Starsend - Chapter 2: A new course
Several hours later, a violent shudder shook the Archer, waking the crew up.
Bertie groaned, rubbed his eyes, and then yelped as he fell headlong out of bed, smacking his head on the hard floor of the ship.
He tried to stumble to his feet and noticed that the entire room was tilted on its side.
“What the-“
The Archer lurched as he was speaking, sending him smashing back into his bed frame.
“D’ast! Okay, I’ve had enough of this!”
Bertie growled, pulling himself upright, pulled himself out of his room, and began to walk sideways down the main walkway of the ship, moving toward the helm.
A few feet behind him, Slurf flew sideways out of his cabin and hit the far wall.
“What the heck is going on, Satchel?! He growled out, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“How the heck should I know? Do you think I’m walking like this for kicks? When I know, I’ll tell you! Get back to your bunk while I get this flying tub upright again.”
Bertie made it to the helm and found chaos.
An immense wormhole gaped in front of the Archer, tilting the whole ship sideways as it slowly sucked the ship into its depths.
He heard Slurf’s voice behind him on the already cramped bridge.
“Our cargo is due for shipment in two days, Bert, and I don’t remember any wormholes on our route!”
“You’re hilarious, throw rug. We got off course, I’ve got no clue how but we’ve got to figure this out fast.”
“Figure what out, Satchel?! This ship’s got no get up, we can’t outrun a wormhole and we’re halfway in the darking thing as it is!”
The wormhole loomed larger and larger as they spoke.
Bertie reached up to punch the intercom for the rest of the ship but it crackled into life before he got there.
“Before you ask, we’ve already tried everything we can with the engines, and it ain’t working!” Jak’s voice blurted out of the receiver.
“I’m afraid we have to side with the fleabag on this one, we’re all wormhole food.” Jek added.
“Now wait just a minute, you’re all giving up on me? Some crew I’ve got. Like it or not, we’re stuck together, so here’s what we’re going to do.
“ Slurf, get to the back and man the cannon. If we survive this, I want to be prepared to defend ourselves. I’ll fire up our navigation systems and see if they can tell us anything about where we end up.
“Jek and Jak, make sure the escape pod is in working order, check our supplies, and let me know what we have. We may have to make it last for a while. Everyone to your stations and jobs and get to work now! Understood?
“Should we wake him up?” Jek asked.
“No! I’m not bothering him unless I have to, and I certainly don’t want him bothering me.”
“Aye, Captain.” The intercom clicked off and Slurf ran sideways towards the back of the ship.
Bertie felt futilely in the pockets of his jacket. “D’ast, I need a smoke!” Giving this up, he ran to the wheel and strained against it.
Cursing and struggling, he finally managed to turn toward the gravitational pull of the wormhole and get the Blue Archer upright again.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Bertie looked up just in time to see the front portion of the Archer passing through the wormhole.
“Lords of the sky, preserve us,” Bertie said in a hushed whisper as the ship slipped out of sight.