Far From Home: The Complete Second Series (Far From Home 13-15) (9 page)

29.

Soft lighting filled the cabin of the tram as it travelled in the darkness of the tunnel.

"So we can simply move from C-1 to C-2 without having to operate an airlock," Olivia Rayne said. "Makes things a bit easier."

"Well, I'd imagine this tunnel can be sealed off from the rest of the ship when necessary," Belcher said.

"I agree. After all, the cylinder's in three sections. It'd make sense to have them capable of being independent from one another," Jessica said.

"Yes," Belcher agreed. "Though I wonder why they'd take that approach."

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked.

The engineer sat forward. "Why compromise the integrity of the vessel by doing that? The Namar must have had a reason, but I can't for the life of me think what it could be."

Jessica contacted
Defiant
. "Captain here. We're en route to C-2 and should be there in a few minutes. Stay in contact with Team Two."

"Understood Captain."

"We'll update you on our progress," Jessica told the officer on the other end. She didn't recognise the voice. "Has there been any change in the
Enigma
since we've come aboard?"

"None whatsoever, Captain."

"Readings?"

"No transmissions,"
the officer told her.
"And we are holding our position relative to the
Enigma
, velocity and vector unchanged from before."

"Very well. Keep me updated. Captain out."

She glanced across at Dr. Oriz, who was watching her intently.

"Were you expecting our intrusion to wake the beast, Captain?" she asked.

Jessica smiled. "Something like that."

"I don't think we’re that lucky," Dana said. "For all intents and purposes, the
Enigma
seems dead. It's just been out here far too long."

"Are you saying we're in some kind of
. . . tomb?" Rayne asked.

Dana sighed. "I believe so."

Captain King looked away, unconvinced. Something told her there would be answers to come. A gut instinct, and that she trusted above all else.

"Well, we'll soon see," she told them.

30.

Team Two chose a square kilometre of the habitat in C-1 to explore, but they did not split up. Commander Chang instead opted for the three of them to remain together, lest a surprise present itself.

And of course there was the issue of the weather . . .

"Feel that wind?" Chang asked.

Peter Davies nodded. "Yeah, I felt it pick up a moment ago. Odd."

"Where's it coming from, do you think? Some kind of air system?" Chang asked him.

"This habitat is heating up," Dr. Gentry explained. "And as it continues to reach optimum temperature, the air in here is going to get all stirred up."

"I see. Hence the wind. The ground is getting warmer, making the air rise," Chang said.

"Yes. Exactly. We'll likely see quite the storm in here soon," Gentry said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "Something reminiscent of the tropics, I'd imagine. I love a good storm, myself."

Chang hit her comm. "
Defiant
, are you listening to this?"

"Yes. We hear you."

"We will notify you if we are about to find shelter. This may cause disruption to our comm. systems, and inhibit contact with you."

"Copy that, Commander," the reply came.

"Chang out," she said and closed the channel. Chang turned to the other two. "Let's see what we can find before the weather picks up."

"We should consider one of these buildings as a suitable shelter," Davies said. "They look strong enough."

Dr. Gentry held up his hands in a defenceless gesture. "I'm not saying this storm will last long. Maybe an hour. It won't take much time for the weather system in here to settle. For all we know, the
Enigma
has systems that will deal with it."

"True," Chang said. "They've certainly thought of everything else."

Peter Davies stood, regarding one of the larger structures they'd noted were situated here and there throughout the habitat. "So, you think these might be some kind of religious sites, Doctor?"

Dr. Gentry came to stand nearby and looked up at the big metal box. "Could be. My line of thought was that we have not seen any sign of vegetation. No agricultural area. Hell, not even a hydroponics site. This habitat is as sterile as any I've ever seen."

"True," Davies said.

"So I think the Namar must have had their food and water supplied directly in their homes. I can't think of anything else to call them. They are, after all, quite obviously designed with two occupants in mind."

"You think they had couples living together? Men and women?" Chang asked.

Gentry shrugged. "Why not? For that matter, who's to say it wasn't homosexual couples? Whatever the case, there were two in each one. And I believe that if we really looked
– and knew what we were looking for – we would find a food and water source."

Chang looked around at the strange world they'd found themselves exploring. A circular world, where the sky was the ground and the ground the sky. "So they didn't just sleep here. They lived here. This was intended as a home from home."

"Precisely. This is why I believe they would have also brought with them whatever religious belief their society acknowledged."

"You're saying these are churches?" Davies asked.

Gentry led the way inside. Behind him, Commander Chang un-holstered her sidearm and turned off the safety. Her caution proved to be unfounded as the building was completely empty . . . of anything. For all intents and purposes it was merely an empty box. A metal shell with nothing in it except a light source in the ceiling, and a weak one at that.

"Perhaps you're right," she said.

Dr. Gentry waved his arms about to indicate the empty space around them. "No seats. Nothing here. Apart from this slightly elevated platform at one end. Not unlike the chancel where a minister might address his flock, no?"

"I agree," Peter Davies said. "And it feels somehow different in here, don't you think?"

"Churches always do," Gentry said.

Chang almost shivered. "Let's continue."

They investigated several homes, and found each one of them as empty as the rest. It should have put her mind at ease, knowing that they were alone in there. But it didn't. All Chang could think about was how eerily deserted the place was. How much like a ghost town it was to her.

And how such an empty world made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.

Her apprehension was broken, however, when the first crack of lightning erupted over their heads.

Dr. Gentry ducked reflexively. "
WHOA!
That was close!"

The wind rushed up at them, and Chang noticed for the first time that while they'd been poking about, clouds had formed in the air above.

"Let's get under shelter. I think we're going to experience some of that bad weather you were talking about," she said.

They made for the closest Namarian house, and just in the nick of time. The sky opened up after them, and it began to rain in C-1.

31.

They disembarked from the tram. It had exited the tunnel, only to come to a full stop amid the pitch black. Regardless they filed out, finding themselves on the same nondescript decking they'd found in C-1.

"Again, the air in here smells old," Jessica said.

Smell of a tomb,
she didn't add. Dr. Oriz would take great joy in thinking the Captain approved of her notion that the
Enigma
was some kind of tomb. She personally didn't believe that to be the case at all. After all, why put it here? Why expend so much of their – at the time – very limited resources in building the
Enigma
only to leave it to the unpredictable extremities of space?

There had to be something here.

"And it's cold in here," Selena Walker said. "If we weren't wearing our suits, we'd be frozen right now."

"Makes me wish I'd brought my helmet and not left it in C-1," Rayne said. "I think my lips are blue."

Captain King's comm. system beeped. She answered it.

"Captain! It's Commander Chang!"
the voice on the other end yelled.

"I hear you, Commander. What's wrong? What's that noise?"

There was a loud, almost drumming noise accompanying Chang's voice. It made it hard to hear her.

"Hail!"

King looked up at the others, a frown on her face. "Sorry?"

"Captain, it's hail! We're experiencing some kind of storm in here. We've taken shelter."

"I -- I see, Commander. Very well. Remain there until it subsides. Keep me posted."

"Yes Captain."

The line cut off.

"
Hail!
Who'd have thought it?" Rayne said in a near laugh.

Jessica nodded slowly. "This place is full of surprises."

There was a dim illumination from the parked tram, but apart from that an unknown darkness that surrounded them.

"Captain, we should probably consider the possibility that the
Enigma
is a collection of three habitat cylinders," Walker offered. "It would make sense, if it was intended for a vast number of people to live on."

"True, but
–" Jessica started to say but she did not get any further. For right then the lights came on in C-2, momentarily blinding them all.

Once his eyes had adjusted, Gary Belcher was the first to look around.

"Uh, I don't think we're in a habitat exactly," he said.

Lieutenant Jackson was the next to find that his eyesight had returned. "In the name of
. . ." he managed to mumble as he gazed at what was there before them.

32.

Just as Captain King had said, the
Enigma
was full of surprises.

A giant axle ran through the middle of C-2, at least half a kilometre thick. Along its length were lights similar in design to those in C-1, but very small. Due to that, there were a great number of them all over the giant axle, and they reminded Jessica somewhat of Christmas tree lights. Every conceivable inch of surface area within the cylinder seemed to be covered in some form of tech or other. There were what could only be star fighters. Even two ships about half the size of the
Defiant
nestled amongst the fighters and weaponry.

"This is no generation ship," Selena Walker said as she gazed up. "And it isn't a simple habitat, either."

"No," Jessica said. "This is a ship of war."

*

"I can't believe it," Belcher said. "So much tech in here. It'll take an age just to go through it."

"I don't think we have that long, Mister, but I'll try," Jessica said, opening a channel with the
Defiant
. "This is the Captain. Please have the
Defiant
on standby. We have discovered a vast array of weaponry in here and are about to catalogue what we can."

"Understood, Captain,"
the voice on the other end answered.

"If you see any change whatsoever in the
Enigma
, notify me. Captain out."

Jessica closed the channel.

*

The rain and hail ceased. No sooner than it had begun, the severe weather had stopped. When Chang, Davies and Dr. Gentry stepped outside, they found it wet but warm. The clouds had dissipated to a thin, wispy layer of strata. The thunder and lightning had gone, too.

"It was as if the ship cleared its throat after being woken up after so long," Davies said.

Dr. Gentry laughed. "Yes! That's it! The mighty giant wakes, stretches, has a good cough. Now all is well."

Chang detected movement to her left. Her head snapped about, her hand simultaneously grabbing for the gun in its holster. "Quiet," she ordered.

The other two followed her line of sight. There was definitely something moving out there, about twenty metres away.

"What is it?" Davies whispered.

"Stay here," Chang said and she edged forward. Using the houses as cover, she made her way forward. There it was again. Directly ahead. A rush of something grey, so fast it was a near blur. A now she could hear it, too. A
clitter-clatter
sound on the wet stone floor.

She thumbed her sidearm off of safety and held it in front of her, at the ready. The sound again. The clitter-clatter of claws. Big heavy claws. Chang tried to shake the image, but it wouldn't go. She pictured some atrocity awaiting her. Her heart thudded in her ears and she swallowed, her throat dry as dust.

Chang silently stepped out from behind one of the houses and found herself less than six feet away from it. She gripped the gun with both hands, the barrel aimed directly at it.

The creature turned to look at her, its eyes on stalks that wavered left and right. The round black eyes at the ends twitched hideously. It studied her for several seconds, then scuttled away, seemingly uninterested. Chang opened a comm. channel to the Captain and tried not to let the nerves make her voice sound shaky as she reported what they'd found.