Doctor Smith straightened, then nodded.

  “I'll go right now. Do NOT move until I get back.” He stated firmly, grabbing what looked like a high tech medical kit out of a hatch in the wall. Really needed to learn where all the hatches were in this ship and what was in them, I was getting tired of Carolina and Doctor Smith seeming to know more about my ship than me.

  “I AM going to move, cause I need to be on the bridge to fix some of what has happened, and you may need the medical bed, but go.” I said as I released the restraints with a thought.

  Doctor Smith looked angry at this,and looked like he was about to say something, but he left without a word.

  Leaving me naked on the medical bed with a shredded shipsuit around me, and several recently sealed incisions over my heavily bruised body..

  I went over to the corner where I seem to remember there being a spare suit before the upgrade... and there it was. The hatch popped open at a touch and I put on the emergency suit, before making my way to the bridge.

  My body ACHED, but at least I wasn't stumbling too much, so, hey, small favors.

  Not counting the time I tripped because my feet were numb. Not counting that one.

  I made it to the bridge without incident, and settled into the helm station and connected immediately.

  Once synched with the ship again I looked at the camera's.

  Doctor Smith had apparently woken everyone up, and everyone was gathered around Ricky's room.

  Megan looked a little worse for wear, but I am not sure if it was because she was injured or was concerned for Ricky.

  Wait... His name... Only one...

  Fuck his other half was gone.

  Ricky was bent over double on his bed, with puddles of vomit on the floor next to him.

  Doctor Smith was palpating his neck and had already gotten Ricky's shirt off. Smith was checking him over, giving him a less thurough examination than he had done to me on the medical bed. I could already see similar bruises forming to mine over Ricky's abdomen, I was particularly concerned over one forming over his right side.

  I knew liver injuries were bad news

  There also appeared to be an alarmingly large amount of blood on the floor.

  Megan, Hwang, and Carolina watched on, looking concerned.

  I spoke over the speakers in the room.

  “What's happening doc? Did he have the same issues as me?” I asked.

  “No, he doesn't. Or at least, not just those same issues”. Doctor Smith replied, seemingly barely paying attention to me, as he pulled Ricky's eyes open to peer into them.

  I waited a beat as Doctor Smith continued to examine him.

  Halfway through said examination Ricky vomited up more bile on to the floor.

  “Do you know what's wrong with him?” I asked.

  “Not sure. It does not appear to be immediately life threatening, but I want to get him down to medical just in case. Are you off the bed?” Doctor Smith asked.

  “Yeah, I am back in the bridge now. What do you mean not immediately life threatening? That amount of blood on the floor is... concerning.” I replied.

  “Whoever it came from it wasn't him. His blood pressure is fine despite the bruising, though I do need to do the same procedure to him as I did to you to keep it from damaging his kidneys, he seems in remarkably better shape than you were captain. Other than the concussion at least. I am concerned about the amount of blood around his Liver but... all signs point to it being unharmed.”

  “Can we come up? We don't know what's going on.” Hwang looked up and asked.

  “Come on up. I'm not sure what questions I will be able to answer but we will see.” I replied.

  The girls all trooped up to the bridge while Doctor Smith and Ricky made their way to the medical bay.

  They all reached the entry to the bridge and I opened it for them, watching through the camera's as they warily walked in and sat at various stations around the bridge.

  “Okay, what happened? Doctor Smith started pounding at our doors like an angry drill sergeant and rattled off a bunch of questions to all of us.” Hwang asked.

  “Except Ricky. When Ricky didn't get up he ran in and immediately started jabbing him with instruments and muttering to himself. Ricky came to after Doctor Smith hit him with a syrette and immediately started heaving his guts out.” Megan said, looking concerned.

  Fuck. Whatever happened had deleted Ricky's other half and fucked him up bad.

  “Shit.” I replied.

  “What the hell happened Captain?” Hwang exclaimed.

  “Well. We're in the void. Or transit.” I said.

  There was a pause.

  “And?” Hwang said, losing her patience.

  “The drive never triggered.” I responded.

  There was another pause.

  “What does that mean Captain, really.” Hwang continued.

  Megan was looking alarmed.

  “I mean we somehow transited at the jump point without using the jump drive.” I continued.

  Hwang just looked like she didn't understand. Carolina looked pensive, like she was putting something together in her head.

  Megan's alarm had transitioned to pure panic.

  “Are we lost in jump space?” She asked, quietly, like she didn't want to know the answer.

  She had cored right to the root of the problem.

  We knew how the jump drive worked.

  We don't know how whatever dumped us here worked.

  “I don't know.” I replied to Megan truthfully.

  This caused Hwang to start freaking out.

  Good job me.

  “What the fuck do you mean we're lost in jump space?” She shouted.

  “Calm down crewman. We don't know anything yet. What do you 'see' captain.” Carolina said, attempting to inject some authority into her voice but cracking at the 'crewman' part.

  Megan and Hwang's gaze both snapped to one of the camera's in the bridge.

  I focused, trying to catch any glimpses of the next flash that I could.

  It came. But it felt... sluggish. Like my awareness wasn't a flash from a lightbulb but a slowly moving ripple, slowly revealing things.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I was still aware of everything, but it was... slow.

  It felt like I was trawling information to me through sand, or a bog.

  And it hurt.

  But I did see things.

  And in the distance, very far in the distance, I saw the light of a transit exit.

  I didn't see my old friend the tentacle anywhere though.

  That set my teeth on edge.

  “I see a way out... but things seem weird. And I can't... It's taking way longer to see than it should.”

  “Okay... Wait, explain your seeing.” Megan said, latching onto that.

  I sighed.

  “You know how I could see the creature?” I said.

  “That thing we shot at? You could see it? Why the fuck didn't you help us out then.” Hwang said.

  “I can't... not really. It's like pulses. Every few seconds I kindof get a snapshot of the void, transit space, jump space, whatever. But now it's less like a snapshot, it's like I'm feeling my way out through the void. Good news is, I see a way out.”

  Another flash hit and I focused on what was outside of the ship.

  We were in a graveyard.

  “And... we seem to be in a graveyard.”

  “What?” Hwang asked.

  “You know, a graveyard, like where you put dead bodies.” I said, being deliberately obtuse so I could get a handle on what I was seeing.

  My flashes felt like trawling for images through treacle, and instead of all at once I as getting it in...

  Something like a ripple...

  Huh...

  I think the void was... thicker, here, somehow.

  But what I was seeing was thousands of dead and powered down ships, some touching and pushed together, all in this mass with us.

  “There's hundreds... maybe thousands of dead ships around us.” I said finally.

  They all paused.

  “Thousands... of dead ships.” Megan repeated.

  “Yeah... and the void seems... thicker here somehow.” I said.

  “By the void you mean the jump space right? Or Transit space?” Megan said.

  “It feels like so much more than that the more I learn.” I said.

  The three of them paused.

  Carolina spoke up without looking up.

  “You said the jump-space was thicker... How fast are we moving to the exit point you said you saw.” she asked.

  Shit.

  I hadn't thought that far yet.

  I waited until another flash hit.

  Everyone in the bridge was tense.

  Then I had another.

  I focused very carefully on marking approximately the size and shape of the transit exit point in my hud, essentially freehand drawing what I saw in these flashes onto the hud.

  Another... pulse, more than a flash hit.

  It hadn't changed.

  “Fuck... barely at all.” I replied.

  Carolina was shaking, looking down at her feet.

  I belatedly realized her nails were digging into her palms.

  Hard enough to draw blood.

  “It's okay Carolina, we're okay, we're not trapped. We'll figure a way out of this.”

  the others had noticed Carolina shakes by this point.

  “Chief... you okay?” Megan asked, still trying to maintain a veneer of military discipline.

  Carolina was hyperventilating.

  Fuck... this was going to suck.

  I triggered the disconnect from the helm and stood up.

  Immediately I felt unsteady, and I fell to a knee as I got out of the chair. Megan moved over to help me up and I took the aid gladly, steadying myself on her shoulder as I pushed to Carolina.

  I reached over to her and grabbed her shoulders, carefully rubbing them up and down.

  “Hey. Hey, it's okay. We're okay. “ I said, trying to duck down and look her in the face.

  It didn't help that I was shaking myself, and my head was just flooding with pain.

  My implants were dispensing loads of pain medication into me. It was not helping with the migraine.

  Or the rest of the pain that I was starting to feel.

  Thankfully I managed to catch her gaze with mine and she focused on me.

  Her pupils were dilated massively, but as she caught my gaze they shrank down to pinpricks.

  “Brayden?” She said.

  “I'm here.” I replied.

  “I don't want to be.” She said.

  I pulled her into a hug.

  “I know, I know.” I said as she took some shuddering breaths into me.

  Megan started to say something but Hwang grabbed her shoulder, hard, and pulled her down to look directly in her face while mouthing 'not now'.

  I moved to wrap my arm around her shoulders, and almost stumbled doing so, my vision swimming.

  Hwang moved to prop up my other side and I muttered thanks.

  I slowly walked with Carolina, bringing her to her room, and in my H.U.D. Sent to Doctor Smith that Carolina was having a panic attack and/or PTSD episode.

  I got her in and settled her on her bed as Doctor Smith and a much more functional looking Ricky turned up at her door. Ricky was looking pale but otherwise was moving fine.

  “Doc, can you do anything for her?” I asked, as I finished making her comfortable in the bed... and strapping her in with the crash webbing.

  “Later? Maybe. For now, a sedative.” Doctor Smith said and stepped forward with another syrette.

  Carolina almost immediately stopped shaking and lapsed into a deep sleep, curling up into a ball on the bed under the crash webbing.

  I pulled a blanket partially over to cover her before my whole body started shaking again. I got it partially over her before my fingers failed me.

  Ricky stepped forward and helped me cover her the rest of the way, and I nodded my thanks to him.

  Doctor Smith let out a breath.

  “Okay, what happened.” He asked.

  “She had a panic attack when I told her about our current situation.” I said, leaning against the bulkhead and massaging my temples. It didn't really help, but it was a habit I had picked up long ago when it did actually help.

  “And that is...” Doctor Smith began, but Megan interrupted.

  “Um... I'm sorry, but, I remember you talking about how important it was for the captain to get his medication before disconnecting, and he didn't get it cause he had to help Carolina, So... should we give it to him now? Or is it too late.” Megan asked, quietly, while holding up the vial and the syringe that was normally used to administer my medication.

  Doctor Smith ran a hand down his face while taking a long, hopefully calming, inhale and held out his hand for the vial and syringe from Megan, who handed them over.

  He came up to me and said “turn around so I can reach your ports.”

  I turned my head, and I felt him feel around between the cold steel in my neck and the skin surrounding it, before I felt some pressure.

  And almost immediately felt better, the world stopped roiling, and my head... didn't stop hurting, but the pain receded. Like it was further away.

  “Wow that stuff works fast.” I said.

  Doctor Smith just grunted.

  “Okay, are there ANY more medical emergencies.” Doctor Smith asked as he looked around at what was, at this point, the whole ships company. He looked frazzled and very done with the situation.