Alone
There are always needs for new territories.
Sometimes the need is low. Sometimes the need is great. In this day and age, the need is very great. Two hundred thousand developed worlds with excess populations to get rid of. Untold millions of stations scattered amongst the stars. Trillions of ships traveling between all of them. And no cohesive government. The sheer distance between planets made multi-system control nearly impossible.
But of curiosity, nearly all human planets follow the same model. The same old, tired model that didn't work on the now decrepit Terra. So tightly ingrained was this ideal model of government that worshiped capitalism and bowed to the highest bidder that it all worked out. No single entity was powerful enough to do any noticeable damage to the realm of humanity.
But always the pressing need to expand. More planets to be corrupted by the virus of humanity. So into the breach stepped the Jumpers. Crews that would get a ship and aim for distant stars. They were alternately seen as saviors, suicidal maniacs, greedy mercenaries and just plain mad.
A Jumper crew could make their fortune very easily. An empty world with a lot of mineral-rich asteroids in the system belonged to the first person to find it. All it needed was a survey from a willing government to say that there was no sentient indigenous life and the settlement rights could be sold to the highest bidder. But in order to find a suitable system required a lot of jumps. Systems had to be explored, catalogued and the data sold to whoever was interested in making maps.
But each jump was a jump into the unknown. A blind jump into an uncharted system was nigh on suicidal. No pilot worth his salt would even dare try it. Only the bravest, the most foolhardy or the most desperate would even attempt it.
Enter the ship "Blind Luck". A crew of twelve and most of the cargo space converted into additional fuel storage. The Blind Luck was originally a Jarkey Class military courier ship. It had been decommissioned several decades earlier and mothballed. She was bought from a scrap ship merchant by the current captain and re-fitted for her new role.
Only the owner of a ship would willingly make a jump into an unexplored system.
And the crew wouldn't go unless the captain was with them.
Deep in interstellar space a new singularity occurred. Enormous pressure exerted from within the event onto the reality of local space. Physics broke down and gave way to the impossible. A hole erupted from nowhere and led to a place where science abandoned sanity and hid under the bed. A metallic object emerged from the hole. It could not be, but the intruder would not be denied. The hole closed behind the ship, now drifting in the void. Total time elapsed: less than a heartbeat.
This far from any light-giving sources there was no starlight to illuminate the hull. Few stars shone in infinite blackness. Only the lights on the ship itself could be seen anywhere in any direction.
The bridge was in darkness. Slight frost covered the instruments. No atmosphere stirred in the cold. Further inside, systems were turning on. In the crew quarters the lights turned on. The cryostasis beds had all their displays in the green. One slowly cycled open. A man in a full body suit emerged. For long jumps, the crew would all put on space suits before getting into the cryostasis beds. The atmosphere was packed away in pressure cylinders to prevent damage in the event of a hull breach.
Looking around, the man studied the instrument panels. Satisfied, he started waking the others. As they emerged, each went about a separate task. First order of business was getting the power plants running again. This was quickly followed by gravity, atmosphere and heating. With the ship fully functional again, the crew put away the suits and went back to regular ship tunics.
As the rest of the crew went about checking all the systems, three went up to the bridge.
"So where are we?" asked Emanuel.
"No idea," said Steve. "Looks like we're in the middle of nowhere. No stars, no planets, nothing. Why the hell did we get woken up here?"
"I found something interesting" said K'mer the ships AI.
"What kind of interesting?" asked Dyson, the Captain. "This better not be a waste of fuel."
"I found an asteroid" said K'mer.
"Wow," said Emanuel in an exceptionally sarcastic voice. "Who would have thought there would be an asteroid in space?"
"Long range scanners found it," continued K'mer. "It's stationary."
"So?"
"Whoa, hang on a minute," said Steve realizing why K'mer had found it interesting. "Asteroids travel through space. They never sit still. If it's stationary, that means someone put it there.
"So that means that either there is something there that's really valuable," said Dyson, "Or it's something someone really does not want found. Either way, it's valuable." In unison they exclaimed "Easy Money!" They really had been together too long.
A black rock.
It was the only way to describe it. It didn't show up in infrared, it emitted no power or radio waves and the only way to see it visually was because it obscured the stars behind it. A black shape blocking out the black empty space behind it. The only reason K'mer had even known it was there was because of the mass-detectors to avoid solid objects while traveling through space.
Slowly Dyson maneuvered the ship in close to the rock. A difficult enough process at the best of times, but even harder trying to arrest the momentum of the fifty thousand ton Blind Luck. At around a kilometer away, he stopped maneuvering and turned on the exterior lights. Nothing was reflected back from the rock.
"What do you think?" asked Dyson.
"Well," replied Steve, "Every day we sit here we burn around three pounds of fuel for power and consume around two pounds of oxygen. If we don't use the engines, we can sit here for two years."
"I don't want to be here that long," said Dyson with a wry grin. "Emanuel, prep a team. They're going out to see what out little pay packet is made of."
Jessie was one of three females on the crew. Sarah was the ships doctor, but she and Stephanie were the two point men. Which amused her no end. Why would women be used as point men? Jumpers would occasionally find derelict spaceships or even abandoned space stations. And someone was needed to go in there first. So all Jumpers carried at least one point man. But to be a point man meant wearing a Hazardous Conditions Exploration Suit, which came in two parts. The inner suit hugged the skin so tight as to not allow any air gaps between the skin and the suit. And a hard, powered exoskeleton went on over the top of the inner suit. Everyone called the exterior suit the ‘armour'. And everyone called the inner suit the ‘ballcrusher'. Half an hour later, Jess and Steph were both suited up.
"Leave the science gear behind," said Dacre.
"Why?" asked Steph.
"Charlie up on the instruments just called," continued Dacre. "Our little rock is hollow according to the radar scans, so it's not a big chunk of something valuable. But since it's hollow, you'll need to get inside. So you get to take the keys instead."
"Alright" said Jess. "Explosives are a girl's best friend!"
Three minutes later, the two were out the airlock. Using compressed gas jets for propulsion, the two women made the short jump across to the rock. The surface was crumbly, like it had been coated with some kind of foam that was slowly flaking away and drifting away into space. They made a slow zigzagging scan of the rock, going in opposite directions in order to explore the surface.
"Hey!" called Jess. "There's a door on this side!"
Indeed, a door was what it appeared to be. A square of some kind of metal was set on one side, about seven feet across on both sides. It was recessed about a foot into the surface and seemed to have faint remains of the same flaky foam on it. As if the entire rock had been uniformly covered at some stage. To one side was some sort of control panel. No other feature was to be found on the exterior of the rock.
"I got a bunch of buttons," said Jess over the comm. "None of them respond. I guess this sucker doesn't have power."
"It could have been here for thousands of years," said Steve from the ship. "I doubt anything works."
"Hang on," said Jess. "There's an access panel here." She opened it and found a handle. Gripping it tightly, Jess gave it a twist and was startled to find that it turned easily. The door shifted slightly to one side. Putting a boot on one side, she grabbed a ridge on the door with both hands and pulled it open. Surprised, it opened smoothly and instantly. She had put so much force into it that she tumbled off into space.
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Steph. Bright light poured out through the open door. It was an airlock of some kind. The door opened into a short corridor and another door could be seen a little further in. Jess got herself back under control and flew back to the open door.
"Who goes in first?" asked Jess.
"You go," replied Steph. She waited to one side of the door as Jess flew inside. On both ends of the corridor was a single button. Looking over the rest of the corridor, she didn't see anything else of interest.
"Okay,' she said. "I'm guessing these buttons operate the doors. I'll see if this closes. If I don't come out in one minute, open the door from the outside."
"Got it" said Steph. Jess gingerly pressed the button on the exterior door. Smoothly the door slid shut. Pressing it again, the door slid open.
"Looks like I can get out," she said. "Time to explore." She closed the door again and went down the corridor to the inner door. She pushed the button. Nothing happened.
Suddenly she realized she was drifting away from the wall. Looking around she could see some small vents had opened and the corridor was filling with atmosphere. She hadn't felt it because she was insulated inside her suit.
"Ow!" cried Jess.
"What happened?" called Steph from outside.
"Nothing," replied Jess. "The gravity kicked in and I fell onto the ceiling. Or should I say, the floor. I must have been upside down in here."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. The place is full of atmosphere, so the hull integrity seems to have held. This isn't a rock. It's a ship!" The inner door opened onto a corridor that was fairly straight and went on for around fifty feet. No other corridors came off to the side, nor were there any doors. The end was a T-junction. Both sides were symmetrical. The side corridors went on for about ten feet and then had a door. Both doors seemed to lead into the same room.
Jess carefully walked up to the door down the left-hand corridor. On the wall to the side was another button, the same as the first two. She pushed the button and the door smoothly slid off to the side. Inside was a dark chamber. As she entered, she noted that there was a lot of machinery along the walls. In the center of the chamber was a large blue tube, softly glowing. It seemed to be full of fluid and there was something suspended in the middle.
It was a human.
"What's going on?" yelled Dyson on the bridge. Around him, several of the crew were anxiously moving around and getting in the way.
"Steph lost contact with Jess," said Steve. "She went in and suddenly the comms got cut. It's like she just disappeared. Steph is getting ready to blow the door and go in after her."
"Stop!" yelled Dyson. He picked up the mic for the comms. "Steph, stop! Don't blow that door!"
"Screw you Dyson!" yelled back Steph. "Jess is stuck in there and I'm getting her out."
"Jess said there was atmosphere in there," said Dyson. "If you blow the doors she'll be flung out. And if she took her helmet off she'll be killed."
"She wouldn't take her suit off," retorted Steph. "She knows better than that."
"What's everyone yelling about?" asked Jess over the comm.
"Jess!" exclaimed Steph. "What happened?"
"Nothing, why?" The outer door opened and Jess emerged into space, only to be bear-hugged by Steph. "Hey! Boosted armour! Hey, you're crushing me!"
"Sorry" said Steph sheepishly. "I thought something had happened. Your comm cut out and I couldn't get through to you."
"You won't believe this," said Jess. "There's a guy in there! Dyson, bring the ship in and we'll dock with the hatch and pull him out.
"There's a what?" asked Dyson with incredulity.
"We're coming back aboard," said Jess. "I'll explain in person." The two women went back into the Blind Luck and Jess explained what happened to Dyson. It took around an hour, but they managed to bring the ship in close enough to establish a good seal with the door on the rock. K'mer analyzed samples of the atmosphere and found it to be breathable.
Once the connection was made, they sent in a team of three and shut the inner airlock on the ship before they entered the corridor. Just in case. Jason, David and Angus went in. It was impossible to get lost. A few minutes later they were standing in front of the blue tube. It was around five feet across and stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Clustered around the base were several instrument nodes.
"This isn't man made," said Jason. "I don't like it."
"This isn't man made," said David. "That means it's worth money which means I love it!" They studied the man inside the tube. He was chained at the wrists and ankles. He had several life support tubes attached to him and had a mask over his face. His chest could be seen slowly rising and falling.
"No way is he human," said Angus. "Unless he was born in that tube and has spent his whole life in there."
"Or maybe," said David, "He was only recently put in there. The power is on, there's air and everything works like it was brand new. I'd say this place was only put here recently."
"Have I ever told you, you repeat yourself?" asked Angus.
"Constantly."
Carefully studying the panels, it turned out to be easier than anticipated. There were very few controls and there was one button marked with an image that was obviously the tube opening. Pushing it, the three men jumped back. The tube slid down but the fluid inside did not. It overflowed from the top and poured out everywhere. As the tube slid down into the floor, the man slumped in his chains.
Carefully, the three men removed all the attachments and put the man onto a hover-trolley. Throwing a thermal blanket over him, they took him back aboard the Blind Luck. In the med bay, Sarah looked over the man. He seemed of average height and average build. He had soft brown hair and brown eyes. He didn't have any tattoos or any distinguishing features. In fact, the most remarkable thing about him was that there was nothing remarkable about him. He was, for all intents and purposes, a generic man. She swung the scanner over him.
"That's odd" she exclaimed.
His eyes opened.
The lights went out.
"I can't figure out what this stuff is."
Steve, Dyson and Jeffery the token science engineer were down in the roughly put together lab trying to analyze the fluid that had been in the tube. Some people would say that they had collected samples from the rock for scientific study. Most people would just say they stole anything that wasn't bolted down. There was no point in making a great scientific discovery if you didn't have any proof of what you found. Or something to sell.
"I just don't have the equipment here to make any kind of proper study on this stuff," said Jeffery. "I can tell you that it seems to be some kind of nutrient bath designed to keep … him alive."
"Any idea on who he is?" asked Dyson.
"Sarah will know more once she's done looking over him," said Steve. "We just don't have the resources to do any kind of proper assessment. But the question is: which will be more valuable? Him or the rock?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," continued Steve, "If he's alive he owns the rock. And there's some pretty gnarly technology in there. If he's not alive, then we can claim the salvage on it and tow it back to the station."
"What do you mean?" insisted Jeffery. "Of course he's alive. He was breathing when Angus and the boys brought him in."
"He won't be alive if we shove him out the airlock."
There was silence at this. If the man was a wanted criminal or there was some sort of bounty on him, either for him to be found or for him not to be found then he was valuable. If he was nobody, then the rock suddenly became much more interesting because it counted as abandoned. But that made the man a liability. If he objected to the rock being sold out from under him, it would make things legally difficult. And lawyers sucked up money faster than starship engines.
"We take him in," said Dyson.
"That's very humane of you Captain," said Jeffery.
"Foolish" said Steve. "What if he tells people were this place is? Someone else will come and pick it up."
"No, it's just sensible," continued Dyson. "We take him with us in one of the cryostasis beds. At the same time we tow the rock down into one of the systems we chartered last year and stash it there. Turns out he's nobody; we come back for the rock. If he's valuable, might as well be paid twice for doing the same job."
"That's the captain I know and love!" exclaimed Steve. Suddenly the lights went out. The entire ship was plunged into sudden darkness and then the emergency lights kicked in.
"What happened?" asked Jeffrey.
"Battle stations!" yelled Dyson. "Everyone into suits!"
The emergency alarm started blaring as the crew scattered to their assigned places. Reports started coming in over the comms from the different members of where they were and what the status was. Everyone called in except Sarah.
"I want everyone packing," called Dyson over the comm from inside his space suit. "Everyone converge on the med lab. Keep comms open and shoot anything that isn't Sarah." Huddling around the door to the med lab, everyone stood back a little to let Jason and David go in first. They opened the door and surged inside. The place had been smashed up a bit, and Sarah was on the ground in the corner. Emanuel went over and checked on her.
"She's alive," he said. "Looks like she was whacked over the head."
"Everyone in groups of two," ordered Dyson. "I want this guy found. Emanuel and Steve, you guys put Sarah in one of the cryostasis beds. It's obvious our visitor isn't happy. Shoot on sight, but try and take him alive if you can."
The ship lurched as the main engines turned on.
From the outside it was possible to see exactly what went wrong. Although there are many cameras and video sensors on the exterior of the Blind Luck, most of them pointed out way from the ship. There was very few aiming back at the hull itself and none at the main engines. Even though nobody could see it, everyone was pretty sure what had happened. Only the starboard engine had fired, causing the entire ship to go into a spin. As the engine continued to produce thrust, the ship spun faster with each passing moment.
Suddenly, the engine cut out, leaving the Blind Luck in a fast spiral away from the rock. The ship was well named, for it was only by the greatest of good fortune that the ship hadn't collided with the rock.
"What the hell's going on?" yelled Steve.
"Get to the bridge," ordered Dyson. "Send Jason and David to guard the Engine room and get Darryl over to the weapons locker to keep an eye on it. K'mer, can you correct the ship?"
The captain's question went unanswered. The ship's AI wasn't responding. A few moments later they reached the bridge. Half the computers were wrecked and there was a small fire burning in the corner.
"Cancel order to take alive," said Dyson over the comms. "Kill that bastard on sight. Shoot to kill!"
"I might be able to fix this," said Jacre. "It looks like the main panels and control boards have been ripped out, but the actual components in the walls are undamaged."
"Get on it," replied Dyson. "Anybody see where our guest went?"
"Aft hatch 17 just opened, Captain," said Jeffrey. "None of our boys are back there."
"Weapons bay secured," called David. "No-one's been here."
"Good," said Dyson. "Break out the heavy weapons. I don't mind a few holes in the hull, just make sure you get that guy."
"I have internal controls back," said Jeffery. "Scanning the interior. Got him, he's in the secondary aft cargo hold."
"Lock him in there. I don't want him getting out."
"Yes Captain."
"You stay here and see if you can get the ship back under control, or re-activate K'mer. Everyone else, converge on the secondary aft cargo hold."
Everyone hustled down towards the back of the ship. It was no easy task. The artificial gravity and the centrifugal force of the spin were fighting for control of which way was down. At the moment it was into the corner at around a forty-five degree angle, but the further from the center they got, the more the centrifugal force won out. By the time they reached the aft section, they were practically running along the wall.
"Jeffrey, he still in there?" said Dyson.
"Yes, he appears to be trying to open the access hatch in section 3, but I cut the power."
"Good, let us in." The main door into the cargo space opened. In went the crew. The door closed behind them. Weapons covered every angle, adrenaline making them jumpy. There wasn't a lot of gear in this section, but all of it had slid across the floor and was piled up against the wall. There was no light in the room, but they heard a loud noise as the access hatch was ripped open.
"He's into the ventilation system," called Jeffrey.
"Good. Open outer hatch 33," said Dyson.
"Captain?"
"Blast him out the airlock! We're all in suits except Sarah, and she's safely in cryostasis."
As the outer door opened, a huge gust of wind picked up everything loose and flung it towards the open access hatch. The noise was terrifying as the atmosphere vented out the side of the ship. Fifty thousand cubic feet of air rushed out the hole in seven seconds flat.
"I think that worked," said Jeffrey. "No movement in any of the ducts."
"Good," replied Dyson. "Let's get some damage control going. And let's re-fill the air in here. These suits are sweaty".
"Okay, what's the damage?" asked Dyson.
"I'll start with the bad news," said Jeffrey. "We lost almost all of our atmosphere, so I had to use a lot of spare 02 and nitro to refill the ship. We weren't planning on any combat action this trip so we skimped on the air stocks. So long as we don't have any one else deciding to open a window, we'll be fine."
"Don't get picky," said Dyson. "We still managed to flush that guy out of the system."
"Yes, I'm aware of that," continued Jeffrey. "Since we were on the way out, we weren't carrying any cargo. A lot of our stocks and some of the stuff we salvaged from the rock was damaged, but nothing major. The good news is that there was no structural damage."
"So we can still tow that thing out of here?" asked Steve.
"Yes, we should be able to take it, but we won't be able to take it all the way home, we'll need to put in at a nearer station. Preferably one with a lot of traffic to allow us to sell it quickly. Nobody had to fire any weapons, so we don't have any holes to fix. We got shaken up a bit, but nothing terminal or expensive."
"What about Sarah, how's she?" asked David.
"I have no idea. As long as she's in the cryostasis she'll be fine. We'll be able to get a doctor to look at her when we dock. As to what her injuries are, I'd say she was probably knocked over the head by our friend."
"So the trip is a write-off?" asked Jess.
"No," replied Dyson. "We still got that rock or ship or whatever it is. It should get a nice prize that'll pay for this trip and hopefully finance another two. More if it turns out to be valuable. As everyone has a salvage clause in their contracts, everyone picks up a share of whatever we get for it,"
"What about K'mer?" asked Stephanie. "Any chance of getting him back on-line?"
"More good news," replied Jeffrey. "Only his interface with the bridge was damaged. I should be able to get him back in an hour or so, and with his help we can stop this horrible spinning of the ship."
Efficiently, everyone got to work. The crew quarters which were in the middle of the ship had very little damage. But there was a lot of stuff thrown around in the ends of the ship, were the effects of the rotation was the greatest.
Steve, Dyson and Jeffrey were working in the bridge when a familiar voice came over the speakers.
"Hello Captain," said K'mer. "It's good to be back."
"Good to hear your voice again," said Jeffrey. "Do you have engine and stabilizer control?"
"Yes," replied K'mer. "I'm stabilizing the ship now."
Ragged cheers could be heard from the crew. And a few thumps as equipment found itself once again under the effect of the artificial gravity.
"Captain, there's a problem," said K'mer.
"What is it?"
"There's someone in main ventilation."
"We can't afford to lose any more air," said Dyson. "Everyone back into suits. We'll store the atmosphere. You have one minute."
Everyone practically ran to get back into their suits. But it was a practiced routine, and everyone had their suit on in time. The hiss of the compressors could be heard as the air in the ship was safely packed away.
"How the hell did he survive in a vacuum?' asked David.
"Let's see if we can get a look at him this time," replied Angus in a menacing tone.
"He's heading along main ventilation towards the carbon sinks," said K'mer.
"See if you can trap him in there," said Dyson.
"I've closed the bulkheads in front and behind him. But the walls in there are too thin to properly contain him. I can leave a hatch open and let him into the central cargo hold. We should be able to contain him in there."
"Do it."
There were three main doors leading into the central cargo hold. Two inside and the big external door. Jess and Stephanie went outside while everyone else grouped around the two inner doors.
"Captain, good news," said K'mer. "He's not moving. He's still alive but his activity has been steadily decreasing".
"Good," replied Dyson. "I want all three doors opened at the same time. Jess and Steph, you're our air support. If it twitches, blast it three ways from Sunday. Everyone else, we'll be coming in directly opposite each other, so watch your cross-fire. K'mer, do you have an exact position inside there?"
"Yes Captain," replied K'mer. "He's huddled up in the south west corner, approximately thirty feet into the room from the door were David and Angus are going in."
"You heard the machine," said Dyson to everyone. "Watch what you're aiming for. Go!"
Smoothly, the three doors opened. Jess and Steph, hovering just outside the ship saw the man straight away. He wasn't moving, but it was quite unnerving to see someone in total vacuum and the only problem he seemed to be having was that he was huddled up in a ball, rather than leaking in a very messy manner.
The two teams entered the hold and converged on the man. They put the same chains on him that had been on him when they found him, put him in a large crate and half-filled it with mix of water and what was left of the blue fluid from the tube.
Jess and Steph came inside and they closed the external door. With the prisoner safely locked up, they went back to the rock, hooked it up to the ship and headed for the nearest station from their current position.
Fortunately, it was also an independent station, called Mirrabooka.
It was five weeks later. With the additional mass of the rock dragging behind them, it had taken three weeks to reach Mirrabooka. It took about three hours to sell the rock. Everyone could see it as they approached the station and gossip alone meant that there was no need to advertise, and when they ‘accidentally' mentioned to traffic control what it was, they were receiving bids thick and fast before they even docked.
It was sold to a research and development company in the Artmon sector for a very tidy sum. The ‘man' wasn't a man, but an obscure kind of alien known for their lax moral conduct. And as it turned out, this particular individual had a bounty on him from the Mothst'a Empire, so they paid a very tidy sum as well. Sarah only had minor injuries. The alien had attacked her from behind when she was looking at the scanners but had only hit her with something blunt and heavy. The medical unit on the station held her for two days, just to make sure she was fine.
Today, the crew of the Blind Luck met together at the bar of the Duck on Inn and started planning their next trip. They might all be millionaires now, but it turned out they weren't doing it for the money.
They were adrenaline junkies.
The end.