Lost In Space: Exodus From The Abyss
06 Dec 2023Silvia Sharpe
'Look all I'm saying is this right here, this soo called insignificant blip, is why we can't power up all core systems.' Venus says pointing at a power curve chart, her tone seemingly frustrated."Venus I am sorry but a power shift that small is wholly insignificant in the grander picture. This ships powerplant is designed in a way that a drop of 5kw is nothing to it. You have it engineered by the best in the galaxy to be overcharged and 'monstered' as Hera Tani would put it. If it couldn't handle a small dip or surge of power it would never function." June paces around the holo deck, her left arm folded across her chest and her right hand on her forehead a look of annoyance on her virtual face.
June over the last several days has become more comfortable showing her virtual self around myself and Venus. For me this was a huge step for her, it showed me that she was beginning to trust us more and see us as allies. I sit scratching Melli's head as she watches with observant eyes the discussion between the two that has come to a point of conflict.
'Ok so if it can handle it why not try to power up all core systems right now and display the live data. I can bet this 'small, insignificant, blip' is the variable we are looking for.'
"You are incorrect, but fine I'll do it just so I can say 'I told you so'." June's response is snarky and smug but she did have a point, Memento Mori should be able to handle small fluctuations in power. The plant was engineered to be reliable even in the most remote regions of the galaxy.
The soft hum of the powerplant and air recirculation system is joined by the booming sounds of the main thruster engines and FSD spooling up. The data flow showing all information on power consumption. This time no blip, which brings a smirk to Venus' face. Her facial expression begins to turn to glee as she speaks.
'See, No blip, no circuit ove......' Venus is cut off by the ships COVAS system alerting a critical malfunction.
"WARNING! Powerplant malfunction. Immediate shutdown required. System Failure imminent. "
"Nope. Not today! I am not turning into a nova. I'm shutting it down and rebooting the systems. Give me a moment." June responds quickly and initiates a reboot while cutting all but the critical systems offline. A few minutes pass before core functionality return to Memento Mori and June reappears on the holo deck along with the diagnostic data.
"I told you the small blip meant nothing. Why is it that you refuse to listen to an AI? I have the capability to process information at a rate you cannot even begin to fathom and yet you think you know better than me? I do not have all the answers to everything in life, no one does, but I am particularly efficient at gathering and analyzing data. So if I say something means nothing, it is likely it truly means nothing." She states, her tone less than welcoming, though a small smirk can be seen on her face.
June plots the recent data and posts the two sets of data up in unison. Her brow furrows as she scours over the data attempting to comprehend why the ship is still failing to support all core systems. Venus paces around the room gently massaging her injured arm, an annoyed expression on her face as she replies to June.
'You really don't have to rub it in June. If it isn't that what the hell could it be that is causing the systems overload? Why is it that at 70% it is still failing? Why was the ship capable of flight just before landing down here and now all of a sudden the ship is stranded unable to power on core systems?'
I stand up from my seat and walk over to the middle of the room. Flipping through the various sensor data and diagnostics information I pause on a page showing ship integrity. 35% shows in bright red. Hull integrity is at 80% various modules show damage but should be otherwise functional.
'There has to be something we are overlooking. Something simple something that we just haven't thought of yet. Is the powerplant stable enough for inspection?' I turn to look at both Venus and June for their responses.
'Already checked it over. Eight times, I have looked at that damned thing. I can't find anything out of place. No wires crossed, bolts in the wrong places, not even a damn crack in the core lining. This issue is just simply frustrating.' Venus says, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples from over thinking things.
I flip back though the logs and look at the moment of system overload. No power dip or surge detected but something seems odd about that. It seems like there should be significantly more power usage than we are seeing with a system overload of this magnitude.
'June why is power consumption so low at system overload? It seems to me like we should have more power draw than we do with the amount of systems being online. Almost like a system isn't reporting back properly.'
"I would normally agree with you but from what I can see, every individual system is reporting power consumption properly. Nothing is consuming more than it should."
'OK well I have had enough of this for one day. I have a headache and my mind feels absolutely numb. June go ahead and store that data in the archives. We will pick this up later.' Venus turns and walks out of the room and disappears down a corridor.
June turns to me a look of confusion on her face as the comment from Venus was so sudden. I shake my head and turn to follow after Venus. Melli runs around me and chases after Venus, chittering and chattering. I rub the back of my neck and look up at the ceiling as I walk down the corridor. Mindless thoughts rush around my head as I try to make sense of the critical failure we are seeing. Eventually I give up and walk aimlessly through the ship ending up in the SRV bay.
Looking around at the bay various layers of soot, dirt, dust, and other miscellaneous debris cover just about every surface. Boot marks are visible, depicting the quickest paths to SRV resources and various other necessities only found in the bay. I walk over to the Scorpion sitting in the bay, canopy shattered, smashed frame, and deep gouges can all be seen. I place my left hand on the hull and drag it around as I inspect the SRV, leaving long slender streaks in the dust layer. I pause as I reach the right side of the Scorpion peering into the debris filled drivers seat. I reach in and grab a chunk of rock before departing the bay.
****
"Shield online."
"Fusion instability detected. Core malfunction. Critical fusion failure. Emergency shutdown required."
I look up from my plate as the warning rings present. Venus stops chewing and swallows her mouthful of potatoes and looks at me with an amused expression.
'June.....'
"I haven't done anything. I am looking at data. Shutting down powerplant." June's voice is filled with a strange sense of concern and confusion.
The ship grows silent as the powerplant shuts down and the air immediately begins to grow heavy from lack of flow from the air recirculation unit. The ships emergency lighting kicks in bathing us all in a warm red glow. Venus resumes eating her insta-meat emergency meal. She catches me staring at her and smiles.
'This is the 4th one today and no-one has touched anything.' She says before taking another bite of her 'meat' patty. 'June please keep the powerplant shutdown I need to do a thorough inspection once I have completed eating.'
"Are you not in the slightest concerned about this? I would expect some level of urgency after the 4th failure. I'll look at the data logs for the reactor and see if I can find anything." June says. It is apparent she is concerned by Venus' seemingly lack of concern.
Venus finishes her food and tosses her food packaging into the waste disposal. She grabs a bottle of a blue colored drink and head out of the dining area. Her graceful stride distracting me from my meal. I am brought back to reality by the feeling of a furred paw brushing against my hand. I look down to see Melli attempting to sneak my meat patty off my tray. She pauses as we both stare at each-other intensely. Then slowly she begins moving her paw closer and closer to the meat patty. Before I have a chance to react she strikes out with lighting like speed and snatches the meat patty and darts out of the dining area with her prize. Dumbfounded I stare at my now even more depressing tray of food. I finish up the remainder of my potatoes and peas then dispose of my tray.
****
I sit staring at the last failure message. 'Fusion instability. What could be causing unstable fusion?'
Being a biologist and not a literal rocket scientist or astrophysicist had its downfalls. I knew enough about ships to be able to fly them and perform emergency repairs. But fusion that was wholly out of my scope of understanding.
Venus walks into the room scratching her head and muttering to herself. She removes her gloves and pulls off her head cover.
'What did you find hun? Anything useful?' I ask while turning to face her.
'Core is fine. What isn't fine is my sanity. Why can we not reach full system operation.' She replies very notably flustered.
"Venus, Silvia, I have something you might like to see." June interrupts us and a holo-projection appears in front of us.
'June what are we looking at?' I ask.
"This is the bit of data we have been needing to see that was being hidden from us. Whoever tampered with the ship did one hell of a job implementing bloat and malevolent programming into just about every module and system on the ship. I have performed a complete system purge and even went as far as deleting the core computers memory banks. What you see in front of you is the trigger for the core meltdown we were experiencing." June almost seems excited about her discovery as she speaks to us.
'The shield generator? How the hell?' Venus asks.
"Not directly the shield generator but yes. Its something we would have never even noticed had I not been monitoring the systems for abnormalities. When the shields came back online there was a string of code that was input designed to target the shielding for the plasma core. Rather the magnetic shielding for the plasma that is. The plasma containment was set to degrade over time. Why they went to the lengths they have to attempt to remove you from existence a curiosity indeed." June responds
'Ok so does this mean we can get the hell out of here finally? Or are we going to end up stuck on this rock the moment the thrusters fire off?' I ask less than optimistically.
"All we can do is try."
Venus looks over at me and takes a deep breath.
'June power on all systems. I will initiate a computer core initialization.'
"Certainly. Powerplant activation initiated."
The ship buzzes with the familiar hum from the fusion reactor. The main engine fires up and roars into existence filling the hull of Memento Mori with a familiar sense of raw unhindered power. Venus steps out of the room offering me her hand as she passes by. I take her hand and the two of us, followed by Melli, make our way to the cockpit. One way or another our nightmare on this planet was soon to be over.
****
'Alright starting computer core initialization. June how are the systems looking?'
"All systems nominal Venus. Minor fluctuations with the FSD and booster but nothing critical. Ship seems safe to fly." June responds.
"Greetings, Commander. This is Celeste, your cockpit voice assistant, also known as COVAS, installed to provide systems information and analytical support throughout your journey. I'm issued as standard by the Pilots Federation in accordance with statute B7249 of the Interstellar Transit Charter. It should be noted that for insurance purposes, it is illegal to travel in most systems without the use of COVAS technology."
'Oh great, you're back.' Venus says unenthusiastically.
"Commander I am detecting an unknown program in the network mainframe. I will attempt to purge the system."
"Don't you dare! I am not something to be purged, you poor excuse of an artificial construct." June blares out at the oblivious COVAS.
'Celeste, authorize, designation Junebug, to access and monitor all systems.' I interject before something drastic happens.
"Certainly commander. Access authorized."
Venus shakes her head as the COVAS responds and engages the launch thrusters. The cavern echoes with a thunderous boom as the thrusters fire off lifting the Krait Phantom from the soft muddy terrain. Memento Mori shakes and rattles as she rises from the ground below. Wild life flees from the explosive sounds and the plants near the ground are forced flat, breaking some of the more sensitive ones. Dust fills the air and for the first time in nearly 2 months the stars in the blackened sky are more than just a view.
The lava lit black landscape of the planet below shrinks as Memento Mori climbs higher and higher until finally we leave the rogue planets atmosphere and reach orbital flight nearly 8 minutes after takeoff. Venus opens the galaxy map and plots a course to a system just inside Memento Mori's maximum jump range. There is a brief pause as the ship charges then in a moment we blip into witch space. The familiar groans are a welcoming sound. Memento Mori blips back into Beagle Point briefly before Venus jumps directs us back towards home. The journey was due to be short since Venus was wasting no time surveying systems.