October 21, 2016

Bug Hunt - Part Six

"Make sure to aim your jump carefully, Lieutenant," Jensen said. "You miss that port and—"
"—I'll bounce off and end up floating around the docking bay until I can maneuver back to Odyssey, or be rescued?" 
Jensen gasped. "Right."
"How tall is this docking port, Lieutenant Commander?" 
"One thousand meters." 
—Great. Aaen thought. 
"Also, keep in mind: there's no atmosphere in here. Your helmet gets damaged, your suit will depressurize in under two minutes." 
"Any more good news?" Aaen said. 
"Just reach that hatch, Lieutenant." 
"Copy." 
"Just jump!" said the Captain. 
Aaen took three deep, paced breaths—focusing on the destination barely visible. "One. . .two. . ." DO IT!
Aaen disengaged his suit's magnetic boots, slowly crouched, and then quickly pushed against the Odyssey's hull. 
"I can't feel the Odyssey's hull under my feet!" 
"You're floating towards the hatch! You're on target!—" Jensen shouted. 
"Calm down, Lieutenant!" said the Captain. 
Wide-eyed, Aaen remained focused on the hatch, looking through the edge of the face shield and the neck support on the back of the helmet. Aaen found his breathing pace had nearly doubled in the last two seconds. C'mon—c'mon! C'mmmon! His heart started pounding. He could hear himself breathing more loudly with each passing second. 
Fifteen hundred meters. . .
                          One thousand meters. . .
                                                 Eight hundred meters. . .
"Stay calm, Lieutenant. You're almost there! Arms out!—"
Duh! I remember my training! Don't quote to me what I already know!
Five-hundred-meters!. . .
                                                 TWO-HUNDRED-METERS!
The hatch's side hand grips were more visible now. Aaen reached both arms forward, fingers extended. Port-side! Port-side!
FIFTY-METERS!
"You got it?" Jensen asked. 
TEN-METERS!
"Ugh!" Aaen hit the hatch face-first. Aaen gasped, recoiling violently, fingertips scraping the edge of the hatch. Aaen continued to gasp, feeling himself drifting away from the hatch. He snapped, reached out with his left hand. 
"Did you make it to the hatch?" asked Communications. 
Aaen took two deep breaths before responding. "I made it!
The rest of the away team followed like a game of barrel of monkeys until the away team was safely surrounding the mouth of the hatch. 
"Move aside, Lieutenant. I'll open the hatch. Away team, remember: main power is still offline. The only light is going to come from your helmet mounts. Those lights aren't going to light up more than ten or fifteen feet in front of you, depending on how dark it is in certain areas of the Starbase. Stay calm. Stay together."
"Uh. .d'. . .d'you really thing there's Borg on the Starbase? What if they've assimilated everyone on the Starbase? What'f they're waiting for us?" said Sensors. 
"Stay calm," Aaen said. "We need to get inside and investigate before we can assess what's happened, or who or what's responsible. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Stay with the group. We'll be fine." Let's hope


*****

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