Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  “George,” said Dad, slowing down. “Good to see you.”

  “Hey, George. How’s your arm?” asked our mother.

  “Almost fully healed,” he replied, moving it around. “The bone has already fused back together. Should be back to normal by tomorrow.”

  “Glad to hear,” said Dad. “How did it happen again?”

  “I don’t rightly recall. Hit my head, too, I guess. Seems like I keep losing my memory.”

  “Tell me about it,” said Dad. “It’s because we’re getting old.”

  “I’m getting old, not you,” replied George.

  “Nonsense,” said Mom. “We all are. Hopefully this new planet will help to make us feel younger, though.”

  “I hear that,” said George, laughing.

  They talked more about Planet Z and I tuned them out, wondering if there was a way we’d be able to return earlier than six months.

  “Jimmy!” hollered a boy from behind us.

  My brother turned around and winced. “Great,” he mumbled. “Bruce Conway.”

  I looked over my shoulder and saw a burly-looking blonde kid wearing a smirk. “Who’s Bruce Conway?”

  “A jerk,” replied Jimmy, looking cross.

  Bruce caught up with us and wrapped his arm around Jimmy’s neck in a playful head-lock. He rubbed his knuckle against the top of his head. “What’s up, Logan?”

  “Knock it off, Bruce,” he said, trying to untangle him. “That hurts.”

  Clenching my teeth, I fought back an urge to separate them myself, but I knew it would be bad for Jimmy. He didn’t need his sister defending him.

  “Chill out,” laughed Bruce, dropping his arm. “I’m just messing with you. Don’t be a pansy.”

  “Whatever,” he muttered back, rubbing his skull.

  “I didn’t know your family was part of this mission,” said Bruce.

  Jimmy didn’t say anything. I could tell from his expression that there was a reason he hadn’t told Bruce.

  “You two in the same class?” I asked as we continued down the corridor, Jimmy ignoring the other boy and making it a little awkward.

  “Yeah,” said Bruce. “Who are you?”

  “I’m his sister,” I replied, noting that Bruce, who was picking his nose, was even more annoying than I initially thought.

  He stared at the booger and when he noticed that I was watching him, flicked it away. “That’s right.” He rubbed his hand on his pants, making me grimace. “I think I heard that before. What’s your name? Al or something? Why’d your parents give you a boy’s name, anyway?”

  “It’s Alex,” I corrected.

  “Which is short for Alexandra,” said Jimmy in a tight voice.

  “Whatever. Anyway, this is cool. Now I have someone to hang out with on this lame mission,” he answered, looking at Jimmy. “Seems like there aren’t many other kids around.”

  “Let me get this straight, you want to hang out with me?” he replied, looking horrified.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I mean… I know we didn’t get along back in school, but this is different. What do you say, Logan? Let bygones-be-bygones?”

  “Sure. I guess,” he answered, forcing a smile. “I mean, if you really want to hang out, we can.”

  “Sweet,” said Bruce, holding out his knuckles. “To new starts, bro.”

  Jimmy tapped them with his. “Yeah. New starts,” he repeated.

  I raised my eyebrows but didn’t say anything. It was obvious that whatever crap Bruce put my brother through in school had been pretty bad, but Jimmy was willing to let it go. Or maybe he just didn’t want Bruce to terrorize him in space. Whatever the case, I decided to keep any eye on their newfound relationship. I really had nothing better to do anyway.

  When we entered the Departure Station, Dad led us over to our containment chairs, seats fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, and sixty, which was in section “B.” There were four sections, and ours faced section “D.”

  “Sixteen minutes until lift-off,” said a pleasant sounding female voice. “Prepare for ascent.”

  “Who is that?” asked Jimmy.

  “It’s the ship’s computer,” said Dad.

  “She’s not real?” he asked.

  “Believe me… she’s real. Just not human,” he said in a low voice.

  “Good morning, Doctor Logan,” said the computer, sounding almost amused. This time the voice was right next to us.

  “Good morning, Gwen,” he replied with a half-smile. “How are things going?”

  “From the information I’ve gathered, everything is going as coordinated. Please prepare for lift-off, Logan family.”

  “We most certainly will,” he said.

  We began to strap ourselves in as “Gwen” reminded everyone that we had only fifteen minutes before lift-off.

  Dad checked Jimmy’s chair. “Your seatbelt needs to be tighter than this,” he said, adjusting it. “We don’t need you falling out and getting hurt.”

  “I thought you could hardly feel any G-force acceleration on the ship,” he replied.

  “You do when we first lift off and that’s why you need to be strapped down securely, son. The rest of the flight will be a breeze, however,” he said with a reassuring smile.

  “Yeah, why do you think I got sick to my stomach?” I said, lying back against the cushioned seat after securing my own lock. I closed my eyes and sighed. “These are a lot more comfortable than what I remember, though.”

  “Seat sixty, secure,” said the computer, its voice now near my ear.

  Dad stepped back from Jimmy’s chair. “They made a lot of upgrades in the past decade. You’re good to go, too.”

  “Seat fifty-eight, secure,” verified the computer, through Jimmy’s console.

  “You okay, Mom?” I asked, noticing that she was unusually quiet. She was sitting between me and Jimmy, in seat fifty-nine.

  She looked at me and smiled. “Yes. Just tired.”

  “Your mom didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” said Dad, now securing his own chair. “She was so worried we’d forget something.”

  “Let’s hope we didn’t,” she said, closing her eyes. “We can’t just turn around and go back for it.”

  There was a slight edge to her voice and I began to wonder if this trip wasn’t exactly a joyride for her, either. Of course, she believed it was our last hope to save the planet, so whatever she felt was overshadowed by the need to go through with it.

  “Hey… check it out,” said Jimmy.

  “What?” I asked, following his gaze to section D. When I saw who he was staring at, my eyes widened in shock.

  Chapter Six

  “Isn’t that Blayze Watkins?” said Jimmy. “The guy who got busted breaking curfew a while back?”

  “Yes,” I replied, unable to stop gawking.

  Blayze, who faced us, was being assisted into one of the chairs by two of the ship’s officers. He seemed barely lucid. In fact, his head bobbed slowly up and then back down, as if he was trying to stay awake.

  “What’s wrong with him?” asked Jimmy. “He’s acting weird.”

  “I don’t know,” I said, biting my lower lip.

  “He’s probably been given some kind of relaxant,” said Mom, also staring at him.

  Jimmy frowned. “Why?”

  “Because flying freaks some people out,” she said, closing her eyes again. “Some, much more than others.”

  “I didn’t know Blayze’s family was even involved with this trip,” I said, watching as a man and woman sat down next to him and began buckling him up in the harness. Recognizing the man from Blayze’s building, I felt my stomach go sour. “Are those his parents?”

  “That’s actually Blayze’s uncle, Hamilton Watkins, and his assistant, Mara,” said Dad.

  “That’s weird,” I said.

  “Not really,” replied Dad, thinking that I was talking about Hamilton. “He’s on the council board. He probably wants to see Planet Z for himself. That tells you how importa
nt this mission is. Especially if he’s willing to stay there for six months.”

  “I heard Hamilton still has severe bouts of asthma,” said Mom. “He takes medication for it, but I’m sure the fresh air on the planet will do wonders for his lungs.”

  “I guess that I don’t get why Blayze is here,” I said, watching him sleep. “Why wouldn’t he stay with his parents?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Dad. “Maybe he has health issues, too?”

  “Do you know him?” asked Mom, staring at me.

  “Blayze? Not really,” I said.

  “I heard Blayze went nuts after they put him in one of those Isolation Cells,” said Jimmy.

  “Who told you that?” I asked, turning to him.

  “I think it was Bruce, actually,” he said. “In fact, I think he told the entire school.”

  I grunted. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “So, it’s not true?” he asked.

  “How should I know?” I replied quickly. “I barely know the guy.”

  “You don’t have him any classes?” asked Jimmy.

  “Yeah, but we don’t talk. We’re all there to learn,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

  Mom snorted.

  Hamilton secured himself into the seat and then began looking around. When his eyes rested on me, he smiled slowly, and it gave me the chills. His expression said it all. I found you, and this time, you can’t get away.

  I looked away quickly.

  The computer spoke again, this time to let us know that everyone was secure and the flight crew was now preparing for lift-off.

  “Please remain seated until we are safely in orbit, and the seatbelt sign goes off,” reminded the computer in that pleasant voice of hers.

  Mom blew out a long breath.

  “Are you okay, honey?” asked Dad, looking at her with concern.

  “I’ll be fine. Once we’re in orbit.”

  I stole another glance at Blayze, who appeared to be out cold. I wasn’t sure why, but something about him being on the ship felt… off. He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything about it yesterday. Then there was that thing about having something urgent to tell me, but then not even showing up. My gut was definitely telling me that something wasn’t right.

  “Initializing launch protocols,” said the computer, as all of our chairs shifted until we were all facing the same way and staring up at the ceiling.

  “Cool,” said Jimmy as the white wall seemed to evaporate into glass and we were staring at the clouds above. “What happened to the ceiling?”

  “It’s a hologram,” replied Dad. “Of what the flight crew is seeing at the moment.”

  “So, the steel wall is still there?” said Jimmy.

  “Yeah. It’s not a window, but with projection, we can all experience the wonder of space travel, even though we’re not in the front of the ship. They say it helps with travel sickness, too. If not, there should be a throw-up bag in your chair.”

  Mom pulled a light blue bag out. “You should probably grab one just in case, Alex. You puked your guts out last time.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said tightly, wishing she wouldn’t have announced it to everyone on board.

  “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said.

  “What about that pill you gave me?” I said. “It should help, right?”

  “They don’t always work one-hundred percent,” said Dad. “Your mom took one and it’s obviously not helping her.”

  “Great,” I replied, grabbing a puke bag.

  The engines fired up and the computer rattled off a bunch of instructions, basically telling us to stay seated and to press the red button on the chair to get her attention if needed.

  “Holy cow, this is awesome,” squealed Jimmy, who was all smiles. He looked over at me. “Don’t you think this is cool?”

  “Sure,” I lied as the engine noises grew louder. “Good times. Good times.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry. We’re going to be having a blast in a minute. A real blast, right dad?”

  “That’s right, son,” he replied, raising his thumb. “Good one.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You okay, Mom?” I asked, noticing the sweat near her temples.

  She smiled weakly. “Good times. Good times.”

  I laughed.

  “Ten seconds until launch,” said the computer. She began the countdown and I let out a ragged breath.

  Chapter Seven

  I thought I’d been prepared for take-off, but my stomach felt like it had stayed on the ground.

  “You okay?” asked Dad, obviously noticing my dismay.

  I nodded, even though I could feel a hint of stomach acid already tickling my tonsils. I was already queasy and we’d barely begun our trip.

  “Mary? You okay?” he asked, now looking over at her.

  Mom, who was gripping the armrests firmly, nodded quickly. She looked even worse than me.

  “Get ready, we’re leaving our planet’s atmosphere,” said Dad, staring at the screen in front of us with excitement.

  “Woo hoo!” laughed Jimmy as our ship propelled itself away from the Earth, gaining more speed. “This is the best thing ever!”

  “This isn’t even the half of it,” said Dad, smiling. “Wait until we go through the Wormhole to the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s truly a magnificent sight to behold. The lights and colors…. Hey, check that out!”

  My heart skipped a beat as I stared at what appeared to be an asteroid field, directly ahead of us.

  Dad bit his lower lip and smiled. “This should be interesting.”

  “Interesting?” I gasped as our ship moved toward it. “Don’t you mean crazy?”

  He looked over at me. “Don’t worry, honey. Our shields will protect us. I mean, in theory, we should come out of it fairly unscathed. If they’ve installed all of the upgrades, that is. I guess we’ll soon find out.”

  “You don’t know if they installed the upgrades?” I cried shrilly, now feeling like my heart was about to leap out of my chest.

  His eyes were wide. “I imagine they did. Although, we left earlier than originally scheduled. They might not have had the time.”

  “You’re kidding,” I snapped. “Shouldn’t they have made time?”

  “Seriously, Paul,” muttered Mom, rubbing her forehead. “Cut it out.”

  His face broke into a smile. “Okay, fine. I’m just messing with you. Of course they did! That’s why we’re heading straight for the asteroids. The crew knows what they’re doing. Now calm down. Everyone is looking at us.”

  I didn’t care. This was my life we were talking about. If they weren’t freaked out, that was their problem. “Wouldn’t it be safer to just go around them?” I asked, not amused.

  “You worry too much, Alex. Like I said, we’re protected by the shields and going through it will save time and fuel. It certainly is a massive one, isn’t it?” he replied, staring in wonder as we made our approach. The asteroid field seemed to go on for miles and miles. “Good thing we’re strapped in ‘cause this will certainly be one wild ride.”

  “This is totally awesome!” hollered Jimmy as the ship began dodging the giant boulders of destruction.

  “Oh, no,” moaned Mom, shoving the plastic puke bag to her face as we lurched to the left and then the right.

  I closed my eyes as she began to throw up, trying to block out the sounds that were threatening to make me join in. I could also hear other people around us, groaning and complaining. It wasn’t just me anymore.

  “This feels like we’re in the middle of a video game!” cried Jimmy as we continued to maneuver around the asteroids at unbelievable speeds.

  I opened my eyes and looked at him in disbelief. How in the world could he be enjoying this?

  “It sure does,” said Dad, also smiling from ear-to-ear. “We’re making good time, too. I’m pretty sure the end is near.”

  “I won’t disagree with that,” I muttered as we came inches from hitting an ast
eroid ten times the size of the ship. “The end of this life.”

  Mom snorted into her vomit bag.

  “Oh, my God!” I wailed as we clipped the side of an asteroid, and then another. Some of the other passengers also cried out in fright as the ship rocked back and forth from the impact. Fortunately, the flight crew regained control of the situation, and we leveled off.

  “This is Captain Blake,” said a man’s voice over the intercom system. “Sorry for the turbulence, folks. We should be nearing the end of the asteroid field in less than three minutes. Rest assured that we are in control of the situation and there is nothing to be alarmed of. The ship is equipped to handle much worse than this…”

  We hit another asteroid, causing the ship to rock even harder.

  There was a double-clicking noise on the intercom. “Good God, get control of this thing, Andrews,” ordered the voice, who evidently thought he’d turned off the speaker system. “We don’t need to cause pandemonium among the passengers. And don’t forget, Doranti is on board. She’s going to think we don’t know what we’re doing.”

  “Who’s Doranti?” I whispered.

  “Not sure,” said Dad quickly.

  “Idiots,” mumbled Mom, looking up.

  “Sir, the intercom light is still on,” replied a woman’s voice through the speaker.

  Captain Blake swore under his breath and then the intercom shut off.

  “Paul… is it really almost over?” mumbled Mom, her eyes shiny. “Can you tell?”

  “I think so. We had to slow down, but it can’t be too much longer,” he said as we dodged another close call.

  “Um, didn’t you say that this was an easier route?” I said, staring at the screen in horror as another menacing piece of debris tumbled toward us. “Really?”

  “I didn’t say easier,” he replied, as the ship jerked sharply to the left. “It’s more economical. But, we’re totally safe, sweetheart. Even if we hit a few asteroids along the way, we’ll be just fine. You heard the Captain. They have everything under control.”

  “Except for the intercom system,” I said dryly.

  “I don’t mind going through the asteroid field. It’s cool,” said Jimmy.