Astronomicon: Behemoth

Chapter 58 - Navigation

"So, did you make any breakthroughs?" demanded Megan before Aron had climbed all the way up through the hatch into the Arcadian's control room.

"Not me," he replied.

"Not you?"

"It was tough coming back from the control room this time. Santiago's painkiller concoction had little to no effect. I'm guessing you know how much that thing hurts?"

"I'm not going to forget that in a hurry," she nodded. "We can send someone through with one. I'm sure I can find a volunteer and maybe Santiago can improve his painkiller?"

"Some kind of short-term general anaesthetic may be called for."

"Maybe we could reprogram the emergency auto-medic in our suits to give an antidote to the anaesthetic when we arrive on the other side?"

"That could be done," Aron replied. "I'm not convinced that any kind of painkiller Santiago could come up with would have any effect."

"I'll get him to set up an appropriate anaesthetic and stimulant pair. You and Walter are probably the best qualified to make the necessary software modifications to the E.V.A. suits. How long will that take?"

"Less than an hour. Probably less than ten minutes to make the changes but we need to test the changes thoroughly. We can't risk leaving those who go on the trip staying unconscious for hours on the other side."

"Great! That means we can do it later today."

"Why the rush?"

"Every minute that goes by, we're heading further away from where we were supposed to be."

"True," he nodded. "We'll get right on it."

* * *

Margaux felt as if she had been zapped with electricity. Her skin crawled and her pulse raced. Before she even opened her eyes, she sucked in a lungful of air and tried to remember what was going on.

Her extremities tingled as she tried to move her arms. Her muscles responded slowly but normal function quickly returned, and she was able to roll onto her side and then onto her knees. She was barely clear when the air directly above where she had been lying just moments before began to crackle and glow. She slid further away on her knees as a static ball of brilliant orange flame began to replace the arcing. Shuffling further away, she watched in fascination as the boots of Walter's E.V.A. suit began to take shape from within the crackling flame.

In seconds, his legs were there and the, now larger, flame worked its way up his torso. She continued to watch as she clambered clumsily to her feet. Her leg muscles hurt but seemed to still work. Slowing her breathing did nothing to slow her racing pulse. The display inside her visor showed that the dose of stimulant had been delivered successfully. A faint memory returned of Santiago telling her that it could take five or ten minutes to fully wear off.

Other memories returned too; one triggered by the two hologram crystals that Walter was clutching to his chest. She raised her arm and checked the gas analyser display on her lower arm. Sure enough, as the others had told her, the air in the control room was breathable. She tentatively unclipped and raised her visor. A momentary hiss worried her but the air outside her suit smelt and tasted better than the processed air within it.

As the orange flame finished recreating the top of Walter's helmet, it crackled more loudly and then seemed to pop out of existence. Almost immediately, he dropped the half-metre to the surface below, dropping both crystals as he landed. The air in the antechamber was charged with static electricity but everything was bright and silent. The ambient light was a pleasure after the dark, unreflective surfaces she had seen everywhere else.