Out of bounds

[Sombs]

---

Day 50 - Location unknown III

"This is Captain Vertiga to the crew. It is the end of the fiftieth day since we left Sirius. In the coming hours, we will return to Sirius. We are very close.

Right now we are heading for the smaller alien gate in this system. From the analysis of all data we got from the kusarian gunboat, we expect the system beyond that gate to be an Edge World system of Sirius. It might be known to us, it might be not. Nevertheless, we will try to trace the way the kusarians took right back. Nomad encounters are very likely, and we only have so many means of defending ourselves. However, as soon as we are back to Sirius, we should be able to reconnect with the neural net. Expect a flood of new messages in your inboxes. In the meantime, we will prepare a distress beacon, just in case we get into trouble.

Goal is to reach anything that is not hostile to us, preferably Livadia in Omicron Kappa. I expect your best performances today. But I have no doubt we will return safe and sound, and then we will party with the Livadians.

Good luck, all of us."

---

Once more the crew was filled with tension. Ezrael's heart was beating faster and faster the closer the Apahanta got to the alien gate. Trying to remain calm, he stood at the railing of the command stage of the bridge, one arm along the metal rail, the elbow of the other arm on its wrist while the other's hand was infront of Ezrael's mouth, slightly nervously moving the thumb back and forth at the tips of index and middle finger. It was a weird feeling, as he realized he sort of started enjoy this outlook. Red everywhere. Heat everywhere. As a curacaoan, he was used to tropical heat, yet this was a few degrees beyond that level of comfortable warmth.

The ship looked into the eye of the gate and accelerated, entering a jump tunnel. Once more Ezrael started to count the seconds of the passage.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7...

Twenty seconds passed and the bright light of the nomadic subspace was replaced by green.

The kusarian was right. This was the Edge Nebula, without a doubt. And they were heading directly into the heart of it. Ezrael leaned forward, as if it was helping to see more. The thick clouds were right ahead of them. Many of them. It was a reminder of how giant the Edge Nebula actually was, and this sight was even more intimidating than the red system they just left behind.

"Sensors are clear, no Nomads in sight. Just a bunch of debris, probably from the gate," Sherry sounded from her seat, keeping her eyes glued to her command PDA in her lap. Ezrael was unable to look at anything else than the main screen. This area looked like the mouth of the Edge Nebula, ready to devour the Apahanta as it willingly headed for the throat of the green monster. A smirk formed on his lips as he thought about the metaphor and fitting it was for him to aim for the depths of the throat.

"Can we connect to the neural net already?" Ezrael asked, slightly shifting his head to the side while his glance remained at the main screen. It was probably just as he said. The moment they would reconnect to the neural net, they would receive the messages and spam mails of... well, a bunch of weeks. They would also find out about how much time had passed in Sirius. Hopefully not too much, Ezrael thought.

"There are familiar background signals, but nothing we can make use of. It's the Edge Nebula after all, Captain."

"Good. I wonder what we missed while we weren't in Sirius." Maren. How many hours had he spent thinking of her, hoping she was doing well and not worrying too much about him. How often had he hoped she was taking care of Mittens adequately. And then there was Nancy. And Elena. And Victoria. Maybe even Enma? No, she probably didn't even know he was gone. Or care. Hopefully his accounts were still filled. Did Maren have access to them, he wondered, not recalling having given her access. Only Leon and Sombra had a shared access to them. So Maren was on her own all the time. Hopefully the bungalow was still there.

Spending the minutes of cruise with thoughts about Maren and the possible chaos she had created in his absence, time was passing quickly. The ship reached the clouds, entering them, simply following the logs of the gunboat. There had to be a jump hole somewhere. Was it even possible to find it? Was it still there?

"Captain, a transmission, not via neural net," Sherry sounded, standing up to move to his side.

---

[OPENING NON-NEURAL NET DATA BURST I/O CHANNEL..]
[OPEN. READY TO TRANSMIT.]


TXV: CSABDICANTSERAPHINE ON 941.2THz
RXV: APAHANTA - SECURED VIA VESSEL NNGUID MATCH

MSG:

To anyone on the Apahanta who can recieve this - this is Commander Hanamura of the CS Abdicant Seraphine transmitting on the FTL Ku-band to the Apahanta.

Expected arrival of traffic to edge of range is assumed to be several months - a comms buoy will be left at our location to recieve and relay a response over the neural net.

Response sign is Phalanx - Spectre - Revenant.
Encryption key is embedded in message at address 0x939A.

I say again. This is Commander Nodoka Hanamura of the CS Abdicant Seraphine to Either Captain Ezrael Vertiga or any survivors on the Apahanta. Miss Maren von Westenfeld has dispatched us to attempt to locate you within known space, and have been unable to do so. We are transmitting this in the hopes that you will be able to respond, if anyone is still alive, within range of this comms buoy.

This message will repeat 20 times in 24 hour intervals before the buoy switches to response-only mode to conserve energy.

End of Message.

[EOM]
[....Repeating message.]

---

"They've been searching for us," Ezrael mumbled quietly, surprised by the extend of creativity used to find the Apahanta, even using unconventional means like non-neural net-based communication. There was a time when Ezrael wanted to establish an alternative network in key positions as well, but the technical difficulties were too costly.

"I'm trying to find out how old this message is, but I only can tell once we are connected with the neural net again." She smiled at him. This was good news, she thought, yet Ezrael seemed to be a bit concerned now. His eyes were glued to the main screen again.

"That was Nodoka Hanamura, the girl with those giant boobs from Freeport 11. Apart from a few little talks we never had much to do with each other. I didn't even sleep with her," Ezrael said quietly and in a neutral tone. "Yet they've been searching for us, Sherry. I wonder what Maren must have tried to organize to find us. You know, with her means."

"That is what people do when they miss a loved one."

Ezrael turned his head towards Sherry, who met his eyes for a few moments before watching the main screen. "I really hope this doesn't end like in the movie Cast Away. Never saw the original but the remakes were pretty good. A guy ended up stranded on a lonely island somewhere on Planet Manhattan. After many, many years he managed to get found and returned to civilization, traumatized and uncomfortable, and he had to face the fact his former wife lost any hope on his return, thinking he was dead, so she met new men and eventually got married."

Sherry shook her head. "Do you think Maren did that?"

"No, I don't think so. She is very careful when it comes to people, and I think it is more likely she returned to her isolative and prejudice-dominated life, if anything. Or worse, working for the wrong people again." The Captain sighed, not liking any of these thoughts.

Sherry's PDA beeped and she casted her glance instantly at it. "Proximity alert. I think we found what we were looking for."

"Alright then. Enter the jump hole. There is no way back."

---