Phantom Trajectory: Part I
Neptune's Guests
Elisa focused on her breathing. She kept it steady, and found a way to open her eyes. Through the glass of the helmet, she took in the moment. The flashing lights and blue luminescence of the monitors that covered the command consoles. The black wall of space, littered with bright dots of stars, both instilled fear and excitement. Elisa was lost in it all until she felt pressure on her arm. She turned the bulky helmet to see a gloved hand gripping her arm. It was Reggie, her navigation specialist. He simply smiled, and Elisa returned it, a silent thank you that broke her from her trance. It was time to set off. History was at hand.
Elisa tuned back in immediately as voices came crackling in over the comms, running through final checks. Mission control was going through its paces to make sure her ship, the Odysseus 3, was ready for its historic trip. It was a wormhole drive space ship, a theory turned into reality. The first two incarnations of the ship had flown to Neptune and back in mere minutes, but had no humans on board, only remote controlled. This was to be humanity's first trip into the wormhole and into the future of space travel. It had a small crew, just to ensure all systems were accounted for. Elisa had been selected as the captain, and she in turn had picked her best specialists for navigation, computer systems, communication, and propulsion.
Odysseus 3 had left the space station and was floating just above Earth's orbit. Elisa signaled all clear on her side, and mission control confirmed that the launch was a go. A countdown was initiated, and the ship's drive started to hum. The countdown echoed out from the comms in monotone bursts.
"25...24...23..."
The wormhole drive hum had ramped up to a high-pitched buzz. Tremors began to reverberate through the hull, but were expected. The black wall that was in front of Elisa now began to flash with bright iridescent hues of indigo and crimson. The colors swam among the stars, and whirled about until a circle formed just in front of the ship; the opening to the wormhole.
"11...10...9..."
Elisa’s breathing had quickened despite her best efforts. Her hands clenched at the seat she was strapped into, there was no turning back now.
"3...2...1...launch."
The words hit her like a cannonball. The front cabin of the ship seemed to elongate and stretch into the cyclone of colors, and Elisa experienced a feeling that no one before her had ever known. Her body felt as if it was falling fast through a cold lake, numb yet strained. She tried to open her eyes but could not, and her body trembled uncontrollably. Elisa wanted to scream, but something inside her told her not to. And as quickly as it had come over her, with a jolt it all had passed. Elisa opened her eyes through tears that had finally found a way to flow. She blinked twice, and then breathed in sharply at the sight before her.
Neptune.
Lips still shaking, they found more stability in the smile that Elisa now had. Whoops and cheers came from her crew as they knew that they had made it. Elisa gave herself a moment, just briefly, to once again take it all in. Then she had to get back to her command.
"Systems check," Elisa said. She could hear the clicks as her crew went to work on the order. Elisa knew she had picked well, she trusted each member of her team completely, and was not surprised to see that they were all diligently back to work as usual.
"Navigation system checks out, all green." Reggie's calm voice soothed Elisa's nerves just a touch.
"Life Support is green. Artificial gravity is engaging, but I got minor sensors going off all over, must be an overload somewhere. Gonna have to go to the back and reset some relays." Colt said. His electrical expertise was unmatched, so he had nothing more than annoyance in his tone.
"Comms are up. We are linked to control." Denise said with a smile. She had the voice of angel, even over the garbled sound of space communications. She began the uplink connection so control could speak directly with them. Elisa turned her head to David, the engine technician. He was the introvert of the group, usually buried in his work and his readouts, but he had been opening up a bit lately. David peeked from his data to see Elisa's eyes firmly asking for the all clear. David shifted in his seat and quickly brought up the system diagnostic screen.
"All green. Generator one at 92 percent and wormhole drives have completed cool down. Ready for round two." David winced at his last statement, but laughed it off as well. Elisa cracked a smile as she turned back to the view in front of her. The giant blue planet loomed like a celestial tapestry, and Elisa took just a brief passing moment to admire it in its splendor. The screen on her console shot some static across it as a video relay was established. The smiling face of Commander Ray Bruskins filled the screen.
"I hear we are all green out there? Can you confirm?" Bruskins said as he awaited Elisa's reply. They both knew what this moment truly meant. Man could travel the stars, and time would not be an issue anymore. Elisa took a deep breath before she responded.
"Confirm. All green. We have some relays that need to be reset and we will get right on that. Plotting our course for Neptune orbit and we will begin video and data collection shortly." Confidence dripped over every word, as Elisa let the moment lift her spirit to new heights. Bruskins chuckled softly on the other end.
"Alright, Captain. Take some time to celebrate with the crew and get yourselves settled. We will check back in 2 hours, and start data link for the orbital survey. Congratulations, all of you. This is a moment that will be forever remembered. Take it all in, but remain vigil. We still need you back here to make it a true success." Bruskins last words brought a somber feeling into the command cabin.
"Mission control, out." Bruskins image disappeared from the screen. Colt hooted and hollered as he unbuckled.
"Hear that? We're famous now! Hell yeah, I'm getting laid when we get home, boy!" Colt wrapped his arms around David and shook him, knowing he'd be as awkward as possible. Colt always messed with David that way, but it was like a big brother/little brother sort of thing.
Elisa looked over the faces of her crew, and they beamed brighter than any star in sight. It was an amazing feeling, but Elisa knew she had to get everyone focused once more.
"OK. Here's the plan. Let's do a brief walk through. Everyone check everything. Full systems check. Colt, check on those relays. Once that is done, let’s all meet in the galley and celebrate before we head into orbit." Elisa said as she stood with Neptune's mighty aura just behind her.
The rest of the crew acknowledged her words. David and Colt went to the back of the ship to check the electrical relays and engine room, while the rest stayed in the command cabin to run through all computer systems, both big and small.
David and Colt walked gingerly through the artificial gravity. It always took a little while to adjust, and in the meantime, both walked like they had just run marathons. The Odysseus 3 was a decent sized ship, feeling about the size of three giant submarines in length and width. It was long and bullet-shaped with many of the core electrical and engine systems near the rear. It was going to be a fully operational cargo and colony ship once it made its return, and humanity would begin societies on other worlds.
The two men finally reached the core systems area. A multitude of pipes, tubes, and electrical wires that were interlaced around the walls and ceiling, with several digital diagnostic stations placed at each critical system junction point. As per usual, Colt was running his mouth.
"Well, of course we are back here. I knew those fuck ups back at control would make me work twice as hard as needed out here." Colt raised his arms in embellished disgust as he strode along the room, checking each station for any error signals or relay issues. David just laughed and crossed his arms.
"Don't laugh! Listen, you know Elisa picked us because of how we handled the shit show that was the re-entry of Albatross 5. I mean I know she had a bit of a hand in the whole landing but that whole bird should have ripped apart if we hadn't been there." Colt smirked as he spoke. The Albatross was where they had first worked with Elisa, and had made quite an impression. They also learned how much Elisa could drink once they had gotten through their hero’s welcome. She put both Colt and David to the paces, and despite being inebriated, still had the wherewithal to reject Colt's advances. After that they hadn't spoken much until they got the call for this mission.
"Just keep your junk to yourself and we will be fine." David said through a breathy chuckle. "And fix those damn relays. I want to get back to the galley and eat. I'm fucking starving." David shouted as he walked on, heading deeper into the area where the engine components were. Colt flipped David the bird as he left and laughed. He kept moving along until he got to the diagnostic station for the cargo hold. The sensors had been going wacky since they got out of the wormhole, with constant warning signals flashing. Each had a code, and the screen displayed the data as Colt used his fingers to navigate a digital readout of the relays.
CODE 261: MOTION DETECTED IN CARGO HOLD.
CODE 119: UNKNOWN ORGANIC MATERIAL DETECTED. CONTAMINATION POSSIBLE.
Colt reset the relays. He was quick with the system interface, and everything was green almost immediately. Colt went to lock the system once more but just as he did, the screen flashed red once more.
CODE 261: MOTION DETECTED IN CARGO HOLD.
CODE 119: UNKNOWN ORGANIC MATERIAL DETECTED. CONTAMINATION POSSIBLE.
"Fuck me. Must be a sensor issue. David? Hey David!" Colt yelled into the mechanical abyss. No response. Colt scrunched his nose and looked back at the screen, and then shook his head. He quickly enabled the stations readout to be accessed on a mobile system console, a small device that each member had in the wrist of their operational suits. He finished establishing the link and yelled back to the silence.
"I'm going to the cargo hold! Think the sensors just got fucked up from the jump!" Silence still remained, but Colt didn't wait. The cargo hold was fairly close, and it would be a quick trip.
Colt got to the hold, and to his surprise, the large door to the cargo hold was flashing an error message on its display console. Colt didn't need anything to identify the issue. The cargo hold door was ajar.
"What in the hell..." Colt went and opened the door and looked inside the large hold. As he opened the door, automatic lights kicked on and illuminated a white and gray landscape of emptiness. The hold was big enough to transport vehicles and survival domes for early colonization, along with other basic needs. But this trip was just a test run, so there was nothing in the hold. Colt walked inside and heard his steps echo off the metal walls. He put his hands on his hips and looked around, not sure for what. He shook his head in dismay and headed to the interior console for the cargo hold to check the sensors inside. As he engaged the console and got the interface up, he found a pleasant surprise. All systems were green.
"Well ain't that something?" Colt said aloud. He disengaged his wrist console and headed out of the hold. As he did, he gave a long hard look at the large cargo hold door, giving it a quick inspection as he closed it. He felt it magnetize and lock, and watched the display go from red to green signaling a solid lock. He peered in through the circular window in it to watch the lights turn off as the room was fully locked down.
"Still better get this looked at when we get back. Weird." Colt said as he turned to head back to catch up with David. Just after a few steps, a loud bang reverberated from the cargo hold door, as if something had slammed into it from the inside. Colt stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned to the door. Despite the darkness in the window of the door, Colt could swear something was there, just standing. Then, a shimmer within the shadows of the cargo hold flashed, and whatever it was seemed to run off.
Colt took two fiercely fast steps and slammed into the cargo hold door as he pressed his face into the window, his eyes darting around at the darkness looking for any kind of validation. As he looked in, he could see the small pocket of illumination that was created by the corridor's light shining into the window. It didn't extend far, but Colt strained to see as deep as he could into it.
Then, at the edge of the light, stood a silhouette. It seemed to be solid as stone, and Colt couldn't tell if it was just matrixing at the end of the light, but he swore something was looming in the darkness. The silhouette shifted suddenly. A charred skeletal hand raised into the soft light and pointed at Colt. A firm pressure jolted Colt's shoulder and he spun around letting out a deathly shriek.
David jumped back, his smile vaporized and he held out his arms as Colt lost his footing and fell back into the cargo hold door and slid down onto his bottom. Colt was trembling, and David quickly moved to help him up.
"Hey, hey! Are you OK, man? Scared the living shit out of me there!" David said as he pulled Colt to his feet and patted his chest.
"The shit out of you? Fuck man, why, why you gotta, the fuck you doing over here?" Colt said through gasps of breath. He realized he had stopped breathing for a moment out of pure fear.
"I'm done. Engine is all clear. You said you'd be over here. You all good or what?” David said, slightly defensive.
Colt looked backed into the window and saw nothing but the soft bubble of light in an empty cargo hold. He held his gaze for a moment, and when nothing lurched from the shadows, he turned back to David.
"Yeah, I'm good. Gotta get this door checked when we get back, though." Colt put on a smile and walked back with David to the galley, unable to stop replaying the last haunting moments in his head.
Stay tuned for part two soon!
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