Beyond Light

Critical Overheat.

“Designated period of cryosleep set on March 1st, 2543 at 2300 hours: Status Complete. Depressurating all the requested units from their encapsulated environment,” announced the feminine voice of Hydra, the artificial intelligence designated to the Eternity of Return.

The parallel rows of cryogenic pods located at the cryosleep bay made a depressurizing noise in unison, and their safe locks unlocked at the same time. They made a metallic creak and their foggy, transparent hatches rose.

Master Captain Jay Cortez’s eyelids spread themselves, white light dazzling on his face. But the thing that caused him the ultimate disgust was nausea twisting his entrails, and something sticky and slobbery obstructing his respiratory tract.

He could not hold it. As fast as he got out of the cryopod, he leaned down to the metal mesh on the floor that made a lane before all the cryopods, which was built for the specific purpose of throwing up.

He vomited all the nourishing gel that covered his mouth, nose, and lungs. It was like the worst hangover of his youth. When he regained strength and looked around, it was an orchestra of semi-naked people like him coughing and throwing their stomachs out, similar to a herd of mules infected with the Uranian flu.

“'Been a good long sleep, hasn’t it?” spoke a young and masculine voice next to him. Jay looked at his right, and the lean, brown-haired figure of Commander Blair Star was already putting on his white uniform.

“...I’ve always hated these goddamn things,” responded Jay. “I would have preferred to be awake and good all this time. Puagh,” he spat a ball of gel that didn’t want to get out of his throat. Its acidic flavor didn’t help him to feel any better.

He then looked to the digital clock located above the slicing exit: June 3rd, 2546. 3 years had passed, and their journey of 8095.8 light-years was finally over. The Eternity of Return had presumably arrived at the Vita Nova system. Jay would almost feel euphoric if he didn’t feel so physically bad.

It was the effect of the so-called cryohangover, a common set of benign secondary effects that came from being in cryosleep for long periods. All his bones and articulations felt stiffer than touching a dead person, and his cold, dry skin had the texture of a frozen chicken. But the worst of all was nausea and a distorted sense of equilibrium making his head spun.

“I know this is trash, right?” replied Commander Blair. “I swear that gel they pour into our bodies tastes worse and worse each time we are put to sleep. It used to taste like grapes but now it tastes like phlegm mixed with rancid lemons,” he tied his shoes with an enthusiastic grin on his face, barely looking affected by the hangover. Captain Cortez felt envious of his relatively young age. Young people gave for granted the resilience of their bodies.

The echoing voice of Hydra sounded once again. “Personal at section 03, please relax, take a moment to breathe, and feel free to cough and expulse through your mouths any traces of nourishing gel that might remain in your bodies. Remember that the nutritive, alkaline compound is non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and cannot damage your bodies in any way or form.”

That was their section. Jay wished he could believe the AI, but it was hard to do so after almost asphyxiating in it. He began to put on his uniform. He still had to receive a general status report of the ship and report back to the Sol System.

Only minutes would have passed for people back in there. They were still waiting for them to appear on transmission once again. But just like the whole crew of 3’056 people aboard the Eternity of Return, what truly motivated Captain Cortez to beat his discomfort was to see if they were indeed on Hawking-616a or Vita Nova System.

He put his white cap of silver and blue stars on his redhead, brushed his mustache with his fingers, and stretched before his cryopod. Commander Star and many of the crewmen and women around did push-ups or squatted on the floor, trying to beat the cryohangover by warming up their bodies. The effects would not disappear in at least 3 days, but that was a nice way of mitigating them.

Jay didn’t have time for that as the captain. He stepped on the beamed aisle in the middle as soon as he finished. “Commander Star, I’ll see you on the bridge. Report as soon as possible”

“Understood, sir. I'll be there in some minutes,” responded the Vice-Captain.

Blair Star. A name that was particularly known in the Saturnian system. He had inevitably grown up on Jay, despite his informal and laid-back attitude, which he didn’t mind as long as the young man did his job.

And that’s what he always did. Blair hadn’t been named vice-captain of the so-renowned Eternity of Return by being mediocre. Jay was surprised the first day they informed him about the young Commander becoming his second in hand. He was expecting someone much older and experimented.

As soon as he reached the disinfection holographic web before the hatch door, the orange figure of one of the engineers from the engineering deck appeared through the entrance, holding a holographic pad, and the expression of having run the solar marathon. “Captain Cortez, sir, there is an emergency. We need orders as fast as we can.”

“What’s it, son?” Jay transpassed the holographic web and walked through the white hallway. People hurriedly moved forth and back. A bad feeling rose like a snake in his feet.

“Engineering Chief Wade Adams wants to talk to you. I’ll put him on a call,” he moved his fingers through the translucid screen as they walked.

Jay grabbed the device, and the grey-haired figure of Chief Adams appeared on screen, with the green and blue waves of light that EPAL’s Vega-Mako generators shot around shining behind him.

“Captain, this is important. The engine’s critically overheated. The generators have reached a maximum level of over 160% of their capability. We only have two decay conducts operating, and Cherenkov and Gamma radiation are about to reach critical levels as well.”

Jay erased the small grin over his face. Why had not anyone woke him up before? He had already seen what an over-pushed engine could do if it wasn’t attended. “What?!" he yelled. "But I thought the guys on INIS told us that we would not be facing any problems with heat and radiation like that. That EPAL engine is supposed to withstand—”

“They lied to us, Captain,” interrupted Chief Adams interrupted. He frowned and raised his voice. “this engine has been pushed way beyond its security limits. I honestly don’t know how in the heck it hasn't collapsed yet. We've traveled a distance eight times longer than it was designed to withstand. 10 Vega-Mako generators are dead, and we have another 26 in a critical state. At this rate, the engine is going to collapse due to overheat and decay waste and we'll all be doomed.”

“What can be done?” Jay gripped harder the pad and halted his walk. “haven’t you put to work all the cooling systems and the decay conducts?”

White light and sparkles dazzled behind Chief Adams. People hurriedly moving and yelling behind him made up for the background. “It’s not possible, captain, Only 2 coolers from 20, and three decay conducts from 15 are currently operating. We don’t have enough energy to supply to rest of—”

“Chief, that goddamn engine can generate more than 6000 gigawatts of energy. How in the bloody hell can you say that—”

“It could, Captain. It COULD. That’s no longer an option. We only have 44 generators operating, and we had to reduce their capability down to the 33% or we are going to suffer a meltdown from massive heat. We can’t just retire the fission bars at this point, and we can neither dedicate any power to the cooling systems nor the decay conducts. That’s why I need you to allow us to take that energy from the other systems of the ship. Is that, or the goddamn engine collapses and reduces all of us to atoms in less than a few hours.”

Jay didn’t realize that his forehead was sweating cold. His pulse had just skipped a beat. Those rats from the INIS had obviously lied to them, and they had all been nothing but mere guinea pigs. He breathed hard. He had a more important matter to attend to at that moment.

“Permission Granted, Engineering Chief,” he keenly responded. “deviate all the energy from the shielding system, the radars, the reconnaissance sensors, all secondary and primary flying fail-safes, and reduce to 50% percent the artificial gravity. Take energy from the Godmelter's electromagnetic generators if necessary.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Chief Adams nodded. “Pray to God we make it outta this. I’ll keep you informed,” he disconnected from the call.

Jay took a deep breath once again before reacting to his surroundings. He cleaned the sweat on his forehead. He returned the holographic pad to the engineering assistant and continued through the chaotic hallway. The man looked at him confusedly but turned around to return to the engineering deck.

“Captain Cortez?” spoke Hydra through his wristcom. “do you really desire to reduce all shielding systems to zero?”

“Haven’t my orders been clear, Hydra? Supply to Adams and his pals all the energy they request. It’s that or we’re all gonna be dead.”

“I just remind you that having no shields active leaves the hull vulnerable to high-caliber rounds, thermodynamical missiles, plasma, electromagnetic attacks, between others. This also compromises the safety protocols of—”

“Hydra, SHUT UP,” he raised his wrist communicator and yelled at it. “I know what I’m doing. Besides, there’s no risk of hostiles in this damned place.”

He swirled his eyes and kept walking. The bridge of the ship was some 350 meters ahead, and although he could have used the rail system to reach it, what he needed for the cryohangover was to stretch his muscles and warm his body.

Which he had already done, nonetheless. Three years ago, he didn’t think that the first thing he would deal with after waking up would be the so-acclaimed EPAL putting at risk his ship and the lives of his crew. But he knew that it was the INIS and the Independent Service of Intelligence's fault, not the engine’s. Those shady bastards wanted to exploit their new invention the most they could, only to prove their superiority to the enemy and gain the approval of the public.

Some other things didn’t make sense. Why hadn’t Hydra stopped the ship from leaping again when the engine started to overheat? why did the mission's protocol dictate that all the engineering personnel must have remained during cryosleep the whole travel? It was now obvious. They wanted to put people on a system far away. It didn’t matter if they reached the destination dead as long as their rotting bodies arrived.

Bastards. He pulled out from his jacket a pack of Martian cigars and lit a piece on his mouth, hitting it hard.

“Captain Cortez,” Hydra spoke through his wrist communicator. “flammable items, as well as tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs are all forbidden aboard under article 49 of—” Jay pressed the mute button and kept sucking hard on his cigar. He didn’t want to end up punching someone in the face once on the bridge.