So, this is it: the bit when they make contact with (in stentorian tones) The Veil of Shytar!
Meanwhile, aboard the Prowler which was standing off at a supposed safe distance…
…Barclay was wondering what the flipping heck was going on…
“Bubs, please tell me they are going to operate the Gravitonic Multiplicitor soon: I can’t stand the suspense.”
“I expect they have lots of calculations and stuff.” Bubbles replied. “They can’t be expected to swing into town and start firing from the hip straight away: they need to check things out first. But, gosh, I wish they’d get a bloody move on. Every second could be critical. I’ve worked out why the hyperspace conduit collapsed, by the way. It was Worstworld’s star: its convulsing and sending out powerful gravity waves that are impacting on nearby hyperspace.”
“Wow, impressive.” Barclay responded. “How do you know that?”
“The Goosewing Grey’s Science Officer sent me a text while Bonzer was pretending to visit the gravitonic multiplicitor.” Bubbles confessed. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Disappoint me?” A puzzled Barclay inquired.
“For a moment you thought I figured all that stuff out by myself.” Bubbles explained. “I could see how impressed you were.”
“I was.” Barclay replied. “And I still am. You are one seriously impressive female, Bubbles. It’s one of many attributes that make me proud that we’re here together – you and I.”
Bubbles would have responded to this, but just as she pursed her lips in consideration, something happened at the Veil of Shytar…
The Goosewing Grey had let rip with the gravitonic multiplicitor…
Any second now, Bubbles and Barclay expected to watch as the vast space anomaly began its long fall towards the blue-giant star. But, to their horror, as the gravitonic multiplicitor paused to recharge, the veil went mysteriously dark.
Aboard the ship of Scroton, a bridge crew member made a suggestion…
“Ah, might I suggest we go to Vermillion Alert and grab hold of something that’s bolted down? I have a disturbing feeling in my bowels about this.”
Bonzer didn’t require a seconder. He spun the ship about and hit the emergency boost button…
But quicker still the Veil of Shytar expanded exponentially – dwarfing the Goosewing Grey – and glowing brightly. The next second saw all of the gravitonic multiplicitor’s energy gathered up and flung back towards its point of origin…
The Scrotonic energy then grasped the Goosewing Grey and sent it spinning across thousands of miles of empty space…
Inside pandemonium reigned. With their spatial orientation in tatters, no one could begin to guess which way was up and whose nose poked in whose ear…
They simply hung on to their duty stations like interstellar limpets.
However, as the energy dissipated, the Goosewing Grey finally stopped shaking and simply tumbled gently, end over end, towards Worstworld’s distant primary star…
Naturally the Prowler went in pursuit: the ship of Scroton would need stabilising and brought to a halt.
The experience of being hurled across space by the energy of their own gravitonic multiplicitor wasn’t one that any of the crew of the Goosewing Grey expected or particularly enjoyed. In fact one of them failed to enjoy it so much that he or she left an aromatic item in the forward section of the bridge…
“Someone obviously isn’t suited to a life in space.” The Science Officer observed. “But I think we should place that subject on the back burner for the moment: the Prowler has matched velocity with us and is attempting to slow our uncontrolled rotation with a tractor beam.”
“Timely, S.O,” Bonzer commented, “Because, unless my eyes deceive me, the Veil of Shytar appears to be moving in our direction.”
“Oh yes, I do believe you’re right.” The Science Officer said as he looked up at the holographic viewer, “that can’t be good.”
“It could be an optical illusion.” A crewman suggested.
He was ignored.
“I’m going to make a suggestion, S.O,” Bonzer said gravely, “that might sound incredibly ridiculous. I pre-warn you because I don’t want the crew to think I’m going bonkers and take steps to have me removed from command.”
“Not sure I’m going to like it much myself, Captain.” The Science Officer replied. “Nevertheless I feel duty bound to hear it. Shoot.”
“We should instruct the Prowler to desist with their effort to regain the Goosewing Grey’s stability: we should do that for ourselves – probably by synchronised running from side to side and jumping up and down until the craft has settled into some form of equilibrium.”
“Sounds reasonable so far: continue.”
“Then the Prowler should move to intercept the space anomaly and attempt dialogue with it.”
For a moment the Science Officer stared straight ahead. He didn’t as much as blink.
“S.O,” a concerned Bonzer Dragonsrectum said sharply, “do you ail?”
The Science Officer reanimated. “Sorry, Sir,” he said, “I come from a long line of science officers. It’s a family trait to go into a fugue when thinking deeply. I concur with your suggestion. We can only pray that the brightly-coloured curtain thing possesses sentience. If it’s coming to kick us up the metaphysical arse, there’s not a sodding thing we can do about it.”
Moments later Bubbles and Barclay received a communication from the Goosewing Grey. It was brief and concise…
“I think that spinning is addling their brains.” Barclay opined.
“Could be,” Bubbles replied, “but Captain Dragonsrectum out-ranks us. If he tells us to do something, we really should. How do you talk to a space curtain?”
© Paul Trevor Nolan 2022
Well that’s that out of the way: now on to the interesting stuff in part 24!
Tooty Nolan: Languishing Somewhere Between Clever and Stupid 