Chapter 2:
“We still can’t get a visual at the site, ma'am. The entire HSEQL network has been offline since at least this morning. It… uh... we got the feed up for about 20 seconds after initiating the toroid injection tests last night, but it has been dark since then. We’re honestly not sure what’s going on up there.”
“Do we have any spare resources in that sector? An engineering crew, or even a mapping drone? Anything to get us some eyes up there...”
Felicia DeStar shifted anxiously in her seat, turning over a pen in her hand as her mind raced ahead of her.
“Ma’am, we have a maintenance and security detail returning from Gamma Base at the moment. They’re heading home, but they are going to fly right by Sigma Base 3. We had an entire mapping swarm in orbit as well, but we have not been able to bring them online since yesterday. It’s, uh… interesting...” The engineer’s voice trailed off, a spot of trepidation rising in his throat.
“What’s interesting?” Felicia grabbed her pen firmly in her left hand, locking a hard gaze onto her subordinate. “Please, continue.”
“It’s interesting… we can see the swarm is still in orbit - we can see the live returns from the imaging station on Sigma Base 4, but it’s very interesting…” He glanced up at his screen again, confusion ran down his face, mouth half open, he turned to Felicia. “It’s uh, very interesting because they aren’t moving. The entire swarm is static. Fixed in place. Above the planet. They aren’t moving at all, ma’am.”
Felicia relaxed the grip on her pen, allowing it drop to the table, sending a soft echo flowing through the otherwise silent room. “That’s impossible. Check it again.” She exhaled in frustration. “Call SB4 and have them run a full calibration on their systems. Re-route the Gamma Base team to low orbit around SB4. Tell them they will get a month of bonus pay, and then call upstairs to authorize it.” She stood up from her chair quickly, sending it rolling backwards into the wall. “I need this fixed now” she stated firmly, locking onto every pair of eyes in the room in succession. “We’ve been through this before. The injection test overloaded their power grid, like last time, and they are waiting on life support for a new cell. They haven’t called it in over the emergency link because they were probably using their batteries for entertainment purposes again. Brief the Gamma team and launch a drone from SB4 with a backup power cell. Do it now.”
Felicia bent down to gather her things from the table, and shoved them quickly into her bag. Turning back towards the communications lead, she addressed only him - “I am heading down to the Physical Research building to see if they managed to get any data from the measurement equipment before things went dark. Call me if you find anything” She turned her back and made her way towards the door, tuning out the flurry of activity which sprung to life as soon as she finished speaking. Her boots fell hard on the tiled floor as her mind raced around the problem.
“Uh, ma’am - you might want to take a look at this before you head out.” An engineer from the experiment control desk called out, just as she started to opened the door. Her shoulders and head slouched forward, exasperated, as she came to a halt, and began to turn around.
“This image just came back from Alpha Base 5. It’s too far out to show much detail, but… well, you better take a look at it.”
Felicia turned around casually, eyes fixed on the engineer as she approached him. “Can you bring it up on the screen, please?” she asked calmly.
“Erm… if you want, but you might want to look at it… just come around and take a look over here first.” The engineer’s voice was shaking. His eyes were red and his face was well flushed. Felicia circled around the table and intently looked at the screen.
Her bag fell the floor, scattering the contents beneath the desk. She looked at the engineer again, studying his face as a bead of sweat formed on her own furrowed brow. Terror stared back at her. A lump grew in her throat as she searched for her voice.
“Activate code Yellow.” She choked out, eyes still locked onto the shaking engineer. “queue every available reserve to lagrange orbit outside SB4. Authorize any overtime which will be required” She blinked for the first time in what seemed like minutes, and bent down next to the ear of the terrified man in front of her. “Do not tell anyone about this. Do not show anyone that picture until we have confirmation” she whispered firmly. The engineer nodded silently, as she pulled herself upright. Finding her voice, she announced to the gawking crowd - “nobody leaves this room until I get back, do you understand? Elizabeth, you are in charge for now. Work on getting that HSEQL link back online.”
She did not wait for an acknowledgement before making her way back towards the door. When it closed behind her, the only sound which could be heard was faint jingle of her watch, as her hands began to shake.