Alone in a Vast Sea of Darkness

Jill slowly backed out of the rift in the Dark Angel's mass. It would be a relief to escape. Millions of hurt, angry beings seemed to surround her. She had lost her communication link with Mariner and her on board computer had gone crazy. She'd had to switch to manual control and used her eyes to navigate through to the Scout Ship. The ship lay dead and dark inside the mass. Jill had manipu

“Trigger to Mariner. Respond.” Nothing.

“This is the ISM unit Trigger calling Scout Ship 782. Over.”

“ISM vessel Trigger, this is Scout Ship 782. Are we glad to hear from you.”

“What is your condition?”

“We've been on half rations for a month now and are near nuts with isolation and despair. That thing just sucked every bit of energy from our systems. Only the mass around us kept us from freezing to death. We managed to cannibalize our systems to build enough battery cells to maintain life support. We were getting down to our last few weeks of survival though. Have you any idea what that thing is?”

“It's a life form and unfortunately, when you entered you wounded it. Its not very happy with us. Just sit quiet and enjoy the ride. I'll dock you to the side of Mariner and we'll get you up and running again.”

“Roger that.”

“Trigger to Mariner. Come in Mariner.” Nothing. Worry etched creases into Jill's forehead. By now she should be far enough away that there should be no interference with communication. She leaned forward unconsciously and stared at The Mariner. She looked like - yes, she was adrift! Had the Dark Angel attacked The Mariner? There were no visible blast marks. The energy surge. Chances were that Mariner took a direct hit and that meant her systems would have all over loaded. As she watched, she thought she saw the glimmer of emergency lights. That meant there was life support but Anna could have taken a hit along with the ship's systems. Jill increased her speed as much as she dared. For now she was alone is a vast sea of darkness and it was up to her to find her way back to port safely with the crew of the Scout Ship.

“Scout Ship 782 to ISM Trigger. Your home vessel seems to be adrift.”

“Yes. I experienced a massive discharge of energy when I pulled your vessel clear. I think The Mariner might have experienced the same blast and its caused an over load of our systems. I'm going to dock you along side The Mariner and go aboard to access the situation. As soon as we can, we'll establish a link and get you aboard. You might have to be patient a while longer.”

“We've waited this long. We can hang on for a while yet.”

Jill moved slowly towards The Mariner and tried to focus on the difficult job ahead of docking and locking the scout ship to the hull of the Mariner. It would be no easy job without assistance from the Mariner. Without ship's power, she'd have to manoeuver the ISM around to manually release the docking mechanisms and then attach each individually. This was way beyond her level of training on the ISM. She'd have to go slow, check every move and stay totally focussed. This was going to be very difficult because she knew in her heart that Anna was in trouble.

On deck things were not going well. Eveen's skin was now a glowing pink and the purple spots were spreading rapidly. Eveen was getting the job done but she was stomping around and muttering under her breath.

Justice tried to remain focussed on the task at hand. They had four of the six stations ready for rebooting, life support, science, tactical and communications. Only navigation and engineering remained to reconfigure. Once that was done they would have to hope that Wiseman and Sur had managed to get the ship's engineering systems up and ready to go.

Not for the first time, Justice glanced out of the starboard port to check on Jill's situation. She was maintaining course heading for the docking ports along The Mariners flank. Justice knew that Jill would have realized by now that they were in trouble. He'd have to rely on her to get her job done independent of The Mariner. They couldn't help her and at the moment they had bigger problems with which to deal. The ISM was good for twenty-four hours. Hopefully, they'd have the ship operational well before that.

lated the ISM extension arms to hook a cable on to the ISC ship and then gradually backed up until the line was taunt. Then she pulled. The scout ship popped out and a wave of energy sent her and the ship careening wildly. It took Jill several minutes to regain control. Fortunately, the tow line had not tangled or snapped. Jill took a deep breath, dried her hands on her pants and edged backward, pulling the scout ship out of the mass.

“Trigger to Mariner. Come in Mariner.” Nothing.

The skin of a star ship was not thick. Jill could easily puncture the hull while manoeuvring the scout ship into place. He trusted Jill but she had little space experience and even less aboard the ISM. He needed to take precautions.

“Eveen?”

“What! Sorry, Sir.”

“I'm going back to seal the common room off. Jill will have to do a manual docking and on the rare chance there is a hull breach, we'll need to be prepared.”

“Damn! One more thing!”

Justice ignored Eveen's agitated state. It wasn't considered polite to point out that she was going through another bout of love sickness. Justice thought she looked kind of cute all pink and spotty. She was a really neat person too. Whoever she loved was a lucky guy. “I'll be back in a minute.”

Justice made his way back to the common room and picked up some emergency bottles of water and several ration packs. Then he headed aft to the engineering section. He found Adam Wiseman and Aja Sur in the process of replacing micro circuits.

“How is it going?”

“About half way, Sir,” Wiseman responded.

“Bet you wish you'd taken that lab job?” Justice joked.

“No way, Sir. I realize now that the DMC is where I belong. You guys need me. How is Jill doing?”

“Jill's got the scout ship out and will have to attempt a manual docking. I'm going to seal the hatches into the common room on the rare chance there is a haul breach. Check the atmosphere gauges before opening the hatch. I'm leaving two days of rations with you just in case you get cut off from the rest of the ship.”

“Aye, aye, Sir.”

Justice nodded and left them to their work. He made his way back down the hall and found some paper and a pencil. He wrote a short note and fitted it into a small port window.

Main power system blown out. We are on emergence life support systems. We are repairing the damage but it will take time. Dock manually and stand by. Capt. Moshapa.

He hesitated wondering if he should add a line about Anna and then decided he wouldn't. Jill had enough on her mind. Besides, he really didn't know how Anna was. He'd resisted the urge to enter the infirmary. Sue Lai and Toda didn't need any distractions. Part of being a good leader, he had learned, was trusting his crew to do their jobs. Still, fear gnawed at his gut. To lose the Commodore would be devastating. To lose her on his first command mission would be professionally disastrous.

He grabbed water and emergency rations for the bridge and stepped across the hatch. Sealing the hatch behind him. He found Eveen banging about under the navigation consol and muttering to herself. Beating a retreat, Justice starting working on the reboot for the engineering console. He had to trust each member of his crew to get their jobs done. If one member failed they could be in deep trouble. Justice looked at his watch again. He knew that The Explorer would come to The Mariner's aid if they did not report in as scheduled. A star ship suddenly showing up could cause the dark matter creature to attack with even greater force. They were running out of time.

Out in space, Jill worked slowly and carefully on releasing each of the docking hooks. She had seen Justice's note on the port but didn't dare get close enough to read it until she had the scout ship properly docked.

Head aching with the stress and palms damp, she slowly used the robotic arms of her little craft to release each docking hook in turn. Once she had them open, she'd have to guide the scout ship in until the female airlock of The Mariner fitted in to the male airlock of the scout ship. Then the scout ship would lock the two airlock couplings together. Once this was done, she'd go back and snap each of the six docking hooks onto the scout ship's haul rings.

Jill released the last docking hook and then manoeuvered her craft around so that she could act like a tugboat, gently pushing the scout ship towards the hull of The Mariner. The smallest mistake now could be a disaster. There were no brakes in space. If the scout ship was not perfectly lined up, it could drifted into The Mariner, at the very least pushing it off its orbit, and at the worst causing considerable damage. Jill kept one finger on the button for the retro rockets that would reverse the craft if the manoeuver needed to be aborted.

Slowly, she moved them towards The Mariner's docking port. The window of error was only ten centimetres. A few minutes later, she felt the bump and heard the grind as the two airlocks made contact. The female port was dish shaped and the probe of the male port had to hit that dish and side down into place. Had she been close enough for the docking probe to have slid into place? She waited.

“Scout Ship 782 to ISM Trigger. Airlock coupling in place and locked.”

“Roger that.” Jill smiled. Her first attempt and she'd got it right on the button. She wish Anna had been looking out the port to see that but she hadn't. Where was Anna? Jill's gut tied itself in knots again. Something was terribly wrong.

Jill took a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves. She had work to do yet and she couldn't afford to let her mind wander.

“ISM Trigger to Scout Ship 782. Stand by while I manually close the docking hooks.

“Standing by.”

Jill spun her small craft around over the top of the scout ship and turned around so that she could use the robotic arms again. Slowly, one by one, she clicked the locks into place around the docking rings on the scout ship. She was done. Free of the responsibility of the scout ship, Jill headed over to read the note that Justice had left. She read it carefully twice. No mention of Anna. Something was terribly wrong but there was nothing she could do but carry on with the mission that Anna had set for her.

“ISM Trigger to Scout Ship 782. Your ship is docked and locked. I've just been notified that The Mariner is under going repairs and you won't be able to board until the repairs are completed.”

“Roger. We can hang on a while longer.”

“I'm heading back to The Dark Angel to initiate repairs.”

“Roger. Be careful.”

Jill backed away from the hull of The Mariner then turned and headed back towards the wound in the Dark Angel. Again, she forced the worries about Anna out of her mind and focussed on getting the mission completed successfully. That's what Anna wanted and Jill had no intention of failing her. Still, she covered the distance at high speed and only slowed down when she was close to the massive form of the Dark Angel.

Slowly, she entered the dark mass sensing more than seeing the thousands upon thousands of beings around her. She drifted in as far as she dared and then initiated a steady, low level beam of negative particles into the gap. For a few seconds nothing happened, then suddenly the space in front of her snapped shut almost trapping the ISM within it. Jill backed up and repeated the process, knowing this time to shoot several beams into the rent and then retreated quickly. Slowly, she healed the wound and edged her way back to the surface of the Dark Angel. When the job was done, she backed away. The Dark Angel gave no sign as to whether the closed wound had been successfully healed. Jill backed away some more then stopped. Still nothing.

Jill was reluctant to turn her back on the massive form. As Adam had cautioned them, once this thing was healed it might turn revengeful. A machine is incapable of empathy or compassion. The massive form remained immobile. Jill turned her craft around feeling the shiver of fear down her back as she did so. Whether she faced the creature or not, her fate was in its hands. She sped up heading back to The Mariner and Anna.

As she drew near, she could see The Mariner was still adrift but there were now cabin lights on.

Jill eased her craft around the hull of The Mariner and returned to the ISM docking stable, carefully manoeuvered Trigger into place. Now there was nothing to do put wait for The Mariner to power up fully again and rescue them. In the meantime, Jill turned off as many systems as she could to save power. There was nothing she could do but wait in the darkness of space and worry.

“The Mariner to ISM Trigger. Mariner to Trigger.”

With relief, Jill turned on her com.

“Trigger here. Am I glad to hear from you guys. When can we get aboard?”

“ISM Trigger, This is Capt. Moshapa. Was your mission successful?”

“Scout Ship 782 is docked and the crew waiting to board The Mariner. ISM Trigger is in her stable waiting for The Mariner airlocks to be opened.”

“The Dark Angel?”

“The beam seemed to work. The wound has closed up. The Dark Angel has given no indication if it is healed.”

“Roger. I need you to set a course for quadrant grid 36.38 dash 24.67 dash 98.01 dash 62.46. Rendevous with The Explorer and order her to keep her distance. The Mariner does not have long range communication yet.”

Jill's heart skipped a beat. “Mariner, the ISM does not have enough fuel or life support for a return trip from those coordinates.”

“Understood, ISM Trigger. Jill, if The Explorer doesn't receive our check in call in five hours time, she'll come to our aid. We don't want to do anything to upset the Dark Angel. You must intercept.”

For a second, Jill hesitated. Then, “Understood Mariner... Justice, give my love to Anna.”

“I'll do that, Jill. Good luck.”

Once again, Jill pulled from the safety of The Mariner's hull stable. Jill set the new coordinates that had been downloaded into her navigation computer then switched to automatic pilot. She felt the sudden force of acceleration push her back in her seat. Then the jets cut off and she drifted out into the cold, emptiness of space.

“What have you done? The Commodore is going to have you roasted on a spit! You just sent Jill to her death!”

“Enough, Lt. Barron!”

“What's the chances of The Explorer coming across Jill? It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!”

Justice gritted his teeth. He'd like to take his own stress out on Eveen but forced himself to remember that she wasn't well.

“Enough. I know the risks. I also know that Jill is determined and resourceful. At the moment, we are all at the mercy of the Dark Angel's mood. If a star ship comes charging in here, I don't think the Dark Angel is going to sit quietly and let it take the first shot. Jill is our only chance of getting word to them to keep their distance and buy us some time. Its not just the lives of the scout ship at stake now. It's the lives of those aboard the Mariner and The Explorer as well.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Justice looked up from the engineering board he was working on. Eveen had gone from pink and purple back to her more normal skin tone. Fear for Jill, had got her over her latest bout of love sickness.

“If Jill doesn't intercept The Explorer then we'll probably have to make a fight of it. But the DMC doesn't desert it's own. We'll go looking for her. I need you to get Navigation up and running.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Justice took a deep breath and then turned back to his own work. Eveen was only partly right. When Anna found out that he'd ordered Jill out into deep space in an ISM she was going to roast him alive whether Jill got back safely or not.

Toda and Sue sat side by side against the Infirmary bulkhead looking drained and worried. Across from them under a sterile operation tent lay Anna. They had successfully removed the damaged unit and replaced it with the spare that Toda had smuggled aboard. To do this they had to stop all of Anna's functions. They had worked quickly and in less than a minute they'd revived her. Her vitals were well in acceptable ranges. The new device gave every indication of being compatible and functioning efficiently but Anna had not regained consciousness.

“How long has it been now? Toda asked.

“Twenty three hours and thirty-six minutes.”

“What are we going to tell Jill?” Toda sobbed.

“That we did our best. The Commodore's stable. If we can get her back to Dorbel then maybe they would know what to do.”

“I think the Commodore would rather die here in space than for us to hand her over to Dorbel.”

“We'd be there to protect her. She's not alone now. The DMC will be there for her.”

Toda suddenly leapt to his feet and pulled Sue up so quickly that she almost hit the ceiling.

“Her foot moved!”

“Are you sure?”

“I think so.”

Sue was over at Anna's side immediately and Toda turned to the computer readouts.

“There's more brain activity. Blood pressure is up slightly and so is her pulse.”

Sue slapped Anna's hand gently. “Com, can you hear me? Com?”

Anna opened an eye but gave no response.

“Com?”

Anna's arm moved. Then her eyes blinked. “How am I doing?”

Sue wiped tears from her eyes while Toda's sobbed loudly in the background. “I think you're going to be fine. You gave us an awful scare. You've been unconscious for hours.”

“My system would have to reboot. Didn't Toda tell you that?”

“Toda!”

“I didn't know!”

“What's happened? Where is Jill?”

Sue put a restraining hand on Anna who was trying to get up. “We don't know any details. We've been with you all this time. We're still on emergency power. The crew is still making repairs on The Mariner.”

Anna's eyes went to Toda. “Get down to engineering.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I need to talk to Justice.”

I can get him on the intercom but he'll have to keep his report brief. We don't have a lot of power.”

“Captain Moshapa? The Commodore is conscious and wanting a status report.”

“Anne? Shit, you scared the hell out of us. How are you doing?”

“I'm okay. Tired and sore. Toda and Sue did a good job. What is the status on Jill's mission?”

Justice looked at Eveen. She crossed her arms and stared back. The message was clear, you are on your own on this one.

Justice picked his words carefully. “Crewman Fairfax came through with flying colours. She got the scout ship out and manually docked it to The Mariner. Then she went back and closed up the wound in the Dark Angel. We are still in lock down mode waiting for all the repairs to be complete. I locked down the access hatches before Jill docked the scout ship as a precaution. We can't release the hatches now until we power up.”

“When will that be?”

“Another few hours. You try and rest.”

“Can we get a check in call to The Explorer?”

“I think we've managed that. Rest. Repairs are almost complete.”

“Thanks you, Captain. You've done a fine job.”

Justice shut of the com as quickly as he could and wiped the sweat from his upper lip. Eveen snorted and went back to her work. It had been nearly twenty-four hours.

A few hours had passed before Justice and Eveen had managed to get all the centres on the bridge reset and ready to reboot as soon as Wiseman and Sur could get engineering up and running. Sur had reported that they would need two hours. Eveen and Justice now sat in the command seats downing some rations and water.

“You feeling better now?”

Eveen blushed. “Yes, Sir. Sorry I was a little wild there for a while.”

“You got the job done regardless and that's what matters. I think...”

“I'm seeing an image of The Explorer heading this way. The Dark Angel is angry.”

The two of them scrabbled to their feet. Out the periscope viewer, they could see the massive form of the Dark Angel rolling slowly towards them in a seizing mass.

“Engineering this would be a really good time to get us the hell out of here,” Justice commanded.

No answer came. Justice turned to see small. Dark human-like forms flying around the bridge.

“Eveen, try to signal to them that we mean them no harm.”

“I think they are communicating with Anna. I have an image of her.”

“Cyborn to bridge. Justice, I thought you told me that you'd been in contact with The Explorer.”

“Not exactly, Sir. We don't have any long range communication. I sent the ISM Trigger out to intercept The Explorer.”

“You sent Jill out into deep space in a damn ISM?”

“She was our only chance, Commodore. If The Explorer arrived here the Dark Angel was sure to attack and we'd be defenceless.”

There was silence for a minute and then Anna's emotional voice came softly over the speaker. “It doesn't look like she was successful. I'll try to reason with them.”

Jill shivered. She'd run out of fuel nearly and hour ago and was now adrift in space, hours away from the nearest help. She'd turned off or down as many systems she could to save power. With luck, she could survive for a while yet. With stiff fingers, she worked to calculate The Explore's position and the course she would take. Following standard procedure, The Explorer would wait an extra two hours after their call in time and then proceed towards the The Mariner at standard cruising speed unless she received a distress signal. That meant, The Explorer would pass her position in approximately two hours time. It was time to act. It meant that she would drain one of her fuel cells leaving her only six hours of life support left but it also increased greatly the chance of The Explorer finding her. She had increased the distance and power of her distress beacon and now she turned it one sending a repetitive SOS with The Mariner's call signals from her position. Then she settled back and waited. She used the time to remember every moment that she had spent with Anna. If she was not successful on this mission, she wanted Anna to be the last thought that she had.

A few hours later, Jill checked her watch again by the dim glow of instrument panel. She had turned her oxygen flow as low as she dared and reduced power to the bare essentials. She had two hours left. By now The Explorer should have passed her. Her mission had failed. What would the Dark Angel do to the others? Having been inside the creature, Jill had a pretty good idea of its power. It might have human components but it was essentially a machine and would act without mercy if it felt threatened.

Jill looked at her watch again. The dial seemed blurry. She didn't feel cold anymore, just very, very tired. A sudden sway in her craft brought her to full awareness. There several miles in front of her was The Explorer.

“Explorer to ISM Trigger.”

“Explorer, this is Crewman Fairfax. Do not proceed forward. I repeat do not go to The Mariner's rescue. Hold your position until further notice.”

“Understood ISM Trigger. Suggest you come aboard for a debriefing.”

“Can not do, Explorer. I'm without propulsion. I need assistance. I'm almost out of life support.”

“Stand by, ISM Trigger. We're on our way.”

Anna tried to calm the emotions she was feeling. The safety of her crew had to come first. “Dark Angel, we mean you no harm. We tried to stop The Explorer. When she arrives we will not allow her to hurt you.”

“We have no further use for you. Make repairs and leave. Do not return.”

The figures around her now disappeared.

“Bridge, are you okay?”

“Yes, Sir. The creatures have gone.”

“Engineering?”

“We took a jolt or two from those creatures but I think we're okay. Sur, tells me that engineering is now up and ready. Engines are on line. Those creatures most have finished the work.”

Anna closed her eyes and tried to regroup her thoughts. “They've let us go for some reason. Captain Moshapa, get us out of here before that thing changes it mind.”

“Aye, aye, Sir.”

Sue came over and bent over Anna's bed. “She'll have made it. Don't worry.”

Anna nodded but said nothing.

Two astronauts from aboard The Explore did an EVA to rescue Jill and guide her ISM into a docking bay and tie it down. On the bridge, they starting closing the bay doors before the craft was locked in place as they knew Jill was running out of life support. With less than a half hour of power left, Jill opened the hatch and was pulled from the ISM by willing hands. Exhausted, cold and light-headed, Jill was placed on a stretcher and taken to The Explorer's medical centre.

Captain Carlos Garcia was waiting when they brought her in.

“How are you doing?”

“I'll be okay. Thanks for the timely rescue.”

“Your distress call was loud and clear. Please don't tell me you are all that is left of The Mariner crew.”

“They were all okay when I left. We'd rescued the scout ship and crew and had them docked to The Mariner but we were hit by a power surge from the Dark Angel that blew the ship's circuitry and left us adrift. That's why we couldn't contact you.”

“So why can't we come and offer assistance?”

“Because that dark mass is alive. We don't want it threatened by a star ship showing up. It's not very friendly. It's a cybernetic creature that uses organic components. The planet dwellers live in sort of a symbiotic relationship with the dark matter. They call it the Dark Angel. The planet dwellers are created by the Dark Angel and when they are close to death they are harvested and become part of the Dark Angel mass. It is very powerful. Its made up of billions of individual parts all working together as one. It has no space ship or shell. It functions more like a massive school of fish.”

Garcia stepped back while the medics got Jill comfortable. He needed to think. The Mariner was in trouble. She was adrift beside a massive and potentially deadly life form of which they knew very little about. Even now they could be under attack and needing The Explorer's assistance. On the other hand, The Mariner had sent Jill, at great risk, to warn him to keep his distance. He'd wait but not for long.

“You rest now. We'll stand ready here for twenty-four hours and then re-evaluate the situation.”

“I'm alright. I just need to warm up a bit and have a nap. Captain?”

“Yes, Crewman.”

“If you hear anything will you let me know? My orders came from Captain Moshapa. I'm afraid that Commodore Cyborn might have been hurt when The Mariner was hit by the power surge.”

Carlos reached out and patted Jill's hand. “You'll know as soon as I get word. I promise.”