Author's Note
I do not own the Sarah Jane Adventures.
The control deck was a large, almost clinically clean looking room, with a massive console wrapping around the front of it. Where it wasn't flashing red it was blaring orange. Zairitheisean was dancing around it. The back half of the room was white metal, while the front was what Maria originally thought was black. It took her a moment to understand what she was actually looking at. The entire front section of the room was thick glass, covered in centuries' worth of soil and roots.
"Did you just say the engines are at critical? Are these the readings?"
"Confirmed."
"But why are the engines even running? You're on emergency power; you've been here for two hundred years! Why are the engines running? They can't have been going all that time."
"Negative."
"Then why are they running now? Sdraish, you've just got power building up and up. Again, why? I have so many questions."
"We know," said Jamson dryly.
Maria studied the console. It was massive, and kinda clunky looking in her opinion, with large dials and buttons scattered across it. The designers of all the sleek, minimal sci-fi movie sets wouldn't be impressed. Zairitheisean ran her hands over it, seemingly checking the displays. "Thrusters are down, of course, and the buffers and drives. That's why the power's building up, nowhere to go, nothing to power."
"Assistance is required. There is a requirement for power."
Zairitheisean glanced at the robot. "There is not."
"There is a requirement for power."
"This ship is crashed, it's going nowhere. Your thrusters are non-operational-"
Maria tapped her shoulder. "I think it means the cylinders."
"What?"
"Those were live, remember?"
Zairitheisean spun round to jump at another part of the console. "Yes! You're right; they were! But being powered off the engines, that's not right. They should be on a secondary generator."
"Maybe they didn't know that when the ship was built," Maria suggested. "You said the creators were innovators before their time. Maybe people were using trial and error until they got it right."
"I knew there was a reason I like you Maria Jackson." Zairitheisean turned back to the console. "So they hook both the thrusters and the chambers up to the engines. Massive energy and power strain. But she didn't implode like the Tirania. That would have prevented a lot of problems. Something else blew though. And those chambers have a power supply now, but they're not active or the power wouldn't be building up."
"What's going to happen if the power does keep building?" Jamson asked.
"Oh, she'll explode."
"Would that be a bad thing? Wouldn't it just... destroy the problem?"
Zairitheisean stopped to point at him. "You. I like you. Good thought. Very good thought. Risky tactic. And this is a big ship, there'd be an awful lot of collateral. Would have to be very carefully controlled. Besides, that ship's being dragged in too fast; it'll hit before this one goes bang." She danced around the console.
"So if the engines were started to power those chambers, why aren't they being, y'know, powered?" asked Maria. Zairitheisean glanced at her.
"Very good question. Excellent question. Could be an adapter problem maybe, from powering them from the engines direct. Oh! That would explain why something blew!"
It was a little unnerving how excited she was getting about all of this. She jumped to a different part of the console, her hands bouncing over the controls.
"What it doesn't explain is why the engines are running right now. Emergency protocol would activate the distress signal, not the engines."
"There is a requirement for power."
"Yes, but why are the engines running right now?"
"There is a r-r-requirement for p-power."
"No but-" Zairitheisean paused and turned to the robot. "Droid ML0101, did you turn the engines on?"
"There is a requirement for power."
"That explains that then."
"So can you shut the engines down? Or stop that other ship being dragged in?" asked Maria.
"I can try."
Jameson frowned. "I thought you said you could."
"I did, but that was for the signal pulling the other ships in. This is a little bit more complicated than I expected." Zairitheisean bounced back and forth around the displays, tapping at them and pressing buttons. "I mean, this is old tech. Very old. Old to the extent I've never used stuff like this old." She paused at one of the displays, shining her own wrist device over it and beginning to tap at the screen. "I don't know what half of this stuff is for. Is this the thruster calibrator? Why does it only have one dial and so many buttons? Why does this thing have a bell attached? I just don't know!" She bounced around the console, scanning more of the screens with her own device, which Maria was beginning to suspect she was using as some sort of translation device.
"Must have been combined and conflated together over the years. Not to mention even if I shut the signal down that won't help with the engine problems."
Maria drew in a deep breath. She'd missed this, she really had, although she wasn't sure how much she should miss mortal danger. "Okay. Can you shut the signal off first, so we at least don't have another spaceship being dragged towards Earth?"
"Wait, another one?"
"Good plan, good plan."
"What do you mean 'another one?'"
"That's not the first ship this thing's dragged down."
"I definitely think this should be a job for the army-"
"What do you think the army would do with an alien spaceship?"
"Blow it up, preferably. You said it was going to explode anyway!"
"Oh, she will. Take out roughly two hundred clicks with her. And then there's the fallout…" She paused at another display that had just turned blue. "Wait. Droid ML0101, is this what it looks like it is?"
Maria cast her mind over the distance they covered to get here, trying to use it as a basis of estimation. "But that would take out most of Washington!"
The ship gave another violent shudder, shivering under their feet. Jamson glanced around. "Is anyone else feeling that?"
"Yeah, it's happened a few times," Maria replied as the robot reached for the display with one thin limb. Zairitheisean shrieked and launched herself at the it, shoving the limb away from the console with an invisible hand. Maria could have jumped a foot.
The display turned green.
Zairitheisean let out what sounded awfully like a string of alien curses. Maria edged closer to the console, trying to catch some glimpse. "What's going on?"
Zairitheisean scanned the console, holding her wrist over it as she tapped at the screen. There was a set of symbols moving across the top of the screen and a set of what Maria guessed might be some sort of readings below. Engine readings maybe?
"What's going on? What is that?"
Zairitheisean tapped at the screen and made a noise of frustration when it only buzzed and flashed briefly orange. "Launch sequence."
"What?" Jamson yelped in a voice that sounded far too high pitched.
"I got it wrong Maria Jackson! The ships aren't being pulled in!"
A horrible realisation struck, washing over her. "Oh no."
"They're being used to pull this one up!"
"What?" Jamson snapped again. Zairitheisean ran her hands over the console,
"This is genius!"
"Did you just say that thing's a launch sequence?"
"I mean, it must be inbuilt to the ship, the robot didn't program this."
"As in, to make this thing take off?"
"The technology's unique, I've never seen anything like this ever. And it would be in use!"
"The thing we're currently in?"
"It's absolute genius, really."
"The spaceship we just blew a hole in the hull?"
"Horrifically dangerous, but genius!"
"He has a point," Maria said. Zairitheisean slapped the console.
"Idiots! Such advanced technology for the time, we could be so much further advanced if this had become mainstream, and all of it programmed by absolute imbeciles! The stupidity of intelligent people knows no bounds!"
"Can you stop it?"
"I can try; the system's not letting me! It's on some sort of lock!"
The ship shuddered and screeched around them. Maria saw the soil above them shifting. Zairitheisean reached across the console to swipe at one of the other displays. "Problem is the thrusters are still offline; if the systems go ahead with launch procedures now…"
One of the other displays on the console gave a shrill 'beep!' Zairitheisean leant over to get a look. "Oh. Huh." She smacked something on the screen and an image appeared there. It was a person, alien, with deep blue skin, large green eyes and two long braids hanging down either side of their face, wearing what looked like some sort of grey spacesuit. They began to speak, slow and stilted, in some alien language.
The robot took a rotating step towards the console. Zairitheisean blasted it backwards across the room. Jamson yelled. "Watch out where you throw shit!"
Ignoring him, she held her arm out over the screen, her scanner glowing blue as she tapped at the other screen with her free hand. Maria stepped forward to watch the transmission.
"We, um, we can't understand you," Maria said.
"It's a recording," Zairitheisean said.
Well, didn't she feel like an idiot?
"Might tell us what happened."
"Could you maybe worry less about what happened then and more about what's happening now?"
"Understanding your enemies is half the battle won."
"Right, right, so you said-"
Zairitheisean's scanner biiiiped and she pressed something on it. A man's voice, slightly robotic sounding like Zairitheisean's own, began to speak. "-ring it, but I believe trying -"
Zairitheisean tapped on the screen and the image flashed briefly.
"This is Captain Mal'eetafira of the Great Genesis Ship Luthanisia."
"Someone's got an ego," Jamson muttered.
"It is a great ship! Besides, that's her full title."
"The galactic date is two-zero-eight-six-one-five. We left Inosilias four years ago en route to Verdalis Three, carrying needed supplies, DNA samples, five hundred embryos in frozen storage, artificial growth chambers, and three hundred passengers. Our mission is to help establish and populate Verdalis Three. In order to maintain the physical condition of those aboard, two hundred and eighty five of the passengers agreed to be put to sleep in experimental stasis chambers."
"So it was cyrostasis!" Zairitheisean crowed.
"Two days ago we suffered a critical failure in one of the main core processors. The failure severely damaged the navigation and guidance systems and has set us on a path severely off-course."
"You don't say," muttered Maria.
"So it was the nav systems that blew; I told you it had to be something!"
"It also created a malfunction in the engines which is causing an energy feedback loop, causing the ship to consistently pick up speed."
"The engines on her must be phenomenal."
"Our technicians are still working on repairing it, but I believe the strain of powering the stasis chambers as well as the thrusters and flight equipment is simply too much for the engines. It is my belief that we will continue gathering speed until we make a collision with something. For those viewing this in future, I would recommend keeping any stasis chambers on a secondary loop and generator to prevent issues of this kind. This is Captain Mal'eetafira of The Great Genesis Ship Luthanisia. If there is anyone out there to receive this, please send emergency assistance immediately. May the stars watch over us and save our souls."
"May the stars watch over you Captain," Zairitheisean murmured, her attention barely on the screen displaying the launch codes.
"Uh, not to break up the mood or anything, but shouldn't you be doing something about that?" Jamson asked, pointing at the other screen.
"Right. Yes, right. Launch codes." She leant over the console, tapping at the screen. The ship roared and shook around them, metal screaming in protest. Jamson flung his arms out for balance and Maria made a grab at the wall. Zairitheisean simply swayed to keep her balance.
"What was that?" Jamson shouted over the now roaring sound echoing through the ship.
"Must be the engines gearing up!" Zairitheisean shouted back.
The console screamed an alarm, the lights and screens that had still been orange turning red.
"Shut it off!" Maria yelled.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Her hands danced over the console. "Power's booting over critical and the system's frozen! Might have better luck bringing the thrusters online and-"
She stopped.
Maria looked at her. It felt like the world shifted, a plan forming between her and the girl behind the black mask. "If we launch the ship-"
"It would use up some of the power-"
"And once it's outside the atmosphere-"
"It'll be away from hurting anyone. Of course we'll have to get off preferably before she leaves the atmosphere-"
"Definitely before she leaves the atmosphere. Will she have escape pods?"
"Two decks down, saw them on the floor plan. We could maybe even hand it over to whatever ship it's currently trying to doom!"
"Aren't you two missing something?" Jamson asked.
"What's that?" Zairitheisean replied, now focused on the part of the console Maria was pretty sure she had earlier called the thruster calibrator.
"The gaping hole in the side of the ship for one. And didn't that – thing – in the recording say something about the navigation systems? And energy feedback for that matter? You said yourself there was a problem with the power! This thing could explode the moment you get it operational!"
"There must be some sort of way to seal off that wing of the ship, but you're right, the energy feedback'll be a problem."
"Could we separate the stasis chambers somehow? So the engines are only powering the ship?"
"Probably not, sounds like they wired them through. There's no time anyway, we're just gonna have to make do."
The ship gave another roar and an even more violent shake than before. Maria staggered into Jamson.
"Well I've changed my mind! Whatever you plan on doing, do it fast!"
Maria decided Zairitheisean was definitely grinning behind that helmet of hers.
