8- Hyperspace
I was upset that I had to return to the Deck before we had a chance to dock with the Hyperspace ferry. The ship creaked and groaned under the stresses of orbit, and I imagined what it must look like to approach the seemingly massive hyperspace ferry, to zero in, to dock… but all mere imaginings.
“Hey, hop to it, Ty.” Astor nudged me. I was doing an inventory of our supplies—both saleable and non-saleable. I’m not sure what Astor was doing but it looked like he was moving crates from a pile in one corner to a pile in another.
I mustered up the courage to attempt conversation again. “Astor?”
“Mind the count. No time.” He grunted as he placed another crate down.
I scowled and resumed counting packs of what they told me was supposed to be food. It came in these white boxes with big black lettering stating simply what was inside. Though they promised “turkey dinner” or “Ham sandwich,” I couldn’t help but think both of those foods should not both fit into the same sized small rectangular box. This was boring. I was doing as much work as I would have been doing at home, and I didn’t even get to see what was going on outside.
The ship rattled and clanged, and Ulysses came over the intercom: “Attention, this is your Captain speaking. We have officially docked with the Ferry and the connection is green. Report to the mess hall for pre-flight briefing in 5 count-em 5 minutes. Captain out.”
Astor came and clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”
I sighed heavily. “Cheer up, scrub,” Astor said, “We haven’t even left Koslov yet.”
“I just hoped I could see more, you know?”
“No.”
I paused and waited for a follow up, but it never came.
* * *
The mess hall was one of the bigger rooms on the Virgil, and it included two or three big rectangular tables which they were pushing together for the briefing. There were a lot of people I hadn’t met yet—the ship didn’t seem that big, I don’t know how I hadn’t run into them before. I guess that’s what I get for spending all my time in the Deck with Astor. As everyone filed in—some faces I recognized, most I did not—we took our seats around the combined tables and everyone chit chatted. I sat silently, feeling awkward, next to Astor. I noticed a few glances and every snicker I assumed was directed at me. I was the odd man out. The unknown quantity.
Ulysses brought the meeting to order: “Alllright, ladies and gentlemen. We are officially docked on the Ferry and our ticket is punched for the short flight to Adille. We will be going over the business items in short order, but first you have probably noticed a bright eyed and bushy tailed new face among us. This, friends, is Tylus Worran—a fellow Koslovar like myself, a young buck looking to explore the stars. Tylus why don’t you stand up and tell us a little something about yourself?”
My nerves froze. I wasn’t expecting to have to speak. Astor patted me firmly on the back to prompt me to stand. I stood slowly and stammered—“Uh, Hi, I’m Tylus. I’m from a farm outside of Landers. Happy to be here?”
Ulysses smiled. “Is that a question? ARE you happy to be here?” The crew laughed. “Just messin with you, take a seat. Can we go around and introduce ourselves? State your name and your job please.”
Ulysses looked first to the woman from the city, who didn’t seem happy about me joining the crew. “Sazana Sotho, Pilot.” She said, tersely. She had a stern looking face, a dark complexion, she had curly black hair with flecks of grey pulled back in a bushy pony tail. Her eyes had a sharp brightness to them I couldn’t place, I couldn’t tell whether she was friendly or not.
“Selin Green, Co-Pilot.” The next woman in line was much younger, tan skin, straight black hair down to her shoulders. I got the sense she was imitating her boss in her cold greeting.
“Astor Munn, Deck Officer—you knew that.” Astor was a giant of a man but had a friendly demeanor, clearly trying to lighten the mood a little bit. His fair skin was crossed by a few wrinkles along his face, but his size made him look a little younger than he probably really was.
“Rickard Bergen, we met a few hours ago. I’m the quartermaster, welcome aboard!” Rickard was also friendly but also had a stern face. He had an accent I couldn’t quite place, he seemed to be the same age as Sazana, if I could place their ages at all.
“Tomaz Marino, welcome. I’m the Nav/Com Officer.” He had thick black hair and was shorter than some of the others—he had a thick waist but strong looking arms, I got the sense he wasn’t sure what to make of me.
“Epsilon Phares, Gunny. Welcome aboard.” Epsilon had a relaxed, confident, arrogant demeanor. His hair was a short buzz, and he had a goatee. He was lean and strong looking. Something about him put me on edge.
“Nera Zaprozny, Senior deck hand.” She didn’t look at me, she was doodling something on a piece of paper. She had red hair and freckles and wore fingerless gloves. She looked dangerous—if she was a deck hand why wasn’t she working with Astor?
“I’m Gene Lewis.” “And I’m John Lewis.” “We’re Junior deck hands.” “And we’re twins!” “Welcome bud!” Gene and John were identical twins and seemed to be a little older than myself. They had a lot of energy and were always smiling and laughing. I was a little surprised to learn that they had three deck hands and they still took me aboard. Yet none of those three were with Astor at all.
“Nice to meet you all, I look forward to getting to know you.” I said, flatly—this was a lot to take in.
“Likewise, Tylus, Likewise.” Ulysses said. “Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk shop for a second. We are a few hours away from departure to Adille. Astor, what are we slingin’?”
“We have two crates of Koslovar hard-grain. We have one crate of mechanical parts which may be of interest to the technologists. We have three…” Astor paused and fumbled with his hands, “three special crates, we will need contacts for.”
“Nera, do you have contacts?”
“Yes, already established. We have four potential buyers lined up. This a first come first serve situation?”
“Yes, we don’t want to linger. Epps, are we making any purchases here?”
“Just one, I’ve got two sellers lined up that should put us in a good position for the trip to the Rabizond.”
The Rabizond! We would be going there! I remembered Mr. Mackerel’s cautionary words—it was a dangerous, lawless place. I felt cold, and I felt uncomfortable. Everyone was speaking with the quick efficiency of experts who know the business. I would have to pick it up as I went along.
“Good,” Ulysses continued, “Looks like we will be fully stocked. Tylus we’re going to be keeping you busy young man. Any questions about our agenda for Adille?”
No one said anything.
“Goal is two days, tops, understood?”
Nodding around the table.
“Any other items anyone would like to discuss?”
No one moved.
“Alright, Airlock is open, go have fun you crazy kids.”
Everyone let out a woop! And quickly got out of their seats—Epsilon was up the ladder almost before Ulysses finished speaking.
I helped Astor arrange the tables back to the way they were. “Astor, where is everyone going?”
“To explore the Ferry. There’s shops and restaurants and usually a casino of some kind. It’s a big party.”
“Are you going?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Busy.”
We moved the last table into position. I debated whether or not I wanted to go see the ferry, but I was worried if I left I would get lost, and no one else on the ship seemed particularly concerned about keeping track of me. “Astor, instead of going to the Ferry, would it be alright if I went to the observation deck?”
He nodded. “Go ahead. Come back when they announce the Jump.”
“Got it.”
I went and climbed up the ladder to the causeway. Down one end, the rest of the crew was excitedly buzzing as they made their way to the airlock. I went the opposite direction and climbed down into the observation deck again.
The view was astonishing, though not very spectacular. The ship was flat against a large thin…wing almost, and there were dozens of other ships of various design and color also docked against this wing. Towards the front, a giant dome-like structure jutted out, blocking a significant portion of the view. Below, I could see the snows of Koslov passing by underneath. Soon, we would be leaving the only planet I ever knew for the strange land of Adille.
* * *
“Attention. Attention. Hyperspace Jump in 30 minutes. Report to your designated jump-deck. If you do not have a designated jump-deck, please return to your ship. Attention. Attention.”
The automated womans voice echoed through the whole ship. The ferry had pushed away from Koslov under conventional drives an hour ago, and I had watched Koslov disappear into the field of stars behind us. Now it was almost time for the much-anticipated Hyperspace Jump. I figured this announcement was the queue to return to Astor at the deck.
Astor was sitting down at a desk, reading something, when I walked in. “Ah, right. Jump time. You ever seen a Jump harness before?”
“Not yet.” I said.
“Todays the day! Here, it’s over here.” Astor led me back to the flight seat I sat in when we left Koslov, only this time he opened a hatch underneath and pulled out some kind of thick unfolding cage. “Take a seat.” He said.
I sat down and Astor helped me secure the flight harness, and then closed the cage around me. Inside the cage was another harness, which Astor secured by reaching through the bars. “It’s tight!” I said.
“It’s supposed to be.” He replied. “Eventually you’ll learn to do it yourself.” He sat down in his seat and secured his flight harness, then pulled up the cage, and then secured his jump harness.
“Why does it have to be so secure?”
“If you drop a pencil the moment before we make the jump, it has enough energy to rip a hole in the hull and kill everyone on this ship and probably the whole hyperspace ferry. We will be going extremely fast. The harness keeps you protected. The cage keeps us protected from you.”
“Oh. Wow. That fast? I thought the Jump was like an inversion of space time or something?”
“Yeah but you can’t do it from stationary. You have to be going really fast.”
The alert sounded again. “Attention. Attention. Hyperspace Jump in 15 minutes. Report to your designated jump-deck. If you do not have a designated jump-deck, please return to your ship. Jump officers, please begin reporting in. Attention. Attention.”
Astor pushed a button mounted on the wall next to his seat, and a light turned green.
“What’s that?”
“That’s the all-clear. The loading deck is secure and ready for the jump. It also locks the door so no one else can get into the loading deck. On the Hyperspace ferry, they send Jump officers around to clear each sector of the ship, everything has to be secured.”
Suddenly I was relieved I didn’t go to the Hyperspace ferry—I would have panicked and gotten lost and delayed the jump until someone found me, for sure. “What if someone doesn’t make it in time?”
“There’s jump harnesses all over, if you were to not get back to the ship in time the Jump officers will throw you in a jump harness and leave you there until someone comes to get you after the jump. You learn pretty quickly not to mess around with that.”
“What is the jump like?”
Astor smiled. “You’ll see.
“Attention. Attention. Hyperspace Jump in 5 minutes. Jump officers, secure all personnel.”
Ulysses came over the intercom, “All lights green, thank you for your prompt attention to the Jump alert. Airlock closed and secure. I have signaled that we are ready. Captain out.”
“Attention. Attention. Hyperspace Jump in one minute. All sections secured. Stand by for Hyperspace Jump.”
I felt a rattling in the hull as the Hyperspace ferry’s engines spooled up. The Virgil rocked and rattled, and I felt pressure against the harness as we accelerated. The pressure became almost unbearable, my arms began to hang in front of me as I could barely move them.
All at once, I felt a tug at the back of my gut—my vision faded, Astor froze in view, but seemed to stretch out and fade to blue and then to black—I wanted to scream but I was frozen too, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t see, almost as I began to panic—it was over.
“Attention. Hyperspace Jump Complete. Welcome to the Technocracy of Adille.”
(originally published 10/5/22)
This is a really cool story! I look forward to seeing what happens next. :). Keep up the great work!
This is great, had a blast reading up to here in one go! Imaginative and intriguing. Bravo, looking forward to how the story unfolds.