Once the ship was in as good an order as could be achieved its crew had little choice but to wait. The unconscious Garath soon woke, and the broken bones were splinted and bandaged with various bits and pieces that had been scavenged from the rest of the ship. The only medicines on board had been painkillers and anaesthetics, along with some bandages and dressings. Without any regenerative equipment the injured just had to cope.
Another three days went by. The life support seemed to be coping fine with the extra demands being placed upon it. A shift system had been established for the bridge stations, mostly because there weren't enough bunks for everyone to sleep at the same time. The three days' worth of food had not yet been eaten, but on short rations all were hungry. The water recycler had been repaired after a fashion, but it was unable to keep up with the demand.
There were a few minor incidents, scuffles brought on my anxiety and worry. As time went by they became more frequent but less severe. People were feeling the effects of the rationing, and lacked the energy to continue a fight for long. The rest tried to take their mind off things by playing games in a cramped wardroom behind the bridge.
Then the ship dropped back into normal space. Unlike the entry to the tunnel this was a much more gentle affair. The bridge team even failed to notice anything for a few minutes, then Arrachachak, who was squeezed tightly into the front seat, glanced up and shouted "We're out!"
Another bridge member, the insectoid Tikapora, left the bridge to rouse Kirrik and Aeyris, who were both asleep at the time.
When they arrived they looked around in some hope at their surroundings. Arrachachak had turned the ship around. Blotting out the stars behind it was a dark ring. Wherever they were it was dark, darker than the place they had left. No lights illuminated this device, but other than that it was, as far as could be discerned, identical to the one they had entered three days earlier. Sensors showed it to be dead, exhibiting no sign of energy production or usage.
"That's why they had the shuttles at the other end," Kirrik mused. "Where are we?" he asked louder.
Marchero was again at the navigation station. "Uncertain," she said. "The computer is having some difficulty in finding a matching chart to this region."
"Where are we, neglecting names?"
"What?"
"I mean what's the nearest star."
"Why didn't you say so, then," Marchero replied acidly. "There's an M2 class dwarf point six-five light years away."
"We need supplies, and I think that thing," Aeyris pointed at the dark circle on the screen, "needs power if it's going to take us back. Let's drop a buoy and get to the nearest station."
Kirrik looked thoughtful for a while, and then nodded.
After the buoy had been released Marchero had managed to get a label for the nearby stars.
"The red dwarf nearest to us is Wolf 1421, apparently. Not a catalogue I recognise, but it's twelve hundred light years from Esdi."
"Bloody hell," Arrachachak said. "Has anyone ever been here?"
Marchero shrugged. One of the other people on the bridge, though, started to laugh.
"What?" Aeyris demanded of him.
"You really aren't going to believe this," the man said. "But several dim stars in the general vicinity of Sol are named 'Wolf' something."
The human members of the bridge crew started arguing amongst each other in surprise, and Kirrik was looking thoughtful. Arrachachak rolled his eyes in an overdone expression of amused tolerance.
When the noise eventually died down Kirrik pointed out that Marchero could easily check against the charts. She scowled at him, and then examined the console for a few minutes. Shaking her head in disbelief, Marchero said, "You're right. Sol is forty-five point eight light years from here." More arguing, until Kirrik shouted them down.
"You want to go there? Have you any idea what we might run into?"
There was a sudden silence, until Aeyris spoke. "We're going to have to get some help. The device here looks out of it."
"There's a good chance that there won't be anyone around here who would want to help us."
"Say what you mean," Marchero snapped.
Kirrik glanced at her, irritation in his eyes. "Why haven't we had any contact from your home systems for over three hundred years?" he reminded her.
"The Thargoids are sitting around at our end," Marchero said.
"We don't know what they've been doing in the other direction, though," Kirrik pointed out.
"If we stopped them in the Co-Operative then they will have done so here, too," Aeyris said.
"Who knows? And do you want to risk leading them to a back door into the middle of the Co-Operative? You might not have much loyalty to it, but I'll wager you have less to the Thargoids. They might be able to slip a fleet through that portal, not just the few raiders they can get through our lines at present."
"You're paranoid," Marchero said. Kirrik just shrugged in reply.
"What's so great about coming here, though?" Aeyris asked. "Sure, it's nice to get a link back to Sol, but why all the secrecy and illegal activity?"
"Probably for the technology," Kirrik answered. "Or an opportunity elsewhere. Who knows how the tech here corresponds to ours? Especially since we've had Thargoid trouble to force us to advance."
"Can I remind you," the man who had identified their location interceded, "that we've got more immediate concerns. Like what do we do now?"
"Jump range?" Aeyris asked.
"Twelve l.y.s on the original," Kirrik said. "They were based on the latest Asp engines."
"This one can manage ten," Marchero said, her station clearly displaying the information. "But we've only enough fuel for half that."
"What's within five light years?"
"That one unimpressive star."
"Remote place," Arrachachak commented.
Marchero nodded in agreement. "The easiest inhabited system to reach is rho1 Cancri. Well, according to this," she indicated the map on her console, "there were people living there three hundred years ago."
"How far?" Aeyris asked.
"We'll need to sun-skim Wolf 1421, then jumps of nine and eight and a third light years. There are a couple of other inhabited systems closer in a straight line, but they'll need more jumps to reach."
"What sort of name is rho1 Cancri?" snorted Arrachachak.
The expert glared at him. "These stars were seen from Earth before we even left our planet. The historical reasoning would be lost on you."
"Stop it," Aeyris snapped at them. He turned to Kirrik, and gestured to him.
Kirrik walked over to Aeyris. "We haven't enough supplies to last long enough to get there," he said quietly.
"I know," Kirrik replied. "And so, I imagine, does everyone else."
"Suggestions?"
"The charts are three hundred years out of date, and not very detailed. There aren't many stars without something nearby."
Aeyris frowned. "Back home, that's true. Things could be different here. And even in the Co-Operative nobody would bother with an remote red dwarf with nothing of interest."
"Fine, let's just not mention anything and go for it anyway."
The passage to Wolf 1421 did not take long, and ignoring Co-Operative regulations they brought the ship out of Witchspace dangerously close to the star so as to minimise real-space transit time. Immediately upon exit the bottom half of the viewscreen was filled with a glowing sphere, red around the edges but pure white in the centre where the cameras for the screen had been saturated. Close up even a small, cool star was an impressive object. The view quickly dulled to complete red as it adjusted to the light levels.