onedgec

Two full hours passed with the astronauts once again avoiding all conversation. Saunders monitored their course and speed continuously, making minor corrections to avoid debris of various sorts, and occasionally wondering what the effect of doing a sudden loop-de-loop in hyperspace would be. Alvarez made an endless array of scans and took countless readings on everything from the amount of quantum power being used to the cronon production count to the number of times her heart beat in a minute. In other words, they both kept themselves busy, but they were also both bored out of their skulls with no one to talk to on such a long journey.

Alvarez had also noticed over the course of the past two hours that Saunders was an incredibly skilled man. He seemed capable of doing two or three things at once, she noticed. For instance, she once observed him simultaneously computing gravitational equations, monitoring the ship’s distance from a hyperspatial object, and making notes of navigational anomalies that would have to be further cataloged at a later date. She was finding it harder and harder to outright hate him. She had also had time to think at long length about the true source of her animosity towards Saunders, and Alvarez was coming to the realization that there wasn’t really much wrong with the pilot. She at last took the initiative and started a conversation.

“Ensign,” she found herself saying. They both jumped a little at the sound, for even Alvarez was surprised by her sudden interruption of the long-lasting silence. The young man turned his attention away from his monitors to see what Alvarez wanted. “Ensign, I . . . I just wanted to explain my . . .”

Before she could get any further, the ship suddenly began to shake and spin violently around them. They both quickly leapt to action, studying the data being displayed on their respective situation monitors.

“What’s going on?” she shouted over the sound of grinding metal and small explosions happening at nearby, unused consoles. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure exactly; the bloody scanners are going haywire,” Saunders reported, all signs of animosity momentarily disbanded--a crisis was no time for petty arguments. He studied the data being displayed a bit more and, from what Alvarez could see, he seemed to be scanning for something specific. “I’ve got it,” he exclaimed after a moment. “We seem to have gotten ourselves caught in some sort of hyperspatial distortion, though I can’t figure out how I missed it on the scanners earlier!”

On a hunch, Alvarez scanned the cronon-plasma storage pod. “I think I have an explanation for that,” she replied, turning to face Saunders. “It’s my fault!”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean,” she explained, “that we’re venting charged cronon particles into hyperspace!”

“How?” Saunders asked as he struggled to stabilize the rocking shuttle.

Alvarez couldn’t help but sound a little embarrassed. “I think I accidentally activated the plasma-venting sequence when I was leaned on the console just before the turbulence started! The reason you missed it on the scanners is that it started just as I distracted you from your work!”

“So charged cronons plus hyperspace equals big problem?”

“You could say that, yes!”

“How do we stop it? Should we shut down the Drive? Will cutting off the cronon supply help?”

“I wouldn’t recommend shutting down the Drive! I’m trying to recalibrate a few things so that it starts to produce anticronons instead! I’m hoping that either the cronons and anticronons will cancel each other out or that the anticronons will have the reverse effect on hyperspace as cronons do!”

“How much time do you need? What do you need me to do?” A particularly violent lurch nearly threw Saunders out of his seat, but he held on, and then quickly fastened his safety restraints. Alvarez followed suit.

“I’m gonna need a couple minutes! If you can figure out a way to put a little distance between us and that distortion, it might make our next step being a bit more smooth! And keep trying to stabilize our position!”

Saunders did as he was told. Within about ten seconds, the ship was, as far as they could perceive, barely shaking; he’d made some adjustment to the artificial gravity system. Alvarez had to get out of her seat at one point to manually make some adjustments in the aft section of the cabin, and Saunders’ adjustments had been so effective that she didn’t stumble once.

“I’m ready to try venting the anticronons!” Alvarez reported when she returned to her seat a minute or two later.

“Fantastic! I think I can back us away from the distortion for about five seconds. That should be enough time for those anticronons to have their effect, whatever it might be, right?”

“Should be.”

“Then I'm ready to go on your command!”

“Go!” Alvarez exclaimed. And as Saunders did just that, Alvarez input the command for the pod to vent. Then they waited. It was only five seconds, but it was the longest five seconds in Alvarez’s life, and she suspected in Saunders’ as well.

The five seconds passed. The Hermes ceased its incessant shaking. They had done it.

Alvarez looked to Saunders. He met her gaze. They both had a look of great pride and accomplishment in their eyes. They had cheated death. Undeclared enemies from the start, they had put their animosity aside and beaten the odds. Rita didn’t even have to ask. She could tell by looking into Saunders’ eyes that things were all right between them.

Rita Alvarez’s frustration was a thing of the past. She had a newfound respect for Ensign Caleb Saunders, the best darn pilot in all of Nupax and someone very much deserving of his posting on the historic Hermes mission.

The End