Claudia
Grant turned from her lidar scopes and said in a worried voice, "There's
a huge asteroid swarm heading right for us, Colonel. I estimate it'll
get here in about forty-five minutes. And it's going to make that last swarm
look like a gentle morning drizzle."
The bridge was dead silent; even the instrumentation seemed hushed, but Rick couldn't contain his curiosity a second longer; he chose this moment to make his presence known. "Uh... Colonel?"
At the sound of Rick's voice, all heads turned toward him. Colonel Christopher swiveled in his chair and noticed the interloper. His already-consternated expression took a turn for the worse. A curious scientist was the last thing he needed at the moment. "Doctor Merk! You shouldn't be here. Why don't you go back to your quarters where it's safe."
Instead, Rick took another step forward, determined to get some information, and addressed the Colonel. "Sir, the other passengers are getting pretty worried. They're wondering what's going on, what with all the shaking and debris smashing into the hull...."
"Just a little asteroid shower. Nothing to worry about."
Rick moved closer and lowered his voice. He didn't want to openly contradict the Colonel in front of his crew. Waving his arm in the direction of the front window, he said, "We both know that wasn't any ordinary asteroid field, Shaun. The Main Belt simply isn't that dense."
Christopher sighed and leaned back in his seat, his frown relaxing somewhat. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples wearily. "Yes, I know, Rick. You're absolutely right."
Rick blinked in surprise. "I am?"
"In fact, that wasn't the first mysterious asteroid shower we've encountered during this flight, it was just the first that was bad enough to be noticed by the passengers."
"I see...," said Rick, not sure he did.
"The swarm Claudia has on lidar is the third asteroid shower heading straight for us since we crossed the orbit of Mars."
"That can't be a coincidence."
"I agree," grumbled Christopher, "and so does the computer." He levered himself out of his chair and crossed to the other side of the bridge, to the station just aft of Claudia's along the starboard wall. Leaning over the board, he worked a few controls and a map of the solar system sprang up on the station's central monitor. Concentric circles marked the orbits of the nine planets around a bright yellow dot in the middle, and a flashing blue dot marked the position of the Enterprise.
"Take a look," said Christopher, pointing to a series of curved red lines ahead and behind the blue dot. "These are the asteroid swarms."
"Those don't look like natural orbits," commented Rick.
"They're not," confirmed the Colonel.
Rick mulled this over for a few seconds, then ventured, "If they're artificial orbits, then that means that someone is deliberately aiming them at us...." His voice trailed off, as the full implication of this revelation sank in.
The Colonel nodded gravely, and confirmed Rick's surmise. "They know we're here."
"The Eriarti...," whispered Rick, mentally conjuring up all sorts of horrible imaginings about the mysterious aliens. None of it was based on fact of course, since almost nothing was known about the enigmatic extra-terrestrials, but rumor and suspicion painted them in a very sinister light, and this new asteroid attack wasn't likely to improve mankind's opinion of them.
Snapping out of his short daydream, Rick asked the sixty-four dollar question. "Can we avoid the next swarm?"
Christopher straightened up from the control console and turned toward the front of the bridge. "How about it, Slike? Can we dodge the next attack?"
The ship's pilot, Ensign Maverick Slike, already had the answer plotted. He turned in his chair to face the rear of the bridge and responded confidently. "No, sir. The asteroids are coming in too fast, they're too close, and the field is way too big for us to maneuver out of the way."
Christopher grunted in dissatisfaction, then said, "Recommendation?"
"The best I can do sir, is to turn us into the storm, presenting the smallest possible aspect. That'll improve our chances a little."
From the expression on his face, Christopher clearly didn't particularly like that plan, and Slike could tell. The young man in the pilot seat seemed to deliberate for a moment, then said, "Looks like a real grizzly problem, Colonel."
The Colonel shot Slike a quick, nasty look and snapped, "That'll be enough of that kind of talk, mister!"
Ensign Slike flinched slightly at the rebuke, but persisted nevertheless. "It's the only way, sir."
"And who do you volunteer for the job, Ensign? Hm?"
"Me, sir!"
Christopher eased up a little. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, Maverick, but we need you here to fly the Enterprise. In fact, none of the crew can be spared, so we're back to square one."
Meanwhile, momentarily forgotten it seemed, Rick was doing his best to follow the conversation, but to tell the truth, he had absolutely no idea what the two men were talking about. He raised his hand and said, "Umm.... I have a question...."
The Colonel turned towards him and looked at Rick as if seeing him for the first time. The flickerings of an idea could be seen percolating behind his eyes. He smiled and put his outstretched hand on Rick's shoulder. Rick was immediately wary. His eyes narrowed suspiciously and he said, "Why do I get the feeling I'm about to get in way over my head...."
Instead of answering, the Colonel had a question of his own. "You've had flight training, right?"
"Uh, yeah...."
Christopher's smile grew broader. "Remember when you were asking me about what was in Pod Number Five?"
"Yeah...."
"You're about to find out."