Guides

Total darkness.

No lights. No monitor glow. Not even the LEDs on the lab equipment.

“Okay, stay calm,” I say. “Stay calm.”

“Why not be calm, question?” Rocky asks.

Well, of course he didn’t notice the lights go out. He doesn’t have eyes. “The ship just shut down. Everything stopped working.”

Rocky scuttles a bit in his tunnel. “You equipment quiet now. My equipment still working.”

“Your equipment gets electricity from your generator. Mine’s powered by my ship. All the lights are off. There’s nothing working at all!”

“This is bad, question?”

“Yes, it’s bad! Among other problems, I can’t see!”

“Why ship turn off, question?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “Do you have a light? Something you can shine through the xenonite into my side?”

“No. Why would I have light, question?”

I bungle in the darkness, feeling my way around the lab. “Where’s the ladder to the control room?”

“Left. More left. Continue…yes…reach forward…”

I get my hand on a rung. “Thanks.”

“Amaze. Humans helpless without light.”

“Yes,” I say. “Come to the control room.”

“Yes.” I hear him skitter through his tunnel.

I climb up and it’s just as dark. The entire control room is dead. The monitors are off. Even the airlock window provides no relief—that part of the ship happens to be facing away from Tau Ceti at the moment.

“Control room also have no light, question?” says Rocky’s voice—presumably from his bulb in the ceiling.

“Nothing—wait…I see something….”

Off in one corner of one panel, there’s a small red LED. Definitely glowing, though not very bright. I sit in the pilot’s seat and squint at the control. The seat wobbles a bit. My repair job on it was subpar, but it’s anchored back to the floor again, at least.

***

Chapter 22