Flight Of The Anasazi
By David Billiot
Copyright 2026: All rights reserved
Chapter 21: Emergency Landing
The Anasazi came out of FTL without losing power. Al got the ship into an orbit and the plan was to just check the ship and wait until morning. The Anasazi launched a probe and Mark looked out the viewport at the star in the distance.
“These people have ships in space too?” Lalia asked him.
Mark’s face lit up. “We might be able to see a space station if they built one big enough. Al, let’s pull it up on display.”
“I could also rotate the Anasazi so that you can have a view from the viewport.” Al offered.
Mark was going to decide but then paused. “Lalia, which would you prefer.”
“Maybe …” she began.
Just then Al interrupted both of them by turning the white lights of the ship to yellow and sounding an alarm.
“What’s wrong?”
“We have an incoming distress signal.” Al said.
Mark rushed to the captain’s chair. “Play it.”
The sound of a human voice called over the radio. Mark could not understand but he recognized the pattern.
“That’s a mayday. How far away is it?” Mark asked.
“It is coming from closer to the star.”
“Radio back that we’re on the way. Once you have the location locked in let’s FTL over and see if we can help.”
“Triangulating location now.”
Mark reached for the radio and spoke. “Anasazi. Unknown vessel, we have your SOS and are on the way.”
“I am narrowing down their location, Captain. The distance involved means it will be several minutes before they receive your reply.”
That was one of the new aspects of FTL travel. The fastest way to send a message wasn’t to send a message but to just go there.
“How long have they been out here?” Mark wondered out loud.
The Anasazi made the jump to get within rendezvous range of the distressed ship. Al did a scan to pin down the other ship’s exact location and started to move the Anasazi to intercept.
“Captain, the ship has radioed back. It is possible the name of the ship is the Dardanarius.”
“Anasazi. Dardanarius, we have received your SOS and are on approach to you now.” Mark cut the radio and told Al, “Work as fast as you can to decipher their language.”
“Already on it.” Al announced.
The other ship radioed back with frantic words. The words repeated. They repeated again.
“Initial analysis suggest power failure, and venting. There is one man overboard, outside the ship.” Al translated.
“How many souls do you have aboard?” Mark asked.
“I am running a scan, Captain.”
“Anasazi. Dardanarius, I can be in range of docking or spacewalk in one hundred and eighteen minutes.”
“In addition to the radio I will attempt to communicate with them via pictograph.” Al offered. “They seem alarmed that someone who doesn’t speak their language is coming to help them.”
The Dardanarius had fourteen men and one woman aboard. The captain of the Dardanarius was a man named Cesor.
The Anasazi had to cut gravity so the docking between ships could be accomplished. However, before the two ships could be docked together the man in the spacesuit outside had to be rescued. Instead of going out himself, Mark sent Bluman since the robot didn’t need a spacesuit. The man overboard was unconscious but had secured himself to the ship before the suit failure.
Mark and Lalia watched via camera feed as the robot approached the man dangling outside the Dardanarius. Bluman got the crewman secured to a harness and then signaled that the task was completed.
“Anasazi. Dardanarius, be advised we have hold of your crewman and are pulling him to safety now.”
“They sound relieved by the good news.” Al translated.
Bluman arrived in the airlock with the unconscious man and Mark waited for it to cycle.
“Ok, get him to medical. Al, let’s get the ships docked.”
The Anasazi matched speed and spin with the Dardanarius and brought the two docking ports into contact with each other. The dock on the Anasazi was significantly wider than that of the Dardanarius so Al planned for the Anasazi dock to completely surround the Dardanarius dock. The Anasazi dock would then attach directly to the hull of the disabled ship.
The crew of the Dardanarius were all in their spacesuits and using the bridge as the one room they would keep heated. The electrical systems of the ship were damaged so it wasn’t even an issue of the Anasazi providing power to the Dardanarius. Instead, the Anasazi’s life support system would have to do double duty for a bit, supplying air through the docking port once the hatch was opened.
“Anasazi. Dardanarius, I am opening the hatch. Permission to come aboard.”
“They seem to indicate that you have permission, Captain.” Al said.
The hatch opened and Mark entered. It was freezing. Down the corridor the door to the bridge opened and the other crew members started to come out. Mark waved his light at them and the first one came down to greet Mark.
“How long have you guys been out here?” Mark asked.
The man spoke but Mark could not understand. Al translated what he could but it was just the gist.
“Come on. I’ve got food and power.” Mark said as he guided the man to the hatch.
One by one Mark greeted each crew member as they came to the hatch to cross over.
The last crewman asked Mark something and Al stated that he was perhaps inquiring after the injured man.
“He’s in medical.” Mark answered.
Mark shut the hatch and, after getting it sealed, ordered Al to detach from the Dardanarius.
“Everyone, get planted to the floor. We’re going to turn on gravity.” Mark announced.
The gravity ramped up and slowly everything glided gently down to the floor before the full one G came into effect.
“It is safe to remove your spacesuit, Captain.” Al said to Mark but the announcement was heard by everyone. Mark got his helmet off and looked around. The captain of the Dardanarius was sitting on the floor of the corridor looking exhausted. Mark approached and the man threw up.
“Lalia, help me. Let’s get everyone to the mess hall. After that we’ll do medical checks one by one.”
Lalia came out of medical where she had been tending to the injured man. She came over and help Mark pick up the captain and bring him to the mess hall and get him seated in a chair.
The captain moaned.
“Gravity is hard, but you need it.” Mark said.
Mark and Lalia went to each crewman one by one and helped them up. They helped the crewman walk to the mess hall and Bluman was already preparing meals to be served to them. It wasn’t fancy food, just premade meal packs that could be heated up.
Once all the of Dardanarius’ crew were in the mess hall Mark checked on the man in medical.
“Bruce, how bad is it?”
“He is in serious danger. I am getting him warm but whatever electrical accident happened it burned him and sent him into shock.”
That voice of Bruce’s still grated on Mark’s ears but that exact moment was not the time to complain about it. “Do what you can for him.”
Mark went back to the mess hall and Lalia was helping men get their helmets off. Mark went to the captain and he helped him get his helmet off and also take off his gloves.
“You ok?” he asked him.
He had his eyes closed and spoke.
“I believe he wishes to thank you. He might have also said something about time or enduring it.”
“Let your men know it’s almost over. I’ll have you all home soon.”
“Soon?” the captain said, repeating the sound.
Mark nodded. “First, let’s do a health check on everyone.”
…
Boom.
There was that predictable momentary jolt and then the Roanoke was finally on her way home. This was predicted to be the last jump.
“This is Captain Roma. If anyone is injured, report in.”
Roma had a lot on her mind but the short flight meant there wasn’t really time to deal with it.
“Due to the medical emergency, I have planned to come out of FTL near Technon station.” Karen said.
“Let’s hope your calculations are right.”
The Roanoke came out of FTL above the plane of the system several kilometers above Technon station. The ship lost power momentarily but was already in the rhythm of getting it back on.
“Lozentz, get someone on the radio.” Roma ordered as she got out of her seat. “Dardar, check with Fussy about Delcor.” Roma went to the viewport and looked out. Home. She was finally home but she didn’t have time to savor this moment.
“Captain, Technon station has radioed back asking our intentions.” Lozentz said.
“What? We have a medical emergency. We need to dock.” Stormer barked.
“It seems Technon station has been taken over by the Cloud city independence movement. They have weapons aimed at us.”
“I do not need this right now.” Roma said. “Evasive flight. Get us out of here. Pop the FTL if you need to.” Roma ran back to her seat and then hit the comm. “Everyone, wherever you are, lock in place there. Ready for jump.”
The Roanoke actually did two jumps. She went high over the system to round the star, and then came back down on the other side.
“Roanoke. SOS. We have a medical emergency. Repeat, this is the Roanoke. We have a man injured. Medical emergency.”
“FDP. Roanoke, we read you.” the radio called back.
“Roanoke. Florida Defense Platform, where can we dock? I am prepared for reentry.”
“FDP. Roanoke, that is negative on reentry. We have an ambulance ship heading to you.”
…
Bruce had a chance to check each person who had crossed over from the Dardanarius and then Lalia led them to a bunk. The Anasazi had beds to spare.
“You’ve got the calculations for jump?” Mark asked Al.
“Ready at your word, Captain.”
“Let’s get everyone strapped in. No time to waste.”
Mark headed from medial to the conn and found the Cesor holding onto the rail in the corridor to support himself.
“Captain Cesor, we’ll be leaving soon.”
He struggled to turn to look back at him. He was laboring to speak.
“I think he wants to be in medical. He wants to check on his injured crewman.” Al said.
“I’ll take you to him.”
Mark helped Cesor get to medical and put him in a chair that had a harness. Then he announced over the comm that he wanted Lalia and Bluman to do the rounds of the ship to make sure everyone was secure.
Mark marched to the conn. “Al, how long will the jump be?”
“Eleven minutes, Captain.”
Mark got into his seat and buckled in. “Lalia, where are you?”
“On my way now. I’m getting Bluman fastened.”
Lalia shortly arrived at the conn and got into the first officer’s chair.
“Punch it.”
Boom.
…
The medics from the ambulance ship came in and Stormer directed them to medical. Karen provided the information she had already collected and Delcor was floated out. Roma wanted to go with him but the ambulance medics told her there wasn’t room. The hatch closed and the ambulance detached from the Roanoke.
“If I wasn’t in shock before, I am now.” Jameson said to Roa. “I know it’s not magic. I just can’t believe we really got back this fast.”
“No, you’re home.” Roma told him as the gravity slowly pulled everything to the floor and then increased.
Roma sat in the captain’s seat and told Lozentz to get Senator Freedman or Admiral Black on the radio. It wasn’t a simple matter at this exact moment. It seemed there was an active conflict with Cloud city.
“Roanoke. FDP, this is Captain Amanda Roma. I need to speak with Senator George Freedman or Admiral Jeff Black immediately.”
“FDP. Anaszi, we understand but there’s nothing we can do about it right now. Keep your position relative to the station and await instructions.”
Minutes turned to hours and Roma was exhausted waiting for an answer.
…
The Anasazi was in an orbit around a green and blue world. Between the planet and the moon there were several large spinning space stations. The captain of the Dardanarius got on the radio to explain and request docking.
Bluman served dinner in the mess hall. It actually wasn’t big enough for all of them to sit and eat at the same time. On ships this size that were actually called into service the crew would usually take meals in shifts. Some of the men could sit in the mess hall but others needed to carry a tray to their room.
While that was going on Mark, Lalia, and Cesor were in the captain’s quarters having their meal.
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