A few moments after the call was cut off, Kita was still standing there frozen. He didn't know what he witnessed or what just happened altogether. He was still processing the events he just witnessed. There was a subtle hum in his ears. He was totally out of his wits. Before he could process anything any further, He heard someone call out to him, before he could turn his attention towards it though, the entire shore shook a bit. After that, all the lights went out and red alarms began to sound.
The red flash of the alarms finally managed to break Kita out of his trance. His focus snapped back to reality. He began looking around when he saw Dr. Kbom hurriedly typing away on his terminal. He could tell by the way his focus was stuck to the terminal that something huge enough had happened that required Dr. Kbom to forget about the state of emergency around him.
Then. It hit him.
All the events that he witnessed just a few moments ago hit him like a hammer. His trance had lead him in a state of denial that forcibly removed all the events from his brain. But that wasn't enough. He remembered everything. He quickly asked Dr. Kbom.
"Doctor! Helen…. She…"
"I saw everything lad. But we've got more pressing matters right now."
'Pressing matters? What could be more important right now?' Kita thought to himself when he realized that the whole Shore was in a state of emergency.
"What happened Doctor? Why're we in a state of emergency?", Kita hurriedly asked.
"A huge electromagnetic pulse hit the shore, it knocked half of our defense off line. Including the electromagnetic protection layers. If another pulse hits us in this state, then we're done for.", Dr. Kbom said without looking away from the terminal. All this time, he was swiftly typing away.
"What about our emergency energy reactors? The shore should be robust enough to withstand such a pulse!"
This was the first time Dr. Kbom paused. He looked at Kita and frowned. He thought about something before he resumed his work. He replied.
"The Pulse knocked out almost everything. As soon as the first layer of our electromagnetic defense broke, the full ship became vulnerable. You should know how strong the first layer of protection is. Nothing should've been able to break it. Yet it did. Do you understand now?", He said in a solemn tone as he continued his work. He was working on brining it back online. Atleast partially. So that it could provide any protection against a possible 2nd wave.
Kita realized that he wasn't totally focused yet. He wasn't thinking straight. So he decided to get his act together. He needed to get to B1 and save Helen. She was still alive. He could feel it. He had just lost his brother, He couldn't also lose Helen right now. He just couldn't stand the thought of losing her. Despite what he saw with his own eyes. He still held onto his false ray of hope. While hoping that they become real.
He moved onto a separate terminal and began to pull up the recent data about different staff. Getting out of this situation was of the utmost important. Dr. Kbom was right, if another wave hit them right now. It would destroy all the electrical systems aboard the shore. Which would be a catastrophe. They would be long dead before any help would arrive.
Although he wasn't an engineer, and it wasn't his job to fix anything that broke on the ship, but as one of the highest ranking members, he still held a lot of responsibility.
He gave the captain a call and let him know about a few problems that he could identify from here.
The captain quickly sent teams of engineers and mechanics to fix the damages. Everyone made quick of their work as everyone understood the importance of the situation.
Soon, one by one, each of the critical systems came back online. There were no physical damage to the ship. But a few systems closer to the hull got fried and needed to be replaced.
Within one hour. Almost all the systems were back online and running. Including the Comm Link to B1.
Kita Entered the bridge as he wore a tense expression. Everyone turned to look at him. No one really knew what happened on the planet. But they didn't think it was anything good. The captain was aware of the situation. He had been notified as soon as Dr. Helen had approached the Monolith by herself. He knew what had happened.
"Dr. Kita, good timing. we've just gotten the comm Link back up and running." One of the operators on deck said. He tried to break the ice that had suddenly formed on the bridge.
"Yes, I'm aware. Have we tried to contact the ground assets?"
"We haven't Yet. We're working on it." The operator squirmed back down on his seat. He couldn't withstand the look on his face.
The captain approached him. He wore a similar expression on his face. Something had gone terribly wrong on the planet and no one what.
This was a grave situation.
"Captain, can we begin to contact the ground teams?" Kita looked at him with a blank expression. He had suppressed his emotions throughout the emergency situation. He couldn't wait any longer. He wanted some answers.
"Yes, let's begin", The captain didn't say anything further. He looked towards one of the operators and nodded.
The Operator initiated contact with the ground team. A few minutes went by as everyone held their breath. The Electromagnetic pulse had originated from B1. Specifically from the location of the Monolith. This should've knocked out all the electrical systems in the vicinity. Including the comms and all the vehicles that the researchers used to go to the location. But all hope wasn't lost, there was a chance that the comm systems of the Shuttles were still functional.
As they were designed for operating on alien planets. They were built to be robust enough to withstand really harsh and unforgiving environments. They had good chances of surviving the electromagnetic pulse.
"Connection established. Initiating the call." The operator said.
As another few minutes went by, the call kept ringing. There was no answer from the other side.
"Keep trying. Maybe they're in a similar disarray.", The captain said with urgency in his tone.
Kita turned around to move out of the bridge. The captain noticed it and moved to stop him.
"Dr. Kita, where are you going? We've still got time."
"In such a situation, what's the normal response? Can you tell me that captain?", Dr. Kita calmly asked him.
"The normal response would've been for them to try contact us. As we were out of reach for over an hour, they should be still trying to reach us."
"Yes, and someone would've been given the responsibility to keep trying to contact us. Right?"
"Yes."
"And yet, that isn't the situation. Why do you reckon that is." Kita said in a decisive tone. There was no question in it. There was only absolute resolution in it.
"It's probably because….."
"It's because there is no one left to contact us. Don't stop me. The shuttle is already on stand-by." Kita said in an absolute tone as he walked out of the bridge. No one dared to stop him after what he had said.
There was only silence on the bridge. Not even the heavy breaths could be heard. Only dark silence.