Character Perspective: Curtis

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the comms panel in front of Vicky light up, a rapid pulse firing across the screen in a wave that pinged several new objects in the blink of an eye.

“Lab, report, we are seeing several new objects,” I called over the intercom hoping like hell that Sera hadn’t cut their line.

Static clicked as I let my finger off the speaker control and I peered closer as Vicky’s fingers seemed to dance across the screen, new information pinging with each of the various orbital objects. Two ships were now clearly indicated on the screen, text that was just a bit difficult to read from my angle was hovering under each and when Vicky clicked through more information seemed to populate along the side of the screen.

“I don’t know what that guy did, but I think we might just be the most informed ship in the simulation right now,” Vicky said, her hand settling on the ship that was closest to us.

“We have signal on the MEGALODON and the Parasitum,” Vicky said, her fingers pulling back on the screen. “It looks like the pulse only went 66% regulated range…”

“Labs, report,” I called over the intercom once more, the static clicking as I released. “Which ship is closer?”

“The MEGALODON, though it’s speeding up I think,” Vicky said.

“You think?” I asked, eyes looking back to the console. “I’m going to need more confidence in your reports, Second,” I said.

“Apologies Captain, the MEGALODON is increasing her orbital velocity to 110,000 meters per second counter,” Vicky reported back. “We know which one is which, should we extend communications?”

I contemplated this for a moment, I couldn’t vocalize that I wasn’t exactly sure myself. The bounds of the trial made it seem like confusion was really the end goal. Introducing the Parasitum on a calibration trial seemed like an odd choice all things considered. Everything about the testing parameters just felt like I was missing out on an important detail.

“Hold for the moment, even at full speed we wouldn’t catch up quicker than what, thirty minutes? Do we have eyes on the planet?” I asked, finger inching for the intercom button once again.

Another pulse shot across Vicky’s screen, icons blinking brighter briefly before I noticed Vicky’s face scrunch in confusion.

“That wasn’t the right interval,” she muttered

.

“Time and range on pulse?” I asked.

“33 seconds at… Grounds, only 52% range, Captain,” she replied.

Just as my finger was about to slam back into the intercom, the elevator doors behind us opened and Sera came through, a slight huff in her breath. “What the hell was that pulse, Spacefly?” I asked.

“We are in their systems Captain,” She said through a huff.

“In their systems how?” I asked. As if to answer, Sera walked over to her console and began typing, the intercoms on our bridge crackling to life as a voice I briefly recognized as the Captain of the MEGALODON emanated.

“Weapons, stay hot, we are sandwiched. Engineering, I need you to increase capacity by as much as you can, draw from the lab if you need to, right now it’s low priority and we need to speed up, large orbital object has been located,” it called over before the intercom crackled out.

“I can patch in the other ship we have in our range as well if you need me to,” Sera said with a semi-victorious smile on her lips.

“Why is our range so much lower Sera?” Vicky asked before the question could escape my lips. It was the right question but given that I had still been in the middle of trying to piece everything together I had wanted to ask it myself.

“Sullivan thinks he miscalculated the frequency, he’s trying to correct it now but…”

“But we are rapid firing our signals now,” Vicky cut her off as her screen fired off another wave, but this time a third object flickered to life on the screen. “23 seconds at 74% range, Captain,” she reported before I even had to ask.

As my finger was about to reach for the intercom, our crackled back to life with the MEGALODON’s intercom patching back into our system. “Labs, report, our communications display just went down!”

“Was that us?” I demanded, eyes turning to Sera who was now looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Cancel report, Labs, display has returned but…. Wait, the ship ahead of us has reversed trajectory.”

My eyes darted over to our own display, confirming that the Parasitum had in fact left drift path and was now decreasing in speed as it moved in our direction.

“Novarod, increase speed to 110, we need to be prepared to assist the MEGALODON if the Parasitum engages,” I ordered.

“Aye Captain,” Novarod called. “Should we maintain current trajectory in the drift path? I think we could speed up if we drop orbit by 15%.”

“Sound plan, do it Nova,” I said then looked back to Vicky, “Get us an estimate on our intercept ASAP, Second,” I commanded and another flicker went over the navigation screen.

“20 seconds at 63% range, Captain,” Vicky immediately called out.

“Grounds, we lost the MEGALODON audio, but the patch is still active,” Sera added.

“What the hell is Sullivan doing down there?” I cursed under my breath. I couldn’t be mad, I had to stay calm. That was the first rule. I had consented to experimenting and sometimes when you experiment, shit hits the fan.

My eyes drifted back to Vicky’s screen, the Parasitum’s indicator moving inch by inch closer. If I wasn’t mistaken, it almost seemed like it was even speeding up, but logically I just knew that since we were speeding up and they were heading in our direction, we’d come into contact sooner rather than later.

Another pulse shot over the display.

“10 seconds at 89% range, Captain, we have visuals on the DRAKE,” Vicky called off before our intercom crackled to life.

“Labs, report, someone is in our systems,” I recognized the voice of Captain Stevens and looked over to Sera who was now visibly panicked as her hands darted over her own display.

“Did you patch us into their systems, Spacefly?” I demanded and she shook her head so hard that the tie holding her hair back fell off.

“No Captain,” she responded.

My finger jammed into the intercom, “Sullivan, abort experiment immediately and report!”

Another pulse shot out.

“5 seconds at 100% range, but,” Vicky’s eyes widened as she started shuffling the screen around, “Um… we have lost visuals on the Parasitum, Captain.”