Twin Earth
Chapter Nineteen

I realised that we hadn’t heard from Trevor or James at ground control for a while and it seemed odd that they hadn’t contacted us since our successful launch nearly two hours ago. It was like we had been left to our own devices and a feeling of panic began to rise inside me.

“Everything okay?” Rachel asked, looking at me with concern as I began flicking through the screen in front of us.

“I’m just wondering why we haven’t heard from Trevor,” I replied, trying to calm myself.

“Do you think there’s a problem?”

“I don’t know. It’s been another hour now and we should be approaching the anomaly soon. Ground control, this is Tom, can you hear me? Over,” I asked, flicking a switch, but I was greeted with only static.

“I don’t like this,” Rachel whispered, nervously playing with her hair that refused to sit in place.

“Ground control, this is the ionohex, are you reading me? Over,” I repeated, with a hint of panic in my voice.

“Tom, we’re... problems... earthquake...” a voice finally crackled over the system.

“Can you repeat that? Over,” I asked, looking at Rachel.

“What the hell is going on down there?” Rachel whispered.

Frowning, I tried again, “Trevor, is everything okay down there? Over.”

“Tom, there’s been a massive earthquake just off the coast from us, in the Mona Passage. It’s generated a huge tsunami and ... struggling to generate our systems ... with ... hurricane as well. Level 5 ... completely flooded and communications keep going down. We’re grabbing all our equipment ... relocating upstairs...” then the voice went back to static. Trying a few more times and getting no further response I finally gave up.

“What do we do?” Rachel whispered looking at me.

“What can we do? Just continue with our mission I guess.”

“How can you be so calm?” Rachel wheezed.

“Are you okay?” I asked with concern, looking at Rachel. She looked pale and seemed to be struggling to breathe.

“I... I don’t feel well.”

“Here, drink some water,” I replied, passing her a long tube. “Careful, don’t spill any as who knows where it will end up floating around this place.”

“I just feel like I can’t breathe. My clothes feel too tight. Since launching I’ve been trying to imagine myself on a plane, not in space, but seeing the moon and being in all this weightlessness, then this. I keep thinking....”

“Look, calm down,” I interrupted. “You’re just having a panic attack.”

“Don’t you feel claustrophobic? I feel trapped in this thing,” Rachel replied, gently pushing at the windows.

“I’m trying not to think about it. I’ve had enough nightmares thank you. Stressing about the what-ifs won’t help us.”

Rachel frowned at me, but she didn’t reply, instead she closed her eyes and continued to suck the water in an attempt to calm herself. I felt her pain though. I was freaking out just as much on the inside, but I was terrified that if she knew that she would end up having a complete meltdown and to me that was a scarier thought. I had to remain in control of my emotions. I had to rationalise my fear.

Then a loud beep started screaming through the tiny craft.

“What the hell is that?” Rachel squealed, terrified.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” I replied, frantically clicking a few buttons and scrolling through the screens.

“We’re moving! Do something.”

We were flung back into our seats as the pod suddenly began spinning uncontrollably and I was stunned to see the distant Earth appear and disappear in our field of view outside. I hadn’t seen it at all on our journey so far and for a second it floored me. ‘It’s so far away,’ I thought to myself, feeling sick.

“Tom, do something! It’s the sails, it’s the sails.”

Rachel was right. The nanophotonic sails switch was flashing red so I immediately clicked it off along with the quantum lasers powering it, jolting us forward in our seats. The same whirring sound from before filled the pod, but this time it was mixed with the sound of grating metal, then everything stopped.

“Are we okay?” Rachel asked.

“I think so,” I whispered, looking around the pod.

“Tom, the fluctuations. They’re going crazy, look.”

I looked at the screen in front of us and gawped. The data graphs that recorded the fluctuations of the asteroid debris outside were now frantically swirling up and down like a crazy rollercoaster ride.

“The sails must have been caught in the gravitational fluctuations from the anomaly,” Rachel replied, breathing heavily. “How far did we drift?”

“We’re off course by a few thousand miles. Geez, we were lucky,” I breathed.

Rubbing my face and growling out loud I tried to compose myself. “We’re fine, everything’s fine. We should log this information and send it back to Trevor,” I muttered, scanning the screen.

“What’s that sound?” Rachel asked suddenly.

For a moment we both sat motionless, simply listening to a strange low-pitched hum that was almost melodic in nature.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s the signal, look,” Rachel replied, pointing at the screen to my side. “It’s another frequency, but it’s audible. There’s loads now, and they all seem to be harmonising with each other, but where is it coming from?”

“I think it’s all around us,” I remarked, “but I can’t see anything outside.”

“The computer says we haven’t reached the anomaly yet. It says we still have another few thousand miles to go, but clearly we can feel it already?”

“I agree, we should be seeing something by now surely?” I replied, attempting to turn around and look behind us.

“Tom, the pen.”

“What about the pen?”

“The pen floating by the screen. It’s vibrating.”

I stared in amazement at the pen. Rachel was right. Tiny vibrations were causing it to tremble in mid-air as if it was stuck in an earthquake or a Jurassic park movie. Sometimes the movements were stronger, sometimes weaker, but it was clear to see that something was causing it to vibrate.”

“The fluctuations?” Rachel suggested.

“Possibly.”

“It is safe to go any further?” Rachel asked nervously. “I’m just worried that if the fluctuations are having this effect already on our sails and our craft, what will happen when we get closer?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” I replied, clearing my throat and pulling us back on course. “Let’s just hope the ion thruster doesn’t give out or we’ll be drifting in space towards this thing.”

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