Seth smiled and clapped his hands together. “Then it’s decided!” He seemed very happy to make a decision that the rest of the crew approved of. It was rare that no one had any objections. “Lance, get back to the command center and start plotting a leap. We’re finally moving forward.”
*
Caitlin closed her eyes and tried to steady her nerves as the Fenghuang completed its leap. None of the other crew members seemed to notice the sensation. Maybe they were just too used to it. But every time the ship leapt across the galaxy, Caitlin felt her heart race and her skin crawl. She couldn’t hear anything. It was like the sound was sucked out of the room. Her hands trembled and her stomach bottomed out. The first time, when the ship traveled from Airlann to Berkshire, she almost threw up. Now it wasn’t so terrible, and she wondered if she’d eventually adjust. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. It was wrong to feel nothing like Seth and the others.
As her body seemed to settle down, Caitlin looked up at the view-screen at the front of the command center. Brilliant and blinding light filled her vision, searing her eyes. The sick feeling in her stomach seemed to get worse, rather than better. A loud high-pitched noise rung in her ears as her hearing returned. Just above it, she could hear Captain Garland yelling.
“Turn down the brightness!”
Caitlin quickly remembered that her job was to control the communications console, which included the view-screen. She scrambled to find the correct dial to decrease the intensity of the display and quickly ratcheted it down. They’d leapt into the system very close to the star and the external camera was pointed straight at it.
None of the preset view-screen levels did anything. No matter which of the buttons she pressed, the brilliant light from the star overpowered the room. The pain was too much and she did the only thing she could think of. She shut off the view-screen completely. The command center mercifully went dark.
“Next time could we turn the view-screen off before we leap?” Caitlin asked.
Seth laughed, even as he was rubbing his eyes. “But what if we see something? Wouldn’t that be remarkable?”
For some reason, this sent a chill down Caitlin’s spine. There was nothing to see during a leap. It was always black. But Seth would always stare at the screen anyway. He couldn’t look away from the darkness between the compressed space.
“I always close my eyes,” she said.
Ignoring her, Seth turned his attention to the dark view-screen. “I appreciate that we’re not blinded anymore, but if we’re going to try and dock with the station it would be nice to see where we’re going.”
Caitlin looked down at the panel in front of her. Now that she had some time, and wasn’t distracted by light searing into her eyes, she could try and manually adjust the camera and view-screen settings to handle the close proximity to the star.
She turned down every setting she could find on the panel, then prepared to activate the screen again. “I do not know if this will be enough, so I would look away.” Then she closed her eyes, stared at the floor, and hoped for the best.
The view-screen flickered to life. It was still bright, and still caused the screen to emit a high-pitched noise that turned her stomach, but now Caitlin could look up to see where they were. The surface of Epsilon-Andrii filled the screen. They were so close that they couldn’t even see the darkness beyond. The only thing other than the shining corona of the star was a long, spindly shape near the center of the screen. It was their destination, the solar mining platform that hung just above the blazing celestial fusion.
The sublight drive on the Fenghuang flared to life and the ship began to travel towards the orbital station. As they approached, Caitlin continued to adjust the screen to keep it from blinding the crew yet again. But she also watched as the platform grew closer and closer.
It was bigger than she imagined. Constructed in low solar orbit, the mine was at least a hundred times bigger than the Fenghuang. Brief glimpses of the side of the platform that faced the star revealed that it was covered in an armor of mirrored scales. The station was just on the edge of habitability, and excess light and heat was directed away in any way possible.
Long metal spires stretched from the mining platform and seemed to reach into the brilliant oblivion of the star.
“I know that this is coming late,” Lance said. “But I don’t think I want to stay here for very long. This is goddamn terrifying.”
Seth chuckled. “Are you kidding? This is probably the safest place in the galaxy right now. Even if the People’s Republic managed to get a starship up and running, they’d never look here. And even if they did, I’m not sure their sensors would find us.”
“It cannot be this safe to be this close to a star,” Caitlin added.
At that, Seth sat up from his chair in the middle of the command center. He pointed at the viewscreen. “This is the stablest star in the galaxy. Arguably, it’s one of the stablest celestial bodies we’ve discovered. In recorded history, this star has never had a coronal ejection. The temperature at this distance hasn’t change more than one degree centigrade. This mine has been here for hundreds of years on the very edge of oblivion...but hasn’t had as much as a damaged shield or hull plate from the solar heat.” He paused. “Can you think of anywhere on Airlann that has gone as long without a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake?”
Truly, Caitlin could not. Nevertheless, it seemed impossible that a space station could be habitable on the edge of a star, let alone safe.
“We’re probably a lot better off teetering on the precipice of incineration than aboard this death trap of a starship,” Leah said. “No one is going to shoot us down on an abandoned mining platform.”
A flashing light caught Caitlin’s attention and she turned her attention back to the communications panel. Something was happening. Someone was trying to hail them. “Well I have some interesting news,” she said. “I am not so sure that the mining platform is abandoned.”
“What?” Seth asked. He rushed over to her side and looked down at the panel. It was obvious that he didn’t trust her to use it, but this time she was right. There was a signal coming from the solar mine. “No way there’s anyone still there. It has to be an automated beacon.”
“It looks like the message is audio only,” Caitlin said. “Should I put it through to the speakers?”
Seth paused, then just shrugged. “I guess we should listen to what they have to say.”
Caitlin tapped a few buttons in front of her. She was getting comfortable enough to where she didn’t have to ask for help any more, though she had a moment of fear as the command center filled with discordant static. Did she do something wrong? She re-checked her work. The light on the console wasn’t flashing anymore. Instead it was a solid blue color. The speakers were activated. Everything was fine...except for the signal itself.
“They must have left the communications channel open before they evacuated,” Leah said. “Nothing strange about that. We should just ignore it.”
Suddenly a man’s voice broke through the static. It was choppy and barely audible, but there was no mistaking it. “This is the mining platform Antigone. Is someone there?”
Seth stood up straight and looked around the command center, as if he wanted someone else to respond. No one was willing to relieve him of that duty. “This is Captain Seth Garland of the I.S.S. Fenghuang,” he said at last. “We came here assuming that this platform was abandoned and--”
The voice cut him off, now slicing through the static with newfound strength. “Oh thank the stars!” the man exclaimed. “I don’t know how you got here, but I really don’t care. We need your help.”
Chapter 2
In 4191, the People’s Interstellar Republic overwhelmingly voted to pass the Spatial Preservation Act. The SPA effectively banned faster-than-light travel by providing for the decommission and destruction of every starship in the gal
axy equipped with a Heilmann Drive. Every engineer who knew how to build a Heilmann Drive and every scientist who knew how to operate one was relocated to Earth and placed under military supervision. After almost two thousand years of interstellar movement and communication, the hundreds of inhabited planets were cut off from one another.
The provisions of the SPA were staggered over several months. This allowed for people to choose the planet on which they would spend the rest of their lives. It also allowed time for soldiers, scientists, and miners stationed on interstellar frontier stations to return home so that they would not be stuck in deep space for the rest of their lives.
These months leading up to the complete termination of interstellar travel were chaotic and, at times, violent. There were not enough ships running enough routes to relocate everyone who wished to move. Some worlds distributed the seats on these vessels in lotteries. Others sold them to the highest bidder. Inevitably, tickets were stolen and fenced on the black market.
The People’s Republic placed a special emphasis on the space stations and mining platforms. The military officials charged with enforcing the SPA knew that even one person trapped in deep space after the final starship was destroyed would create a huge problem. The public pressure to mount a rescue mission would force them to build another Heilmann Drive. That was the last thing they wanted to do. They wanted the Fall—what they called the end of interstellar travel—to be permanent until a safer method could be found.
Days before the Fall began, the People’s Republic announced that they had managed to retrieve every single person living on a space station, research outpost, or mining facility that was not within the solar system of an inhabitable planet. They said that no one was left behind.
They lied.
*
Caitlin could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling her laser pistol pressed up against her ribcage on her right side. It was tucked into her black jacket, which felt a lot tighter than the last time she wore it. She wasn’t getting nearly as much exercise as she used to back on Airlann.
“I am not so sure we should go in there armed,” Caitlin said. She was standing, along with Seth and Alena, in the main airlock of the Fenghuang. They were getting ready to board the mining station Antigone and meet with Commander Arcturus Hathaway, man who contacted them before docking. “I think it might give them the wrong idea.”
Alena laughed. “Are you kidding? We don’t know what they want yet. They could want to steal our ship, so I hope you’re prepared to start shooting.”
“Besides, we know they’ve been on this station alone, without any outside contact, for at least a year,” Seth added. Caitlin knew that the Fall didn’t just end interstellar travel, but interstellar communications. The only way people could send messages or data between planets were on the ships that leapt across the galaxy. “There is a fair chance they’re all crazy.”
“Do you think the People’s Republic just abandoned them here?” Caitlin asked.
Seth looked back at her and nodded. “Of course they did. I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier. They could lie about rescuing everyone stationed in deep space and there would be no way of ever knowing that they weren’t telling the truth.”
A chill traveled up Caitlin’s spine. The thought of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, away from Airlann or any other world, was horrifying. Planets were the source of all life. The nutrients of the planet provided food, the atmosphere of the planet provided clean water, and the gravity of the planet provided stability.
“We have to help these people,” she said. “We have to get them home. I do not want to hurt them.” She shifted the laser pistol under her jacket again, hoping that she could at least get comfortable with the weapon. She couldn’t.
“You didn’t have to come along,” Alena replied. “We could have brought Lance. And probably should have if you’re just going to chicken out on us. I’ll call up, let him know to come down here and relieve you.”
That was the last thing Caitlin wanted. Finally, after weeks of leaping around on the Fenghuang, recruiting crew members and intermittently getting shot at, she had a chance to really make a difference. “No,” Caitlin said. “I am ready for whatever happens. But I want to be here to make sure neither of you make any mistakes.”
“Fair enough,” Seth said, smiling. “Keep us honest. But you better have our backs if a fight breaks out.”
A loud grinding noise filled the airlock as the doors started to open. The sickening smell of stale air wafted in from the mining station. It wasn’t like the processed oxygen aboard the Fenghuang, which was able to gather atmosphere from the planets it visited and mix it in with the artificial stuff. It was wholly manufactured, so fake Caitlin could taste it.
One figure stood behind the airlock door. It was a haggard man with short blonde hair. He was wearing an orange uniform that had been washed so many times it was practically yellow. A nametag near his left shoulder read “Hathaway”.
Seth and Alena hesitated, as if they expected the miner to attack them. They waited to make the first movement, not sure whether to greet him or shoot him outright. Disgusted, Caitlin pushed past them and approached Commander Hathaway. She extended her hand to greet him.
“It is good to see you are well,” she said. “My name is Caitlin Adair, this is my Captain Seth Garland.” She smiled. “And you do not have to despair any more, Commander. We are going to get you home.”
*
When Caitlin was a young girl, before she could even conceive that one day she would have to step up and become Governess of Balashyre, she loved nothing more than fairy tales and legends. Every night, her mother, Morgance, would bring her a glass of spiced milk and tell her one of the many tales passed down through the centuries on Airlann. Caitlin’s favorite, and the one she would ask for every night, was the legend of the first Dobhriathar.
The first Dobhriathar were a group of four Airlannians—a farmer, a rancher, a miller, and a builder--who traveled to the stars over a thousand years ago and saved the planet from famine.
Morgance always began the tale the same way. Just as Caitlin took her first sips of milk, she set the scene:
“On one fateful day, hundreds of years before even your great-grandmother was Governess of Balashyre, offworld traders brought a terrible plague to the lands of the Goddess.” Thanks to Morgance’s thick accent, Caitlin was never sure if her mother was saying traders or traitors but it worked for her either way. “You know them now as pests, the common locustfly, but back then they overrun our crops. They ate our corn and our grain, and we had nothing to feed our cattle or horses. The animals starved as we ate their food, and then we had no food left of our own. We became so desperate as to begin eating the bugs themselves, but we knew that even that would not last. They exhausted their own food as they exhausted ours. We had to begin anew, but every time we planted our crops, they would return.”
At this point, Caitlin would almost always ask the same question. “Why could we not wait until they were dead, then begin planting again?”
“It was not that simple,” Morgance would continue. “For the locustfly could appear dead for moons, then return again as soon as there was food. Besides, we did not have such time on our hands. We were all starving. We could not wait them out.
“Then, as it seemed like our entire planet would wither and die, the Goddess Airlanni chose four souls to band together and save us. One was a poor farmer from Arrynton. She had seen all of her crops vanish before her eyes in the first wave of the plague. Another was a wealthy miller from Twiningshire, who had given all of his money to purchase food for his neighbors until there was no longer anything else to buy. The third was a rancher from Grathberg who’d lost all of his cows to the famine. The final chosen one was a builder from right here in Balashyre. All four traveled to the Great Council to propose the same plan. They wished t
o travel to the stars to find a solution for the problem.”
“But that is where the plague came from!” Caitlin insisted. This was before she even knew about the custom of the Sraithing and thought that it was remarkable that an Airlanni would ever travel offworld for any reason. “Why would they do that?”
Morgance would smile and pat Caitlin on the head. “And that is just what the Great Council said! The Locustflies were forced upon us by the offworlders! Only evil came from the stars! The four chosen ones were shouted down by the Great Counsel. No one believed that Airlanni herself spoke to these men and women and told them what they must do. They were called cowards and traitors...” Here, Caitlin was sure which word her mother used. “...and most people thought they wanted to flee the dying planet rather than save it.
“Fortunately, they were clever. For, you see back then, there were still places on the planet where one could find the devices left behind by our founders. The four managed to send a signal to the offworlders, who had come offering food and assistance during the plague. One of their great ships descended from the heavens and found the four chosen ones. From there, they set off on their quest to save Airlann and all their fellow men.”
From there, Morgance would always tell of the adventures the four chosen ones had among the offworlders. They visited many planets, met with many dangers, and finally found their way to the home of all mankind: Earth. They stood before the great leaders of the true homeworld and asked for their assistance. They learned that the Locustfly had come from Earth, and they despaired. But the gardens and fields of Earth were relatively unmolested. Earth, unlike Airlann, survived the plague.
“It was not any of their heathen devices that saved us,” Morgance would say. “But another creature. The four chosen ones returned with a starship full of turkeys, which then did not live on Airlann, and set them free among the countryside. The Locustflies were eaten by the turkeys, the crops were saved, and when there were too many turkeys, we simply hunted them and ate them as well.