Suneeti felt a dull ache in her head and a slight constriction in her chest. Her entire body felt as if it had been put through an agricultural harvester.
“Are you okay?” Karnak asked her. He was sitting at the controls which blinked erratically behind him.
“I guess,” said Suneeti as she got up from where she lay, “I’ll live.”
“Good,” said Karnak with some concern, “because we seem to be abnormally low on power. Everything is working fine right now but I’m not sure how long we will last. The system needs some time to estimate our power needs and then predict how long we’ll last.”
“Aren’t these things built to last several years?” Suneeti asked.
“They are, but you have to remember that the Atirath was out of service for several decades. The rate of discharge in unused fuel cells is miniscule, but they do discharge.”
“I’m glad the ones on the main ship worked better than these.”
Suneeti moved over closer to the controls and peered over Karnak’s shoulder.
“Can we see what’s happening outside?” she asked.
“We can, but only hazily. We can use only passive sensors, since we do not want to get detected. And we’re deep inside the asteroid belt. There are too many solid obstacles around to get a clear reading. But I can make out several small ships approaching a large one, which I guess is the Atirath.”
Suneeti grunted and looked as Karnak brought a schematic on the screen, which was just a representation of what he’d just said. She saw five small dots rendezvous with a big cross and then stay in the same position. They had probably docked with the Atirath and were searching through it.
“I just hope they don’t find us,” she said after a while.
“I don’t think they would,” said Karnak, “we seem to be well protected till now. Fortunately the habitat shuttle leaves no record of its destination on the mother ship. In fact if they don’t dig deep enough, they’d not even find that a habitat shuttle was launched.”
Karnak spent the next hour or so trying to recalibrate the sensors to get a better reading. But as he’d said, they were well hidden and it worked both ways.
After about an hour they saw the little dots dislodging from the big cross and fly back the way they’d come.
“They’re going back,” said Karnak.
“Yes, and the Atirath isn’t moving. Which means they can’t take it back. It’s stranded out in space.”
“I guess. Though they can always come back and install new fuel cells and take it back. I don’t think they’re going to let something as valuable as that drift forever.”
“I wonder what value they find in something that can’t be used.”
Karnak shrugged. He didn’t see the point either.
The lights flickered.
“Uh-oh,” Karnak exclaimed as he pressed a few controls, “Power’s going down. According to the system we only have a few hours of power left.”
“How many is few?”
“About five. We will actually have a little more time after that but it will start getting uncomfortable after five.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“We are going to call for rescue,” said Karnak with a cocky smile.
***
“Are you okay?” Karnak asked her. He was sitting at the controls which blinked erratically behind him.
“I guess,” said Suneeti as she got up from where she lay, “I’ll live.”
“Good,” said Karnak with some concern, “because we seem to be abnormally low on power. Everything is working fine right now but I’m not sure how long we will last. The system needs some time to estimate our power needs and then predict how long we’ll last.”
“Aren’t these things built to last several years?” Suneeti asked.
“They are, but you have to remember that the Atirath was out of service for several decades. The rate of discharge in unused fuel cells is miniscule, but they do discharge.”
“I’m glad the ones on the main ship worked better than these.”
Suneeti moved over closer to the controls and peered over Karnak’s shoulder.
“Can we see what’s happening outside?” she asked.
“We can, but only hazily. We can use only passive sensors, since we do not want to get detected. And we’re deep inside the asteroid belt. There are too many solid obstacles around to get a clear reading. But I can make out several small ships approaching a large one, which I guess is the Atirath.”
Suneeti grunted and looked as Karnak brought a schematic on the screen, which was just a representation of what he’d just said. She saw five small dots rendezvous with a big cross and then stay in the same position. They had probably docked with the Atirath and were searching through it.
“I just hope they don’t find us,” she said after a while.
“I don’t think they would,” said Karnak, “we seem to be well protected till now. Fortunately the habitat shuttle leaves no record of its destination on the mother ship. In fact if they don’t dig deep enough, they’d not even find that a habitat shuttle was launched.”
Karnak spent the next hour or so trying to recalibrate the sensors to get a better reading. But as he’d said, they were well hidden and it worked both ways.
After about an hour they saw the little dots dislodging from the big cross and fly back the way they’d come.
“They’re going back,” said Karnak.
“Yes, and the Atirath isn’t moving. Which means they can’t take it back. It’s stranded out in space.”
“I guess. Though they can always come back and install new fuel cells and take it back. I don’t think they’re going to let something as valuable as that drift forever.”
“I wonder what value they find in something that can’t be used.”
Karnak shrugged. He didn’t see the point either.
The lights flickered.
“Uh-oh,” Karnak exclaimed as he pressed a few controls, “Power’s going down. According to the system we only have a few hours of power left.”
“How many is few?”
“About five. We will actually have a little more time after that but it will start getting uncomfortable after five.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“We are going to call for rescue,” said Karnak with a cocky smile.
***
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