Iron Jaw was nodding and I was just starting to go over deployment for the excursion when the lights went out.
It is a credit to our team and the civilians with us that nobody in the conference room screamed.
Iron Jaw spoke first, “Who have we got that might be able to figure out how to turn the power back on?”
A number of people around the table were opening their smartpads which were providing a little light.
The heavily accented Italian voice of Dr. Anzio Spelini broke in by saying, “The ship has not lost power or else we would be weightless or dead. We still have gravity so we still have power.”
“Hiromi check comms,” I immediately said.
In a moment she replied, “Comms are working Major; for at least a large number of our team. I’ll initiate a roll call.”
With the sound of Hiromi’s muted voice in the background I turned to where I thought I remembered Dr. Spelini sitting and said, “Dr. Spelini, what did you mean when you said if the power was out we’d be dead?”
“Yes major, weightless or dead. My colleagues in physics have been marveling at the technology this ship she represents. When we first left the planet there was no sensation of acceleration which suggests some ability for inertial dampening or perhaps a way to isolate space time itself. Once underway in space we conducted a few simple experiments to determine that there was no Coriolis force so that we could rule out Centrifugal force as the source of our ‘gravity.’ That leaves only acceleration or an artificially produced gravity field as reasons for us to feel weight.”
“Anzio,” Julie said. “Keep it simple for us, ok?”
“Yes Julie,” said Anzio. “It actually is very simple. If we were under acceleration and that was the cause of our weight, when the power went off and the acceleration stopped we’d be weightless.
“On the other hand, if the Noridian’s are artificially inducing a gravity fiend and the power to it went off we’d be either weightless because we’re coasting through space or we’d be crushed because we’d have no protection from the massive acceleration.
“We are not weightless or dead therefore we have power—just no lights.”
“What else has been turned off besides the lights?” I asked.
“Well,” Dr. Spelini replied. “We won’t know about air recirculation or climate control until a little time has passed. Someone will have to check the matter manipulation chambers before we’ll know if food will be a problem.”
“What kind of chambers?” Iron Jaw asked.
“The food server thingies in our rooms,” Dr. Spencer’s voice explained.
“Uh, Major?” a somewhat shaky unidentified voice asked. Has anyone tried the conference room door to see if it will open?”
There was complete silence for a few moments and then you could hear several people moving and at least one, “Ow!”
For a moment I forgot that the doors were totally silent and I was expecting the worst until someone said, “Thank God!” At the same time I registered the sounds of conversations drifting in from the hub. I didn’t hear any panic but the shouts for reassurance were a little beyond the calm point.
I reached up to my earpiece and said, “I want to speak to everyone.”
After a short pause I said, “Please stand by for an announcement but first I need a comms check. If you hold the military rank of Captain please acknowledge.”
I’d never tried this before and had no idea if it would work but my Captains in the conference room all gave me a verbal thumbs-up.
“This is Major Reagan and I’m sitting here with Major Reynolds and a number of our leaders. I know that being in the dark brings out some primal feelings and fears in all of us but I want to assure you that we’re working on the problem. Dr. Spelini assures me that the ship still has power so our situation is not hopeless; we just need to figure out who accidently backed into the light switch.
“Our immediate concern is that you don’t hurt yourself. Try to stay where you’re at if that is at all possible. If you need to move or need help please contact your squad leaders and we’ll try to accommodate you. If you are relatively close to other people try to stay low to the ground and slide towards them; let’s try to team up as much as possible so no one has to be alone.
“Above all please be patient. I have no idea how long it will take to rectify this but you have my word that no matter how long it takes we’ll keep working on it to get it done. That is all for the moment.”
The conference room was starting to get a little stuffy and I was waiting for someone to bring up the question of our other life support systems when the lights returned.
Most people that live in the city rarely, if ever, experience total darkness. Even in your home in the middle of the night light still seeps in from streetlights and other lighting. It is darker in the country but who doesn’t have an alarm clock with an LCD display or appliances in the kitchen that have digital timers or even the small lighted diodes on modern electrical sockets for circuit protection? You can visit one of the few remaining Dark Sky Parks on the planet that purposely limits light pollution for better stargazing, but then there would be the stars themselves. Even a minute amount of light gives our brains reference and at least a portion of our surroundings definition.
What many of us experienced for about 45 minutes was total blackout. Unless you were fortunate enough to be carrying your smartpad (or in a conference room like I was with other people that were) there was virtually no light. Julie later told me that despite all of the experiences we had yet to endure this blackout was the cause of more psychological traumas to team members than any other part of the mission. I’m assuming she was talking about those that lived, of course.
When the lights came on everyone cheered.
Iron Jaw and I grinned at each other with a smile our dentists would have been proud of and then we got up to start doing what we’d been trained to do.
That damn conference room was making me claustrophobic anyway.
It was just then that I received a communication from Captain Antonio Silva. “Major, can you please immediately meet me at the platoon hub elevator and I need you to bring a couple of security forces with you. Oh, and Major we’re going to need your conference room.”
We were all back in my beloved conference room; this time with Captain Silva and an unknown Noridian male.
When we’d met them at the elevator the captain was holding the Noridian by the arm and it was clear that he was forcing the alien to accompany him. The Noridian was Captain Silva’s prisoner.
He wasn’t in the best of condition either. The Noridian had a busted lip and what appeared to be the beginning of a beautiful shiner on his left eye.
As I mentally checked-off a silly question that I had already known the answer to—yes, their blood was red—I looked around the table. Everyone was focused on Captain Silva or the Noridian except for Dr. Toni Andretti who was, surprisingly, looking at me.
“Captain Silva,” I said in my calm voice of command. “Report.”
The captain nodded his head and said, “There is a lot to talk about and this is going to take a while but the first thing you need to know is that the Noridians were going to kill all of us.”
As the room sat stunned and quiet he continued, “This excursion was a cover designed to get everyone that could oppose the Noridian assimilation of earth out of the way. Their plan is to return to the planet with a ship full of influential Earthers that are unanimously convinced that earth should accept a formal Noridian Protectorship—they want no dissent.”