Beyond Sol

Chapter 9I

Proceeding to truss structure twenty-two A." I radioed back to the bridge, inspecting the damage. The asteroid punctured the lounge. I pulled myself into the structure, the power completely out.
    "What's the damage?" James asked from the bridge, monitoring my cam's.
    "Structure held up pretty well." I floated down to the ground, a layer of dust laying still. I shovelled my hand through it, a plume being kicked up. "Looks like the asteroid dissolved on impact, mostly rock, bits of iron and nickel."
    "Bag it, get to work on repairs." Amelia typed on her monitor, accessing the mainframe of the ring. "Looks like hull damage was minimal, took off a layer? If that on the bottom layers. The ceiling isn't so promising though."
    "Seeing as how I was able to float through it, yeah." I inspected around the incision, comparing the chunks of rock that survived to the edges. "The edge is smooth, shouldn't the rock be too?"
    "It could be from central areas. Investigate later, for now I'd rather we have breathable air. Instead of, ya 'now, no air?" James murmured, rubbing his head in migraine filled frustration. "Just patch the whole, it's not hard," he sighed in anger.
    "On it." I loaded a few handfuls of loose regolith into a fabricator which I had unzipped from my duffel, which floated loosely in the depressurized cabin. I pulled myself out of the stopped ring, aiming the device directly at the rim of the gap. With a spark, compacted regolith came flying out, sealing itself onto the ring. "Is this a heat protected side?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.
    "Yeah. They'd rather lose the chill hangout spot than the gymnasium and living quarters. Would you rather lose a fry or a burger?" Eliza sighed, sitting down in her seat. "Statrep."
    "You're not my boss."
    "I'm your lifeline. Statrep." She muttered under her breath, logging into her monitor.
    ELIZAENKAUN
    ELAZKA1$
    "Making good progress on her. Send me out a pod of aerogel, I need to recoat the whole ring. Expect me back around ..." I checked down to my watch, 1100 HOURS. "1900 hours at the earliest."
    "Short spacewalk." Muhammed whined.
    "Shut up."

"I'm out. I think I'm done out here." I panted, the whole ring coated in hundreds of pounds of liquid aerogel. Or, was liquid. Ha. Ha. Ha. I know I'm funny right! No? Oh. "Holes patched. Try pressure."
    "It's good enough. 8%." Amelia read over charts and whatnot. Whatever smart people read. Textbooks, sure. She's most likely reading the...uh...'Great book of knowledge for smart Spectrum people.' Fitting isn't it?
    "Retract tether." I clenched the fabricator, a tug from the tether pulling me back to the hangar. I narrowly avoided ring 2 on my way back, snugly flying between two support cables. I cut the tether as I neared the hangar navigating my way back to the airlock by eyeballing. With a thump, and a sore leg I landed in the hangar.
    "Dick." I unsealed the helmet, throwing it upwards. It'll float around for a while. I looked up to see some...monolith of some kind? Steel. 8-9 feet tall maybe? 4 feet wide at best. The words 'H.W.S.C. EVENT HORIZON' had been etched near the middle, golden ink solidified inside.
    "Who put a monolith inside the hangar?" I asked, radioing to the bridge, only after grabbing my helmet that lingered across the hangar. I held it up near my face to radio, I mean, what a radio on my suit? Don't see how that could work. Just below the name of sorts was a message.
    Leave us alone, bastards! Don't hide like us!
    "Anyway to make a bomb with ya?"

"Explain what that is." James asked, his elbows extending out, hands on his hips.
    "A monolith." Muhammed sighed, cocking his head sideways. The five of us had conjoined in a semi-circle around the front of the monolith.
    "No shit? Really? I never knew, asshole. How's it here?" He furrowed his brow, pondering the secrets of the universe, and most likely how to kill me.
    "H.W.S.C Event Horizon? That sounds like a NASA name. Everything with them has a meaning, everything up to Ares was a god or goddess, Trinity was named after the Trinity test, The Spectrum was named after a Spectrum of engineers. Beyond Sol...self explanatory. You get it. What would Event Horizon mean?" Amelia pondered, thinking as hard as she could.
    "If this is man made, it's been here a while. The Event Horizon is the point of no return in a black hole, step into the ship never step out? Maybe?" James remarked, raising a cheek up. Just something he does. His face cheek, to clarify. Not that one!
    "Perhaps. You cant leave a system in what, 9 hours Carter was out there? 10? I didn't count. Just find them and pull a British on them." Amelia shrugged.
    "Pull a British?"
    "Take their land without permission! Duh."
    "And you guys wonder why I don't trust you." James sighed contently, crossing his arms.
    "We do." Eliza grazed her hand across it, an emblem immediately engraved into her hand. "Fuck!" She waved her hand around in heat-bearing pain. "What the hell?!" She looked down at the top of her hand, blood rushing out from her major vein which ran down the centre of her hand.
    I walked over, pulling up my NASA sweatshirt sleeves, I twisted my hand around, the Aeson patch on my forearm revealed. "They're...different. I can't read that." She squinted her eyes, trying to see what it read. Muhammed waddled over, taking a look.
    "B.S-1?..." He read out, James flocking over. "We're...Beyond Sol one. Ar-Are we not?"
    "Don't go into an identity crisis, find the slimy bastards. I'm calling Scott. Eliza you're with me." I floated out of the hangar, Eliza scouring after.