Gravity Wielder - Book 2 of Re-Forge

The Eternal Ship

The EIGHT made their way to Joshua's shuttle via 'Storm's' Bridge airlock.

When they were all floating in space near SHA-01 (Shadow's Primary shuttle), Joshua turned from the door and said: "Damn, Carl, my keys are in my other jacket pocket."

Steve and Hymie laughed, and Steve said: "Not fair, humour is my job. Shut it and open the door already. Don't you know Hymie has agoraphobia?"

Joshua laughed and sent the unlock code from his AI-com to SHA-01, and the door slid open. Everyone floated in, and the door slid shut. Feet settled to stand firmly on the deck as the gravity level slowly increased as the air equalised, and the team's malleable Impervium suit helmets and gloves flowed back into their suits like black liquid mercury, to leave bare skin as if they were never covered.

The team members needing cabins dumped their bags in them and then took seats in the flight deck. Joshua sat in the command chair and piloted the shuttle toward Perdita, – now renamed, Eden. Two hours later, Eden was visible on the main viewer. Joshua eased the shuttle close to Eden and said: "Carl, do you know how to get in? Does the ship have teleport technology?"

It was Carls turn to laugh, he said: "Nothing that convenient. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm looking for three crystal projections that Marc the point of entry, then I'll have to cut through about ten metres of rock to get to the control room airlock."

Susan spoke for the first time. She was a little like Hymie, in that she hardly ever spoke unless there was something important to share. She asked: "Excuse me, Carl. Is Eden a ship that was built into a large asteroid?"

Carl turned to Susan and said: "No, Susan; She camouflaged herself to look like an asteroid. She's hiding behind ten metres of the hardest rock without any impurities or faults. It's the method we always used to hide from the Enemy while Eden self-repairs after a battle or a long hard sprint."

Carl added: "Normally, the population would remain inside Eden, but as there is no-one there, we will need to stay in stealth mode for now. That means we need to cut our way through the rock. Initiation of the antimatter forcefield will remove the layer of granite with a bang, to leave a plain grey hull."

Joshua was not listening as he had been focussed on finding the entrance and said: "Carl, is that it?" He zoomed the viewer in on the three crystal projections just as Carl described.

Carl brought his hands together with a loud crack. The action was his only display of emotion, then he said: "Yes, that's the spot. Now, can everyone stay here where it's safe until I call you? I'll be making a bit of mess out there."

Matt said: "Carl, will your power cells last that long?"

Carl said: "I'll be fine once I get inside, Matt."

SP1 said: "Let me come carl, I can push the slag away as you cut it. Otherwise, it will just hang around in the zero 'G' and make a big mess."

Carl nodded and said: "Let's do it."

In a few minutes, those waiting inside SHA-01 heard the SP1 Avatar say to Carl: "I'm going to hold you in place with a local gravity field, and as the slag and chunks come off, I'll eject them behind us so that none of the ejected molten rock touches your skin. Sometime in the future, the debris will fall into Jupiter's atmosphere."

As Carl and SP1 floated toward the three projections, Carl said: "Okay, thanks SP1."

The two unlikely colleagues cut their way into the rock and molten lava and debris floated clear of the growing tunnel and drifted off into space. Thirty minutes later, SP1 said: "All clear here, come on over guys, Carl is about to open the airlock. Hurry."