I'll be able to get it back online, but one thing I do know. We haven't come this far by wasting an opportunity like this. I'll not endanger the lives of any of you, but I have to know if this is something we can use."
The men and women in the operations room looked back at their executive officer and nodded in understanding.
"Okay." Derek said on behalf of the entire group, "Let's see what this thing is."
Sandor nodded back at Wildstar in thanks for his support.
"I'll send all of you the information I have on this gate. Let me know what you find."
The group all nodded and left, all except Wildstar who waited until everyone except Sandor had gone.
"So, you gonna tell me how you managed to rip yourself out of your ropes back there? Those cords were too thick for even me to get out of. No disrespect intended, but you're not exactly the athletic type." Wildstar said.
Sandor smiled sadly, "There are some things in life that we don't understand when they happen, Wildstar." The science officer said, pulling off the grey, open-backed gloves that were part of his uniform. He rolled up one of his sleeves and held out a bare arm towards Derek. "Your brother knew, so it's only right you do too."
Derek stepped closer to the science officer, puzzled. "Knew what?"
Sandor gently pushed on the underside of his forearm with two fingers. A tiny plate popped up out of the man's arm.
Derek jumped, startled. "What's that?" he pointed at the protrusion, "That's just some kind of implant, right?"
"No, Wildstar." Sandor held out his arm for Derek to see.
"What's with all the wires and metal parts?" the young man asked, looking into the hole the opened plate revealed.
"That's my arm." Sandor replied simply, "As children my sister and I were in an… accident. She was fine, but I wasn't. The accident crushed my arms and legs. As a result, they were replaced… with bionic limbs."
"So that's what that computer meant when she called you a cyborg!" Derek exclaimed, finally understanding some of the odd things he'd seen the science officer do without explanation.
Sandor pushed the plate back down into his arm and rolled down his sleeve. "Yes. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't notice sooner."
"Well, you have to admit I did a pretty good job of distracting her." Derek said.
Sandor chuckled, "I suppose you did at that."
The two officers left the operations room and headed back towards the bridge.
The Iscandari queen sat quietly on the glass bench near the power crystal, holding out her hand to Alex. She winced as the Eratite treated her burns.
"What were you doing down here anyway?" Adam asked as he handed his friend a bandage.
"The ship –I sent it power." She replied.
Adam looked at her, puzzled.
"The Eratite ship's power was drained by something neither I, nor my Interface system could identify, but whatever it was, the situation was dire enough for the engine core to send me a distress signal."
"You can see when they're in trouble?" Adam asked.
"She can." Alex said, now finished wrapping Starsha's hand. "Before you woke up, there were a couple of… incidents."
Adam looked at Alex this time. "You didn't tell me about those."
"Sorry." Alex said, "I didn't know if you'd recovered enough to be told about some of the stuff your father and his crew have been through."
"Wait, my father's on that ship?" Adam asked, dumbfounded.
"He is." Starsha said, "And he is a fine leader for his crew."
"My brother's on board too." Alex put in, "And Sandor."
"Stephen's there?" Adam said, his face brightening with each new name Alex said. "I haven't seen him since the Academy, and I haven't seen your little brother in longer than that."
"They're not here yet." Alex said.
Starsha nodded solemnly, "Indeed. It will still be some time before their arrival." She stood, examined her bandaged hand and said, "Thank you, Alex." She sighed, "I must get some rest."
With that, the queen left the two men alone.
A companionable silence fell between the friends, charged with excitement at the coming of the Earth ship.
"She's interesting, don't you think?" Alex asked.
"I suppose so." Adam replied absently as he walked up to the giant crystal in the center of the room. The prospect of seeing his father again filled him with joy. He never thought he would see anyone else he knew ever again. Now that that possibility was before him, he was elated.
"I…" Alex began, a sad expression taking over his face, "I… care about her."
"I care what happens to her too. She saved our lives. We owe her a lot." Adam replied as he walked around the room, looking at the beautiful glass and crystal constructs scattered around the area.
"No Adam. Not like that. I mean… I love her." Alex said.
Adam didn't reply. There was a long silence and Alex was starting to think Adam hadn't heard him. He was about to repeat himself when he heard footsteps, then felt Adam's hand on his shoulder. "I don't think that's gonna work, Alex."
Alex nodded, "She said as much."
"You told her?" Adam asked.
"Yeah." Alex nodded, "She said… there was someone else. At first I thought she might mean you."
Adam laughed good-naturedly, "I don't think that would work either."
"But who could there be? There isn't anyone else here."
"Maybe he isn't on Iscandar." Adam offered.
"I guess that's possible." Alex said, "But whoever he is, I hope he appreciates her like I do."
Starsha stepped into her quarters, weary beyond words from the ordeal she'd just been through.
"Mistress?"Adrianna's light voice floated to the young queen, "Are you alright?"
"Yes." Starsha replied, trudging slowly through the living area and into her bedroom. She sat down on the bed, fighting the urge to lie down and fall into blissful oblivion.
She looked up.
Green and gold filled her vision as Gamilon appeared above the Palace of Iscandar.
The sight overwhelmed the Iscandari and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Stop this madness…" She pleaded silently, "Stop trying to destroy the ones sent to bring this deliverance to Erats, Desslok."
She looked away, a wave of sadness washing over her. "If only you would understand…" she turned her eyes back to Gamilon, her gaze resting on the very spot where she knew Belarus lay beneath the crust of the dying world. "You could make this right… You could save Erats – undo what your brother began and you continued…Your soul is filled with the darkness of Abaddon, dear friend… But that darkness will never be too deep for Yahweh's light to dispel."
As the tears ran down her cheeks, she opened her mouth say the one thing she wished she could say to the face of the man who had forged his way through the ranks of a usurper-king to bring her aid in her time of need.
"I… love you, my friend. And I hope that, one day, you will know that, and in that day, may you also know the Truth of Yahweh. May your benighted heart find the Light of Shaddai."