The tunnel was dark. Absolute dark, the kind that leeches feeling away along with light. Only a few seconds into the mouth of tunnel- A few hundred square miles of alien ambience, where light from the stars flickered in and out of existence and the dozens of beacons and proximity sensors around its periphery only added to the weirdness- the warning was flashing on the screen beside the speed and current bearings. The warning was for many of the ships functions shutting down due to electrical and magnetic abnormalities inside the tunnel. The Auto-pilot functions and the curved screen were the last to go. Now Maaz was in control of a ship hurtling at unimaginable speed through a hole in the time-space continuum. The three dials in front of a ten inch by six inch analog screen showing the area immediately ahead of the ship, were simple enough. Two of them steered the ship side ways and up and down. The third was for reverse thrusters for when the Tunnel spat out the ship into normal space, it would also activate all the functions, now shut down.
There was also the Navigator's Collar and the emergency breathing apparatus. The collar was a battery driven device worn at the neck imparting an electric current when pressed tightly. This was to "wake up" the brain receptors to the Resonant Signature Waves (RSW) of stars. Maaz squeezed his eyes and braced himself for jolt as he pressed the Navigator's Collar around his neck. And was a little disappointed when feeling only a faint tingle. He was still thinking what to do next when a sudden pain erupted at his temples and he felt the jolt at the back of his head.
The feeling of disorientation and sickness passed as quickly as it had erupted. Maaz started to breathe again. He felt a change but could not pinpoint it. Finally he gave up trying, closed his eyes and sat back, suddenly tired and hungry. At first he ignored it, but after a while he sat up eyes wide and adrenaline rushing into his blood pumped by sudden excitement. He could "hear" the RSW from the sun, it was clear. He could also hear others, but the were still faint. He hesitated, *according to the last bearings, a few minutes ago? The sun should have been just a few degrees to starboard. What he "knew" was that he had to turn the ship 90 degrees in the opposite direction. He hesitated only a few moments but the feeling of surety was so strong that he went with his new "knowing" and turned the dial for a 90 degree turn.
There was no change. The tunnel was still dark but he felt he was headed the right way and relaxed into his seat. He did not know when he fell asleep. But when he woke up the ship was shuddering and he was pressed into his seat, feeling the pains of huge pressure despite the G-suit. Reaching for the dial to throw the reverse thrusters into action Maaz did his best to stop the bile from rising in his throat and somehow managed it. Incapacitated for the next few minutes, Maaz just sat, taking hold of himself and breathing deeply till Tank came back online and asked his go ahead to retract the G-suit.
Only after Maaz, out of the suit and sipping strong bitter cocoa, had felt human again; did he notice that the ship was just drifting along.
"Tank. Where are we?"
"We are 0.3 MM above the Venus orbital plane. Almost 0.8MM from the planet. The nearest EC platform is Sentinel Nine. I don't sense any active radar or drone activity except Sunflower and that is directed at the Sun."
"Sunflower is just recording solar data and transmitting it endlessly. So no immediate threats; Tank?"
"Affirmative."
"OK I am gonna eat."
Maaz headed towards a small room just next to the main cabin. There were three rows of buttons- Liquid, Cold and Warm. In the warm section Maaz punched in Mince Pie and Cola from the Liquid section. The small screen on the door of the machine blinked on "Welcome" and then a count down appeared "1.10.. 1.09..1.08". Maaz waited impatiently till the count down reached zero and the door slid aside to reveal a cold can of cola and a steaming quiche. Maaz had just finished wolfing down his meal when Tank informed:
"We are being hailed."
"Who is it?"
"The signal is from the Moon."
"Moon?"
"Earth's Moon"
"There is no sign of the Claw?"
"None."
Maaz went back to the main cabin carrying the can."What does it say?"
The screen showed. "Hello to the goodship Phoenix."
"OK. Lets do this. Tank lets reply. Send: Who is this? We are not the Phoenix. Check your codes."
"Message sent. It will take a couple of minutes to receive the reply."
The reply came in 1 minute 44 seconds.
" I may have the name wrong Captain. But I built this metal pyramid myself. I am Dr. Bruna Fedli. I am contacting you personally, not on behalf of anyone. I just want to see my ship in action."
Maaz had not expected this at all. In fact this felt suspicious and afraid. He replied.
"Doctor, I am not sure what you are talking about. We are an old ship."
"Check the sensor cluster 7K. Go to the actual list, not the activity summary. Check the last 10 minutes."
Maaz asked Tank for the list and it was on the screen. And there it was. A simple code, a long range communication message sent out by the ship. Though Tank confirmed that their location was not revealed, the message confirmed that the ship was in flight.
" OK. Doctor, so the cluster we installed sent out a code. Sorry for misleading you."
"I know my ship and my codes. But you are right to be cautious. If the EC get the wind of the Phoenix, you are as good as dead- with or without the ship."
"We are not involved in anything illegal."
"I think you really don't know what you have stepped into. This ship is a very advanced prototype built around Multi-form Protocol which.."
"Impossible! MFP is a myth. A smoke bomb created by the Jovian Scientechs."
"You are inside and MFP based ship! We built it. They think they killed us all but I survived. I put this ship in the junk yard among other broken and burnt ships when the EC stormed the Mirage Station."
Maaz could not think of a reply. He was elated at this good fortune but not sure how to proceed.
"What are you doing so near the Sun? My data trace tells me you are nearly motionless. There is nothing out there."
Maaz ignored the comment and replied.
"OK. You want to see this ship in action. Yes? What's in it for me? I want a ship and Merchant papers."
It took a few minutes for Dr. Bruna to reply " No deal. Contact me when you have thought about your options."