Mindshard (ON HOLD)

One Journey Begins

     Yet, as soon as Vaughn and Finn were inside, the door swung silently closed behind them without Deks appearing to do anything.

  “Hold your place for a moment.”  He instructed them.  “Since you’re coming inside without environmental suits, we need to run a decontamination sweep.  You’ll feel a mild tingling pass through your bodies but no other effect.  Just relax; it’ll take only a moment to complete.”

     Nodding, the two humans stood still as a gentle, blue wall of energy and light reached down from the roof and, humming softly, ran over them.  Finn shifted uneasily as he felt the wall’s tingling influence reach deep into his very bones.  But, as Deks promised, it was short lived, ending well before becoming uncomfortable, the wall of blue light vanishing as instantly as it had appeared.

  “There.”  Deks rasped.  “Now, shall we step inside?  We have some seating set aside for you where you can rest while we make the run to the outer rim where the Pax fleet awaits us.”

     The shuttle’s layout beyond the airlock was as straightforward and without adornment as the airlock itself.  Once past the inner doorway with its symbols and markings and an invisible energy barrier it generated, the two humans unaware of it until they were forced to pass through it to exit the airlock, they entered the shuttle’s main body.

     Here, occupying the vessel’s heart was a relatively large passenger area, shaped as the ship itself was, and equipped with a number of moon-shaped seating areas set side by side.  Each crescent held four padded seats, the passenger area looking able to easily carry over thirty persons comfortably.  The rest of Deks’ team, still garbed in their silvery environmental suits, already occupied the majority of the seats.

     They didn’t even look up as Deks led the two humans past them to an empty crescent close to what looked like the entrance to the shuttle’s flight deck.  Which was where the dark skinned alien went after Finn and Vaughn were settled in place, several low voices speaking in the fluid language Deks first used on the station audible through the passageway.

     Deks’ voice rose above those, issuing what sounded like commands and the decking underfoot, not metal but some soft, pliable plastic a shade darker than the walls and ceiling, began to vibrate on the very edge of perception.  Then, in English:

  “Ikaris control, this is Pax vessel Chryronus, requesting permission to embark from Bay 1.”

  “Pax vessel Chryronus, you are cleared for immediate departure.”  The station’s traffic AI replied a heartbeat later.  “And all outbound traffic has been held to avoid path conflict.  Please make for beacon 472-A where you may begin your extra light sequence for jump.”

  “Acknowledged, Ikaris control; beacon 472-A.  Thank you for your hospitality.  Chryronus out.”

     The vibration underfoot deepened as power was routed to whatever engine assembly the Pax shuttle possessed, then faded all together when inertial dampeners came online.  Almost in the shadow of the vibration’s disappearance, the bulkhead to Vaughn’s right shimmered and abruptly became transparent.

  “Damn.”  Finn husked in amazement, eyes wide as he stared by Vaughn and at the wall that had suddenly become a seamless window, providing them with an unobstructed view of the docking bay’s inner chamber

     Through the transparent bulkhead, they watched the great docking bay door, two heavy plates of honeycomb, zero gee-forged steel, slowly pull apart under the influence of the industrial hydraulics governing their motion.  Once they were apart enough to allow the Chryronus through, the docking arm disengaged and pulled back, drawing swiftly out of the Sidhe shuttle’s way by retracting into the wall that held its base.  No air was vented in the process, the arm cycling to a vacuum as soon as Deks closed the Chryronus’ outer door.