20

The HMSS Wanderlust stood still in space. The engines, normally glowing with power, now remained dark and silent. Inside the familiar vibrations that were the heartbeat of the ship were absent. Normally unnoticed, their absence was now a grim sign of the crews predicament.

Nowhere was the mood more grim than in the Captain's office. Lieutenant Osham was explaining the situation to the Captain.

"We started getting power spikes in the main reactor. They started small but grew rapidly. We tried to bring the backup generator online, but the power spikes started in that reactor too. At that time the reactors started to go critical and that was when we ejected the reactors.'' The Lieutenant explained.

"So what is our status now?'' the Captain queried.

"We have battery power which should last a day or two. We have some slight maneuverability from the fine control systems, and some residual momentum, but not enough to reach anywhere soon. We've sent out a distress signal, but no response as yet.'' was Olsham's concise response.

"So what options do we have?''

"Not much. We coast while we can, try and conserve power and resources as long as we can while waiting for someone to pick up our distress signal.''