Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  “I plan on it,” I said, wanting to stay away from the both of them.

  “Good.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.”

  “We were just going to get lunch. Did you want to join us?” asked Dad.

  “No. I’ve eaten,” he replied, opening the door. He looked at Jimmy. “The food there is pretty good. I recommend the vegetable soup. It’s healthy and will help you to build strong muscles, young man. Which is very important.”

  “Uh, sure,” said Jimmy.

  “We’ll definitely keep the soup in mind,” said Mom, who I could tell was about as relieved as I was that he was leaving. “Goodbye.”

  He nodded and smiled. “Goodbye.”

  After he shut the door behind him, my parents looked at each other and something unspoken passed between them.

  “What?” I asked, feeling uneasy.

  They looked at me and both of their faces relaxed.

  “Nothing,” said Mom. She smiled. “Let’s go eat.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The cafeteria reminded me of the school’s – a variety of menu items available at the press of a button, but most bland and boring. Even the soup, with all of its colorful vegetables and broth, was pretty much tasteless.

  “Why aren’t there many kids on this mission?” I asked after we sat down at a metal round table and began to eat.

  “What do you mean? Bruce is here, somewhere. So is Blayze, but we’re not supposed to associate with him,” replied my brother, dipping his spoon into the red vegetable soup. He shoved it into his mouth and frowned.

  I looked around at the other tables. “Yeah, but other than that, it’s just us.”

  “This is a research mission,” explained Dad, dipping a piece of brown bread into his broth. “Not exactly a family trip.”

  “Then why did we have to go?” I asked. “We’re a family.”

  “Because it’s what we do,” said Mom. “We’re Planetary Astronomers. You already know that.”

  Still, I would have thought that there’d have been more children on board, considering the amount of adults on this mission. “It’s just weird, though.”

  Dad shrugged. “Not really. I’m sure that some of the other parents simply decided not to bring their children. Not everyone is as well-behaved as you two and, well, your mother and I are one of the only married teams. If it was just one of us going to Planet Z, you’d have probably stayed behind with the other parent.”

  “Lucky us,” I muttered under my breath. Not that I would have wanted to be separated from either of them for that length of time. It would have been nice to have been offered the choice, however.

  “Hey, Jimmy,” said Bruce, stopping next to him with a tray of food. “You want to hang out after lunch?”

  Jimmy looked at Dad. “Can I?”

  “As long as I know where you are,” he replied. “I don’t see why not.”

  “Cool, what do you want to do?” asked Bruce.

  “Something in your room,” said Mom, stirring extra cream into her cup of coffee. “I’m sure Alex won’t mind.”

  I scowled. “I think she might.”

  “You can hang out with me in our cabin. We can read or something,” she said to me.

  “Fine,” I said, still irritated. I wasn’t sure if leaving Jimmy alone with Bruce was a good idea, but I didn’t feel like following them around all day. “As long as they stay out of my stuff.”

  “Mom, we don’t want to stay in the room. That’s boring,” he pouted. “We’d rather go and explore the ship. Right, Bruce?”

  “Yeah,” said Bruce. “I think we should do that.”

  “Not going to happen,” replied Dad smiling politely at Bruce. “I’m sure your parents will take you on a tour later.”

  “They already did, but I didn’t get to see everything,” he said.

  “I’m sure you will, in time. You guys can find something to do in Jimmy’s room. We brought some games; that should give you two something to do.”

  “That works for me. Well, I have to go. My dad is motioning me to the table,” said Bruce, looking away. “I’ll catch you after we eat, Jimmy.”

  “Okay,” he replied, still looking glum.

  I watched Bruce walk away. “I thought you didn’t even like him, Jimmy.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t really. But, it’s so boring playing by myself. And those games are old and babyish, Dad. It will be embarrassing if I have to pull them out. What if I go and play at Bruce’s instead?”

  “That would be okay, too,” he said. “As long as you’re in one room or the other. You heard Hamilton. They don’t want kids running rampant on the ship. Too much precious cargo. You’ll have plenty of time to spread your wings when we arrive on Planet Z, anyway.”

  “Fine,” he said, still frowning into his soup. “As long as I can go and play in his cabin.”

  “Don’t mope,” said Mom, smiling. “You’ll give yourself premature wrinkles.”

  “Like I care about that,” he said, looking up. “I’m just a kid.”

  “It’s important to care for your body,” said Dad. “You’re only given one, so treat it special.”

  I wouldn’t have thought twice about that statement earlier. But after talking with Blayze, it seemed a little… creepy.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Dad, looking at me.

  “Nothing,” I replied, feeling foolishly paranoid.

  He smiled. “Don’t worry, honey, like I’ve been telling you all along – this trip is going to be the thrill of a lifetime. I mean, seriously, look how much fun we had during lift-off. Think how cool the Wormhole is going to be!”

  “God, don’t remind me,” said Mom, turning pale.

  Yeah, I was pretty certain that if Mom was an alien, she wouldn’t have gotten motion sickness on the ship. And, she certainly wasn’t pretending. “I don’t think Mom can take too much more of that kind of fun.”

  “Your mom is a wimp,” whispered Dad, covering the side of his mouth. “She gets dizzy turning around too fast.”

  She reached over and swatted him. As they continued their playful banter, I smiled. If either of my parents were now possessed by aliens, they were totally oblivious to it.

  Chapter Twelve

  When we finished eating, Dad asked me if I’d like a tour of the ship. “Since you didn’t get to see much of it.”

  “Sure,” I replied.

  “I’m coming with,” said Jimmy. “I want to see the fight-deck again.”

  “I doubt they’ll let us pop in whenever we want, Jimmy,” he answered.

  “We can at least try,” said Jimmy. “Can’t we? Please?”

  Dad sighed. “We’ll see. But, what about Bruce? Didn’t you just promise that you’d meet up with him after lunch?”

  “Yeah, but he’s still eating with his parents,” said Jimmy, motioning toward their table.

  I turned and looked, meeting Jimmy’s mom’s gaze. She was skinny with short, black hair and thin lips. She smiled at me, but for some reason, it seemed forced. Smiling back at her, I glanced over at Bruce, and noticed that he was getting chewed out by his dad.

  “I think Bruce is in trouble,” I said, turning back to Dad. “He doesn’t look too happy right now.”

  He turned to look. “I see that. I’ll go over there and see if he can go with us anyway. I also need to ask Phil something about work.”

  “You know Bruce’s parents?” asked Jimmy.

  “Of course, they’re also on the planetary research program,” he said. “Thus the reason they’re on board.”

  Jimmy’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? You’ve never mentioned them before.”

  “Not really a reason to,” he answered, standing up. “Come on, Jimmy. Let’s go and see if Bruce can join us. After we clear our trays. Grab yours.”

  “What about me?” I asked, not exactly thrilled about Bruce possibly tagging along.

  “You, too,” he said and then turned to look at Mom. �
�Do you want to join us?”

  “No,” she replied, smiling up at him. “I’ll meet you back at the room. I want to go over some of my lab notes. Organize them before we meet with Hamilton later.”

  “Okay. We shouldn’t be too long,” he said.

  Mom got up and grabbed her tray. She winked at me. “Have fun.”

  “Right,” I said dryly before following Dad and Jimmy over to Bruce’s table.

  Bruce’s dad wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled as we approached. “Paul, how’s it going?”

  “Great, Phil,” he answered, as the other man stood. They shook hands and then he introduced us to Phil’s wife, who smiled again, but didn’t say anything.

  “We were wondering if Bruce would like to join us on quick tour of the ship?”

  “Sure,” answered Phil, turning to Bruce. “As long as he stays out of trouble. That’s not always an easy task, is it, son?”

  Bruce’s lips pursed. “I’m not going to get into trouble.”

  “Promises, promises,” he answered, looking back at Dad with a smirk. “Well, if you really want to keep an eye on him. He can be quite the handful at times. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

  Bruce’s cheeks turned red and he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. I almost felt bad for him.

  “I’m sure we can handle him,” chuckled Dad. “By the way, you’re going to the meeting tonight, right?”

  Phil looked puzzled. “What meeting?”

  Dad’s eyes widened. “Hamilton said there was a meeting. Didn’t you hear about it?”

  Phil shrugged. “No, I guess not. Huh. I’ll have to ask him about it.”

  Dad was silent for a few seconds and then smiled. “You know, thinking back, he may have mentioned it was just to go over our most recent findings. I guess you wouldn’t need to be there.”

  “We’re meeting with him tomorrow morning. Around eight o’clock. He must have mentioned that to you?” replied Phil’s wife, Sue, staring up at him curiously.

  Dad nodded. “Yes. Of course.”

  “Empty your tray before you go with the Logans,” said Phil, as Bruce stood up.

  “I know,” he said, picking up the tray.

  “Did you drink all of your almond milk?” asked his mother.

  He nodded.

  “Good, because we don’t need you snacking between meals. You’re putting on a little too much weight, Bruce. It’s not healthy.”

  Bruce’s cheeks turned scarlet again. He mumbled something and then headed toward the trash bin.

  Sue looked at Dad. “Watch him closely. He’s been driving us crazy lately. I don’t know, maybe you can handle him better than us.”

  “Uh, sure,” he replied.

  “Relax, Sue. The boy will be fine. Don’t embarrass him,” said Phil.

  “I’m not embarrassing him,” she protested.

  “Would it be okay if Bruce stops back at Jimmy’s room after we’re finished?” asked Dad. “The boys were talking about playing together.”

  Sue nodded. “As long as Bruce stays there, and doesn’t go wandering around in the halls. Like I said, he’s been getting into a lot of trouble. Not following orders and sneaking off whenever we turn our backs.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on him,” said Dad, rocking on his heels.

  “Good,” she said and turned to look at me. “So, are you enjoying the flight?”

  “It’s okay,” I said.

  She looked at Jimmy. “What about you?”

  “It’s cool,” he said, looking nervous. “I loved it when we took off.”

  “Wait until we reach the Wormhole,” said Phil, as Bruce returned. “You’re going to enjoy it even more.”

  “That’s what Dad keeps saying,” he said. “I’m excited to see it.”

  “See what?” asked Bruce.

  “The Wormhole,” said Jimmy.

  “Oh. Yeah, that should be cool,” he replied.

  “If you behave yourself and stay out of trouble, you just might get to see it,” said Sue. “Remember our little talk earlier.”

  “Yes. Uh, are we ready?” said Bruce, looking like he wanted to be anyplace but near them.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” said Dad. “I’ll bring him back to your room in a couple of hours, if that’s okay?”

  “He’s all yours,” said Sue, waving her hand. “In fact, keep him longer if you’d like. We could use the break.”

  I looked at Bruce and could see the pain in his eyes. He obviously wasn’t the only bully in the family.

  “Let the boys have fun,” said Phil. “Bring him back when they grow bored.”

  “Sounds good,” replied Dad, smiling at Bruce. “I’m sure they’ll have lots of fun together.”

  We left the table and began walking out of the cafeteria. Right before we turned the corner, I looked back and noticed that Sue and Phil were watching us, both of their expressions… intense. They both quickly looked away and I followed my dad out of the cafeteria, thinking they were a very odd couple.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The tour of the ship was rather boring, I thought. Just long corridors and rooms that we weren’t even allowed to enter. The only thing remotely interesting was the workout room, where two people were riding Ellipticals. Both of them smiled when they noticed us.

  “This place is cool. Better than the one in our building. Can we work out in here?” asked Jimmy as we stood near the treadmills. The mirrored room was large, nearly one thousand square feet and filled with various workout apparatuses.

  “Sure,” replied Dad. “Maybe tomorrow.”

  “My parents have already been in here,” said Bruce. “They’re always working out and trying to get me to.”

  “You don’t like to exercise?” asked Dad.

  “No, it’s boring,” he said.

  “I don’t like it either,” said Jimmy. “Alex does, though. Don’t you?”

  “I like to run on the treadmill. I wish we had one of these in our gym back home, though. It looks interesting,” I answered, walking over to the long punching bag. I touched the leather and an image of me wearing thick gloves and pounding away at it flashed through my head. I looked over at Dad, who was watching me. “Have we ever owned one of these?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Huh,” I said, staring at it in confusion. It felt familiar to me. Like I’d used one before. Vigorously. “Weird.”

  “What is?” asked Dad.

  “Nothing,” I said, turning away from it.

  “We should go,” said Dad, looking around the gym. “Leave those two to work out in peace.”

  “Can we go and see the Flight-deck again?” asked Jimmy. “Please?”

  “Let’s go and find out,” he replied, walking toward the exit.

  I took one final glance at the bag and then followed them out of the gym. When we stepped into the hallway, Hamilton was there with two security guards, looking flustered.

  “Is Blayze in there?” he asked, as the two men in uniform went around us and into the gym.

  “No,” replied Dad. “What’s wrong?”

  “He’s not cooperating, that’s what’s wrong.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “His parents never did have a handle on him. Now I’m left to deal with his insubordination.”

  “Do you need help finding him?” asked Dad.

  He sighed. “Yes, actually. You might actually have better luck. He sees me and he’ll probably duck away again.”

  “Okay. Did you check the cafeteria?” he asked.

  “Earlier. There are a lot of hiding places in that quadrant, however. If you could head back in that direction… we’ll continue searching in this area and then loop around. Don’t forget to check the supply rooms and even a couple of the labs. He may have broken into one.”

  “Okay, will do. You kids head directly back to the room,” said Dad, already on the move. “Let your mother know where I am.”

  “Okay,” I replied, watching him walk away.
r />   “Why is Blayze trying to avoid you?” asked Jimmy, itching his eye.

  Hamilton smiled grimly. “He’s not himself, Jimmy. In fact, I think he may be having some kind of nervous breakdown.”

  “Why do you think that?” I asked, although I had to agree with him myself.

  He waved his hand in disgust. “Oh… he’s been peddling a bunch of garbage to others. Talking about an alien invasion or something. Can you imagine?” He laughed. “He believes that some of us have been possessed by aliens.”

  “That’s pretty crazy,” agreed Jimmy. He smiled. “Although… it would be kind of cool.”

  “No it wouldn’t,” I said. “It’s fun to pretend but it would be scary in real life.”

  “Maybe it’s not so crazy,” said Bruce. “People have been acting very, very weird, lately. Maybe Blayze is right.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Hamilton, his smile fading. “Who’s been acting very, very weird?”

  “Uh, I…” He lowered his eyes. “I don’t know. I didn’t mean anything, I guess.”

  “You boys and your wild imaginations,” said Hamilton, putting his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. He squeezed it so hard that the boy winced. “You’re going to freak people out if you don’t quit with such outlandish stories.”

  “Sorry,” he said, pulling away from him. “But, it’s Blayze who’s freaking out obviously.”

  Hamilton’s eyes hardened. He turned to me. “Tell me, has anyone else been spreading silly rumors?”

  I shook my head quickly. “No. I haven’t heard anything.”

  “If you do hear anyone making ridiculous accusations, report them to me immediately.”

  My eyes widened. “Report tales of aliens? Isn’t that a little extreme?”

  “Actually, nothing is too extreme when it comes to the security of this ship. Rumors can create more havoc than you could imagine,” he said as the security officers stepped back into the hallway.