Gethsemane

by James Wittenbach

  The two of them examined a large logistical display projected in the forepart of the bridge, showing the positions of search teams on the planet and Aves outbound or inbound.

  “I’m going to recommend putting a ground hold on further take-offs until we get these groups processed,” Taurus Rook advised.

  “Why?” Change asked.

  Taurus Rook explained. “We already have 227 refugees in the Hangar, and we’re trying to get them checked out before we move them to the Tertiary inhabitation decks. It’s a learning curve situation. We’re trying to get them through as fast as we can, but they’re not used to this… and neither are we.”

  “Would more crew help?” Change asked.

  “I don’t know where you could find them,” Rook replied. “Everybody on the ship is tasked already.”

  Change was unfazed. “I’ll have Alkema review the personnel roster. If I can reduce crews in non-essential sections, I can give you more people.” A COM link signal called for their attention. The COM officer brought up a display showing Trajan Lear sitting on the flight Deck of his Aves. “Trajan Lear, Phoenix Group.

  We have arrived at the location provided to us by Councilor Oberth. According to the …

  person in charge… there are about 2,000 survivors in this location.”

  “What is their condition?” Anaconda Rook asked.

  Trajan Lear replied, “I haven’t seen them yet, but the person in charge reports that they are healthy and… fine I guess. We don’t have enough ships on the ground to take them all, but the first three groups should be ready in less than two hours.” Taurus Rook looked at her logistics charts. “Hold on the ground until you get clearance from Flight Operations. Our hangar bays might be full in two hours. I don’t want to overwhelm our people here, so we’ll take move them out over three days. It should be enough time.”

  Trajan Lear nodded. “Acknowledged, I’ll put Specialist Rook in charge of the operation.”

  “Negative,” Anaconda Rook replied. “As ranking mission officer, I’m placing you in charge of evacuating this outpost. I am going to need Rook and Jordan back at the Command Base.”

  “Ma’am,” Lear objected. “I’m not a command officer, I’m just a pilot.”

  “As of now, you’re a command officer, and your job is to evacuate Fort Abaddon,” Taurus Rook replied. “I’ve got sixty teams scouring this planet for survivors. It sounds like you’ve got an easy one. Not every team does; some of the teams are encountering resistance. Just load your kids on the ships and get them to Pegasus. If you can’t handle this, you’re too stupid to breathe. Pegasus out.” She cut off the COM Link before Lear could raise another objection.

  The slightest smile crossed Eliza Change’s lips, and anyone who caught it knew she had respect for Anaconda Taurus Rook.

  “If you don’t mind, ma’am,” said Taurus Rook. “I’d like to be in the Hangar Bay to supervise when these new survivors are brought on-board. Maybe I can figure out how to speed up the processing.”

  “Good idea. If you need command assistance, let me know.” Taurus Rook exited toward the docking pad to catch a transport to the Hangar Deck.

  Change returned to the Inner Bridge and to her command chair, trying to ignore Science Specialist Merch, who was in charge of the (in her mind completely useless) operation to survey the rogue planet.

  After she took the command seat, he maneuvered into her field of vision, and stood there fondling a datapad. She realized ignoring him would no longer be possible. “What is it, Merch?”

  “Telemetry and surveillance reports from the survey mission to the rogue planet,” he told her, offering her the datapad.

  “I’ll review them after the impact. While you were out surveying, you must have missed the news that we’re evacuating the planet.”

  “You really should take a look at this,” Merch said. Merch was obviously a slow learner.

  Change snarled at him. “If it’s that important, terminate the elaborate set-up and just report to me what the telemetry showed.”

  “Life,” Merch snapped. For some reason, he was now as angry as she was.

  “What life? It’s a rock,” she growled, activating the data display.

  “Not presently,” Merch clarified. “But look at those structures in this crater here, and this one here. And on the opposite hemisphere, we found huge blast craters, highly radioactive. The radiation and damage signatures are consistent with nucleonic weaponry.”

  “I can see how certain people would find that interesting,” Change said, but her tone of voice indicated that she was not one of those certain people.

  “It’s a very big deal. It could be Commonwealth, or even alien. Planetology requests resources to conduct a ground survey of the ruins,” Merch went on.

  “We can’t spare any resources. Human lives are more important than some ruins,” Change handed him back his datapad.

  Merch insisted. “If we don’t go down there now, we will never have another chance.

  Those ruins will be lost to history.”

  “Who cares?” Change answered. “Dead ruins versus live children, that’s one of the easier command decisions to make.”

  Merch wouldn’t give up. “I’m only asking for one ship, one pilot, and two or three anthropologists who wouldn’t be very helpful during the evacuation anyway.” Change scowled, and finally conceded. “All right, one team, one Aves… Maud… and stay the Hell away from me until the Evacuation is over.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” Merch took his datapad and got himself off the main bridge in a hurry.

  Later, he would throw up.

  Pegasus – Hangar Bay Alpha – Aves Prudence eased silently into her dock. Her portside hatch opened and the Evacuation crew began leading the first children out of her main deck. Some kept the clothing they had worn on the planet, but most had changed into clothing the crew had provided for them: tunics and jerseys worn over loose fitting pants.

  They had made a run on the ship’s clothing stores, and still there still weren’t enough. The clothing artifactories had been brought on-line to create a kind of standard evacuation uniform in shades of burnt orange, sage, and umber with thick black bands on the sleeves.

  Most of the children, upon reaching Pegasus, reacted with a kind of cautious wonder.

  Their eyes opened wide as they surveyed the technology and expanse of the Hangar Bay.

  They had nothing on their planet like it. There was relief in some, a cautious, tentative hope that finally they might be safe, that someone would take care of them. There was fear in others, a terror of this new life that led some of the littlest ones to cry and wail, and demand to return to the surface. Among the older ones, there was either wearied resignation to whatever ‘what now’ they had been delivered to, or a wary, self-protecting vigilance against what might come.

  Then, there were the really quiet ones, the ones who were too wild to be easily transported. They had been stunned by the pulse weapons, and then affixed with calmative bracelets. They left the ships on stretchers for transport to the newly activated Hospital 5.

  Anaconda Taurus Rook met the Operational Lead at the hatch to the ship. “What’s the tally?”

  The Lead on Prudence’s last mission was Technician First Class Spirit, a Sapphirean female, roughly the same age as Anaconda Taurus Rook, who in normal times worked maintaining the ship’s Graviton Engines. “Forty-seven calms, and twenty-eight sedated.”

  “That’s not nearly a full load,” Taurus Rook lamented, entering the figures into her datapad.

  “They were on an island,” the Operational Lead reported. “They had been hiding there with their families. Then, the Authority found them, took all the adults and the older kids by force, left the rest behind. They were frightened of us. We took as many as we could find.”

  “Did you leave any behind?” Taurus Rook asked.

  “We did two fly-by scans before we left for orbit,” Spirit answered. “We detected no further signs of life. We asked the c
hildren if anyone was missing, and they haven’t named anyone. I think we’re clear.”

  Taurus Rook noted the little boy who hung onto Spirit, he looked to be seven or eight years old. “And who is this?”

  Spirit smiled wearily. “He hasn’t told me his name yet, but some of the kids … many of the kids … really take to the people who rescue them.” Taurus Rook checked her schedule. Bernard and Andrew would be docking in two minutes. “How long do you think you’ll need to clear your group through the Hangar Bay?”

  “I don’t know, sir. Medical checks, space assignments… two hours at least.” Rook took this information in with a distinct lack of satisfaction. She knew everyone involved was trying hard. But it just wasn’t going to be enough. “We should begin processing the calms in the Bodicea Garden Park. It’s a better environment for them than the Hangar Deck, and it will give us more room to work here. How long have you been on?”

  “Thirty-two hours, sir,” Spirit reported.

  “Take a nap,” Rook ordered.

  She dismissed Spirit and entered the ship, making her way to the flight deck, where Flight Captain Driver was making his post-flight report.

  “I need you to take me back to Port Gethsemane,” she told him.

  Driver was taken aback, but he agreed. “I was supposed to go to Abaddon. Let me alter our flight plan. I thought you were running the operation from up here.” Rook unhooked the carrier holding Skua from her back. “The Pegasus end is five-by-five.

  We’ve got 711 refugees on Pegasus. But there are almost 3,000 more waiting on the ground and we have barely managed to survey the major urban areas. There could be thousands more in the countryside.”

  “Do you think you’ll be more useful on the surface?” Driver asked.

  “I think there is too much of a bottleneck in the Hangar Bay. I want to establish a medical screening facility on the ground so we can get them processed to the ship faster.

  We can move them more quickly through the Hangar Bay that way. “

  “That sounds like a good plan.”

  How long before we can take off?” Rook asked.

  “Soon as I finish post-flight, pre-flight, and get clearance from Flight Operations,” Driver answered. “The flight checks will go faster if I put Prudence in auto-diagnostic mode.”

  “Do it,” Rook ordered. “We put Pegasus in a lower orbit to increase sensor resolution, but that should also reduce flight time to the surface. I would take her lower, but we’re almost kissing atmo as it is…”

  “A higher orbit would work better,” Driver informed her. “Rendezvousing with Pegasus in low orbit requires more course corrections and more maneuvering than a rendezvous in higher orbit. The closer Pegasus is to the planet, the faster she orbits. The pilots have to make a lot more adjustments, especially if they’re coming from the far side of the planet.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Rook admitted. “But it makes perfect sense. What would the optimal orbit be for you guys?”

  “A geostationary orbit at around 35,000 kilometers would be the easiest for us. It puts Pegasus at a fixed point relative to the surface of the planet,” Driver explained.

  Taurus Rook opened her COM Link. “Specialist Atlantic, request reposition Pegasus for a geostationary orbit at around 35,000 kilometers and alert all pilots and crew to our new position.”

  Atlantic’s voice came back. “Will do, ma’am.”

  “I’m surprised TyroCommander Change didn’t note that,” Driver added. “She’s usually very good at orbital mechanics.”

  “TyroCommander Change has been very accommodating,” Taurus Rook reported. “She hasn’t questioned, challenged, or refused any of my request since Operation Evacuate Gethsemane started.”

  Driver was taken by surprise. “Really? That’s very not like her.”

  “It’s a rare quality in a command officer, knowing when to stand out of the way,” Taurus Rook said.

  “Auto-diagnostic is complete. All systems check,” Driver reported.

  Taurus Rook activated her COM Link. “Pegasus Flight Operations, clear Aves Prudence for launch through landing hatch 27 Beta.”

  Flight Operations confirmed. “Prudence cleared through 27 Beta.”

  “All right,” said Rook. “Let’s take it back to the ground.” Chapter 09

  Keeler – The two Bill Keelers and the one Delia K.A. Chanski Keeler stared at each other across the elegant library.

  Delia Keeler looked from one, to the other, and then back again. “And I thought this was going to be a dull day. Good afternoon, dear. How was work?”

  “It was just ducky until I came home and all the servants look at me like they’ve just seen a ghost … or a sober Panrovian,” the other Keeler – Sapphire Keeler – said. “Then they tell me that while I’ve been slaving all day over a pile of poorly reasoned graduate thesises, I’m back at home cheating on myself with my own wife. Naturally, I was outraged. Why was I the last to know?”

  “Darling…” Delia began.

  But Sapphire Keeler cut her off, “Of all the people you could have cheated on me with, why did it have to be me? Think of the children! You could have cheated on me with one of them, and wouldn’t that be filthy?”

  “Dear …” Delia Keeler sighed patiently.

  Sapphire Keeler would have none of it. He pointed at Pegasus Keeler accusatorily.

  “Wait! That’s not me! That’s an evil clone from an evil alternate clone universe of evil clones!”

  “Don’t be absurd,” Delia Keeler replied.

  Sapphire Keeler looked affronted. “Absurd am I? Haven’t you ever observed The Scary Zone of Unpredictable Madness?”

  Am I usually this much of an assol? Pegasus Keeler wondered. Regrettably, he already knew the answer to that.

  Sapphire Keeler turned to face his counterpart. “What’s wrong with you, man? You look like you’ve seen a … never mind, I already made that joke. Let me think of another.”

  “I was expecting me to be the only me here,” Pegasus Keeler informed him.

  “Likewise,” agreed Sapphire Keeler. “I’ve gotten used to coming home and not having to deal with evil clones of myself from another dimension. Xerox!”

  “Za?” asked the Butler.

  “Bring my firearm!” Sapphire Keeler ordered.

  The Butler squinted. “Neg, sir. I don’t think so.”

  “All right, then, bring me a booze!” Sapphire Keeler insisted.

  Xerox shook his head. Sapphire Keeler muttered something of a curse, crossed the room, opened one of bookshelves to reveal a hidden wet bar, and poured himself a strong one.

  Before he drank it, he turned to Delia and smiled. “Isn’t it ironic. For once, I’m drinking, but you’re the one seeing double.”

  He poured himself a tall thin glass of brown liquid and continued monologuing. “So, what is this? Some kind of parallel dimension, some weird intersection between alternate realities?”

  Delia indicated Pegasus Keeler. “This one claims he has come from another universe, where he is the captain of the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus.” Sapphire Keeler snorted. “Oh, really?”

  “This was supposed to be my AfterLife,” Pegasus Keeler said.

  Sapphire Keeler perked up. “Oh, really? What did you die of? And please tell me it had nothing to do with alien face-grabbers or head-biters.” Pegasus Keeler answered. “I didn’t die. The people of Gethsemane built a Gateway that allows them to make a round trip to the Afterlife.”

  “What the Hell is a Gethsemane?” Sapphire Keeler demanded to know.

  “An ancient Commonwealth colony in the Orion Arm of the Galaxy,” Pegasus Keeler answered. “Run by a rather authoritarian group of busy-bodies known as The Authority.

  Their planet is about to be destroyed by a collision with another planet, and they have evacuated the whole of their population to what they believe is heaven.”

  “Mm-hmm,” Sapphire Keeler sighed. Pegasus Keeler took a good long look at the man he would have become had his
wife not been killed in a tragic rounders accident, leading to him not commanding Pegasus. He was fatter, and the bloom of busted corpuscles across his nose was wider. His face was fuller, and less lined with worry.

  Sapphire Keeler must have been making a similar appraisal. “What happened to your hand?” he asked.

  Pegasus Keeler held up his right hand, which still bore scars. “What this old thing? It happened on a colony called EdenWorld. I fried it gaining entrance to what the natives believed was an ancient temple, which turned out to be the offices of some sort of ancient planetary recreational park.”

  “Weird,” said Sapphire Keeler. He began to pour himself another glass of brown liquid.

  He snapped his fingers. “A Borealan eating a snow cone?”

  “Pardon me?” Pegasus Keeler asked.

  “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or a Borealan eating a snow cone. That’s what I should have said a few minutes ago. Oh, well, now the moment is lost.” Sapphire Keeler very leisurely made his way to one of the other couches in the room, placing himself nearer to Delia than Pegasus Keeler, but facing him. “I would very much like to hear more of this tale of yours. May I pour you anything? I’ve got some Carpentarian Smashmouth that’ll make your feet stink and keep you…”

  “I haven’t had Carpentarian Smashmouth in years,” Pegasus Keeler interrupted him.

  “And I’m not about to start again, now.”

  “Your loss,” Sapphire Keeler raised his glass, almost like a salute. “All right, let’s hear your tale, Evil Clone of Me.

  Redfire – Halo Jordan picked up a crisped potato wedge in her elegant fingers, dipped it in the pureed tomato sauce, and ate it lovingly. “Isn’t this place, wonderful?” After breakfast, Redfire B had gone to the gaudy, illuminated cabinet in the corner and selected several songs that were popular on Sapphire in his youth form its stored repository of pre-recorded optical media., including “Snikkets in Love,” “Panrovian Girl,” and “Break Like the Wind.” For lunch, Redfire B had recommended double-decker cheeseburgers with fries, pickles, and milkshakes… all of which were delicious.