Operation: Hollow Realm Chapter Excerpt

Midway Station, The Void

The transport slowed as it approached a large lock which yawned open allowing the vehicle to pass through, the crew chief ushering the handful of more adventurous free-floating passengers back and buckled into their seats.

Anders realized that despite having slowed from a freefall to a crawl, they were still in microgravity. They were still weightless when gravity should have taken over again, or so he assumed. Just then, the transport got eerily quiet as it left the tunnel and friction behind and continued on into empty, black space. The silence was punctuated now and then by the sounds of compressed air from thrusters now providing propulsion and course correction.

The crew chief, a sturdy man in his late forties with a salt-and-pepper beard, floated confidently before the passengers as he welcomed them to the Void, home of Midway Station. His neat red jumpsuit, adorned with faded mission patches, spoke of years traversing the tunnel. With a voice that blended authority and warmth, he addressed the group: “For you new folks, you’ve noticed we’re still in microgravity. This is the Void—where gravity flips. The good news: gravity will we return for the final leg to Furbie.” His reassuring smile and habit of adjusting his cap while speaking put the passengers at ease, even as they murmured thanks for the promise of gravity. Continuing, he said, “Before we move on, we have to dock at Midway Station and drop off personnel and supplies. When you’re feeling up to it, you can unbuckle and come over to the windows and have a look. I promise it’s a sight to see.” His calm expertise steadied their nerves, coaxing them to unbuckle and drift toward the windows, where gasps soon echoed through the cabin at the sight of the vast, dark expanse beyond.

Midway Station was in fact a space station. Much larger than the International Space Station, it floated silently in the blackness, looming larger and larger as the transport slowly made its approach. Smaller space vehicles, scooters made their way in and out of view. With eyes adjusting to the darkness, looking beyond the station, one could begin to make out the massive cave they were in. No word like “cave” captured it. Looking harder and harder, telltale signs faintly lit by the illumination of the station, as well as small points of light moving far in the distance, told them the space could only be measured accurately, not in feet but miles. Sensing the question arising, the crew chief spoke up, “Over one thousand cubic miles of empty space is what you’re looking at. The space we’re in measures a little over one mile in height, and a whole lot of miles in every other direction. Mostly east and west. Fun fact, the Void is larger than the state of Rhode Island. Want to hear another cool fact? We're now further away from the surface than the International Space Station, just in the other direction. You know what I mean, hah!”

With a slight bump, the transport was docked to the brightly lit Midway Station. Dockhands floated over. Warmly dressed and wearing lightweight breathers they secured the transport in place with simple lines. The cargo hatches could be heard opening in the rear. More and more workers floated out and around as they extracted weightless cargo floating them into the station. The crew chief continued, “Air’s thin—think Everest, but worse without breathers. Research here is constant—space tech trials and geological studies around the Void keep the researchers here busy day and night. Like the ISS, Midway Station’s a research hub. The Void’s microgravity lets us test space-faring systems far cheaper than in orbit. One of our latest projects is bioprinting human organs and tissue—microgravity keeps soft structures from collapsing before they form, something our BioFabrication Facility thrives on.” He wrapped up, “Transfers should only take a few minutes. We’ll get moving again then.”