by Luigi Robles
Verrol and Christof were beginning to look pale, and sweat appeared on their foreheads.
“Lastly,” Larissa continued, “the upper decks are designed for the flight crew and highly specialized officers, so they can be on hand and ready for action at any given time, helping Captain Fain Jegga in any way they can against the alien threat. Does that answer your questions?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Verrol said stiffly as his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“And you?” Larissa asked, directing her gaze towards Christof.
“I-I’m fine with that also,” Christof said, trying not to stutter.
“But if you insist on complaining or not cooperating fully,” Larissa said, “there is plenty of room in the detention bay. You got that?”
“Yes, ma’am,” both said in unison.
“OK, let’s get going. We have a lot of work to do,” Larissa shouted at the group. “Let’s wrap this up as fast as we can so we can get some shut-eye.”
Larissa, Rick, and the officers worked until the wee hours of the night, assigning new apartments to everyone in the cargo area and letting the rest know about the move. Everything had gone smoothly, with not much complaint. People were happy enough to be able to finally rest after the long day.
Larissa didn’t leave the complexes until the last person was inside his apartment. After that, she was quick to grab a pod. She was dead tired, and even managed to fall asleep during the short five-minute ride. Kya had to nudge the pod back and forth until she woke up.
Once inside her quarters, her clothes flew off. She needed a shower badly, but she needed sleep that much more. She decided to wipe her face and hands with a damp, warm towel before going to bed. A shower would be too much, too long, and it would probably wake her up.
“Kya, wake me up forty-five minutes before the first shift,” Larissa mumbled as her body faded away into the sleep realm. “I’m going to need a lot of coffee. A lot of coffee. A lot…”
To Larissa, it seemed like she had closed her eyes not even a minute ago when she was already waking up again. She rested naked on the bed. The thin sheet that covered her felt so good; she felt free. But she knew that if she didn’t get out of bed right away, it would be that much harder when she finally did.
“I hope you’ve prepared really strong coffee,” Larissa said as she sat up in the bed, attempting to get up. “I’m really going to need it. Is it really time to get up already? I am beat.”
“It is exactly forty-five minutes before the first shift,” Kya said. “Per your instructions, I woke you up.”
“Is there any good news?” Larissa asked. “How is Fain holding up in the detention bay?”
“There have been no major incidents since Sodenia left Earth. We are currently near lunar orbit, using minimal energy,” Kya said. “Captain Fain seems to be doing well. Food and water have been made readily available to him. My sensors indicated a high level of unease and discomfort as he slept last night, but he’s yet to complain.”
“Yeah, that’s him. I doubt he would ever complain,” Larissa said, feeling the unfamiliar traces of a smile on her face. “Please do your best to keep me informed if something should happen. Can you run some calculations? Just how long do we have before we need to resupply? I’m not sure just how much we were able to get inside Sodenia before the alarm sounded.”
“The current stockpile of nutrients on Sodenia stands at one hundred and five tons,” Kya said. “If we limit the food printers to a basic menu, the current supplies should last a little over eight days, eating three times a day.”
“I’m not sure just how long it’s going to be before we get out of here,” Larissa said. “It might be way too early to answer these kinds of questions. I better wait until I have more caffeine in my system. But I’ll have to limit the menu right away and make sure that people get no more than three servings per day, and that goes for everyone on board the ship, including the council. I don’t think we have to worry about liquid; I feel like there is more than enough of that.”
Her body was sore. Every movement she made, as little as it might be, caused her discomfort and pain. She made her way to the food printer however she could, half-dragging the thin blanket with her. She didn’t bother putting cream or sugar in her coffee; she took it black. The first sip made the pain she felt while walking to the kitchen well worth it.
“Kya, I have a question,” Larissa said worriedly as she looked at her coffee.
“Sure, how may I help you, Lieutenant Commander Larissa?” Kya said.
“Larissa will be just fine. Lieutenant Commander is really unnecessary when it’s just us. Maybe you can use that when addressing me in front of others. It’s up to you.”
“Understood,” Kya said. “I’ll take that into consideration for next time.”
“Good,” Larissa said. “Hey, there’s something in my coffee.”
“What is it?” Kya said.
“I’m not sure, but can you make another?”
“Not a problem,” Kya said, pausing for a second. “I have begun an audio loop, but with the limited conversation we had, I am afraid that it won’t last long.”
Larissa was the second person Kya had told that she was on Sodenia’s side and not the council’s. Together they had worked out a code to initiate a loop in case they needed to discuss something the council shouldn’t hear.
“I won’t take long. How much control does the council have over the ship? How many people are they issuing orders to?”
“Before we left Earth,” Kya said, “the council issued orders to 443 people currently on board the ship. During the past 24 hours, that number has escalated to 1,820 people.”
“This isn’t good,” Larissa said. “If they wanted to, they could really just take over Sodenia.”
“That’s highly unlikely,” Kya said.
“And why is that?” Larissa asked.
“So far, the only people the council have under their control are deck officers, peacekeepers, and guards,” Kya said. “None of whom have the necessary skills to fly the ship.”
“Well, that’s a bit of good news,” Larissa said as she took a sip of her coffee. “Do you think we can win this? Heck, do you think we can survive?”
“I have yet to understand humanity in its entirety,” Kya said. “But what I do know is that the human spirit has never been extinguished in the past. Humanity has faced wars, drought, famine, and natural disasters, none of which have been able to diminish the resolve humanity has to live in this galaxy. I believe that as long as there’s one human alive, this is a battle we can win.”
“End loop,” Larissa said with a sigh. But she felt hopeful. What Kya had just said was what she needed to hear.
“Should I get the shower going for you?” Kya said. “I can set the water to the ideal temperature and change the setting to hydrotherapy to better soothe your body muscles.”
“That’s sounds perfect, Kya,” Larissa said, holding the blanket with one hand and setting her coffee mug next to the food printer. “It’s about time to start another day.”
10
Disruptions
August got to the bridge ahead of everyone else for the morning shift. His nerves were making it impossible for him to relax. To make things worse, the council had issued at least twenty new orders for him to follow, and he was required to report back each time an order was completed. The first thing on August’s plate was a course correction. The council wanted to be closer to Earth. The only thing that could make things worse for August was a full-on alien invasion.
He hovered over the pilot’s command station, hesitating to sit down, making excuses in his head for why he should wait just a little longer to get on the seat.
I should just wait until Eora gets here, or Pycca. Heck, I should wait for Larissa, well, because I need them here. Just in case something were to happen. Or what if the enemies are waiting for me to get on the seat to attack? Yeah, I can’t let that happen. I should wait.
Anxiety and p
aranoia were beginning to churn within August. It reminded him of when he was just a kid and his parents had passed away, but that in turn also reminded him of why he was there in the first place. He was being split in half by his nerves.
“Morning, Captain, Eora checking in. Weapons bay is operating at full capacity. The drone pilots are also standing by.”
Eora’s voice through the coms snapped him back to reality.
You have to get a grip on the situation. Everyone is depending on you, he thought. Do whatever you have to do but get back in the game. If Fain is not here to command the ship and neither are you, who will? Colton? Please. He never got a high score on the simulator. Get your shit together, August.
“Captain, are you there?” Eora asked.
“That’s good to hear, Eora,” August said. “We will be correcting our course shortly.”
Yes, that’s much better, he thought. And what was I thinking earlier about getting on the pilot’s command seat? That seat is not even necessary for simple tasks. That seat is only for battle, meaning I don’t have to use it.
“Kya, has there been any movement on the network of satellites, or anything unusual?” August asked.
“Everything is within the normal parameters,” Kya said.
“Let’s go ahead and lower those to ten, no, make that fifteen percent under what is considered normal,” August said, feeling much better about himself. “If asteroids clash just a little bit more than usual, I want to know when and where.”
“Very well. Would you like to know in real time?” Kya asked.
“No, that might not be wise,” August said. “Make me a spreadsheet with the information so I can take a look at it later. But if something is abnormal based on the previous settings, I want to know in real time.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Kya said. “Making the necessary changes and beginning to compile data now.”
“Thank you, Kya,” August said.
“Morning, Captain,” Pycca said as she walked over to her station.
August looked over to his seat; there was no one there. The council hadn’t chosen a first officer to replace him after all.
“Good day, Captain,” Larissa said as she walked over to her station.
He thought about placing Larissa in his old chair as first officer, but her role on board the ship was too great, and there would be no one to replace her. Consequently, he thought about Pycca and Eora but came to the same conclusion.
“Kya, can you patch me through to Colton Doyle?”
“Sir, I mean Captain, you want to speak to me?” Colton said.
“Yes, I need you on the bridge to take my place as first officer,” August said. “Please keep this to yourself.”
“Yes, Captain, I’ll be right there,” Colton said.
In less than a minute, Colton was on the bridge. The efficacy with which the pods on the ship worked never ceased to amaze August.
“Where do you want me, Captain?” Colton asked, dead serious.
“Right over there,” August said, pointing to the right of him. “That used to be my station—well, that’s not true; it still is. This is only a temporary change.”
“Not a problem, sir,” Colton said as he hurried to the station.
He thought that it would only be fair to inform everyone on Sodenia of their actions, to prevent any form of panic. After all, there wasn’t any order from the council not to.
Pressing the flashing blue button, the one that would let him communicate with the entire ship, August spoke. “This is Acting Captain August Macaraeg, filling in for Fain Jegga temporarily.” He added that last part and stressed it to reassure the people of the ship and to let the council know that things weren’t over. “We will correct our current course from outer semi-lunar orbit to inner lunar orbit. This will put us 35,000 miles closer to Earth. We will also be opening viewing ports scattered across Sodenia. I suggest you take in the view while you can.”
August entered the new course on the center console, and the ship began to move.
“Kya, open up the main display screen and leave optimum polarization on,” August said. “We don’t want to accidentally blind anyone while we take in the view.”
From this distance, Earth looked like a bright ball in space—not very different from the way the moon looks to us, perhaps, just larger. But she was beautiful, glimmering with color in the darkness of space. The moon was impressive in its own colorless way, showing off the billion-year-old scars scattered across its face. The moon was closer than August had ever seen it before.
The course correction took them six hours, and it all went as planned. They left the moon behind them, and Sodenia began orbiting around Earth on an inner lunar orbit. August decided it was time for the bridge to get lunch.
“It’s lunchtime. Let’s meet back here in an hour,” August said, his nerves finally calmed.
“Sounds good to me,” Eora said through the coms. “I’m starving.”
August returned to his quarters instead of going to the designated lunch room. He needed to think, and he needed to make sure that he was doing the best he could and that nothing was escaping him. While food was on his mind, so were the doubts.
A little less socializing never hurt anyone.
“Kya, has there been any movement captured in our network?” August said as he entered his quarters. “Well, I mean, movement that meets my below-normal criteria.”
“I have accumulated 784 spreadsheets of data that meet your criteria,” Kya said. “Would you like me to print them out for you or send them to your computer?”
“Send them over to my computer,” August said as he walked to the food printer. “I’ll go over them and see if I can see something, maybe a clue of some sort. I’m not entirely sure where I am going with it. But things are too quiet.”
August hesitated before choosing his meal. The screen on the food printer read: minimum menu available. Now instead of the hundreds of thousands of choices from before, they were limited to a set of ten simple meals.
Larissa must have made the change, he thought. Of course, we didn’t have enough time to get the supplies on board. The original plan called for Sodenia to stay in space with a full crew for sixteen days. Our loading time was cut in half and the personnel on board the ship almost doubled.
“Larissa, come in,” August said into his wristband.
“Yes, August?” Larissa said. The fact that Larissa did not call him captain made him feel good. She was well aware of the situation they were in.
“I see the new menu,” August said, trying to hide the mounting stress. “Just how long do we have before we run out of food or drink?”
“I’ve been getting multiple complaints about it,” Larissa responded. “I just finished creating the newsletter, and I will send it to everyone on board the ship. But it looks like, with the current population, we only have a little over eight days before the food starts to run out. As far as drinks, the tanks are full.”
“OK, thank you. That’s good to know. I hope I didn’t interrupt your lunch.”
“You didn’t interrupt much,” Larissa said with a laugh. “I thought you’d already seen the new menu; there’s not much to interrupt there.”
August let out a strained laugh and said, “Yeah, you are right. See you back on the bridge when lunch is over. Try not to scare the people on board the ship with that newsletter.”
“Don’t worry, it doesn’t say much,” Larissa said. “See you.”
A little over eight days, August thought. I wonder if by the time the eighth day gets here, everything will be over. Humans can last quite some time without eating—up to two weeks, if need be—and there’s plenty of water. But I don’t think that will sit too well with the general population. Once they figure out we don’t have food, they will begin to panic. We need to get back to Earth before that happens.
August settled for a simple bowl of cereal, option number one on Larissa’s new menu. He walked, with the bowl of cereal in his
hand, over to the computer, where the 784 spreadsheets of data were waiting for him.
At first, the numbers and columns didn’t mean anything to him, but as he flipped through the pages, a pattern began to emerge. There was a clustering of numbers in different sectors of the asteroid belt.
“Kya, is there any way we can put all of this data into a graph?” August asked as he put a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “Or better yet, a map of our relative location?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get the last part,” Kya said. “Do you mind repeating?”
“Can you put all of this data into a map?” August said, now with clear words.
“That won’t be a problem,” Kya said. “Constructing map now.”
The theory that August had built less than a minute ago appeared to be correct. The unusual movements according to his new standards were clustered in one location in the asteroid belt.
“That’s strange; it looks like something is pulling the asteroids and ice,” August said.
He flipped the three-dimensional map horizontally, where it revealed a slight hump in the clustering movements of the objects. In August’s mind, that was a dead giveaway, and a sure sign that the enemy was approaching and using a cloaking device. The only good news was that they were making their way slowly through the asteroid belt and had yet to reach the edge.
“Kya, can you refresh the map with new data?” August asked.
There it was, a jump towards Earth, towards Sodenia.
“If this is the enemy, how long do we have until they reach the edge of the belt?”
The map went from standstill to real time, following the movement of the ice.
“They will reach the edge of the belt within the hour,” Kya said.
