Christian Oesterling - Blank Space - Into the Depths of the Universe

‘First the thing on the hologram, now this…’ Yuki whispered, and it seemed that in that moment, everyone was thinking the same thing.

‘Is there any way that the two incidents could be related to each other perhaps?’ Holden mentioned.

‘It’s more likely that the Celestrian mechanics just got lazy and couldn’t be arsed to put all the wiring in properly and she’s having a fit,’ Jenny jested.

‘Jenny, not the fucking time,’ snapped Leon. Oliver was still a blur, his hands moving over the controls, flicking and flipping, spinning and programming, trying to get the ship to power up again. It didn’t seem that any of it was working, for the engines weren’t starting to hum with that familiar buzz again that had become ingrained in each crewmember.

‘She’s actually got a point though,’ Holden interrupted. ‘I mean, say there was someone at the factory that had been down the clubs the night before and hadn’t got his head in the right place, and he puts in a faulty bit of wiring that starts messing up and fucking up the systems. It would certainly explain it all.’ They all pondered this thought; it did make sense, though they didn’t think that their species would send them off into the void without anything more than absolutely perfect. Either that or they didn’t want to, it was another thing that could go wrong, and they didn’t want things going wrong. They wanted to find out that it was just a phase the ship went through that they hadn’t been told about. Maybe Nightingale was currently engaging in some kind of power-saving mode that would restore the engines to full fuel loads again. Yes, perhaps that was it, or maybe it was just in a phase where it could cruise, floating, drifting thanks to Newton’s first law, engines idle and awaiting the need to be used once again.

‘Oliver, how would you even check for something like that?’ Yuki asked. The navigator exhaled, flapping his lips like a horse in an attempt to show his lack of knowledge.

‘I’d guess you would ask Nightingale about a problem on the ship, she’d tell you about hull breaches and such, even like this. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if Nightingale would be able to respond with the backup power. Nightingale, if you can answer me, come in.’ A brief pause and the crew held their breath for one small miracle. It seemed like the very air they were breathing had become stagnant, like a pond, with scum floating atop the surface.

‘Yes Oliver, I can communicate with you on this amount of power.’ The crew relaxed slightly, and Yuki could be heard exhaling audibly.

‘Ok Nightingale,’ Leon began, ‘Why is the power suddenly out?’

‘I’m afraid I am unable to answer that.’

‘Nightingale, you would be able to tell us if any of your software was faulty, or if there was a wire sparking somewhere in the depths of all the banks of the cable wouldn’t you?’

‘Yes Leon, I would be able to do that.’

‘So, what’s faulty? There must be something if you tell us we can do something about it and you can be up and running all right as rain again.’

‘Nothing is faulty Leon. There is nothing wrong with me, mechanically or technologically.’ Leon sighed, turned around and punched his chair in sheer frustration, the one specifically with his name on it. It twirled around on its rotation patch. Prissy put her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to calm him. He shrugged her off.

‘This isn’t happening. This isn’t fucking happening!’ The atmosphere in the room grew thick; walking through it was like swimming through a gel.

‘Nightingale, come in.’

‘What is it, Jenny?’

‘Could the problem be an external influence?’ Leon looked up in confusion. After half a second, his eyes lit up in recognition. That blip! Yes, it could be, it might be able to mess with the systems of the ship from afar. It made sense; he looked at his weapons officer with slight admiration.

‘If it were Jenny, I would be able to detect it. There is nothing in the realm of 1 million miles,’ the ship responded.

‘It’s got to be something wrong with the ship,’ Duma said.

‘I agree. Something in the ship that could cause Nightingale to have its problem-detection circuits fried, or something like that,’ Yuki seconded. Leon sat down in the seat that he had just punched. The room fell silent, each considering what was occurring, weighing up possibilities in their heads. Each silently, but communally at the same time, felt like the person to work it all out would be recognized as a hero amongst the crew. They all, deep down in the vain part of their human hearts, wanted that prize and pride, and so searched for it as quickly as they could possibly ration.

‘Maybe…’ began Holden, but there he stopped. All of them looked up.

‘Did you just hear that?’ he asked. Silence. Then it came again. A bang. A thud, as if someone punched the ship.

‘What the hell is that?’ Yuki breathed.

Bang.

Leon rose to his feet, his heart beginning to pound. There was something wrong, desperately wrong, and he was starting to get worried. Seriously worried. So much so, it might have been considered the start of panic. His ship was showing objects where none existed, cutting its own power and then saying it didn’t, and…

Bang.

‘Nightingale, what the fuck is that noise?’ he asked, his voice raised, trying to control it, hoping that no one heard the waver in there that suggested uneasiness.

Bang.

‘It is something outside of the ship Leon,’ Nightingale replied in her pleasant, calming voice. However now, it didn’t sound calm at all. It sounded out of place, creepy, contrapuntal.

Bang.

‘If there’s nothing there,’ Yuki cried, ‘then what the holy fuck is making that noise?!’

‘There is insufficient information to be able to tell you that, Yuki.’

Bang.

‘It’s getting louder guys,’ Oliver said.

‘Sounds like it’s on the starboard side,’ Prissy breathed. Yuki was close to tears now, and Duma put his arm around her in an attempt to calm her but knew it wasn’t working because he himself was shaking.

BANG.

‘It sounds like it’s moving,’ Holden whispered, unable to believe what he was saying.

‘Moving to where?’ Jenny asked.

BANG.

‘What’s over there on the outside?’ Duma asked, his voice nearly in as much hysteria as Yuki’s, however much he tried to keep it in check.

‘The only thing I can think of is…’ An explosion rocketed throughout the ship, and all in the cockpit were thrown to the floor. Jenny landed on her wrist and searing pain went through it. Alarms sounded, wailing, screaming to the crew. Oliver rushed back to the chair and began to check the single screen that had been restored by the back-up power.

‘Hull breach, the airlock has been blown to shit!’ he cried out in astonishment. Yuki began to scream in hysteria, confusion and sheer, unadulterated terror.

‘NIGHTINGALE, GET SPRINKLERS ON IT BEFORE THE THING GOES UP IN FLAMES!’ Leon yelled at the top of his lungs.

‘Everyone strap in!’ Prissy shouted afterward. All seven buckled up without a moment’s notice, they didn’t need to be told twice.

‘The fuck is going on?!’ Duma exclaimed. He reached over and held Yuki’s hand, but she let go and grabbed onto her straps for dear life. The whole crew braced themselves for whatever would happen, and Oliver tried frantically to restore some kind of order to everything. He tapped away at the single Halo-Core the power provided, calling for checks on the shields, the rest of the ship, had anything else been damaged, anything that Nightingale would afford itself to give him.

And as quickly as it had begun, it ended. The power returned, all the lights came on, and the engines began to rumble once more. Nightingale was flying just as normal, minus an airlock and with a large hole ripped into the hull.