Daring by Mike Shepherd

Professor.”
    â€œWe have established that there were 132 people on the alien ship. We think we have drawn up an accurate schematic of its design.” The professor aimed his wrist unit at the main screen and it switched away from where it was frozen on the final frame of the explosion.
    Suddenly, the ship was whole again. Quickly, the skin of the ship peeled back, showing the insides: living quarters, work spaces, storage rooms, the bridge. Most of those areas were left empty in the drawing, but their purposes were written in.
    â€œOn that ship, there were about twelve cubic meters of pressurized living space for each of the men, women, and children aboard.”
    â€œSleeping quarters two meters by three meters by two meters tall,” Kris said. It was about a quarter of her own living quarters. “Ugh.”
    â€œPardon me for correcting you, Your Highness,” the professor said. “I did not say sleeping quarters. That allotment is the total room for their sleeping and wash space. It includes their contribution to their work spaces, public rooms, and hallways. We’re still debating whether or not they even had hallways. Even in the command center.
    â€œThe only space not included in this allotment was a small hold full of rare-earth ores recently extracted from the moon. That hold and Engineering. That would include the reactors and the pressurized tanks for reaction mass. I should point out that we found several bunks in Engineering in what we think was the control room.”
    â€œOh. My. God.” Vicky said.
    Around Kris, the room bubbled at a low boil as, once again, people struggled to come to terms with what any rational human being would consider impossible.
    It was Penny who slowly rose to her feet. She went to touch the ship on the screen. The Navy officer whispered something that Kris didn’t get, but apparently Mimzy, Penny’s computer, did.
    An image of the gas giant appeared on the screen with the alien ship. On the screen, the giant regained ten percent of its mass, swelling noticeably.
    â€œWhat kind of species could suck up ten percent of a gas giant? Then, having that kind of reaction mass to move themselves and their creation, would cram their population into a ship, allowing only twelve cubic meters to an individual?”
    The room fell silent as Penny spoke.
    When she finished, there was a pause. A brief one. Then the room exploded as a number of people made off quickly for the restrooms.
    Others headed for the bar, giving loud voice to their need for a drink.

14
    Kris sat in her chair, staring off into space. Literally. The forward screen was back to the view from the external monitors. Stars flew by. The moon occasionally came into view. More often, the gas giant that had caused this struggle with cognitive dissonance made its own appearance.
    It had been a long time since Kris had been tempted, really tempted, to order a drink. So far she was winning.
    Still, she wouldn’t take a bet that she would be sober come midnight.
    The senior NCOs aboard the Wasp made sure that none of the junior enlisted abused the privilege of the ship’s pubs. The problem was, there were only officers in the Forward Lounge at the moment, officers from four different Navies. From the looks of empties piling up on some tables, adult supervision was desperately needed.
    â€œJack, inform the barkeep the limit tonight is three drinks.”
    â€œThat sounds like a good idea. We’re a long way from a brewery, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a new supply anytime soon.” He shoved off for the bar.
    Kris wouldn’t take any bets that there weren’t several stills in her fleet. She also wouldn’t recommend that any of the captains in her Fleet of Discovery do a serious shakedown of chief’s country. Still, it was clear she needed to limit how people responded to the shock they’d all just taken to their system.
    Vicky came over