THE LAST JUMP OF THE ODDITY by Carver
The holo-display flickered dull white. It updated slowly to conserve cycles, giving out the most utilitarian of readings. The faint light it cast faded into imperceptibility upon hitting the Falcon DeLacy grey of the console.
``CANOPY 14%''
``Frame Shift Drive 9%''
``Thruster 2%''
``Full Spectrum Scanner 18%''
``Powerplant 7%
``14/19 Systems Inoperable''.
The last of its statements was evident on visual inspection. Hardly any of the Anaconda?s internal bulkheads and frame remained in their original states. Manually cannibalized by John so that the now manually operated Automated Field Maintenance Unit could keep the Oddity on life-support. It was dying. It was trying to die. John refused it.
One star lay ahead of John. It was centered on the bow of the Oddity. So far from Sol that it?s existence was supposed only by the Predictive Astronomics subdivision of Interstellar Cartographics. It was seventy light years away judging by visual reckoning. In his prime John might tell you exactly how far a star away was just by the brightness. He was right enough times to be able to brush off his incorrect predictions.
The fractures in his canopy all seemed to point toward it. The fractures in the Anaconda?s hull seemed to stretch out into the black. It had crept inside over these long thirty thousand light years from his home port. A thin veneer of safety kept the black from consuming John and the Oddity.
``I have spent most of my life exploring.'' John began as he stared downward. All he had left was speaking to the perpetual recording of the Oddity?s black box. He collected himself and words begin to flow. ``I have spent most. All of my life exploring. When I was a boy in my dad?s Krait I was a ring rat. Pointing out motherlodes with my Cobra prospector. I cut through asteroid clusters and hid my family in the darkest pockets from the wildfire wars on border stars. . .'' John slowed as he looked out at the un-named star. He sipped from his water stores as past glory drifted away. All that remained was one last jump.
``ENTER JUMP COORDINATES'' flashed once every 10 seconds on the console. A second holo-screen and a num-pad cannibalized from his Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle allowed John a rudimentary version of his galaxy map. He had stripped down and rewritten the interface based on source code provided by Farseer. Small improvements made through observation and desperation would allow the FSD to operate one last time. John began to speak again to the black-box recorder.
``I left the bubble as a hull seal?s apprentice during the Sprint to Sagittarius and found in the black something of myself already there. Here. I am here. I think that?s the reason you?ll come here too. Whoever finds this.'' John let himself drift now and closed his eyes. He opened them slowly to look at his jump calculations and referenced the pilot?s field guide for manual jump plotting one last time. Savoring the ritual. ``I think you came here for the same reason I did.'' His fingers began to tap on the num-pad.
``I am now entering the jump coordinates to a star that has no name. I have been traveling for, I have spent most of my life exploring.'' John felt himself start to slip again. It gave him a sense of kinship with the Oddity. It?s Frameshift Drive quietly humming behind him in anticipation. Occasionally rattling loudly and the growing calm.
John once again composed himself. ``I am now entering Jump coordinates for the unnamed star. I do not know if my ship will survive the journey. I have kept this ship alive through force of will and a repair limpet adapted for manual use. The life-support system failed a week ago but through a perpetual synthesis loop I have supplanted it. I will have to permanently disable this in order to make the jump. The thrusters have been rigged with one last boost which should-''
John stopped. John saw the eye of death in this star that did not twinkle. John did not blink. ``With one last boost. It should get the Oddity up to speed. I do not think the thrusters will survive and the blow out may be catastrophic. The AFMU was heavily damaged but I have been able to operate it manually in order to maintain systems at a crude level. I have plotted jump coordinates that should put me 50 or so light-seconds past the star. If this black box survives I would like the naming and discovery rights attributed to myself, Johnathan Ovidanjin, extending down to any surviving family.'' John trailed off.
John tapped the return key on the keyboard. The holo-screen died and all was darkness in the Anaconda?s cavernous command deck. Slowly the holo-screen flickered back to life with a crude HUD and white square around Styx. Once again it read out a system?s report. One line every two seconds.
``Canopy 14%''
``Frameshift Drive 9%''
``Thrusters 2%''
``Full Spectrum Scanner 17%''
``Powerplant 7%''
``14/19 Systems inoperable''
INJECT JUMPONIUM AND COMMIT TO JUMP? (71.7Ly)[Y/N]
John once again spoke. ``This is the longest jump I have ever asked the Oddity to make. It will require beyond the safe levels of Jumponium. To properly mix with the FSD the ship must be brought to 337% heat. I do not have the resources or time to reverse my course.''
John reached forward and struck the Y key on his keyboard. The FSD began to groan. The accumulators in the FSD began to whir and draw from the power-plant. The read out faded and only the bracket around Styx and his speed /heat indicator remained. ``God.'' John spoke as he laid back in his chair. The frost of his canopy quickly faded. So little remained of the console that it only emitted faint trails of smoke.
"God of men and conquered stars.'' The heat climbed to 140%. Rattles and grinding could be heard from within the FSD. An oscillating whine that periodically ramped into a roar.
``God of fallibility and decaying form.'' The heat passed 200% and the heat soaked through his pilot?s suit. His body had become numb to super-heated cockpits. The building heat diffused into the structure of the Anaconda. The canopy beginning to warp and it?s cracks reached closer to the center. Closer to the unnamed star.
``Here I am. I only have one jump left in this chariot before I stand at the edge. Carry me. I have nothing left.''
John felt the kick of the boosters and it pressed the air from his weak lungs. The Oddity screamed to life one last time. The synthesis system was wired directly into the life-support system. It now began to manufacture and inject Jumponium. The Oddity juddered and shook as the FSD was charged far beyond it?s factory specifications. The force of the boosters pressed heavy on the heat-weakened frame and wrenched the canopy. It shattered outward in man-sized shards.
A sense of calm came across John as the canopy shattered. The temperature reached 300% and kept climbing quickly There was nothing left to wait for. No anticipation. No time left to piddle and make corrections.
The temperature read out reached 337%. The moment had finally come. A wave of force pushed from behind John and out through the gutted Anaconda. One last time John and the Oddity slipped the bounds of normal space for witch-space.
The witch-space twisted and curled about his ship. Faux nebula and stars curved around his bubble. At the very center of the horizon lie a growing white dot surrounded by a disk of infinite black. All was still in the floating world of witch-space. The Oddity did not creak nor did it?s systems voice any concern. This was only falling at incredible speed toward a point of light in the most serene fashion.
The oddity came out of witch-space with a violent crunch. The thrusters ruptured and tore away from the hull of the Oddity, the FSD too had melted and fused. John?s eyes drifted to his singular functional holo-screen.
``Full Spectrum Scanner 8%''
``Powerplant 3%
``Systems Inoperable 17/19''
ENGAGING OXYGEN COUNTER. 6:01 REMAINING.?
John lifted his head and stared out. Here was the black. Empty. He closed his eyes. He opened his eyes. Nothing changing. Here was stillness broken only by a silent counter. John activated his Full Spectrum Scanner and began to scan.
A singular lavender gas giant and five icy bodies inhabited the Unnamed Star. Within a minute John?s old hand had tuned in and mapped each planet. A small animated line displayed the progress as the cartographic information was written into the black box?s record.
As the FSS powered down for the final time John was resigned to watching his timer tick down. Now at five minutes. What was left to do? What was to be done? John stared out into the black. Then down at the bow of the Oddity. It was still mostly intact despite the violent arrival.?
John slowly stood up. He took a step forward and rested his foot on the hollowed out console. Then he took a second step with greater resolve. His thin body slowly made it?s way forward past the holographic numbers counting down. With a long step over what was left of it, John stepped through the canopy.
The magnetic soles of his skinsuit attached to the deck. His soul calm as he made his way forward past the empty pits of hardpoints. Past the service hatches and all the way to the edge. Slowly John turned to face the galaxy. The whole galaxy stretched out before him but not behind him. For this moment he lie outside of it all. Outside of himself. The explosion of the thrusters had torn the stern of the Oddity in all directions like the frilled head of a winged serpent. The largest chunks still shimmered in the white light of the Unnamed Star.
John crouched down. His fingers brushed the magnetic toggle on his boots. With a graceful push he lept from the bow of the Oddity. He aimed himself toward the black. His arms spread. John closed his eyes. John smiled.
John faded into imperceptibility.
~The End~
