Chapter 2

When we reached the cockpit the surrounding was quiet and tense. I could see the hazy blue dust floating in the space right out the window and I still remember the first impression I had of it which was filled with positiveness yet now all I could think of after seeing it was a whirlpool that might swallow us any minute.

Evelynn was looking at looking at the database for different maps, swiping the screen in her hand constantly whereas Josephine came to us and said "Both of you may sit down. Captain will make a short briefing on the situation."

We decided to wait for the others to arrive.

Sitting on the black and silver hard metallic chair with an icy feel, the sense of foreboding was kept increasing instead of making me feel comfortable. By the time everybody entered the cockpit, the captain was standing in the middle of room holding a datasheet. It's screen was continuously flickering with the incoming messages and information.

Carlos clapped his hands to seek everyone's attention and said "The element collection process is coming to an end. However, there is a problem. According to Dr. Sullivan, we are at present, in the that part of the blue dust region which is very close to the green dust region. A red dwarf star has been spotted in the green dust region through the search instruments. This specific star has not been detected previously by the scientists on earth, therefore, we had sent a message to the research center on earth regarding this. They had in turn given us the task of finding the dwarf star's characteristics. Hence, we sent a probe to check the situation but found some magnetic disturbances. Dr. Sullivan speculated that there might be a cosmic storm but we don't have enough data to determine its scale. Although, it is just a speculation, it has been decided that we will shut down most of our equipments and engines and go into standby mode for a week. That's all you can disperse."

A red dwarf star's existence here is not odd as LMC has a wide range of galactic objects yet one being so near is indeed worrisome, on top of which there is a possibility of cosmic storm which makes the circumstances all the more difficult.

I turned to look at Amelia who was sitting behind me and dozing off on her seat and wondered how much of the Captain's speech had actually entered her brain. Thus, I decided to be a good citizen who wakes up their colleague sleeping during their work time.

"Hey Amelia, want to have coffee?" I said while patting her shoulder.

"What? What did you say again? Sorry, I had stayed up late" said Amelia, perplexed by the abrupt awakening.

"I said, I think you need coffee to sober up" I laughed slightly.

...

The week of lockdown did not make any changes to my daily routine except for the fact that most of the experiments had to be stopped leading to me having a vacation.

A vacation in space travel was nothing more than me staying in my room and reading books related to nebulae. The days were passing by and in the blink of an eye we were on the last day of the week.

The storm had started an hour back but it was just a stream of broken pieces of clay and silicate rocks flying across our spacecraft. The shielding effects of the carrier was enough to let us stay safe.

Dr. Sullivan stated that it would end in three hours following which we will set forth on our sail back to earth.

I was busy reading my book while lying on my comfy bed, the bedside lamp was on and the rest of the room was dark. In the dim light, I was reading the history of human inhabitants on Saturn and was quite pleased with my collection.

Just when I was getting to the most interesting part of their process of settlement, my bedside lamp flickered twice and stopped working. I tapped on the switch with no positive results and had to give up my novel and go to find a replacement from my cupboard. As for the one that is not working, I can always fix that after I finish reading.

I was searching through the shelves when all its contents started floating out. Something must have gone wrong with the anti gravity system of my cupboard otherwise this would not have happened.

I came out of my room and saw that the corridor was empty. I decided to go and get Desmond to fix the things in my room.

While walking I realized I was stepping on air, my whole body lifted up slowly. I was totally off the surface of the ground. The anti-gravity system of the corridor is not working either.

I quickly pulled the plastic film of my ID bracelet and placed my hand on the wall and the magnetic bracelet managed to get stuck on the metal surface allowing me to settle down. Immediately after, all the lights on the corridor went off.

I could barely support myself while leaning towards the wall when at the same time the entire spacecraft shook violently as if it was a ball hit with the bat to fly out of the stadium. I sirens blared through the speakers and red light kept flashing. My bracelet could hardly keep my wrist clung to the wall and the rest of my body was swaying like a broken kite.

The vibrations of various degrees scrapped of pieces of metal panels and they flitted from one side to another and I missed a few by the skin of one's teeth. My heartbeat was fast, perhaps it was the only thing I could hear loud and clear other than the sound of crashing and breaking. Cold sweat was dripping down the side of my face and neck. I tried to hold back my immense fear and anxiety and remain calm, though it didn't help much.

I don't know what I was waiting for.

Maybe, it was for all of this to stop like nothing happened or someone to rescue me somehow from this messy area.

I prayed for anything to take place but fast because I could feel dread clutching my heart and squeezing it slowly but surely. My blood ran cold at the thought of this being the moment when I embrace death.

Yet just when I thought that I might die the spacecraft jerked as if it hit a cotton ball and resumed it's usual floating. The anti gravity system was still down at the moment but I could feel that the crisis had passed.

There was a flash of light and I saw Celine running towards me. I looked at her magnetic boots and clicked my tongue. If only I had these. Unfortunately, they are used only by the engineers when they work near the vents. Unless specifically required for emergencies, the rest of the crew never needs to use these due to the presence of anti-gravity system throughout the spacecraft. But just like now, when does trouble come knocking, it obviously barges in unannounced, I thought satirically.

"Good to see you are fine. Amelia was hit by a panel that broke out of the wall of her cabin and Scott hurt his ankle when the aquarium in his room shattered." she breathed a sigh of relief after seeing my still intact.

"Did they go to the medical harbour?" I asked concerned.

"Yes. Luckily my room is next to Amelia's. So, when I heard her scream, I made my way to her room to help. As for Scott, Desmond was with him when this occurred but he was a step too late to save him from the glass pieces as Scott was very close to the aquarium however he had managed to pull Scott closer to himself and hide under the bed to escape from the other objects that were about to hit them.

"What caused this?" At last I asked the question that was hammering my head since the start of this incident.

"I don't know all the details but I heard Noemi say that it was due to some coronal mass ejection" she replied.

"That explains the damage caused to the electronic circuits" I stated.

"I brought you an extra pair of magnetic boots. Wear them quickly. We need to go to the cockpit to meet the captain. I think Dr. Sullivan might know what exactly happened" said Celine.

"Yes. I want to know what nearly scared me to death" I huffed.

When we were going to the cockpit, I could see the fragments of framework of the ship lying or floating around in tatters.

We had to avoid being hit by the incoming shreds of metal panels and make our way.

It took way longer than it usually does to go to the cockpit and when we finally reached the entrance I thought I probably had it way easier than the rest.

The metallic desktops were riddled with holes and they were smashed by the chairs which were still stuck on some of the them. The numerous splinters of the data screens were swimming about and looked deadly.

"Don't come in. Go to the hallway on the right then take a left turn and enter the room at the end. That is the only room where it is safe" Captain Carlos's sound came from the inside.

I searched for his voice and found him hiding inside the file cabinet in a crooked manner, still typing on the undamaged screen with his bruised hand. Whenever a fragment came close to him, he swatted it away like a fly using a piece of metal panel on his other hand.

Captain is really something. Actually able to stay calm in such a situation.

"Alright Captain we will go there but what about you? Will you be staying here? This place doesn't look harmless" asked Celine.

Seriously, this place is way above "not harmless", I made a sarcastic comment in my mind.