Stellar Desolation

Chapter 14: Carter, Ling and Eliza take a ship

Commander Evelyn Carter stood resolute in the tight confines of the auxiliary probe ship, watching status lights blink to green one by one as the pre-launch sequence progressed. Beside her, Dr. Ling and Archaeologist Eliza Turner completed strapping into acceleration couches, their faces etched with stoic tension.

Against Lieutenant O'Donnell's heated objections, Carter was determined to personally lead this covert mission to pierce the abyss and conduct close-range scans of the newly discovered megastructure. Only direct investigation could unravel the enigmatic object's secrets, and time was slipping through their fingers.

"Command ship Copernicus, you are clear for synchronized separation," came the final launch authorization over ship comms. Carter's eyes narrowed with ambition. "Acknowledged, control. Proceeding on mission flight plan." She triggered release, disengaging umbilicals.

A resonant shudder passed through the compact vessel's frame as magnetic clamps disengaged. Small maneuvering thrusters pushed them safely clear of the Copernicus before main engines could ignite. For better or worse, they were committed now to rendezvous with the unknown.

"Engaging primary propulsion...mark." At Carter's command, powerful fusion torches flared to life, crushing them brutally into acceleration couches for long minutes as velocity built furiously to break free of the command ship's orbit and pierce the abyssal boundary. Alarms blared at the intense particle and radiation flux buffeting their shields.

At last, the G-forces eased as they crossed the churning event horizon into the nebula's chaotic depths. Carter's eyes gleamed with scholarly ambition as she surveyed streams of fresh readings from theirowaethSome sensor arrays. "My god...organic molecular structures, folds in quantum waveform states...it defies physics!"

Eliza glanced to Ling anxiously as Carter became increasingly manic at the cascading revelations. But navigator Patel called out sharply before she could voice caution. "Object dead ahead, matching coordinates from Copernicus!" All eyes fixed forward as the sphere loomed large, swathed in coruscating energies. Carter's expression turned rapturous. "The secrets of the Infinite await us."

But as they closed proximity, an oppressive psychic weight seemed to press down, permeating the ship. The sphere visibly pulsated faster, its patterns mesmerizing. Carter began rambling wildly about piercing the veil as the mission's original purpose slipped from her mind.

Alarms jolted Ling from the trance of approach. "Radiation levels rising, shield frequency ineffective!" Carter seemed not to hear, consumed with rhapsodic obsession as their trajectory drew them terminally near the objet's shimmering surface.

Heart hammering, Ling lunged from her couch and physically jerked the command console from Carter's grasp. "I'm sorry Evelyn..." she whispered as Carter hissed incoherently. Ling diverted emergency power to engines and wrenched them into a brutal retreat vector as Eliza restrained the crazed Commander.

As the sphere's hypnotic grip eased, Carter collapsed into agitated muttering. The entities dark gravity could not be escaped, only resisted in fleeting moments of clarity and strength. Today, compassion for a friend had saved their minds and lives. But as the sphere's crimson glow pursued them, Ling feared what trials remained before its siren call could be silenced forever. Dr. Ling fought to keep their small vessel on course as the oppressive psychic pressure from the sphere threatened to overwhelm her senses. Beside her, Carter and Eliza were slumped in their acceleration couches, faces contorted as if in the throes of a nightmare. Ling prayed proximity warnings would pierce the fog shrouding her mind before oblivion claimed them all.

With a gasp, Ling forced her eyes open again just as proximity klaxons erupted within the haze. Gritting her teeth at the spike of pain, she managed to halt their fatal drift with a massive burst from maneuvering jets. Her vision blurred as she manually activated the retreat sequence. Each small act of will became a titanic struggle as malevolent energies permeated the ship.