Cubes

'Commander, I believe these pockets or bubbles of new atmospheric gas are from another dimension, it's as if something is trying to arrive in this quadrant but cannot do so because Sentinel is occupying the same space!'

'Interdimensional travel without a stable wormhole? Is that even possible?' Commander Pierce can hear the stress in Swayla T'Vayne's voice as he listens to her explanation. He is in the emergency command centre set up in StarVale waiting for Geena Haalsen, the civilian Health and Safety Surveyor.

'The gaseous atmosphere is a novel mix; we have never encountered it before. It is appearing and disappearing in a bubble shape, perhaps it is some kind of closed wormhole, like a black hole…'

'A black hole inside the station? That can't be good! Can we move the station out of the way of these bubbles?'

'I don't know, what with the damage we've already sustained, Sir. But, if we do not do something, these bubbles could tear Sentinel apart!'

'Very well, use the stabilisers, not the main engines, to very gently manoeuvre us away from these bubbles. But slowly, the situation is extremely volatile here.' As Pierce taps his comms badge and calls up Engineering, he turns to find Geena Haalsen waiting for him. 'Engineering, any word from the Chief yet?' The reply from Engineering is not good, there is no sign of Mixie and no one can contact her.

'Commander Pierce, it's a pleasure to meet...' Geena extends a hand but the Commander waives it away. 'I've no time for niceties, I need to find out exactly where my Chief Engineer is, there are pockets of novel gas appearing in StarVale and my Chief Science Officer thinks they could be some kind of interdimensional bubble…'

'I've checked our readings and that would be a possible explanation… definitely nothing we would be venting or creating internally. It would also explain the seismic shock waves pulling apart the apartments.' Geena hesitates, wondering if she is overstepping her position, then adds 'Commander, I overheard you saying to move the station away from its position, there is a good chance that might rupture the hull if one of these bubbles emerges as we move.'

Pierce nods, 'It's a risk we will have to take, the damage from a possible wormhole forming inside us will…' He does not finish as Geena nods, 'I understand, I'll organise a Noxious Gas Protocol. You should suit up if you are going to stay, full spacesuits, in case of a breach. I suggest you organise an emergency release from Sentinel for this hub; if we breach the hull it will protect the central core.' Geena immediately starts to organise the emergency command centre with swift efficiency and, for a moment, Pierce watches, pleased to see someone taking charge of the civilian side.

Mixie, from the small safety of her pile of rubble in the bulkhead, tries to make sense of what she has just seen and felt. The bubble could not be created on the Sentinel so it must be from… from where? Is it some kind of teleportation gone wrong or a ship that's crashed into the station? The people are a species she has never seen before, are they from this universe? And the Morse code… it seems unlikely to be from the bubble, most likely a construction worker caught, like her, in the collapse. Her fur is still standing on end and she scrabbles around to see if she can work some structural mesh loose. She is in luck, there is a roll of metal mesh wedged nearby and she pries it free, making a simple Faraday cage around herself with it. She tries the Morse code again but there is no reply, whatever or wherever it came from, there is no answer now. Then, gathering all her courage, armed with the piece of girder she climbs through into the bubble.

Once again, as soon as the humanoids see Mixie, they start charging up with static electricity but the Faraday cage works and the Chief Engineer is able to stand her ground. As she watches, they release a series of static bursts, the sound echoing on the cage in a repeated pattern and suddenly Mixie understands where the SOS is coming from. From them!

She taps out a string of questions as fast as she can and the creatures reply, piecing together an understanding of their plight for her. Mixie can scarcely believe she is making first contact with a new species, almost forgetting the danger she is in. The creatures, called Eeliads, were fleeing from an enemy when their ship ran into a dimension-slip, a patch of their universe where the fabric of time and space has become porous and full of interdimensional bubbles and they were caught, along with a section of their ship, in a large bubble that slipped into this dimension.

So many questions race through the Chief's mind as she listens to their story, not least of all whether their enemy would try and follow them and how did they know Morse code but Mixie is bought back to her present situation by the sudden realisation that the StarVale hub is beginning to move away from the main core of Deep Space Sentinel. She turns and from her vantage point inside the bubble, she can see the whole of the station moving away. She is trapped, with aliens, enough static electricity to knock out the whole station and in an interdimensional bubble which could burst at any…

Commander Pierce, Geena Haalsen and their team arrive at the collapsed apartments sight in time to see the most extraordinary sight. What can only de described as a lightening storm appears to be taking place in the middle of StarVale. Huge arcs of silvery light emanate from one spot and, for a moment, although it is hard to judge exactly while wearing a heavily shielded space suit, it seems as though they can see through space itself. 'Look! Over there!' Geena indicates to what looks like a roll of twisted metal and Pierce moves over to find his Chief Engineer inside, unconscious, holding a length of girder. 'Quick let's get her to sickbay! There may be other casualties!' The team works methodically and, within a few hours, StarVale has been searched and the damage stabilised. There is no sign of any more interdimensional bubbles and the three casualties found have been transferred to sickbay.

'And so, in their dimension, their ancestors sent morse code out across the universe on small platinum cubes deposited in early pioneering spacecrafts, so anyone in distress would be able to communicate immediately with the Eeliads on finding them.' Mixie pauses for a moment in her explanation, propped up on her bed in sickbay surrounded by Commander Pierce, Dr. Jones, Swayla T'Vayne, Elenah, Numbers, Peator, and Worwynd. She glances across at the hyperbaric chamber Dr. Jones and Numbers have utilised to contain the two Eeliads in their unique atmosphere and she waves at them hoping they can see her from there. The events in StarVale last week feeling like a lifetime ago. 'What will happen to them now Commander?'

Pierce sighs, 'That is a long way down my list of priorities I'm afraid, Chief. Sorting out the civilian hubs and the contractual obligations of the companies working on them like Makeship Inc. comes first. Your report on StarVale has provided valuable information but Deep Space Sentinel, as a viable space outpost, will rely on generating income from a civilian population. We must get the build right and that is going to mean a lengthy round of negotiations and contracts with the various unions.'

'Is there any chance of them getting back to their own universe?' Mixie asks, hoping for a good answer.

'It is unlikely. I have systematically analysed our quadrant of local space and have found no porous patches as described by the Eeliads, in fact, I am not aware of this phenomena ever being recorded in our universe.' Numbers explains, 'The only possibility is, if an entity in the other dimension finds and falls into an interdimensional bubble which links to this universe. The likelihood is infinitesimally small but, by taking the sample space, event space and probability factor…'

'Yes, thank you Numbers, I think we get the general idea, not likely to happen any time soon.' Dr. Jones starts to shoo the team out of sickbay. 'Now, enough chat, I want the Chief to have at least another 24 hours of bed rest, being almost crushed by falling masonry and hit by lightning is more than enough excitement for now, be gone with you all.'

'Well, they were being chased by an enemy so it will probably only be a matter of time…' Mixie yawns, she is incredibly tired now the doctor mentions it. 'Enemies?' Before Commander Pierce can ask more, Dr. Jones ushers him away. 'And that will have to be a story for another time! No more reports, tasks or meetings now…'

Mixie watches as her friends leave and the Doctor returns to his rounds. Across the room, in the hyperbaric chamber the two Eeliads drift in a state of suspended animation and soon Mixie is asleep too, dreaming of ways to engineer a home for them on Deep Space Sentinel.