Blank Space Read online

  Blank Space

  Chapter 1:

  Nightingale emerged from the other end of the warp, sleek and elegant. Once fully warped, the ripples ceased behind them, the blackness once again is seen, as if they had materialized from the very emptiness itself. Oliver hit a button above his head, which lit up a deep green.

  'Outpost 73 this is Nightingale, exploration vessel on behalf of Celestria, and The Empire Of Humanity as a result. Permission to move out into open space.' A pause filled the cockpit, save for the hum of the ship, the whine, and wheeze of the engineering under their feet. A few of the crew shifted in their seats, trying to get comfier ready for the journey out into the great abyss.

  Outside of the cockpit window, Outpost 73 was a mass of scaffolding, construction equipment, and general activity. It had been in operation for ten years previous, and so was under commission to be upgraded to a fully-fledged civilization in its own right. It was rumored to be under the working name of 'Haven', although what it would eventually be named was unknown. The most western point in the entire empire, a community on the fringes of the blackness, more exploration was required by Celestria. A constant expansion, constant knowledge, continuous growth, never stopping or ceasing forever. They were a part of that, the crew of Nightingale, and they knew it. It was a great undertaking, and all seven of them, deep down, past all of the financial and monetary motives, were proud to be a part of the expansion of their species as the predominant force in the entirety of space.

  'Anyone need to do any shopping before we leave?' Holden jested.

  'Rather talkative today aren't we?' Prissy retorted.

  'I'm a psychiatrist, making people happy is what I'm paid to do, and making jokes comes part and parcel with that.'

  'Well I'm stocked up with sarcasm, so I think all my shopping is done for today Holden, thanks,' Duma said. Holden laughed. A voice then came on over the intercom system of the ship.

  'Nightingale this is Outpost 73 control. You are cleared for the trip out into open space, come back with all of you on board and have a safe exploration.' Leon smiled and told Oliver to put the ship out into the darkness. There was a roar from behind them as the engines picked up. Whirring machines, power coming from deep in the ship like a Hyuntiger's throaty growling before they pounce upon its prey. The cockpit vibrated, all seven crew pushing themselves back into their seats. The ship moved forward slowly, creeping, tentatively. The whirring increased, and Oliver put one hand on the yoke, tapping a few switches to his right. Each one lit up in a nice, comforting Celestrian blue. Nightingale began to gather speed, and the vessel steered around to the right, to stare right out into the ink before them. Aside from a few very distant specks of light, stars so far out they weren't worth considering to be reached this journey, there was nothing. Referred to in Empire lore as 'The Blank Space', it had never been explored, and it was assumed that there was nothing there. Outpost 73 was only recent and was as far out as the Celestrian exploration minister had dared go at the time. Now it was time to press the boundaries, and it was Nightingale leading the way.

  'Time to crank her up Oliver' Leon said.

  'Right you are sir, Jenny, but the Yellow Stars up to 37, set the Hinten panel to setting 5.' Jenny, sat on the far left, ran her hands along with the controls before her, tapping buttons, twisting dials, entering data. The side of the ship changed from that dull grey to a shimmering lightning blue, the light from the engines. Holden smiled slightly, it truly was exhilarating. The ship began to gain speed. Within a minute, Outpost 73 was behind them, and within ten it was just another light on the monitors.

  'Set Nightingale to cruise mode Oliver. We're the first bastards out here and we've got no idea what we might find, if anything, so let's not burn her out instantly.' Oliver reached down and flicked a toggle twice down, coming up to see a menu projected before him from a Halo-Core. He tapped into the 'cruise mode' option and changed a few more settings on the controls before him. The projection disappeared and a small blue light lit up above him, giving him the confirmation of what he had done.

  'Right guys and ladies, she's cruising in open space right now. We're relatively stable and she's soaring like a dream. Give her just under an hour or so, 53 minutes to be exact, and we will be out of radio contact with everything and anything. Seatbelts can come off now,' the other six of them unclipped and untangled themselves from the leather, 'and you can go grab your food and whatnot, get set up and all that jazz.' Oliver let out a small sigh, and the whole crew cheered.

  'Out into the blank space, never been done before,' Prissy remarked.

  'We'd better go down in history for this one, that's for sure,' Yuki said also. Duma snorted.

  'Celestria isn't paying us little enough to go down in history.'

  'But they're also not paying us enough. Now if we come back with an unknown life form...' Yuki began.

  'Oh come on, this is Celestria. They don't care if we exterminate the last of a dying species as long as they can shove another outpost in this wasteland,' Duma fired back. Holden laughed and pointed to him as if to say 'he's got a fair good point you know.'

  'Sod that, Nevis Exquisite in June Plaza in Region 5 would pay us the amount it cost for the damn ship if it tasted good, let alone if it was rare,' Leon pointed out. There was a unanimous agreement to this, and then Jenny said she was going to get something to eat, and the others followed soon after, deciding that food was definitely a good idea. Oliver remained seated, glancing over the controls, checking instruments and whatnot, making sure everything was shipshape with his new craft. Leon glanced back at him on his way out of the cockpit.

  'You ok their man?' Oliver turned to face him in his seat.

  'Captain, I'm piloting a brand spanking new Gravitas-769, with all the whistles and bells except XF-82 Deltas on the side. I am the happiest pilot in the history of The Empire.' Leon laughed.

  'She's definitely a nice girl to be on, that's for sure.' Oliver snorted.

  'This baby is a dream to pilot, and she's a beauty to be behind the controls of. I'm going to remember this trip forever, she's responsive, attentive, everything works, and more than anything, she's fun, and that's the most I could ever ask for as a pilot.' He smiled a good, honest smile that cut right into the captain like a knife. He had worked with several pilots that were just in it for the money, and in one instance several years back, with a guy that was a spaceship pilot purely because the past five generations of his family had been, never mind how good he was. The man piloting his ship, however, was none of them. He was in it for the sheer love of flying a spaceship, and as long as the controls were under his fingers, sat in the palms of his hands, he was sure that nothing could happen to it.

  'Good to hear. Come grab a bite to eat, there might be a few bottles of Rias Vortunas to celebrate.' Oliver's eyes widened, and a spark inside them woke up like a teenager that has realized he overslept on the morning of an exam.

  'We've got Rias Vortunas? Hell, I've only ever drunk that stuff once, and that was at the Celestrian Ship Pilot Graduation in a place in Region 9. Most of us were pissed off our heads for five days solid.' It was with that statement, that fleeting glimpse of the navigator's past, that the two men left the room to go and find the others, as the Celestrian exploration vessel Nightingale glided out from the fingertips of humanity, and into the unexplored regions of interstellar space.

  Chapter 2:

  'Look, I'm not saying that it was rigged, but Forman's jump to take the lead was dodgy, to say the least.'

  'Forman is a top-class driver, and the fact he was pushed onto that track by Ingirislad made him desperate. Anyone would be in that position, having to go around the longer route. They were only just generating the track as he was getting to it; even Yuki knows that you
can't drive on a track that hasn't been generated yet.' Yuki looked up from her drink.

  'Don't look at me; I don't know anything about the HyperGP. My ex used to watch it, and that's about it. That and the fact that Kneyllyl seems to win everything.' Leon grimaced.

  'Hey, Celestria's getting themselves up there slowly, but they've only had a team for the past 30 years, somehow,' he replied.

  'They seem to be at the forefront of everything else,' Holden said.

  'Just not Hyper racing apparently. Although didn't Ingirislad drive for them at some point in the past?' Duma inquired. Leon nodded.

  'A few seasons ago. Had a massive rant about having to let Zane Huntersdome past on the final lap of the Hell Vayley race and said that unless they raised his pay to 3000Zale a race he was leaving.'

  'I'm assuming they didn't,' Duma said, 'judging by the fact he's now racing for VRT.'

  'That they didn't. Shame too, considering he's now second in this season's championship, and only got it stolen from him that last race with a cheating Forman coming from the sidetrack off the edge and slamming down onto the track in front of him three corners from the end. I mean, how's a guy going to defend against that? His team didn't even tell him that Forman was coming along.'

  'Don't they say that the communications go crap for about a minute along that stretch though Leon?' Holden asked.

  'Oh down through Canyon yeah they lose the coms, but you think someone would have told him that it was possible Ingirislad would jump him,' Duma pointed out.

  'Exactly my point, thank you, Duma. Look, I acknowledge that Forman is a good driver and all, and I recognize that Ingirislad forced him wide onto the Riviege, but I still think that Forman had some sort of help. They were wheel to wheel going onto that straight, and somehow, even taking the longer road, Forman jumps off back onto the main track well ahead of Ingirislad. I mean, there's clearly something wrong there.'

  The crew continued the conversation over their first flight meal, which consisted of sludgy, different colored pastes that were flavored to suit the wished for food. Although the same substance in everything but the flavor, Holden was eating a roast, Duma a chili, Leon a burger, and by their side, Yuki and Prissy were devouring into their lasagne-flavored meals. Oliver had gone back to check the bridge and cockpit during the phase-out of communications range, whilst Jenny was checking that all of her nicely polished weapons were still pristine condition. The whole crew was contented to talk Hyper sport, money, family issues, politics, any topic which happened to come up. Yuki had certainly been on worse trips, one particular venture had been hell thanks to a certain member of the crew bullying her for her ancient earthen oriental heritage and accent. It seemed that on the whole, the seven crew members were knitting together nicely.

  It was during a particularly heated conversation between Leon and Prissy over what should be done about a small planetary colony on Crisander.7R which was engaged intense negotiations with the locals, that Oliver came in over the coms system.

  'Guys, we're just heading out of communications range with Outpost 73, so I don't know if you want to do anything special like do a handstand, but we are about to be on our own in a few minutes.' There were nervous exchanged of looks around the dinner table, and it seemed that for the first time, it was really sinking in that if something were to happen, there would be absolutely nobody to help them. Celestria was going out of reach, Outpost 73 was just a crackling and a fading speck on a screen, the Empire Of Humanity was going to be a distant past, save for a lone spaceship voyaging out, treading the void of the blank space. Nightingale would be the furthest life for the empire, for anything that their species knew, it was a landmark for which any lost traveler that had failed their warp and ended up there would look for to get a grip on reality, and hopefully find their way home. Before Nightingale's explorations, gods forbid anyone who would end up in this hell of nothingness.

  'Finally getting there then Oliver, wherever there is exactly,' Prissy said.

  'There is nothing, Prissy,' Duma replied.

  'There's nothing that we know of,' she countered. Duma considered this thought and then raised his eyebrows.

  'Touché, I stand corrected.'

  'Don't be stupid, you're still probably right.' The group laughed, a certain anxious spark in all of their voices as if a static were stuck in their throats.

  'Well if there is anything,' Jenny said, walking into the room through the door with a pistol in hand, 'they'll have to get through me first.' Holden and Duma wolf-whistled as Jenny posed against a wall, one leg up to her other knee, a profile on, gun raised as she looked at them and winked.

  'You'll make the next series of Charlene's devils yet Jenny, of that I have no doubt,' Holden jeered. She aimed past him, in mock badass-stance.

  'Mr. Monster, I'm afraid you're going to hell.' The crowd laughed and clapped their approval, and Jenny pretended to fire. There was the sound of the weapon shooting, and a hole was blasted in the wall.

  'Holy crap you actually fired!' Leon shouted. Prissy leaped to her feet and ran for a panel on the wall. She entered a code and opened up a hatchway to grab a canister of Hull-Repair-Spray. She jumped over the table as an alarm began to ring above them, a red warning light flashing in the center of the room. She shook the canister furiously as the men moved out of the way. Prissy aimed, and a white, creamy spray came from the nozzle. It latched itself onto the hole and she filled in the gaping hole with the stuff.

  'Sorry guys,' Jenny apologized, walking over to the room's Halo-Core to turn off the wailing that was beginning to grate at their ears. 'I forgot I turned the safety off the thing down in the testing bay to make sure it was still fire-worthy. It's only an XF-43 Alpha, so I thought it might be a little rusty.'

  'Who the hell is firing at my ship?' Oliver barked over the coms. 'If she's got a hole in her by the time I get down there I might start crying, howling to an invisible set of moons, or shooting one of you instead.' Leon answered this plea for knowledge of how his beauty was doing.

  'Jenny didn't turn the safety back on and XF-43 Alpha after testing it.'

  'Why've we got a 43 on here anyway? Nightingale's tip-top, best of the best, we should have 56's at least.'

  'Because,' Jenny explained, 'this is Celestria we're working for. You can make as much sense as you want, and that planet will still screw you over.' There was a brief pause.

  'You know Jenny,' Oliver began, 'You've just put a hole in my baby girl. She's barely been going an hour, and there's a whacking great big hole in her. But you've just said one of the truest of truths, and I'm only going to request a single punch to your arm to make up for it. A hard one mind, you may be a woman but you're in charge of weapons so I think that makes it even. That fair?' In the dining area, Jenny grinned.

  'I think that's a fair exchange Oliver. We out of range yet?'

  'Almost, a few seconds left. Say goodbye to everyone until we return.' Duma got up and went over to a cabinet, pulling out six plastic martini glasses. He reached into it lower down and extracted a bottle, on the side the label read 'Black Mariner.' He brought the glasses and the bottle over and poured the beverages out. After they were poured, he looked at the bottom of the bottle and shook it slightly.

  'Ah there's only a bit left, Oliver can drink it out of the bottle.'

  'A Black Mariner out of the bottle? You serious?' Yuki asked.

  'Is he really going to complain? Alcohol might make up for the hole in his ship, whatever container it's in,' Duma reasoned. Jenny drew up a chair, and around the round table, they sat, martinis in hand.

  Leon looked at the men and women before him and smiled. They were a good crew, a little excited, and one of them a little trigger-happy, but a good crew. It would be a good and successful voyage, without a doubt. It was time for a small celebration, and then it would be all hands on deck. The holiday was about to end, the fantasies were about to come to a close. It was now that the working start and they began to earn their pay. To broaden the horizon
s of The Empire Of Humanity, to go where no spaceship had traveled before; that was what they were here to do.

  It was then that a clear voice came from the ship.

  'Exiting communications range with Outpost 73. Now in open space known as The Blank Space.' It was the voice of a young woman, mid-twenties, with a very slight robotic tinge to it.

  'Who was that?' Prissy asked. The rest of them shrugged.

  'Oliver, what was that? There was a woman's voice just then,' Leon called. Oliver came back a second after.

  'Yeah, I discovered Nightingale's internal voice communicator. Essentially, the ship can now talk. It should make the trip a bit more interesting, to say the least.'

  'Well that's cool, I thought they'd gotten rid of the computer voices a few decades ago because it always activated whenever you said the name of a ship in the middle of a sentence,' Duma said.

  'Obviously now they've sorted it. Right then everyone, let's make sure all of our stations and jobs are set up, and remember to check who's on duty during the sleeping hours,' Leon told them. The crew all nodded and agreed, draining their martinis in one go. Slammed onto the table in sync, they rose from their seats to begin setting up their workspaces and their home-from-home, now that home was an impossible reach across the gulf of space.

  Chapter 3:

  Two days into the expedition and the crew were beginning to settle down to the daily routine. Every day consisted of two meetings, one in the morning (or what their clocks still registered as morning) and one in the afternoon, in order to voice opinions on what was happening, if anything had come to light or mind, etc. Every day there was a ten-minute session with Holden to make sure they were still feeling tip-top. Mealtimes were rife with conversations, proposition bets between the men (an excess of manliness, as Yuki would refer to it), laughter and discussions about the wider happenings of The Empire Of Humanity.

  'No, I'm telling you now. Brykthylosians are more violent than Kozolequinians, only an imbecile would argue against that,' ran one discussion at the dinner table, courtesy of Holden's love of arguments.