Into the Black: Odyssey One Read Online Free PDF

command chair.
    “We just crossed the orbit of Pluto thirty minutes ago, Sir. Technically we can engage the drive when ready, Sir,” Roberts replied crisply, “Though, the official heliopause is still a few minutes away.”
    “Good. Helm, calculate the trajectory… and be precise.” This last was spoken firmly as Lt. Daniels bent over his console and began the calculations.
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “Mr. Roberts, contact the transition team. Tell them to charge the system.”
    Roberts nodded and turned to a console on his left, tapping a series of commands’, he then spoke softly into a recessed microphone.
    “Transition team reports ready, Sir. We can engage the drive at any time.”
    “Good.”
    Weston flipped a switch on his console and activated the ship wide intercom, “Attention, this is Captain Weston speaking. We are preparing to engage the ship’s transition drive system. We have all been briefed on what to expect, and the psychological impact of what we are about to experience. Please brace yourselves and report any problems to the medical labs when we have exited transition. That is all.”
    Weston took a deep breath, “Helm, do you have that trajectory for me?”
    “Yes Sir, I just fed it into the system. We’re ready on this end.”
    “All right. I want a Go / No Go check from all stations.”
    “Helm, Go.”
    “Transition Control, Go,” The speakers didn’t convey any uncertainty and Weston wished that he shared that sentiment.
    “Reactor Control, Go.”
    The list ran through all of the ship’s stations, each confirming in turn that their section had prepared for the effects of the jump. The list slowly ran down, until finally Roberts spoke the final phrase.
    “Odyssey Command, Go.”
    “All systems, we are a go for transition in T-minus…,” Weston glanced down and punched a series of commands, “two minutes.”

Chapter 3
    The tension on the bridge continued to mount as the count ticked down, the numbers dropping rapidly, until the crew was confronted with the final ten seconds.
    Weston shifted nervously in his seat as the number ten went by, the transition effects had been kept highly classified for a reason. He knew what to expect, as did the entire crew, but in this case that was worse than ignorance.
    In the medical, labs Doctor Rame was rapidly running through the procedures that they had drilled into him when he was selected for this assignment, he was already planning a book about the experience.
    Commander Roberts had to force his hands to unclench; small blood red marks were left to decorate his palms.
    All through the ship people were holding tightly to things, as if preparing for massive acceleration despite what they had been trained to expect. In one room, a particularly nervous crewman had accidently knocked himself out while trying to strap himself to a chair, in retrospect he was considered lucky.
    A high-pitched whine began to reverberate through the ship, usually being felt long before heard, the sound continued to rise.
    On the bridge, Captain Weston watched the small red light flicker on as the count went past five seconds and noted a slight relaxation that swept through him when it did. They were now past the point of no return. The Odyssey and her crew were about to make history.
    The whine had reached painful levels in some areas of the ship, causing people to cover their ears and close their eyes in the vain attempt to shut out the sound. Outside the ship, a strange disturbance was affecting the ship’s forward sensor spires, causing the Odyssey computers to begin insisting that the spires were no longer present.
    The disturbance had apparently begun making its way towards the aft of the ship. One by one, key systems appeared to go offline, each system insisting that it simply wasn’t there.
    The count hit zero and Weston’s eyes widened as the disturbance intersected the bridge, the entire forward section including the view screen disintegrated into uncountable