Aynsefian

Nikse’s voice breaks me out of my reverie.

“Well, here they are anyway,” she says. She sounds calmer and greets the Purlinians. “Hello guys. Sadly my quantum drive has been struck by something that we don’t yet understand, and it’s not working. Axin is on his way down to look at it.”

They both take a small step backwards at this news. They know full well what it means. When shocked, which hasn’t been too often thus far, they tend to get a little bit flighty, so to speak. As if they’ll start running for the door and looking for an escape route. They’re such gentle beings. They’d be distressed at our situation, and I don’t want them to be sad or worried.

I don’t know what to say to them. We’ve never had a problem like this before.

“Do you think it’s fixable?” I ask.

“I’m hoping so. It’s possible. It will require manual intervention, though. I’m placing my faith in you,” she says, hope in her voice.

“If I can fix you, after all you’ve done for me, it would give me the greatest joy, dear.” I mean that. God I love her so much.

“Aww, thank you! It may be possible. Eat your food first. We’re in no hurry. I put cinnamon in your coffee. I hope you like it.”

“Okay, haven’t tried that in a while. Thanks so much!”

“You are always welcome.” Nikse falls silent, allowing me to eat and drink. She knows that I function better after I’ve eaten. I once again reflect on my decision to go into the Melcheisa Galaxy. It was made after much discussion with Nikse and the Purlinians. Arlyss and Cindlyss agreed, in their own special way, that there was probably nothing left to find in Hynetherine. We’ve been to so many systems in the last year and made so many observations. All the partially habitable planets we’ve visited so far were not suitable for one reason or another. So, we’re trying another galaxy.

Melcheisa is a massive place. We knew that. They have a council too, one that we planned to petition, asking if we could explore possible habitable planets. I could have messaged them from inside Hynetherine, if I knew how, but I didn’t. I had no idea what species I’d find or what languages they spoke. I’d just portal in and ask when I got there. It’s all part of the fun of being a galactic explorer.

Now we’re here in Melcheisa, and we have problems immediately. Not a good sign.

Nikse is bringing up images of her engine on the screen in the lounge area while I’m eating. I’ve seen it physically a few times, but I’ve never had to actually do anything. She’s showing me on one screen where the quantum drive is, and then she’s drilling down to a connection to the outside antenna, which she says has malfunctioned.

She’s giving me a narrative while I’m watching the images cycle. “I now think that this was an energy impulse of sorts. It happened right after we exited YP48197, so therefore from within Melcheisa. I don’t know where from, but it stopped the drive immediately. The impulse had intelligence. It wasn’t space junk or asteroids fragments or anything like that. You know I would have found and deflected those before they hit me. But you also know we wouldn’t see anything like that within a stargate anyway.”

I simply nod.

“It was directed at me with meaning, but I’m hopeful it was just some rogue signal from one of the planets orbiting YP48197 rather than anything malicious. You know that we were never sure what we’d find here. It was a calculated risk. One that I was prepared to undertake on your behalf.”

I nod again. She stays silent, allowing me time to think. She’s so considerate. I finish the last of my meal hurriedly, leave the plate on the table and start heading downstairs. The Purlinians haven’t finished eating yet, but they start to get up as if to come with me. I motion for them to stay there with a wave of my hand. They understand and sit back down. They trust me. It’s nice.

Once I’m downstairs, I get my tool box out. I remove the antenna housing and now I can see the damage. The connection between the external antenna and her internal quantum drive machinery has been burnt out by some sort of electrical charge, as she said. Unspoken between us is the mysteriousness of how this charge was administered to the antenna. We’ve portalled many times through stargates without incident whatsoever. This particular stargate is surrounded by millions of kilometres of nothing. YP48197 only has two orbiting planets, both of which are extremely distant from it, and do not even remotely contain life. So it can’t have come from them.

Nikse has no clue how this happened, and if she doesn’t, then we have little hope of fixing it.

I search through her spare parts and find nothing appropriate with which to repair the damage. A quantum drive requires specialised parts, and a ship of Nikse’s size is not likely to contain the required bits and pieces, no matter how important the drive is to its functioning.

We have no choice but to drift until help arrives. It’s depressing. Or it could have been. Nikse doesn’t allow it to be.

She regales me with accounts of escapades on previous planets in Hynetherine, reminding me of things we saw and found that I had forgotten about. She makes some of my favourite foods and we play some chess, a game I’ve always enjoyed. She’s so wonderful. I just want her fixed so we can continue exploring, as we planned. Those plans are sadly on hold, for now.

So we wait, and we drift. For two days.

Arlyss and Cindlyss don’t seem worried at all. They are strangely serene, given the implications of our situation. They accept our plight and place their faith in me and in Nikse’s distress beacon. I thank them for their equanimity.

I don’t sleep well, despite Nikse’s best efforts. After the second day, I am woken early in the morning by her. I’m not surprised; this is quite important.

“Axin! Sorry to wake you,” she whispers excitedly. “There’s a ship approaching! It’s a large one: about eight times my size. It looks sophisticated from my distance surveillance so I think we’ll get the help we need. It will arrive in approximately twenty-one minutes. The identification on the front of the ship indicates that it is from the Melcheisa Galactic Council, which appears to be abbreviated to MGC, and the ship’s name is IR84U.” She hummed.

“Fantastic news!” I say. “I’ll go and quickly wash, then? You’ll let me know when it gets closer if there’s anything else I need to know?”

“I most certainly will. Enjoy your wash.”

I plan to. My mind immediately switches to the occupants of IR84U. I hope that they will be nice to us. We mean no harm to anyone.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

From the IR84U Captain’s Log, found on the body of Capt. Zarasena Fen, in the wreckage of MGC Ship IR84U on Farrister (Endyst planet 3), MGC date 3041.87.2.21. Edited by Myronelli Tschadze of Wyrissa (Unbrindo planet 7), MGC investigator.

IR48U CAPTAIN’S LOG INITIATION PROCEDURE COMPLETED.

ENTER DATE (GreatYear.Year.Month.Day): 3041.86.15.19

CREW:

1. Zarasena Fen of Sylla (Gremi/Harumi planet 5), Captain

2. Anathusa Xien of Sylla, Navigator

3. Jinekali Suen of Sylla, Diplomatic Transport to Hynetherine Galaxy

4. Lanemu An Fehr of Aroventia (Yarre Flaz planet 3), Drinks Waiter, Dogsbody

Androids: Pintene03, Neventen70, Furtien50, Sinteenen69.

[Investigator note: Jinekali Suen was not on the original crew manifest. IR84U only had charter for three crew, plus androids. Suspect subterfuge on the part of the other crew members. Only three bodies recovered from wreckage, all positively identified. Jinekali Suen was nowhere to be seen. Examination of travel logs of IR84U reveals the ship never left Melcheisa. Suspected fake entry. Reason unknown.]

Primary purpose: Monitor galactic intrusions, applying MGC protocols if detected.

Secondary purpose: Transport Jinekali Suen to Hynetherine as MGC ambassador and liaison.

Tertiary purpose(s): Nil.

[Investigator note: Again, Jinekali Suen was not authorised by MGC to be onboard IR84U. No such diplomatic post exists between Melcheisa and Hynetherine. No record of this individual exists anywhere in council libraries. First clear indication of wrongdoing by Captain Fen. I fear it may not be her last.]

Log entries:

Entry #: 1

Date: 3041.86.15.19

Not remotely interested in putting anything memorable in this first entry. No-one reads this shit anyway. Except for me. Maybe.

[Entries skipped due to non-relevance to the investigation]

Entry #: 16

Date: 3041.86.16.28

Last day of the year. Woohoo! Maybe I should have a party with my riveting and exciting crew. Nah, fuck that. They are about as interesting as the temporary toilets erected on the shore of Lake Arion at that MGC shindig I went to before we left. Actually, they don’t even reach that level. How did I end up with these guys, anyway? Fuck.

I’ll just get Lanemu to make me something nice for dinner and bring a cocktail or two, to have in my quarters. Not ideal, but what fucking choice do I have? Those guys are so lame. They can have their own fucking party.

On the plus side, we have reached Farrister. Nice looking planet. Worth visiting for a while I think. Too bad it belongs in Melcheisa. I hate this galaxy. There, I said it. The MGC will never read this anyway, so what am I worried about?

The only thing I enjoy about Melcheisa is killing the infidels who try to enter it. Well, banishing them, to be exact. Banishment is SO much more fun. They die slowly that way. It’s the only perk of this job that I truly enjoy.

[Entries skipped due to non-relevance to the investigation]

Entry #: 38

Date: 3041.87.1.27

Galactic fence signal received from YP48197. Who would have thought someone would try to enter through *that* graveyard of a star. Heading out there to investigate.

Entry #: 39

Date: 3041.87.1.27

Arrived through into the YP48197 system. Found the ship. It’s a small, with a Hynetherine signature. Unknown construction, but closely resembles my scout ship, which is curious. The Galactic Fence has been triggered and has disabled their quantum drive. I’ve asked IR84U to prepared holding bay #3. Won’t be much longer. Set for cruise mode. I’m going to have a nice rest until we arrive in two days and can fulfil our duty by destroying the ship and banishing the crew. Can’t wait! Going to be so much fun!