//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Long Haul // by D1scordant //------------------------------// Long Haul A spiraling abyss of black, punctured by spots of burning white light. A lifeless, cold void stretching to infinity. Outer space. A small, lone vessel slowly drifted through the void, bluish exhaust trailing behind it in long nebulous tendrils. The ship, Celestia’s Mercy, was a MedTras vessel en-route to the Starswirl station. It was expected at it’s destination in five months, two had passed so far. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Month Two, Koprulu Sector. “Miss Nebs,” A synthesized voice spoke,”Wake up.” The young mare asleep at the ship's helm groaned. She didn’t want to wake up yet. “Nebula Twilight Dusk, wake up,” The computer replied more insistently, ”You’ve had your eight hours of sleep.” Groggily, Nebs stirred, then looked to her right toward the yellow outline of a stallion’s face on the nearby screen. She sighed. “SARAN, why do you always have to wake me up in the middle of a nice dream?” Nebs replied. “If you wanted to sleep in, then perhaps you should not have instructed me to wake you up at this time.” Nebs yawned loudly and stretched her wings, she then smiled at the computer. “Humor, huh?” She said, “That’s a new one, SARAN.” The artificial intelligence seemed to ignore her. Not unusual. Nebs climbed out of her chair and proceeded to the living deck downstairs. The living deck consisted of two rooms; a semi circular main room, and her quarters. The main room was divided into a kitchen, and a lounge. Both, as per regulation, where fairly plain, white metal walls with two large oval windows on either side. Still a few band posters covered some of the walls. Nebs walked into the kitchen and began preparing the coffee maker. “SARAN, You’ve got the bridge,” Nebs said,” Let me know if anything comes up.” “Understood,” he replied “Might I also add that our coffee stores are running low.” SARAN paused. “At our current rate of consumption, we will be out three weeks,” he continued, “ I would recommend using less, ma’am.” “well crap,” Nebs replied with a sigh. The coffee maker bleeped. Nebs carefully removed the carafe and emptied half of it into her thermos. She then took a large gulp “OW!” She yelped, burning her tongue on the hot liquid, “SARAN? Did you mess with my settings last night?” “Negative, ma’am. I have not adjusted your coffee maker.” Nebs rolled her eyes, and moved into the lounge. She set her thermos on the coffee table, then flopped onto the couch. She grabbed the remote for her vidscreen and turned it to the news frequency. Apparently some pop singer got married to some actor. She did care much for either pony. Both of them were Unmarkest fruitcakes anyway. Nebs liked her cutie mark. It was a pretty bunch of stars with a blue cloud behind it. She sighed, and got back to her hooves, then walked to her quarters. “SARAN, I’m taking a shower.” She opened the door to her restroom and went in. Then she removed her grey jump suit and climbed into the shower. At a turn of the knob, hot water sprayed from the shower flowing over her mane and back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nebs had dried off, and gotten dressed when SARAN had summoned her to the bridge. “What’s up?” She asked as she stepped onto the bridge. “There is a major fluctuation in engine two’s power levels, Miss Nebs.” “Probably the fuel regulator again.” Nebs sighed,” Can you compensate 'till I get there?” “Of course.” Nebs walked down the stairs into the living deck and through the bulkhead into the maintenance deck. The clean white lines of the living deck were replaced by bulky rust-covered walls, and various analog displays. The room was lit by dingy greenish industrial light set in the ceiling, and a dull rhythmic hum filled the air. She tossed a tool bag over her back and walked to the end of the hall at the back of the room and opened the door to the left. “SARAN, Cut fuel to engine two.” “Yes ma’am.” The large rectangular engine sputtered and died, shaking the ship. The mare opened the regulator panel and grabbed a small flashlight. She examined the interior of the panel and noticed fuel puddled at the bottom. The fuel regulator leaked. “Oh, shit!” Nebs exclaimed, closing the regulator panel,” The damn regulator leaked. SARAN, I need a purge in engine two.” “Ma’am, there is a malfunction in the engine two purge valve,” SARAN replied, “ You will have to manually activate them.” “Great,” She sighed, “Stop the ship.” Nebs never liked extra vehicular activity. Sure there was enough room to spread her wings out, and it was almost like flying. Not to mention it was beautiful. But there was too much that could go wrong. Her tether could break and she’d drift off into the void, or a cloud of debris could pass by and shred her to pieces. The ship shields usually protected from the latter, but she had heard too many stories of a ship’s shields failing with somepony outside. And she hated the silence of space. A deafening lack of noise, it horrified her. She tied her deep blue mane into a ponytail and climbed into her spacesuit, then stepped into the port side airlock. The interior door shut behind her with a hiss, and she inspected the nanotube weave and metal frame that she wore. The suit was properly sealed and functioning at optimal levels. She placed the domed helmet over her head and made sure it was sealed then attached the tether to a hook on the exterior door. After checking her gear a second time, Nebs flipped the air release switch, and the atmosphere was violently sucked into the storage tanks. She then opened the exterior door, activated the electromagnets in her boots, and stepped onto the outer hull of the ship. “Alright, SARAN,” She spoke into her com link.”Play some post-rock, please” “Very good, Miss Nebs.” The soothing guitar tones filled her ears and drowned out the utter silence of space. After her first haul, one of her friends told her that it was the best music for long trips through space. Though more of a hard rock fan, Nebs had to agree, she loved it. She carefully began making her way to the manual release to engine two’s purge valve. Grabbing the lever with both forehooves, she pulled it toward the front of the ship. After some effort, the valve opened, purging the leaked fuel from the engine box. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. Turning, she spotted a stray asteroid above the ship. “SARAN, what’s the heading of that big rock?” “The asteroid is on a collision course with the Mercy, ma’am. We have approximately ten minutes until impact.” The Ship rocked violently. “SARAN! What the hell was that?” Nebs yelled, holding on to the release valve. “I am sorry, Ma’am,” The computer replied, “That did not show up on my sensors.” “Whatever. Just make sure that as soon as I get back into the airlock, you fire up engine one and get us out of the way of that rock.” “Yes, ma’am.” Nebs made her way back to the airlock. The ship rocked again, and her boots disengaged from the hull of the ship. She began drifting away from the ship. SARAN adjusted the shield geometry to protect her from any debris. “Oh shit,” Nebs yelled, flailing her limbs around wildly, ”SARAN, help me!” “Miss Nebs!” he replied, “Please remain calm.” “I don’t wanna die like this!” She continued, ignoring the AI, “Help!” “Nebula, calm down!” He insisted, “Grab hold of your tether, and pull yourself back to the airlock. Hurry, we do not have much time.” Nebs took a deep breath and began pulling herself toward the ship. As soon as she entered the airlock she closed the exterior door and let the air back in. She took her helmet off and let it drop to the rubberized floor. The ship jerked as it started moving again. “SARAN, Remind me never to leave the damn ship again.” “Yes ma’am.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nebs had replaced the leaky fuel regulator and the Mercy was running at one hundred percent again. She was now relaxing in the lounge, watching a low budget science fiction movie. It was dumb, but after it reruns of Star Trot: The Next Generation would be on. Growing up that was one of her favorite shows. The other fillies mocked her for watching a 'nerd show’, but she never cared. Her and her dad would always make it a point to never miss an episode. Even when he was diagnosed, they watched it at the hospital, all the way until the end. “Hey, SARAN,” She called, “Do we still have any of that crappy whiskey?” “Yes ma’am,” He answered, “However, I would not recommend becoming intoxicated.” “I’m not,” she replied, “I just want one glass.” She got up and walked into the kitchen. Opening the fridge and retrieving the bottle, she then filled a glass, and took a long sip. She then went back to her seat. The vidscreen’s signal cut off replaced by a warning message and a loud beep. “TO ALL SHIPS IN THE KOPRULU SECTOR: THIS IS A WARNING FROM THE EQUESTRIAN ASTEROID MOVEMENT ASSOCIATION (EAMA). A CATEGORY SEVEN ASTEROID CLOUD HAS BEEN SPOTTED MOVING ACROSS THE SECTOR. ALL CLASS C AND LOWER SHIPS MUST DOCK WITH THE NEAREST STATION.” The Signal went back on. “What sector are we in, SARAN?” Nebs asked. “We are leaving the Koprulu sector now, ma’am”