The Chronicles of Aallandranon - Episode One - Ant-Lion (8 page)

“
I’
m saying that the
scanner is working.
”
Clara glared at Ryan.

“
Hey
Jonathan,
”
Sam Hartigan called from one of the terminals on the top
floor of the Bridge.
“
You might want to
come check this out.
”

“
This may take a few minutes.
”
Clara
said.

Jonathan jogged up the steps to the third floor.
“
What
’s up.”
Jonathan put his arm on top of the terminal and leaned
over so that he could see the holo-screen. On the monitor, a visual
of the ship was looping after five seconds of footage. First, the
ship appeared fine, and then a massive vortex appeared to swallow
the thing up. There were no indications or changes around the ship
up until the event horizon where, for the length of time they were
in the black-hole which seemed at the time to be far longer than
.03 seconds, the ship reported widespread damage across all areas
except the core. The backdrop of space changed as well: there were
no more clouds of plasma. They had gone through a black-hole and
came out God knows where. He had designed the ship for interstellar
space-travel, not as a vessel to pass through dangerous and unknown
phenomena roaming through deep space.
“
I guess that explains
what happened.
”

“
We
never saw it coming. Why didn
’
t we prepare for
something like that?
”
Sam stared at Jonathan.

“
The
ship
’
s
mostly titanium, osmium, crystal, and LI-1800 ceramic panels. We
don
’
t
have much in the way of stronger elements at our disposal. I
suppose you could take part of a neutron star and mix a new
heavier, denser alloy together, but let me know how that works out
for you.
”

“
Guess I
’
ll be monitoring the one reactor from
here.
”
Sam said.

“
Don
’
t get too cozy,
”
said Jonathan.
“
This bird
won
’
t
hold together without the other four reactors to systematically
alternate the power. We have maybe three days worth of life-support
before the power runs dry and we eventually freeze to
death.
”

“
Captain Pessimism.
”
Sam typed in several entries to try
to triangulate where the ship was in space.

“
That was optimism. The ship will probably fall apart before
that happens. The structural integrity wasn
’
t built to sustain
without the other half. The separation feature is your last ditch
effort before you
’re toast.”
Jonathan turned and started for the
steps.

Hearing himself say these things was a form of
acknowledgment. He knew everything about the Enigma down to which
screw goes where and for what purpose. During that process, he had
included features that would give them a little extra time to get
everyone onto the backup Freighters and evacuate the
ship.

“
Jonathan,
”
Clara called. Jonathan hurried down to the first
floor.
“
I’
m reading life on one
of the nearby planets. It
’
s in the Goldilocks
zone. It
’
s the size of Jupiter, but the gravitational pull is nearly
the same as Earth
’
s.
”

“
What
’
s the atmosphere look like?
”
Jonathan stood over her shoulder and
watched the schematics of the planet appear on the
screen.

“
Seventy-eight-percent nitrogen and twenty-one-percent
oxygen. The rest is ozone, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. The
water to land ratio is seventy-nine percent water with the oceans
containing almost all of the planet
’
s water. The planet is
composed of identical elements to Earth
’
s, almost like they were
cut from the same cloth.
”
Clara said.

“
How
is that possible? We go through a hole in the middle of nowhere and
end up,
”
Jonathan glanced at the screen,
“
half a
light-year from a planet that supports life?
”

“
When you say life,
”
George Freeman began from the second
story,
“
what do you mean?
”

“
I
don
’
t
know, I
’
m just reading life-signs, quite a lot of
them.
”
Clara said. Jonathan watched the screen. The light readings
were sequestered to small regions on different areas of the many
continents all over the visual globe. It was such a familiar view,
like seeing the power grid on Earth from space.

“
I’
m not reading much in
the way of pollutants. There are a few things that the scanner
doesn
’
t recognize in the atmosphere; just says unknown. The days,
weeks, and years are longer, but it appears to have a seasonal
cycle similar to Earth
’
s.
”
Clara said.

“
Is this Alpha
Centauri?
”
Sam called from the top level of the
Bridge.

“
No, it can
’t be,”
said
Jonathan.
“We
’
d have seen it from our telescopes and readings in our
solar system, and there
’
s only one sun
here
–
not two.
”

Adams
met Jonathan
’s side.
“
Well,
Jonathan
–
since you
’
re the expert on this ship
’
s
capability
–
what do you think we should do next?
”

Jonathan stroked his chin. He squinted at the blue globe
beyond the cracked window above them.
“
We
can
’
t
stay on this ship, but due to the outstanding limits of our power,
we
’
re
not going to be able to reroute the focus from our life-support
functions. That black-hole didn
’
t exactly leave us with
much inertia to work with.
”

The Bridge went quiet for a few moments after
he finished.

“
I’
ve got a
plan.
”
It was William Mason standing on the ledge preceding the
third floor. He had cut his plastic binding, but Chance stood by
his side.
“
Reroute power to the thrusters for long enough to
get up to speed, drop the thrusters, and set a collision course for
the planet.
We
’
ll only be able to go about two thousand miles-per-hour in
the ship
’
s condition, but it
’
ll get us there in
probably three days.
”

“
Chance, restrain that
man.
”
Adams ordered.

“
I’
ve
got him under control.
”
Chance said.

“
William Mason may have doomed
us all. Letting him walk around is a mistake.
”
Adams met
Jonathan
’
s eye.

“
What happened to us
didn
’
t have anything to do with him.
”
Jonathan shook his
head.
“
And William, that plan would blow our power
completely.
It would leave us
with twelve hours of oxygen and that
’
s not enough time to get
to that planet even if we were going as fast as we were before we
hit the black-hole. Not to mention that if the Enigma crashes into
the planet, we can
’
t be certain the core won
’t
destabilize.”

“
I just came from the Flight
Dock,
”
said William.
“
Most of our ships
survived the event.
We
evacuate the Enigma, get everyone onto a few Freighters, and follow
the Enigma to the planet. Someone will have to stay behind and
guide the Enigma to make sure it sets down without damaging the
core. You can isolate life-support to the Bridge and with one
person aboard, it will last four or five times as
long
–
long enough to get us to the planet. The core will be fine.
You really don
’
t have any other options.
”

Jonathan considered the proposal. He
didn
’
t
trust William, but what he said made sense.

“
What about the natives of the planet?
”
Stephanie Rawi asked
from the second floor.
“
How can we be sure we
don
’
t
cause damage to their ecosystem and infrastructure? We have no idea
of what introducing the Enigma to their society could
do.
”

“
We
don
’
t
have a choice.
”
Jonathan said.
“
We can take one for
the nature of things and die out here, or we can take a chance and
do what we set out to do initially, and that was to find another
planet that could sustain life. I believe we
’
ve found that planet,
however involuntary our coming upon it happened to be. The decision
stands. Live or die people, what
’
s it going to
be?
”

“
I
vote live.
”
Clara put her hand into the air. Ryan
’
s hand
followed.

Jonathan saw everyone else
’
s hand rise.
“
Guess we have our answer. Now, who
’
s going to stay behind
to make sure the Enigma makes it down okay?
”
He asked, watching
everyone drop their hands.

“
I’
ll do
it,
”
said Adams.

“
I
will if you need.
”
Sam stood up.

“
Me
too.
”
Rawi raised her hand. George also raised
his.

“
In
this circumstance, it would be best if I do it,
”
said Jonathan.
“
I know how to work this girl better than anyone else.
I
’
ll
be able to sneak her in and drop her off without causing too much
damage. Besides... she
’
s my creation. I want to be the one the bury
her.
”
He realized the prospect of what he was going to have to
do: end everything he had worked for, destroy his livelihood, and
start over from less than scratch. There were no space stations or
satellites around this planet, which meant that the inhabitants
hadn
’
t
mastered space-travel. It put him at a disadvantage, but he would
get back into space if he had to mine, smelt, and shape every bar,
nut, and screw to recreate his vessel.
“
Where
’
s Captain Joyce?
”

“
He
didn
’
t
make it to the Bridge.
”
Adams said solemnly.
“
It
’
s just us and the fifteen-hundred or so people in the
Flight Dock and Secondary Life-Support Hall.
”

Jonathan sighed.
“
No time like the
present. It
’
s been an honor working with you all.
Let
’
s
do it.
”

“
Attention all personnel,
”
Adams said over his
communicator,
“
prepare to abandon
ship. Make your way to the Flight Dock and get ready to board the
Freighters.
”