Free Crucible of a Species by Terrence Zavecz

more to be seen in here and Lieutenant Anderson’s going to be sending a team back later.”
    “… but Sharon Sykes and Dick Lieu were in here.”
    “Well they aren’t in here now. Whatever caused this, I don’t see how anyone could have survived. Let’s get movin’.”
    As she heard the far off door close, she realized just how dry her throat was. It had hurt when she had tried to call for help and she hadn’t been able to cry out but now a faint glimmer of lighted wall sat there in the distance. It was something that she could crawl towards so there was hope. She had failed this time but she would find a way to stop them.
    *~~*~~*~~*~~*
    A hush descended upon the bridge of the Argos as the crew stared at the impossible scene before them. The familiar clouded bands of Jupiter lay across the globe below the vessel but the spectacular display above the ship is what held their eyes.
    Encircling both the Argos and the planet was an otherworldly set of rings that extended out for thousands of miles. Thousands of rings, made up of billions of ice particles, floated in an elegant display approaching in grandeur the famous rings of Saturn.
    Not all eyes gazed outside. Ensign Mia Waverly knew the captain well enough to anticipate his next request would be for a course back to the Skyport. She was near a complete state of panic as she silently prayed that her third attempt to determine a position fix for the Argos relative to the Earth would be successful.
    Ensign Mary Li was also upset as she searched the frequencies. Fears of failure raced through her mind, This is impossible! There has to be someone or something out here. Even if Skyport Control doesn’t answer our hails, we should be able to pick up other signals. Not even the steady drone of a carrier or the toll of a navigational beacon or even fragments of stray data packets.
    Lee broke the silence, “Ensign Li, please open a link back to Skyport Central.”
    “I have been trying, sir. There is no response to our transmissions. I’ve attempted several other communications nodes. No detectable activity on any of the sublight channels, commercial or military and I’ve run full diagnostics on our hardware and software systems. All internal systems test normal. Request permission to initiate a supralight call and contact the Asteri.”
    “Do so, Ensign.” The captain replied as he turned to look back toward the visitor’s gallery. Nolen looks kinda pale , he thought. Thankfully Thompson continues to weather the situation …
    “Dr. Thompson, you seem to be a fount of good, sound knowledge. What are your thoughts?”
    “I don’t really understand what happened, Captain. Our whole experience inside the Red Spot doesn’t make sense. As Dr. Nolen stated, when we exited we should have emerged from the wall of the storm deep under the cloud cover of the planet, yet we find ourselves out here in space orbiting high above Jupiter’s cloud surface.
    “These rings are certainly unexpected. Jupiter has always had a very thin set of barely visible rings but these are amazing.”
    Ensign Waverly spoke up, “Captain, I have not been able to secure a position fix using the Pulsar Marker standards. All first line navigation systems fail. Diagnostics confirm all hardware running cool and normal, the problem is too many of the reference objects are missing. I have been able to optically locate Earth and track our relative motion so we have a rough solution for return to Earth Orbit if required.”
    “Thank you Navigation. Any luck with communications, Ensign Li?”
    “No, sir. In addition to our communications problems, engineering reports damage to the ship that is degrading the gravitonic field uniformity and our ability to maneuver. There’s structural damage to the outer shell across decks three to five. Engineering recommends a return to dock.”
    The captain responded. “Request a damage summary from Lieutenant Anderson as soon as possible.
    “Ensign Waverly, see if