As they approached the third planet the rings became more and more clear. The intermitted radiation signal that they had been tracking had become stronger, but also more erratic. Bob was in awe of the rings, the material was having strange energetic properties. When they slowed down for orbital insertion they decided to glide through them and get in orbit just above the surface of the planet allowing for sample gathering and further measurements. However, the second ring proved to be very energetic and caused many problems. With EPS relays blown all over the ship the Nova was struggling to get through the rings. Once they finally cleared the rings they managed to complete the insertion and started repairs. One thing that Bob noticed as soon as the sensors were back up was that the rings acted as a gravitic lens, what would this mean?
After repairs were complete Bill and Mito had picked up the scanning for the radiation source, Scott was working on navigation and Bob and Jeb were going over the ring data. “I’ve pinpointed the source Jeb,” Bob began, “it’s in orbit of that little moon.” Jeb looked at the orbits, “I’m not looking forward to traversing that energy field again Bob.” His friend nodded, “I think I have found a solution if we ionize the hull, we increase structural integrity by running a gravitic field through the outer hull, making the material more resistant.” That sounded like a plan and so they set course for the small but strange moon that had mopped up part of the rings, clearing a nice pathway for the Nova to park in.
“Go, let’s hope this hull ionization works.” Jeb gave the command and the Nova headed out. They had lost gravity plating but gained hull-reinforcements that avoided the previous problems when transferring the ring. Bob and Bill had theorized that when the Nova would be positioned between the two rings they could amplify their gravimetric sensors to find new gravioli sources more easily, at least that was the theory.
As soon as they entered orbit gravity plating was re-enabled and they were greeted by the sound of tons of objects that fell back to the floor. “Scan complete, matching orbit to intercept the source of the emission, passing at the closest point in 20 minutes,” Scott said.
“What in the Kraken’s name is that?” Jeb said as the circular shape came into view. A huge station floated by the main window. “Great Kerbalworks…” Bill said refering to a legendary builder in Kerbin mythology. There were many scorch marks visible and parts of the station were venting some kind of gas, but oddly the thing was not spinning out of control. “I’m parking the Nova 200 m nadir of it,” Scott was the markswoman at the helm. “Roger. Team, I want to make an assessment of that thing, Bill verify the shuttle integrity, Mito meet me in the launch bay for pre-flight checks.”
Soon the little shuttle left the docking bay and headed out to the strange station. A small explosion sent some debris their way, but they managed to evade it. “That thing is falling apart,” Mito said. “Yes, and has been doing that for some time, judging by the debris dispersal pattern,” Jeb replied. “Most sections seem to be compromised,” Mito said. “Those are are clear impact marks, someone deliberately damaged this structure.” Jeb nodded, “How long ago? not more than a couple of weeks I think.”
As they passed close by the ran an inspection on the lit-up sections, most looked like living quarters based on what they could see through the windows. All looked abandoned, several sections were riddled with small holes. As they swung by the core section, Mito noticed something odd. “I think I saw something move, go back,” Jeb wrestled the thrusters. “There it is again, something or someone is on that station.” Jeb took some more scans. “Well, it seems to be the only pressurized section left, that thing to the left looks like a docking port, but it is using a different diameter and hinges than I have ever seen.” They made several more passes but saw nothing new, so headed back to the Nova.
There they examined the infrared scans and saw the same movement that the sharp eyes of Mito had noticed. The decision was made to try and board the station, but they had to act quickly. Several explosions had rocked the station and the neutrino emissions had fallen as if it had run out of power. Bill and Bob worked around the clock to create a small adapter that would convert the alien docking port standard to something they could work with. “You have to take me with you Jeb,” Bill explained. “I can EVA and then fix the docking port, we can then use the shuttle as an airlock.”
Jeb didn’t like sending this many of his crew over there, but he had little choice. He would pilot the shuttle, Bill was in charge of the airlock and Mito’s job would be to search and survey the alien craft hunting the shadow that she had spotted. By their best calculations, they had less than a day before the station would pick up spin and crash into the small moon unless it would blow up from the graviton stress.
“Docking port secured and holding, I’m coming back in you can dock the shuttle.” Bill made his way back and Jeb started the docking procedure. With a loud clang, the craft docked. “Scott here, I am moving the Nova a bit further away, that last piece of debris nearly hit our port nacelle.” Jeb looked at Mito, “Go, and hurry we may not have much time, I’ll cover your six.”
Once inside Bill checked the environment, “65% nitrogen and 35% oxygen, wow 253 degrees Kelvin, chilly but okay, you can remove your helmet.” Jeb looked at the other two, then removed the helmet, “wow, Finni would have loved this place,” referring to the Firesar winters.
Bill checked some of the red blinking displays on the walls. “I can’t read any of this, but those red things don’t look good, judging by the rise in these values, I suggest we limit our stay to 15 minutes, by then all these values will be in de red.”
So the searched the station from room to room, though most were unpressurized and it seemed that power was rerouted from all over the station to keep that single lab on the far end of the station connected to life support. It looked like the scavenging had been going on for some time, there were bypasses on the bypasses.
“We need to go back Sir,” Mito was looking at the clock. “One more room,” Jebediah said. “This one is really cold,”
When they opened the door their jaw dropped. Inside was a blue alien, not responding to their presence. “It looks exactly like us,” Mito said. “Apart from the skin color then,” Jeb added. “Hate to break the party, but we have to go,” Bill added. “I think the drive stationary thrusters are about to explode.” Jeb looked at the alien, “He seems to be in some kind of stasis, we can’t leave him here.”
A few moments later the shuttle undocked and headed away from the station. “Step on it Jeb, those numbers looked like trouble,” Bill pauzed, “Well I think those are numbers anyway.” Their passenger was still unresponsive and cold, they had lowered the shuttles temperature to match the lab and back at the Nova, Bob had prepared his lab accordingly.
“45 seconds between approach clearing and dock, that has to be a new record.” Jeb looked smug. As soon as the docking latch secured, Bill pressed the intercom. “Scott, put some distance between us and that station immediately,”
That was when the station exploded and its station-keeping thrusters engaged. Several sections of the station lit up and heated up dark red but mostly the integrity held, however it started spinning faster and faster.
Within minutes it had spun out of control and the gravity of the moon pulled it in. The long-range cameras of the Nova registered it crashing on the surface. The explosion kicked up tons of dust and it quickly started interacting with the material in the rings.
Bob looked at the scope, “Wow, that is not good. if those ring particles get dispersed the whole thing might explode.” The Nova accelerated as fast as possible through the ring system. Scott dived below them as best as she could while riding a burst of gravimetric explosions as the materials behind them collided. “Divert all power to the hull ionization,” Bill suggested,
That turned out to be a good suggestion. Scott circularized at the edge of the system and the team turned their scopes at the rings that were settling back into their natural order. “Close call,” Mito said. “But we made it,” Jeb replied, “and we picked up an unusual passenger.”
Exactly at that moment, the alien in the science lab opened his eyes and looked with a surprised look at Dr. Bob Kerman, both not knowing what to say or do next.
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