Magic Dirt: The Best of Sean Williams (12 page)

Episode Eleven (Mu Boötis) began, not with the encounter itself, but with the debriefing in Gabe’s quarters. The interviews I had conducted followed, mixed with the survey of the system. On top of the astronomical footage, I publicly agonised over my dilemma: how could I portray what had happened without stretching the audience’s credulity? This self-reference was planned to convince the viewers of my/our sincerity. That something unusual had happened would be obvious in the way we spoke; that it was hard to credit, likewise. When the audience eventually saw the actual saucer, at the very end of the episode, they would be prepared for it. They would feel along with us, I hoped, a mixture of fear, amusement, awe, suspicion and total disbelief.

Gabe gave the episode his seal of approval and sent it on its way.

Two days later, Freedom and Steve announced that we were ready for crossover to the next system. Gabe, instead of ordering us immediately on our way, announced a twelve-hour shutdown to give us a breather. We were two months ahead of schedule and there was no denying that we were tired, but it wasn’t like Gabe to delay like this. He was always pressing on, pushing forward, over the top and no second thoughts, lads!

Perhaps he knew something the rest of us didn’t, or guessed.

Either way, it was worth waiting for.

~ * ~

SCENE:

(Control Bridge of the
Wandering Jew,
approximately seventy-five minutes to scheduled crossover.)

JAKE: Uh, Captain...?

GABE: Yes, Jake?

JAKE: It’s back, sir. Our friend, the bogey. Stationary, this time.

(Brief shot of the alien craft. It appears exactly the same as before: bright green, disc-shaped, spinning about its vertical axis.)

GABE: Position?

JAKE: High above the ecliptic, barely within range. We’re getting a strong fix from one of the solar-survey satellites.

GABE: Is it broadcasting?

JAKE: Negative, sir. Just sitting there.

GABE: (To himself) Waiting for us to do something ...? (Into an intercom) All-stations, all-stations! This is an alert. Prepare for immediate crossover. (Intercom off) Sara, have us ship-shape in five minutes. Steve, warm us up. Freedom, any thoughts?

FREEDOM: I’ll leave the decision up to you, sir. But please bear in mind what I said.

GABE: Yes. If we leave Mu Boötis, we’ll be losing our last chance to make contact.

ME: (To Sara, thinking of the viewers back on Earth) Why’s that?

SARA: It’s theoretically impossible for one ship to follow another through hyperspace.

ME: So, if we leave now ...?

SARA: Then we’ll lose them forever.

(Cut to:)

GABE: Any response yet, Jake?

JAKE: No, sir. We’re still broadcasting on all bands; they must be hearing us.

GABE: And it hasn’t moved?

JAKE: No, sir.

GABE: I think we’ve given them long enough. If they really wanted to talk they would have tried by now. Steve? Everybody? Two minutes. We cross on my command.

(
SARA broadcasts the order throughout the ship. Deep in the bowels of the
Wandering Jew
, powerful energies stir, brewing the force that will rip the ship from this universe and take it safely to the next.)

JAKE: One minute and counting.

GABE: All in order?

JAKE: Yes, sir. All lights are green.

STEVE: Transformation matrix enabled.

FREEDOM: Coordinates confirmed.

SARA: Crew in position and awaiting your order, sir.

GABE: Good. Alek?

ME: Cameras rolling.

JAKE: Fifteen seconds.

GABE: Last words, anyone?

FREEDOM: (To the aliens, presumably) Farewell...

ME: Delta Boötis, here we come!

JAKE: Mark.

GABE: Cross.

(Cut to: External surface shot. The skin of the
Wandering Jew
burns with alcohol flames. In the background, the greenish primary of Mu Boötis begins to dissolve.)

(Cut to: Control Bridge. The air is full of the straining of engines. A shudder ripples through the ship, rattling bulkheads and causing frowns.)

GABE: Status?

STEVE: A-OK, sir. Just a flutter.

(The roar of the drive settles. Outside the ship, Mu Boötis goes out; the stars vanish. The
Wandering Jew
exits Einsteinian time-space.)

GABE: Fingers crossed, everybody!

STEVE: Drive steady.

FREEDOM: Coordinates locked and holding.

JAKE: ETA, ninety seconds.

(The rattle returns, more insistently this time.)

STEVE: (To himself) Come on, baby.

GABE: Problem?

STEVE: Nothing ... uh ... (He taps furiously at his board.)

FREEDOM: (Urgently) We’re drifting!

GABE: Keep calm, and clarify.

FREEDOM: We have an instability in the transformation matrix!

GABE: Serious?

FREEDOM: Any instability
at all
is serious. (The rattle peaks again, and does not fade.) We’ll be lucky to arrive in one piece if it gets any worse.

ME: (Thinking about the theory) I thought the trick was arriving in
separate
pieces, not one big lump?

ANDRE: Can it, would you?

STEVE: We have a problem, people. Stabilisers gone in three jump circuits, shorted out a whole line ...

GABE: Can you fix it?

STEVE: Once we shut down, yes. But we can’t shut down until we arrive. All I can do is hold us here, between states, for a while.

GABE: Which places more strain on the matrix. How long do you think?

STEVE: A few minutes. No more.

GABE: Do it.

JAKE: Countdown halted. ETA TBA.

(The rumble of the engines, now indistinguishable from the ever-present rattle, steadies slightly.)

GABE: Freedom, what are the odds of us arriving safely if we just go ahead and finish the jump?

FREEDOM: Slim.

GABE: But worth a try ...?

FREEDOM: If you like long odds.

GABE: How about hyperspace? Can we go back?

FREEDOM: Unfortunately, the same conditions apply there.

GABE: So why don’t we just stay here, then?

FREEDOM: Well, it takes energy to keep us whole, and the reactor’s already under stress. If, or when, the matrix fails entirely, we’ll be torn apart.

GABE: Understood. Any suggestions?

FREEDOM: No. I’m sorry.

GABE: Steve? How’s she holding?

STEVE: Uh, barely, sir. There’s not much I can do to delay the —

(There is a violent lurch. A siren begins to wail.)

FREEDOM: We’ve lost the reactor shielding! Over-rides cutting in — power dropping!

STEVE: I can’t hold her!

GABE: Take us in! Do it now, while we still have a chance!

(Red lights spread across the drive-control board. The rumble of motors has become a tortured growl.)

JAKE: ETA, fifteen seconds.

STEVE: We’re losing it!

MYRION: (From life-support, via intercom) Pressure-drop in sector four!

(The lights flicker. Smoke billows.)

FREEDOM: Total power-loss to all drive-systems! No, wait — that doesn’t make sense! We’re getting a power-surge — I can’t tell what’s happening down there —

JAKE: System failure!

(The lights go out entirely. The wail of the ship continues for a moment, then ceases as well. There is an explosion, so loud the recordings clip.)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOICE: God help us!

(The recording whites-out for an instant.)

(After an unknown period of time, the lights flicker back on. An unsteady current brings partial life to some of the boards. The control Bridge is in chaos; people are sprawled everywhere.)

ME: (Holding Sara in an absurdly protective fashion) Are we dead yet?

JAKE: No. (He frowns, struggles to his feet and confronts his control board.) I think we, uh ...

ME: Think we
what?
Don’t keep us in suspense, man!

JAKE: (Looking up) I think we’re
there.

FREEDOM: But we didn’t complete the jump. (She sounds almost hurt) We should be dead!

(A screen flickers to life. On it is revealed the yellow Bright Giant, Delta 1-Boötis, hanging in space like a candle-lit Chinese lantern. But that’s not all... )

GABE: Ho, ho. There’s our welcoming party, folks.

FREEDOM: That’s impossible!

JAKE: Apparently not.

(Hanging in the screen’s top-left corner is the flying saucer.)

STEVE: The same one?

GABE: Why not?

FREEDOM: But the theory —

ME: Fuck the theory. The theory says we should be dead, remember?

JAKE: Captain, it’s moving closer.

GABE: Steve, what’s our status?

STEVE: Poor, sir. We’re on emergency power. The fusion drive will burn up our reserves in no time. Give me a week and we’ll be able to run, but not before then.

GABE: (Resignedly) So here we sit —

ANDRE: — Helpless —

ME: — And here they come!

~ * ~

Afterwards, reviewing the tapes, it looked ridiculous.

The flying saucer drifted slowly closer to us, travelling at a little less than the
Jew’s
intrasystem cruising speed. We nervously watched it approach. There was nothing else we could do. Closer and closer it came, as silent and mysterious as its archetypal counterparts, until it almost seemed within touching distance.

And then it vanished again.

No one was seriously injured, apart from the two who had died in the explosively depressurised compartment. While the crew swarmed over the ship, repairing pressure-breaks and patching damaged equipment, the senior officers gathered in the Captain’s quarters for a second emergency debriefing session.

Gabe scanned the assembled faces, some of them still the worse for wear after the near-disastrous crossover. There was a lot of dirt, worry, frustration and fear on those faces. I wondered if we would ever jump with confidence again.

‘OK, Steve, give us the bad news.’

‘Well.’ The chief engineer looked harrowed. ‘Fifteen seconds before she completed the jump, the
Jew
suffered a total system failure. She lost life-support, drive capability, everything. A total burnout, to put it crudely. How she made it back to realspace, I’ll never know. Thirty seconds later, the backups kicked in. Thank God.’

‘Can we repair the damage?’

‘Probably. I’ll need to go over the whole system piece by piece to find the initial fault before I can fix it. Then dry-run the patch before we attempt another jump. I’ll let you know the odds when I’ve done that.’

‘Are you confident?’

‘Cautiously, yes.’

‘Good.’ Gabe scratched at his ear. ‘But I guess I should ask this: have you
any
idea what caused the problem?’

‘To be honest, sir, I think it was a combination of age and overwork. We’ve been pushing her harder than planned over the last eighteen months; the extra pressure must have put a strain on something.’ Steve looked uncomfortable. ‘Maybe we should slow down for a while.’

‘Stop trying to hurry, you mean?’

‘It’s worth thinking about, if only for the ship’s sake.’

Andre leaned in. ‘Gabe, you’re not seriously considering continuing the mission, are you?’

‘Why not?’

‘The drive is falling
apart,
for —’

‘You heard Steve. He thinks he can fix it.’

‘Thinks.
And how long before it happens again? I say we should abort the mission and head home while we still can. Next time we might be stranded completely, if we survive at all.’

‘Look, we knew before we left that the mission would be risky at times. Yes, we’ve lost two people; yes, we might have to operate more cautiously in the future. But the mission doesn’t have to be scrapped entirely. Nothing has happened that wasn’t anticipated and prepared for in advance - ‘

‘Except the aliens,’ pointed out Sara. ‘Don’t forget them.’

‘I haven’t. And that’s another very good reason to keep going.’

Andre turned away in disgust. ‘For all we know,
they
were responsible for the system failure.’

‘That’s paranoid.’

‘Is it? They followed us through hyperspace, didn’t they? Maybe they screwed up the matrix somehow.’

Gabe looked uncertain, as though he hadn’t considered the possibility. ‘Freedom? What about the bogey? Any idea how it followed us?’

‘No. You know what the theory says.’