Free Mobius by Vincent Vale

my arm?” Doubt and despair overwhelmed me. “Where am I!” I screamed. “Of course I know my name! I’m Cheung Po Tsai, son of a fisherman, captain of this vessel.”
    No one responded.
    I jumped from bed and crashed to the floor—my legs collapsed from my own weight. “What is this place? Where’s my crew?”
    I stood frozen in a confused moment. Strange lights surrounded me. At last, I recognized the glow of computer consoles and medical equipment. What the hell was I thinking? I wasn’t a captain, or the son of a fisherman. I remembered now—the pod-ship, the explosion, the pain of molten shrapnel.
    I lifted myself up and sat at the edge of the bed. What’s wrong with me? I’m broken, fractured, flawed. Help me, God. Help me, anyone.
    I repeated a mantra that helped me through such bouts: “I am Theron Mobius. I am myself. My mind is my center...”
    I need my narcotic.
    I pushed the memories of the pirate captain from my mind and cleared my eyes with my existing arm. I was in a hospital room. Nearby, a glass incubation cylinder contained a half-grown replacement arm. I continued to search the dim room for my amber narcotic. Someone was sitting at a table.
    “You there!” I called. “Why do you sit in the dark? Where are my clothes, my personal effects?”
    After no response, I called for the lights and discovered it was a computer-guided simulacrum, working on the construction of a rehabilitation mesh for my soon-to-be arm.
    I found my vial of amber narcotic among the shredded remains of my flight suit. I fumbled impatiently to open it—my current one-armed condition made it hard. I administered a generous dose and my mind soon became clear.
    Eager to learn the state of the Brahman Station, I made for the door, but found it locked from the outside. After pounding on it to no avail, I paced the room in frustration.
    At last, the door unlocked and Allienora Chang entered. I was glad to see her.
    “Why was I locked in this room? What happened to the Brahman Station?”
    Allienora paused in a strange way. “There are many questions to be answered, Mr. Mobius.”
    “How do you mean? What happened? I can’t remember anything after the explosion crippled my pod-ship.”
    “After the explosion, your pod-ship successfully passed through the dimensional fissure and arrived at its chosen emergence point.”
    “We did it! This is fantastic.”
    “For you, yes. Unfortunately, the Brahman Station was soon after pulled into Jupiter’s atmosphere.”
    “What are you saying?”
    Allienora stood silent for a moment. “The Brahman Station was destroyed.”
    I fell back on the hospital bed. “Survivors?”
    “Only you and those aboard the rendezvous ship, which included me, Orsteen Hunn of the Mercury Miners, Morion Morpheme of the Mars Elitists, and a few others of your staff.”
    With trembling fingers, I cradled the infinity spiral pendant that hung from my neck.
    Now I’ve lost Atticus as well.
    Allienora went to a view-panel and brought up four side-by-side video images. “This is the scene of the station after you passed through the dimensional fissure.”
    I watched the four recordings of the Brahman Station as chaos ensued. People screamed, alarms buzzed, and the dimensional gateway made a deep, gut-wrenching noise as it headed for meltdown. Computers spoke calm warnings of imminent doom, while the crew darted about, making every last effort to silence the storm. I could barely watch as my life’s work crumbled before my very eyes.
    I watched an external video of the station taken from a nearby ship.
    Allienora explained, “The dimensional fissure created an unanticipated gravity wake.”
    The Brahman Station was pulled closer and closer to Jupiter. In a hopeless tug-of-war, the station’s gravity drive screamed as it tried to counteract the gravity between Jupiter and the dimensional fissure. The Brahman Station moved with increasing velocity toward Jupiter and I heard Atticus on the recording send