[snip]

”..Ah ha! Got someone Captain!” NE Coals said breaking the exchange up. Putting it up on audio now.

=/\= H…Hello? Merr–static. You there? My name is static –iel Cornwellis. My ship is stuck in static –well, some kind of gravitational anomaly near our colony system. Seems like I’m in a ne–static–ula now though. Long range comms are destroyed, my life support is almost gone, kind of hard to static –eathe. My co-pilot is dead and I am half stuck under a fallen console in the cockpit here. =/\= There was a pause as the man likely in pain and out of breath was struggling to keep calm to not further waste his little bit of air.

Then the puzzle of this catastrophe was finally explained. The Risan sub-light ship had been taken from the colony within its own system by the gravitational anomaly, most probably from the explosion of a deuterium canister, and then deposited at the other end, light-years away inside the nebula. Only one survivor was now remaining, his estimated time left was critically low. Pinned down, so unable to operate a pattern enhancer himself, or to put on one of the Emergency Transport Suits. And there were several more deuterium canisters aboard. An entire starship already lost in an attempted rescue. Can I risk another? thought Glen.

Glen had crossed the Bridge and was now at NE Coals’ communication console. “Can I speak to him?” Glen asked NE Coals.

=/\= This is the USS Merrimack. Hello Cornwellis. Captain Glen speaking. You’ve done well to make it this far. We are inside the nebula and can see your ship. We are pulling out every stop in our attempts to rescue you. Can you confirm that you are the only living person aboard? =/\=

There was a pause and a squeal of static before it cleared =/\=....Yes besides my co-pilot static burst .....but he’s gone, we had a crate of Risan field mice for a science lab on our delivery route but static burst –ead most likely.. =/\= he replied.

Mice!! thought Glen, The rise in Carbon Dioxide must be giving him Brain Fog.

But the knowledge that there was only one person to be saved was important. It would be much easier for the Merri to pinpoint and isolate a single life-sign aboard the Risan vessel. They could make the rescue more quickly, and Glen might consider taking the ship further into the “whirlpool” if it could be for a more limited time. Just as long as the rising Carbon Dioxide doesn’t kill him first!

=/\= Don’t worry! We are going to get you out of there. Just hang on a little longer. Can you do that? =/\= Glen told Cornwellis.

There was a bit of a weak cough from the man before he replied, =/\= Not....not going anywhere like this Captain..=/\= He said, guess he was still with it enough to crack jokes.

“Someone could be searching Risan records for ‘Cornwellis’ for me, please?” Glen asked the Bridge crew. “Quick as you like! I need a first name. When he said it, it was lost in all that static. Find out who he is … what is his age and what are his vital stats … his temperament …his service record, his purpose, his passion …I need to know what makes him tick …I need a ray of sunshine to burn off his brain fog, and to keep him talking to us as along as possible!”

• Glen, CO

Looking through their databanks for the particular Risan colony, they found 18 matches for a Cornwellis, all between the ages of 8 months and 72 years of age. So likely a large family. Of those 18, 3 matched with a first named that ended with ‘iel’, the first was an 8 month old infant named Reniel Cornwellis listed as female, the second was 29 years old named Daniel Cornwellis the 2nd, listed as male, and the third was 46 years old also named Daniel Cornwellis also male. Records showed ‘the 2nd’ was the son of the third listing. So they were dealing likely with one of them......or maybe both if the son/father had been co-pilot.

GM CockRoach