Everyone left the control station and climbed the stairs again to the main level. Within five minutes, the other teams from the Hyperion had joined them in the atrium. Most of the personnel were security, although there were also medical and engineering teams.
A tall, broad shoulder man approached Dobbins as the final team entered. “Lieutenant Congdon, security, reporting for duty, sir,” he said.
“Very good, Lieutenant. Are all the teams here?”
“Yes, sir.”
Dobbins looked over the teams that had arrived. “Engineering team,” he ordered, “you will head with Lieutenant Zhang and Chief Engineer Sapens back to the Control Center to fix any more damage that might be there. After the Control Center is ready, make sure that the ship’s systems are prepared for landing. I want this ship ready to land as soon as possible.
“Security team, I want you to go with Mr. Samuelson back to the Security building and search it thoroughly. If there are any prisoners locked up in there, I want to know who they are and why. Make sure that you use the Lethe’s security database to help you. I’m sure that Mr. Sapens or Mr. Zhang can get you access to it.
“Medical team, you will work with Commander Ella and me as we try to figure out exactly how we’re going to explain to these passengers where they are and what’s going on. My sense is that most have been pretty severely brainwashed and think that they are still on Earth. We need to find ways to convince them otherwise. You have orders. Let’s get to work.”
A massive jumble broke out as people crisscrossed each others’ paths, heading for their respective destinations. Eventually, only the medical team, a group of two doctors and three nurses, remained. Dobbins and Ella set to work with them, trying to come up with something that would work effectively.
They had only been discussing the matter for five minutes when Dobbins suddenly felt the usual side-effects caused by the Jump Drive. For one brief second, he felt everything stop, as if he had gone unconscious for the briefest period of time. Then, the familiar disorientation kicked in as the room seemed to spin of its own accord. He stayed in his seated position on one of the couches in the atrium, waiting for the feeling to pass.
No sooner had the feeling passed, though, than the entire experience repeated itself again. Ella and the others did not seem to be bothered by the jumps and continued to discussing the best way to explain things to the colonists.
“Perhaps we ought to say something about the jumps,” Dobbins suggested. “If they are experiencing the same disorientation that I am, then they’re going to be very concerned.”
The others agreed, and they all continued their discussions until ten minutes before the meeting was to start. Four more jumps occurred in that interval.
Micah exploded through the doors of the Town Hall. “Captain!” he exclaimed. “You need to come with me quickly. The whole town’s already gathered in the Assembly Hall, and quite a few are very disturbed about the blackouts that we’ve all been experiencing.”
Before Dobbins could respond, another jump occurred, and once again, the disorientation lingered afterwards, although it disappeared within a few seconds this time. Micah, on the other hand, tried to head out the door, and stumbled into it, instead.
“It’s a side effect of the Jump Drive,” Dobbins explained. “The disorientation becomes shorter in duration with each jump that you experience. Believe me, I know.”
“I hope you’re right, Captain,” Micah said, “but it’s got a lot of the town worried. Some are saying that it’s some sort of fallout from the nuclear war they think happened 10 years ago, or worse, that it’s some sort of weapon that you all are using on us to try to take us over.”
“Well, lead us on to the Assembly Hall, and we’ll try to explain everything to them.”
“I hope they believe you, Captain.”
“So do I, Micah, so do I.”
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