The Scalian Legacy

When Jack felt the ship begin to tremor, he was ready. The presumed opening where the probe exited was just above him; with a small leap he could lift himself into the ship. However, no door opened and instead the ship slowly began to rise. Jack turned to notice the force field beginning to move towards him as it encircled the rising ship. He knew he had to come up with a plan quickly—and the only thought that came to mind was to get on one of the slowly rising legs of the ship.

Jack hurriedly moved to the closest leg. He jumped onto it as it was still only a couple of feet off the ground. The prongs of the legs of the ship were slanted so Jack slipped and had to hastily reach for the center of the ship’s leg with his hands. He grabbed onto a slight indentation on the leg and pulled himself towards it accidentally smashing his right knee against the considerably wider bottom portion of the ship’s leg. He winced in pain, but pulled himself up and held on tight.

Now what? The leg started to close in onto the bottom of the ship’s exterior. Jack wondered if he had only delayed his demise by a few seconds: it appeared he was about to be crushed by the leg as it merged with the ship. His only alternative was to jump down through the force field that was now surrounding the bottom of the ship. And that would likely evaporate him instantly as he passed through the force field.

As the leg neared the bottom of the ship, the glow from the force field provided enough light for Jack to see into the area above him. Jack noticed a gap he might be able to squeeze into. The area had a series of support bars encircling it. He would need to quickly slip through one of the openings and then slide himself circularly around the leg to avoid getting crushed.

As soon as the leg lifted him near enough, Jack positioned himself and started his maneuvering. He squeezed in through the opening and then pulled on the support bars to drag his body into the crevice. It was a tight fit, but Jack urgently pushed through, tearing his army green t-shirt and pants, scraping his chest, thighs and knees along the way. As the leg closed in he held his breath, hoping he would not be crushed despite his efforts. Finally, the leg stopped moving and seemed to lock in place.

Jack could hardly believe he was still alive and in one piece. He could barely move, parts of his body were under a fair amount of pressure, and even breathing wasn’t simple; but all in all, he was quite relieved. For a few seconds, he sensed the ship was still in motion—and then he felt a strong pull, as if gravity was forcing his body to stretch in all directions at once. The strain became painful, but it ended as quickly as it began.

Now Jack felt odd. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was different. He noticed his hands, which were stretched out before him at the end of the circular cocoon he had formed of himself. His hands were floating! He was experiencing zero gravity.

If he was in space, was this area vacuum-sealed, so the air pressure remained steady? While he had no way to be certain, he hadn’t sensed a change in air pressure. Then, there was oxygen. How much of it was available to him in this cramped area, and how long before these legs of the ship opened again? Jack may have extended his life only for a short time.

Of course, there wasn’t anything he could do about any of this. He was trapped right where he was.