( Read the previous episodes of Journey to Centauri.) |
Journey to Centauri : Episode 15 The Emissary slipped one foot and then the other into the tough, rubbery leg of the pressure suit and pulled it up around her waist. Her hands shook slightly and she clamped down on her emotions with an iron will, bunching the muscles in her forearm as if she could force the fear from her extremities. She slipped the rest of the way into the pressure suit and knitted the front seal closed. Three meters away, the cool gray barrel of a shredder pistol flicked twice at the helmet-mask resting on a shelf on the wall. She picked up the mask, which resembled a transparent egg with the impressions of a face on one side, opened it and then closed it around her face. Seals activated around her neck and the mask tightened around her face. She had a moment of panic as the thick plastic closed around her, and then her nose and mouth filled with a burst of cold, highly oxygenated air. She looked back at the figure behind her, already dressed in a pressure suit. He watched her expressionlessly, shredder pistol leveled at her stomach. She looked away and pulled on two gloves, sealing them to the wrists of the suit. Her companion motioned again, this time to the exit hatch. Beyond this hatch lay the outer carousel, an open gridlike structure that wrapped the eight cryobays and rotated around them, using centripetal force to generate a gravity-like effect stronger than that in the bays. Attached to the carousel, on two long arms, were the command center of the ship on one arm and the auxiliary command on the other. The Emissary punched in the unlock codes, and the hatch spun open to a world of stars. The carousel trundled by, sending a vibration through the Emissary's booted feet. She had timed the opening of the hatch to coincide with the approach of the main arm, which now came into view around the outer shell of Bay Three. A single sharp prodding from the shredder pistol and the Emissary moved out onto the carousel. She began pulling herself hand over hand towards the base of the main arm. As she neared it the movement of the carousel carried her past Bay Three and over Bay Four, its textured off-white surface moving past her. At the base of the main arm waited a small lift. The Emissary tilted her head to glance at a small hatchway, an emergency access through which a person could crawl and then use a series of metal handholds to climb to the command center. A long and frightening climb, with only a light tether holding you to the structure of the ship, and infinity waiting at your back. She looked away from the emergency access and into the lift, which waited in the ready position. She glanced back at her companion, who motioned her into the lift. They both stepped into the cramped space and her companion pulled the lever, starting the lift towards the command center. She looked out as the lift progressed away from the ship and the gravity increased, pressing her feet into the deck. As the long arm moved the ship seemed to turn beneath her, and she could see its cylindrical length gradually revealed. the center of the ship held the eight cryobays and the landers that would carry them down to the planet's surface. Sandwiching the landing pods were the huge gray fuel canisters that fed the fusion pulse drive, and to the front of the ship she could see the thrusters that directed the tremendous energy of the fusion pulses into space. The ship had rotated before deceleration so that the fusion drive could slow them down, but the thrusters, ringed by the massive bronze-colored radiators, now lay dormant. She watched the ship coolly, having little knowledge of the science behind the collision that had crippled them. It was enough for her to remain alive, and to perhaps advance her leader's mission in some unforeseen way. The lift neared the end of the arm. Somewhere above, in the command center, a warning light flashed.
Next episode will be posted Tuesday, September 8, 1998.
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