Dawnhammer

Chapter 27 - The Box

Of them all, it was only Terris that Haden felt pity for. The young man did not yet understand the challenges of command or the sacrifice it demanded.

-

Less than three hours into the field, Terris felt something change. He pulled his right hand back and cut the power to the starfire engines.

"Commander?" Haden's holographic image shimmered into life inside the holo matrix.

"Something's off." Terris held up a hand to silence Haden's response. He examined the upcoming field, his eyes playing out a slow search pattern, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "Where is the crew?"

Haden didn't hesitate in his response. "John and Silas, port wing sleeper berth. Captain Valeri and Dawn are in the stasis chamber. Marcus and Ghost, medical. One is in the cargo bay."

Terris nodded absently, his attention finely honed. Haden's hologram turned to face the asteroid Terris was staring at. Immediately, the field of view tightened and the asteroid was directly in front of them. Terris jerked back in surprise. It took a second for him to register that the ship had not, in fact, launched itself into the distance, but merely provided an optical close-up.

The young man's brow drew down as he scrutinized the rock. "Restore view." he commanded. The zoom drew off and he continued his search. "And mark that asteroid." An orange ring appeared around the rock. Terris selected three more, all of which Haden marked.

"Haden, can you connect them, visually?" Orange lines sprang up between them, marking the four asteroids as points of a perfect square.

"Each side is of equal length." Haden stated. Numbers appeared in the air beside each of the lines, marking them at a length of exactly three-thousand feet.

"Three thousand? Is that an approximation, Haden?"

"No. My sensors are calibrated to one thousandth of a centimeter."

"Odds of that formation occurring naturally?"

"Zero."

Terris looked at Haden, who gave the equivalent of a facial shrug.  Once again, the young man was impressed by the human reaction.  He refocused on the asteroids and shifted his right hand forward and to the left, causing Dawnhammer to strafe sideways around the unnatural formation.

A column of data appeared to his right, streaming numbers almost faster than Terris could read.  Sensor data.  Size, weight, density, composition, and a thousand other pieces of information scrolled through the air.  As the ship began gliding past the third rock, Terris looked up.

He jerked the throttle sphere to a neutral position.  Attitude adjusters fired and the ship went perfectly still in space.  Haden's gaze followed his.

The two stared in silence for a long while, processing what they were seeing.

"All hands," Haden's voice echoed throughout the ship.  "Report to the command deck."

"Is that supposed to be there?" Terris queried in awe.

"No, sir.  That's definitely... new." Came the quiet response.

-

Terris watched as the floor at the edge of the command deck lifted.

"Charged silicone composites.  The command deck can be contoured with varying surface heights using electrical impulses sent to each strand."

Seats began to form, flowing up from the center of the holosphere like liquid.  At Terris' request, Haden blacked out the feed when the first crew member came through the entryway.

One looked back and forth between them, waiting for an explanation.  When he received none, he took the newly formed seat farthest from the corridor.  Dawn and Valeri were close behind.  Terris immediately registered a change in the two women.  The tension between them was gone.  Dawn's hair was disheveled, her face drawn and pale.  Captain Valeri's jaw muscles were clenched tight, but her eyes showed no sign of hostility.  The young man glanced at Haden who was also watching the two closely.  Marcus came through the shadows pushing Ghost's wheelchair.  When the two reached the arc of seats, Marcus simply scooped her out of the chair and balanced her on top of one.  She made no comments about his handling of her.  John and Silas came last, the giant leaning heavily on his friend.  Terris thought the vision absurd, as if a toothpick could balance the weight of a bowling ball.  John was obviously still incapacitated from Ghost's mystery beverage.  Silas' eyes were bloodshot, but focused.

When they were all seated, Terris turned to Haden who gestured to the group, indicating the briefing should be his.

"We are almost four hours from the threshold of the field."  His voice was calm as he swept his gaze over the group.  "Dawnhammer's position is roughly twenty hours away from where the training station should be, at our average speed since we entered."  He turned to the side and began to pace, his mind churning with how he was going to present this new information.  "There is a four-asteroid pattern that is not naturally forming.  Haden has analyzed the composition of the rock and has also found that the elements are not naturally occurring in this solar system."  He paused to let them get their minds around that.

"While we were surveying the four-asteroid formation, Dawnhammer moved through a position that allowed an extended view into the asteroid field.  The box marks the beginning of a tunnel through the field."  He paused.  "Or, as Haden estimates, exactly half way into it."

"I think it's fair to say the training base is gone."  The young pilot nodded to the AI and the holomatrix flared to life.  Terris simply pointed at the ceiling.

John, Silas, Dawn and Valeri came to their feet as one, jaws hanging loosely as their eyes devoured the impossible.

"Silas?" John whispered.

"Give me enough material and time and I can build damn near anything, boss."  The young pirate pointed to the cieling.  "But that is way above my pay grade."