Beyond Light

Floating Station.

“Commander, the drone team has successfully inspected the artificial object. No menaces, no vessels, and no weapon systems detected. It’s deserted,” informed Nav. Officer Xi Liang.

“Alright,” said John. “Let’s go there. Mike, you know what to do. It’ll be easier to repair our bird if we’re stationed. Maybe we find something of utility.”

“Good,” said Mike. “ETA for mysterious and creepy base in 25 minutes. Hold yourselves, we are putting the Beyond Light on solid surface once again after 3 years.”

John stopped working on his terminals for a moment. What would they find there? What kind of station was it? First those underground facilities on Vita Nova, and now this. Were they Goliath’s? Maybe they’d find more humans kidnapped in there. Humans dissected and lobotomized into the beasts they found on the ringed rocky planet.

Or it could be a trap. But in the wrecked state they currently were, what were their chances if they got ambushed, even if they didn't approach that alien floating station? They wouldn't go too far, and repairing the Beyond Light quickly was a priority. Landing on a solid surface was their only option.

But the fact that neither Goliath nor its remaining ship followed concerned John. Did they just give up, thinking that the Beyond Light was not worth the trouble after they lost one ship? Maybe they were setting up a trap. Something told John that they weren’t going to be left alone by them again.

He moved back to the cockpit after 20 minutes of wait. The gassy landscapes made the whole picture through the windows. Hawking-616f’s inner atmosphere had swirls, waves, and mountains made of brown, orange, and yellow gas, swirling on themselves, making flat surfaces, or hovering above as clouds on Earth would. The sky was clear light blue, traces and dark winds passing around. Both Hawking-616a and b shined on the horizon, blessing a new day on the planet.

Observing skies on gas giants was something that always impressed John. One could easily think that the sky on planets like Jupiter or Saturn would have orange tonalities on them —and that was true the deepest you dove— but it was not much different than standing on Earth. Uranus and Neptunes were exceptions though, because the seventh planet had a cyan-aquamarine tone, and the dark Neptune was always stained by navy blue colors.

“Hey, it is there!” spoke Mike. “Look at it! Our destination.”

The artificial object appeared through the windows. It was a wide, black, circular platform covered by trapezoid patterns giving it a spiderweb shape. A single beam transversed a disk on the middle, descending to the cloud floor kilometers down.

Various smaller platforms were all across the main beam. All descended in smaller cables and pipes to the main platform, giving it the appearance of a multi-platform carrousel, like those mounted on Luna.

“Damn!” exclaimed Jeffrey. “How big is that thing?!”

“The main platform has a diameter of 38 kilometers,” responded Xi. “the three above have diameters of 22, 13, and 6. The support beam has an estimated height of 45 kilometers.”

“45?” Jeffrey could not hide his surprise. “It’s slightly taller than that Goliath! Are you sure this is not another vessel?”

“I am not detecting any thrusters or propulsors. Neither the heat nor radiation emissions that a spaceship emits. Besides, a design like that would easily break off.”

“It’s also too big,” commented John. “Must be a station or a gas mining facility. Mike, descend us in one of the free spaces that look like the slots on a spiderweb. They look fit for us.”

“Alright,” responded Mike. “Let’s just hope there are not anti-air weapons hidden and we get blown into pieces.”

“They would have attacked us already. Let’s go down.”

The Flight Ensign followed orders. Once above the superstructure, the diminutive Beyond Light descended to the colossal metallic platform with the propulsors on her belly. No energy shields collapsed as she descended, and no defensive systems attacked. Was the place abandoned? It didn’t look too much like those facilities on Vita Nova plagued with robots and drones.

Although the best was to stay inside the ship, John wanted to go out and step on the place itself, wondering more about its mysterious origin. He prepared to go out. Yuri, Derek, and a squad of troops and drones reunited with him on the vehicle deposit, waiting for the airlock hatches to spread.

“Commander,” spoke Doctor Weiber through his nightingale suit’s HUD. “the temperatures are low as -82 celsius grades, and naturally, there’s no air to breathe. But there’s barely any UV radiation and the weather is relatively stable, so you shouldn’t have much trouble down there. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Doctor,” nodded John once at the airlock. He talked to his team. “Very well, let’s go down there. We are just going to check out the perimeter and be the first humans to land on an extrasolar gas giant.”

“At least we aren’t going to get into a bloody battle with alien robots and zombified people this time,” said Derek.

“Boring, isn’t it?” Doctor Heinrich Winslow suddenly illuminated in the HUD. “We just ran away from the fun and now we’re on a lonely, boring ball of gas.”

“Why don’t you come with us?” asked John. “Maybe we find something to fight you down there.”

“Would love to, Cap. But there are various wounded pups here that need my extensive care. Save some robots for me if you fight ‘em,” ge disconnected.

The airlock finished the decompression process, the hatch spreading left and right. The gassy outsides were revealed before them, and a metallic black surface ascended like a hill, reaching the support beam a pair of kilometers ahead, suspending smaller platforms.

The sky was brown at the bottom, then orange and yellow, and finally light blue at the top, where both stars illuminated. The dark moons Hawking-616f III and I possed at the distance, looking greenish and red.

They stepped on the dark metal, marching ahead until the giant Beyond Light was no longer above them. The section they were in extended one kilometer to each side, where two giant walls stood. Besides that, and the metallic barriers as the section ascended another three kilometers, it was nothing but a black field made of that mysterious black alloy.

“Hey, this is a nice place to have a BQB or play some feetball,” said Yuri, the 12 soldiers in green armor dispersing around.

The eight drones flew around like bees looking for flowers to pollinate. “It’s BBQ and Football,” John corrected him. “But gotta say its size is gonna be nice to begin repairs. Let’s just hope those ships don’t find us again.”

“Hey!” a feminine voice cried behind. A small figure in an orange suit ran towards them, chasing something crawling on the floor. “Please grab it! Don’t let it escape!”

“Yui?!” John frowned. She wore a scientific suit for hazardous environments, jogging behind an elongated ball of fur. John didn’t remember having any animals aboard the Beyond Light…

“Kak? What’s that?! Blyat!” screamed Yuri. The dog-sized furry cockroach crawled through his legs and reached his chest, tackling him to the ground.

John and Derek unleashed their AM1s. “Don’t shoot!” yelled Yui. She got on the ground with the struggling Yuri. “Don’t move! It’s harmless! I’ll put it off you.”

She grabbed the insect-mammal hybrid from its back and pulled it back until it let Yuri go. She then put a harness around it and knotted it into a chain. “That was close… Don’t go out. Again!” she scolded the alien.

“W-what the hell is that!?” asked Yuri.

“Hey, is not that one of those animals we saw on Vita Nova?” noticed Sergeant Major Derek Williams.

“Yeah! It is!” Yui excitedly said. “Our drone team captured this specimen for further study. Sorry for not telling you, John, but it’s a nice opportunity to understand alien life better! Is not this amazing?” she kneeled and put her gauntlet on the cockroach’s fur to stroke it.

“That monster almost killed me!” Yuri complained, still panting on the floor.

John rolled his eyes and extended his hand to him. “C’mon, quit the drama. Get up.”

“It’s not a monster,” frowned Yui. “It’s safe. It’s harmless, non-toxic, and doesn’t require much food. We suspect it can survive for long periods of time without water or meals, and it can withstand hard conditions, like the atmosphere of this planet!”

“Well, not even in extrasolar systems thousands of light-years away we’re going to be free from cockroaches,” said John. “You can keep it. Just make sure it doesn’t lay eggs on an unwatched place.”

Yui frowned and pouted, but then grinned. “Thanks! We are feeding it with grass from Vita Nova and a saline solution. It doesn’t seem to get sick or not tolerate it.”

“I think it’s… interesting,” Derek kneeled to stroke it. “Reminds me of a dog I had when I was a kid.”

“What dog looks like that ugly monster?” said Yuri. “Commander, let’s throw it through the edge of this platform and let it get crushed by the planet.”

“You would not do that. You are the monster!” Yui complained. “I bet you spend lots of time with Mike.”

“Hey,” the Flight Ensign joined through the com. channel. “Why do you think that of me, Yuchan? I think that cockroach is cool.”

“Wow, you aren’t that much of a weirdo as I thought,” said Yui. “But I told you to stop calling me that stupid name!”

“Hehe, Yuchan, the magical idol! Here to save everyone from having fun.”

Yui rolled her eyes. “Please ignore him. You know him already.”

“I have known him since we were both kids, Yui,” said John. “You get used to him.”

“Yui?” Doctor Weiber’s voice joined the chat, his voice sounding grumpy and irritated. “Have you retrieved specimen-01?”

“Oh, y-yes, Doctor. I’m with it outside of the ship.”

“Outside of the ship?! What in the mother of Newton’s sake are you thinking?! Get it aboard immediately!”

“O-of course!” she responded. “I’ll be back immediately.”

“Do. Quick! We can’t afford to lose our only subject,” Davis left the chat.

“Well, I must be going back. I’ll keep you informed about anything we find. Good luck, guys!” she turned around and jogged back to the Beyond Light, her width reaching a kilometer.

“That was strange,” John and his companions traded looks. “Well, let’s see what we see ahead.”

Xi’s voice spoke through his HUD. “Commander? While you were busy, the drones found something 500 meters ahead of your position. It’s an entrance that leads to something inside the station. You might want to go there and give it a look.”

An entrance? Now John’s attention got focused again. He wondered if it also led to another laboratory filled with another part of the Eternity of Return’s crew there. Maybe Blair could be there. They had to get in.

But he doubted it would be alone...