by Trent Falls
Julie smiled back, genuinely interested as she looked back at her uncle over her glass of water.
“It was a very different time back then.” John explained. “Mankind was just venturing out into the stars. Well… the EEF was anyway. Not counting the Xen going first and all. It was all a bit… clumsy. We had such lofty ambitions, but really we were just going up in these big tin cans, hoping to God we could make it to Alpha Centauri!”
“Were you afraid?” Julie pressed.
This was an excellent question, John thought to himself. Was he afraid?
“Oh yeah!” John answered after a moment.
A loud roll of thunder gave them a second of pause.
Julie stirred her lo mein blankly for a moment, as though she were restraining a thought. “I still want to join the EEF.” She said plainly.
“Julie. We had this discussion before.” John became more serious. He stared at her, then looked down on his plate for his next forkful of food. “You don’t want to go to space.”
“How do you know?” Julie demanded.
“Because I know you, sweetie.” John answered. “You have a kind soul and an adventurous spirit. Once you get out there and find out what it’s really like…” John looked out the window at his side to the pouring rain, “… I’d hate for you to be in the EEF only to find out how disappointing space really is.”
“You seemed to like it.” Julie pressed.
“I have a few fond memories, sweetheart, and a lot of nightmares that I carry with me.” John noted with almost a grave tone in his voice. “Those things will never go away.” John took another bite of his chicken.
‘If you only saw what I saw. If you could see the terrifying things I’ve seen… with my own eyes!’ John wanted to add, speaking the words silently in his mind.
“Don’t be angry for me saying it, Uncle John, but you were in a war.” Julie responded. “The EEF is different now. I can sign on to a highliner as an engineering contractor once I get out of college.”
Once she got out of college, John echoed the words in his head. He felt a sense of relief. Hopefully, Julie would lose interest in going to space by then.
“I know it’s different now… kind of.” John remarked. “I was a Marshall for the EEF after the war so I know kind of what it was like in peacetime. Space is still filled with drug pushers, black marketers, prostitution rings, hired thugs, gangsters, and a few private armies here and there.” John took a sip of his glass of beer. “Those EEF recruiters must be hitting your high school pretty hard.”
“A little.” Julie replied.
“Yeah? Have you talked to one?” John demanded.
“Yes.” Julie raised her eyebrows indirectly at her uncle.
“And what did they tell you?” John pushed.
“They said I could enroll after college and go in as a lieutenant.” Julie answered. “Either that or I can go in as a non-commissioned contractor if I get any engineering degree from college. They said I’d, more than likely, be stationed on a capital or container ship and that I’d be relatively safe.”
“Yeah, you’d be safe! Because you’d have a bunch of dog-faced Marines guarding your ass!” John noted bluntly. He had to restrain himself a bit when talking about the military. He didn’t want to revert to the manner of speech he once used. “No. What it really means is that you’ll be locked in a big metal box hurling through the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds. After about two or three days you’ll be bored to death, especially if they assign you to a cargo highliner. But guess what? You’re stuck in that giant metal can for the two or three months that ship is on a cruise. And if you’re an officer?!? Forget about it! You belong to the EEF at that point!”
“I know what it all means, Uncle John!” Julie responded a bit more sternly, becoming a bit argumentative. She clearly wanted to push her point to get what she wanted. “You’ve told me all this before! I know it’s a big commitment and that I’d be stuck in whatever job I’m assigned.”
“Well, consider this.” John replied in an almost equal tone. “And I know I’ve told you this before too! Imagine you don’t get that sweet highliner gig. Imagine the EEF puts you where they need you, which is what will really happen. Maybe it’s some dumpy backwater subspace relay station on a planet that has a toxic atmosphere. Or maybe you get stationed on a spaceport on a seedy untamed planet that’s run by a mafia crime boss. Hell! Even on your ‘safe’ cargo highliner you might run into a bunch of old privateers from the war who have made the full switch to good old piracy! Maybe they….”
John stopped. He could only imagine what terrible fate might await Julie in space.
“It’s best if you stay on Earth, Jules.” John’s tone returned to normal. “Space is the wild west.” John sounded deflated; almost heartbroken by his own thoughts. “I don’t want you out in it.”
“I’m sorry I brought it up.” Julie noted in a reserved tone. “I know you want to keep me safe, and I love you for it, but I won’t always be a kid. One day soon I’m going to go out and make my own decisions.”
John stopped eating and set down his fork. He looked Julie directly in the eye but kept a calm voice. “Julie sweetie…. you’re right! I can’t keep you locked away on Earth. And in a year or two, yes, you’ll be making your own decisions in life. I’m all for that. I know I can’t stop you from going to space, but please… listen to what I’ve been telling you, dear! Space is a very dangerous place!”
Julie remained silent for a moment. She looked down at her plate and the back up at her uncle. “I know. I appreciate it.”
“God forbid another war breaks out with the Xen or anything else like that.” John added grimly. “I don’t know what else to tell you. I just don’t want you… seeing some of the things I’ve seen.”
Julie paused and looked up from her food. She wondered if her uncle was being argumentative because of his tormenting memories or some other issue of post traumatic stress. His mood was similarly grim when he was down from his haunted thoughts.
“Have you been to see Doctor Jeffries?” Julie asked. Jeffries was a psychiatrist at the local VA hospital.
“Not recently.” John answered. He seemed to want to avoid that discussion.
“Maybe some medication might help with your nightma….”
“I don’t need any Goddamned medication!” John replied loudly – at a volume clearly heard by most in the restaurant.
John looked around uncomfortably for a moment. The people eating around him quickly went back to their own conversations and meals. Julie looked down again at the table.
“I’m sorry sweetie.” John noted in a low and sincerely apologetic voice. “I’m very sorry!”
“It’s okay.” Julie looked back up at him with her blue eyes. “I’m sorry too.”
John remained silent for a few seconds, trying desperately to compose the myriad of thoughts running through his mind.
“When I was young, I had the same sense of idealism as you.” John stated. A broad smile turned up in genuine happiness on his face as his eyes stared blankly ahead. “I wanted to be James T. Kirk!”
Julie was stunned to see her uncle suddenly glow like a child at Christmas. The expression disappeared from John’s face just as fast.
“Who?!?” Julie asked in confusion.
“He was a character from an old TV show I used to watch.” John explained. “It was a very old show, airing on broadcast television in the late nineteen sixties.”
“Damn! That’s, like, a hundred and fifty years ago!!!” Julie’s eyes widened. “How do you watch that?”
“Star One has all the episodes converted to holographic 2D and 3D.” John explained. “I used to watch all of those shows when I was in high school. Basically, it was a morality tale set in space. James Kirk was the captain of a ship called the Enterprise. He and his crew would travel to all these planets on these adventures where they would bring some level of… justice or civility to whatever problem they were having.”
“Oh yeah! I think I know this show.” Julie responded quickly. “I think I’ve seen you watching it in your office a few times.”
“Right! Yeah, you have.”
“Boy! That show is cheesy!!!” Julie jeered. “It’s like they went to space in a cardboard box.”
“Oh come on!” John defended his show with a grin. “They didn’t know any better back then.”
“If you say so.” Julie continued to laugh silently on the inside.
“Anyway!” John brushed back her taunts. “Kirk had this sense of idealism and this great sense of exploration. I wanted to join the EEF and be just like him.” John paused. “My first duty station was as a highliner guard, like I said. That was, hands-down, the most boring job I’ve ever had! Walking the same old corridors, day after day, on the same bleak ship. Boring! Seven hundred feet of ship and only about a dozen or so crew members. Miles and miles of empty….dull…corridors! Ugh!”
John took another breath.
“Then the war broke out.” John went on. “And that was that.”
John said no more. He didn’t need to. Even though the scars he bore on the inside weren’t clearly visible, Julie knew enough about her uncle that she could tell they were there. She had seen the thousand-yard stare on his face. She had seen him irrationally pick up a kitchen knife and tuck it behind his forearm in a reverse combat grip upon hearing a strange noise outside their apartment. She had seen how he had trouble sleeping, his outer torture from his nightmares, or even his general inability to sleep. She saw how his mind would sometimes go blank from the sight of an open flame or the sound of rushing water. Clearly, there were painful thoughts lingering inside her uncle John’s mind. She didn’t exactly know what had burned them into his brain, and didn’t really want to ask for fear of hurting him further.
“I guess we could talk about it later.” Julie noted warmly.
“Yeah.” John responded evenly.
“I’m sorry, Uncle John.” Julie smiled at him.
John looked up to catch her smile and grinned back himself. “Me too, kid.”
They waited for the rain to stop before walking home. Renaissance Commons was an old development, built near two major shopping areas. In the last hundred or so years since it was built, it had grown into a small micro-city. John and Julie usually walked to the store or restaurant, as they did that afternoon. The storm clouds were clearing, giving way to orange and magenta clouded skies of the early evening.
The uncle and his niece walked along a wide bridge leading back over Congress Boulevard. Standard and antigrav cars rushed by beneath them. The wide bridge had long rectangular planters set in the middle traffic island, offering a nice landscaped walk on the modern bridge.
“One of the boys at my school wants to take me to the Intergy concert next Thursday.” Julie noted aloud as they walked.
John let the words linger in the air as he thought of a response.
“What’s this boy’s name?” John demanded.
“Dan Hendricks.” Julie answered.
John gave it some more though. He had only been Julie’s guardian for about ten or so years, but he was her parent from the time she was eight to her late teenage years. She had become quite a bit different since then. John had already had the pleasure or meeting a few of her boyfriends. Julie was a smart girl and had a good head on her shoulders. John’s policy was to trust his young ward until she gave him reason to distrust her. So far, Julie had never let him down.
“Is he a nice guy?” John asked.
“I guess.” Julie grinned.
The few boyfriends John had met were awkward and, sometimes, kind of moronic. Giving it some thought, though, John thought he might have been much the same when he had been a young man.
“I want him to come by the house to pick you up so I can meet him.” John demanded.
“I’m sure he planned on it.” Julie replied.
“How long will you be out?”
“Probably until one or two in the morning.” Julie answered.
John grumbled at her response. “I’d prefer twelve.” He noted a bit sternly.
“The concert is across town.” Julie protested kindly. “I don’t know if we can get back by then.”
“Well….” John thought. “I guess it’s alright. It won’t be long before you’re calling your own shots.” John noted with a bit of a saddened tone.
“Thanks.” Julie smiled.
They reached the end of the bridge, which led into a small landscaped park. The lampposts had lit up in crisp LED white, even though there was still a bit of natural sunlight in the sky.
“I don’t have school the next day either so I’m going to be staying up late to wait for you.” John noted to her seriously. “If Mister Hendricks keeps you out too late, believe me, I’m going to have some words with him.”
Julie sighed in displeasure. “You know, I AM eighteen, Uncle John!”
“I know that, sweetie. You keep reminding me.” John replied, forcing himself to be gracious. He looked up to the sky for a moment as they walked towards their building.
A middle-aged man sat on a nearby bench, reading the evening paper on his electronic reader. A four-legged security robot stood a short distance away trying to be inconspicuous near a tree. The robot was completely white and looked to be made of plastic, even though it wasn’t. The white security droid was designed to look resident-friendly, even though it had a set of arms tucked into its main body containing a stun gun, tranquilizer darts, metal pincer hands, and a 9mm gun.
The white neighborhood watch droid looked much like the Xen Scorpions that had attacked his team those many years ago.
“We should have the talk.” John stated.
“What talk?” Julie asked.
“What are we going to do when you… get on with your life.” John presented the subject.
“Well,” Julie gave the subject some thought, “I figured I’d go to school here.”
“You sure?” John replied. “Jules! You get damn good grades! I’m sure there’s lots of place in the country that you can go that will accept you.”
“I love it here, Uncle John.” Julie answered. “I know the people kind of suck sometimes, but I do love it.”
“We have a pretty decent planet too, Jules. You should go and see some of it.” John stated.
“I’d rather join the EEF and see the galaxy.” Julie replied.
John exhaled, rolling his eyes.
“I don’t know.” Julie went on. “I think I’ll find my own place. I know you’ve done a lot for me and that you love our condo. Maybe I’ll move out east. Closer to the beach.”
“When do you think you’d want to do that?” John asked.
“I don’t know.” Julie looked back at him curiously. “I’m not in any rush to move out. Why? Do you want me out?” she grinned curiously.
“No, no, no!” John dismissed the sentiment. “It’s not like that. I mean, you’re a young woman…” John felt a bit awkward. “I’m sure you don’t want your old uncle around looking over your shoulder. Not when you have the means to move out on your own.”
Julie laughed out loud. She walked over to her uncle and gave him a big hug. “You’re not old! Ever since… mom died, you’ve been the only parent I’ve had.” Julie paused, taking a deep breath. Clearly something sad stirred within her. “You’re my dad.” She said it plainly. “I need you. Maybe just for a little longer.”
John smiled back down at his niece. He wasn’t her dad but it felt incredible for her to see it that way sometimes. For a moment, he could feel what it might be like to truly be a parent. When he had arrived, Julie had just turned eight. Her world had been destroyed when Wendy died. John not only became her parent but he also helped her put her life back together.
And being a parent to a teenage girl was no simple feat. NOTHING he had learned in the military or in his experiences off-planet had helped to prepare him.
Julie patted her uncle on his broad shoulder. They walked on thro
ugh the park, side-by-side, back to their condo building.
The space around the Earth was alive with activity. Beyond the High Earth Orbit band, a transport vessel was on approach. Its white hull was sleek, shaped like a pencil with wings that tapered out gently on its sides, extending back with a pair of massive rocket engines. It was the typical design of interplanetary transports. The vessel, finished in white with red trim, was part of Virgin Galactic’s aged fleet of transport starships. Virgin Galactic flight M433 was en route home from Mars with civilian passengers.
The orbital space station awaiting it ahead was a massive framework of interconnected modules, spread out from a large central ovoid pod shape at its center. It was the Yuri Gagarin Spaceport, the largest of four space stations in orbit around Earth. Gagarin Station handled both civilian and military vessels. A pair of cargo highliners were docked along two of the stations larger submodules. A little more than a quadrant of the spaceport was dedicated to military use. An EEF Navy battleship was moored to another large station dock module, all floating far over the clouded glowing blue and green orb of Earth. The weaponry on the battleship was obvious on its long rectangular form. A pair of heavy laser cannons were set on turrets on the dorsal line of the ship, set staggered on the vessel ahead of the bridge, much like an old US Navy battleship. A carrier was moored nearby. Even in spacedock, it continued to conduct flight operations. A pair of S7 Eagles shot off its topside flight deck. The sleek starfighters took up station around the spaceport, assuming a combat air patrol function. Even though the war had ended some ten years earlier, combat air patrols were still maintained over every major spaceport. A pair of rectangular protrusions ran along the side of the EEF Navy carrier. The forward sections of the side modules contained heavy cannons and missile launchers. Hangars set into the sides of the ship held support spacecraft.
A small transport shuttle emerged from one of the recessed airlock hangars in the side of the ship. It floated out into the black void of space and shot forward, vanishing in incredible speed.
