'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')

Chapter 44: Jump

On the bridge, they watched transfixed as the other ship’s shuttle approached. It seemed as if only a few minutes had passed but already its image was almost filling the screen.

The aliens had made sure the three women were strapped into their couches, before also strapping themselves in front of their consoles.

Now Theo was saying something in the alien language, speaking at precise intervals as if he were counting down the seconds.

Suddenly, he barked a single, short word.

Irvn pressed down on a sequence of buttons and immediately a high pitched whine could be heard, rapidly growing in volume.

A second later, the main monitor burst into light to show the image of the alien female.

“Stop what you’re doing at once,” she barked, “disengage your hyperdrive or we shoot.”

“And destroy your own shuttle and its crew?” snapped Irvn, his eyes never leaving the desk in from of him. “I don’t think so.”

“You underestimate me,” she replied, turning to someone unseen to her left. “Commander, open fire.”

They heard the Commander’s voice plainly questioning the order.

“Do it!” she snapped.

But even as she gave the order, the noise they could hear on the bridge reached a high-pitched shriek, then instantly dropped several octaves into a deep bass rumble. The image of the alien female on the monitor first distorted then disappeared as the three women felt a massive weight pressing down on them, crushing them into their couches.

“Don’t worry,” shouted Cymon, “this will only last a few seconds.”

Just when they thought the it would be too much to bear, all gravitational pressure just as quickly disappeared and they floated weightlessly up against their couch restraints. It took a moment to realise that the ship was now completely silent, their ears still ringing from the previous noise.

“One minute to hyperspace exit,” said Irvn, “be ready!”

The silent seconds ticked by then, once again, there was the same sequence of noise and the giant hand of gravity pressing down on them. Gradually, the pressure eased until they felt their normal weight again.

Cymon unbuckled himself from his chair and moved over to do the same for the women.

“Are you alright?’ he asked.

The three women nodded, still shaken by the violence of the hyperspace jump.

“We have about two hours by my calculations,” said Irvn

“Until what?” asked Laura.

“Until they’ve worked out our course accurately enough to follow.”

“How can they know where we’ve gone?” asked Amisha.

“Any ship entering hyperspace leaves a trail - like the wake of a boat,” said Teo. “With time, it grows fainter - which is why we never believed they would find us in the first place.”

“And what happens when they get here?”

“We’ll be gone,” said Irvn, “having jumped back to where we started.”

“What’s to stop them following again?”

“Nothing,” said Irvn. “But I’m hoping it will buy us the time we need to pick up Matias and Kate.”

“And then?” said Gemma.

“We make a bigger jump - one that will take them even longer to follow.”

“There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in your plan,” said Laura. “If they follow. If they don’t find Kate and Matias first. If they even survived the storm.”

“I know,” said Irvn bleakly. “But it’s the best I can do.”

“And what do we do then?” demanded Amisha, “keep jumping round the universe for the rest of our lives?”

“No,” said Teo. “We’ll think of something.”

“Don’t take too long over it,” said Laura, then added “Since we have some, I’m going back to my quarters. I need to be alone.”

Teo looked for a moment as if he was going to object, then shrugged.

“I’ll call you when you need to be back here,” he said.

“Amisha, Gemma - what about you?” asked Laura.

“I’ll stay here,” said Amisha.

“I think I will, too,” added Gemma, “You go. We’ll be fine.”

© Adriana Nicolas 2014