Nathan Hystad - New Threat

The blip was accelerating faster. We traversed through space toward their trajectory, and all we could do was watch as their ship kept getting farther and farther away.

“That’s what we have tracking for,” Clare said as we watched the blip get smaller as the map expanded. My gut was telling me we were in for quite the chase.

“We wait until the drive’s charged, then follow them just like the plan accounted for. Is there something to eat in the kitchen?” Mary asked, stomach growling at the mention of food. As if on cue, mine followed suit.

“I’ll go whip up some omelettes. Nothing like pre-beaten eggs from a cardboard container. Everyone good with that?” I asked.

Clare said she was, and I walked over to Mae, who was still nursing a swollen eye. “Mae, why don’t you let the doctor assess you finally? Maybe take something and rest for a bit.”

She looked at me, her one open eye intense. “I just want to catch them, Dean. I want to go home. I… I let them get away.”

We hadn’t heard the whole story from her yet. She got up and followed me into the kitchen, where coffee still sat in the maker. I offered her another cup and she nodded to me. I wanted to give her a big hug and tell her everything would be okay, but I could tell it would only upset her more.

“What happened?” I asked, grabbing a frying pan.

“I know you had your big event, but I felt like it might be just the time someone would make a move. With the whole base distracted, it only made sense.” Mae sipped her coffee.

“If you thought that, why didn’t you tell anyone? It does make sense, but sometimes the most obvious things are the ones we miss first.”

“Everyone was just happy, and I didn’t think there was a way they could escape, so I hung out by the prison, just laying low. At the ten PM guard switch, it went south. I snuck in behind him and saw him let Terrance out first. I tried to intervene but got a beating for my troubles. Soon Leslie was there, kicking me too. That’s who we’re dealing with here. They’ll do anything for their cause.”

I cringed, thinking of my friend getting pummelled by two people. No wonder she had become so closed off-lately. She’d been through so much.

I walked over to her where she sat and pulled her toward me, being careful her bruised face didn’t get hurt. I held her head to my stomach and leaned down, kissing the top of her head.

“I’m sorry, Mae. I’m sorry we weren’t there for you. Never again,” I said, and she cried into my shirt.

Doctor Nick started into the room, saw our intimate moment, and slowly backed away. I hoped he saw it for what it was, not something else. That was all we needed with a crew of six people.

“I love you, Dean,” she said, her hand holding mine. I knew what she meant. We weren’t in love, but she was like a sister to me, and I a brother to her. It was a bond we would never shake.

“I love you too,” I said.

Mae got up, and we made breakfast for the crew in silence, working in the small space like we’d been doing it our whole lives. By the time we brought the food to the bridge, Clare had a look of pure joy on her face. It was a little unsettling, considering the circumstances.

“It’s ready. Let’s blast across this galaxy,” Clare said.

Mary shrugged her shoulders and pressed the glowing green tablet button. Stars stretched out around us on the viewscreen.

“Anyone for eggs while we make history?” I asked.

“Don’t look so worried. Mae has it under control,” I said. We were lying on the bed in our own bunk room, face to face, heads on pillows. We had been soaring through space for hours now, not catching up to our target but keeping on their tail as best we could.

“I know. It just seems like so much. I still can’t believe we’re here, racing past Mars, only half a day after we watched our friends getting married. Do you wish we had gotten married?” Mary asked.

I hadn’t given that a lot of thought. “I’m happy just being with you. A label at this time is really just that, a label. It doesn’t change anything.”

She closed her eyes. “You’re right, honey. I’m going to sleep for a while, okay? Try to get some sleep yourself.”

I closed my eyes too, noticing the missing dog at our feet. Even through all the unknowns, the body knows when it needs to recharge, and in moments, my mind stopped racing, drifting off into a well-needed slumber.

A few hours later, I was awoken to the sound of Mae’s voice over the comm-system. “All crew to the bridge.”

Mary was already up, putting her jumpsuit back on, and I fell right in behind her. I felt rested, but wished I had time to brush my teeth or freshen up. I made a quick pit stop in the washroom and did just that after relieving myself. I wasn’t going to be of any use wetting myself on the bridge.

When I crossed to the bridge, Nick was behind me, and he called up. “Any idea what’s going on?”

I looked back. He was in a bathrobe, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. His eyes were sporting some serious red veins, and I expected his first attempt at sleep on a spaceship was a failure.

Slate was standing tall behind Mae’s console, with Mary and Clare flanking her. They were all looking at the viewscreen.

“The icon blinked out here,” she said, highlighting the spot on the map, “but the tracking still seems to be working, unless there’s a major glitch in it.” She looked over her shoulder to Clare.

Clare stood there, perplexed look across her face. After a moment, a light bulb went off, and I could see recognition wash over her. “Holy shit. The reason the map went all funky and tiny like that is because it was zooming out. Somehow they travelled from here” – she pointed to a spot on the tablet screen – “to here.” Another spot way to the right.

“Just how did they do that? We’re operating the same drive as them,” Mary said.

“I have no idea. To travel that far would take something entirely different. Something we don’t have. Maybe…” She stopped, tapping her finger on the back of Mae’s chair.

“What is it? What could do that?” I asked, losing my patience. If we lost them now, on day one, we were hooped.

“The only thing I can think of is a wormhole of some sort. We didn’t find the technology on their ships, though,” Clare said. “That’s the only reasonable explanation I have.”

A wormhole. This just kept getting more convoluted.

“So what do we do? Wait until we catch up to the spot they disappeared at and see if we can duplicate it?” Mary asked.

“What’s our ETA to that spot?” I asked, a nervous energy coursing through my veins.

“Just under two hours,” Mae confirmed after tapping a few glowing buttons.

Two hours to travel FTL toward a spot where our target ship blipped out and moved thousands of light years away. If we didn’t get the same hop, we would never be able to catch them. The whole escape would be successful, and we would be heading back to Earth with our tail between our legs, preparing for an all-out war.

“Then that’s what we do. Pray for the same wormhole to be there,” I said, and we all kept staring at the map, a light blip across the stretched-out expanse, glowing, letting us know our target was still out there.

“Ihate waiting around,” Mary said as we sat in the eat-in kitchen.

The table was bolted to the ground and would sit all of us if we crammed in there. We sipped tepid coffee and batted ideas back and forth. Really it was all speculation, because we couldn’t know what we were going to arrive to.

“What are the options if the wormhole, or whatever the hell it is, isn’t there any longer?” I asked, sure I could guess what they were. I just wanted Mary to reconfirm to me what I already knew.