Chapter 25: Escape

Saria took the lead with the light from her laser carbine. Cathy and I followed her along the corridor.

At the door to the stairs, Saria shone a light on the panel while I opened and activated the manual release.

The stairs comprised a shaft with a long ladder inside, travelling the height of the vessel. Saria slung her laser carbine over her shoulder, and we followed her down several levels on the ladder.

Saria had to climb past the floor that we wanted to give me access to the manual release.

Once open, we stepped out into the corridor on the level with the shuttle bay and our away team uniforms.

After opening another door, we got to our away team uniforms.

“Put these on, but don’t use them until you have to, as these have a limited air supply. Hopefully, we won’t need them,” I said.

“What are your orders, Captain?” asked Saria.

“The priority is getting Ship working. Last time this happened, Laine got it working again. It’s unfortunate she’s missing.”

“Perhaps we can work it out between us,” said Cathy.

“We should get moving. It’s one level down,” I said.

We exited on level two. It was dark, and the emergency lighting wasn’t working.

Saria used the light from her laser carbine as we searched the corridor for our destination.

“Computer Systems, this is it!” I said. We were making progress.

Saria shone her light on the panel while I worked on the manual override.

A few minutes later, I had the door open enough to enter.

Inside was completely dark, giving me a sense of déjà vu.

“Is this the place?” asked Saria.

“Yes. Too bad Laine isn’t here,” I said.

“Do you remember what she did? Which console was she at?”

“Over there...” I pointed at a console I recalled Laine worked at.

Saria pointed her light at the console.

“Oh wait! I forgot something. We must turn on the power first. It’s in another room,” I said.

We returned to the corridor and searched in the dark.

“Main Power Systems, here we are,” I said.

I worked the manual override, and we got inside. There were some lights on a large panel, some red and white.

“This is what we need. They left a couple on, including artificial gravity.”

“Do we just turn them all on?” asked Cathy.

“I remember this! We turn on emergency power and return to the other room,” I replied.

I turned on emergency power. There was a humming noise as it started up. Next the lights came on, about half the usual intensity.

I turned to see Cathy and Saria. Saria turned off the light on her laser carbine.

“Now we have to re-start the AI,” I said.

We returned via the corridor to the previous room. I approached the console I recalled Laine worked on long ago.

“I hope we can figure this out.”

The display came to life when I pressed a key.

“It’s all in Baglogi,” said Cathy.

“It is a Baglogi vessel, after all. We just need to re-start the AI.”

“Could you just type in Baglogi for ‘start’?” asked Cathy.

I knew enough Baglogi to do that. I typed in ‘start’ and pressed enter.

We waited. After a moment, lines of Baglogi text started scrolling up the display.

“Something is happening, Captain. Since I’m of no further use here, I’d like to search the vessel,” said Saria.

“Of course, Lieutenant. Call me on your suit communicator if you find anything.”

Saria saluted me and left. Cathy and I stood watching the console display.

“Do you know how long it takes to re-start an AI?” asked Cathy.

“No. Last time Laine did this, and I wasn’t timing her.”

We waited a few more minutes. Then several other consoles came to life.

“This looks like a good sign.” Cathy smiled and shrugged.

“Ship?” I said.

“Attention, imminent danger!” replied Ship.

I knew something bad was happening, but Ship had a handle on the situation.

“Ship, define the nature of the imminent danger?” I asked.

“Captain, this vessel is drifting directly towards a star.”

Cathy looked at me, her face showing terror.

“How soon before the sub-light engines are working?” I asked.

“Two minutes until they’re online. By then, we won’t have enough thrust to escape the gravity well.”

“Use your thrusters to rotate ninety degrees from the star. Once the engines are online, fire at maximum,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“Captain, what will that do?” asked Cathy.

“If we can’t escape the pull of the star, we can attempt to slingshot around it until we reach an escape velocity.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It is. Ship, you best get the shields working before we’re fried.”

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

On a nearby console, Ship displayed a view of the star system. It didn’t look encouraging. We were hurtling towards the star.

At once, the sub-light engines kicked in. The whole deck vibrated beneath our feet as the inertial dampeners fought to compensate.

Cathy grabbed hold of my arm for balance.

“Holy crap!” she said in English.

“Hold on! For the next few minutes, it’ll be rough,” I said in Ori. I didn’t know enough English to speak her language.

The display showed our vessel skimming dangerously close to the star’s chromosphere.

“Attention, exterior hull temperature is approaching maximum,” said Ship.

“Ship, use thrusters to roll. Alternate the side facing the star,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

The vibration increased. I held on to a console, while Cathy held on to me. I wondered how Saria was doing. There was nothing I could do to help her now.

We waited for the longest period before the vibration gradually reduced.

“Attention, we’ve reached escape velocity,” said Ship.

“Well done, Ship. Once we are at a safe distance, you can slow down. Ensure all systems are functioning,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

The communicator on my suit chimed.

“Captain, please meet me in the medical bay,” said Saria.

Cathy and I took the elevator, which was now working. Soon, we arrived at the medical bay.

Saria stood next to Yuhi’s bed.

“Report,” I said.

“I found no one else aboard. Yuhi is still unresponsive. The ventilator equipment had backup power, so it kept her alive,” said Saria.

“Understood,” I said. I looked at Yuhi and sighed. “Did you find any trace of our guest?”

“No, Captain. Her scout vessel is gone from the shuttle bay,” replied Saria.

“Please go to the main bridge. Ship says we almost crashed into a star. Search the system for clues,” I said.

“Yes, Sir!” she said with a salute. Saria looked briefly at Yuhi and left.

I sat in a chair near Yuhi’s bed and sighed. Answering a distress call rarely went well for us. Cathy looked at me.

“What do we do now?” she asked. Her eyes showed concern.

“We’ve lost Jem and Laine, and nearly lost our lives,” I said.

“Coffee?” she asked.

I shrugged and nodded. Cathy returned from the food dispenser with two cups and handed one to me. I took a sip of my coffee and looked at her.

“What can you remember?”

“I recall greeting her in the shuttle bay, then it all went foggy. I don’t remember going to my cabin, but that’s where you found me,” she replied.

“It’s a psychic ability. She probably used it on everyone.”

“That was a mean thing to do.”

“Agreed. She took out Yuhi as soon as we arrived. I don’t understand why I wasn’t affected.”

Cathy frowned.

“Now that she’s gone, can you wake Yuhi up?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but I can try.”

I focused on Yuhi, on her mind.

“Wake up!” I yelled psychically. I imagined slapping her in the face, shaking her awake.

Yuhi stirred a little, but didn’t show signs of waking.

“Almost. Can you increase it?” asked Cathy.

I frowned at Cathy.

“It doesn’t work the same as waking you and Saria. She’s somehow deeper asleep.”

“She moved a little, so she is in there somewhere. You must figure out how to reach her.”

“I need to think about this. It’s not something I’ve done before.”

Cathy nodded. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. Then I imagined I was in a clearing in a forest. Yuhi was lying on the grass beside me, her breathing barely perceptible.

I looked carefully at Yuhi. I couldn’t tell what was wrong.

Something Yuhi mentioned came to mind. It works on metaphors and it follows my imagination.

I imagined a pair of goggles that would allow me to see better. In my dream environment, the goggles appeared beside me, so I put them on and looked at Yuhi.

Yellow strands completely wrapped around her, the end of which trailed off out of the clearing. Hmm. Perhaps they led to Uslu Braen?

I tried summoning the mist around the clearing. It worked, but the yellow strands were still there. The strands formed a cocoon around Yuhi.

I took hold of the yellow strand, pulling a little to get some slack. Then I unwrapped a loop from around Yuhi.

I had a scary thought. What if these strands were still connected to Uslu Braen? She’d know we were still alive!