Alien Romance: Caged By The Alien: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) (Celestial Mates Book 4) Read Online Free Page A
ceaselessly through the recordings the ship made of the journey while the crew was sleeping, "Something the maps didn't predict. We can find them."
Eventually, he did find the place in the logs where the Hermes had disappeared, but it was neither as dramatic as they'd expected nor as easily fixed as they had hoped. It had been a small error. A tiny miscalculation made in predicting their trajectories. But traveling at near light speed across such vast distances, tiny errors multiplied rapidly.
Every day, the Hermes and the Oshun drifted further and further apart, their slumbering crews unaware, until they were beyond each other's reach. Penny wondered if the Hermes crew was waking up now, somewhere lightyears off course, and also realizing there was no guiding star outside their window.
"It's my fault," Ian hiccupped through his tears, his charming front abandoned in his guilt, "Dr. Nguyen asked me to check her figures. If I had paid more attention-"
"It's not your fault, Ian," Penny tried to reassure him, squeezing his hand, "The computers cleared her numbers too. It had to have been something the mapping programs missed. A rogue planet or an extra dense star. Something changed the gravitational currents to pull them off course. It wasn't you."
But Ian was inconsolable. Rivera proscribed him a sedative and sent him to go lay down while the rest of the crew discussed how to proceed.
"We keep going, obviously," Rivera said as they sat together on the bridge, their faces solemn, "We always knew this was a possibility. It's the whole reason they sent two ships. Flying into uncharted space is dangerous. The Hermes crew knew the risks."
"But we know the point where they deviated now, right?" Salome argued, "If we have that, we can calculate where they are now, maybe get a message to them. Coordinate a trajectory to get them back on course with us."
Cho shook her head, looking pale and tired.
"We can't afford to slow down," she pointed out, "If we don't stay on course, we'll lose the window we mapped out. The system we're crossing through now is littered with gas giants. Ian and the computer worked for hours figuring out the right speed to get us through their orbits without getting caught in their gravity well. If we wait, they'll move into our path and we won't just get thrown off course. We'll die."
"The Hermes crew is probably awake by now and having this same conversation," Rivera said, "They'll expect us to follow procedure and keep going. They'll do their best to plot their own way back on course and keep going."
"With any luck," Penny agreed, "We'll wake up after the next cryo sleep and they'll be beside us again."
Rivera nodded.
"But even if they aren't, we continue the mission," Rivera stood up, her words punctuated with finality, "No matter what."
They waited as long as they could before waking Ian and plotting the next leg of the journey. Seeing how out of it he still was, they all double checked each step of his work carefully before proceeding. Then it was back into the cryo pods.
The Hermes will be there when we wake up , Penny thought like a mantra as she closed her eyes, trying to convince herself, It will definitely be there!
It wasn't. Not the next time either. Rivera still did her best to contact the Hermes every time they woke, but there was never any response. Everyone had no choice but to accept it and move on.
They had been too far away for mail for a while now. The distance meant it would take decades for a message from Earth to reach Oshun. There were undoubtedly some on the way, but, assuming things went according to plan, they would likely be on their return journey before they received it.
They continued to dutifully send back their reports as well, signals drifting slowly through the stars, carrying data that would no doubt revolutionize Earth's understanding of space and space travel, but which would be old news by the time it's senders returned to see it.
Penny still counted
Eventually, he did find the place in the logs where the Hermes had disappeared, but it was neither as dramatic as they'd expected nor as easily fixed as they had hoped. It had been a small error. A tiny miscalculation made in predicting their trajectories. But traveling at near light speed across such vast distances, tiny errors multiplied rapidly.
Every day, the Hermes and the Oshun drifted further and further apart, their slumbering crews unaware, until they were beyond each other's reach. Penny wondered if the Hermes crew was waking up now, somewhere lightyears off course, and also realizing there was no guiding star outside their window.
"It's my fault," Ian hiccupped through his tears, his charming front abandoned in his guilt, "Dr. Nguyen asked me to check her figures. If I had paid more attention-"
"It's not your fault, Ian," Penny tried to reassure him, squeezing his hand, "The computers cleared her numbers too. It had to have been something the mapping programs missed. A rogue planet or an extra dense star. Something changed the gravitational currents to pull them off course. It wasn't you."
But Ian was inconsolable. Rivera proscribed him a sedative and sent him to go lay down while the rest of the crew discussed how to proceed.
"We keep going, obviously," Rivera said as they sat together on the bridge, their faces solemn, "We always knew this was a possibility. It's the whole reason they sent two ships. Flying into uncharted space is dangerous. The Hermes crew knew the risks."
"But we know the point where they deviated now, right?" Salome argued, "If we have that, we can calculate where they are now, maybe get a message to them. Coordinate a trajectory to get them back on course with us."
Cho shook her head, looking pale and tired.
"We can't afford to slow down," she pointed out, "If we don't stay on course, we'll lose the window we mapped out. The system we're crossing through now is littered with gas giants. Ian and the computer worked for hours figuring out the right speed to get us through their orbits without getting caught in their gravity well. If we wait, they'll move into our path and we won't just get thrown off course. We'll die."
"The Hermes crew is probably awake by now and having this same conversation," Rivera said, "They'll expect us to follow procedure and keep going. They'll do their best to plot their own way back on course and keep going."
"With any luck," Penny agreed, "We'll wake up after the next cryo sleep and they'll be beside us again."
Rivera nodded.
"But even if they aren't, we continue the mission," Rivera stood up, her words punctuated with finality, "No matter what."
They waited as long as they could before waking Ian and plotting the next leg of the journey. Seeing how out of it he still was, they all double checked each step of his work carefully before proceeding. Then it was back into the cryo pods.
The Hermes will be there when we wake up , Penny thought like a mantra as she closed her eyes, trying to convince herself, It will definitely be there!
It wasn't. Not the next time either. Rivera still did her best to contact the Hermes every time they woke, but there was never any response. Everyone had no choice but to accept it and move on.
They had been too far away for mail for a while now. The distance meant it would take decades for a message from Earth to reach Oshun. There were undoubtedly some on the way, but, assuming things went according to plan, they would likely be on their return journey before they received it.
They continued to dutifully send back their reports as well, signals drifting slowly through the stars, carrying data that would no doubt revolutionize Earth's understanding of space and space travel, but which would be old news by the time it's senders returned to see it.
Penny still counted
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