Odyssey Rising

by Best, Michael T.

  “Harry means no harm,” Ravi said.

  “He’s very excited tonight,” Sam said. “Must be the skeleton. Sick ‘em Harry. Sick ‘em good. You want food, boy? How about ribs?” Sam said. “You get it? Ribs!”

  “Don’t listen to Sam, boy,” Theo said as he placed his hand onto the muzzle of Harry snout. “You hear? Leave the bones alone, boy. They are not food. You hear? Not food.”

  Again, the dog’s tongue was a wonder of wetness and exploration all over the skin of the young men.

  “Oh, totally gross,” Ravi said.

  “Well, see you guys in the morning,” Sam said. “I’m getting the rest of my beauty sleep. If anything else exciting happens, don’t wake me…unless, like the skeleton does a dance or begins to fly or some little green alien girls finally materialize and shout surprise, we’re here to kiss your most gifted artist – which would of course be me – and I guess wake me only if they’re kind of hot looking. Okay?”

  “You’re unbelievable,” Ellie said. “Even in a time like this.”

  Sam chuckled. “I know. I have a one track mind!”

  Ellie let out a frustrated sigh. “Oh, when, oh when do we get home?”

  Ravi checked an app on his communication device. It had a running countdown to their scheduled return. “Thirty two days and about six hours and thirty-five minutes. Give or take a few minutes,” Ravi said.

  Before the classmates continued with their conversation, a red alert alarm started to blare.

  A voice repeated, “Code Red 1A. I repeat Code Red 1A.”

  “What the heck is going on?” Sam asked.

  “Hazmat lockdown,” Ravi said with a look to Sam. “Don’t you know you’re Code Reds yet?”

  “Sure. Sure. I knew that,” Sam defended.

  “A Code Red 1A automatically locks the lab. Air has stopped circulating and an emergency tank of oxygen has kicked in,” Ravi added.

  Sam looked to Theo for confirmation.

  “The little runt is right,” Theo said.

  “But why? What’s the cause?” Sam asked.

  “Not sure,” Theo said.

  “It might have something to do with the bones Theo discovered,” Ravi said.

  “Hey guys, the protocol also says no unnecessary crew interaction and only essential crew duties are allowed to continue,” Ellie said.

  “So?”

  “That means we have to head to our quarters and stay there until the Code Red is over,” Ellie said.

  “She’s right,” Theo said.

  “This really sucks,” Sam said.

  As the classmates headed back to their private sleeping quarters, they were left to wonder how a bunch of small and harmless bones may have caused a Code Red 1A lockdown. They were about to find out.

  CHAPTER 5

  SLEEPLESS & RESTLESS

  In his personal quarters Theo longed for the Ark, his permanent space home. Even if it was just a bigger tin can than his present one, at least the Ark had a real rock-climbing wall.

  With thoughts of a better home, a restlessness excitement kept Theo wide-awake. While privately excited by his skeletal discovery, at the end of another long, hard day, all he wanted was a really hot shower and a breath of fresh air. They were luxuries he may never get again aboard Odyssey or even back on the plush fourteen-level Ark.

  Theo knew his discovery had the potential to prove many things long wondered about and never understood, never proven.

  Firstly, Theo knew we could now say that Earth was not alone and he also wondered if we knew less about the origins of life than we ever imagined. He also wanted to know what the creature looked like and were there others down on the surface, others that were roaming free?

  On the other hand, Theo told himself it was just a bunch of bones. People, apes, dogs, fish, all animals had them on Earth. From a biology class, Theo remembered that two hundred-something bones made up his own body. This skeleton only had five and Theo knew it had to have dozens more.

  Theo’s sleeping quarters, his home away from home, was just a tiny rectangle of darkness. The touches of home were some photos of Half Dome at Yosemite and of the shadow hills of Palm Springs. He had his e-books on his computer tablet, his virt-sim games and a couple of changes of clothes.

  At Theo’s feet, Harry Wolf was curled into a comfortable gray ball. The Siberian Husky was an energetic companion and robust eater who slopped up any scrap or crumb of food Theo or any other resident of Odyssey was willing to give up.

  Theo tried to go to sleep. It was hard. His mind was not calm. How could it be? He had just seen a set of five alien bones of unidentified origin.

  As Theo calmed his breath, he told himself that the first earthbound explorers wanted to prove that the world was not flat. Those old adventurers wanted to know if the world was really round and complete in itself. Now that he could see entire worlds through any of several observation deck windows whenever he wanted, with all of their shapes and curves, Theo wondered what the science keepers would prove now.

  Theo checked his Communication Device.

  His most recent messages to the Ark and Earth had not been sent and were still in the queue. The message’s wait time was still stuck at six hours. Nothing had changed. No messages were being sent or received. He figured chatter about his skeletal discovery was eating up all available computer band-with.

  Since Theo couldn’t sleep, he decided to exercise. The best exercise he could get on Odyssey was a virt-simulator in his bedroom that offered a killer simulation of hyper-boarding off the virtual cliff of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. When he closed his eyes in preparation for the virtual challenge, he could almost taste the breeze. The virt wind fan was on. While it was only a simulation, after thirty minutes, his calves and core muscles still ached with exhaustion.

  After his virt sim exercise regime, sleep mostly evaded Theo that night. In his private bunk, he closed his eyes and tried to dream of a better tomorrow, but there was a kind of beating that pounded in his body. The sound was like a drumbeat. It pounded on and on and on and the pounding kept Theo up most of the night.

  Reclining on his bed, staring up at the stars through the small observation window, Theo sent a text message to his father and they spoke voice to voice.

  “Are the dots growing?” Theo asked.

  “Yes, they’re alive now,” Doctor Starling answered. “They most likely were in hibernation when they arrived. They needed a catalyst and they found it.”

  “Do you know what that was?”

  “Most probably something as simple as sweat,” Doctor Starling said. “At least we think that was the trigger for re-generation.”

  “What are they?”

  “Unsure, they don’t have any DNA. They don’t appear to be a virus or bacterial or even a fungi, at least not a kind that we are capable of classifying. We should know more in the morning.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re going to see if there’s airborne transmission to the second rabbit,” Doctor Starling said.

  “Why?”

  “To see if there’s any adverse health effects and to see if they’re contagious and if so how transmittal can happen. By morning we should know much more,” Dr. Starling said.

  “You’re talking like it could be the common cold,” Theo said.

  “I wish this organism was a known entity,” Doctor Starling said. “But remember the unknown is not to be feared.”

  “—it’s to be understood,” Theo completed one of his father’s favorite saying.

  “Exactly.”

  Theo asked, “Can I do anything to help?”

  “No. Just have patience and stay in your quarters for now. Odyssey is in a precautionary shutdown. But don’t worry, it’s all just a part of the normal protocols.”

  “Sounds like a quarantine to me,” Theo said.

  “Just a necessary precaution,” Doctor Starling said. “These are very exciting times. You should be proud. Very.”

  Listenin
g to his father, Theo realized the skeletal bones he had discovered had already become an afterthought.

  Theo asked, “What about the bones? What are they from?”

  “We need more reference points,” Doctor Starling answered.

  “Meaning what?” Theo asked.

  “We need more bones to be able to develop an accurate skeletal model.”

  “Are they sending another shuttle?”

  “Soon.”

  “Will you be on it?”

  “Yes,” Doctor Starling said.

  “So we won’t see each other back at the Ark,” Theo said.

  “Not for a while,” Doctor Starling said. “But I will stay in constant contact. Okay?”

  “Are you disappointed?”

  “About?”

  “Not being here on Odyssey,” Theo said.

  “A long time ago I accepted the crazy cards that life deals us,” Doctor Starling said, “and you and your brother should too.”

  “But are you disappointed?”

  “Why would I be disappointed?”

  “Because it wasn’t you who made the discovery,” Theo said.

  “You have made me really proud. And at least we kept the discovery in the family,” Doctor Starling said.

  Theo let a small smile crease his lips as he said, “If you were here, would you be going down to the surface of the planet?”

  “Don’t worry about that planet,” Doctor Starling answered. “It’s not going anywhere and take care of your brother, okay?”

  “Of course,” Theo said.

  “And I’ll be posting a Communication entry very shortly for the community. This is history in the making. It really is and you are a vital part of it. You understand?”

  “Of course,” Theo said.

  “Good. God speed.”

  They were finished speaking and Theo went back to thinking about the events of the day: how could something so small and so alien be so important to his father?

  CHAPTER 6

  POINT OF NO RETURN

  It was a sleepless night for many aboard Odyssey.

  The crew knew that Odyssey had over-stayed its welcome above the brown planet of GidX7. The shuttle had a rendezvous with the Ark, about three weeks from their current location. The point of no return was only four hours away.

  If they didn’t start their journey back home to the Ark, the countdown to death would begin. Such a countdown always existed when they left the Ark, since there was only so much water and food and argon that could be stored aboard the shuttle.

  Where Odyssey and the Starling brothers went next was totally out of their control. Just like a toy marionette, Theo and Ravi would be forced to dance when their strings were pulled. Currently, it was the Yin-Yang Twins and Captain Barton who held the strings that could make the entire crew of Odyssey dance, flop or even twirl about.

  Resting on his bed, Theo sipped some of his daily ration of water with his Communication Device next to him.

  In the early hours of day sixty-nine, Odyssey reached the point of no return and Captain Barton announced to all the residents that the shuttle had begun all necessary protocols to return to the Ark. His decision was based largely upon protocol and the fact that the primary function of this mission had been achieved. That primary function was to mine and secure enough argon, zinc and ore from the asteroid belt and then get back to the Ark as originally scheduled.

  It was an extremely difficult decision, complicated only by the need to survive and the precautionary measures in place to not infect the entire Furman Corporation on three Arks, four smaller landing shuttles and the colonies on Mars and the Moon.

  The alien microbe’s motive and intent wasn’t entirely known nor understood and Captain Barton knew his greatest priority was keep the ship and the majority of the crew safe and healthy.

  Over the shuttles loud speakers, Theo and the entire crew heard Captain Barton.

  “There are many arguments that could be made that would encourage me to send this shuttle down to the planet. But if we stay right where we are, we all die. So, I’d like to put the kibosh on the rumors I’ve heard. Odyssey is going home, as scheduled.”

  Even with such positive and hopeful news, Theo was stuck in his sleeping quarters. He was sick of exercising and so he sat and watched the lab experiments on Channel 4, a video-feed from the lab that he learned about from Sam who was also watching. Technically, they weren’t authorized to be watching – it was for the captain’s and Command Council’s eyes only.

  Even though the video feed on Channel 4 was taboo, Theo usually found it fairly boring. It was usually reserved for communication between the Command Control back at the Ark and the Flight Navigation crew here on Odyssey. Watching even now, the experiments were just a series of slow and methodical pokes and prods on a microscopic level with an occasional introduction of water or saline or acid. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at.

  Theo had his Communication Device set to voice to voice and he was speaking occasionally to Sam.

  “Thrilling stuff,” Sam said.

  “Seriously?” Theo asked.

  “No, man, I’d rather watch the rings of Saturn spin and spin,” Sam answered.

  “Yeah, but it’s kind of like watching paint dry,” Theo said.

  Ellie’s voice chimed in, “Your father is totally in his element.”

  “Hey, how’d you get on this channel?” Sam asked.

  “Oh, I didn’t know this was a private club,” Ellie said.

  “I gave her the code,” Ravi chimed in.

  “You’re on too? This is a real convention of freaks and geeks,” Sam said.

  “I’m repelling your negativity,” Ravi said.

  “You’re loony tunes,” Sam said.

  “Theo, you’re going to be totally famous now,” Ellie said.

  “I don’t care about fame,” Theo said.

  “He cares about the bootylicious babes,” Sam said.

  “I care about getting back home,” Theo said in defense.

  On the computer screen, in several small microscopic events, the hundreds of pulsing alien microbes exploded into something new.

  The Yin-Yang dots were no longer amorphous blobs. They were still tiny, but now had taken a different shape. They were tiny cellular creatures, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of them, maybe even more. Further examination would put them at nearly one-millionth the size of a typical human body.

  The explosions Theo saw looked much like a tiny atomic bomb. He remembered from history class back on the Ark the mushroom plumes of destruction that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the mushroom clouds of microscopic dots settled, Theo saw a multi-celled, seven-legged crab like creature that was shaped much like an ocean horseshoe crab.

  On screen from the Ark Doctor Starling said, “We really are watching something amazing.”

  “What’s happening?” Ed Lorre asked.

  “A change,” Doctor Starling said.

  “What kind?”

  “Have patience Ed,” Doctor Starling said.

  “I’m trying but this is...well...it’s not exactly covered in the textbooks.”

  “It’s mitosis,” Doctor Starling said. “At least, that’s what we’d call it on earth.”

  “Kind of sick looking things, aren’t they?” Ed Lorre said.

  “And beautiful,” Doctor Starling said.

  The explosions continued for nearly thirty seconds. Ravi was no longer the youngest aboard Odyssey. The little Yin-Yang dots, whatever they were, took that prize.

  Sam got excited, grabbed his ancient camera. “Now this is some crazy microscopic stuff.”

  “They’re like seven-legged crab sponge things,” Theo said.

  “Maybe, but they’re pretty cool,” Sam added.

  “For something microscopic,” Theo said.

  “Hey, is there any difference between a lobster and a crab?” Sam asked.

  Ravi chimed in, “Yes, both are invertebrate crustaceans found in oceans aroun
d our Earth with eight legs for walking and two more that are pinching claws, making ten appendages, they may appear to be closely related, in fact they’re very, very different little creatures. Crabs pretty much eat algae, so they’re an omnivore at least that’s what wikipedia says.”

  Sam had heard enough. “Thanks, kid. I wasn’t expecting a real answer.”

  “Oh, I thought you were. There’s really a lot more differences. And I actually think these microbes look nothing like crabs or lobsters. In fact, they have a certain salamander-esque like quality if you ask me.”

  “Maybe it’s just one of those tiny horseshoe crabs,” Sam said.

  “Which, to be factual, are not even in the crab family,” Ravi said.

  Sam just rolled his eyes as Ravi started to talk.

  “See, they’re ancient arthropods, like a spider or scorpion. Horseshoe crabs actually predate dinosaurs by more than 250 million years.”

  “Whatever twerp. We’re a little off topic. What are we looking at now?”

  “We’ll have to wait until Dad identifies them,” Theo said.

  Over the Channel 4 feed, they could hear Ed Lorre breathing quickly and nervously. “Okay. Remain calm. Breathe. Breathe. Come on, breathe. What are we looking at, Doctor? They’re not in our database. Of course they’re not,” Ed Lorre said with some urgency and excitement. Because they’re not from Earth. Right. Right. Of course. Sorry. Right. Right. I’m just – this is – wow! Wow! I’m speechless,” Ed Lorre exclaimed.

  The next several hours were a roller coaster of observation and inquiry and by day’s end, Doctor Starling sent a short Communication entry about the Yin-Yang Twins to the entire crew of Odyssey and the Command Council of the Ark.

  Theo, Ravi, Ellie and Sam kept channel four on all night and it was mostly quiet for several hours until a cranky, tired voice spoke. The Yin-Yang Twins, still under microscopic observation, had changed yet again. They were inert, motionless, perhaps even dead.

  There still was a mandatory lockdown but since most of the standard operations that kept Odyssey functioning were computer automated, the lockdown -- in effect -- did little to slow down the normal duties of the crew.