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Chapter1
Jill Harris peered out at space from where she stood in front of the small portal window. She shivered. She hated it. It was bleak and cold like an endless expanse of death. The sooner she had her two feet on Ganymede, the better. She didn’t know what to expect of Rhapsody, the colony city surrounding the Mercurium port, but she hoped for good things. She especially hoped that Jupiter’s rotation wasn’t anywhere near the cosmic fault that split through the fabric of space between its orbit and Saturn’s when they made their approach. The way it had grown was a real concern for space travel for anyone going to Jupiter or Saturn or passing through to the study stations farther out in the solar system. Unfortunately, it seemed that she wasn’t going to be lucky enough for the ship to miss it entirely. The orbit of the planet was passing at its nearest point to the fault. It was supposed to be beautiful, which was the only reason that she was on the viewing deck at all, even though its presence out there made her skin crawl with apprehension.
Her head fell back to peer up at the CBS, the Communications Broadcasting System, as the captain’s voice came on overhead.
“We are making our approach now and will be landing at Mercurium Port within three hours. For those passengers enjoying the serenity of the viewing deck, the fault will now be visible on the starboard side. We recommend that you take advantage of this spectacular sighting that you have the privilege of being one of few to witness.”
Jill rolled her eyes. Like many of those traveling for work, it was at times easy to forget that the ship doubled as a luxury star cruiser on its higher levels. For many of its travelers, Mercurium Port would only be a stopover and a mild curiosity as Earth’s first off-planet terraforming success. No doubt the upper decks would be packed with those who could tear themselves away from the numerous entertainments available up-deck.
They had the best of everything up there and yet at that moment she didn’t envy the eager press of bodies crowding close for a view through one of the huge luxury-sized viewing deck’s floor-to-ceiling windows that wrapped around ninety percent of the deck. From her understanding, all four viewing decks up there were similarly laid out despite the high cost of the special reinforced space-grade panes of glass. No expense was spared to make the viewing experience a superior one for those traveling there. By comparison, the viewing deck she was standing on just off the main deck floor was narrow and, while the window was wrapped around the entire deck, it was a mean strip of glass about a foot and a half around what was considered standard passenger height.
The deck was also quite empty—as usual. Although the trip had been long, there had been few occasions where Jill had seen more than just a handful of other people admiring the stars. She understood. She didn’t spend a significant amount of time out there herself, though she ventured out of her quarters whenever there was the possibility to catch sight of something interesting or simply out of boredom and a need to stretch her legs a bit. That they weren’t bothering now was hardly surprising. Those occupying the cheap rooms of the lower decks were rarely vacationers but traveling by the cheapest transport possible, like she was, in order to get to their new job placements. While there were a handful of people scattered along the starboard viewing deck with her, most of the occupants were likely grabbing what rest they could before the ship docked, and they had to resume their busy schedules.
If Jill were smarter, that’s what she would be doing, and in fact, had been on her way back to her cabin from the dining room to do exactly that when she’d suddenly diverted course to take a peek. What would it hurt to look for just a moment since she was out and about anyway?
I won’t stay long, she silently reminded herself.Just one quick look and a photo so that I have a small memento of the experience and that’s all.
She drew in a sharp breath as the ship suddenly turned in its approach to Ganymede and the faint glimmer of the fault increased rapidly as it came into view. It was quite large.She knew that she was only looking at the point closest of a massive fault that had opened up between Jupiter and Saturn. The sheer enormity of it alone was staggering and yet it was the beautiful dance of its multitude of shimmering lights that captivated her. They filled the window as they pulsed outward from the dark fissure at its center.
Stepping closer, Jill pressed her brow against the glass and stared out into it, captivated by the rhythmic shift of colors. It had appeared just days before her scheduled departure, and she hadn’t known what to feel about it other than another unknown increasing the dread that filled her at having to travel into space, but now that she was looking at it, it was rather impressive.
“More than impressive… it’s beautiful,” she whispered to herself.
Someone cleared their throat, and she glanced over at the couple a short distance away who peered over at her in annoyance before shuffling further down the observation deck. Well, she didn’t care if her admiration ruined “the moment” for them. It was beautiful, and she wasn’t about to feel guilty for saying so. Shrugging, she turned back toward the window and stared out at the pulsing shimmer of lights around the fault. They seemed to brighten, and she squinted at their sudden flair as it blinded her, and a loud static buzzed through the CBS deafeningly. Blinking rapidly to clear the tears streaming from her eyes, Jill struggled for a moment before they gradually began to clear and the colors that swam in a blur sharpened once more. The static above crackled and eventually she made out the voice of the captain as the CBS came back online and the connection restored.
“Repeat… all passengers return to your quarters. The fault opened at the closest point to us and something came at full speed out of it. This unidentified object has adjusted course, heading directly for us. Do not panic. The anomaly within the fault disrupted all lines of communication and it is still down. We are currently unable to contact Mercurium, or any of the ports on Ganymede. We are working to restore it. In the meantime, return to your quarters and await further instructions. I repeat... all passengers return to your quarters—”
The message repeated, broadcasting the same directions, but Jill tuned it out as she stared out the window for a stunned moment. In the distance, back-lit with the bright glow of the fault, something dark with numerous thin, lit-up, spine-like extensions from its hull gradually became larger as it sped toward them. She swallowed and stepped back. Whatever it was, it was moving toward them very fast as she could see it rapidly gaining in size. As it continued to grow, she was suddenly very aware of the fact that their chances of arriving safely on Ganymede as planned had taken a sudden downturn. Swallowing, she spun around and hurried from the observation deck.
If the directions were to head toward her quarters, then that was exactly where she was going to go. And she would do one better. She fully intended to bio-signature lock the doors behind her. Whatever that thing heading toward them was… she was taking no fucking chances. She didn’t break her speed until she arrived at her door, puffing for air, her sweaty hand slapping on the bio-lock. The door immediately retracted to admit her, and she didn’t waste any time rushing in and slamming her hand on the interior lock as she initiated the lock-code. The panel flashed green once and there was a loud, gratifying click as the door secured itself in place as she backed away from it toward the bed at the far side of the room.
Clambering onto her bed, Jill drew up her legs and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them to her. The crackle in the CBS was receding, but its faint presence was enough to prickle along her nerves as she waited. That crackle and the deep silence in the room stretched on and on into a bleak, unescapable tunnel of dread. She could have turned on the vid comm and perhaps watched one of the vids she’d downloaded earlier, but she couldn’t bring herself to reach for the vid-screen controller. She just sat there numbly in the heavy quietness that descended through the atmosphere, counting the measured inhales and exhales of her breath.
Time lost all meaning in her mind as questions circled. She was pretty certain it was a ship. Not only had it corrected course toward them, but from what she could see in her brief, distant glimpse of it, it looked like a strange, metal vessel. But the question was, who occupied it? And what did they want with their ship?
Resting her cheek on her knee, she turned her head toward the ceiling, waiting expectantly for something—anything—to come through. The static gradually died, replaced by an uninterrupted nothingness. So the screech of metal against metal as the ship jerked suddenly came as a surprise. With a cry, Jill toppled from her bed as the ship continued to violently shake as if experiencing some sort of sudden, unwelcome impact. She grunted as she fell to the ground, taking the blankets with her in her mad scramble to keep from getting hoisted from its surface. Had they struck something?
A siren from the emergency system picked up and wailed with the rapid flash of the emergency lights and continued to do so long after the final tremors faded away. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the siren also died, leaving only the blinking lights that lit her room in flashes of red.
Trembling, Jill slowly pushed up from the ground but startled as a voice barked suddenly overhead.
“All on board are required to come to the main passenger deck. I repeat, all those onboard are required to come to the main passenger deck immediately.”
The link disconnected promptly, plunging her back into silence. She drew in a sharp breath, the lone sound punctuating the silence within the flashing fire red hue of surroundings. That wasn’t the captain, but he had said to await orders. Perhaps that was it. The captain could be injured or dealing with whatever was happening. Gathering her feet beneath her, Jill stood shakily. She was tempted to ignore the order and remain locked within her quarters, but she was also not an idiot. Clearly, there was some sort of emergency going on. Following instructions promptly was part of space travel—something that they were reminded of in reading pamphlets upon booking and loading onto their flight. Not doing as she was told could potentially make any dangerous situation infinitely worse.
Laying her hand on the bio-lock panel, she swallowed with apprehension as the door clicked once more and slid open revealing a hall saturated with the same blinking lights. She hadn’t been on the main passenger deck since boarding since all the lower-level decks were serviced within their own zones but, as it was the entry deck for those who boarded and disembarked from the ship, all the elevators of the lower-level decks were connected to the main passenger deck positioned at the lowest of the mid-level decks. Although her elevator didn’t exceed any further than that, it didn’t matter. At least they were being summoned somewhere that wouldn’t be impossible to get to.
Slowly, other passengers gathered in the halls as everyone made their way toward the elevators and Jill bit back a sigh. Hopefully, whoever was issuing orders would understand that getting people to the main passenger deck would take a bit of time. The line at the elevator was going to be hell as the portal before it was already starting to fill up with a crowd ahead of her.
She gave the line a resigned look. Being at the farthest end of the starboard deck had seemed like such a great idea when she’d booked the room and had looked forward to her privacy. But now, at this rate, she would be one of the last to arrive from the lower decks.
She bit back an impatient groan as another eight people loaded into the elevator and its doors slid shut. If that was max capacity for the two elevators, it was no wonder that the lines were barely creeping.
Fuck.
Chapter2
Brydis glowered at his avrhast twin, his feathers ruffling along his wings and the fan formation of small feathers on his brow until the fire-red crest of feathers that rose over his crown lifted in annoyance. Agor was going to get them assigned to the rookery unit—again. He was a warrior, not a domestic tender. Technically speaking, he and his twin were an oddity since among the twin births, it was normal for one twin to be inclined toward the rookery to balance their avrhast. Unfortunately, both he and Agor, while as different as fire and air, were born warriors. And that probably contributed to the fact that both of them often ended up reassigned within the ship’s rookery unit. It seemed that without balance, they were forever getting into trouble.
