The Endeavour in Sector H

Chapter 11

Lnar came to stand next to Ghir and Falin.

"It's now or never. I checked her, and she told us the truth. Weather outside is getting worse every minute. We need to leave now. Ana's body will stay here. Her last memories have been uploaded on the transfer disk so we can turn her off as we're leaving.

Lnar, Ghir and Jad left the pod. Neda was leading the way. They passed next to the injured Kisel. She was alive but unmoving. They stopped at the start of the ascent to the surface.

"This is it. I'll see you in a week. Safe journey!"

"Thank you, Neda. I'll make sure you're not stuck on this rock forever." - Lnar offered.

"Oh, we can discuss that once you're back." - she gave him a courteous reply.

The climb was hard for Lnar as he had to be careful not to burden his injured leg.

When they finally emerged, the surface was deathly quiet.

"Dammit, we need to run or we're dead." - Jad panicked. "I apologize." He grabbed Lnar, threw him in the rover and pressed the gas paddle to the end. As they were nearing the ship, a thunderous wind approached on their left side. The ground started cracking under them. The storm will have their lives if they don't get in in the next several seconds.

The ship's door opened and Hor came out, screaming to hurry up. They almost rammed into the ship with the rover, they ran in, losing their balances and ending up on the floor. The door closed and the ship ascended. The storm hit the place where they've been several seconds ago. They were still too close and losing control of the ship.

"Go in space, we'll come back to the moon on its other side." - Ghir commanded.

It took several more thrusters' bursts to get free of the storm's deathly grip.

They landed on the docks of the base an hour later. Lnar decided to stay on the ship as did most of the crew. Ghir on the other hand left to find himself some eye candy. He had a thing for nerdy men in white lab coats.

In the evening they had dinner with base workers. Everyone attended. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, to see the Ruler. The feast was modest compared to his regular lunch back home but it was a happy occasion and Lnar enjoyed it.

Afterwards he had a brief talk with Vas, letting him know that the rumor was fake and that the woman shouldn't be bothered.

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They were finally back in space and heading back home. It was an uneventful trip towards the center of the Empire. They were close to crossing into sector G, uninteresting as sector H. As most empires, life and adventure were exclusive for the central sectors such as A, B and C.

It was a night shift and Lnar couldn't sleep. He was waiting. This endeavour wasn't done from his standpoint. He got up and went to the bridge, maybe he needed to have a look at a big, vast space. He always liked space. If he wasn't a Ruler, he'd be a general in the army or even a space pirate if his family's luck turned for worse. He shook his head as he was walking through the corridors. He found Hor on the bridge and one more crew member. It was quiet, machines occasionally beeped. The crew member opened up a communication channel and the annoying sound of SOS filled the room.

"Who's in trouble? - Lnar asked.

"Oh, don't mind that. It's an old malfunctioned ship." - Hor answered.

"What do you mean?"

"There's a spaceship junkyard a couple hours from our position. One of the old ships started broadcasting SOS a day ago."

"Why haven't we responded to it?"

"Our sensors show that the ship is more than 200 years old and part of the junkyard for at least 50 years. There're no life signs."

"Wake Ghir, let him know we're going to investigate."

Lnar could feel the excitement rising in his body, in his bones, muscles, blood. This must be it. I'm sure.

"What's going on, Lnar? - Ghir entered, still half asleep.

"There's a distress call. We need to help."

"I know. It's not worth it. Nothing special about that ship. Not even to scavenge."

"No, by the Galactic law, we're obliged to answer any SOS call and we're going to do it."

"Hmm, didn't see you putting my officer in brigg when he all but confessed that he cheated some poor settlers on Mek and now you're all about law and how we should follow it."

"I can still put him brigg and then we can peacefully proceed to the junkyard. As you wish."

"Fine. First we're skipping from moon to moon, now digging through the dump. Don't get mad when I tell you 'I told you so.'"

Ghir turned to Hor. "Get us on the course to the ship in distress."

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The ship was larger than theirs. Close inspection of their haul discovered that it was breached at several places, due to the age it was hard to say if it was caused by natural phenomena or weapons.

Serz, a gloomily looking man, Ghir and Lnar suited up and crossed from their ship to an abandoned one. Serz's task was to check the engine room to see if the ship was flyable. Lnar and Ghir will go to the bridge, turn off the alarm and check the captain's log.

Lnar went for the logs while Ghir was trying to shut up the SOS noise.

Lnar relaxed when the noise finally stopped. It was much easier to think and read.

"Skoro" was a private ship of a wealthy family from the B sector. He recognized their surname but couldn't place it. He continued reading. The captain started rambling about the purity of the race. 70 years ago, they encountered a species who could procreate with the citizens. It was a big shock for some of the traditionalists. Oh, what would we all give if that race survived the Pink Death. And as a reaction, sects emerged which demanded that only citizens could procreate and that any hybrid should be killed. It almost led to an internal war but in the end it was settled down that no new hybrids will be born but existing ones won't be killed. It seems that this family departed before the agreement and they were searching for a planet where they'll settle their purist asses down.

"We should search the ship."

"Why?"

"This was a settlers' ship. There might be cryo chambers or genetic material not touched by the Pink Death."

"Let's spread."

"No, we go together. It's an old ship, anything can happen."

Common rooms and living quarters were empty of life. Here or there they'd find a skeleton or a mummified person. As they were going further into the ship, progressing to the cargo hold, Lnar's blood started to hum. The previous sense of excitement was back. The feeling was intoxicating, he didn't feel like this not even before the decisive battle for the Ruler position.

A door of the cargo was stuck. A malfunction in the electronics kept them shut.

"Lnar, our sensors show no signs of life. We can break the door and our suits but we'll find nothing."

"These people didn't want to be found. They might have taken some cloaking devices with them which hide life signs. If needed I'll break all the suits we have to open this door. Step aside."

It was a double door so each of them started pulling a door to the side. Ghir's door didn't move at all but Lnar opened it enough to use a lever. He was afraid to use weapons on the door as they might destroy what's on the other side. After a half an hour of effort, one of the doors was opened enough for a person to squeeze through.

Lnar pushed through, he turned to take into sight the small cargo room. His eyes widened, his knees buckled, he fell on the floor. A tear, he didn't know he was still able to give to the world, dropped on his cheek. The tear turned into a river of emotions. A man next to him also dropped to his knees. The quietness of the cargo hold was disturbed by the beeps of the cryo chambers.