At least all he had to worry about was making sure this bucket of a craft kept going and didn't run into trouble on the way home. There, easy in comparison. Ed smiles at that thought.
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Chapter 11 - When Friends Meet in Space
Ed is on the flight deck again for another shift. The half day off whilst Fjas did his shift was a welcome break from the stress and routine. Ed had managed to figure out a few more words and phrases from Jason's message and unfortunately he had confirmed that it was Jason's craft that had disappeared. In fact it was knowing that, which helped decode some more of the message. Richard had acknowledged Ed's copy of Jason's message, in fact it was Richard who confirmed that it was Jason's craft. As yet nothing further from Richard or his team. So Ed didn't know if he was the only one getting somewhere with Jason's message. Every time he was tempted to send what he had decoded to Richard, he had the overwhelming feeling that he had just not uncovered enough to be really useful and decided to stick with it. Ed had checked ACMoS for flights crossing their path on this segment of the journey and this time he was just as interested in his own company's flights as he was about those of the Kog-zey-enian craft. There were none of the latter scheduled in this area of space, but there was another company craft, due to cross their path in about 20 minutes time. Ed could now see the trace of the craft streaking across in front of them. He should get a visual in about 10 to 15 minutes time.
Ed dutifully checks all the instrumentation and decides to put in a courtesy call to the chief engineer to see how things were going in engineering. After a very pleasant chat, Ed spots the craft ahead of them, emerging behind the star system Utarius. He thought he caught a glint of the craft earlier, this sighting confirms that it was the Geshbelhaus, according to a message that he received whilst on shore leave, one of his fellow academy pals was aboard, although not actually piloting this time, simply transferring to his next craft pick up point.
The time ticks away and sure enough, there to the right of them is the Geshbelhaus, its shape and form much more clearly visible now, as the Cosmos 3 approaches the cross over point. Ed sends a greeting message to his Pal, Keiran Yardley. The message reads, 'I spy with my little eye, a certain craft bearing a Keiran, oh you did make the flight didn't you? You are off our starboard bow and streaking right across in front of us nicely, don't forget to look out of the window, you'll see a nut case waving furiously out of the flight deck windows of the Cosmos 3. You can discretely wave back, I'll keep an eye out for you, unless of course, you're asleep in which case, sorry I missed you, catch ya again sometime. Yours Ed.'
Hardly had Ed hit the send button when a beacon acknowledgement came back to say message delivered.
Ed watches as the Geshbelhaus continues to cross in front of him. His communicator beeps. Ed looks at the screen and it reads, 'What miss the chance of ignoring a nut case waving like mad hoping that none of the passengers notices him, no way. Hope your captain is on deck and reprimands you for acting so strange. KY.'
Ed laughs and sends the reply, 'Sent him packing, I'm on the bridge on my own, got to trusted status. Ed.'
The reply comes back, 'How many moons did you have to avoid to achieve that then? KY.'
Ed replies, 'Too many! How's it going? Will you get any shore leave before you pick up your next duty?'
Keiran replies, 'You got to be kidding, they want me straight in the saddle, I'm up on first duty.'
Ed replies, 'Still being watched?'
Keiran replies, 'Na, like you trusted status now. I think they are just lazy, don't want to watch me for hours on end, whilst I d nothing wrong.'
Ed says, 'So they have forgiven you for the dent that you left in dock port 23 at Hescidian?'
'I'm still paying for the repairs, but essentially yes. Come on it was a mistake anyone could make! Ky'
'Yes loads of pilots ignore the beacon lights and decide on their own approach path. Anyway have a good one, I understand from Mickey that you're joining him on his return, that right? Ed'
'Yep... hey what's that off our starboard, can you see it Ed?'
Ed looks carefully but, whatever Keiran can see is shielded by the Geshbelhaus itself. Ed checks the trace diagram, to see if anything showing up on that. There is something, but it is not a craft, or if it is, it is cloaked. As a precaution Ed sends a hasty message to Richard to alert him that there maybe something happening here.
Suddenly Ed can see a hazy outline around the Geshbelhaus craft, he wonders if it is something to do with the engines and possibly a collapsing field......no expanding field, the haze is getting bigger.
Another message from Keiran, 'It like ripples on pond'
As the haze spreads out even further, Ed can see why Keiran had described it in the way he had, it does look like ripples on a pond and as Ed's side of the Geshbelhaus is not hazy, whatever he can see must be the other side of the craft. As it grows ever wider, Ed notes that he can actually see something the other side of the ripples, but it is too indistinct to make out quite what it is. At first Ed thought it was a reflection of the Geshbelhaus itself, but as his mind raced to piece the images together, nothing matched the shape and colouration of the Geshbelhaus.
A further message from Keiran, 'It huge, our craft seem to be drawn towards center. Pilot must kick in drive soon or we crash into it. Whatever it is.'
Sure enough Ed notices that the Geshbelhaus seems to be shrinking considerably in size in comparison with that..... whatever it is. It is not a black hole, it doesn't seem to be exhibiting any of the usual visuals of a black hole, there's nothing being dragged into the periphery of its outer ring. Ed checks the distance between the Geshbelhaus and the Cosmos 3. Despite the fact that the Cosmos 3 is travelling towards the Geshbelhaus, the distance between the craft is growing. So Keiran is right it is being drawn towards that pond like thing. Ed checks all relevant instrumentation and everything seems normal, apart from the fact that according to some of the instruments, the stars and galaxies behind the pond like thing, appear to have been shifted sideways, as if the light and other emissions have been bent around the pond. In the absence of the captain, Ed takes the decision that to safeguard himself and the passengers, he must deviate from his current course, so their path of travel skips this thing altogether. He wonders why the pilot of the other craft appears to be making no effort to escape that thing. Ed changes course and then thinks, why not ask the pilot directly, just what is going on. So he places a voice call direct to the flight deck of the Geshbelhaus. Whoever is at the other end tells Ed that they are a little busy at the moment so could he keep this call short and straight to the point.
Ed whilst thinking that the approach was a little impolite, thinks that given the same circumstances, he'd probably have the same focus, concentrating on getting away from that thing. Ed replies, "I just wanted to say that if you find you cannot escape that thing beside you, and need to launch escape rafts, Cosmos 3 will be on standby to pick up survivors." Ed thinks that on reflection, survivors was the wrong word to use.
The pilot thanks Ed and says that at the moment their focus was on trying to outrun this anomaly, but they will bear in mind the option to launch escape rafts, knowing that Cosmos 3 was around.
Ed watches as the Geshbelhaus is drawn in at increasing speed, ever shrinking in size. Ed wonders just when the flight crew will realise that they are on a no win against that thing. He just hopes they launch the escape rafts soon, even if it is a case of launch them, escape that thing and pick up their own rafts afterwards. That would be Ed's strategy given same circumstances. He probably would have launched a lot earlier though, especially knowing that there was was another company craft in such close proximity.
Another message from Keiran, 'Engines seem to be on max, but not helping, still being drawn in. Just been given instructions to head to rafts, so get ready to pick us up, see you earlier than anticipated eh?'
Just then a voice message comes in fro
m the captain of the Geshbelhaus confirming that the orders have been given to evacuate passengers and non-essential crew from the port side.
Ed watches the little craft as they slide away from the Geshbelhaus. At first there are just a few of them dotted alongside the Geshbelhaus. Each emanating the coloured flares, indicating that their engines have fired. The numbers grow as more and more passengers escape.
The thought crosses Ed's mind, which of those tiny dots contains his mate Keiran?
Judging that the Cosmos 3 is a safe distance from the pond like thing, Ed slows up the craft, preparing to retrieve the escape rafts. He decides that he should inform the captain, as this is serious now and he has committed the Cosmos 3 to a rescue mission and having never been involved in such an operation, he needs all the help and expertise he can get.
Ed expected the captain to be even more grumpy than his usual self, but when Ed called him and explained the gravity of the situation, the captain confirmed immediately that he was on his way and commended Ed for his action saying that he was right to call him.
It seemed as if the captain was already dressed when Ed had called him, as it did not take long for him and Fjas come to that, to appear on the bridge. The captain explained that such a circumstance called for all hands to be on deck. Ed briefed the pair of them in detail what had happened, about the communications with the Geshbelhaus and Keiran.
The captain asked if Ed had informed any of the crew of the rescue. Ed said that he hadn't he didn't want to start a panic. The captain corrects Ed reminding him that these craft have large windows and the fact that there are crew and passengers up a all hours, someone was bound to have seen at least some of what Ed had seen and that the art here was to get in first and plant the seeds of thought that everything is under control and that as a precaution the other craft is evacuating their passengers, just to make absolutely sure of the their safety and that they will be picked up as soon as the craft is deemed to be on a safe path again. The captain demonstrates what he means and makes an announcement over the tannoy system that covers all areas of the craft where passengers and crew will be awake and milling around. The announcement having been skilfully delivered, the captain contacts the chief steward and briefs her on how to prepare the crew for the embarkation rescue. He checks that she knows the safety precautions regards operation of the dock-o-matic system and the air locks. She runs through the procedure as if she were actually doing it. The captain praises her saying that her rendition was faultless and promises to keep in touch.
The captain asks if Ed has informed engineering. To which Ed replies, "Er no, I didn't....."
To which the captain smiles and asks how Ed would feel being thrown into the thick of things and not even knowing what you are facing anything.
Ed now appreciates that there's more to this captain lark than just making sure you get from A to B safely. He may not have liked the old grumpy captain, but this man before him now is a model of efficiency, motivating and communicating well with his team. It is almost as if someone has thrown a switch and turned on a decent captain in a matter of milliseconds. Even Ed feels more motivated now, not that he was lacking in that area before.
Fjas is set the task of plotting the course of all the little escape craft and monitoring them all to ensure they don't drift off on their own little mission. The captain instructs Ed to turn on the rescue beacon, so the rafts will automatically continue to head towards the Cosmos 3, even if she has to change course.
The captain meanwhile contacts the captain of the Geshbelhaus, there's a quickly friendly exchange of banter, then straight down to business. They advise each other as to their actions and current status. The captain then sends a message to the company to alert them. Ed then thinks of Richard, he hastily sends a short but straight to the point message, asking him not to inform the family as yet.
Then Fjas reports, that despite their best efforts, the escape rafts are unable to get away from the Geshbelhaus, at best they are maintaining their distance away from her, at worst, there are one or two heading back towards her.
The situation is getting more and more desperate, as the Geshbelhaus slips ever faster towards the centre of that.... that.... thing.
The captain talks with the chief engineer to see just what power their own engines are currently capable of piling on, in-case they have to try and get closer in an effort to rescue at least some of those rafts.
Ed and Fjas, can see from the captain's face and also tell from the questions he is asking, that the news is not good. Engineering has been doing its own checking and research into this anomaly and discovered that it is emanating some sort of directed gravity wave and this is what is drawing the Geshbelhaus into it. The chief suggests that the Cosmos 3 could approach from one side of the anomaly in the hope that it escapes the gravity wave effects and that at least some of the rafts can slide off towards them, as the wave appears to be weaker at the edges, but timing would be essential and there would be no guarantees that they don't get sucked in themselves. There is some detailed discussion about the distances that are suspected to be involved.
The call over, the captain is silent for a while, then he turns to Ed and he remarks, that whilst the academies try to prepare you for such an eventuality, when it comes, the final decision is down to one person, the captain. The choice is usually the same old choice of to save a few and risk the masses or standby and do nothing in the vain hope that something miraculous happens and it will all go away. The captain asks Ed what he would do in these circumstances. There is silence.
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Chapter 12 - A Captain's Decision
Ed now feels the captain's dilemma at first hand, whilst he knows that the actual decision does not rest on his own shoulders, he feels that he has the opportunity to show that he is at least capable of making such a decision and who knows he may even have the power to influence the captain's actual decision. If he, Ed, were in the captain's shoes, what would he decide? On the one hand he has the duty to safeguard his own passengers' lives, on the other, his own humanity demands that he cannot stand by and watch as the passengers of the Geshbelhaus perish before his eyes. Yet how can he balance the rescue of only a few of those passengers, against the gambling of his own and his passengers lives. The answer must rest in the odds of success. What were the last words of the captain's call with the chief of engineering? Yes it was, 'well get me those field strength readings and get them fast, there are lives at stake.' Ed wonders if the captain had given engineering all they need to get him the facts. Also if you are even considering a rescue, why wait out here, trying to attract the escape rafts, when you know this to be the worst position for them, they are trying to escape an inescapable gravity wave. Instead try and get them to slide across it.
The captain patiently waits for Ed to speak, confident that he will not let him down.
The strain is showing on Fjas's face, he is willing Ed to end the torment and speak.
Ed asks, "Can engineering get us the field information we need from this position in space?"
The captain smiles and tells Ed that he had not thought to ask, but trusted that the chief advise him if there were a problem. Then he invites Ed to ask the question himself. Ed does as suggested.
It transpires that whilst engineering could get some information, it would be better if the craft were positioned to one side, as that would give them a clearer view so to speak. Ed turns to the captain and replies, "You wanted my view Sir, I suggest that we change position and slide to the port side of the anomaly, but still stay in front of it, maintaining a position that the gravity wave cannot affect us. This would cause the escape raft to slide across the gravity field and give them greater opportunity to escape the wave, as I suspect it will be weaker at its outer edges, thereby giving the rafts more of an opportunity to slip the noose so to speak. This will also give engineering a greater deal of accuracy in order to ascertain a safe distance that we can approac
h from the side of the anomaly, vastly reducing the risk of us being drawn into it ourselves. In this way we stand a chance of rescuing some of the rafts at least and putting ourselves and our passengers at minimal risk. If we stand and do nothing or flee, we would be guilty of abandoning the aims of the company, namely to get as many passengers safely to their destination or at least the nearest safe destination, before onward flights can be arranged."
The captain is silent for a short while and then nods, he confirms that the academy has trained Ed well and he has the potential to make captain yet. Ed and Fjas are given the instructions in order to carry out Ed's plan. The captain then sets about talking to engineering then the captain of the Geshbelhaus.