Raymond Price's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

The wall of stone filled the screen. Price fired one last pulse, and the light died against packed rock. No gap. No seam. Twelve minutes of plasma left, and a barrier he could not open. He had saved his fuel only to run it out searching for a door that might not exist. "Reid, map it," Price said. "Pulse left, then right. Find the edge." Commander Reid worked the science panel, her dark hair falling forward as she leaned in. She was his first officer, and she never dressed up bad news. A jet sprayed left. The cloud flared. Rock, all the way out. Another pulse, right. More rock. She checked the gauge and turned. "The wall runs wider than the light reaches, Captain. Each pulse costs us. We can search or we can move. We can't do both." Price stared at the fuel number falling. Ten minutes now. If he burned his reserve scanning the wall, the engines would die mid-search, and the ship would drift into stone in the dark. Counselor Clark stepped up beside the chair. She was the ship's counselor, calm while the bridge sweated, blonde hair catching the panel light. She had steadied the crew before, when fear made their hands shake. Now she watched the screen, not the crew. "The gas comes back after each pulse," she said. "It pushes out, then flows home. Where does it flow, sir?" Price looked at her. "What are you asking?" "If there's a gap in that wall, the gas would drain through it. Watch where the cloud thins after a pulse. The hole finds itself." Reid's head came up. "She's right. We stop hunting the rock. We watch the gas move." "Do it," Price said. "One pulse. Then we all watch." The jet fired. The cloud lit bright and full. Price held his breath and read the glow. The light held everywhere, thick and even, then began to fade the way it always did. He saw nothing. Nine minutes. "Again," he said. "Watch low." The second pulse flared. This time Reid pointed hard at the screen's bottom edge. "There. The gas drops. It's draining, Captain. Low and to port." A dark channel opened in the glow, a thin gap where the cloud poured away between two great stones. Price grabbed the plasma control himself. "Hard to port. Down and through. Now." The ship rolled and dove for the gap. Rock slid past the hull on both sides, close enough to see the pits in the stone. Then the walls fell away. Open space. The gas thinned to a haze. Beyond the barrier, the nebula stretched on, wide and dark. Reid let out a breath. Then her eyes dropped to the gauge and hardened. "We're through, sir. But that last dive burned deep. Six minutes of plasma left, and no far side in sight."