[the commander is waiting in front of the gate, his Sphere hovering at his shoulder.

he knows it could be hours before anyone arrives, but he's going to wait the entire day, just the same. there's a wealth of conflicting emotions on his face, but more than anything, he's glad. glad for the passengers. glad that despite all that happened and all the mistakes that he made, they're going to be alright. all of them.

save one. he can still picture his father, seated in a wheelchair in a padded room on the hospital level, staring off at nothing. mumbling to himself.

it hurts him, but it's deep down, easily hidden. today is not the day for that. today is a day for them. the real heroes.

he nods to Chandra] Put the last startup command through. Initiate hyperstring resonance on the lowest settings.

[she nods, inputs the commands and--

it sounds like music. when used properly, the strings hum with the deep, warm sound of a double bass, a constantly, natural melody that thumbs higher and lower, the iridescent ripples of black between the strings undulating and calming in time with the sound.

within a few minutes it's ready. Orion looks towards the door]

Now all we do is wait.

Alright. I want to hear everything.

It's not just me, either. I don't know what happened, or why it happened, but other people have been drawn here, from other dimensions. This whole ship has been going through a time loop for who knows how long, and they were dragged into it. This is for their sake as much as mine.

I'll be recording everything as well. It's going to be presented to the interplanetary council later, once we make it back.

[the commander has taken up a seat on one of the consoles. the captain is still unconscious, lying on two chairs that have been pushed together.

the pair of researchers - since that is what they obviously are - are sitting across from Orion. the man's hand is tight around the woman's. now that they can be seen clearly, they're both young, a little younger than Orion himself, and Terran, of Indian descent. the man in particular should look familiar: it was his ghost that spoke to Orion at the end of the last cycle, though neither of them are aware of that.

the man nods, still half in a state of shock] Yes, of course. This...really couldn't be kept a secret anymore, not after all that. I will tell everything.

[he takes a deep breath, and begins] My name is Anand, and this is my sister Chandra. We're both Corps researchers working on the jump gate project.

[Orion's eyes widen considerably] ...the gate project? That was shelved ten years ago. The costs were too high to maintain it.

[the woman, Chandra, shakes her head, cutting in] At the time that was true. But the Alliance received funding and input from one of the fringe systems in the Andromeda galaxy. It was all very clandestine and even we don't know the full details. The bottom line is that the project received the go-ahead to resume.

However, you recall the protests that the scientific community raised when the project was initially undertaken, don't you? [Orion nods, his brow furrowed with concern] The branch of the Alliance government that was overseeing this project decided that it would be more cost-effective to avoid such coverage all together. More protests would delay the operating schedule.

[Orion's lips curl with distaste, anger flickering in his expression again] You mean to say they hid it from the public because of the dangerous aspects of the project that independent experts had revealed.

[Anand nods, looks ashamed] Yes...yes, that was it exactly. The gate technology involved using the hyperstring method to alter the frequency of molecular vibration in matter. A second paired gate would create a resonating frequency at another location. According to Xacarb's Equations, the vibrations would create their own 'pocket' universe that existed at that frequency. Matter could travel through the gate, cross the relatively tiny space of the created universe, and emerge on the other side nearly instantaneously. The need for ships would be reduced by sixty percent, if not more. As long as a gate was erected at a location, travel there could be as easy as walking through a door.

[the slender man slumps slightly, pressing his free hand to his eyes] But there were problems. Xacarb had theorized that if this technology actually succeeded in creating a pocket universe, it proved that there could be other, whole universes that existed in addition to our own, all vibrating at different frequencies. Most of the protesters pointed out that experimenting with the gate technology could interfere with those other universes.

[his sister looks at the commander imploringly, as if trying to explain away their guilt] But they never understood! The gate never had the power to resonate on the scale necessary to enter another dimension. Hyperstring technology requires equal relative energy on either side of a universal mass in order to connect the two points of access. And we never could enter another universe without a corresponding gate to establish a connecting frequency! How could we interfere when we don't know what frequency to program into the machine?

[her voice gets steadily louder, whereas Orion remains calm, though his expression is shadowed, jaw tight] ...but what if you did have the energy necessary? And what if the machine didn't need to be programed? If it was producing frequencies at random?

[the pair is silent, staring. Orion goes on] The gravitational force and the mass of a black hole would be more than enough. If the gate was operating when the ship entered the well of the hole's mass...would that be enough?

[Anand looks flustered, fishing for an answering, stumbling over his words as horrible thoughts finally dawn on him] M...maybe...I-I suppose it--

Would it be enough or not?

[he swallows hard] It's...possible. It's possible. But it'd be suicide to try it. Letting the gate run and then just...just diving in? It's insane! Insane!

[Orion turns his head away, looking at the prone form of the captain] ...insane. That's a good word for it. The captain...he went insane. You had to have noticed. I don't know when or why, but he was the one that did it. I saw evidence of his tampering with this machine. He must have activated it, found a black hole in nearby space, and steered us all towards doom without thinking about the consequences.

[the brother and sister are silent for a time, a heavy, oppressive quiet settling over the room. then Chandra speaks up again, uncertain, maybe a little afraid] Commander...there were other undocumented problems with hyperstring technology.

[Orion looks up at her, his expression filled with misgiving] What do you mean?

I mean that it had...side effects. In a manner of speaking. [she pauses at the end of ever sentence, as if revealing this secret after so long is physically difficult] Prolonged exposure to the vibrations caused alterations in the matter surrounding it. We didn't realize this until one of the research crew became...ill. Mentally. Initial tests labeled it as dementia, but his brain matter had changed, somehow. Investigations revealed that other changes had occurred in some of the facilities and equipment. [she laughs, a high, shaky sound] One of the shrubs outside the building turned purple. Things like that.

Your father...the captain had been interested in the gate project for a long time, since it's initial stages. He visited our facilities frequently. He encouraged this transfer to a safer, more optimal testing location. After we boarded the ship, we discovered logs in the gate's data streams indicating that it had been use during off-hours. He was the only other one who knew, so...

[Orion shudders, then presses a hand over his eyes. he sucks in a short, harsh breath] So odds are it...it altered him. Years of exposure altered him. Maybe it even...I don't know. Maybe it connected with him somehow. Things happened that indicated that he was somehow...resonating with the gate. Being on this ship, playing with it like he was, that pushed him over the edge.

[he's shaking now, trying to take in the enormity of what happened to his father, and finally asks the awkward, silent pair] ...can it be corrected? The alteration to his brain. Can anything be done?

[neither answers right away. it's obvious they don't want to. finally, Anand speaks, eyes downcast] We don't know. Our staff member took his own life while he was hospitalized.

Alright. Alright. [Orion lowers his hands, expression so, so tired, but resolute just the same] I want the two of you to run a full diagnostic on the gate. I want to know how long it was running, how it was doing all of this, and if it is still in operating condition. I want to know everything we possibly can about how it was able to resonate with other universes, both in terms of relative distance as well as time. I need every single scrap of information you can get for me.

[he gets to his feet] Passengers not included on the original manifest may contact you for questions. You will answer all of them. I don't care how classified this project was before now, but after everything that's happened, I don't see the point of keeping it secret anymore.

If nothing else, we're going to make sure that this never happens again.

[now he looks up at his Sphere once more, addressing the visitors from other worlds]

I need time to get the ship organized. There are a lot of people out there that don't know what's going on or what to do, and I need to contact the nearest Alliance station as soon as possible. Give me at least five days. After that, I'm going to get all of you home.

I promise.

[in contrast to his father, Orion is deadly silent as he charges down the hall. he's not weighed down by a bulky spacesuit, so he's gaining, his Sphere following steadily behind. he witnesses his father accessing a hidden room and hurrying inside.

he follows.

the darkness bothers him] Lights!

[dutifully, stark white lights snap on, revealing a large, barren room. it is deserted, with nary a scrap of machinery or debris. sterile, in a way. probably with good reason. the central chamber is dominated by a single structure.

it has to be twenty feet tall from base to tip, two pillars of silvery metal, dotted and layered with innumerable webs of circuitry, rising out of a solid onyx base. each pillar is nearly as wide as a man is tall, but both are paper thin, possibly only microns thick. they seem almost insubstantial, held up straight by some unseen force so that they start to tilt halfway up their length, forming a gentle curve as they meet at the top.

strung between them has to be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of microscopic strands, barely visible to the naked eye. each one is vibrating, humming with power, and the ripples their vibrations form change the air between them from clear to a shimmering, shiny black. the strands twist in a cascading, circular pattern, curling around in a perfect spiral. the nearer to the center of the spiral, the deeper, more intense the black.

at the very center it is completely opaque and filled with what look like stars.

Orion has to stop and stare, eyes wide, breath stalled in his chest. it's obvious that he has never seen this before. he's speechless, frozen.

the captain is behind him. in his hand is a knife. a simple, ordinary knife.

the captain roars something completely incoherent, eyes almost rolling in his head. he charges Orion just as the younger man turns, shock and rage in his expression.

their struggle is brief. the captain is old, weak, half-mad. Orion tears the weapon out of his father's grip, knocking his father away from him with furious savagery. Ganymede falls, crumpling in a heap in front of the iridescent netting between the pillars. Orion is still for a few seconds, panting from exertion, from rage. his expression contorts, betrayal and guilt and hurt and helpless, angry despair twisting his face into a shattered mask, barely a flicker of his normal composure remaining.

he begins to stalk towards his father, one heavy, resolute step at a time]

[Orion watched all of the captain's transmission. he watched over eighteen hundred people die on his watch.

his expression can't really be described. he's shaking, hands curled into fists so tight that his knuckles are white. when he breathes, it comes out a sob]

How could you...how could you...?! They didn't even stand a chance...they were helpless!

[he hunches over the emergency command console hidden in the security station front desk, completely immobile for several long seconds. he hardly breathes.

then he lurches upright, face contorted with mad, inconsolable fury]

I'll kill you!

I'LL KILL YOU!

I'LL KILL YOU!

[his fist slams down on one illuminated square on the console and the bright blue light of his Sphere's transporter beam takes him away]

[Orion looks worse in person than he does over the network. he obviously hasn't eaten or had anything to drink since before he arrived on the ship. Riku's given him his bed, though the good commander looks very uncomfortable there, as though he's expecting enemies to come jumping out at him from the shadows.

when he sees any of the passengers, his expression takes on an odd mix of emotions. caution, first and foremost, but there's a wary, uncertain curiosity there as well. a willingness to compromise.

he has strength enough to sit up and lean against the headboard in order to address his Sphere]

I'm sure all of you want to know what I just did. It's an emergency override command in the event of a mass programming failure in automated bots. It returns the units to the construction bay in order to break them down and build replacements. It can override even commands from the captain, but all he has to do is give the same command to the new ones and they'd start an assault again. If any of you see that happening, let me know right away.

[his warning given, he sighs, just a little, wanting to put a hand to his pounding head but not so willing to show weakness just yet] ...I didn't really expect for it to be like this when we all met face to face

[the captain's ghost appears only briefly. he's standing, hands clasped behind his back on the stern observation deck on Level 15 in a uniform very similar to Orion's, but his image is so indistinct that his face can't really be seen.

he's there for a couple seconds at most. long enough for just a few words]

I'll test it.

[it isn't the captain's ghost that appears on Level 23, right outside the holo-suite. it's Orion's. and for once, he isn't wearing his helmet. instead, he's dressed in a well-fitting, military-style uniform of gray with orange accents. the same triangle and star symbol is on his upper arms, just below the shoulder on each side.

he's currently in the middle of a heated discussion with someone over the Sphere network. the image is too indistinct to make out the image of who it is, but the voice is unmistakably Ganymede's]

I don't see why this subject had to be brought up again.

You had to have noticed it, Dad. The discrepancies in design, the security systems far above anything that should be put in a civilian ship, triply redundant systems...that's not normal! And yet the media, the company, even the Corps advisory board dismissed all of it!

...you bothered the board about this, too? I already looked into everything you mentioned in your report right after we left the Sol system.

[Orion stiffens visibly, standing straighter, shoulders squared] If I "bothered" them it was only with what I feel are legitimate concerns, especially for a ship with this many people.

Is that your official stance?

Yes. It is. You're overlooking something vital. [a very brief pause] ...I know you want this trip to go off without a hitch. I do, too. This is a big deal and as soon as we get home--

You'll take over for your old man, right? That has been your plan since you graduated from the academy.

[Orion's jaw clenches, his words slow and careful] You know as well as I do that I can't just pick assignments. The Corps High Command decides all deployments by committee during the previous yea--

Don't lecture me about policy. You went out of your way to ace the same curriculum I did. And that two-year course on the Intrepid? Was old Rodney still in command?

I was only--

I'm tired of this, boy. The security and the ship's systems are the captain's responsibility. My responsibly. You're not captain yet. And if I had any say in the matter, you wouldn't be any time soon.

Keep to your duties and I'll keep to mine. [a harsh electronic sound signals the end of the transmission. as the ghostly images begin to fade, Orion lowers his head, one hand pressed against the wall as he curses under his breath]

...stupid old man.

[the captain's "ghost," clad in his customary space suit, first appears in the auxiliary docking bay on level nine, stepping out of the hazy, indistinct image of one of the landing craft. only individuals present on that level at this moment are able to see him.

he stands to the side of the door, and helps first a lady, then a gentleman off the ramp. both of them are wearing white jumpsuits, each with a small, shiny silver emblem on their lapels. its shaped like an inverted triangle with a star at its center]

You two are the last passengers. [the captain's voice is surprisingly clear. compared to him, the other two are completely inaudible, even as the man asks a question. the captain nods in response] Your rooms are all prepared. You're listed on the crew manifest under the names that were provided during your briefing. You are both xeno-geologists, currently on vacation while en route to your next assignment.

[the woman speaks up, the expression on her face quite severe. when the captain answers, his tone is sharper] You know as well as I do the security we have in place. Nothing has been compromised. Not under my watch. Only the people in this room know.

[the man makes a comment of some kind, giving the captain a particular look. the captain only laughs] No, not even my son.

Now, this way. I'll show you to your quarters.

[as he turns to lead them away, the three of them and the ship behind them ripple slightly, and then fade into nothing]

This is Commander Orion. I am attempting to contact the individuals currently trapped onboard the Crucible. If you can hear me, please respond.

This may be the last time I can contact you this way. We're concerned that the captain almost intercepted us during the last transmission, so we can't risk a fourth attempt.

If there's anything else of great importance that you need me to know, now is the time.

This is Commander Orion. I am attempting to contact the individuals currently trapped onboard the Crucible. If you can hear me, please respond.

We can keep this transmission clear and secure only for two hours at a time. I don't know when or if this can be improved, so all communication should be brief and to the point.

If you're listening, please respond as quickly as you can.

[a long, shrill whine of static, a burst of sharp white noise, and then--]

--ander Orion. I repeat, this is Commander Orion. If anyone can hear me, please respond. This channel is secure and is not monitored by the captain.

I'll say again, if there's anyone out there that can hear me, please respond. I'll remain on this line as long as I can.

I thought--no. I remembered.

It really is his fault.

[it's Orion, appearing seemingly out of thin air; there's a square cut out of the red forest behind him, exactly in the shape of a door. beyond it, a blue forest. but it closes quickly enough.

he trudges forward, through the red forest.]

We were almost...we...

We almost made it this time. So close. But...

[his helmet hides his face, but the anguish in his voice is plain enough. he walks faster, nearly running. ahead of him, the place where the captain discarded his jacket comes into view.]

They're all dead and it's his fault. I...I have to...

[he stumbles to a stop at the jacket and reaches out, fingers seemingly touching only air. but a door and panel materialize as he does so. he pauses, however, staring at the panel; the readout flickers and contorts beneath his hand]

What...? What is--[the computer audio is too low to be heard over the network, but whatever it says makes Orion laugh, the sound low and empty] This old game again, huh? Stupid old man.

[he leans down, beginning to speak, but his Sphere feed cuts just as he speaks whatever it is that the computer wants to hear.

the commander is gone, but the access door and panel remain.

it seems the panel is reading out a riddle over and over again, waiting for someone to speak the answer.]

( INTERACTIVE POST )