Marooned on Giri Minor
You jump at the opportunity to man the flight controls with Siggo!
"Well good," he says. "I could use the company." He points to Lieutenant Hatuso's empty station. "Help yourself, and take a look at the controls."
The seat is up on a raised platform, so you feel as if you're climbing into an important position. Before you is an array of status displays, including one prominent red indicator for the communications array.
You can hear Hatuso over the comm. "OK Captain, Chief Indrian and I are suited up and about to enter the airlock. All lights are green for our spacewalk."
"I don't want to get ourselves behind schedule," Siggo says, "so just get that array up and running again and come right back. No scenic detours."
"Got it," Hatuso says. Siggo then leaves the comm open so he can monitor the chatter between the two spacewalkers.
The bridge is bathed in the reflected light from Giri Minor, which must be one of the drabbest planets you've ever seen. Dust storms swirl across parts of the surface, and you see dark blotches that must be dried-up lakes. Other than a few long, snow-covered mountain ranges, this looks like a dry and desolate world.
Siggo notices you examining the planet. "Not exactly the type of place where you'd want to spend your vacation, is it?" he says.
"No," you say, "especially not considering its history."
"Heh heh, so you're aware of what happened here?" Siggo says.
"I'm aware of the story, anyway," you say. "Giri Minor was once home to a small human colony that consisted mostly of outcasts from Old Earth, until one of the moons was shattered by a collision with some kind of rogue object traveling through the system. This shifted the planet's angle towards its sun and nearly destroyed its biosphere, making human habitation impossible. Some of the colonists survived, but only by acts of desperation--at least, so say the rumors. This was over two centuries ago, and no one has been back since."
Siggo shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeah, that about sums it up," he says. "But here's the part they probably didn't teach you in school: When a rescue ship finally made contact, the survivors were so out of their minds they tried to murder the crew and commandeer the ship. Apparently the only thing left to eat was some little critter burrowing in the ground, filled with mind-altering compounds."
"That's disgusting," you say. "I can't imagine what it must have been like for them."
"And I don't want to imagine," Siggo says. "Just being here is giving me the heebie-jeebies."
Neither of you say anything, focusing instead on the comm chatter between your other two crewmates, Tira Indrian and Mori Hatuso. Both of them are very experienced spacewalkers. They have reached the comm array and are beginning the repair process, but they are talking about an unexpected problem: in addition to a routine case of fried relays, some tiny space object has punctured a hole straight through the sensitive piece of equipment. Without it, you have no way of sending a hyperspace signal to Ishtria; a normal radio signal would take decades.
You can tell just by his body language that this piece of information has concerned the captain. He starts playing with his scanners, looking to see what else might be lurking nearby in space. He mutters some old ditty as he does so; you can't quite make out the words, but it sounds like:
Just then the entire ship shudders.
"That felt like an impact," you say.
Siggo looks grimly at his control board, as if the scanner has confirmed his worst fear, then he looks you squarely in the eyes as if he's about to give an order. "If I ever decide to stop in an uncharted system like this again, just knock me upside the head, OK?"
"Captain," Hatuso says over the comm, "it looks like we have some kind of asteroid activity out here. The chief and I are seeing small rocks streaking past us in orbit."
"Yeah, and it's not looking good on the scanners either," Siggo says. "There is an entire cloud of debris zeroing in on our position."
"How much time do we have?" Hatuso asks.
"Not sure. Maybe minutes."
Then Chief Indrian cuts in. "Captain, we're nearly done here with the repairs--three, maybe five minutes tops. If we can remain--"
"Negative, chief," the captain says. "We can't just sit here and let ourselves be pulverized by a cloud of speeding space rocks. Both of you need to come back in NOW."
"Understood, sir," Indrian says.
The next impact is much more serious. You and the captain are nearly knocked out of your seats, and numerous alarms start screaming on both control panels. The displays in front of you tell a grim story: something just struck the port pylon and wiped out the hyperspace field generator at its tip--knocking it into space like a golf ball. The dorsal, ventral, and starboard generators still appear fine, but without all four there will be no way to slip into hyperspace and zip out of this system.
And what's worse, the impact with the asteroid has knocked the entire ship violently out of its orbit.
"Hatuso! Indrian! What's your status?" the captain says, but there is no response. The comm is silent.
Siggo turns to you. "I don't need to tell you we're in a really bad situation here. The planet's gravity is drawing us in, and even if I can get the thrusters engaged, we're in for a rough ride. I need you in back with the passengers. Get them into secure seating, and especially make sure those two Belson kids are safe."
You want to obey, but you feel you might be more useful serving as Siggo's copilot in this crisis situation.
"Well good," he says. "I could use the company." He points to Lieutenant Hatuso's empty station. "Help yourself, and take a look at the controls."
The seat is up on a raised platform, so you feel as if you're climbing into an important position. Before you is an array of status displays, including one prominent red indicator for the communications array.
You can hear Hatuso over the comm. "OK Captain, Chief Indrian and I are suited up and about to enter the airlock. All lights are green for our spacewalk."
"I don't want to get ourselves behind schedule," Siggo says, "so just get that array up and running again and come right back. No scenic detours."
"Got it," Hatuso says. Siggo then leaves the comm open so he can monitor the chatter between the two spacewalkers.
The bridge is bathed in the reflected light from Giri Minor, which must be one of the drabbest planets you've ever seen. Dust storms swirl across parts of the surface, and you see dark blotches that must be dried-up lakes. Other than a few long, snow-covered mountain ranges, this looks like a dry and desolate world.
Siggo notices you examining the planet. "Not exactly the type of place where you'd want to spend your vacation, is it?" he says.
"No," you say, "especially not considering its history."
"Heh heh, so you're aware of what happened here?" Siggo says.
"I'm aware of the story, anyway," you say. "Giri Minor was once home to a small human colony that consisted mostly of outcasts from Old Earth, until one of the moons was shattered by a collision with some kind of rogue object traveling through the system. This shifted the planet's angle towards its sun and nearly destroyed its biosphere, making human habitation impossible. Some of the colonists survived, but only by acts of desperation--at least, so say the rumors. This was over two centuries ago, and no one has been back since."
Siggo shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeah, that about sums it up," he says. "But here's the part they probably didn't teach you in school: When a rescue ship finally made contact, the survivors were so out of their minds they tried to murder the crew and commandeer the ship. Apparently the only thing left to eat was some little critter burrowing in the ground, filled with mind-altering compounds."
"That's disgusting," you say. "I can't imagine what it must have been like for them."
"And I don't want to imagine," Siggo says. "Just being here is giving me the heebie-jeebies."
Neither of you say anything, focusing instead on the comm chatter between your other two crewmates, Tira Indrian and Mori Hatuso. Both of them are very experienced spacewalkers. They have reached the comm array and are beginning the repair process, but they are talking about an unexpected problem: in addition to a routine case of fried relays, some tiny space object has punctured a hole straight through the sensitive piece of equipment. Without it, you have no way of sending a hyperspace signal to Ishtria; a normal radio signal would take decades.
You can tell just by his body language that this piece of information has concerned the captain. He starts playing with his scanners, looking to see what else might be lurking nearby in space. He mutters some old ditty as he does so; you can't quite make out the words, but it sounds like:
The brown-eyed girl from Ciriacus IV
And all the women I've ever loved before
I swear, will haunt my dreams forever more.
And all the women I've ever loved before
I swear, will haunt my dreams forever more.
Just then the entire ship shudders.
"That felt like an impact," you say.
Siggo looks grimly at his control board, as if the scanner has confirmed his worst fear, then he looks you squarely in the eyes as if he's about to give an order. "If I ever decide to stop in an uncharted system like this again, just knock me upside the head, OK?"
"Captain," Hatuso says over the comm, "it looks like we have some kind of asteroid activity out here. The chief and I are seeing small rocks streaking past us in orbit."
"Yeah, and it's not looking good on the scanners either," Siggo says. "There is an entire cloud of debris zeroing in on our position."
"How much time do we have?" Hatuso asks.
"Not sure. Maybe minutes."
Then Chief Indrian cuts in. "Captain, we're nearly done here with the repairs--three, maybe five minutes tops. If we can remain--"
"Negative, chief," the captain says. "We can't just sit here and let ourselves be pulverized by a cloud of speeding space rocks. Both of you need to come back in NOW."
"Understood, sir," Indrian says.
The next impact is much more serious. You and the captain are nearly knocked out of your seats, and numerous alarms start screaming on both control panels. The displays in front of you tell a grim story: something just struck the port pylon and wiped out the hyperspace field generator at its tip--knocking it into space like a golf ball. The dorsal, ventral, and starboard generators still appear fine, but without all four there will be no way to slip into hyperspace and zip out of this system.
And what's worse, the impact with the asteroid has knocked the entire ship violently out of its orbit.
"Hatuso! Indrian! What's your status?" the captain says, but there is no response. The comm is silent.
Siggo turns to you. "I don't need to tell you we're in a really bad situation here. The planet's gravity is drawing us in, and even if I can get the thrusters engaged, we're in for a rough ride. I need you in back with the passengers. Get them into secure seating, and especially make sure those two Belson kids are safe."
You want to obey, but you feel you might be more useful serving as Siggo's copilot in this crisis situation.