Crust Vol. 2

"ahhhh!", Telbur exclaimed, crashing to the deck plates, feeling his ankle shatter, under the unforgiving and sudden return of artificial gravity, as his breath was forced from his already recovering lungs.

Struggling to regain focus, amidst the onslaught of warning lights and sirens, he cried out, "Silya, what happened?"

"I have just reinitialized the artificial gravity inducers and..."

"I know that!!!", Telbur snapped, feeling the pain reverberating up and down his right leg.

Doing his best to regather his senses, he collected his thoughts and asked, exasperatedly, "Did we come out in an... asteroid field?"

"No. We are straddling a temporal stream. I am attempting to stabilize our vector."

Momentarily forgetting the excruciation pain, threatening to overcome his body, Telbur felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

How could this be. I ordered us to enter before the probe.

"Telbur, your vital signs are sporadic. I recom..."

"Never mind that, I'm fine, for now!"

Blasted A.I.!!!,Telbur thought, condemning the "mandated" protocols of artificial intelligence, "to do no harm and preserve life". He often thought that the programmers must have never been in an actual emergency!

"Silya, did you exit at a parsec, before the temporal probe, as specified?"

"Affirmative. Sensors did not detect any anomaly."

"Damn", Telbur thought.

"This is bad.", he said, half-heatedly, to himself.

"Yes. It is bad. However..."

"Shut up, Silya!", he said, managing to smack his face.

"Wait! However, what?"

It was as if Silya expected the question.

"However, the temporal stream appears to be fluctuating in a repeating recurrence, which is allowing my sensors and processors to extrapolate a slip point of exit."

Imperceptibly, to all sensors--so he thought--Telbur released a sigh of relief, at the good news.

"Is there any way to smooth out our ride?", he asked, dreading the thought of the slow crawl to the Bejiri chamber.

"I have compensated our natural course, to match the temporal stream."

There was a pause, and then, "Might I suggest you make your way to the Bejiri chamber? I have summoned the medihic."

Good, ole Silya. The medihic is functional.

"Thank you, Silya". An unnecessary etiquette, but human.

"I will revive you, should circumstances change".

To be continued...