“I’ll tell you,” Dr. Wood said from the stairs.
AJ jumped to her feet, hand reaching for her gun.
“Calm down,” Wood said, raising both hands. “Believe it or not, I’m on your side.”
“That’s still being determined,” Jake said. He pointed to a chair on the opposite end of the table.
“Thank you, Captain Stone,” he said as he eased himself down into the chair. “You have a decent medical bay for a ship of this type. I feel almost normal again.”
Ash came running down the stairs. “What’s all the commotion?” he asked but then stopped when he saw Wood.
“Good,” Wood said. “I’m glad nearly everyone is here.”
“Why?” Jake asked. He still didn’t trust the man.
“Because what I have to say affects everyone on this vessel.”
“I don’t think we need theatrics, Dr. Wood,” Raines said.
Wood nodded at Raines and addressed the table. “Then let me be clear. The DNA we found in the sphere was not preserved. It was, in fact, fresh. We think someone or something was inside the sphere and emerged shortly before the Council recovered it.”
“Alive?” Jake asked, his skin crawling at the thought of standing so close to the sphere, actually touching it.
Wood nodded. “The news leaked out, and people are saying that this creature is a messenger of a coming change. A bad change.”
“Bad as in?” Jake asked.
“As in the end of the world,” Wood replied.
“Perhaps the Second Fall of Man,” Raines added.
Ash grumbled, “I knew I shouldn’t have signed on with this crew. They told me this was a cursed ship, but I didn’t listen.”
“I say we drop him off somewhere,” AJ said to Jake. “I don’t believe him, and I don’t trust him.”
“How does this affect my crew?” Jake asked, ignoring AJ’s comment, while at the same time believing it might be the best idea yet.
“It affects you all because of what I’m going to ask you all to do.”
“Like I said, we dump him,” AJ repeated.
Wood slammed his fist on the table, startling everyone. “This is not a game!” he yelled. “I lost my wife because of this device, my entire career, my life, is over, and my only goal now is to destroy it.”
“You can’t undo what you’ve done,” Raines said. “Your Beta testers are probably being mass produced by now. They will soon be everywhere. You can’t change that. It’s too late.”
“Ah, but that’s where you are wrong. There is a way to render the Beta tester inoperable.”
“How?” Jake asked.
“With a sample of pure Beta blood. I believe I can make all Beta tests fail by altering everyone’s DNA markers, Betas and humans alike. It would end the war on Betas because you can’t hate what you can’t see.”
Jake stared at him. “So, you’re telling me you want to locate and capture the Beta-thing that you think emerged from that sphere?”
Wood scanned the room and then looked at Jake. “With your help, Captain. I can’t do this without you.”
“You can’t do it at all, even with our help,” AJ said. “Even if I believed your story, which I don’t, you would have to determine where this sphere of yours came—”
“I know where it came from,” Wood interrupted.
“Where?” Raines asked.
“A place you’ve already been to,” Wood said to Jake. “A small outpost on the north end of the Rift. One that contains an overgrown forest and the remnants of an old zoo.”
“What?” Jake asked, too shocked to say anything else. Wood unWavering gaze told him that the doctor knew his ship’s recent history.
“What makes you think we know anything about a dome near the Rift?” AJ asked.
Wood explained that while in Capitol City, he overheard one of the guards talking about a ship called the Rogue Wave, which was last seen heading away from the outpost. When he went on the run, he traced their ship to New Braska.
“So that’s how you knew the captain’s name in the bar,” AJ said.
“I’m a scientist,” he said, “I did my research.”
“But we didn’t find any kind of sphere there,” Jessie said then looked at the others. “Did we?”
“No,” AJ said, “and therefore I don’t think we can help you, Dr. Wood. And if the dome you are referring to is the same one we visited, then you don’t want to go there.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“I almost died there,” Jessie added, rubbing her shoulder.
“We all nearly died there,” AJ said. “The forest is, shall we say, inhabited, and they don’t like visitors.”
“Except maybe for lunch,” Ash added, as he walked over and put his arm around his sister.
“And as we said,” AJ said, “none of us saw the sphere you described.”
Raines spoke up then. “I’m honestly sorry that we can’t help you, Dr. Wood, because what you have described sounds quite intriguing. If you were honest about your intentions, your work really could benefit so many people.”
“And maybe prevent a war,” AJ said.
“The war has already begun,” Wood said. “That battle in the dock was just a taste of what I have witnessed in my travels to find you. People are revolting all over the colony—it’s just not being broadcast.” His face dropped to his hands. “And now, my mission has failed before it even had a chance to start. My wife’s death was for nothing.”
Jake couldn’t take it anymore and burst out, “Honestly, people!”
All eyes turned to him. “What is it, Captain?” Raines asked.
He stared at the center of the table for a moment, wondering how much he should say. “I found the sphere you’re talking about inside the dome.” Amid the gasps, he continued. “Or at least it looked like what was described.”
“And you didn’t tell anyone?” AJ asked.
“Why would I have? It looked like a piece of junk sitting in a junkyard. It certainly didn’t have a sign on the outside saying, ‘Caution, live Beta-monster inside’ or something.”
“Betas aren’t monsters,” Vee said.
Jake shrugged. “Well, whatever they are, the sphere I saw was intact, and well...it looked harmless.”
“So, that’s why the Colonial Guards detained us,” AJ said. “They were searching for the person who came out of that sphere.”
Jake’s thoughts suddenly turned to Jane. They had discovered her in the forest shortly after he found the sphere, and later, she hid from the guards. Was she the one they were looking for? Was she the pureblood Beta?
“Excuse me,” Jane asked from the stairs. All eyes turned toward her. “I think I’m the one you’re looking for.”
“No, you’re not, sweetie,” Jessie said, moving over to hug her.
“Who is this?” Wood asked, standing abruptly.
“They found me in that forest,” she said, “and I have no memory of my past.”
Vee walked over to stand next to Jane as well. She and Jessie were making a valiant attempt to protect their friend. “We think she was abandoned there as a child,” Vee said. “She’s no more a Beta than you are.”
“I can test her,” Wood said, his face suddenly brightening. “I can build a makeshift tester using items from your medical bay.”
“You leave her alone,” Jessie said, stepping in front of Jane and locking arms with Vee.
“No,” Jane said, standing up and moving around the two to face Dr. Wood. “I want you to test me. I need to know the truth.” She then looked at Jake. “If I can prevent the war you are all talking about, then I need to do this.”
In the silence that followed, AJ looked at Jake. “It’s your call, Captain.”
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Why was he reluctant to have the test performed? If Jane really was a Beta, a pure Beta from legends, wasn’t she a danger to the crew? Why did he feel the need to protect her?
He stood there, staring at
her across the mess hall, and was reminded of the night she forced him to confront his buried memories. She showed him that he did not kill his girlfriend, that she had taken her own life to save him. After that, he vowed to protect Jane, but there was more. She really did look an awful lot like Stacy, as if she were cut from the same mold. What would he say if Stacy wanted to be tested for Beta markers? Would he take the risk? And what of Dr. Wood’s motives? Wouldn’t locating the colony’s only pure Beta earn him some sort of colonial medal?
“Captain?” AJ asked again.
He looked at AJ and then back at Jane. “If you insist, I can’t stop you,” he finally said.
Wood smiled in a way that resembled the large cat creature that attacked them in the forest dome, the one that Jane killed with her bare hands. His entire crew owed Jane their lives, and this was how they were repaying her?
As Wood headed down the stairs to C-deck, Jake grabbed Raines’s shoulder. “Go with him,” he whispered.
Raines nodded. “Don’t worry, Captain. I’ll protect her, no matter what he discovers about her.”
As Raines headed towards the stairwell, the rest of the crew filed out until only he and Jane remained.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked her.
“I told you,” she replied. “To help.”
He took a step towards her and lowered his voice. “I don’t want you to do it, Jane. I don’t know what Wood will do if you turn out to be...”
She reached out and gently caressed his cheek. “I’m also doing this for you, Jake.”
“What?”
She walked around him and sat down on the tabletop. “You have been avoiding me for several weeks, which isn’t easy on a ship of this size.”
“I’ve been busy,” he lied. The fact was, he had been avoiding her but perhaps not for the reason she thought.
“You don’t trust me, and I need for you to trust me.”
“I don’t know what—”
She stood up suddenly and kissed him. “Jane,” he stammered. “You know we can’t just—”
She put a hand to his lips. “Don’t worry, Jake. I won’t fail his test.”
“How can you know?” he asked, but really, he was just thinking about the kiss.
She walked around him, her right hand brushing his as she past. When she reached the stairwell, she looked back and said, “Trust me.”
He just nodded as she turned and headed down to med bay. Should he go with her? What if Wood found out she was a pure Beta, that she was the person ‘born’ inside that sphere? What then? Maybe Wood was being honest, and maybe he would be able to figure out some way to make all Beta tests fail. That might stop the attacks, but what about Jane? Could everyone just forget what they had learned about her? Could he?
Fortunately, the test didn’t take long. When Raines called him on the ship’s intercom, he hurried down to med bay, braced for whatever the news turned out to be.
“I told you!” Jane yelled when he walked through the door. She jumped off the bed and ran to him, giving him a big hug. Jake looked at Raines, who nodded.
“Unfortunately, the girl’s blood shows no detectable Beta markers,” Wood said gravely. “In fact, it appears that none of her ancestors interbred with Betas.”
Jake wasn’t on the side of Betas, but he hated how the doctor used the term ‘interbred’ as though it were a foul thing. “You sound disappointed, Doctor,” he said as he gently tried to pry Jane from his midsection. She had a surprisingly strong grip.
Wood looked up at him. “But you see, I am disappointed, Captain. The sooner I locate this pureblood Beta, the sooner I can get started with my work.” He looked at Raines. “You people have no idea what’s going on in the other cities, do you? People are already dying in this war, and it hasn’t even officially begun yet. I honestly believe I can stop all of that.”
“It’s not our problem,” Jake said and turned to leave.
“Tell me something,” Wood said as he addressed everyone in the room. “What do you all think you know about the Fall of Man?”
“They know as much as anyone,” Vee said. “My grandfather is a historian, and he—”
“Historian?” Wood said. “Is that what you call yourself now?”
Raines seemed to ignore him. “Very little is known about that period in our history. It’s mostly theories and conjecture based on a small amount of data.”
“Actually, a great deal of data has been collected in the past few years. I’m surprised someone with your background hasn’t availed himself of the information.”
“What are you getting at, Wood?” Jake asked. He was getting tired of the doctor’s arrogance.
“What I’m getting at, Captain, is that you have all been lied to. In fact, most of the colony has been lied to. The event you call the ‘Fall of Man’ happened in this colony, not some fabled place called Earth.”
Everyone’s faces dropped; even Raines seemed genuinely surprised. “What are you talking about?” he demanded.
Wood looked suddenly taller. “I have to say that I’m surprised the great Norman Raines hasn’t figured it out by now. Even without the new information, a man like you should have reasoned it out.”
“Get to the point,” AJ yelled, beating Jake to it.
Wood looked at her. “You believe the story that a disaster struck our ancient ancestors on Earth Colony, forcing them to flee their utopian society and settle in Civica, correct?”
AJ nodded. “That sounds about right.”
“Tell me,” Wood went on, “How did these survivors, these people without a home, manage to build ships that could carry hundreds of thousands of people far across the ocean to this place? How did they have the resources to do this after their world was destroyed?”
No one answered, but then Raines said, “So tell us your version of history.”
“And then tell me why you’re wasting my time with all of this,” Jake added. “How can something that happened hundreds of years ago have anything to do with what we are dealing with today?”
Wood smiled in that cat-creature way again and faced Jake. “I’ll be as succinct as I can be, Captain Stone, so that you understand why I’m wasting your time with this. If there ever was such a place called Earth, and I’m not even convinced there was, then we left it long before any historians will admit to. There was no disaster, no forced evacuation of humanity. Our ancestors left it and settled here, in Civica, and this is where they grew to be the utopian society of fables. Then they made one fatal mistake; they created a new life form in their own image.”
“Betas,” Jessie said.
“That is correct,” Wood said. “And then, one fateful day, the Betas turned on their creators and tried to wipe out all of humanity. And they very nearly succeeded.”
“The Fall of Man,” Raines said.
“So you see, Captain,” Wood said, “we have a problem. The pureblooded Betas of our history were real, and they were the mortal enemy of humanity. Moreover, while many of us carry scant remnants of their artificial DNA in our blood, the return of a pureblooded Beta is proof that they are still out there somewhere, still viable and whole. Hiding and most likely plotting our downfall.”
“So, you’re not on the side of Betas after all, are you?” Vee said.
Wood snickered. “Hardly. I am on the side of humanity, but I also don’t believe that humans with a few Beta markers in their blood make them any less human. The pureblood Betas are our enemy, Captain Stone, and the sooner we stop fighting amongst ourselves the sooner we can start preparing to face them.”
Raines looked at Jake. “Then we need to go back,” he said.
Jake glanced at Wood and back then at Raines. “Go back? Go back where?”
“The forest dome, of course. If we didn’t take this pureblood Beta-person out, and the guards didn’t, then it makes sense that he or she must still be there.”
Wood shook his head. “Don’t be absurd. The guards searched that dome thoroughly. They found
no one.”
“Even more reason to go back and search for ourselves,” Raines said.
“Hold on now,” Ash said. “I’m not going back there.”
“All right!” Jake yelled and then pried Jane’s arms off him. “Enough! We are not going back there. We have a job to complete, and we are going to finish it. This is none of our business.”
“It might be your business,” Wood said as he scanned the faces around him, “if any of the rest of you fails my Beta test. Capitol City is now testing everyone who enters the docks, and the other cities are beginning to follow their lead.”
After a moment’s hesitation, AJ said, “You heard the captain. Everyone back to your duty stations.”
As Jake started to leave, Wood said, “You can’t just decide to—”
“Yes, he can,” AJ said forcefully. “The captain has given us an order, and we are obeying it.” She glanced at Raines before turning her attention back to Wood. “Better get used to it, Doctor.”
Exile 05
Jake didn’t say another word to anyone but headed to his quarters and pressed the “do not disturb” button on the door. Once inside, he grabbed the small model of the Rogue Wave from his desk and threw it across the room. It hit the far wall, breaking off one of the rear fins, and landed on his bed. He stared at it for several seconds then dutifully picked it up and sat it back on his desk. The model had been Captain Coal’s, given to him by his wife a few months before she left him. “A captain’s life is a lonely one,” Coal used to say whenever he drank too much. Some days, he felt he understood what he meant. He took a deep breath and laid the broken fin on the desk next to it, promising himself to fix it later.
He undressed and tossed his clothes into the cleaner. One of the lesser talked about benefits of command, he had come to realize, was that both his room and his first mate’s had their own toilet/shower room, or, as Shippers called them, heads. He stepped inside his and took a long, hot shower then stepped out and threw himself down on his bed, not bothering to dry.
He awoke sometime later and glanced up at the clock. Just over six hours had passed, but he still felt the ugly mixture of exhaustion and frustration as before.
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