IMPALA (Farside Saga: Book One)
Chapter Six: The Signal

With the ship's engine core finally repaired, the crew set course for their journey home. About 3 hrs into the trip, Danny's once again happy voice came on.

"Ok, i understand space travel and such is a serious business...but you guys are taking it to the extreme...." he said as his optical sensors picked up everyone going about their jobs with stern expressions on their faces.

Just then, something came on the intercoms that caught everyone off gaurd. It started off as a simple 2 stomps and a clap that repeated itself until the electric guitar came in. Half the crew caught on to it and started softly singing along, causing the rest to join in once the chorus came.

"Weee willl weee willl rock you...rock you..." the entire bridge crew shouted along enjoying the song.

Even the captain song along as he suddenly got up and headed towards the counsel chambers in a good mood doing a sloppy impression of a quitar soloist as he danced his way to the lift causing everyone to laugh, some hysterically. The chamber doors opened just as he stepped off the tier lift.

"Aahh, Senator Dugato...." the captain said as the Senator stepped out looking confused.

"come...come, join us." He reached out and wrapped his arm around the senators shoulder walking him back towards the lift.

"Papa?" came a soft accented voice. They turned and saw the senator's daughter poking her head out the door.

"Melina my precious, i will be back shortly...." he said in a heavy African accent and was about to say something else when the captain spoke up.

"Its ok, she can join us as well." the captain said with a wide smile.

With a look of delight, Melina disappeared for a split second, barely giving the door a chance to fully close before stepping out in a gold and red flower patterned dashiki and matching flops that flowed over her tall slender frame. Catching up to the two men, all three descended down the lift dancing to the music. They walked around towards the back of the bridge to the lumilift.

The lumilift was another new invention that was installed last minute. It was a wide inclosed shaft with a translucent platform that rode up and down a beam of light. They stepped on to the platform and descended down to the main corridor of the ship.

"This is the spine of the ship...." the captain said as they stepped off the lift. He stepped over to a control panel and typed a sequence of numbers on it's holographic keypad.

"This corridor goes from the central transit hub at the stern of the ship, alllll the way down to secondary control and the stardrive chamber at the aft." he said as he over exaggeratedly stretched his arm towards the other end of the two and a half mile corridor.

The corridor itself was as wide as an 8 lane highway and about 30 feet high. Just high enough for the aerial service droids and transports to have their own air traffic. The walls curved into the ceiling and floor giving it an oval shape tunnel look. The floor of the corridor had thin strips of blue light that ran up and down the corridor on which some service droids and transports used as lanes, some going around corners at the intersections. The guard personal and scientists walking and running around tapping on their lumiplastic tablets subconsciously dodging droids and service bots as they zoomed by. It's a miracle no one got hit. The whole scene reminded Melina of a Moscow rush hour as she starred in wonderment. The long corridor gave the impression of a nostalgic 1960's version of their tomorrowland. Just then, riding on one of the strips of light, a train like service cart pulled up in front of them as the doors split open with a soft hiss.

Melina starred in awe the whole time looking at all the meriad of droids and service bots as they went about their way. The captain ushered them on board and started the transport on it's journey. He pointed out the different intersections and their destinations, explained the different service droids and their functions and showed them the advancements of nano and lumitechnology.

"This ship is the most advanced of the explorer class starships. Its mostly a research vessel but it has military implications as well. This will be the first interstellar trip, but during the test runs of the arch engines, she has done excellent. There were two other ones before this ship we tried to outfit with an experimental warp engine. They had great potential during the testing phases and were about to go in production when..."

"Yes, the Pegasus and the Iccarus, I've read the reports on them. My condolences on both ships but i understand your wife and son were on board the Pegasus am i right?" sen Dugato said as he looked at the captain with sorrow but curious eyes.

"Yes, they were..." the captain replied somberly as he thought back.

His wife was the head of the Research and Development department that was selected for her work in physics and quantum drive theories, which lead to the previous invention of a warp drive engine. It was deemed unsafe after the Iccarus was destroyed and the Pegasus disappeared and pressumed destroyed as well. His son had a scholarship in Aeronatics and Space Exploration and was picked along with 9 of his classmates for a hands on field test on the Pegasus routine test run. The Iccarus was docked at the Mironov Russian space station near Jupiter and the Pegasus was to meet it there, gather supplies, and both Iccarus and Pegasus were to rendezvous around Pluto and engage the warp drive for its fifth test run. But upon departure from pluto, the Iccarus' warp drive malfunctioned and destroyed both ships. That was 5yrs ago.

He blinked the thoughts out of his head and smiled as their ride came to a smooth stop. The doors opened with a soft hiss and they stepped out facing a round door that looked more like the gears to a wind up watch behind a transparent covering with a digitally stenciled banner that read:

RESTRICTED AREA:

AUTHORIZED PERSONAL

ONLY

The captain walked up to the door and waved his wrist across the banner. The banner changed to a keypad on the left and an optical scanner on the right. He punched in a few numbers then stood to the right. After a few seconds, a thin blue beam of light shot out hitting the captain just below his ribcage. It grew to a vertical line and spread wide then disappeared. Just as quick, it came back and repeated the process horizontally before disappearing again. A screen, showing a thin white line appeared on the door. It began to oscillate as it spoke.

"Welcome Captain Dodge, initiating primary control minimal startup" the soft female voice said.

Just then the gears began to turn as the screen disappeared and the door opened in a starburst pattern as it rotated around. The short tunnel lit up as they walked to the lumilift at the end. The lift closed and descended quickly to another short tunnel that ended at a shiny black liquid looking door with a small matching plate on the wall next to it. Captain Dodge walked towards it and a small panel opened up revealing what looked like a hand scanner. He placed his hand on the device and his wristband liquified on to it. The door began to solidify and become transparent.

The Senator and his daughter starred in awe as the captain stepped through and jestered for them to follow him. They walked through, nearly jumping to the other side, as they began to feel a weird tingly sensation. The captain chuckled as he ushered them down the ramp to the catwalk.

"That is a nano-wall. You'll get used the feeling. This whole room is protected with a nano-sheilding." the captain said as he spread his arms and turned a whole 360.

The senator looked around the room and saw the whole room was covered in the same shiny fluid looking material, but was interupted by a slight pull of his shoulder. He turned to his side to see his daughter looking up pointing. He followed her gaze and was completely mesmorized.

"Is...that...." he began but couldn't replace the rest of the words as he slowly pointed towards the object.

"Yes ladies and gentleman.....welcome to the star chamber!!" he said as he smiled, placing a fist on his hip.

The massive oval room had three retractable catwalks at different levels on both sides and one at the top. The bottom had a large opening with a pulsating blue light reflecting off the walls. In the middle was what looked like a large translucent amoeba like bubble with a black sphere that gave off a purplish aura around it in the center. Large gravitonic plates levitated and held the bubble in place as they moved and compensated for the bubble's shifting waves.

"Is it safe...i mean for us to be in here?" Melina asked, worried, as she gripped her father's arm.

"For now, yes. The safety protocols were engaged when we came through the nano-wall. What you're seeing is a gravitational bubble. The black thing in the middle is actually a blackhole. It's dormant now but when the drive is active, the plates channel the gravitonic energy down to the collection tank below. Then its converted to a tachyon pulse and routed to the emitter ray at the front of the ship. The emitter vibrates the pulse at different frequencies to open a stable wormhole and from there we can control the frequency and power and with the help of navigation, pinpoint exactly where we want the other end to go." the captain said.

He was about to direct them towards the other end of the catwalk when he was suddenly called to the bridge.

"Whats up?" the captain said once he stepped off the lift.

His Lt. Commander looked at him with a confused look before returning his attention back to the screen. The music still played softly in the background but everyone was back to business as the ort cloud began to reveal its many asteroids floating in its mist. He walked around the rear consel and was beelining for his chair when when Danny's voice spoke in his earpiece.

"A word in private please...."

Curious, the captain went to his office and engaged his secured privacy protocols.

"Ok, whats up?" he said as he sat down in his chair.

"For starters, we're approaching the outer edge of the milky way but.....umm, captain.....im picking up a faint subspace signal coming from an unidentified craft." Danny said.

"Origin?" the captain asked.

"It's just on the other side of the ort cloud...and if im reading its trajectory right, it's headed straight for earth." Danny said.

"Hmph...can you intercept it and patch it through?" the captain asked curiously.

"Already have. Its a recorded message."

The captain waved his hand over the top of his desk and a small holoscreen flashed on the surface revealing a static filled picture that barely revealed something with 3 teal colored hoses and fiber optic cables extending from somewhere above down to......

"What the fuck!!" the captain said, nearly jumping back from his desk as the pilot in the video suddenly came in sharp and clear.

The cables were going into the back of it's helmet through three access ports. It's brown skin was almost translucent, like it could glow in the dark. The eyes were silver which fluctuated a rainbow of colors every time sparks from damaged components ignited. There was no nose or mouth but a line of blue lights that spread across under its brown waxy looking skin when it did speak...and surprisingly in English. Two more like him sat to the left side behind him while a fourth sat along the right, all had their seats facing the screen.

"My ship was attacked and heavily damaged. Im running on minimum life support and very low power. If there's anyone out there recieving this, please send help. I repeat, my ship....."

The captain turned off the holoscreen.....then stood up.