Outcasts of Gideon

The Empty : Part 2

Dewey shut down the main engines better than 20 minutes into their flight. The sound abated as well, leaving the passenger cabin silent. Dawn stared ahead, waiting for something to break the silence. When nothing did, she unbuckled herself and floated from her seat. That was a mistake. Her stomach did not like the weightlessness. She grabbed the seat and maneuvered herself back into it.

Dewey called down from above. "There's a Damasos ship comin' for us. They're burnin' hard."

"Dewey, why are you still shouting? Doesn't the intercom work?" Grant asked.

Dewey switched on the intercom. "They're burnin' hard from Phaethon."

"We knew they would. I think that's the only Dominium ship in the system."

"Prakit says it was sent to Phaethon when the tremors started."

"That's the first bit of good news we've had. We can't outrun them, but they're on the other side of the system bubble. That gives us at least an hour head start."

Dawn didn't think this was going to work. "Won't they shut off the interstellar? By now they know where we're headed."

"I'm hoping the bomb story made them hesitate, at least until we get through."

Bobby slept beside her. She could not have slept. Reaching for his hand, she held it to calm herself. His breath was slow, his body still. She wondered if the dreams would come. They hadn't yet.

Now that they might actually make it to the empty, she was reminded of another fear. It had developed over time. Each trip she took through the empty made her feel more like her luck was running out. The potential to emerge in solid matter was a phantom she had never been able to exorcise. It wasn't any better after her strange alien apparition.

"The Damasos ship just got to this side of the bubble," Dewey announced.

"They're too far away to catch us," said Grant.

"But they're callin' us. What should I do?"

"Just ignore them for now. We need to be closer to the device."

"Ignore the Damasos? Mister L, I don't want no trouble with them."

"Shouldn't we already be braking?"

"You told me to get us there quick. I cut the brake short. We'll have to burn hotter is all."

"You left enough time to come to a stop."

"Mister L, I ain't plannin' on dyin' out here. We have to be goin' very slow when we hit the bubble."

"Okay. I told Prakit that we were hijacked. If you have to talk to them, tell them there's a bomb. Tell them we're going where he wants to go or he'll blow us up."

"Lie to the Damasos?"

"It's either that or you turn us around."

Dawn waited for Dewey to respond, but he didn't. Instead, he triggered the thrusters, spinning the ship. Except for the nudge on her left side, she could barely tell. When he activated the main engine, she could definitely tell. The shuttle began to shake violently.

She squeezed her eyes shut. At the same time, she tightened her grip on Bobby's hand. The shuttle rattled around them, its aging frame screaming. The passenger seats rocked violently. She could hear what she thought was the back row of seats bending and creaking, wrenched by the force. Despite the violence and noise, Bobby slept. His calmness was a sharp contrast to the tumult around them.

They only had to endure a few minutes of this, though it hardly seemed that way to Dawn. At one point, she started counting to herself. She hoped that might distract her. It had the desired effect. When the engines cut, she was surprised. Replacing the din was Dewey yelling at some unseen caller. She could hear them through the intercom.

"He says he's gonna blow us up if we don't go through!"

"Shuttle Aion, you are not authorized to transit the interstellar device."

"Look officer, I ain't lyin'. He says he's got a bomb."

Weightless again, Grant unbuckled and launched himself toward the pilot's cabin. He grabbed hold of the ladder and pulled himself up. He could only fit part-way into the cramped cabin. She could hear him speaking, his voice echoing through the intercom.

"I'm Grant Lackey, owner of this shuttle, officer. We might be able to get the hijacker talking, but he has some strange device. I don't know what it is. He says it's a bomb."

Dawn felt another gentle nudge. She assumed it was Dewey reorienting the ship for the empty. She wondered why he would do that. The shuttle could go through facing in any direction. As she thought about it, she realized they must be entering the tempinetic field. Around her, the glimmer of entry passed through the vessel. It swept toward her. Before she knew it, they had gotten through.

In the passenger cabin, Dawn sat alone, her hand now empty. Bobby was no longer beside her. That was the first thing she noticed. Her surroundings had changed. That's not right. They were changing. The shimmer of passage into the empty was lingering. She was not emerging.

She'd heard stories about this, how some never made it through. But they found a gene for that, she thought. Despite her fears, none of her previous transits had been the slightest bit out of the ordinary. She didn't have the gene. She was safe.

Only she wasn't. She was trapped. As she waited, the time in the empty stretched well beyond an imperceptible moment. Time was broken here, and with it her final tether to reality.