Out of bounds

[Sombs]

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Day 5 - Location unknown

It was evening. Whenever the ship was switching from a day cycle to a night cycle, the lights all over the ship changed from white to blue. And so, as Leon left the lift and entered the bridge deck corridors, the lights changed. It was a long day for him, but the repairs of the ship were making progress. Shields were holding, engines were holding, sensors were online, yet there was still much to do.

The Chief Engineer stopped infront of the door to his room, hesitating for a moment. His room was right next to Ezrael's. Looking over, he sighed and moved the few steps over to the Captain's door, pushing the button for the door bell. For seconds, nothing happened. Another push. Before Leon got to ask the Apahanta's AI for the location of the Captain, the voices of two giggling women filled the hallway. One voice was of Sombra, the other of Lorena Hawkins, the Shield Distribution Officer. The two women were leaving a lift, heading towards Leon however ignoring him for now, every now and then giggling about something Leon could not determine. Then however, Sombra threw a glance at him as they stopped infront of Lorena's quarter. "Ez' not in there. He's at the hydroponics if you're looking for him," she sounded, answering the question Leon didn't even get to voice. In return he merely nodded at her, watching them disappearing in Lorena's room.

The extension of the hydroponics was progressing relatively fast. The walls have been dismantled, the rooms emptied and with the assistance of service robots, Ezrael and Sombra managed to place the first hydroponical beds. The room had an unpleasant scent to it, originating from the soil they had mixed a few hours ago. Leon entered the hydroponics and moved through the old hydroponical section, heading for the apple tree at the end of the walkway. And there he spotted the Captain. Ezrael had his hair tied to a ponytail while wearing a breathing mask. The gloves and sleeves of this suit were dirty from the soil, just as his knees and boots were. Realizing he was not alone, Ezrael stood up from the hydroponic bed he was kneeing in, looking at the blonde. Giving him a hand sign, wanting him to wait at the tree, the Captain moved to the side where a water hose lay loose on the ground. Leon took the hint and remained at the tree, watching Ezrael using the hose to get the muddy dirt off the waterproof Apahanta suit.

A minute later, the Captain was finally done and had reached Leon. Placing the breathing mask on a bench, Ezrael smirked at his best friend. "You missed a lot of fun, Leon! Crawling on a mix of dirt and the crew's poop, and the best about it is that it will save our lives!" Smiling widely at the surferboy, Ezrael signaled him to sit down at one of the benches while he himself closed the bulkhead to the new hydroponics. There was no need for the poop smell to reach the apple tree.

"You know, I wanted to talk with you if you have time right now," Leon said quietly, watching the massive doors shut rather quickly, sealing the tree garden away from the smelly extension.

"I'm done for today. Sombs and I do the rest tomorrow together with Lorena. She was helping us here. It really was funny," Ezrael explained while getting closer to Leon, eventually sitting down next to him, facing the apple tree. Red fruits with little bright dots were hanging at the branches. A fruitful investition, Ezrael thought with a smirk on his lips. "What is it, though? Bad news?"

Leon shook his head. "No, nothing work-related. I was thinking about the entire situation, Ez. I might have said some unfair things I wanted to apologize for." Yet before Leon could continue, Ezrael interrupted him.

"No, you were right, Leon." Having his mouth slightly opened, Leon gave him a confused look. "I made a mistake. I deployed the Apahanta without evacuating the non-combat crew to Livadia. I brought the ship into a battle with enemies we only know so much about. I underestimated VS-0074. It has the ability to call in reinforcements with a hyperspace beacon, and those were stronger than assumed. So we got hit. I did not give the order to retreat the moment the Apahanta took the first major damages but instead insisted on remaining at the battlefield for artillery fire. And then I gave order to jump out without coordinate calculation. This is all my fault," Ezrael explained, smiling however. "And it is no secret I am an hedonistic idiot. It is something I had plenty of time to think about in the recent days. You know, you're not the only person calling me that. Maren did the same."

"Still, I shouldn't have done it. We have other problems here. Bigger problems." Leon shook his head, facing the tree. "We don't need to create even more problems, so I wanted to take it back."

"You can't take it back, and you don't need to excuse for it. I appreciate the thought behind it, but you really don't need to. I mean, you didn't try to punch me this time, so we're making progress with you showing your anger," Ezrael replied with a cheeky smirk about the latter. Last time Leon was angry at him, on the Hoffnungsschimmer, it ended up with Leon getting knocked out during a fight. "In any case, I know my mistakes. And now I'm trying to make up for them. Those hydroponics will help us greatly, especially the soy and the potatoes. It will buy us time. Time you will need to figure out something to get us home. Any ideas so far?"

At first, Leon wanted to say something else, then however decided to reply to his question. "Only theoretical ideas that need me to research whether we can apply them. I am however wondering where the light is coming from."

Ezrael gave him a questioning stare. "Which light?"

After a sigh, Leon took a deep breath. "Okay, so... We are in a void region, alone with this stray black hole. No background stars, just this black hole. Why can we see it? Black holes are technically invisible, because they are so massive, they bend photons with their gravity and either absorb them or make them orbit the black hole, which would end up in invisible light. Our eyes and the ship's sensors can not detect this invisible light, because in order to detect light, our sensors would need to catch photons. So technically, we shouldn't be able to see the black hole when we look out of the window. Black hole on black background. However, we do see it. In Omicron Sigma for example, that is only the case because photons are colliding with the dense orbiting mass of photons around the black hole. They get reflected just strong enough for us to see the disk around the black hole. Those photons shot at the black hole are originating from background stars, from nebulae that reflect those light particles and other light sources. Here however are no light sources, apart from the Apahanta, which is, on a cosmical level, nothing."

Ezrael nodded in agreement. "What the fuck are you talking about."

"Sorry. Long story short, we shouldn't be able to see the black hole since there are no light sources around. Which creates room for new theories. Either that black hole is not a black hole but some other anomaly, or our laws of physics do not apply in this region for whatever reason, or there is a light source somewhere in this region, and it is possible that it is an invisible light source."

"What can we do check those theories? Move behind the black hole?" Ezrael asked, not really having a clue about any of this.

Leon shook his head slightly. "Actually, we have a good position where we are right now. Moving away from this location wouldn't help much. The anomaly is incredibly large. We would require a lot of time and engine power to get behind it, and if the source of light is invisible to us because the black hole bends the photons, we would just waste time. I do think the best bet we have right now is finding a way to harness the radiation that comes from the black hole." Once more Leon found confusion in the eyes of Ezrael.

"We can do that?"

"No. However the theory exists and the Apahanta's database actually has material on that topic as the Core must have been interested in black holes at some point. We have a unique setting here and with the help of the ship's AI, our sensors, the Handsome Rover and our workshop, we might be able to construct a device that can gather the Hawking radiation the black hole bursts out. We are relatively close to that fountain. A few days of cruise can get us there. The radiation however is very strong, it is like a giant beam of radiation. The Apahanta needs to stay away from that at all cost."

The Captain's head was lowered. "I mean, the only two people who know about this kind of things are you and Sherry. You could tell me anything here and I wouldn't understand it. Are you sure this could get us somewhere?"

"Not at all. That is why I need more time, to check on facts, compare the physical values and stuff. I need to refresh my knowledge, I could be horribly wrong with any of this, either by mixing up things or making wrong assumptions or because I didn't listen correctly to things I've learned during my training and all that."

There was a drop of water Ezrael saw on his chest. It was still from the quick cleaning with the water hose, and now the little drop was travelling down his chest in a slow way. It was well visible on the black rubber-esque material the Apahanta suits were made of. Pressing the oxygen out of his lungs, his chest turned more steep, making the drop moving faster. "Then I'll try everything to buy you time. We'll very likely need to ration everything on the ship. Food and energy and what not."

Leon followed Ezrael's look, watching the drop moving down on his abs. "It might take months, maybe even years. And, well, we're in an area where time is passing much faster than in Sirius, probably."

"Well, this just means Maren and Nancy aren't missing us yet, which is good. Maren is probably mad at me right now for not having waited for her at Livadia. Which is good because I rather have her mad at me than her thinking about us being dead." Ezrael turned towards Leon, smirking slightly. "I know it is hard for you to not be with Nancy right now, but you will see her again. I doubt we will die here, like this."

"I try my best, Captain." There was a feeling of frustration within Leon as Ezrael misunderstood him, but for the time being, he did not want to clarify it.

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Uncharted System Stories: 18 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 85

Templates: Character | Transmissions

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