CHAPTER 9

Silversten quickly floated to the combustion tank and looked at the figures. He thought that if his heart should make any more leaps, he might soon be without a heart. He grabbed hold of a rail, gauged the distance to the first pipe joint and pushed off, using gravity nodes on his palms to slow himself at the joints. There were five joints and five pipes sprouting from the first one. Looking at the blue print of the ship through his minds eye, he shot a node at the far end of the wall. He was heading to the very heart New Voyager's ecosystem. If anything was amiss there, then hope of seeing Earth again us very slim. He took a turn at the end of the hall, speeding to the under deck. Lost in thought he crashed against a silver tank but the pain hardly registered. He did a flip and shot towards the ceiling, legs tucked in like a foetus, a few inches to hit, his legs shot up, pushing him at an incredible speed towards the trap door, so fast that the motion operated trap door couldn't open soon enough and he crashed into it. Gradually, the technical layout of the environment became mechanical, machines whizzing and humming and whining. A quick glance at the environment calmed Silversten. Only then did he remember that the pipes he passed on his way were green. He sighed and started again on his way back.

This time he made sure to look for the red and fastest arrows before rushing on. The arrows led him to the gravity turbine room. Just before he reached it, he saw a crew member glide in. He went in to see the man talking rapidly and gesticulating wildly. He quickly connected his speakers to theirs and heard the man telling Silversten about energy emissions all around the ship.

"As if we are in a black hole. But I know we aren't or we shouldn't be alive ".

But that's only theories. Silversten thought excited. What if we are experiencing the real thing and proving the theories wrong? This might be a great discovery. Silversten looked at Tungsten, sure he is having the same thoughts. He became confused at Tungsten's calmness.

"Take me to the bridge radar. I want to see for myself ". Tungsten told the man.

Tungsten couldn't decide whether to believe himself or not. He had heard of wormhole technology, read about it and even heard his father and associates discussing it. But he also knew that research into wormholes and wormhole technology development have died with the Third World War. Besides that, he knew that they are the first humans to reach this part of the Galaxy. So who could have developed a wormhole big enough to take in the New voyager?

But what if it really is?

If it is, then it will explain why the gravity turbines are burning all those fuels and still not generating any gravitational pull. And why they all suddenly stopped floating when fuel delivery was stopped. Wormholes have gravitational fields of their own. The fuel combustion would have activated the ship's propellers and because wormholes have a low gravitational pull, it really wouldn't take long for them to start a freefall.

And poor turbine. It wasn't made to work in gravitational fields

But then he must see to confirm that it is really a wormhole. If it is, there is only one possibility, there are close to intelligent life, and aliens!

They walked into the bridge. Their whole crew were gathered another expression on their faces seriously amused Tungsten. Tungsten walked up to the controls and typed something commands. The view screen little. He took radars pen and configured the displays to suit him and then studied the chart being displayed and his heart gave a leap. With sharp excited commands he deployed all the crew to various view screens on the ship. When they returned and reported that all the view screens focused outside the ship saw just pitch black and no white dots, he knew they must really be in a wormhole. His excitement changed to anxiety. He doesn't know how long it is to the other end it what is out there, but whatever it is might not be exactly friendly.

"Now crew members " Tungsten said. His crew easily detected the change in his voice and it made then nervous.

"I don't know if you have heard if wormholes. A wormhole is a link between two points in space or time. It acts as a door between the two points. Enter one end and you will come out at the other end. "

"Now you must know that wormhole us a very complicated technology. So whoever put it here must be really intelligent

As we are the first humans to go this far out in space, it is easy to conclude that it was created by an alien or aliens. But it also occurs naturally, mostly at the early stages of the universe formation. Which means we might be about to be roasted by the highly radioactive and chaotic energy that characterized the universe formation. Either way, the outcome is unpleasant, so we should all be our guard. We must survive! "

"What do we do, captain? "Radar asked nervously.

"I'm already said it. Be on your guard. For good measure, Radar, you watch the environment intently. Check for high radioactive energies too. At the slightest change of environment, you know we are out of the other end. And we don't wait to see what happens, we turn right back. I will take care of that. I await your notification Radar.

Doctor, keep a diagnostic running and get feedbacks every five seconds. We must always know the the state of our ship."

"Engine, you tamper the ship as much as you can from the inside. If we must make a good retreat, the ship ought to be able to turn at pin point."

"Groundcrews, you keep a watch for unusual activities on and outside the ship. Keep your eyes glued to the viewscreens."

"And then, everyone of you should put on the new G-83 spacesuits, they are hypersensitive to the environment, aliens must sneak up on us. And is a good radiation absorber. Though nothing against the kind of radiation we expect, it will at least keep us alive long enough to maker our last wish, won't it?" Tungsten tried to humour them.

The crew's gave a mirthless laugh and dispersed, each to his station.

Silversten was in the engine room making the ship ready for a hasty retreat when the gravity suddenly returned. At the same time Doctor's voice came over the intercom.

"Doctor reporting, ship back to normal condition."

Radar immediately followed it.

"Radar reporting, out of wormhole, no unusual object, no radiation. Report ends. I'm getting curious."

"Dont. Pilot reporting, getting ready for a retreat. Commanding, Engine, you cut the fuel supply and pull out of dive. Command and report ends. I'm not taking any chances with my ship."

"Engine reporting. Command gotten. Getting ready."

"AI reporting, back to service. Report ends. Hi guys, l..." She was cut out by the shouts of joy from various parts of the ship.

"Hey Luna, what happened?" Tungsten asked.

"I will save for that for later." Line replied. "But right now, you should know we are close to a planet."

"What?!"

"...And ...oh no ....Intruder. At the engine room."

"That's all we needed".