Pause

Pause

  by

  Michael D. Britton

  * * * *

  Copyright 2011 by Michael D. Britton

  Captain John Benjamin rubbed the side of his head, then pushed himself up from the metal deck plates onto hands and knees, then slowly rose to his feet. As he climbed back into his seat, he noticed a wet, sticky feeling on his palm, and saw that it was covered in blood. He touched his head again, and discovered the source of the bleeding.

  “Motion control re-enabled, Sir,” said Lieutenant Sariah Beck from the aft control station.

  “Glad to hear it,” said Benjamin, wincing at the pain. “Prepare to retreat.”

  “Our engines took a hit, there, Sir. We’re down to twenty-percent power. We’ll never outrun them.”

  Benjamin stared at the various display screens, showing an external visual of the gargantuan Gravani pirate ship, and several tactical readouts. He saw no other option.

  “Commander Vrosky, standby to deploy the new weapon.”

  “Aye, Sir,” Vrosky nodded.

  The weapon, known as the Pauser, had never been tested in a real combat situation. But one of Benjamin’s catch phrases was there’s no time like the now.

  The Pauser was about to give new meaning to that slogan.

  “Weapon is activated and standing by for narrow-vector microburst, Sir,” said Vrosky.

  The ship jolted from another volley of energy fire from the Gravani. Benjamin gripped the arms of his chair, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the display screen.

  “Fire.”

  Suddenly, silently, the Gravani pirate ship appeared to freeze. Its blinking lights seemed to stick in position, and the vapor trail bleeding from its starboard power converter hung there in space with no motion, locked in place like a photograph. A high-powered laser bolt that was just escaping from its port cannon remained in place, unmoving.

  Paused.

  A round of spontaneous applause erupted on the bridge.

  “It worked!” said Vrosky, allowing himself a grin that quickly faded. “Now what?”

  “Now, we have a choice,” said Benjamin. “We can retreat. Or we can destroy them.”

  “Sir, is it just me, or does the Gravani ship look like it’s turning red and fading away?” asked Beck.

  “It’s just going dark,” said Benjamin. “Remember, that’s one of the effects of the weapon. Target freezes, then goes dark. It’s because the light from the target is reaching us, but being replaced much more slowly now that the target is under the effect of the weapon. Before long, that ship will appear completely black.”

  The ship’s science officer, Commander Ioban King spoke up. “Sir, is there perhaps a third option – besides running or destroying them?”

  “Go on,” said Benjamin.

  “We could board the Gravani vessel and commandeer it.”

  “How?” asked Benjamin, knowing that his old friend King had an answer.

  “Are you familiar with how the Pauser works?” asked King.

  “Somewhat,” said Benjamin. “It basically emits a singularity gravity pulse.”

  “Right,” said King. “The Pauser essentially is a black hole contained in a specially designed chamber that restricts the black hole and its gravitational energy, using anti-gluon fields. Those fields also inhibit the gravity outside the Pauser, so that the Pauser itself does not weigh nearly as much as the black hole contained within, and is thus portable. The Science Echelon is even developing a hand-held version.”

  “Okay,” said Benjamin. “Where are you going with this?”

  “The Pauser operates by momentarily allowing the black hole's gravity to escape through a directed aperture, for an infinitesimal amount of time. The exposure can be set to wide angle or a more direct shot. When it does so, time comes to a near-stop in the target vicinity because of the extreme gravity variance. Of course, the effect is lessened over distance from the Pauser.”

  “Ioban, how does this relate to us boarding the Gravani Pirate ship?” Benjamin asked, his fingers starting to restlessly tap the arm of his command chair.

  “Well, the effect lasts for a specified period, based on the length of the exposure – like adjusting the shutter speed of a camera.  All we need right now is additional time. So, the first step will be to hit the Gravani again, to extend the effect.”

  “All right. Then what?”

  “Then our options are expanded. We’ll have time to make the necessary repairs to retreat, or we can board their vessel.”

  “That’s excellent, Ioban, but I’m still interested to know how we can board the vessel when the vessel is in a time-stopped environment.”

  “Actually, Sir, it’s just a drastically reduced-time environment. The Pauser doesn’t actually stop time, just slows it down to nearly zero. As for my plan for boarding them, it will involve some ground work. I suggest using the same quantum-phase shielding that insulates the Pauser from the rest of the ship to modify our environmental suits, making them impervious to the effects of the time-reduced environment.”

  “So, we could just slip in and take over, and to them, we’d appear like an amazingly fast blur?”

  “Actually, the differential would be so great, we’d be invisible to them. As soon as the Pauser effect wore off, they’d catch up to us time-wise, but we’d already have them in custody and have taken control of their ship.”

  Benjamin liked it already. “How long will it take you to make the modifications?”

  “A day or two,” said King. “You may have to Pause the Gravani a couple more times in the meantime.”

  “Well, what are you waiting for? Get on it,” said Benjamin.

  As Benjamin watched King leave the bridge to get to work on the environmental suits, he thought about how different he was from his childhood friend. Benjamin liked short, sharp answers and had little time or patience for the details. Ioban had always been ponderous and long-winded, approaching issues from every conceivable angle and exhausting all lines of inquiry before coming to a carefully deliberated conclusion – and then recounting his thought process in excruciating detail. Benjamin figured that Ioban must think him curt and demanding at times, but they understood each other well enough that Benjamin knew Ioban never took offense at his impatient nature. Besides, thought Benjamin, I’m the captain.

  ۞

  Benjamin sat down to eat with Ioban in the mess hall and dug into his dinner with gusto, tucking his head in and shoveling the food like snow. Ioban picked at his food, ruminating.

  “Are we close?” asked Benjamin, looking up between mouthfuls of synthetic mashed potato.

  “Yes,” said Ioban. “I believe we can proceed as soon as the final matrix coating is applied to the suits, which my engineers are doing right now.”

  Benjamin looked at Ioban and put down his fork. “Something’s wrong.”

  Ioban shook his head with pursed lips. “I don’t know, Johnny. Everything looks right in the simulations I ran. But something’s bothering me and I can’t put my finger on it. It’s like something is missing from the equation, even though it all figures perfectly.”

  “Bottom line, Ioban, will it work?”

  “Yes, it’ll work. I’m just concerned about safety. I don’t like this nagging feeling I’m forgetting something.”

  “Ioban, I’ve never known you not to have that feeling before trying something new. Now eat your potatoes.”

  ۞

  Benjamin and his boarding party gathered in the skiff bay and prepared for the assault. Some climbed into their newly-modified environmental suits, while others checked and rechecked their weapons.

  “How’s your head, Sir?” asked Vrosky.

  “Nothing a little shore leave won’t take care of when we get back to
Earth,” Benjamin smiled, zipping up the inner lining on his suit.

  As Benjamin slid each of his laser pistols into their respective holsters, he looked around at the group. There was Alex Vrosky, the weapons specialist. Benjamin hadn’t known Vrosky prior to taking command of the Raptor’s Shadow. But in the four years since, he’d come to know Vrosky to be highly efficient and reliable, and although of a friendly disposition, he was a very private individual.

  Benjamin’s eyes next fell on Sariah Beck. Capable, astute, and – Benjamin checked his thoughts, keenly aware of the impropriety – beautiful. He tried to avoid thinking about that, but he just couldn’t help it – Sariah was stunning. And young. Too young. And his subordinate. His mind briefly wandered to conjecture about what her hair would look like untied, blowing in the wind. Her head turned toward him, and he quickly looked away before their eyes could meet in one of those awkward moments he was starting to dread each day. I need to get a handle on this, he chastised himself.

  Benjamin shook it off and turned his attention to the remainder of the group. There was Karl Sammons, the intrepid leader of the assault soldiers, and the soldiers themselves – six of them in all. Benjamin recognized their faces, but was hard-pressed to put a name to them. But Sammons, he knew. The man was the most muscled, rugged human that Benjamin had ever seen. His rectangular jaw was perpetually in need of a shave. He stood two meters tall, and seemed to be dripping with testosterone.

  As he scrutinized his weapon from under a dark, deep-set brow and made final adjustments to his holster position, Benjamin noticed that Beck was staring at the hulking tactical specialist. Benjamin wondered if Beck was simply in awe of this impressive physical specimen, or if she harbored a crush on Sammons. As little pangs of jealousy welled up in his stomach, he quickly brushed aside the irrational, inappropriate and irrelevant thought, focusing instead on the mission.

  The last member of the boarding party to enter the skiff bay was King. He seemed preoccupied as he suited up, forgetting to attach his holsters before trying to place his weapons on his waist.

  “You alright, Ioban?” Benjamin asked under his breath, at close proximity.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just – you know, that thing that’s been bothering me. I still haven’t figured it out.”

  “Well, it’s too late now,” said Benjamin. “You need to let it go and commit your mind to the mission execution. The time for preparation is over.”

  “I know. But you know how I am with details.”

  “All too well, my friend. Now come on, everyone else is ready to go.”

  King quickly strapped on his holsters as Benjamin gathered everyone around to listen to King’s instructional brief on the modified suits.

  “All right, everyone,” said King. “As you know, your environmental suit has been enhanced with quantum-phase shielding. You’ve read the mission brief, so you understand why. All you need to know now is how to operate it.” He flipped open the control panel on his left forearm. “It’s really pretty simple. Just power up like normal, then enter your command function ID code, then push the ‘activate’ button. Then, enter the sequence ‘alpha-alpha-two’ and press the ‘engage’ button. Then you’re ready to board the Gravani vessel. You’ll actually want to do all that as soon as we’re in the skiff, though, because we will be entering the time-slowed environment before we’re actually aboard the pirate ship. Once the suit modification is engaged, the new shielding will automatically kick in as we cross the event threshold.”

  “Won’t the time-slowed environment affect the functioning of the skiff?” asked Beck.

  “It would,” said King, “but I’ve compensated for that, too. A version of the same quantum-phase field that protects you in the suit will be engaged around the skiff.”

  “How far does the protective field extend – in the suits?” asked Sammons. “How close can we get to the enemy before they are in the field and can move as fast as us?”

  “Good question. The field is like a second skin,” said King. “It extends no further than the suit itself. You should be able to get as near as you need to get to the Gravani.”

  “Good,” Sammons grunted.

  “Any other questions?” asked King.

  After a moment, Benjamin stood. “Alright, let’s go.”

  The team filed into the skiff and the hatch rolled shut, sealing with a pneumatic sound. The engines fired up, the skiff bay doors parted, and they glided out into the still blackness of the Sigma Draconis Sweep.

  As they neared the Gravani ship, all of the environmental suits emitted a soft “beep.”

  “We’ve crossed the event threshold,” said King. “We are now operating in normal time, within a reduced-time environment.”

  “Hmmmf,” said Vrosky. “Doesn’t feel any different.”

  The skiff approached the great pirate ship and came to relative stop at a distance of three meters, adjacent to one of the ship’s smaller portals. The massive vessel was now a deep red and barely visible.

  “Initiating standard hostile boarding procedure,” said Vrosky. He punched some commands into his console. “Contusion in three, two, one.”

  A precision charge blew the seals on the enemy ship’s hatch, and Vrosky guided the hatch out of the way, pushing it off into space with a directed magna-pulse. Bits of debris flew out of the pirate ship in slow motion, forced out by the sudden pressure differential.

  “Maneuvering for docking,” said Beck, expertly piloting the skiff into position for a seamless link with the Gravani’s doorless portal.

  “Resizing dock aperture,” said King, engaging the automatic docking device, which sized itself like an iris to match the hole on the enemy ship’s flank, and remained flexible to accommodate minor movements between the ships. A gentle bump rocked the cabin, accompanied by a muffled thud. “Establishing seal, equalizing pressure.”

  “Let’s move out,” Sammons said, his voice deep and sure.

  The six assault soldiers followed Sammons out of the main cabin to the airlock room, each giving their weapons one last check – a habit ingrained from their days at the academy.

  Benjamin looked at King. “You ready for this?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” said King. King had always preferred the theoretical side of his work. He could happily spend all day in his lab, running programs and tinkering with data. If he did have to go anywhere, he would rather leave the ship to collect research samples than to engage in combat, but he knew it was all part of the job.

  Benjamin, on the other hand, was a man of action. Sitting around discussing theory made his brain numb. Before long, his leg would be tapping like a drummer, and he’d have to stand up and walk around, just to release some of his seemingly-endless energy. He hardly spent any time in his quarters – instead he was about the ship or in the gym, or playing racketball. He lived for these dangerous sorties.

  The assault soldiers led the way into the pirate ship. They glanced at the scanner displays mounted on their weapons to navigate the maze of corridors and find their way to the bridge. Benjamin, King, Vrosky and Beck followed closely behind, also with weapons drawn.

  Along the way, they passed several Gravani pirates, each as still as a statue.

  Upon arrival at the bridge, four of the soldiers had to pry the doors open manually. With the automated sensors functioning in reduced-time, it would’ve taken weeks for them to open on their own. Under the pressure from the four soldiers, the doors parted to reveal a snapshot of the pirate ship’s bridge crew.

  The Gravani were humanoid in appearance, though larger in stature than even Sammons. Their skin ranged in color from light orange to a deep bronze. Most wore bald heads, though some had wispy yellow hair. Their eyes were completely black, like two giant pupils devoid of emotion, the sockets surrounded by bony ridges.

  “Okay people, let’s get started on systems analysis,” said Benjamin, speaking to all through the suit interc
oms. “Sammons, you and your men can secure the Gravani while we figure out how to fly this giant piece of junk.”

  “Yessir,” Sammons responded.

  He moved toward the Gravani seated in the center seat, assuming he was the captain of the vessel. Standard procedure dictated the leader be captured first. As he reached toward the pirate, the copper-colored man’s eyes slowly moved toward Sammons and locked on.

  “Captain!” yelled Sammons. “This one just moved.”

  “How is that possible, Ioban?” asked Benjamin.

  “I don’t know,” said King. “I suggest everyone step away from the Gravani.” His mind raced as he looked around and noticed other pirates eyes slowly moving toward the boarding party. Then he had an epiphany. “It’s our mass!”

  “What?” asked Benjamin.

  “Our own mass is causing a dilation – speeding up time for the Gravani. Our suits protect us from the overall environment here, but we are creating our own micro-environments – just around ourselves. When we get close to the Gravani – ”

  “We speed them up,” finished Benjamin. “Alright, first, I want everyone to keep moving. It’ll be harder for them to see us if we’re not stuck in one place reflecting light back to their eyes. Second – ”

  A flash of violet laser light escaped the barrel end of a Gravani pistol, headed toward Benjamin. The beam moved much slower than it would under normal conditions, but it was still fast. He jumped out of the way of the shot, but it struck his trailing arm, just above the elbow. It ripped through his suit like a flame burning through paper, and singed his flesh. Before he hit the floor from his dive, Sammons had put a large, smoldering hole in the chest of the Gravani who’d shot his captain. In the reduced-time environment, the dead pirate’s face still showed the shock of having been blasted.

  In a matter of moments, Sammons and his men disarmed the remainder of the pirate crew and stood awaiting further orders, their weapons trained on the Gravani.

  “Are you all right?” asked King, stooping beside Benjamin.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Your suit’s been compromised,” said King. “You need to return to the skiff.”

  “All right,” said the captain, grunting as he pushed himself up from the floor. “You’re in charge, Ioban. I’ll monitor the comm from the skiff. I want you to get the basics of this ship’s controls. Disable their weapons system and determine how to destabilize their inertial