Several hidden compartments lined the back wall of the bridge, where emergency items such as spacesuits were kept out of the way until they were needed. The Space Relations has fourteen such suits, one for every person on board if they were at their crew's maximum capacity. Just before the back wall was opened up, Barbie sealed off the bridge from the rest of the ship, and slowly depressurized it by removing the nitrogen content in the air and increasing oxygen. This would prevent the crew from experiencing decompression sickness by moving from one atmospheric setting to another too quickly while they were wearing the suits.
The specialized garments were called Intra / Extra Vehicular suits, or IEVs for short. They were soft suits, skintight, and looked more like extra thick scuba diver outfits than the big, clunky astronaut equipment of the past. Colored in a primary shade of blue, the suits would be clearly visible against the dark backdrop of space, should an emergency force any of them to go outside the ship.
Original versions of the IEVs were notoriously laborious to get into, as the designs were similar to tight elastic body stockings. They looked like the one-piece sleeping attire a child might wear. Even with the advanced Ortho-Fabrics they were made of, these new and more advanced suits were still a chore to put on. Previous models had issues with distributing an even pressure all over the suit, but this was later largely solved by smart nanotechnology. Internal layers would gather perspiration and use it to keep the wearer cool. The Maximum Absorbency Garment, a.k.a. the Space Diaper, was streamlined and added only a slight thickness to the contour of the body. Outer layers of the suit provided shielding against ultraviolet radiation, particle radiation and impacts from incoming micrometeorites.
Once the elastic suit was in place and sealed, the helmet and life support pack were added. These items were ultra-efficient in taking carbon dioxide out and injecting oxygen in, as well as removing moisture and preventing de-subliming, that is perspiration or sweat leaving a film on the visor, optics or communication equipment within the helmet. After everything was set in place, the suit's life support system was activated and tested. Gloves with lighted tips and efficient grip were available, and also boots with lighted ends and magnetic soles, but these wouldn't be used unless it was necessary.
Only two people didn't don spacesuits: Lieutenant Uhura and Ensign Freya. They still had to manage the ship, as the suits' stocky fingers made it impossible to use the computers. If for some unexpected reason the hub were breached, these last two would have to quickly jump into large, flexible balls that had been inflated with oxygen. The ball was made of the same general material as the spacesuits and used when a person became incapacitated and needed to be moved elsewhere. The problem was that nobody would have full control of the ship's many systems. Someone could still run things by enabling a holographic keyboard and typing in commands that way, but only one person could do this at a time. This would be critical if several systems needed attention all at once, and Cammie was the best qualified to sort that mess out.
Uhura waited until her navigation expert finished testing out the holo-keyboard before she addressed the rest of the crew. "Systems check. If you can hear me, raise your hands." Once acknowledged, she turned to her combat technician. "What is the word on our electrical stowaway?"
"The energy spikes have moved down to the first level of our ship." Freya replied. "The anomaly is presently in the dining area."
The commander took a deep breath. "Let's, uh, let's move closer to the cloud."
"Affirmative."
For the next couple of minutes, Uhura sat there second-guessing herself. It was very possible that she was sending her crew to their doom. "Shut down all systems outside the hub except for propulsion. Minimize all systems inside the hub."
"Affirmative, LT." Freya nodded, feeling as tense as her commander. As the Viking followed the instructions, she noted another energy spike. "The anomaly has moved from the dining area to the lounge. Based on its fluctuations, I believe it is becoming agitated."
"Or excited." Mario chimed in over the spacesuit's radio. "It could be happy if it is about to be reunited by something like itself."
"I stand corrected." Freya admitted. "LT, if this anomaly is indeed nervous, we might have to go inside the cloud before it leaves our ship. It may have to be engulfed or sucked out somehow."
"Slow approach toward the cloud." Uhura replied. "The last thing I want is to be caught up in there. Who knows what might happen if we get stuck in it? Cammie, if you have anything you want to add, let me hear it."
"You're doing the right thing, Captain." The older woman said.
Apparently she'd forgotten that it was politically incorrect to refer to her superior by the previous title. Or maybe Cammie was being stubborn, Uhura considered, as she was Old School in many ways.
No, you dummy. Mario's voice went into Uhura's head. She called you Captain because she sees you as a pillar of strength for the rest of us.
"Thank you, Mario." Uhura spoke out.
"Excuse me, Captain?" Cammie asked.
"Oh, sorry." Uhura replied. "Mario just made a comment through telepathy. Is there anything else you'd like to say, Cammie?"
"Oh, I'm good and ready to blast some plasma up that cloud's ass if it starts to get thorny with us." The older woman menaced.
Freya chuckled.
"I hope that's a good idea." Barbie remarked. "We know those lightning strikes and the energy spikes are very similar to plasma discharges."
"That's what we're counting on." Cammie reminded her. "If the cloud tries to accost us in any way, firing off a plasma beam might distract it long enough for us to maneuver our way out."
"If the cloud shoots lightning back at us, we should be fully shielded to deflect it." Freya sounded confident. "The lightning might fry up parts of the ship, but it will largely go around the bridge. LT, we have the anomaly in the hallway now. It is moving toward the bridge. I don't believe it can enter, as we've got an opposing electrical polarity between us and it."
All of the suited personnel cringed away from the sliding doors.
"Bring us closer to the cloud." Uhura said. "Cammie, you'll have to take over monitoring our unwanted friend. Keep our weapons systems on stand-by. Freya, I want you to scan further into the cloud as much as you're able to."
The fluctuating electrical activity within the cloud was blinding the ship's sensors, the Lieutenant knew. They could be heading into a brick wall and not know it until they crashed into it. With the energy fiend still on board the ship, it was becoming unlikely that a lateral move would get rid of it, and so they had to know what was lying directly ahead of them.
"I've got the anomaly on sensors." Cammie said. "It is right outside the doors."
"But it can't get inside, can it?" Cruz asked, anxiously.
"How can it even get that close?" Mark sounded frightened. "I thought the reverse charge would repel it!"
"All I can tell you is where the thing is right now." Cammie answered.
"Maybe it doesn't want to leave." Mario suggested. "Maybe it wants to stay close to us. Maybe it doesn't want to get sucked into the cloud out there."
"We know the thing is like a chameleon." Barbie said. "It changes form so that our sensors can pick it up sometimes, but most of the time we can't. Let's go in the opposite direction than what Mario just said. This anomaly knows there is something similar to it close by. Maybe by spiking up, it is communicating with the cloud. What does it want to do next? Based on what's happened in the past, it might want to force our ship into the cloud. That happened twice, right, to the Beagle and to our ship?"
"What is it doing by the door then?" Mario wondered.
"It knows there is a contrary electrical energy in the hub." Barbie reasoned. "Maybe it is trying to surround us and change this part of the ship into a duplicate energy, so that it can push us into the cloud. I think it is too small to do that, but I could be wrong."
"But it is trying." Cammie noted. "The spikes are going off the charts, right past our sliding doors."
"What if it is terrified of going back into the cloud?" Mario persisted. "What if it is crying out for help?"
"We want that thing off the ship!" Mark reminded her.
So much was running through the Lieutenant's head that she didn't know what to do next. She started tapping her fingers on her armrest.
"LT, sensors are picking up several objects within the cloud." Freya stated.
"What kind of objects?" Uhura asked. "Can you show them onscreen?"
"Negative. They're too faint. The disturbances from the cloud are making them difficult to focus on. All I can say right now is that they are sizable. You know, they might be starships. They're artificial, and they're roughly the same dimensions as the Space Relations, give or take a few dozen meters."
"That is a scary thing to contemplate." Uhura grew queasy. "To think that those might be ships that got caught by the cloud and couldn't get out. Perhaps their crews are in a state of perpetual suspended animation. Mario, can you reach out to those objects telepathically, so see if there are any sentient beings on board?"
"I'll try, LT." The blonde man said. "But all I see right now is a huge wall of static."
