He felt the movement; they all did. It felt like they had stepped off a cliff and were falling. His heart jumped in his throat, and he only just managed to keep the smile off his face.
“We are now in zerospace,” Ji-min Bin said. She was beaming.
The feeling of falling faded as they achieved the hyper-velocities that were evidently the norm in this alternate dimension. “Time until reaching outpost BH-317, approximately seventeen hours.”
“Keep us at half-cruising until we are thirty light-years out of the Sol System, then increase to full travel speed.”
“Why do the screens show nothing?” Kell asked. “I have been curious to see what ‘zerospace’ looks like.”
“I’m afraid that is not allowed,” Urle said. “All viewports are covered during our time in zerospace – it’s for the health of the crew.”
Kell nodded, seemingly accepting that. “I can understand why.”
Brooks looked at him curiously. “I was not aware you knew much of how our zerodrives operated.”
“I know very little,” Kell replied. “But the place you call zerospace – that I have knowledge of.”
Brooks glanced at Urle again.
“Perhaps you can tell us about it, some time, Ambassador.”
Kell shook his head. “Unlikely.”
It was a frustrating answer, but not a shocking one. Humanity’s history of interacting with alien species had often been one of such frustrations. One couldn’t take such a refusal on a surface level; cultural taboos, top-down decision-making, or simply different psychologies could cause many questions to have to simply remain unanswered.
Though, he had to remind himself, technically the Shoggoths weren’t aliens. They were earthlings, like humans – and if they were telling the truth about their ages, then they long-preceded mankind.
“Stop the ship,” Kell said.
It caught Brooks off-guard. “What?”
“Stop the ship, immediately,” the ambassador repeated, urgency in his voice. “Pull us back into normal space.”
The demand irked Brooks, and something in the being’s voice made him want to listen. But it was his ship, and ambassador or not, he did not give orders here. “Ambassador, with all due respect-“
“Sir!” Ji-min Bin’s voice said loudly. “Detecting an anomaly in zerospace dead in our course!”
Brooks barked his order. “Bring us back to realspace!”
An emergency alarm went off; just as going into zerospace caused a jolt, coming out – especially this fast – would cause another.
They exited into realspace hard. Even though all bridge crew were strapped in, they were thrown against their restraints.
“Damage and casualty reports,” Brooks ordered. “Cenz, find out what this anomaly is and if it’s dangerous.”
“Casualties are minimal, Captain,” Doctor Y noted. “Seventeen contusions and eight minor concussions. Possibly one broken clavicle. I have presently dispatched medical teams.”
Cenz turned in his seat, his face screen showing confusion. “Captain, I detect a vessel, but no anomaly.”
“Can you identify the ship?” Urle asked.
“It is approximately 3 kilometers in length, a long-range cruising ship that does not match any known ship of the Sapient Union. I believe it is a Hev vessel.”
“It’s not broadcasting any identifiers?” Brooks asked.
“No, Captain. The ship appears to be drifting, though residual heat suggests it was under power very recently. It is approximately 300,000 kilometers distant from us.”
The Captain looked to Kell. “Is that ship why you said we should leave zerospace?”
Kell’s eyes were slightly closed, intently staring ahead, as if actually looking at the ship.
“No,” he finally said. “But it is related.”
“It is possible that the anomaly we detected could have disabled the Hev vessel,” Cenz noted. “Though I am not sure how. I believe the vessel has at least 21 fusion reactors, though all are offline.”
Brooks tapped his chin. “Let’s see it.”
The screens zoomed in, and an impossibly small speck turned into a monstrously long vessel.
Hev ships were often very large, and this was on the smaller side. It was crude in appearance, as most Hev ships were, and it was very narrow, with a heavy protective shield at the fore. Exposed heat dissipators jutted from its main body at intervals, still glowing a dull red.
“There are no external signs of damage,” Cenz said. “The ship was likely only minutes ahead of us, though I believe heading towards Earth.”
“Likely a trader,” Urle noted.
“From what I understand,” Kell said, “the void is very large. Why are they so close to us?”
He had grasped that concept quickly, Brooks thought. “Zerospace is unpredictable, and most ships travel through well-known routes that offer the greatest safety. The routes into and out of the Sol System are extensively mapped.”
“And if two ships hit?”
“That can’t happen,” Urle added. “The stabilization fields that ships create around themselves repel each other and we’d simply slide around another vessel.”
Something seemed very wrong to Brooks.
“Dispatch probes to investigate the vessel. If they are Hev, there are likely a hundred thousand at least aboard that ship. I’m not going to leave them to die.”
Other Terrestrial 