Hulu's The Orville: Mister Runaway
A Fan Fiction by Jesse Shearer
Chapter One: Just Another Day
It was just another ordinary day aboard the USS Orville, one of many mid-level explorer ships in the Planetary Union's fleet, with the crew going about their regular duties as usual. Shortly after midday, Lieutenant Commander Bortus paid a visit to the ship's sickbay.
"Hello, Bortus. What can I do for you?" Dr. Claire Finn, the ship's chief medical officer, asked when she saw the Moclan enter.
"I am having trouble... relieving myself." Bortus explained, looking somewhat embarrassed by his admission.
"That's odd." Finn replied. "I thought your people only urinated once a year."
"That is correct. We must, however, relieve ourselves of solid waste more frequently." Bortus explained. "I have not done so in quite some time."
"Essentially, you're constipated. I was unaware that such a thing could happen to Moclans." Finn noted. "When you say 'quite some time', how long do you mean?"
"Approximately three weeks." Bortus replied.
"Yeah, that can't be healthy, even for you." Finn told him. "I'm going to have to do a little research and get back to you. Come back after your shift and we'll see what I've got for you."
"Thank you, Doctor." Bortus told her. Just then, both Bortus and Finn were called to the bridge to have a look at the most recent thing the ship had encountered in its travels.
When they arrived on the bridge, the main viewscreen was displaying what appeared to be a large, saucer-shaped ship with a pair of large, cylindrical engine outputs mounted over the rear section.
"What is that?" Finn asked after a moment of looking at the image on the screen.
"Isaac, what have you got for us?" Captain Ed Mercer, the ship's commander, asked of his Kaylon science officer.
"It appears to be a starship of some sort, though I am not familiar with its design or configuration." the android replied. "Furthermore, there appears to be another pair of engine nacelles mounted below the rear section. Also of note is that there is one very faint human life sign aboard, although power and life support are at minimal levels."
"Any idea of where it might have come from or how long it's been here?" Mercer inquired.
"Negative at this time. Perhaps examining the ship more closely would be in order." Isaac suggested
"Agreed. We're probably going to want to get that survivor over here while they're still alive as well." Mercer replied. "Doctor, Isaac, Bortus, take a shuttle over and see what you can find."
"Yes, sir." Bortus replied as he, Isaac and Finn headed for the shuttle bay. A few moments later, the shuttle had docked with the newfound vessel and Isaac had interfaced with the docking port, attempting to unlock the entryway.
"Doctor, I would recommend that Bortus and yourself equip respirator masks, as the atmospheric oxygen level aboard this ship registers as dangerously low." Isaac told his organic counterparts.
"Good idea." Finn agreed. "I'll bring one for our survivor as well. It'll probably make it easier to get them back to the Orville."
A moment later, the doctor had retrieved three respirator masks for herself, Bortus, and their potential survivor, and had returned to the hatch just in time for Isaac to get it open. Upon entering the ship itself, they noted the stale air and low lighting conditions, at which time Bortus and Finn donned their masks.
"This is a very big ship for just one person." Bortus commented as the trio scanned the ship for their survivor.
"Indeed." Isaac agreed. "However, it appears that the only life form aboard, aside from us, is the one we detected from the Orville."
"The good news is that we're close." Finn told them. "One deck above us and about thrity meters ahead, in crew quarters, apparently. Now all we need is a way up."
"My sensors detect a ladder that may lead us to the next deck just ahead. This way." Isaac told his companions, leading them to the ladder and access point he had found. Not long after, the trio had accessed the next deck up and found the quarters with the survivor in them.
"This looks like the place. Let's see if our patient-to-be is well enough to answer this door." Finn said, pushing what looked like the key for a door chime on a pannel by the door.
"Ugh... come in..." came the reply, in a weak and somewhat rough male voice a second before the door slid open, allowing the explorers to enter. As they made their way in, they saw a very obese man, aproximately 40 years old, with short, dark hair, an almost white beard, and glasses, dressed in an orange plaid button-up shirt, blue denim jeans, and hiking boots sitting on a cushioned benchlike seat across the room from them. Finn approached first and put the spare respirator mask she was carrying on him before scanning him to check his vital signs.
"Finn to Orville." the doctor said, tapping the communicator chip in her uniform sleeve after finishing her scan. "We've found our survivor. Male, apparently human, barely conscious. I'll need to get him back to sickbay to get a better sense of his real condition."
"Okay, bring him on back. I look forward to hearing from all three of you when you get here." Mercer replied.
"Captain, I request permission to stay aboard and further explore this ship." Isaac requested. "There is much we can learn from this encounter."
"Maybe later, Isaac. This situation is too risky for me to leave anyone over there alone. Come back with Bortus and Doctor Finn for now and we'll see about having a better look later." Mercer replied. "Orville out."
"Well, you heard him. Let's get this guy back to the ship" Finn said.
"I will assist in lifting the patient." Bortus said, approaching their survivor from one side while Finn went for the other. The man also tried to stand under his own strenght.
"Thanks,... guys. Much... appreciated." the man said, breathing heavily between words.
"Try not to talk just yet." Finn told him. "We're probably going to need your help to get all four of us out of here."
The man nodded and motioned for the others to lead the way, with Bortus helping him stay steady as they headed for the ladder they had used earlier. When they got their, their rescuee stopped them, indicating that he couldn't follow them that way.
"I'm not sure there's enough air in these breather masks of yours to get us through fitting me through that hatch." he explained. "The good news is that there's a lift across the hall, and I think I can get it running long enough to get us to whatever deck your shuttle's on."
"Worth a shot, then." the doctor agreed, and the group stepped across the hall to the lift. When the door didn't open, it was up to the new fourth member of the party to open it.
"Unlock code Shearer delta seven." the man said, holding a key on another door pannel.
"Code not accepted. Please try again." the ship's computer replied.
"Huh. OK, unlock code O'Reiley beta three." the man said, for his second attempt
"Code accepted. Please enter and set destination." the computer replied, opening the doors.
"OK you're how many decks down?" the man asked his rescuers, beginning to sound slightly better.
"Just one." Bortus told him as they boarded the lift.
"Deck seven." the rescuee said, causing the lift doors to close and take them down the one level. Once they were off the lift, the group proceeded to the shuttle in silence as quickly as their impaired member could let them. When they were back aboard, Isaac and Bortus took the controls so that Finn could further examine her patient on the way back to the Orville.
"So, is this a medical ship we're headed to?" the passenger asked as Finn did her examination.
"No, the Orville is an exploratory ship. I'm Doctor Finn, the chief medical officer; Bortus is the second officer, and Isaac is our science officer." Finn explained. "Can you tell us your name now? If not, it's OK to wait, considering the situation."
"I think I'd better hold off on that for now, doc. It's going to be hard enough to explain when I've got my full mental faculties back." he told her. "Suffice to say, though, I'm clearly not where I thought I was. Judging by your uniforms, I could have sworn you were the captain, your friend Bortus was the head doctor, and Isaac was a medical droid."
"We will be docking with the Orville momentarily, Doctor." Isaac informed them.
"Have sickbay meet us in the shuttle bay with a gurney." Finn told the android, still taking scanner readings of her patient. "Between what we saw on your ship and these scanner readings, I'm not letting you walk once we get off the shuttle."
"Makes sense." the man agreed, coughing a bit as he spoke. Not long after, the shuttle had docked, and the doctor took the survivor to sickbay to do a more thorough examination while the others went to report to the captain and first officer.
"The ship our rescued passenger is from may very well be from another dimension, captain." Isaac explained to the pair. "When I was interfaced with the ship's computer while unlocking the docking port, I happened to download some navigational data referencing stars and planets without analogs in known space."
"That could be big. Very big." Mercer told them. "What did you think of the place, Bortus?"
"From the parts of the ship we saw, much of it seemed similar to a Union ship. Big for the one person we found aboard, but perhaps best staffed by a crew of fifty to seventy-five." Bortus replied. "As Isaac suggested before we returned, perhaps we should examine the ship itself more closely than we can from the Orville."
"That sounds like a good step in the near future." First Officer Commander Kelly Grayson agreed. "I think we should get with the guy we found over there first, though. So far, he seems like our best bet to figure this thing out."
"Agreed. Doctor Finn said she'd let us know when she was done with her examination. We might be able to talk to him afterwards." Mercer said.
"Did she say how long she thought she needed?" Grayson asked.
"Negative, but it'll be worth the wait, given her thoroughness." Mercer said.
"Indeed. I am very eager to explore the other ship further." Isaac added.
"I think we all are." Grayson replied.
"Unless anyone has anything more to add right now, I think we're finished for the time being." Mercer said, looking to his officers, who all seemed to agree with him. "Dismissed."
Meanwhile, in the ship's medical facility, Doctor Finn was nearing completion of her patient, whose condition had improved significantly but was still in bad shape relative to the rest of the people aboard the Orville. As such, he was still laying on his back on the examination table
"Well, I've done all I can with these instruments for now." Finn told her patient. "All that's left are a few details for the chart. Can you tell me your name now?"
"My name is... Jesse Shearer, I think. I'm ninty-five percent sure, anyway. I didn't have time to grab my wallet before we left." the man replied.
"You are a very lucky man, Mr. Shearer." Finn told him. "Your heart and lungs are in such bad shape that being in the sort of low-oxygen environment we found you in for as long as you were should have killed you, and it's largely because of your weight. I'll spare you the lecture for now, but if you want to live very much longer, you need to do something about that."
"I hear you there, doc." Jesse replied. "It's been a tough thing to deal with thus far, but maybe this will be the time and place to change things, finally."
"Optimism. That's good." Finn said. "And that leads us into our next set of questions: where you're from and what you think the date is."
"I'm from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and as far as the date goes, the last I remember it was sometime in May of 2020." Jesse told her.
"You're quite aways away from home, both in time and place." Finn told him. "At least it's still May, though. Could you tell me your age, please?"
"I'm forty-two, but my birthday's in August." Jesse told her. "May I sit up now?"
"Certainly." Finn told him. "In fact, I think I've got what I need from you for now, so you're free to go."
"Thank you, Doctor Finn." Jesse told her as he sat up with a pained grunt.
"Are you alright? Maybe you should stay here for awhile." Finn suggested.
"I could be better." Jesse replied. "It's partly because my legs, and especially my left leg, were never particularly great, even before I put on all this weight."
"I can certainly help you with that, if you want it." Finn told him.
"I may just take you up on that, doctor." Jesse replied. "As I think I mentioned on the shuttle, I may not have wound up where I thought I was going, but maybe just not being where I started from will be enough of a start. For now, though, I'm a little hungry, and getting a little food in me might help me get my head on a little straighter."
"Okay." Finn said. "As I said, I think we're good here for now, if you'd like to get something to eat. I've got to get my reports filed and talk to the captain, otherwise I'd join you for lunch."
"Quite alright. I'm sure my turning up like this has made a lot of work for everybody. I'll find my way to the mess hall or something. Thanks again." Jesse said as he got up from his seated position on the exam table and left the medical bay in search of the mess hall. As he explored, he came across the ship's pilot, Gordon Malloy, on his way to the same place.
"Excuse me, sir." Jesse addressed him. "Which way to the mess hall?"
"Huh? Right this way." Malloy replied. "You must be the guy they brought over from the ship we found. I'm Gordon Malloy, the ship's pilot."
"Nice to meet you." Jesse replied, shaking Malloy's extended hand. "Jesse Shearer. I'm not sure what rank or position I had on my ship, and from the sounds of things, there's nobody who can clear that up for us."
"Yeah, that's kind of weird." Malloy agreed. "But hey, let's go get a little lunch. The mess hall's this way. Our synthesizers can make just about anything you can think of."
"Sounds good. Lead the way." Jesse said. A moment later, the two had arrived in the mess hall and approached an open synthesizer pannel.
"You go first. You're probably hungrier than I am." Malloy told Jesse. "Just push the button on the top left and tell the computer what you'd like."
"Alright." Jesse replied, pushing the button. "One six-ounce molebear steak with bellgrape sauce, a needlelettice salad with diceberry vinagrette, and a glass of rhinoloupe juce."
"Unable to process request. Zero items available in synthesizer library." the computer responded.
"Huh. Well, you'd better go ahead then, Gordon." Jesse told him, stepping away from the pannel. "You're probably on your break, and I'm going to have to rethink my meal a bit."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks." Malloy agreed, sounding dumbstruck by Jesse's oddball meal order as he took his place at the synthesizer. "One slice New York-style peperioni pizza and a cola."
As the synthesizer produced Malloy's meal, Bortus entered the mess hall and approached the same station as Malloy and Jesse. Bortus appeared more distressed than he had the last time Jesse had seen him.
"Oh, hey, Bortus." Malloy greeted his crewmate. "You alright, buddy? You've looked better."
"I am fine. It is a minor case of... digestive discomfort, but it is nothing of concern." Bortus replied.
"I know that expression, and it's one that says the quicker the fix the better." Jesse told him. "Good news is, I might be able to help on that front, but I'm going to need to get into my ship's, uh... sythesizer files to do it."
"I am not sure that would be wise. We really should have a closer look at your ship first." Bortus said, sounding a bit nervous.
"Dude, you look like you're about to explode." Malloy told him.
"He's right, and I don't think Bortus guts are on anybody's lunch menu." Jesse agreed. "Besides, you're probably going to want into my computer system eventually anyway, so why not start here?"
"Perhaps you are correct." Bortus agreed, realizing that he would likely not win an argument in this case, as he entered his clearance codes to start the uplink to Jesse's ship. "Go ahead."
"Computer, copy all replicator files to the Orville's computer." Jesse commanded his ship over the uplink. "Clearance code O'Reiley Beta three epsilon."
About fifteen seconds later, the computer beeped and reported that the transfer had completed successfully.
"One elnoria grass muffin." Jesse told the computer, activating the synthesizer again. This time, a large, dark colored but sweet smelling muffin appeared in the synthesizer's delivery area.
"Here you go, buddy." Jesse told Bortus, taking the muffin from the tray and handing it to the Moclan. "If this doesn't get things going again, you really will need medical help."
"Thank you." Bortus replied.
"And since I seem to be going out of my way to irritate your lovely Doctor Finn all of a sudden," Jesse said as he pressed the button on the synthesizer again, "One mad mallard platter with a double order of bread stuffing and one bottle of orangeopus wine."
A few seconds later, a tray containing a large roasted bird with plenty of well-seasoned bread stuffing, a bottle of deep orange wine and a glass appeared in the synthesizer's delivery compartment.
"Whoa! Dude, that looks amazing!" Malloy commented upon seeing Jesse's meal.
"Indeed, it smells delicious." Bortus agreed.
"You're in luck. I'm going to have to share some of this." Jesse told them. "And even then, I probably shoudn't eat again until this time tomorrow. Let's find ourselves a table and get started before all this gets cold."
Once the trio had found an open table and taken their seats, they enjoyed some idle conversation with their meals.
"How's the muffin?" Jesse asked Bortus.
"It tastes... buttery, and I think it is beginning to have an effect." Bortus replied.
"Wow, that's quick. I've never heard of those things working so fast." Jesse said, between bites of his meal. "At this rate, you'll be going in a minute. Care for a bite of duck or stuffing beforehand?"
"Perhaps another time. I must... go." Bortus told his comanions.
"So soon? We just started eating." Malloy replied.
"No, I think he means the other kind of 'go'." Jesse said.
"Oh. Well, best of luck, man." Malloy told Bortus.
"Yeah, stay well, buddy." Jesse added as the Moclan stood and went to the nearest public head on the ship.
"Mind if I try some of that stuffing?" Malloy asked. "It smells great."
"Sure." Jesse told his new fried.
Meanwhile, in the captain's office, the doctor was giving her report on the ship's new passenger, with things going smoothly.
"Yeah, that is some amazing resilliance, I'd say." Mercer told Finn, upon hearing how Jesse's condition was worse than expected for his situation.
"The good news is that once we got him into a decent atmosphere again, he seemed relatively healthy, all things considered." Finn added. "Even willing to make some lifestyle changes for the better."
"That's great news. He's our only lead on that ship out there, so we're going to need him alive and as well as possible if we're going to get this sorted." Mercer said. "Is he still in sickbay?"
"No." Finn replied. "I was done with my examination and he seemed well enough to be left on his own, so I released him. He said he was going to the mess hall."
"Okay. That's as good a place as any to go introduce myself, I suppose." Mercer told his medical officer. As he did, the lights dimmed and some equipment in the office went into low power mode or shut down completely.
"That's odd. Mercer to engineering." Mercer said, tapping the communications pannel on his desk. "What's going on down there, John?"
Down in the engine room, Chief Engineer Lt. Commander John LaMarr took a moment to examine his main control panel before replying.
"It looks like one hell of a power drain coming from the waste processor associated with the head near the mess hall, sir." LaMarr replied. "I'm not sure what's causing it, but it doesn't look too serious at this point."
"Okay." Mercer replied over the ship's communications system. "Is there anything you can do to compensate?"
"I'll have to see what exactly the problem is before I can say for sure." LaMarr replied. "From what I can see here, though, the problem will resolve itself in an hour, tops, if we just let it sit."
"Sounds good." Mercer told him. "Doctor Finn and I were headed to the mess hall to check in with our passenger anyway, so maybe you could meet us there and check it out, just to be sure."
"Will do, sir. See you there." LaMarr replied, letting Yaphit know he was in charge for the time being before heading out.
A few moments later, all three had arrived in the mess hall just in time to see Bortus returning as well, taking his seat with Malloy and Jesse. The captain and the doctor, especially, exchanged a concerned glance before aproaching the table to introduce themselves, again, in Finn's case.
"Oh, hey, Doctor Finn!" Jesse said happily, standing up as the three approached. "Nice to see you again."
"That could change in the near future." Finn replied, somewhat dryly. "What do you know about our power situation?"
"Well, you and Bortus, especially, really did me a big favor getting me off my ship before I suffocated, and I figured I'd try to return the favor." Jesse explained. "So when Bortus showed up here in the mess hall looking like he really needed a decent go, I thought I'd give him a hand, so we patched into my ship's replicator library so I could get him an elnoria grass muffin. I must admit, I hadn't expected it to work so quickly or so effectively. Hopefully, there's been no serious harm or damage done."
"Did you have anything to do with that, Gordon?" Mercer asked.
"No, sir. I just wanted to see Bortus get better and Jesse said he had a way to do it." Malloy explained.
"I'll take your word on that for the moment." Mercer said, turning his attention to Jesse, extending a hand. "I'm Ed Mercer, captain of the Orville. That's a big meal you've got there."
"Jesse Shearer." Jesse said, returning Mercer's handshake. "It's kind of a bad habit, especially since I feel like I haven't eaten in ages. But, now that I'm away from wherever it is I'm coming from, I just might be able to break that habit."
"That's something we need to talk about, when we get full power and you think you're up to it." Mercer told him. "We'd like to know where you came from and how you got here."
"Well, if I finish the drink I've got poured and stop now, I should be good to go in about an hour, maybe an hour and a half." Jesse said.
"I'm gonnna need a few minutes to check out the head to be sure, but I'm still thinking my original esitmate is good." LaMarr replied, before introducing himself as well. "I'm John LaMarr, by the way, chief engineer.
"Jesse Shearer. Nice to meet you." Jesse replied, as LaMarr went on to check the head.
"Now, how are you feeling, Bortus?" Finn asked the Moclan.
"Better than I was in sickbay." Bortus replied. "Slightly lightheaded, but better."
"Okay. Come see me in sickbay again once we get power back. I want to make sure there are no bad side effects to this muffin you ate. And you," Finn said, turning to Jesse, "I want you to promise me you'll come talk to me first if you get the urge to play doctor again."
"Will do, ma'm." Jesse replied. "I think I'm going to need a doggie bag and a place to put it."
"We've arranged quarters for you, and I think the synthesizer can still manage a container for your food." Mercer told him. "What about your, um, beverage?"
"That mini-bar you've got over there is probably the better place for it." Jesse told him. "Last thing I need to do right now is get myself plastered."
"Indeed." Mercer agreed. "Anyway, meet me in the main conference room in two hours. We'll see what we can get figured out."
"Sounds good. Gonna need somebody to show me where my quarters are in the meantime." Jesse said.
"Oh. Right. I guess that would be my job." Mercer said, leading Jesse out of the mess hall. "Right this way."
"Thanks." Jesse said, taking the remains of his meal and following the captain. Not long after, the men arrived at what would be Jesse's quarters while he was aboard the Orville.
"Anyway, here are your quarters for the time being. We'll let you know and maybe send someone by to get you when we're ready to get started." Mercer told him.
"Great! I'll see you then!" Jesse replied before entering the quarters he had been taken to. Once inside, he looked around the room for a few minutes, trying to learn where everything was before going to the computer terminal on the room's desk to learn what he could about this new world and time he was in before the meeting started. About an hour and a half later, there was a chime at his door.
"Coming!" Jesse called, getting up to answer the door. When he did, he was greeted by what seemed to him to be a familiar face.
"Kris...?" Jesse asked his visitor, seeming somewhat surprised.
"Talla, actually." she replied. "Lieutentant Talla Keyali, chief of security. Captain Mercer wanted me to bring you to the briefing room so the three of us could talk for a minute before we officially started the meeting."
"Okay, makes sense." Jesse replied. "Lead on."
"Right this way." Talla told him, letting him out of his quarters to show him to the briefing room.
"Sorry about the confusion there, Lieuteneant. You have quite the resemblance to one of my cousins. Thought you were her for a second." Jesse explained. "I'm Jesse Shearer, by the way, just to officially introduce myself. Nice to meet you."
"It's good to meet you, too." Talla replied. "You'll have to mention the cousin thing to the captain. That's actually the kind of information we're looking for."
"I'll keep that in mind for when we get started, then. Hopefully, that'll be sooner rather than later." Jesse said. "I'm kind of eager to see what's going on with my own ship, among other things."
"You're in luck. Our meeting room is to your right, there." Talla said, indicating the door to the briefing room.
"Oh, that was handy." Jesse said, going in first.
"It sure was," Talla agreed, following him
"Good afternoon, Mr. Shearer. I trust you're settling in." Mercer greeted the pair, standing as they entered.
"Eh, best I can, all things considered." Jesse replied, approaching the captain to shake his hand again. "This is not the future I was expecting to wind up in."
"I'll bet." Mercer said. "From what Doctor Finn tells us, you're from the early twenty-first century I'm sure all the non-humans aboard are out of the ordinary for you."
"Yeah, it's different, that's for sure. Back in my time, we're only just getting used to the idea that there are actually planets around stars other than our own sun." Jesse told him. "At the same time, though, Bortus and Isaac are hardly the only aliens, if you'll forgive the term, that I've ever met."
"That's true, and to be perfectly honest, they're not the only ones you've met here." Talla said. "I'm... not human either."
"What do you..." Jesse began to say, trailing off as he took a closer look at her and noticed the ridges on her forehead and ear that were not covered by hair. "Oh. That makes the resemblance all the more uncanny, then. If I might ask, where are you from, if not Earth?"
"I'm from a planet called Xelaya. I can understand your confusion, though." Talla said. "At first glance, my people and yours do look very similar."
"Let's have a seat and discuss this a little more, shall we?" Mercer suggested, gesturing to the table. "It sounds like you're still more from the past than you may realize."
"Yeah, good idea." Jesse agreed, taking a seat at the table. "On the way here, I was telling Miss Keyalli that she bears a strong resemblance to one of my cousins back home. The fact that we're probably not related at all is really something to think about."
"No doubt." Mercer agreed. "It's part of why I wanted to meet with you and my security head before the main meeting. We kind of need to figure out how we're going to proceed with all of this, and you're the only real source of information we've got on that right now."
"I'm honestly not sure how much help I can be, captain. I know that it's my ship over there. I know some of the security codes for it, and it seems my voiceprint is a close enough match to the official record to use them." Jesse explained. "At the same, I know I was a distinctly different guy when the ship was built and all that. How and why I'm me now instead of him, I don't have a clue."
"But you will try to help us get all this sorted, right?" Mercer asked. "You can do that, I hope."
"I shall do my best, yes." Jesse replied. "I'm not sure how much that'll actually get us, but I'll at least make the effort. I know I'm probably going to keep saying things like that, but for now, anyway, it's the best I've got."
"That's all we're asking, so it'll have to do." Mercer told him. "Is there anything else we should know before we get the meeting officially started?"
"Well, I'm sure this is something that'll become abundantly clear as we go along, but I may as well say aloud that social skills were never exactly my strong suit, and being so far out of my own time like this probably won't help with that any."
"It's good to know that you're at least aware of that set of potential problems." Mercer replied. "It'll make working through them a little easier. Is there any more to add before we get started?"
"I can't think of anything I won't essentially be repeating when the others get here." Jesse replied.
"Okay then, we may as well get the main meeting underway." Mercer said, hitting a button in the table's surface. A moment later, the rest of the Orville's senior staff entered and took seats at the table.
"Thank you all for coming." Mercer said, once they all had been seated. "As I'm sure you've all been made aware, we've got a big discovery on our hands, with the ship we're currently examining. Our guest here, Jesse Shearer, is our best lead on all this, since the ship seems to be his, in some capacity. With that in mind, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got here, Jesse."
"Thank you, captain. Like he said, my name is Jesse. I'm from the early twenty-first century, American midwest. Gotta say, it's been interesting to meet all of you, even if it's been in passing in some cases. In fact, I think the only one here I haven't met yet is you, miss." Jesse said, indicating Commander Grayson.
"Commander Kelly Grayson, first officer. Nice to meet you." Grason replied.
"You as well." Jesse returned. "Now, to how I wound up here, I was pretty much running away from my own time and place. There's quite a few reasons why, and if we tried to get into all of them, we'd probably be here all week. With that in mind, the nutshell version is that it's for my own physical and mental health. Getting away from what I knew for awhile would have been a good thing."
"Well, that's a start." Mercer said. "Anything you can add would help us understand a little better."
"Without getting too much into the actual psycology of it, it's mostly the mental health stuff that I'm running from." Jesse explained. "I was getting burned out on quite a lot of what had been going on in my life in the fifteen years or so before I tried to run. It had caused me to make poor choices that only made the physical stuff I mentioned to Doctor Finn worse, even before the tipping point came about three years ago, from my perspective."
"What sort of tipping point?" Grason asked.
"Well, I don't know what your history says about my time, but I knew things were starting to get really bad when we elected a game show host with the personality of a four-year-old as president." Jesse told her. "And even then, I would've been willing to stick it out had it not been for the pandemic."
"The what, now?" Malloy asked, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, remember what I was saying in the mess hall, about irritating Doctor Finn? This is another one of those things." Jesse said. "There was this big outbreak of some new virus or something, and I gotta say, the response in the US was kinda crappy, even for the time. That means that odds are good that I was at least exposed to it, and I may even have had it."
"Under the circumstances, I think we can forgive your not remembering that right away. But I'm glad you brought it up now." Finn said. "I had the computer do a higher-level anaysis of your test results after you left, and there were concerning levels of antibodies for what was called covid-19 at the time in your blood. We should be safe, because those same results indicated you weren't contagous, but we should still monitor overall health here and have a decon team sweep your ship before we do anything else over there."
"Agreed." Mercer said. "The good news is that we're not too far from Outpost 153, and the medical ship USS Pulaski is there on a resupply run. They should be able to get here in about three hours once we contact them."
"I know I'm kind of chomping at the bit here, but I'd also kinda like to help speed the process along." Jesse said. "Only thing I can think to do is try to get main power back online on my ship, but it will probably take longer than we have to do it right."
"How do you figure?" LaMarr asked.
"This is going to sound a little nuts, in part because it is, and in part because I'm not entirely sure of what I'm actually talking about." Jesse began. "Main power on my ship comes from a giant, high-pressure cold fusion reactor, which can be more than a little tricky to get going."
"I'll have to get a look at it first, but I'm usually up for a challenge." LaMarr replied.
"It'll certainly be that." Jesse told him. "One thing I'm a little more sure of is that my whole ship is pretty much a big pile of spare parts that was never meant to be anything like what it turned out to be."
"OK, gonna need the nutshell on that one." LaMarr said.
"This should be interesting." Mercer added.
"The quick version is that I'd had this other ship, see, and my 'brother' and I had wound up at a planet that was in the middle of a civil war kind of thing. I'd gone down to the surface to talk to some of the natives, and while I was there, one of the other groups managed to blow it up before he could get off." Jesse explained. "Not long after, I started work on my current ship, the Midnight Star. I'd originally intended it to be more along the lines of a shuttle to get back home in, but it kind of snowballed on me, and that was before the quick and dirty refit involving another ship after both of us were nearly taken out in a fight."
"Man, that sounds messed up." Malloy commented.
"Yeah, I get the sense that your ship is mostly a chewing gum and bits of wire sort of thing." LaMarr agreed.
"That's pretty much it, on both accounts." Jesse confirmed.
"I do not understand." Isaac said. "One cannot make a starship out of a confection and scraps."
"It's a human expression. It means my ship is not nearly as sturdy as it might seem," Jesse explained. "But like I was getting at, it wasn't really meant to hold together much longer than it took me to get back to Earth one time. Much as I'd like to be optimistic about this, I may have to face the fact that the Star just isn't fixable at this point."
"Don't give up hope just yet." LaMarr told him. "I'll need to have a look at it all first, but there's a chance we'll be able to do something with it."
"Indeed." Isaac agreed. "Perhaps your ship is not as flimsy as you seem to believe."
"It'll be good to get stared on repairs, but before we do, there are a couple other issues we need to discuss, if only in brief." Mercer said. "The first thing is what your destination was."
"I was on my way to a planet called Mobius, if memory serves." Jesse replied. "It was about thirty-five thousand light years from Earth, a ways into the delta quadrant. That's the planet I was talking about before, with the civil war thing."
"If there was a war going on there, why were you going back?" Isaac asked.
"Well, the war itself was just ending at about the same time I was leaving for Earth. Far as I knew, and still know, the war's over, so I figured I'd go back and see if I could take advantage of their medical technology." Jesse explained.
"That sounds reasonable enough." Mercer said. "It would be nice to know about this medical tech you're talking about, but that'll have to wait. For now, we'd better get to work on that ship of yours, and giving Union Central an update on the situation."
"Like I keep saying, I don't know how much help I can be, but I'm ready to get started whenever you are." Jesse said.
"Before we go, what's the team gonna need over there?" LaMarr asked.
"Respirators until we get the life support going again, standard toolkits, and as much junk as you can spare, so long as it's at least 200 pounds worth, to get the main reactor going again." Jesse replied.
"We can handle that, I think, but all our waste is broken down into hydrogen for storage and ease of use." LaMarr told him. "Not sure if that means anything in this case, but worth saying."
"That would be ideal, of course, but not entirely necessary if it's not workable" Jesse explained.
"That's doable." LaMarr said. "Our matter banks are actually fairly full for a change. We'll just need an hour or so to pull everything together."
"Is there anything I can do to help with the prepwork?" Jesse asked.
"Give me about a half hour and then meet me in engineering so I can at least introduce you to the people we'll be working with." LaMarr told him.
"Fair enough." Jesse agreed.
"OK, if there's nothing more, we may as well get started on all of this. The sooner we get all this worked out the better." Mercer said, noting that everyone present was in agreement with him. "Dismissed, everybody. Good luck."
As the group left the conference room, Jesse made a point of talking to Isaac as they left.
"So, uh, Isaac, is it? Will you be joining us on this little repair mission we're going on?" Jesse asked the android.
"I intend to, yes. I suspect that I will be needed." Isaac told him.
"Good, good. I was just going to say something to that effect." Jesse replied. "Plus, I've always kinda wanted to work with a full-on artificial life form."
"If you have not done so before, how did you manage to build such a complex space ship?" Issac inquired.
"Well, like I was getting at in the meeting, there's a fairly substantial time gap between the 'me' that's actually here right now and the 'me' that built that ship." Jesse explained. "Plus, if there's anything to the memories I've got of being that other guy, the non-biologicals that helped me with it were either holograms or technically cyborgs."
"Facinating. It seems there is much you could tell us." Isaac noted.
"I'm sure." Jesse agreed. "Something tells me we'll have plenty of time for that later no matter how all this works out, though. For now, we'd better get set to go on this thing. Hope to see you there, man."
"Indeed." Isaac returned as both went on with their business.
About half an hour later, Jesse arrived in the engine room to meet with the repair team.
"Ah, Jesse, good! Thanks for coming." LaMarr told him as he entered. "I've chosen a repair team I think will do the best work we can. I'll introduce you. Right this way, please."
"Gladly. I'm looking forward to getting started on this." Jesse said as they approached a group of three crewpeople, two male and one female.
"We are, too. Sounds like a real challenge, and I think we're all up to it." LaMarr said. "Anyway, these are Lieutennant Zbornak and Ensigns Smith and Boehnke. This is Jesse Shearer, guys, I was telling you about him before. He's our best bet to getting that ship over there sorted out."
"That might be overselling it a bit, but I'll do what I can." Jesse told them. "I'm anything but technically minded when it comes to this sort of thing."
"If that's the case, how'd you wind up in this situation to begin with?" Zbornak asked.
"Trust me, I'm just as much at a loss as anyone in that regard." Jesse replied. "As I'm hoping Mr. LaMarr mentioned, things are really screwy over there. The main reactor we're working on over there's built out of spare parts, and the drive core's something else altogether, so there's a million things that could have caused this."
"How do you figure?" Smith asked.
"It's a bit much to get into right now. It's something we'll just have to look into when we get over there." Jesse said. "I get the feeling I'm forgetting a few things here, but we'll work that out as we go."
"That said, I think we'd better get started." LaMarr said. "From what I understand, the captain has contacted Outpost 153 and the Pulaski should be here in a couple hours. From what I know so far, we're probably going to need the time."
"I would agree." Jesse said. "What will we need from here before we go?"
"At this point, just you." LaMarr told him. "We've had the hydrogen and tools we'll need sent to the shuttle, and Isaac is meeting us there."
"Sounds good." Jesse said. "I'm ready when you are."
"Like I was saying, we'd better get going, then." LaMarr told the group, motioning for them to head out. Not long after, they were on the shuttle ovet to the Midnight Star.
"If memory serves, there's a docking port where the nacelles attach to the saucer that should give us a farily straight shot to the engine room." Jesse explained as the shuttle approached his ship.
"On it." LaMarr said, piloting the shuttle around to the aft section of their target. "Looks like there's at least one good-sized shuttle bay on this thing, too."
"Yeah, we had a fair number of shuttles aboard." Jesse told him. "A teleport system, too, but in this specific case, the shuttles were preferred on account of a lot of things being a bit sketchy on this ship."
"Sounds like an interesting ship. I'm looking forward to checking it out a little bit." LaMarr replied. "We'll be docked in a minute. Might as well gear up now, just to be ready."
As LaMarr docked the shuttle, the other biologicals aboard put their respirators on before gathering their equipment. A moment later, the party had gained access to the ship's interior, with Jesse leading the way to the engine room.
"Shouldn't be too much farther." Jesse said. "More I look around, the more it seems like I'm forgetting something."
"I hope it's nothing too important." Zbornak said.
"Even if it is, we'll get it figured out if and when it comes up" LaMarr told them.
"Indeed. I believe we are capable of that." Isaac agreed as the group arrived at their destination, shining their flashlights around, indicating many of the room's features, including the main drive core.
"What is that?" Boenke asked, moving his light up and down the darkened column of what looked like frosted translucent material.
"The main reaction chamber for the star drive." Jesse explained. "It's powered by a matter-antimatter reaction, but that's something we'll deal with later."
"Good to know on both counts." LaMarr said. "Where's the loading port for the fusion reactor we're looking for?"
"Right over here, I think." Jesse replied, looking around the room with the others for a moment before heading to a gap in the consoles with a large panel in it. "Forgive any hesitation I might have here. It's been forever since I've dealt with this stuff."
"Understandable." LaMarr told him. "Let's get this panel off and see what kind of adapter we'll need to get this thing fueled up and running."
"Agreed." Jesse said, taking a moment to find the latch securing the panel. "There we go."
"Looks like a common enough adapter for the canister." LaMarr said, preparing the hydrogen canister for connection. "I'm assuming the larger compartment here is for solid fuel, if we were going that route."
"Exactly." Jesse confirmed.
"How long do you anticipate this process needs to complete?" Isaac inquired as LaMarr began transferring the contents of the container to the reactor.
"Well, at this rate, I'd say it'll take at least ten minutes to get the fuel loaded." LaMarr replied. "Any idea on how long before the reactor itself gets going, Jesse?"
"If memory serves, it should take fifteen or twenty minutes for it to pressureize and heat up, assuming we've got sufficient reserve power available." Jesse said. "We do have a portable generator or batteries along just in case, I hope."
"Got it over here, sir." Smith said.
"Great!" LaMarr responded. "Bring it on over here so we can get it installed just in case we need it."
As Smith and LaMarr worked on getting the reactor powered up, Jesse found what looked like an old handheld scanning device on nearby console. Acting from what seemed like habit, he picked the scanner up and headed over to the main engine's reaction chamber, where he opened a chest-level compartment, pulled out a sliding tray and began scanning the material installed on the top. As he worked, Isaac approached and observed for a moment.
"Might I inquire the purpose of scanning this material?" Isaac asked. "The device it is attached to seems to have no direct connection to the reactor."
"Just trying to get a little ahead of the game." Jesse replied. "What we've got here is probably the most important component in the main drive core, the dilithium matrix. Run a couple megavolts through here and it'll generate a field that'll let the matter and antimatter react without blowing the ship to bits in the process. Thing is, it's gotta be set up just right and properly crystalized or it won't work."
"Intriguing. I would like to study this further, should the opportunity arise." Isaac said. "I trust all is in order."
"Far as I can tell, it is." Jesse replied. "Probably won't be important for awhile, though. I'm not sure where we're gonna find any antimatter around here, after all."
"Hey, the reactor's just about fueled up but we've got a message over here. Something about closing the articulation frame?" Smith inquired a moment later.
"Oh, uh, that'd be me." Jesse said, sliding the tray back into place and closing the chamber. "Should be good to go here."
"OK, that did it." LaMarr said. "Fuel's loaded, and the temperature and pressure are going up. Shouldn't be long now."
"I know this is a hell of a time to say this, but from here on, if memory serves, if something goes wrong, it's gonna go really wrong." Jesse told the others. "From what I can tell, everything is in working order here, but if not, well, I really hope the Orville has good shields if things go that kind of wrong."
"Wait, this thing could blow up on us?" Boenke asked.
"You mean as in...?" Zbornak follwed up, gesturing an explosion with her hands.
"I'm afraid so." Jesse told them. "Like I was telling Mr. LaMarr and Isaac when I met with the command staff, this thing's pretty much kludged together from whatever spare parts I could find, so, uh..."
"Well, it's about time to give them an update anyway, so I'll tell them to be ready to make a break for it if something goes wrong." LaMarr said.
A short time later, the power reactor was ready to go. Things seemed reasonably mundane at first, but after about a minute and a half, things took an unexpected turn.
"The hell...?" LaMarr said, sounding confused by what he was seeing on the panel in front of him. "These readings don't make any sense."
"Let me see." Jesse replied, coming over to have a look at the readings. "Oh hell. Shit!"
"What? What is it?" Boenke asked.
"We got a little antimatter coming up. Forgot it did that." Jesse explained, sounding both worried and focused as he started entering commands on the panel in front of him and LaMarr. "Could you take the panel next to me quick? In about a minute, a yellow button about two inches around is gonna come up over there. When it does, hold it until it turns green."
"Oh, damn! On it!" Boenke said, taking the station and waiting for the light. A few seconds later, he pushed and held the button for about ten seconds until it changed color.
"The hell's going on here?" LaMarr asked.
"Well, like I was saying, this whole damn ship is bonkers in more ways than one. This whole antimatter thing is one of a few that really shouldn't work the way it does." Jesse explained. "Nothing personal, eveybody, but it's gonna take a smarter bunch than us to really get this all figured out."
"It would seem so." Isaac agreed. "I should point out, however, that we seem to have accomplished our mission."
"There is that." Zbornak said.
"Yeah. We'd better get ahold of the Orville and let them know what's going on over here." LaMarr said, opening a visual channel to the other ship by way of the console he and Jesse had been working from. A second later, a view of the Orville's bridge appeared on the screen, with Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson in the frame.
"Have you got good news for us, guys?" Mercer asked LaMarr and Jesse.
"Some good news and some bad." Jesse told him.
"The good news is that we've got the main power system online and should have lights and environmentals in about a minute." LaMarr added.
"What's the bad news?" Grayson asked.
"We've got about two pounds of antimatter over here, but I'm pretty sure we've got it contained for the time being." Jesse replied.
"You're kidding." Mercer said. "You'd better be kidding, because if you're not, calling it bad news is kind of an understatement."
"I really wish I was just fooling around right now, sir." Jesse told him. "Unfortunately, where we are now is that if something goes bang over here, folks on the other side of the sector are liable to feel it."
"Damn." Mercer cursed. "And the Pulaski's gonna be here any minute..."
As Mercer spoke, a medical ship about twice the size of the Orville came out of quantum space and opened a communications channel. A middle aged human with a buzzcut and stubble appeared on their veiwscreen.
"Captain Mercer? This is Captain Grey of the Pulaski. You called for a hospital ship?" the man asked.
"I did." Mercer replied. "As you might be aware, the ship we're monitoring may have some sort of viral contaimination, which we need help confirming. We've got people aboard trying to get environmentals functiong again, but we've hit a bit of a complication."
"What sort of complication?" Grey asked.
"My chief engineer and the guy we found on the ship are over there. I'll patch you through because I suspect they'll be able to explain better. Talla?" Mercer asked of his security officer. A second later, all three ships were on the call.
"OK, what sort of issue you having over there?" Grey asked.
"Lieutenant LaMarr, Orville's chief engineer. We've got a couple pounds of antimatter over here that is apparently contained, according to the person who apparently owns the ship." Lamarr explained, indicating Jesse.
"Jesse Shearer, Midnight Star." Jesse introduced himself. "This isn't the greatest situation ever, but there is some good news here. We should be able to move the ship because we actually have fuel for the main drive core. The bad news is that if something goes boom over here, it's really gonna go boom."
"That's good to know." Grey said. "How far do you think you'll be able to move that thing? Because if you can get it to the outpost we just came from, we'll have the facilities and resources to do a more thorough job of checking things out and doing any cleanup we might need to do."
"I think I remember how to check that." Jesse replied, beginning the check on the console in front of him. "About how far away is the outpost?"
"Twenty light years, more or less." Grey told him.
"OK, accounting for what it'll take to get the engine running, we should have just enough to get us there." Jesse said. "If I'm reading this right, it should take us about fifteen minutes to get there at top speed."
"Top speed?" Mercer asked. "That thing has more than one?"
"Yeah, it's a variable speed thing. I hope you can forgive my forgetting exactly how this works." Jesse said.
"Wait, don't you own that ship?" Grey asked.
"Well, essentially, yes. It's a weird situation that's a little complex to get into right now." Jesse explained. "For now, the simplest explanation is that I haven't dealt with this thing in years."
"That does complicate things." Mercer said.
"So about how long do you think it'll take to get your main engine going, and do you need any more people to help with it?" Grey asked.
"It should take about two hours, I think." Jesse replied "It'd help to have at least two more people over here, if either of you could spare them."
"I've got a couple engineers I can spare. They'll be there in about ten minutes." Grey told them. About two hours later, most of the work was complete.
"Okay, looks like we're ready to go here now," Jesse told the others. "All that's left now is a little fine tuning before we can get this thing moving, and we're going to need a few hands on the bridge for that."
"Sounds good." LaMarr said. "I wanna stay here to keep an eye on things. What sort of crew does the bridge need?"
"Well, I'd better be on that team myself, since I've got access codes, and I think I'm still at least a little familiar with the layout." Jesse replied. "Probably going to need a Union bridge officer, somebody who's good with science and engineering, somebody who can handle helm and/or navigation, and a communications person."
"I am the Orville's science officer, which is a bridge position. I shall join you." Isaac said.
"I was in the communications department on the USS Nunda before coming to the Orville." Zbornak chimed in.
"I know a little bit about navigation, if that helps." a light-haired woman about ten years older than Jesse offered.
"Sounds good." Jesse said. "What's your name, miss?"
"Nylund, sir. Lieutenant Rose Nylund, from the Pulaski." she replied.
"Cool, cool. My name's Jesse. Nice to meet you." Jesse said. "Looks like we've got a basic bridge crew. Mind if we swing by my quarters on the way to the bridge? There's a couple things I want to pick up just in case we either need them on the bridge or have to make a quick escape."
"That'd be cool. Just make it quick. The sooner we get this over with the better." LaMarr told him.
"Fair enough. Let's get going, then." Jesse said, leading the way to the nearest lift.
"You know, Rose, you seem familiar from someplace. Have we met before?" Zbornak asked their new companion as they walked.
"I was just going to ask you the same thing." Nylund replied. "Your first name wouldn't be Dorothy, would it?"
"Why yes, yes it would." Zbornak answered. "It's weird you'd be able to figure that out. We'll have time to worry about that later though."
"Here's our lift." Jesse told the group as the doors opened for them.
"Deck six." Jesse told the lift's control system once the door closed.
"How about you, Jesse? Where are you from?" Nylund asked.
"Eastern South Dakota, on Earth." he replied. "Yourself?"
"Wow, I'm from Minnesota, originally." Nylund told him.
"Oh, really? I've got a bunch of family from there myself." Jesse told her. "What part of Minnesota you from?"
"St. Olaf." Nylund told him as the lift came to a stop and the doors opened. "What part of the state was your family from?"
"The ones I'm most familiar with were from Kandiyohi County, I think." Jesse replied as he led the group towards his quarters.
"I'm not sure where that is, exactly." Nylund told him.
"West central part of the state, I believe." Jesse replied. "Anyway, here are my quarters. Come on in if you'd like. This should only take a minute."
When the group entered, Jesse went over to the table by the seat he'd been found on and picked up what looked like an old commscanner and put it in his left pants pocket, followed by a ratty old wallet and a set of keys that went in his right pocket. From there, he went over to a closet and removed a waist-lenght green jacket with black shoulders and red trim that was just big enough to cover his arms and back when he put it on. Once he'd managed that, he checked an inside pocket on his left and then reached into an outside pocket on the right and pulled out another walletlike object for a moment before returning it to the pocket.
"So, what does everybody think so far?" Jesse asked as he turned to face the group as they looked around the room.
"Nice. These are lovely quarters." Zbornak replied.
"Yeah, I like it." Nylund agreed.
"Indeed, it is a very practical design." Isaac added. "It appears your jacket is too small."
"Yeah, I've put on a bit of weight since I wore it last." Jesse said, half jokingly. Anyway, I think I've got everything I really want to take if we have to make a hasty exit."
"In that case, we should proceed to the bridge." Isaac advised.
"Yeah, Mr. LaMarr is right. No point in dragging this out." Jesse agreed, leading the way back to the lift for the trip to the bridge, where they arrived a moment later. When they exited the lift, it took the lights a moment to come on, but within a few seconds of that, the other relevant systems powered up as well.
"Shearer to LaMarr." Jesse said, tapping a pin on his jacket. "We've reached the bridge and the automation seems to be functioning. Updates to follow."
"Roger that." came LaMarr's reply.
"OK, if I'm rmembering this correctly, the communications station is on the far right from the lift here, the engineering station is to our immediate left, and helm and operations are in front of the captain's chair and tactical here." Jesse explained. "If we're all good to go, I'll take ops and we can get going."
"I believe we are all prepared." Isaac replied, getting nods from Zbornak and Nylund as well.
"In that case, let's get to our stations. I trust everything looks familiar and in working order?" Jesse asked, looking around to the others and getting positive responses.
"Okay, then, bride to engineering, if everything's still good down there, we're ready here, too." Jesse informed LaMarr and his team.
"We're still good here. Go when ready." LaMarr replied.
"Thank you, sir." Jesse told him. "Comms, let the Orville and Pulaski know we're ready to go here."
"On it." Zbornak replied.
"Helm, lay in a course for the outpost and engage on my signal." Jesse told Nylund. "I'll need to make a few last-second adjustments once we're cleared to depart."
"Aye aye, sir. Course laid in." Nylund replied.
"We've got an incoming call from the Orville." Zbornak informed the others. "On screen now."
"You're cleared for departure, Mr. Shearer." Mercer told Jesse and his crew. "Best of luck on the trip. We're hoping to see you at Outpost 153."
"Thank you, sir. I'm sure we're all looking forward to it as well." Jesse replied. "In case things don't work out as planned, it's been nice meeting everyone."
"You as well. Orville out." Mercer said a second before the channel closed.
"Well, we're pretty much committed now." Jesse said. "We looking good over there, Isaac?"
"All systems read clear." Isaac reported.
"Good. Helm, I'll point at you like this when those last adjustmenst are done." Jesse said, demonstrating a gesture for Nylund.
"Gotcha." she replied.
"Bridge to all hands, we're cleared for departure; will be engaging engines in aproximately thirty seconds." Jesse said, opening a channel from his staiton. As he began making the adjustments he talked about, there were some peculiar noises that began to stabilize after about twenty seconds, at which point, Jesse began trying to sing what sounded like some version of Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride, but missing a few of the lyrics. A few seconds later, he signaled Nylund to engage the engines.
Meanwhile, aboard the Orville, the main viewer on the bridge showed the Midnight Star zipping off into the distance with a blur trail behind it, with a starburst of white light once the ship was out of normal view.
"There's something you don't see every day." Malloy commented. "I hope they make it."
"The best way to find out would be to get going ourselves." Mercer said. "It's going to take us a couple hours to get there. Talla, let the Pulaski know and have them follow us. Gordon, lay in a course for Outpost 153 and take us to quantum."
To Be Continued...