Enigma Ship - J. Steven York [22]
As the opening reached half a meter or so, Duffy reduced the gain and allowed it to stabilize. There was light inside, and he got an impression of a large space.
Gomez checked her tricorder. “I’m getting a reading from inside. There’s a breathable nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, with enough residual force field to keep it inside. It’s like the fields in the shuttlebay. Radiation flux is above background but nothing we’d need to worry about in the short term, even without our suits.”
Duffy leaned closer to the opening. He could see large machinery inside, dun- and gold-colored metals, pinstripes of silver and black, and glowing blue panels that pulsed with energy. “Will the force fields keep us from getting inside?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem. Try pushing your hand through.”
“Wait,” said Corsi.
Duffy grimaced. They had a ship to rescue.
He plunged his hand through the field before any superior officer had time to reformulate that thought into the form of an order. There was a slight, springy, resistance, like punching through a thin sheet of rubber. He only stopped when he was up to the shoulder in Enigma. He wiggled his fingers experimentally. “Still attached,” he announced.
“Guys,” Stevens’s voice cut into the circuit, “Corsi is turning all red. For your own safety, I recommend not returning to the ship right away.”
“We will,” Corsi’s voice was slow and controlled, “have a talk about this later.”
“Gomez.” It was Captain Gold’s voice this time. “What do you see?”
“It looks like some kind of mechanical space, Captain. Possibly a power generator or an engine room, though the technology is unlike anything I’ve seen before. No sign of crew. Everything appears automated.”
“Captain,” said Duffy, “we have to go inside. We can’t tell much about Enigma from out here. It’s also possible that once inside, we might be able to get a message to the Lincoln, either with our combadges or through an internal communications system we can tap into.”
“Captain,” Corsi’s voice rose in warning.
“Stand by, away team.”
The bridge circuit was muted. Duffy exchanged glances with Gomez. He wondered what the proverbial fly on the wall would be hearing right now.
“Commander.” It was Corsi. “I’ll be monitoring the situation from here. I have a team suited and ready for immediate beam-out in case there’s trouble.”
“It’ll be fine,” said Duffy. “There’s a duplicate magnetic probe on one of Soloman’s manipulator arms. The module has enough power to hold the breach open indefinitely, which our portable model can’t do. Soloman can monitor us from outside and provide a communications relay.”
“Very well,” said Gold, “permission to enter the Enigma ship is granted.”
They withdrew the portable probe, and replaced it with the one on Soloman’s pod. With the increased power available from the pod’s mini-fusion reactor, Duffy felt comfortable upping the gain to give them a two-meter opening. Gomez insisted on going first, but there was no shortage of volunteers. They were all eager to examine Enigma’s mysterious workings.
There was an operational gravity field inside Enigma, roughly half a standard gravity, and it was oriented so that the opening dropped them onto an angled wall. A towline from the module was fed through the opening first, to allow them to climb down to a level deck about eight meters below. Duffy watched, feeling a slight bit of disorientation, as Gomez lowered herself down.
She waved. “Comm check. Do you read me out there?”
“Signal gain is down seventy percent,” reported Soloman, “but I still read you fine, and I’m relaying a clear signal back to the ship.”
P8 Blue was next in. She bypassed the line, her eight legs allowing her to scurry directly down the wall in the reduced gravity.
“Wish me luck,” said Duffy, as he waved at Soloman in his cupola and climbed through the opening.
“Despite considerable effort on my part, I still do not understand the indeterminate nature of luck. I wish you success, not failure.”
Duffy chuckled. “Close enough.” He felt