TWELVE DAYS LATER

Yoshi Tamayuya stood bent over in the storage room, peering into one of the helmets from the suits field researchers would use to wear outside. He fiddled slightly with a dial inside, causing a button within it to grow bright green. Seconds later though, the light flickered off and no more static could be heard.

'Oh no...not now.' he moaned.

Dr. Reuban zipped up his thermal suit over his clothes and stood still for a few minutes. So that was it then. They were going to board the other craft. Jarreck and Yuya had tried deciphering the code to no avail and they didn't receive any response to the messages they had sent out a week earlier. Omitsu and the others (the other being Regan only, since both Barnaby and Lexington seemed opposed to this action for reasons of their own) had decided that the best option available to them was to go ahead with their initial decision. So they had deftly managed to move alongside their new neighbors, and dock with their craft. There was not much talk about the actual board process, apart from the practicalities of it – perhaps, thought Reuban, everyone kept their own apprehensions to themselves. Helen, on the other hand seemed thoroughly excited and had no fear about vocalizing her feelings. She had even ventured so far as to keep a log in her new field journal, and carried the small book around as a Jehovah's Witness would their Bible.

He felt something rumble in his stomach and pressed his hand lightly against it to calm it down. Reuban closed his eyes. Lord, he hopes that what he was doing was the right thing. Shutting themselves off from Company sounded like a good idea at the time, but should anything go wrong, what would happen to them? Three people are staying back on board for these very reasons, he told himself. But there were other considerations that disturbed him. Would the Company become overly concerned due to this sudden loss in communication? Most likely, yes, but there was often a standard period of time before any alarm bells went off, wasn't there?

'Uncle Jakob?' called out Helen's voice from outside the doorway. 'Can I come in?'

'Sure,' he answered, sliding open the door for her.

She walked his and pulled out a worn down pencil from her pocket. From her other one, she withdrew her journal and promptly sat down on the edge of a table looking up at him expectantly. 'Can I ask you how you feel about this? Like, it's almost thirty minutes before you guys get out there...are you nervous?'

Reuban sighed and got down on his knees. He really was in no mood to be interviewed, all considerations of future fame aside. 'Helen, listen to me. If anything goes wrong in there I want you to do everything that Jarreck and Yuya tell you. They may be just pilots to you, but I would trust them with my life.'

'So you're nervous about the fact that they might be potentially hostile?' she scribbled furiously in her little book.

Reuban gently pulled the book away from her, and looked into his niece's eyes. 'I'm not leaving anything to chance. I told Jarreck and Yuya to get the hell away from that ship if anything happens. No heroics. And I'm placing you in their care, so you have nothing to be worried about.'

She paused for a few moments, as if considering something. 'If there's nothing to be so worried about,' began Helen in a small voice, '...then why are your hands shaking?'

Seconds before he could answer, he heard a soft beep as the door slid open and Lexington stuck in his through it. 'Reuban-' he started with a loud voice, and when he saw Helen inside he lowered his tone, 'there's some small problem with the suits.'

Reuban nodded, rose up onto his feet and turned his attention to Helen. 'Okay kiddo, I want you up in the cockpit now.'

Helen walked forward a few steps and then hesitated. 'But I wanna watch you guys leave,'

'You can – Jarreck'll plug you in – and you'll be able to see us on the screen. Go on now, we have to get this show on the road.'

She sighed and grudgingly walked out the door.

'What do you mean: the visual transmitters aren't working?' shouted Reuban, his face turning red.

'I mean they're out of business, they run for about three seconds each time before they conk out!' answerd Yuya – a little annoyed himself.

Reuban rolled his eyes and allowed himself to exhale deeply. 'Those damn hotshots back at the tech units are supposed to check up on these things – oh bloody hell.'

'Well, is there some other way we can get a visual feed back onto your screen?' asked Lexington, turning to Yuya.

'Nope. Not that I know of.' Then he paused momentarily and spoke. 'But hold up,' He squeezed his eyes shut, thinking. 'No visual...but I can definitely set this thing to transmit an audio signal.'

'So you'll be able to hear us from in there?' asked Lexington jerking his thumb towards the outside of the Aurelius.

'Yeah, given that the other ship's structure doesn't cause much interference.' explained Yuya.

'Sounds like a plan to me. How long to you need to reset the suits?' asked Lexington.

'Give me ten minutes.'

30 MINUTES LATER

The four individuals stood in the hatchway like some bloated unearthly beings, the whites of their suits reflecting the bright glow of the fluorescent lights overhead. The hatchway was narrow – but it provided its temporary inhabitants with protruding panels for seats while they waited for clearance to open the main hatch locks.

Barnaby sat down first and spoke into the speaker within his helmet; his voice came out sounding more brash and metallic. 'Reuban, Omitsu, I uh...I just wanted to say that I think I may have acted somewhat inappropriately the other day. Said some things I shouldn't have.'

'Bygones.' spoke Reuban. To be honest, he would have probably liked to get a bit of his own back, but considering the circumstances and how he felt at the moment, he tossed the notion aside. Besides, a more pressing situation lay before him. He looked anxiously towards the door that led to the other craft and then back towards the door that they emerged from. 'Where the heck is Lexington?'

'One laser cutter coming right up,' spoke a voice inside everyone's suit as the door of the Aurelius slid open.

Each individual could hear Lexington breathing heavily as he pushed something that looked somewhat like the proboscis of a mosquito on a cart in front of him. He gestured towards the piece of equipment. 'Meet my old friend, Bud. Bud, meet my new friends. Ladies and gentlemen, Bud here will now demonstrate his unique ability to cut through the hardest of materials with his laser sharp eyes.'

'Without posing as a fire hazard?' said Barnaby as the others laughed. The joke seemed to lighten the atmosphere, but not completely.

'With Lexington, everything's a damn fire hazard. I carry an extra can of CO2 whenever I'm around this kook,' came a voice over the intercom. It was Jarreck making his own contribution to the nervous party. 'Okay folks, I'm locking shut the inner hatch now. Hold on a sec, Reuban – I think your niece here wants to chip in a few encouraging words.'

They heard some rustling noises and then finally a young girl's voice. 'Good luck everybody! Go break a leg!'

'I certainly hope not...' teased Lexington. And then more seriously, 'Thanks Helen. We trust you folks to keep an eye out up there, alright? Sure you can can handle yourselves?'

Jarreck's voice could be heard again. 'As sure as my name ain't Kangaroo Jack.' He paused briefly, 'You guys wanna say anything? Uh...a couple words maybe before...'

'Oh for God's sake, Jarreck!' piped up Reuban who couldn't take it any more. 'We're all as nervous as hell! If you don't open the door, I'm afraid I'm going to burst a blood vessel right here in this suit.'

'Hey, tell Helen to record that as our first official statement before we went in...' chuckled Barnaby as he tried to sound cheerful.

They heard laughter over the intercom. 'Believe me, that's one to go down in the history books. Okay folks, I'm opening the outer doorway...now.'

After several heartbeats all heads turned simultaneously towards the opening. They could see small wisps of air get sucked out through narrow gaps where the hatchway tunnel joined with the doorway of the other ship.

The five of them heard Yuya's voice speak excitedly over the intercom. 'I'm getting a fuzzy visual feed from the hatchway camera...d'you see the door?'

Reuban looked at the black wall in front of him – they couldn't see any outlines of what they would recognize as a door. He stepped forward and placed his hand tentatively on its surface, as if he was trying to feel through the thick material of the suit. He turned his palm upwards and noticed droplets of condensed water on it.

'Do you see the door?' repeated Yuya.

'A wall. It's a goddamned wall.' breathed Reuban.

'You sure you docked with them at their entrance? This isn't an entrance.' spoke Regan.

'Yeah, we're sure...' said Yuya.

Reuban looked up, almost towards the ceiling and spoke slowly. 'He's right...it is a door. Oh my God. Oh my God – I feel like Alice...'

Lexington stepped past Barnaby and stood beside Reuban realizing what he was looking at. The door was so massive that their pitifully small hatchway opening only allowed them to view it as a wall. 'It's huge. They must be huge.'

'Why didn't we think of it before?' said Barnaby with widened eyes. 'The ship's so large not because it has a large crew...it's because the crew themselves are huge.'

There was a moment of silence.

'-ut through?' crackled Reuban's voice through everyone's helmet.

'What?' asked Lexington.

'Can we cut through this and seal it effectively? We're obviously not going to be able to open it up any other way.'

Lexington continued to stare at the seemingly solid mass in front of them before he spoke. 'I think so...I have something to wield it shut once we're in. But we're going to have to remain docked with the Aurelius while we're doing this in case any of us gets sucked out. I don't want to end up as an orbiting moon around a planet anytime soon.'

'Sure. Yeah...Jarreck, Yuya? You getting all this? Do not pull away until I give you the go ahead.'

'Yes.' came a weak voice before its owner cleared his throat. 'I mean, yeah.'

'Okay, Lexington. Bring out your bag of magic tricks.'

The four of them stood behind Lexington as he used his tools to cut an opening big enough for them to get through. They could hear heavy breathing, momentarily interrupted with lowered curses and barely audible sounds they couldn't make out. A solid ten minutes labored by when finally Lexington stood up from his bent position and beckoned to the others.

He put his tool aside as he spoke. 'Someone want to give me a hand with this?'

Regan stepped forward. 'Push it?'

'Yes,' he leaned with his right shoulder against the edge of the door where his trusty compatriot Bud had made deep incisions. 'Lean into the edges like me. Push consistently but not too forcefully. No sudden shoves. We don't want to shatter anything.'

Regan did as instructed and finally they heard a low groan as part of the door – towards Lexington's side – gave way to a large enough opening for the average sized individual to squeeze through.

Reuban looked towards the hatchway camera, where he knew Jarreck, Yuya and Helen would closely be watching. 'Open!' he cried.

'Okaaay...' breathed out Lexington. 'Now what?'

'Now we go inside.' spoke Omitsu suddenly, who hadn't said a word throughout the whole time. 'Ladies first though.'

She moved past the men and stood in front of the door they had made for themselves. She looked at it for a second, and thought how it looked like a magnified version of an open sardine tin – only that it was not curled so much and that it did so inwards instead of outwards. Omitsu squinted her eyes and peered in, trying to gauge what was inside before she too joined the inhabitants within. But she saw nothing, save for blackness. No good at guessing what the Christmas gift was – she would have to undo the wrapping.

Reuban looked at her and thought that perhaps she was hesitating. Hesitating now because the moment was very likely too much for her to handle. And it was-

She went in.

Five minutes later they all entered the ship and stood congregated in a small group by their "doorway". Regan looked faced away from the entrance and turned on his light beam on the suit. Barnaby did the same as the others looked on, watching the lights illuminate some of the interior of the craft.

'Roof must be at least twenty feet tall...' muttered someone.

'Over there. Shine it over there.' instructed Reuban.

The five individuals watched in stunned silence as the lights swept over the walls, moving upwards revealing heavy, black thick walls that curved silently upwards to the tall ceiling. There were systematic ridges that ran along both the walls and ceiling, almost similar to the padding found in some psychological asylum wards. Then the light beam moved, as if it were the eyes of the explorers, towards the interior of the ship. But it only reached so far. All they could see was a huge tunnel adorned with similar walls and its center was like a pupil of an eye – sucking in all the darkness it could in one breath.

'Go in?' suggested Regan.

'No, seal the door. Let's do that first.' said Lexington, tearing his gaze away from the interior.

'Wait,' said Reuban placing a hand on his shoulder. 'Jarreck? You hearing us fine in here?'

'Just fine.' spoke Jarreck's voice.

'Okay – our audio connection's secure,' muttered Reuban to himself. And then to Jarreck, 'We're gonna seal the doorway now, okay? We're going to do this as planned. You dislodge the Aurelius now. Give us twenty-four hours and then dock back with this ship. If the audio's dead – if you don't hear from us after three hours I want you to get the heck out of here.'

'Roger that.' acknowledged Jarreck.

'And Jarreck?' said Reuban. 'You know what not to do if this happens...'

'I believe your instructions were perfectly clear.' he answered.

'What's not to be done?' asked Barnaby.

'Not important. Not right now.' replied Reuban.

Barnaby swallowed and gave up pursuing the matter. He turned to the others who were seemingly oblivious to the whole conversation, gazing at the giant darkness of the ship. Nothing seemed more important right then. Nothing.

'Sealing the door...' spoke Lexington mechanically. 'Should be done in a few minutes...' He turned his face towards Reuban as he worked. 'Jakob, I'm feeling kind of thirsty – you think our er...hosts, could throw us a cocktail party sometime soon?'

'I don't know. One thing's for sure though. I'm going to throw a bloody party once we get off this place.' said Reuban. Then to himself he muttered, 'Feels like a mistake...'