Dark Horizon by Chris Heinicke & Kate Reedwood

Author:Chris Heinicke & Kate Reedwood [Heinicke, Chris & Reedwood, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-03-27T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

AS SHE SAT down in the passenger seating of her personal shuttle, Rosamunde Cruz instructed, “Report.”

“The wormhole jump will exit into the Sol system in approximately six point three five nano-clicks, nearest drop point to the Earth satellite Luna, as requested. The QE-23 is expecting us as planned, ma’am,” Thalia said. She settled into her seat opposite Rose and buckled her straps.

Rose nodded and glanced out the side window. The swirling corridor of warped space they travelled within appeared blue to her visible spectrum. Blue with amber streaks and dark crimson flashes. She’d seen that view an infinite number of times. But this time it seemed different. She couldn’t pinpoint why, yet her instincts screamed something was different. Maybe it was the deep vibration that shuddered from the armrest she clutched and into her hand? Either she’d lost her mind or that vibration didn’t normally happen during wormhole travel.

“Why is the ship shaking?” she asked.

“There is an increase in mass as we approach the egress, Madam Cruz,” the pilot said. He turned in his seat to glance at her. “It’s causing a flux in the wormhole gravity. It will pass as soon as we’ve exited.”

“An increase in mass? What kind of mass?”

“Unknown, Madam Cruz.”

“What?” Rose tightened her grip on the seat. “How can we not know what it is?” She unbuckled her security belt and stood behind the pilot’s chair to check the gravimetric readouts herself. Sure enough, a mass of unknown specifications was travelling the same wormhole with them. A missile? No. That would show up on the readouts as something quantifiable. This object was large and causing a shift in the wormhole structure itself. Another ship? How could another ship be travelling the same wormhole at the same time? Such a thing was theoretically impossible as two objects couldn’t occupy the same space at the same time. Unless is was from another time. Or dimension. The vibration increased to a noticeable shudder as whatever the vessel was that shadowed them gained mass. It was gaining structure too as it slipped into Rose’s reality from wherever it had come from. Definitely a ship. Configuration unknown. Size similar to the shuttle. Weaponry, yes. Shielding? What was with its shielding? The scanner must be malfunctioning because those numbers didn’t make sense.

“Egress in point two-zero nano-clicks,” Thalia said in her calm voice. “Ma’am, you must sit and utilize your restraint harness. Egress can be dangerous.”

Rose ignored her, her mind occupied by the readout. “It’s going to exit at the same time. It’s going to hit us.” She blinked and glanced to the left where the aft escort ship flanked them. “No, not us. Inform the lead fighter—”

An alarm sounded as the shuttle exited the wormhole and entered normal space with a lurch. Rose cried out as she pitched forward, blinded by a bright flash and a sudden, stomach twisting sense of inertia.

Then as she sat down in the passenger seating of her personal shuttle, Rosamunde Cruz instructed, “Report.”

“The wormhole jump will

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