Astronomicon: Behemoth

Chapter 57 - Control

"Just one huge chair?" said Aron.

"That's all we found," Walter replied.

"Doesn't that seem odd in a control room this large? We've got five seats in ours and it's a mere fraction of the size."

"Maybe everything is automatic?" Walter suggested.

"Everything controlled by one person? It's not impossible, I guess."

"Or only the commander gets to sit down? I should show you the ceiling."

"Megan described it, but I haven't had time to watch the video yet."

Walter clambered clumsily up onto the oversized seat and hit a button on the armrest. Aron was already looking up at the ceiling before the transformation began but his jaw dropped as the whiteness melted away revealing a beautiful field of stars.

"Can you work out where we are now from this view?" said Aron after a few seconds of silent staring.

"No, but Foxy probably could, so long as we haven't travelled too far."

"I can't tell if that's a display or just transparency. See if you can get her to do that as soon as we get back to the ship. Have you worked out any other buttons on that panel?"

"Nothing else seems to do anything. Most of the buttons don't even light up."

"If they are like the airlock door controls, sequence is critical."

Aron leapt up onto the seat and studied the controls. None of the glyphs seemed intelligible at first glance but his gut feeling was that this panel had nothing to do with navigation. Walter showed him the ceiling control button but the two-tone, inverted triangle glyph did not enhance his understanding.

"I know we don't understand their language, but these are the sort of controls you find in a car to control the windows and mirrors, not to drive."

"These are the only buttons we've found."

"There has to be another mechanism to control the ship. What are those domes over there?" He pointed to the two adjacent dome-covered cylinders a short distance from the foot of the chair."

"The Commander and I never worked that out," Walter replied, slowly shaking his head.

"They look similar to the replicator we found before but in this light grey colour."

"Another difference is that these domes don't seem to lift up."

"They must do something," Aron chuckled. "There has to be some reason why they are there."

"I suspect that a lot of this ship is going to remain a mystery."

"This room doesn't feel like a control room to me. There simply aren't enough control inputs and I can't imagine anyone spending much time in here. This is more like a mock-up or maybe a place to observe what the ship is doing rather than controlling it.

He saw Walter glance back at the archway. "Still no sign of Margaux?"

"I don't think she's coming."

"There's no way to communicate through the teleport hoop so we'll just have to work without her, unless you want to travel back to get her and bring her here?"

"No way!" Walter shuddered visibly at the idea.

"It might take us a little longer without Margaux, but the two of us can sort this out. What else can we learn from this place?"

"There are a mass of information displays on the walls, most of which we can't interpret yet."

"Yes, but any reason to think there are controls on the walls?" asked Aron.