-[  ]-

            ‘Ok please tell me what is happening’ the pilot Calica-Meroit said to her craft, around her the displays of the ship were indicating that the structure of space was acting unexpectedly, to the pilot these were an annoyance a distraction, to the ship’s artificial intelligence the information came as a searing deluge to its senses.

            ‘To tell you the truth I don’t honestly know’ the artificial intelligence declared in his masculine voice, it was essentially the voice of the ship, far more the pilot than Calica, as its body was essentially the craft in which it was seated.

            ‘You think it’s the object.’

            ‘I can’t say for certain but there few other things I can point the blame to’

            ‘Damned researchers’ she shouted as the ship violently jarred, the reaction mountings on her pilot chair ceasing its normal swivel motion to preserve the safety of the pilot. ‘Damned researchers’ as she swept back her long brown hair.

            A week before the current turmoil, a researcher had announced to the federation astronomy council that there was a new unusual flux in the structure of space itself, far too insignificant to trouble the matter of the casual universe, but enough to prick the ears of a curious astronomer listening to the ripples of the universe. The source had been traced to the system the ship now occupied, indeed a matter of hours after this researchers discovery was announced her ship was sent to investigate, the out-bound flight from federation space had taken five days by itself, but her ship was deemed most suitable to the task.

            As the researcher had predicted, the Derusai object in a system of the same name had indeed become active again. The object itself was colossal, an artifact whose age has never been precisely dated, a work of such engineering that its width was greater than the orbit of the earth around the sun, but of a mass so faint it barely generated any appreciable gravity. At the moment her craft struggled in violent eddies of space.

            ‘Are we actually getting anywhere?’ asked Calica.

            ‘Not anywhere fast, the ship cannot sustain a propulsion field for any time at all, most of our disturbance is from our own fields collapsing rather than the tumult of the surrounding space.’

            ‘Best to switch to auxiliary drives?’

            ‘Yes I think so.’

            Magellan, the pretentiously self-named artificial intelligence, calmed the troubled systems and switched the craft over to fusion flame, the response was so swift that Calica even with her neural interface could not operate this transfer in more than a few seconds, for this reason the artificial intelligence was installed on a craft which daily dealt with swift and rapid responses. The ship immediately became calm, the acceleration damping equipment that had a moment before was being pushed to its limits, had all but switched down to standby, only culling the six or so g the engines were generating under fusion flame.

            ‘Much better, how are things looking outside?’ she readjusted her display, new panels appeared on the flat screen showing the status of the fusion drives, while the old drive displays faded behind.

            ‘I am afraid Calica that although we are no longer being thrashed about by our own actions we are still entirely surrounded by this turbulent region of space.’

            ‘Trapped then?’

            ‘Yes, of sorts.’

            ‘Are we still under drive?’

            ‘Yes but we the trap is moving with us.’

            ‘Just great, any communication at all? The Derusai object is not known for having the odd chat, but maybe we are owed an explanation.’

            ‘Nope, nothing at all, not even a regularity in the tempest outside.’

            ‘Typical just damned typical, we get sent out here because this thing is doing something odd, and lo and behold we get trapped by it.’

            ‘Makes you wonder who we can blame. On another note Calica we are not getting any interest from back home which strikes me as a little odd.’

            ‘Communications cut? Its not like them to ignore you in an emergency, generally you are half paralyzed by their traffic, their urgent requests for you to write a lengthy report on what is wrong, while your craft explores the exciting notion of careering into a gas giant.’

            ‘Appears so.’

            ‘Oh good we’re on our own, in a sticky situation, with no immediate prospect of help, any other bad news?’

            ‘Yes the walls are coming in.’