Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 31B3 - : Orbit, he went to orbit

Jace glanced at Dee, “I thought space travel wasn’t really a thing that people did.”

Dee shook her head, “It is something that people can make. Star Council and Nebula Alliance have full on space-mining fleets for the areas around habitable worlds connected to The Cosmic Corridor.” She clapped her hands excitedly, “We are going to steal a battleship!”

Xera smiled at the enthusiasm Dee put on display, “Yes. Two other habitable worlds that were connected to The Cosmic Corridor are in the same star system: Felesii and Belesii. Dee has already experienced Deckard’s home world and the current Nebula Alliance headquarters of Teresii. She can speak more to it.”

Dee stood up and clapped her hands, the chitinous shell clacking. “Right! So, we are going to blow stuff up! First, Felesii…Quinn, do you mind doing the thing with the thing?”

Quinn tapped some icons on her wrist pad, and the room darkened a bit as a holographic representation of a massive volcanic planet appeared. Dee pointed to one of the dormant mountains, “This is Felesii: It’s where they build starships. Big, hot planet where they smelt down metals. There’s a huge ring around it: something called a planetary forge. We are going to go through The Cosmic Corridor and steal a ship. Then, fly it to Teresii…and this is the best part!” she let out a cackle of joy as her small eye-orbs seemed to pulse with vibrant energy. “We are going to crash the ship into the planet! Right into Deckard’s house!”

Greg shook his head, “We wouldn’t be able to survive an impact. I assume we’d eject using life pods to infiltrate?”

“Correct,” Xera said tersely.

Jace smiled, “That’s going to make things interesting. Two days of downtime?”

Xera nodded as Dee sat back down, “Yes. Enjoy that downtime. Because after you steal the ship, it’s a three-week journey to the Nebula Alliance’s home world.”

Priam kicked his legs against the slightly-too-tall-for-him couch, “That’s a long time. How big is this ship?”

“A thousand feet long and four-hundred feet wide, with most of that dedicated to systems and operations. But, it is a vessel, so the tonnage would be appropriate to reference; two-hundred-thousand tons,” Quinn replied. “Crew will have a few compartments. Better get cozy with each other.”

Jace nodded, “I’ll grab some board games for the TPSB.”

“I’ll send you all back now,” Xera said as she began tapping her wrist pad. “Enjoy your few days. I’ll be in touch. Quinn will coordinate everything.”

Jace felt the slight sucking sensation as the world warped around him and he was once more standing in front of the large cosmoscreen that he and Shhiv were watching a movie on. She was still sitting there, giving him a smile as he reappeared. “Hey, handsome. How was the meeting?”

“Fine,” Jace replied as he sat down and filled her in, the film they were watching paused in the background, right as a massive shark was dragging a woman across the ocean in a very unrealistic way. “I’ll be going on a mission for a few weeks in a couple of days: so we should make the most of our time.”

She nodded, and there was a sense of impatience behind her words. “Let’s finish the movie then we’ll go for a swim!”

Jace snuggled up next to her and muttered, “Why is this movie the one you chose?”

She reached a hand up and scratched the top of his head, “Well, the cosmopanel said that this helped define the bad reputation sharks got on Earth. And since they’re really close to Churkun, I figured it would be fun to see what they were like!”

Those two days passed far quicker than Jace would have liked. But, time progressed ever onward, and he had to leave behind his love and join his allies down in the lobby. Fully geared up in his armor, he activated Symbol Shift (Rank 1) to swap his Star and Gigastar symbols for Black Hole and Supermassive. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Quinn’s voice came over the comms, “All geared up and ready to go. I was not able to get any scans of the place you’re visiting, but Dee’s been there once before. I do know that the gates you could travel to are on the planet’s surface, in a caldera. You’ll have to get to the space elevator and ride it up to the orbital ring. Then, you can hijack the spaceship.”

Greg grinned as he led the group to the doors, “I haven’t stolen a ship in a long time.”

“Oooh! You’ve stolen a spaceship before?” Dee asked.

“Not a spaceship: a real one, on a boat. One that goes on water like what he had back on Earth.”

“Oh, that is right. We stole a ship!” Dee grinned with absolute glee, enthusiasm just pouring out of her. “This is so exciting!”

Jace leaned over to Priam, “She is really into stealing stuff isn’t she?” he whispered.

Priam nodded, “Oh yeah. She loves stealing from people who deserve it.”

Leaving the apartment, the warp network instantly took them to their destination: a portal with dozens of people streaming into and out of it. Jace immediately activated Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group], causing all of them to vanish. All of their Wayfinders either phased into their Aspirant’s body: activating Verge Protocol. Except for Ollie, who sort of phased into the armor, wrapping around Jace’s neck as was his usual spot: with his head poking out the top: sort of sticking out of the helmet’s ridge, sort of concealed.

As a unit, they moved through the portal and entered a liminal, black space. Just like when they went to Earth, there were buttons on a console in the vast empty space.

Dee walked up and pushed one of the buttons, opening a portal in front of them. Walking through, they emerged into a vast entry hall that reminded Jace of the old factory districts on the outskirts of New Jersey. A huge, interior space with soot-covered and blackened walls. Gouts of smoke billowed up before being sucked into ventilation networks that processed the putrid odors into something that could resemble air.

Jace saw a change to Priam’s body: his whole form was seemingly crusted over with rocks. Must be Environmental Adaptation, Jace thought. Must be a means to survive the world normally.

Everyone’s breathing became a bit more labored as well. Jace could pick it up with his sharper sense of hearing: it was almost rumbly.

Dee lifted her hand and pointed through the crowd that kept bumping into them: but they were so closely packed together that the invisible obstacles were just mistaken for other passers-by. “Over there,” Dee said. “That’s the way to the space elevator.”

Greg took the lead, pushing through the crowd as an invisible tidal wave, leaving a wake in his path that the other three were easily able to follow. Quinn’s voice came over the comms network, “There are no gravitic sensors here, but there will be once you get midway up the space elevator. Thankfully, there is no way to stop it midway: but just be aware that they will know extra cargo is present when you get to the top. Ideally, we don’t hurt anyone: but do what needs to be done.”

Jace looked around, taking in the Civilians who were all walking to and from various workplaces, or heading into The Cosmic Corridor. They were predominantly a rock-covered species, very similar to the one that had been with Priam when Jace had first met the bunny-boy. Jace leaned in close to him, “You okay?”

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Priam responded by grabbing Jace’s arm, “They all…have no souls,” he said in a hushed voice. “No soul energy coefficient. Just…empty shells.”

“X is the same, right? She has no soul energy thing.”

Priam shuddered a little with his next inhalation, but nodded. “I just…I’ve never seen so many. It’s shocking.”

Greg glanced back at the two, “What are you talking about?”

“These people have a ton of cybernetics,” Jace said. “Right, Priam? That’s what having the low soul energy coefficient means?”

Priam nodded, “Yeah. That’s it. They must have replaced most of their insides, or those outsides aren’t really rocks.”

Dee shushed the group, “The space elevator is dead ahead!”

Jace ceased his conversation and looked where she was pointing. The interior space they were inside of suddenly opened up: the hard metal giving way to a massive glass dome inside the wall of the dormant-volcano’s caldera. Extending high up into the sky was a massive tether with several containers rising or descending. The sheer size was awe-inspiring; a titanic construction that belied all sense of reality.

This is what a pure technology world is like? Jace thought. This is what the Star Council wants to do to Earth? The idea was almost overwhelming, that such creations could exist. And once more, for the first time in a while, Jace was struck by how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of the universe. Hell, the black hole at the center: that Oblivion’s Maw place where Troxanir is: that’s going to outsize me also. And if Troxanir’s body is plugging it…

The enormity of what he would have to deal with settled over him like a cold shroud. Xera expects me to fight something bigger than that space elevator? He felt fear. An intense fear at the enormity of how big reality was around him.

Ollie must have picked up on his feelings, because the otter patted his face. “Hey. Cheer up! We are about to go up into orbit!”

That did bring Jace a little comfort: not the idea of going into orbit, no. But Ollie’s voice brought comfort. “Thanks for keeping me grounded.”

The group entered an airlock which filled up with hundreds of other commuters. It sealed, the air was vented, and the lights turned a deep blue as compartments upon the walls opened. People formed orderly queues and acquired very flimsy-looking space suits. A thin, metallic-warming-blanket type of material which could be thrown on over practically any clothing, and a helmet that popped onto the top. A tiny backpack attached to the rear of the device created a breathable environment inside the suit.

“Your armor is good,” Ollie said as his allies popped over to snag suits for themselves. “It can keep you alive for a long time in space: up to four hours!”

Jace felt some relief that he was already protected, and by the time his allies suited up: except for Dee, who Jace presumed didn’t need it thanks to being a Plorp, the lights shifted to green. Sirens blared, and the outer doors opened. There was a rush of wind, and then an oppressive heat. The team followed the crowd to one of the containers that went up and down the elevator, slipping past the checkpoint where heavily armored individuals carrying some type of firearm stood checking Civilian symbols.

“It’s going to be a full load,” Dee said. “Better find a place to stand and hold onto something. Sit on the ground if you’re not sturdy. They do a fast acceleration to get through the thin atmosphere.”

The four found a section with some rails that they could cling onto. Dee and Priam both sat down, but Greg and Jace stayed standing. “Want to see who can stand in the g-force?” Greg asked.

“That was the plan,” Jace replied as he tensed his legs. An announcement played over hidden speakers.

“Doors closing. Prepare for ascent in 10…9…”

Jace paid rapt attention to the countdown. The little competition with Greg was not just for bragging rights between buddies: it was a chance for Jace to test how his body would hold up against enormous acceleration. He glanced at the energy bar in the top of his HUD, which was slowly depleting. Very slowly, but still depleting. I must have really improved my stamina, he thought, or the NICIF streamlined things, because I have way more energy to keep this Cloak going.

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[Yup! That was us, boss!]

[Improving, tweaking things, all types of fun stuff!]

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Jace felt the floor rise to meet him, and it took a moment for the momentum to transfer to his legs, midsection, torso, and finally his neck. Greg braced as well, and the elevator shot skyward. Jace could feel the intense pressure across his whole body as his legs were pushed into the ground. He grit his teeth and cheered inside as he saw Greg collapse to his butt: forced down onto the floor by the g-force.

Jace could feel his legs quivering, but as he was about to give out, the pressure lessened. He felt gravity return to normal…and then become far less important as he slowly floated from the pressure of pushing against the floor. Grabbing the railing, zero-gravity took over as the space elevator ascended to the orbital rings containing these forges and shipyards.

Quinn’s voice came over the comms, “I’ve accessed a few different docking bays. Looks like our ship: well, the ship we had planned to steal: is just finishing up final repair checks and will be heading out at the end of the week. The crew is off ship, leaving just a few security measures in place. Turrets in the docking bay, primarily.”

Dee spoke up, “And they’ll be doing a thorough check of the space elevator once we hit the top!”

The elevator came to a slow, gradual stop. Gravity reasserted itself. True to Dee’s words, the large doors at the end that slid open were being guarded by heavily armed and armored individuals. A series of droids: fully mechanical guards on wheels bristling with weaponry: were interspersed among the rock-people. “Hold up! We’ll get you all to your jobs soon enough. But we got extra cargo unaccounted for.”

Dee waved the group forward, and they got towards the line of guards: but then Jace felt something quite odd. An almost vibration in the air. Something quivering and shaking. “Ollie, what is that?”

“Wave-emitter. Sonic-based detection. It will not pick you up. Just sneak past!”

Jace led the group through a small gap between a guard and the droid behind him. A map appeared in his HUD courtesy of Quinn and began heading down the tightly-packed corridors: staying with the flow of traffic. “The docking bay is coming up,” Quinn said. “Automated turrets you can easily get past. There is a bridge and a docking-control room. I’ll need you to get a Wayfinder to interface with both of them: any order works.”

Turning a corner the group came across the airlock leading to the docking bay. Ollie flew out and ‘tapped’ the console next to the door, and a few moments later it cycled open to let the trio enter. To any outside observer, it was just a door glitching: opening for a few seconds and then closing. Something to log for engineers to take a look at, but ultimately not a huge deal.

They were inside a small airlock with more of the space suits. Ollie tapped the next panel, and a few moments later the door cycled open and led them into a vast, open-to-space bay. A huge vessel was suspended in zero-gravity with some types of tethers holding it in place: the odd, orange glow slightly intensifying to keep a consistent amount of tension on all sides to affix the vehicle in place.

To the right was an extension of the large wall with a window facing outward: the control room for the docking bay. Dee pointed to the ship, “We need to get on board and let Quinn at the controls, and then we can release the zero-g clamps. Jace, will the Cloak affect us if we get away from you?”

Jace nodded, “Yeah. I can keep it active regardless of distance.”

“As long as its in the same universe!” Ollie added.

“I’ll get on the ship with Greg and Priam,” Dee stated. “You get ready in the control room.”

Jace acknowledged her order and didn’t mind following it: she was the more experienced when it came to space and this super-futuristic technology. Jace was still reeling a bit from all of it: airlocks, zero-gravity tethers, artificial gravity, a goddamn spaceship right in front of him. In that moment, he was quite happy that someone like Dee was with the group and taking the reins on this venture.

Jace went over to the control room, Ollie put his paw to the panel: he was not really touching it, as Jace saw as he watched closely. He was just putting his paw through it, and there was a brief zap of shimmering-blue starlight. Then, the door opened. Jace went into the smaller airlock, it cycled behind him, and then Ollie opened the next one.

Jace walked into the small chamber. Several flat panels were placed along the wall, along with multiple knobs and levers marked with words that translated in his mind thanks to his Universal Translation Skill. Each one of these knobs increases the strength of the tether, Jace thought. The levers are the emergency release.

Dee’s voice came over the comms, “We’re at the helm! Ready to put it onto autopilot to maintain distance from the inside of the docking bay. Ready when you are, Jace!”

Jace looked at Ollie who was floating next to him, “How do I do it?”

“Turn each knob down to its lowest setting. Once they are all on low power, then you can pull the levers.”

Jace did as he was told, and glancing out the thick window, he saw the rays of light holding the ship in place begin to lose power as he turned the knobs. The ship began to bob a bit more thanks to the gravity of the planet pulling upon its mass, the movement of the orbital ring making it seem like the ship was moving. Placing his hand on the lever, he pulled the first one: and all the rest also flipped at the same time.

The tethers released, and the ship stayed at perfect distance from all of the walls, ceiling, and floor. “Okay! Get on board!” Quinn said.

Jace left the control room and went to the spaceship’s entrance. Another airlock; but more like the type he saw once on a sunken boat in the harbor he used to swim in. It was people sized, and had a small panel and a type of cross-bar for manual entry. Ollie interfaced Quinn with the panel, and Jace entered. The door shut behind him.

“I’m on!” Jace said over the comms. On an actual spaceship, he thought to himself with a grin.

“Okay. Quinn’s taking us out!” Dee’s voice replied.

“Since when did you learn how to fly a spaceship?” Jace asked Quinn over the comms.

Quinn laughed, “Never did! It’s just programs that Xera has running.”