Space Sledgehammer

“Do you like farm fish grown in the hydrogen-rich atmosphere, Maynard?” Captain Gerald Bostaph asked the Navigator of Space Cruiser Unbreakable. “I really enjoy the delicate texture of trout grown at Nu Indy-2 Space Habitat. Delicious, unlike this crap we are eating now. You should try it. The trout, I mean.”

Captain Bostaph, Navigator Maynard, and First Mate Lukic were having lunch in the ship’s Dining Room, discussing various delicacies and cuisines of different cultures. Unbreakable was on a mission, transporting a shipment of low gravity ostrich eggs from a farming colony Mbuni 12-65¹ to Bola Api 8-0, a recently colonized world on the frontier.

“No, sir, I never ate this trout,” Leslie Maynard said. “But looking forward to it, I am sick of this food, too.”

“Well, Navigator, we cannot afford it. Not yet. Maybe, after a few cross-galactic product deliveries like this one, we could save enough money to have a feast, let’s see,” Captain responded, smiling.

“What are we having for lunch today, anyway? This does not look like anything,” Lukic asked.

“I am not sure…” The captain said, peeking into his compartmentalized container filled with some grey jelly substance and what looked like slimy red stems of some exotic plant.

“I talked to Chef Stroganov earlier today and saw the menu,” Navigator Maynard said. “This grey…thing…is…let me try to remember exactly what was in the menu…compacted extraction of edible bio-material taken from various sources on Mbuni 12-65 and…from our ship.”

“From our ship? What edible bio-material can our ship provide?” Captain wondered.

“Well, we have a Hydroponics Unit…maybe Chef is growing plants, veggies, or herbs,” Maynard suggested.

“And the crew generates bio-waste! Perhaps not all of it is a complete waste!” First Mate exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Lukic, this was a completely unnecessary suggestion…” Captain Bostaph put his utensil aside. “What are these red stems? Maynard, do you know?”

“Eh…this is not quite…stems, sir. These are the tails of giant rats people had domesticated at Mbuni 12-65. This stuff is so tough you have to subject it to very high pressure, temperature, and some chemicals to cook. While being processed this way, the tails generate slimy substance, which serves as a sauce.”

“I have lost my appetite,” Lukic announced.

“First Mate, there is nothing else to eat…unless you want more of this…bio-waste mass…” Maynard shrugged.

“No, thank you very much, Leslie. I think I’ll pass,” Lukic put his hands on the table.

At this moment, the whole ship shivered, and the invisible force threw everything in disarray, as though they suddenly hit a wall. Rat’s tails covered in bio-material flew all around the table.

“What the hell just happened?” The captain said slowly.

“Feels like the ship hit something,” First Mate responded. “Perhaps it is that universe edge again. I’ll go grab my javelin…”

“Sit, Lukic! I have a feeling something bad happened to the engine,” Bostaph frowned.

As if to confirm Captain’s hunch, Senior Engineer Chen ran into the Dining Room. His face was red and covered in sweat, he was short on breath and very agitated.

“Chen, what is going on?” Captain asked.

“Sir, we are not moving!” Chen announced, taking a breath.

“I can guess that,” Captain grunted. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Space Compressor is not working, sir. We might have run into something we did not account for when chartering the course.”

“I double-checked everything!” Maynard protested. “This area is poorly explored but completely empty, far away from stars or any other interesting space objects. We took a roundabout route to Bola Api to avoid exactly these sorts of encounters.”

“Well, then the only other explanation is the Compressor broke and we are stuck in this poorly explored and completely empty ocean of space…” Chen shrugged.

“We should go to the Bridge and check sensors and telemetry data,” Maynard suggested.

“Good idea, Navigator.” Captain stood up and proceeded toward the Maglev capsule.

When the three of them arrived at the Bridge, Chief Scientist Hernandez and Lieutenant Zuma joined them there. The crew studied the data ship’s sensors were receiving and could not believe their eyes. It appeared the ship was surrounded by rock. 

“Maynard, explain! Were you asleep when chartering the course? What is this?” Captain pointed his finger at the depiction of the rocky surface around the ship.

“I am not sure, sir…” Navigator mumbled. “I just triangulated our position, it seems we are inside the planet.”

“Leslie, you told us this area is supposed to be empty!” Lukic said.

“Yes, it is. There should be no celestial bodies on our path. I did everything correctly, I swear…” Navigator Maynard answered, her shoulders sulking, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes.

“Come on, Leslie, we believe you!” First Mate hugged her. “You are a great Navigator, you would not do that to us even if you were asleep.”

“Alright, girls, I have an idea,” Hernandez announced.

“Not all of us here are exactly females, but we are very curious to hear, Chief Scientist. What is it?” Captain frowned, his lips curved downwards, his fists on the table.   

“Do you know what rogue planets are?” Chief Scientist asked.

“I can guess,” Lukic raised his hand. “They steal atmosphere and valuable minerals from other planets!” He shouted triumphantly.

“What?” Hernandez asked, shaking her head. “No, not exactly. A rogue planet, or interstellar planet, is an object not bound to a star. Such planets might have been ejected from the systems in which they formed as a result of planetary collisions, or may have never been gravitationally bound to any star to begin with, consolidating mass but not turning into a star themselves”.

“Thanks for the lesson, but what does it have to do with our situation?” Captain said.

“I think we encountered such an object. Navigator Maynard said this is a poorly explored area. While we could not have missed a star when charting a course, a rogue planet could have easily been overlooked. It is a rather small object not generating or reflecting a lot of energy.”

“Yes, I have not seen any planets or even asteroids on the navigation maps along our course and did not expect anything like this!” Maynard exclaimed.

“And, as Navigator Maynard did not take this celestial body into account, she chartered the course right through it,” Chief Scientist continued. “What happened further is the engine properly compressed the space, but was unable to decompress it back as planet density is obviously many orders of magnitude higher compared to vacuum. The navigation course was not set up properly accounting for such an eventuality. Which resulted in Unbreakable being stuck inside the planet.”

“If this is true, the way out is easy,” Captain stood up. “Just start the damn Compressor again, let it compress this stupid planet, and get us out of here!”

“This is not that simple, Captain,” Hernandez said. “Space Compressor is set up to compress and fly through space, not celestial bodies. We use propulsion engines to leave planets or space stations and engage the Compressor only after we are far enough from any large objects that might interfere with its functions.”

“Then what can be done? Any ideas?” Captain looked at the crew, still frowning and clenching his fists.

“Yes, sir.” Zuma stepped forward. “I already gave orders for the Battery Unit to prepare for action, we stay ready to fire and destroy this piece of junk at your command!”

“You want to launch missiles when we are inside the planet, Lieutenant?” Bostaph asked.

“Absolutely! This is the only way out, isn’t it? We will vaporize this sorry piece of junk and fly free!” Zuma pumped his fists in the air.

“I am not sure this is a good idea,” Navigator Maynard shook her head. “We will break the planet material alright, but we will also damage the ship in the process. All the debris flying around, explosions, shock waves…I don’t think the shields would survive this for too long.”

“Come on, you don’t know that for sure! We can annihilate all the debris, too,” Zuma pleaded. “Captain, please, let us remove the obstacle, this is what the Battery Unit is for!”

“Uhm…I agree with Maynard. Firing inside the planet could lead to unforeseen consequences,” Captain said. “We don’t know what is behind the rock we see. What if it’s an ocean of lava?”

“Or a colony of giant underground worms…” Lukic added, scratching his head. “Might be very dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Everything is dangerous in this situation!” Zuma banged his fist on the table. “Do you have a better idea, First Mate?”

“As a matter of fact, I do!” Lukic said and started walking toward the Maglev capsule.

“What is your idea? Where are you going?” Zuma ran after First Mate.

“You are right, everything is dangerous,” Lukic said, stopping and turning around. “This is why I am ready to expose myself to indescribable horrors out there to save the ship and the crew.”

“What are you planning, Lukic?” Captain squinted his eyes.

“To create an escape route for us. I will take the biggest sledgehammer I can find, get outside the ship, and carve out a tunnel in this monolith. I will be ready to fight those monstrous worms and evade streams of lava. I am determined to do this heroic deed on behalf of the crew! Don’t thank me, this is my duty!” Lukic saluted and turned around again.

“First Mate, you are not going anywhere,” Captain Bostaph called Lukic back. “You don’t need to sacrifice your life for us, I forbid you!”

“Oh, yes, I do! You cannot stop me. Besides, nobody here can operate sledgehammer better than me.”

“Can you stop this, please?” Hernandez interrupted. “I think I have a better idea.”

“What could possibly be better?” First Mate shrugged.

“Let’s at least find out what this planet is made of. Perhaps it will help you choose an appropriate sledgehammer, Rade?” Chief Scientists winked at First Mate.

“Brilliant!” Captain exclaimed. “Lukic, go take a pick instead of a sledgehammer.”

“This is not exactly what I had in mind…” Hernandez murmured. “We can use a drone equipped with a drill bit and a storage unit just for this exact purpose – taking probes of asteroid or planet material.”

“You are right, Hernandez. We could use a drone. Might work even better than sending Lukic out there,” Captain agreed.

“What?! You think I am worse than a drone?!” Lukic protested.

“Calm down, I did not say that, First Mate. I value you a lot and we need you on the ship.”

“A drone might actually be more useful…” Chief Scientist said quietly to herself.

“What, Hernandez?” Captain asked.

“Oh, nothing. Maynard and I will go prepare and launch the drone.”

After two hours of wait and suspense, during which Lukic tried to leave the Bridge three times in his quest to conquer the rogue planet with a pick, the crew was looking at the sample of the material the planet was composed of. Or, at least, the area of the planet where Unbreakable had gotten stuck.

“I have the results of chemical and mineralogical analysis,” Hernandez announced.

“What is it? Something creepy?” Captain asked.

Hernandez looked at him, raising her eyebrows. “No, not really. This is volcanic rock, very brittle, porous, and pumice-like. Rich in silica, just like on Earth, but also in lithium and beryllium.”

“Pumice? This will be perfect for my sledgehammer!” Lukic exclaimed. “Do you have any traces of giant worms? Their disgusting larvae or excrements?”

“First Mate, there are no worms in this piece of rock. I don’t know where you took this idea from,” Chief Scientist shrugged and looked at Lukic.

“Okay, this is getting better,” Lukic said, smiling. “But you said volcanic, which means there are indeed oceans of lava behind?”

“It could be, depending on where exactly within the planet we are. But this is not the reason to worry while we are surrounded by a bubble of compressed space around us.”

“Alright, Hernandez, you’ve learned about the rock, can we now shoot the hell out of it?” Zuma rubbed his hands in anticipation.

“Not so fast, Lieutenant,” Maynard patted Zuma on the shoulder. “While launching the drone, Maria and I came up with the plan. Identifying the planet material as brittle and porous is fantastic learning. I believe our plan can work.”

“I know you will do everything possible to keep your good old Rade Lukic out of harm’s way…thank you, Leslie, you are a true friend. I will hold on to my life until the next, even more dangerous situation.”

“What is your plan, Maynard?” Captain asked.

“While talking about a sledgehammer, Lukic gave us an idea. We can re-purpose Space Compressor to generate spherical shockwaves and break up pumice,” Navigator explained. “It should have enough power to function in this regime. We will turn it into a Space Sledgehammer!” Maynard turned to First Mate and smiled. “This will open up a path for the ship to fly out of here using our propulsion engines. Even if there is a rock of different composition behind the area we see, it is still worth a try. We can always adjust when we encounter something else.”

“This is outstanding, Navigator!” Captain smiled for the first time during the whole incident. “You have my permission to execute this idea. Chen, Hernandez – go work on the Compressor. Hopefully, this will work. Good luck!”

Another tense two hours later, Chief Scientist and Senior Engineer reported back to the Bridge.

“Everything is ready, sir!” Chen said. “Let us know if we can start the engine.”

“Alright, great work, team!” Captain encouraged. “Maynard, any last words?”

“Excuse me, sir? Last words? Do you think we are going to die now?”

“Sorry, I meant anything else we are forgetting?”

“No, sir, we are as ready as we could be.”

“Fine. Chen – launch the Compressor!”

Immediately after the order was given, the crew physically felt the ship trembling as the engine started generating shock waves.

“Can shock waves destroy the ship?” Lukic suddenly got worried.

“Relax, Rade. We directed the shields inwards and turned them on. This will help to hold the ship together.”

“Good to hear, Leslie. You have no idea how smart you are!”

The crew stood around giant monitors at the Bridge, looking at the image of the rock outside, waiting for something to happen. Anything to happen. But there was no change to the view around them.

“Maynard, are you sure you did everything correctly?” Captain asked.

“I am sure we did what we intended to do. However, we made a lot of assumptions and had to improvise. Results are not guaranteed, sir, but we did our best.”

Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, without sound or any other spectacular effect, the rock around them disappeared. And not just the rock, the whole planet. What they observed was a clear sky. A second before there was a planet, and now there was nothing – empty space.

“Navigator – what exactly did you do?” Bostaph asked quietly, squinting his eyes.

“I…I don’t know, as I said, we did what we wanted to do…the effect is definitely not what we anticipated.”

“If I may, sir,” Hernandez said, “It is possible our adjustments were a little off. Instead of breaking the rock and creating a path for the ship, we completely de-compressed planet material into dust.”

“So, did we just destroy the whole planet? Without firing a shot? Sweet!” Zuma rubbed his hands.

“This was an accident…As I said, we made lots of assumptions, something was a little off…” Maynard mumbled.

“Do you even understand what you did?! You just gave us a whole new weapon, a lot deadlier than anything we have!” Lieutenant Zuma exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.

“I appreciate the improvements to our arsenal,” Captain said, “but I am not sure destroying a planet was part of this mission. This type of accomplishment will not be appreciated by our superiors.”

“Well, it was either us or the planet!” Lukic slashed the air with the edge of his palm. “We did what we had to do to survive!”

“Right…as this was the rogue planet, do we even need to report the incident?” Zuma suggested. “We did not know it existed, it is nowhere to be found on the maps. If we keep silent, nobody will know we destroyed the planet on this mission.”

“I don’t like the idea, but this is probably the best we can do to salvage the situation,” Captain said, shaking his head. “Nobody says a word about this incident. Nothing happened.”

“Aye, sir!” Lukic saluted.

“And we better get back on the journey, or our precious cargo will go bad before we arrive at the destination,” Bostaph frowned.

“Yikes, you are right, Captain. Who would want rotten eggs?” Lukic grimaced.

“Exactly. Besides, they cost a fortune. So, if we don’t deliver the goods in proper shape, we will be liable. I don’t even want to think about this possibility.”

“I have an idea, Captain!” First Mate snapped his fingers. “If the cargo goes bad, we will use the Compressor to make Bola Api 8-11 disappear, and say we could not find it…not our fault. What do you think, people?” Lukic looked around the Bridge.

“I think you should keep your bright ideas to yourself, First Mate,” Chen answered.

“Right…” Captain nodded. “First Mate, go clean up in the Dining Room. Last I remember it was all covered in the delicacies Chef Stroganov cooked for lunch. Rat’s tails and…that other disgusting thing…bio-mass?”

“Yes, sir! Compacted extraction of edible bio-material,” Navigator came to help.

“Thank you, Maynard. Exactly, that bio-extraction thing…”

“On my way, sir!” Lukic saluted and turned around.

“It’s all well that ends well…” Bostaph sighed. “Maynard, Chen, Hernandez – thank you for finding a clever way out of this predicament. Chen – start the Compressor in normal mode, let’s go!” He turned to Maynard and said in a lower voice: “…and Navigator, please tell Chef Stroganov to be more…selective in his menu options. If I see something like this on the table ever again, I will have him eat his culinary inventions himself. All of it. Alone.” 

Maynard and Hernandez looked at each other and left the Bridge, laughing.

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¹ The naming convention for the planets and their moons is: the name of the star – number of the planet starting from the closest to the star – number of the moon starting from the closest to the planet