“More or less.”

  “Well, I guess I don’t need to open it anymore.” Asuak said and they left the room.

  When they walked back to the bridge, everyone there was looking at Asuak. He nodded at them and said, “I want to thank every one of you. We will go to AR21961 and bring back the ship commanded by my sister Asarue.”

  A cheerful clamour broke out in the bridge.

  “Yes.” The twin shouted.

  “Let’s do this.” Uyeet screamed through the intercom.

  “That is what I am talking about.” Keiwh yelled.

  Fawous, Meiwiq and Aeitu came to hug Asuak.

  “We are a family. Your family is my family.” Fawous said.

  “We will bring her back.” Aeitu added.

  “Now I am going to cry. OK, go back to your seats.” Asuak joked.

  They all smiled and went back to their seats. Asuak sat at the Commander seat with Lusie standing on his right side.

  “Fawous, set the course for AR2196.” Lusie said.

  “Course ready. I did it before you came back.” Fawous said proudly.

  Asuak smiled at her and turned to the twin.“How do we look?”

  “Dark matter tunnel is located.” Teirs said quickly.

  “Turning to the tunnel right now.” Teors added as he manipulated the controller.

  The ship was slowly turning to starboard side.

  “Engine output normal.” Uyeet said through the intercom.

  “Line up with the dark matter tunnel. Estimate travelling time is 1 hour and 12 minutes.” Teirs said.

  “Commander, we are ready.” Lusie turned to Asuak.

  “Proceed.”

  “Initiating entry sequence. 3, 2, 1, now.”

  In front of the ship, a black whirlpool emerged and the ship flew right into it.

  The dark matter tunnel was something dark matter used for diffusing from high concentration to low concentration in the universe. The tunnels were everywhere and it could connect to anywhere as long as there was dark matter. Due to the nature of dark matter, the tunnel could cross different dimensions and that made it very useful for travelling.

  Everything was running smoothly. Suddenly, the red alarm screeched throughout the entire ship.

  “Warning! Missile alert! Missile alert!”

  “Where does it come from?” Lusie lost his cool.

  “Impact time?” Asuak asked.

  “Nine seconds.” Meiwiq replied quickly.

  “Our defense system is not working in the tunnel.” Lusie said nervously.

  “I know. I know. Everyone straps in. Leave the tunnel right now.” Asuak ordered.

  Everyone buckled up right away.

  “Disengaging navigation system.” Teirs said.

  “We will burn the hull.” Uyeet shouted through the intercom.

  “Get us out now!” Asuak shouted.

  “I am on it.” Teors said as he pushed the controller to a hard right.

  “Impact time four seconds.”

  The ship was turning to starboard side and the hull was heating up due to the friction with the dark matter travelling in the tunnel.

  “Three seconds.”

  “Engine, full power.”

  “Right away.”

  “Two seconds.”

  “Come on. Come on!” Asuak murmured grasping on his chair.

  The ship busted out of the tunnel, rotating and drifting out of control.

  “Stabilize the ship.”

  “Engine fail.”

  “Start backup engine.”

  The backup engine kicked in immediately. Teors and Teirs grabbed the controllers and the spinning stopped.

  “Where are we?” Lusie asked.

  “Five Cens to AR2196.” Fawous replied.

  “That is close.” Aeitu sighed.

  “Damage report.” Asuak asked loudly.

  “The hull integrity is only 30%; seven out of 13 compartments sustain serious damage; life support system is failing.” Meiwiq said in a shaking voice.

  “Communication system fails,” said Keiwh.

  “Weapon system fails,” said Teirs.

  “Main engine is overburned and the engine compartment is slowly depressurizing.” Uyeet said through intercom.

  “Uyeet, come to bridge now. Keiwh, can we send out distress signal?”

  “Let me check…...negative.”

  “The fleet can track our ship.” Lusie said.

  “If we didn’t bust through the tunnel, yes.” Asuak said in a grave tone.

  “The hull integrity is only 30%. Once below 50%, the self-healing mechanism won’t work and it will keep dropping. This ship will fall apart soon.” Lusie whispered to Asuak.

  “I know. How long can the life support system last?” Asuak asked.

  “About a day.”

  “Seal the seven broken compartments. Reroute the energy to the remaining five compartments.”

  “Got it. Teors, Teirs and Keiwh, come with me.” Lusie said quickly.

  They left the bridge while Uyeet came in.

  Asuak turned to Fawous and said, “Can we make it to AR2196 with the backup engine?”

  Before Fawous could utter a word, Uyeet jumped in, “Commander, the backup engine is going to fail soon. If you want to use it, you have to use it very soon.”

  “We can’t make it there with the backup engine.” Fawous said.

  “Commander, radar contact, there is another ship.” Meiwiq said excitedly.

  “Where is it?” Asuak said as he sprinted to Meiwiq. Others quickly joined with Asuak.

  Meiwiq pointed at the screen and they saw one ship heading to Jupiter.

  “Can you identify the owner?” Asuak asked.

  “Initiate scanning…….It is Human.”

  “This is great. This species couldn’t even travel beyond their solar system.” Aeitu sighed.

  “Can they see us?” Fawous asked.

  “This ship is stealth. Most species can’t detect it. Meiwiq, scan their ship again, especially their communication system.” Asuak said quickly.

  “You want to talk to them? Our communication is down. We can’t call or receive anything,” said Uyeet.

  “I know. I want to use their ship to send out distress call.”

  “Scan is done. Well, it seems their communication system has the frequency we need, but we will have to access their mainframe to apply some changes. I mean we will have to physically install our communication code.”

  “Can we catch up with their ship?” Asuak asked.

  Fawous and Uyeet started doing calculation.

  “Commander, even if we can catch up with them, we don’t know whether they will help us or not. We don’t know Human,” said Aeitu.

  “Worth a try.”

  Fawous and Uyeet came back and said, “Yes, we can.”

  “Alright. Get others back to the bridge. Uyeet, get ready to start the backup engine.” Asuak ordered.

  When others came back and heard Asuak’s plan, they were more appalled than excited. However, they voiced no objection.

  Everyone was on the edge. Asuak knew they only got one shot at this. The backup engine might fail after the first burn.

  “Uyeet, save some fuel, we need it to slow us down.” Asuak said.

  “Got it.”

  Lusie whispered to Asuak, “We decided a long time ago to not make contact with human.”

  “Do we have guns onboard?” Asuak asked.

  Lusie shook his head listlessly.

  “OK, everyone gets ready. Fawous, plot the course.” Asuak said.

  “Hold on…….course ready.”

  “Adjusting the ship.” Teors said.

  The ship was turning portside to face the other ship.

  “Ready.” Teors said.

  “Engine on.” Teirs said.

  “Got it” Uyeet replied.

  Asuak felt a jolt and then the ship was accelerating towards the human ship.

  “Slow down, slow down.” Asuak said quickly.

  “Backup engine fail.” Uyeet shouted.

  “We are way too fast.” Lusie said anxiously.

  “Time of impact?” Asuak asked.

  “Three minutes.” Fawous said.

  “Lusie, I need you to man the Grab.” Asuak said seriously.

  “OK. But...OK.” Lusie wanted to say something, but he gave up and quickly brought up the control interface for Grab which was a lance with a long cable. It was designed to help dock the ship when everything else failed.

  “Tell me when you are ready.” Asuak said to Lusie.

  “Give me some time. I only used it one time and that was 20 years ago when I was still a student.” Lusie said in a worried tone.

  “Same here.” Asuak nodded at Lusie.

  “That is comforting.” Aeitu sighed.

  Two minutes later, Asuak could clearly see the human ship and it was getting bigger by seconds.

  “20 seconds to passby.” Fawous said.

  “Teors, get us closer.” Lusie said.

  “I don’t want to ram into it.”

  “I know. Just a little closer.”

  “OK.” Teors pulled the controller a little bit.

  “Good. Now I am ready.” Lusie said, eyes glued on the control interface.

  “Lusie, you decide when to fire.” Asuak said quickly.

  “OK.” Lusie took a deep breath.

  “10 seconds.”

  “Strap in and brace for impact. It will be a rough ride.” Asuak said and then checked his own seat belt.

  “Five.”

  “Four.”

  “Three”

  “Two.”

  “Now!”

  “Fire,” shouted Lusie.

  Asuak held his breath.

  First it came with a strong jolt and then the ship started to rotate. Everything is spinning; Asuak felt sick in the stomach and closed his eyes. After two minutes, the spinning stopped. Out of the front window in bridge, Asuak saw the human spaceship right next to his ship.

  “It worked. I actually didn’t expect that.” Lusie sighed happily.

  “Neither did me.” Uyeet laughed.

  Others broke into laughter.

  After several seconds, Asuak calmed down. “Well, this is just a start. Scan their ship and download their language. We must have some translator onboard. Find them.”

  “I will do the scan and download,” said Keiwh.

  “I will find translators,” said Lusie.

  “Uyeet and Aeitu, check the docking system. We have to dock with their ship.” Asuak said.

  They nodded and left the bridge.

  “Human may not let us in.” Teirs said in a worried tone.

  “After what just happened, I can’t blame them.” Asuak sighed.

  “What we just did made us look like pirates,” said Keiwh.

  “Communication system is still down. We can’t call them and we can’t receive their calls,” said Fawous.

  “I guess we have to knock their door,” said Asuak.

  “Whatever we do, we have to do it fast. This ship is falling apart. Hull integrity is only 20%. The life support compartment is leaking.” Meiwiq said anxiously.

  “We should take their ship by force.” Teirs said firmly.

  “Right! We can beat them.” Teors nodded.

  “We are going to talk to them first. Understand? I will do the talking.” Asuak said with a sweep motion of his hand.

  “Commander, we have downloaded their language.” Keiwh said excitedly.

  “If we can board their ship, we just need to ask them to let us use their mainframe for some time. It should be easy,” said Meiwiq.

  “I certainly hope so.” Asuak said slowly.

  Lusie ran into the bridge with a handful of translators. They were like necklaces. “I found ten. Keiwh, you got the language?” Lusie gave them to Keiwh.

  “I got it.” Keiwh put the translators in a plate and they started to levitate. Lights passed through them and they fell slowly back to the plate.

  “Commander, the locking mechanism has some issue, but it can work for now.” Uyeet said through intercom.

  “Start docking. I am on my way.” Asuak said as he picked one translator from the plate. Lusie and others each picked up one.

  The docking bay was near the front of the ship; it sustained severe damage and the compartment was depressurized. Asuak, Lusie, Uyeet and Aeitu had to wear spacesuits.

  The docking tube extended out like a snake and it slowly crawled over the hull and reached the human spaceship, aiming for a rectangular shape structure.

  “How do you know that is the door?” Lusie asked.

  “We’ll find out.” Uyeet said as he pushed the controller forward.

  The docking tube bit on the structure and it became rigid right away, forming a bridge between the two ships.

  Asuak stepped at the front of the door opening to the bridge. “Open it.”

  “I will go with you.” Lusie said as he stood next to Asuak.

  “It’s better just me.” Asuak said, his voice shaking, his hands too.

  “I still think we should just attack them.” Teirs said through intercom.

  “With what? We don’t have guns.” Lusie shouted.

  “At least, they haven’t attacked our ship yet.” Aeitu said.

  “They still can.” Teors said through intercom.

  “Can we fire our missiles?” Teirs asked through intercom.

  “No. First, the weapon system is down, we can’t fire a thing. Second, at this distance, we will both die,” said Meiwiq.

  “And we need to use their mainframe. Let’s keep that in mind.” Asuak added.

  “They might kill you.” Fawous said in a frightened voice through intercom.

  “We don’t have time for this. I am cutting off the communication. Just watch it through the helmet camera. Open the door.” Asuak said decisively.

  Uyeet nodded at Asuak and pressed a button on the control panel.

  The door slid open.

  Asuak took a deep breath and entered the bridge. When he reached the middle, fear started growing in his heart and he hesitated. He looked back and stopped there. “Human probably are preparing their attack. Human probably will drag me into their ship and torture me. Human probably will kill me on sight.” Asuak murmured to himself. More and more scenarios were jumping into Asuak’s head. He shook his head hard and recomposed himself. He knew there was no other ways around this and his crew were counting on him. He never felt his feet so heavy, but he dragged them forward and finally stood before the door which had a small window on it.

  “Knock. Knock. Knock.” He hit hard on the door.

  Through the small window, he could see some activities inside, but nobody answered the door.

  Breathing heavily, he waited and waited. His hands were getting sweaty and his body was shaking. He turned on the intercom and said, “Not good. They haven’t opened the door.”

  “Commander, I have a bad feeling about this. You need to come back.” Lusie said quickly through the intercom.

  “Commander, we can’t lose you.” Aeitu said sadly through the intercom.

  “If I didn’t make it, Lusie will take over the commandership. I am staying.” Asuak said firmly.

  Through the small window, Asuak could see several figures move away from the door and disappear behind another door.

  “Hiss.”

  “Clank, clank.”

  Asuak knew what those sound meant, his heart pounding out of control. He took several deep breaths and pressed on the door. It slowly swung open to a small compartment.

  “This must be where they equalize the pressure. Look like they have artificial gravity as well.” Asuak said to the intercom.

  “Careful.” Lusie’s nervous voice came out of intercom

  Asuak saw a door with a small window at the other end of the compartment. In the center, there was something on a piece of white paper. Asuak walked to it and picked it up. It was a card. Then he looked down at that piece of white paper and said, “They wrote something on the paper.”

  “Yea, I see it. Translating right now. It means press the button and talk,” said Keiwh.

  “I see, so the card is something like a transmitter. OK, let me see whether we can use our transmitter to interact with it.” Asuak said as he pulled a line out of his transmitter. Several tentacles were coming out of the line and touching the card. As soon as they melt into the card, Asuak heard constant beeping sound. He pressed the button on the card, turned on the necklace translator and said, “Hello? Hello?”

  “Yes, we can hear you. How do you know our language?”

  “I have a translator on me. It basically translates what I say into your language.” Asuak said excitedly.

  “That doesn’t answer the question.” The voice was cold and hard.

  “You are right. We downloaded your language after we scanned your ship.” Asuak had no idea who he was talking to, but through the small window he saw several figures on the other side of the door.

  “Why did you attack this ship?” The voice was full of anger.

  Asuak thought for several seconds and said, “On behalf of my crew and myself, I want to apologize first. We didn’t mean to. We—”

  “Then what you call this?” The loud voice almost deafened Asuak.

  “I am very sorry for what just happened. Please let me explain.” Asuak waited for a second and continued, “Our ship was under attack and we barely made it out, but the ship sustained severe damage. It is falling apart as I am talking to you. The communication system is down, so we couldn’t call up on you and we couldn’t receive any call. I am here to ask for help. My crew and I need your help.”

  Dead silence.

  Soaked in sweat, Asuak kept telling himself not to give up. He had to grab this chance no matter what. He waited a few more seconds and begged, “Please help us. Please help us.” As far as he could remember, he never begged anyone before.

  “Even if we could help you, what do you want from us?”

  “We just need to send out a distress signal and that’s it.” Asuak said quickly. He wanted to keep it simple. From his experience, he knew he was not speaking to the Commander of the spaceship.

  “How do I know you are not lying?”

  “You can come aboard my ship and see the damages with your own eyes. I very much like to show you. By the way, my name is Asuak and I am the Commander. If possible, I wish to speak directly to your Commander.” Asuak said sincerely.

 

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