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A/N: Now that the site is back I will be updating Whisper every Wednesday!

 

 

“We got a reply to Merit’s report already. The council is very concerned by his theory,” Niobe told them the next day. “They say they are contacting the Talis and Corona computers for more data but I think they are pretty much convinced.”

“I’m not surprised.” Amanpreet leaned back in the captain’s chair and nodded. “It makes a great deal of sense.” She sighed heavily. “Why do they have to be related to us?”

“Because someone decided our mutual ancestors made great slaves,” Niobe said flatly. “I wonder I that species is still around because I’d like to have words with them.”

“You’d need to join the queue,” Amanpreet said. “They seem like horrible people. The genetic modifications they made to the enemy makes that obvious even If the whole slavery thing didn’t.” She hesitated. “Still I doubt they are still around. I have an inkling their former slaves got their taste for genocide dealing with–” She broke off as a chiming alarm went off through out the ship. “What now?” She flicked the switch to talk to Kaine in the dome. “What’s happening?”

“I- well- I don’t know how to explain this but Hyperspace is doing something weird.”

“Weirder than usual you mean?” she asked. “What’s it doing?”

“There’s a hole… and I don’t mean a vortex. It’s just a hole. It looks like one of those things you hear about in navigator bars when everyone is drunk. Promise has already dropped into normal space and from his body language before he did he wants the rest of us to follow.”

“Do it. Are the other ships dropping out as well?”

“Looks like–” The strange juddering that went through the Whisper made it obvious why he had broken off. “Crap! It’s pulling on us.”

“Drop out now!” Amanpreet yelled.

“Dropping,” Kaine said. The Whisper juddered even more violently and it seemed like an age before Kaine spoke again. “Normal Space… I have never known it be so hard to drop out.”

Amanpreet checked they were back in normal space ten hailed Promise. “What’s happening?”

“We need to route around that and mark it as a hazard until we can get several Fish to weave a restraint with spaghetti,” the Fish replied. “It’s very dangerous, as you noticed. Rare fortunately. Are we taking an unusual route?”

“We are,” Amanpreet said. “To avoid our enemies. What is it?”

“Something is trying to breach into hyperspace from subspace… I think subspace is what you’d call it.”

“I’ve come across the term before,” Amanpreet said. “But only in fiction. What do you mean by it?”

“You told me once that you have safeties on your ships to stop you mistakenly trying to drop out of Hyperspace while you’re in normal space. The Mez created a similar safeguard for us. Subspace is where we theorise you’d end up if you did that. These holes or bubbles seem to come from there. Sometimes where the barrier is weakest these appear and they make hyperspace completely inimical to life.”

“And your spaghetti can stop it?” Amanpreet asked.

“Yes, you saw how it effects hyperspace. These breeches close inside areas of hyperspace influenced by it.”

“Okay then,” she said. “We’d better check we didn’t lose any ships and then decide how to proceed.”

“Good idea,” Promise closed the line and Amanpreet checked with the other ships. All of them were there though one of the escorts had barely made it through.

“We have severe hull damage, Captain Amanpreet,” the captain told her. “Fortunately no one was in that section and we managed to seal it, but we’re not hyperspace worthy. I think we’ll have to abandon ship and have someone tow us if possible. We may lose the ship if not.” The woman shook her head. “That thing was terrifying.”

“I’ll carry your ship,” Promise said. “There’s plenty of room on board me. You should have your crew checked as well. We sometimes get sick after exposure via a hull breach and it might effect you as well.”

“We have a medic,” she said. “I’ll let him know and arrange medicals.”

“Will you be okay?” Amanpreet asked.

“I was far enough away when it opened that my hull wasn’t breached. But I would advise checking your navigator as well.”

“We’ll arrange it,” she said. “How far do we need to be clear of here before jumping back in?”

“A couple of hours at your ships safest normal space high speed away should do it,” he said. “It wasn’t an especially bad one.”

“Okay.” Amanpreet checked the local charts and did a quick calculation. “We’ll rendezvous at the coordinates I’m sending you. Niobe send a message to the Council explaining what’s happened.”

The Council responded fairly quickly to their message asking for more information about the danger so they could start working on hazard training materials for navigators. Amanpreet punted that one to Promise who said that he would send a reply before they returned to hyperspace.

Vanna in the meantime was checking the Whisper’s systems for any sign that exposure to the tear had damaged it while Kaine was being poked and tested by Nerrin for any sign of illness. Mark was just climbing into the dome when the two returned to the bridge.

“All scans I can do are normal so far,” Nerrin said. “I hope that’s enough but I want to keep an eye on him. Promise’s biology is so very different from ours that even with the notes he sent me it’s hard to say what effects I should be looking for.”

“I feel fine,” Kaine said. “Though that thing was terrifying the way it just loomed in front of us. I swear it wasn’t there until suddenly it was, and what it looked like.” He grabbed a tablet sat down at one of the consoles and began sketching. “It looked like this.”

Amanpreet stared at the screen. Kaine wasn’t the best artist in the world which was what had stopped him qualifying as an exploration navigator – since that speciality required excellent draughtsmanship – and it was only a quick sketch but it was tolerable and she could recognise what he’d drawn at least. And he was right – the strange black void within the haze and chaos of hyperspace was a scary sight. She stared at the picture for a while before looking away and hailing the rest of their small flotilla. They needed to get back under way to make up for the hours they had lost.

“Is everyone ready?” she asked. Once all the ships reported in they jumped to hyperspace and headed towards Alethea again.

 

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