You, Me, We Are All Mistakes

16. MEETING THE ALMIGHTY

CHAPTER 16
MEETING THE ALMIGHTY

Eggs can loom. This one hung in the black void much like a frozen memorial to cosmic poultry.

In disbelief, Sennai drew so close to the AR main screen, that any augmented details overlaying its actual form amounted to dense blurs. The egg was motionless, approximately thirty kilotecs from his own vessel, and resembled the size of an inter-ship shuttle. Sennai gazed at the ovoidal form, mystified. He looked at his crew, the egg again and his crew again. He became dizzy.

"Well?" he squealed, finally.

"It's an egg," reported Taroooc.

"Magnificent! My Chief Wellness Officer is a genius. Is it too far to ask for a little more analysis? What I really want to know, is whether our wellness is guaranteed. Or did this... thing, attack us?"

Taroooc shrugged.

"Supercomputer!" yelled Sennai.

"Again?" muttered the computer before continuing,

"Okay. Prognosticator Circuits and Holographic Replay both report... uncertainty Captain. Yet the good news is, I have calculated we can all have omelettes for the next fifty-six days.

"I do not wish to know that!" ordered Sennai.

Snap.

In an instant all the main bridge lights were extinguished, and Supercomputer was silenced. No bleeps, no blinks, no voice. The dark hung like black velvet, with only a dim glow emanating from the borders of their main screen.

Imperceptibly at first, a weak hum quavered through every speaker large and small, as disparate console lights flickered back to life. The hum amplified to white noise, turning harsh until it reached the threshold of pain. Deluxia tore out her communicator's earbud.

In an instant it stopped.

"Hello?"

A booming voice filled the bridge. A voice so loud it caused flat surfaces to drone with vibration. No one spoke.

"Captain Deutronimus Karben Sennai, are you in there?"

Sennai's pale blue skin waned to ashen grey, matching his tunic.

"Sennai?" the voice bellowed again.

In the murky twilight of the bridge Sennai sensed each of his crewmember's piercing eyes.

"Yes... I'm here" he finally exhaled.

"Oh good," boomed the voice, "I couldn't see you in the dark. But that's etiquette for a booming voice. Always boom in the dark. And we used to advise sucking all the air from the ship you're about to boom into. Then we realised a voice doesn't boom too well in a vacuum, and even if it did, you'd all be asphyxiated... so you wouldn't hear it anyway. So, the staff manual got updated again. Ah well. I digress."

The main bridge lights blinked back on.

"Can I come aboard?" came another boom.

"So..." fumbled Sennai.

"As long as he doesn't crack up," chuckled Supercomputer.

"Shut up!" snapped Sennai.

The voice produced its deep bass once more.

"I guarantee there is no malicious intent. What capacity does your main loading bay have? I can open it from here if you wish."

Sennai scanned his subordinates for an answer.