He looked up to find many people still muttering their prayers. He was feeling more secure in their future already. Paige was still praying next to him, holding his hand. Autumn placed her hand on his shoulder and moved to whisper something to him.
“I think we’re going to be just fine,” she whispered.
“I agree,” he smiled.
The room was silent again.
“I sincerely thank you for your prayers. Now the next order of business is another thing to do with safety. I need to remind everyone to make sure they are fully secured in the padded wall units when we detach. I heard that some of you are calling them coffins, but the only people who will be dying will be the ones who decide not to use them. These are so thickly padded that we could probably even survive a crash landing. Buckle yourselves in before 1500 today. Also, if you haven’t noticed, there are units for infants and small children. I can’t stress this enough – even if your baby is crying or hungry or needs a diaper changed at 1500 today, you must forgo this and buckle the child in. An hour of crying is better than death. There is nothing you can present me that is more important,” he said.
“And don’t forget not to put any toys in with the babies. You may feel guilty and want to give the child something to calm them. As Chasen said, an hour of crying is better than death,” Paige stated.
“Agreed,” Chasen said, “Once we land, please remain in the wall units until you hear the alarm. This alarm will mean that the four grounding screws have secured the dome into the ground. Then you’re free to exit the wall units and move around. The next order of business is also in regards to safety. We are going to a planet that obviously wasn’t made for humans. This may sound like common sense, but there are a lot of factors we need to think about.”
Paige handed him a silver bottle with a face mask attached to it. He lifted it into the air.
“We have thousands of these and everyone will be required to carry one on their belt or in a backpack for the first few weeks of leaving the ship. Hopefully you won’t need it, but it’s good to have it nearby. It is full of oxygen, which by the way is extremely flammable. Keep this away from fire. The reason for this bottle is because the oxygen content in the atmosphere is less on Ephraim than on Earth. We are used to a mixture of 21% oxygen in our atmosphere and aboard this ship. On Ephraim, it is about 19% and the rest is mostly nitrogen like on Earth. This will be a noticeable difference and may cause us to tire easily. If you feel too light headed, put this mask over your face and press the button. Do not breathe from this all the time. We have to adapt to our environment. The atmospheric pressure is nearly identical to Earth, so that’s one good thing,” he said, as one of the tenner girls raised her hand, “Yes?”
“Won’t we always find it hard to breathe? Our bodies aren’t going to change overnight and maybe never,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s our bodies that will change so much as we’ll just get used to breathing larger breaths. I think at first that we will all tire a lot easier due to our bodies struggling for the oxygen, but as with any exercise, we will become stronger. We probably won’t notice the subtle changes, but in a few weeks, we’ll see that life is normal again and these oxygen tanks will be a thing of the past,” he said, “Any other questions?”
A dark skinned tenner boy that he recognized from the water recycling crew raised his hand. Chasen nodded to him.
“What about the length of days and years?” he asked, “Do we get more birthdays?”
That brought a few laughs from the crew. Chasen smiled.
“We don’t know the length of the years yet, but I ran a few models and I believe it will be a little longer than an Earth year. The days however are definitely shorter. Each day is twenty-one hours and three minutes. I’ve already made the proposition to the Captain that if we shorten any parts of our schedules to accommodate this, it should be done during waking hours. The three hours we lose should be two hours of our work day and one hour of our own personal time. We can’t afford to lose sleep on a planet that we will tire easier on.”
“I’ll second that, Captain,” he said with a chuckle, “And what about temperature, Nav?”
“These last two days, the temperature of our new continent ranged from 53 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit. It was usually in the lower fifties at night. We will be landing closest to the equator for the warmest possible temperatures as well as to get the best of Tau Ceti on our solar array,” Chasen replied, “By the way; the solar array has to be manually deployed once we arrive, so I will need the assistance of several strong people as soon as possible. The sooner we resort to solar power, the better for all of us.”
“What about housing?” a girl shouted from the back of the room.
“That will all come in time. Right now, we need to focus on our first few weeks. Once we’re settled, we’ll start discussing the long term future,” he said, “Other than reminding you all to be prepared at 1500 today, that’s really all I have for you. The Captain and XO should be able to handle the rest of your questions.”
He turned and grinned at Autumn as she glared at him. He could already hear the overlapping questions being blurted out as he slipped out of the door behind Paige.
. . . . .
“Why do I have to get in before everyone else? It’s only 1440.” Jenny whined.
Chasen knelt before her, wrapping the straps around her shoulders. He buckled the padded clasp across her chest.
“I told you already. I need to get strapped in myself and prepare all the detachment procedures,” he said, kissing her forehead, “I won’t be around to help you get situated later. Donny didn’t complain when I buckled him in.”
“This is going to be a long time,” she said.
“But the next time you see me, we’ll be on Ephraim. Wait until you see the size of the trees you could climb down there. Be excited with me, honey,” he replied.
“Alright,” she said, looking down at the floor, “Go ahead and close me in,”
“That’s my girl,” he said, kissing her once again.
He closed the door and looked at her through the small plastic window. She smiled at him. He turned around and nearly knocked over Autumn. He grabbed a hold of her to keep her from stumbling.
“Sorry for startling you,” she said, “Are we ready?”
“Ready as we can ever be,” he replied.
“Then let’s get strapped into our funny looking chairs,” she replied.
Autumn was referring to the two seats in the Dome Command Center that were covered in thick padded straps. The chairs and the consoles were covered in thick foam padding. Even the edges of the viewing panels were surrounded by padded frames. Chasen snickered as he remember the sight of the chairs.
“I wish we would have had those when we broke warp,” he said, holding her hand and starting toward the Command Center.
“Are you scared?” she asked.
“I think we’ll be alright. I think God has it under control,” he replied.
. . . . .
“Attention crew. There will be no more warnings. Detachment will occur in ten seconds,” Chasen said, pressing the switch to shut off the microphone by his face.
“I can’t even turn my head,” Autumn said with a laugh, “I think every inch of me is strapped in.”
“I can barely move my hands,” Chasen replied, tapping a set of keys by his fingertips, “Get ready for detachment. We’re mostly automated from here on,”
The Landing Dome jolted suddenly. He stared at the planet on the viewing panel in front of them.
“Are we detached?” she asked.
“Yep. Now we’re dropping toward the surface,” he replied, “We should be able to see nothing here in a few minutes.”
“This is where we burn up in the atmosphere?” she asked.
“If we had those ships of the twenty-first century - maybe. It’s impossible now with the shielding and the liquid-cooled double hull. It will get too hot to see, though,” he said, “So, tell m
e something. When’s the wedding day?”
She laughed, trying to turn her head to him.
“I knew it wouldn’t be long before that came up,” she said.
“You’re not getting out of this one. That’s the only thing that has kept me going. I could care less about this planet,” he said.
She laughed again.
“So it’s not about the survival of our colony or getting started as a Christian community. It’s about a wedding?” she asked.
“Yeah, pretty much,” he snickered, “But don’t tell anyone I said that. So when is it?”
“You’re one crazy navigator. But that’s why I like you,” she said, “Give us at least a day to settle down. How about that?”
“Sounds good to me,” he replied.
The picture on the screen started to get blurry as yellow flames licked across the screen. Then the picture faded altogether in the flames.
. . . . .
“This is the Navigator speaking,” his voice called throughout the ship, “We have cleared the outer atmosphere safely and we are now slowing our descent from seventy kilometers above the continent. I can tell you from my view that the place is as lush and beautiful as we expected. The landing site is definitely clear of trees as previously thought. The Landing Dome will be settling two kilometers in from the ocean beaches and less than a hundred meters from a large freshwater lake. All systems are responding perfectly.”
. . . . .
With a light shudder, the Landing Dome settled smoothly on the planet’s surface. A loud grinding noise could be heard from somewhere inside the dome as the four large screws drilled their way into the rock beneath them. Following this sound, an alarm rang throughout the ship alerting the crew to the end of the journey. Autumn unbuckled her straps and started to cry.
Paige opened the door of her wall unit and stepped out into the passageway. She looked around then fell back to the wall in tears. Two cheering toddlers rushed past her.
Kyle opened his door and looked out into the passageway. A niner rushed by, screaming the name of one of his friends. He could hear people laughing down at the end of the passageway. He started toward the Command Center.
Stephen stepped out of his wall unit and looked down the passageway. Then he noticed the sound of crying nearby. It was Paige kneeling on the floor to his left. He knelt beside her and put his arm around her. She tried to hide her face from him, feeling confused by her emotional display. He drew her head to his shoulder and ran his fingers through her hair. She held him.
Chasen got out of his chair and rushed over to Autumn who seemed to be losing control of her sobs. He took her into his arms and held her. Kyle rushed into the room, shouting some cheers before he realized that the Captain was crying in Chasen’s arms.
“Why are so many people crying? I don’t get it,” Kyle said.
“We’ve just spent fourteen years stuck in a tin can full of recycled air. We’ve been trapped in a situation that we never volunteered for,” Chasen said, “And after fourteen years inside a prison full of dead bodies, we just received our freedom. God just brought us safely to a world where we can run and breathe and swim and climb and…”
Chasen broke out in tears before he was able to finish. Autumn wrapped her arms around him as they continued to try to gain control of their emotions. Kyle just watched them from the doorway.
Part III
The other side of Ephraim
Ephraim Year 85 Week #11
Doreen snapped the ends off of another bean pod while she looked down the hill at the little blonde haired boy. He emitted not so much as a grunt, groan, or squeal as he rolled down the hill with his arms tucked in. Finally, he came to a stop at the bottom of the hill where he lay staring up at the sky. She smiled; wondering what amazing things went on in that little boy’s head.
“Mommy, how high are those clouds?” he asked, pointing his finger toward the heavens.
She took a handful of beans from the basket beside her and placed them in her lap. She glanced up at the sky, watching a Tau-pigeon gliding along on the easterly wind. What would it be like to just spread your winds and catch that perfect breeze? What would it be like to be so carefree? The bird flapped its wings in response to her unspoken question then dove beyond the treetops. She shifted her gaze to the clouds in question.
“A mile, maybe? I really don’t know, sweetie,” she said.
The little boy sat up and then looked up the hill. Tau Ceti was rising behind his mother, causing him to squint.
“When is Daddy coming home?” he asked, brushing the loose grass from his shirt.
“He should be home later today. Why don’t you come up here and help Mommy snap some of these beans?” she said, “I’m going to make us a nice stew for dinner today. I can tell Daddy that I made it with Johnny’s help.”
He was smart enough to know when she was trying to bribe him. She did it often enough. His mother relied on him more than she seemed to rely on anyone else. His older brother Danny was always off somewhere with his father. They always claimed to be working on a new house for Edwin and Ariel, but nothing ever seemed to get done. Then they would come home for a day or two and just leave again for a few more days.
“Alright, Mommy. But when am I ever gonna be allowed to help with the ‘boy stuff’?” he asked, lumbering up the hill.
“Boys are allowed to help their moms with the meals. You’ve always helped me in the fields or with the cooking and you always do such a great job. You don’t like it?” she asked, snapping another bean.
He flopped down beside her then took a small handful of beans from the basket.
“I like it,” he mumbled, “It’s just that Danny makes fun of me. He says I’m going to turn into a lady when I grow up.”
She turned to him and tossed the end of a bean pod at his shirt.
“You tell Danny that he’s only twelve and he doesn’t know what it means to grow up. Besides, just between you and me, he only knows how to cut down trees and mill it into boards. You’ve learned how to plant, reap, and cook. When Danny is older, on his own and starving, he’s going to be running to you for help,” she said.
“But I’ll be running to him when I need a house of my own,” he replied.
“I’ll tell you what. You can live here with Mommy forever. It seems like… well, it’s always me and you anyway,” she added sullenly.
Just then, she heard the sound of twigs snapping as something or someone moved rapidly through the forest near them. She looked over just as Brennan broke through the thick shrubbery near the stack of firewood.
“Dor, is Warren home?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.
The red scratch on his forearm caught her attention. Then she noticed that he was nearly drenched in sweat. At fifty-eight, he was one of the oldest people in the colony. Unless someone was hurt, there were no concerns that should send this man running through the woods such as he was.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” she asked, setting her pile of beans on the ground and rising to her feet.
“Where’s Warren?”
“He took Danny to help with Edwin’s house.”
He hunched over and continued to try to catch his breath.
“What’s going on, Brennan? Can I offer you some water?” she asked.
“WS Alarm,” he said, looking up at her, “We can’t go through this again.”
She stared wide-eyed. He nodded, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
“No. Heavens, no,” she said, shaking her head, “Why can’t we just be left alone?”
“What’s a WS Alarm, Mommy?” Johnny interjected.
“Go take that path at the edge of the woods,” she said, pointing toward forest beyond the sunflower garden, “It’ll take you to Shauna’s Trail. Edwin’s house is being built on the hilltop above it. You should be able to see them from Shauna’s Trail.”
Brennan nodded then headed off toward the path. Johnny tugged at his mom’s skirt.
&n
bsp; “What’s a WS Alarm?” he asked again.
“A… a warp signature has been detected in our system. A ship is coming,” she muttered, watching Brennan disappear beyond the sunflowers.
“A spaceship? Like those bad guys that killed grandpa?” he asked.
She looked down at him then nodded.
. . . . .
“That can’t be right,” Warren said, hammering another nail into the doorframe that Danny was holding for him.
“I checked again just to make sure,” Brennan said, “It was definitely a ship coming out of hyper-speed. Nothing in the known universe emits that kind of gamma burst. And let me just say, if the numbers are accurate, it’s enormous.”
Warren turned around and tossed the hammer onto the ground.
“Let me see the printout,” he said, holding out his hand.
Brennan reached into his pocket and drew out a folded sheet of paper. He handed it to Warren.
“It just happened about three hours ago. We have to assume they’ll be here in about six months,” Brennan said.
Warren looked down at the paper while Danny peeked over his shoulder. The results on the printout left no room for argument. Only one thing could have caused a gamma burst of that magnitude. He groaned then looked up at Brennan.
Event Horizon Page 14
