(… continuing)

“Good morning, check-in please,” Dukk said into the crew comms.
“Bazzer and I are heading down to the engine room. I understand we are to spin up the other reactor and then retract the solar panels and heat shields,” Luna responded instantly.
“Mentor and I are with the passengers. Everyone looks to have set their own alarms and are nearly suited up. We’ll be upstairs in five,” Annee responded next.
“Excellent. See you all up here soon,” Dukk added before disconnecting.

“Do Bazzer and Luna really need to be in the engine room to spin up the second reactor and retract the panels? Can’t we do it from here? We’ve even got video feeds of everything,” Marr asked as she gestured towards the video feeds of the solar panel doors.
“We could, but you can’t sense it up here like you can down there.”
“Sense what?”
“The hum of the reactor as it comes back to life again. The vibration of the solar panels as they return to their lead cased sleaves. The gentle thud of the heat shield locks. It is how we survive. By knowing this old bird’s mood.”
“Interesting. You speak of this rig as if it is alive.”
“Isn’t it?” Dukk replied and winked.
“Weird. Perhaps too much time up here distorts your concept of what is real and not real.”
“Most certainly,” Dukk laughed.
“And why both reactors? I see here on the energy usage logs that we are barely using the capacity of a single reactor.”
“Hull breaches. We could get a projectile enter the rig on exit of the traverse. We want to increase our chances of being able to respond should it take out one of the reactors.”
“What if it hits both?”
“That would require the projectile to basically travel the length of the rig. In one end and out the other. Having both reactors down would be the least of our worries.”
“Oh!”

Ten minutes later they were all seated. They had their helmets on and were plugged into the med lines.
Dukk enabled the broadcast to crew and guests.
“Good morning all, I hope you made good use of the last twelve hours. This process might be a little uncomfortable for those experiencing it for the first time. Please rest assured that we have done all the necessary preparations and will be on hand after to help you. Please relax and allow the system to take you under as we traverse.”
Dukk disconnected.
“Four minutes. Unmuting crew comms. We now stay live to each other. Status check. Vitals?” Dukk then said into the crew comms.
“All stable. Calibration is at ninety eight percent,” Mentor answered.
“Systems?”
“All doors shut. Integrity at one hundred percent. All green,” Bazzer replied.
“Check-in.”
“Ready,” Annee replied immediately.
“Ready,” Bazzer followed.
Replies followed from Luna, Mentor and then Marr.
Dukk looked over at Marr. She was staring straight out the window. Rigid. Clearly petrified. He didn’t dare turn around to look at Luna. He was certain that he’d see the same in her.
“Ready too. Deep and full breaths everyone. We are committed. Three minutes. Load up the guests,” Dukk said firmly.
“Juice running. Heart rates dropping,” Mentor replied.
They all waited. A minute later Mentor added, “All stable.”
“I am taking back med control,” Dukk said as he interacted with his console. He then watched the countdown.
“Thirty seconds”, he announced.
“Twenty seconds.”
“Ten seconds.”
“Running the juice to the crew. See you on the other side,” Dukk said as he hit the button. Seconds later, the cocktail hit his blood stream. His consciousness faded.

Moments later Dukk came too. The sickly feeling swelled. It was a combination of nausea, shortness of breath and dizziness. Suggesting it was unpleasant would be a gross understatement. He fought back. He focused on his breathing. He counted to ten, three times. His awareness came back. He was through the worst of it.
“Status,” he croaked into the crew comms.
“Back,” came a shaky response from Annee.
“Baaack,” was Bazzer’s croaky response.
Dukk gave it a moment.
“Ann, med controls are back to you. Vitals update, please?”
“Cockpit, three stable, three stabilising. Passengers, four stabilising, two racing. The system is putting those two back under,” came Annee’s response a moment later.
“I’m back! I am getting too old for this shit,” came the shaky response from Mentor.
Marr made sounds of someone trying to stop herself from vomiting. Luna was the same.
“Breathe, Marr and Luna. Count it out. Stay with us or the med system will put you back under,” Dukk reassured, then continued, “Systems, Bazzer?”
“All green,” responded Bazzer.
“Good. Give the DMD some juice again so I can give it the next waypoint.”
The tingle washed over them. Marr and Luna could be heard trying not to vomit again.
“As we practiced, Marr and Luna. Bring your focus back to your centre,” Mentor added, still in a shaky tone.

Dukk interacted with his console. A moment later, he looked up.
“Okay, the next waypoint is with the DMD and it is responding. Looks like we arrived at peak hour. We have fourteen hours and forty five minutes until the next traverse. It is good news for Annee and Mentor on mid-watch because it will be near nine forty p.m. before we do this all again. Bazzer, once you have the slow running protocols started, do you want to help Luna get downstairs and settled. Mentor, feel free to head down. Annee, I’ll help you get the passengers sorted. Marr, unfortunately you are going to have to suck it up and hang here for now. You okay with that?”
“The view changed,” whispered Marr.
Dukk turned and looked over.
“It has, Marr. It has,” Dukk said gently. She was through. He smiled as he removed his helmet.

(to be continued...)

[Rule of Twelve, Double Take, Chapter 12 - Traverse (Passage 4 of 5)]

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