Luke Hannon, author of “Fibres of Space”, lives in County Meath, Ireland. In 2022 he received first place in the Macra na Feirme Creative Writing Competition Poetry Section.
He has previously been published in the Irish Farmer’s Journal, Agriland, and Wingless Dreamer’s ‘War scars in my heart’ among others.
*****
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Captain Jonah intoned tiredly. The stout Arlaxian next to him strained to gesture toward a point on the star map with a wide two fingered hand. Maybe I should get Ort a pointer for his Name Day this year? Save us both some effort, Jonah thought.
“You mean the cylinder?” Jonas quizzed.
“Indeed, the cylinder,” Ort replied tersely. Jonah could hear the click-clack of the Arlaxian’s speech over the muttering of his in-ear universal translator. Jonah once tried learning Arlaxian, but his teeth could never fully imitate the clicking of bony pads Arlaxians possessed within their mouths. He sipped at a purple liquid in the snifter before him.
“It’s suicide,” Right smack in the centre of Sentarian raiding territory, Jonah knew, “You’d be crazy to go anywhere near it.” He turned to look at the imperial commander.
“Not with the right crew… and the right captain,” Ort turned now to look at Jonah, “You will of course be handsomely compensated. Very handsomely. We’ll leave in two days.”
“Two days?” Jonah was already thinking about what he could do with the credits. “That’s nowhere near enough time to stock up on supplies, install the necessary weapons and gather a crew,” He stared at Ort incredulously. Ort was scratching his long neck, something he did often when he was deep in thought.
“Two days?” Jonah was already thinking about what he could do with the credits.
“I will assist with these tasks,” he eventually replied, “Go to Derasx Outworld, stock up and install your weapons. I will meet you there when I have gathered a crew. Our security detail will join us before we enter Sentarian territory.”
“Fine, fine,” Jonah finished his drink and grabbed his long coat. He made to leave, but looked back, “Hey wait, you didn’t tell me why this cylinder is so important? What is it?”
“It’s a passageway of sorts…” Ort turned his flexible neck 180 degrees to look at Jonah, “…to something that may unite us all.” Great, Jonah thought, A heroic mission…
Jonah headed straight to Derasx Outworld after his conversation with Ort and started on the necessary preparations for their journey. As one of the last populated stops before the great exterior supplies were easy to find. The whole planet was scattered with supply depots and starship mechanics. Jonah left his space cruiser ‘Aurora’ with one of the many mechanics, located a promising local bar and got to reading the additional information about their mission that Ort had transferred to his wrist servor. Ort had omitted a great deal of information about the journey they were to take. In fact, the artful Arlaxian had completely neglected to mention to Jonah that the cylinder was not their final destination.
The cylinder was actually a tube (shouldn’t it have some cooler name? Like star-track or quantum portal?), constructed from what Jonah gathered were some sort of quantum strings. He hadn’t studied much quantum theory, so it all felt a little dense to him. Somehow these strings formed a connection between this universe and somewhere else. Only one end was visible in this universe, but the imperial higher-ups knew, from the way the tube moved relative to the objects around it, that more was present. The more Jonah read, the more he was sure that heading into this tube was a terrible idea.
How are we supposed to save the empire, when we don’t even know what we’re looking for? He took a long draw of his drink and continued studying the files in the dark corner of the bar. They outlined that a probe had previously been sent into the tube, which hadn’t returned and ceased transmission shortly after entering it. However, the data it did manage to relay before going dark revealed startling information. The tube may be a passageway to the future.
Two days into their journey they passed into Sentarian raiding territory. Here Jonah’s anxiety began to steadily grow. He’d made his peace with the fact that they may end up somewhere thousands of years in the future. He’d made his peace with the fact that they only had ten days to get there and back, before the tube moved too close to a supernova and was possibly destroyed. He’d even made his peace with the fact that they may get killed by angry Sentarians before they even reached the tube.
However, he couldn’t make his peace with the crew Ort had taken with him. They were a little too business-like for Jonah’s liking. The guards were stern and severe, it unnerved him. He needed a little banter to offset the dread of what was to come, but all that faced him was serious servitude. So be it. Serious people get serious things done, he kept thinking every time the silence got to him. This thought did little to reassure him.
It was three more days before they encountered a Sentarian patrol ship. They’d tried to slip past unnoticed, but the Sentarian ship was packed to the hilt with sensor technologies and saw them instantly.
“A Sentarian ship is hailing our position,” The ship’s voice loudly stated. Aw Shit, Jonah thought, If they damage the Aurora it’s going to eat into my profits.
“Answer hail,” Jonah ordered.
A voice like someone playing a flute, or panpipes, came through the ship’s radio, which quickly began translating it to Universal. Jonah always thought of Sentarians as being all female, due to their melodious voices, but in truth they weren’t male or female, rather they reproduced by some form of cloning.
“You have entered our territory. Your lives and ship are forfeit.”
Only our lives and ship? How generous, Jonah thought to himself, “So much for bargaining,” he said aloud, “Readjust position and fire 4 forward projectiles,” Jonah directed towards the crewmember in charge of weapons, Haddo? Was that his name? Haddo just nodded. Suddenly four missiles appeared out the front viewing panel, silently sailing straight for the Sentarian ship.
“Begin evasive manoeuvres,” he said, expecting a violent response from the other ship, which came. A salvo of projectiles exited the enemy ship, right before their own missiles hit and tore open the side of the ship. Thankfully, they were already zig-zagging far from where they had previously sat. Jonah allowed himself a moment to make sure the enemy ship was completely disabled before his follow up orders. Debris floating from a gaping hole in its side confirmed this assumption.
“Let’s haul ass out of here!” He yelled, “They might have hailed for backup. No point sticking around to find out.”
Another day brought them to the tube. Luckily, they had escaped further incidents, seeing no more Sentarian patrols. Thank Mero for small mercies, Jonah mused. They then spent a few hours, as long as they deemed safe, running scans and tests on the tube to ensure some kind of safety.
“Results are mostly inconclusive,” Ort told Jonah at the end of the period.
“Great. In that case, I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Jonah replied, feigning cheer. Maybe I’ll meet my great-great-great-great-grandson, he contemplated, let’s hope not. He ordered them to enter the tube.
When they exited the tube, Jonah was met with a sight that made him shiver with fear, a Sentarian fleet.
“A Sentarian ship is hailing our position,” The ship’s voice loudly stated for the second time in less than 5 days.
“Answer hail,” Jonah sullenly replied.
Again, a melodic fluting of noise entered through the ship’s radio, closely followed by its translation, “Who is it that broaches the Sentarian empire? Where did you come from?” Jonah looked at the reverse viewing screen and realised the tube was invisible from this end.
“Aurora, note exit position from tube and calculate future trajectory.”
“Affirmative,” the Aurora responded.
To the Sentarians, he replied with a quick lie about teleportation. No need to let them know more than they already surmised.
“You will be escorted to the Great Silent One for questioning about this teleportation technology. Your ship is forfeit,” the Sentarian ship boomed. And so, they were surrounded and led to a nearby planet, to possible doom.
“Tell us all you know about this technology!” The hulking Sentarian shrilly piped in their direction. Jonah, Ort and Haddo stood before a large throne, taken up by a pale scarred Sentarian. In front of the throne stood two massive Sentarian guards, one of which now questioned the trio. It turned out the ‘Great Silent One’ was as much a descriptor as it was a title. The enthroned figure had not uttered a single word in their brief time standing there, using gestures to direct his subjects. His lack of vocalising did not make him less threatening though, on the contrary he effused an aura of distinct terror.
“We are lowly traders and know nothing about teleportation,” Ort clicked on their behalf. The guard looked back towards the Great Silent One who merely nodded. In response the guards moved forward, grabbed them by their shackles and led them to their cells.
These were small, bare rooms, with thick doors. Cosy, Jonah mused, maybe the Sentarians just haven’t ever conceived of beds… or chairs… He grimaced and sat on the floor. He began running his hands over the lining of his thick jacket. There! He grabbed the hem and ripped open the seam, revealing a small cylindrical object. I guess we won’t be staying here as long as we thought, but hey at least now we can warn the emperor about the Sentarian threat, Jonah removed a cap from the small device he held and pointed it where he knew the door panel was outside.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr… the device began to hum, and a spark appeared… brrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAAM! The spark turned into a massive roiling cone of plasma that instantly incinerated the door panel and quickly subsided. The door slid open, and Jonah walked out. That was quieter than I expected, but there’s no time to hang about. He quickly began unlocking the other cells, copying the opening gestures he’d seen the Sentarians use.
“Alright, quick, the ship is this way,” he told the others. He’d memorised the path they’d previously followed, taking care to make sure they turned off before they reached the throne room. “Grab anything that looks useful on the way, and keep an eye out for any sentries,” he whispered. They moved relatively silently and were fortunate that they only came across one sentry, who they quickly rammed against a wall. The Sentarian was larger than any individual of their group, but as a whole they overwhelmed them. Jonah managed to pick out the left turn away from the throne room and eventually they emerged into a large hangar.
Jonah now possessed a number of items he’d purloined from various locations along their journey to the hangar, some of which he was familiar with, and most unknown to him but which seemed useful.
“Oh shit,” he voiced quietly, as he emerged around a corner into the hangar. Two large Sentarians were present, who appeared to be removing panelling from the outside of the Aurora. Jonah turned to the others and gestured for them to remain in the hallway.
“Two of them, and maybe more on the ship. Follow me and only use the items you’re sure aren’t explosive.” Some of the crew looked at him warily when he said this.
“Now,” he said, and leaped forward into the hangar. He’d made a good distance before one of them noticed him. The Sentarian turned, and readied to intercept him, but Jonah pulled up short and held out a hexagonal object, pressing its large trigger. A Large wall of foam expanded from the hexagon and covered the Sentarian.
Not the kind of fire it’s made for, but still! Jonah japed to himself. Several others had tackled the second Sentarian just as he was about to grab his weapon and incapacitated him. The rest of the group pushed into the ship and Jonah heard a scuffle as they fought however many Sentarians resided inside.
By the time Jonah and the others had entered the ship, a couple more Sentarians were laying on the ground unconscious or dead. A siren had begun to sound around them, and they hurriedly prepped for launch and hovered the ship, now minus some panelling, out through the hangars’ miscible air shield. More Sentarians appeared in the hangar as they departed, letting off an array of shots, few of which hit the ship, and those that did merely leaving small scorch marks in their wake.
“Full speed back to the portal’s projected location,” Jonah shouted, to everyone and the ship, “We’ll be followed.”
The Aurora managed to reach the tube and enter, however, before anyone managed to wage a successful pursuit.
“Thank Mero!” Ort cried, once they’d reached the safety of the tube, “They’ll never find us!” Jonah was pleasantly surprised by this unusual outcry of emotion from the Arlaxian.
“Save your thanks for when we’re back out of Sentarian territory in our own time!” He replied, tempering Ort’s positivity, “But we did it, we actually achieved our goal. If the emperor can’t unite the cities and the outlands against a threat of a future Sentarian empire, then I’m not sure what could unite them. He smiled. Come to think of it, heroics look pretty good on me.
*****
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