by B. C. James
In the middle of the bay, a brick-shaped metal object caught his eye, pulling him back to the matter at hand. Around two meters square and nearly twice as long, the object was all that remained in the cavernous room. It was anchored down in the center of the hold with the same yellow straps he’d used to secure the door. Stepping lightly, trying to keep his footsteps as quiet as he could, he approached the giant metallic brick. When he reached it, he grazed his fingers along its edge where the side abruptly met the top. The metal was smooth beneath his touch and surprisingly cold. His fingertips displaced a thin layer of frozen condensation as they skimmed the surface. What the hell is this thing, he wondered as he moved to the side of the object and found a small control panel. Time to find out what’s so important about this damn cargo, he thought as he leaned over and poked one of the buttons. Above the panel, a screen illuminated with a cold blue glow and displayed several lines of information. Sharp scanned the first line. In blocky black letters set against the blue backdrop it read:
EMBRYO CONTAINMENT UNIT
Sharp stood up straight and stared off into the dark corners of the cargo bay as a wave of realization washed over him. Of course, he thought, it’d be nearly impossible to colonize an entire planet with just the dozen crew members of the Endurance. He remembered the crew manifest with its thousands of nameless spaces, the entries only marked with TBD. To be determined. These embryos would one day occupy those nameless spots.
He looked back down at the dull metal containment unit. He understood now why Pierce had been so adamant about not leaving them behind. If only Pierce had trusted him enough to tell him what the cargo contained, he would’ve made room for it. Pierce’s secrecy had made him suspect it was something nefarious, perhaps some sort of weapon. Pierce’s mistrust had led to this situation. All this could have been avoided, had they just trusted one another.
His contemplation was interrupted by a noise from behind. Turning, he saw someone was trying to open the cargo bay door, but his makeshift lock was holding. The door opened a fraction of an inch then slammed back into place every time it was pushed on from the other side.
His mind raced, formulating his next move. Twisting, he lunged for the straps holding the embryo unit. With a click of the lock, he released their grip on the metal brick. When the straps were free, he ran for the control room at the side of the bay. He sealed the airtight door and worked the controls on the console. He looked out into the bay as he switched on the decontamination field. An orange screen of energy sparked to life at the far end of the bay. It spanned floor to ceiling and wall to wall in front of the main loading door. The field was used to sterilize cargo entering the bay. Any object moving through it was wiped clean of any organic materials, burned away in a flash to avoid any harmful bacteria or invasive species from hitching a ride on the ship.
Sharp’s right hand hovered over the button to release the cargo bay loading door. His other hand opened a comm channel to the bridge. “This is Captain Sharp,” he said in a calm collected tone. “I’d like to speak with Captain Pierce.”
A moment passed without answer, each second ticking by raised the tension that gripped his chest. “Hello, Captain Sharp,” Pierce finally replied. “I see you have escaped, again. Please unlock the cargo bay door, so we can speak face to face.”
“Not a chance,” Sharp said defiantly. “How about instead, you call your men off the door, and I’ll hold off on destroying your cargo. I know what’s inside, and my finger’s on the trigger to send your precious embryos through a decontamination field that will vaporize every last one of them.” Silence followed as the comm went dead. A few moments later, the entry door stopped banging.
“Alright,” Pierce responded. “Now, what would you like to talk about?”
“Not much, just some requests. Your presence on my ship has become a little too disruptive. I would like for you and your crew to disembark back to the Endurance and undock. We’ll send for a rescue vessel to come pick you up. It might take a few months, but that’ll be nothing compared to your five hundred year trip.”
“And If I refuse?” Pierce asked, his voice unwavering.
Sharp smirked to himself. “If you refuse to leave my ship, I will release the cargo bay doors. The decompression will push your embryos through the decontamination field. All organic material contained in your cargo will be vaporized. No more babies for your colony.”
“You would not dare,” Pierce said, his voice becoming more agitated.
“Try me,” Sharp growled back.
There was a short pause in the conversation. Sharp’s hand moved closer to the door release button. His jaw clenched as he waited for a reply.
“Alright, Captain, you win,” Pierce replied. “Give me a moment to inform my crew.”
Sharp relaxed a little. He moved his hand away from the release button then folded out a retractable seat from the workstation and sat down. His head was nearly clear now, but a pounding headache remained. The bright lights of the control room didn’t help. He looked around for the lighting controls while he waited.
“Are you there, Captain Sharp?” Pierce asked over the comm.
Sharp gave up on his search for the light dimmer and responded, “You on your way off my ship, Pierce?”
A dry chuckle came back over the speaker. Sharp’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t a good sign.
“I would like to renegotiate our terms, Captain,” Pierce said in a wry voice.
Sharp was losing his cool. “No renegotiating, Pierce,” he spat. “Either you get off my ship now or I blow your fucking babies out the goddamn cargo hold.”
“And if you do that, you will lose something you care about,” Pierce replied.
What the hell was he talking about, Sharp thought in his pounding skull. Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on the console and held his face in his hands. His patience was fading fast.
“Captain?” a squeaky voice whispered over the comm.
Sharp froze as he recognized Morales’ voice. No, not her, he thought as his heart dropped.
He’d found Ensign Evelyn Morales in port at Talius Prime Station a few years back. She was a hard-faced young woman fresh out of flight school and looking for a job. She wasn’t having much luck due to her lack of experience. He had liked her enthusiastic energy, and as he happened to be down a pilot at the time, he took a chance on her.
Their first mission together had proven her worth. She deftly maneuvered them through a surprise uncharted asteroid field they encountered on a shortcut to the Maldor Oasis. Ever since that close call, their bond grew. She became almost like a daughter to him. He never had children of his own, and her parents were killed in a mining accident when she was still a child.
As they served together, and he learned more about her past, her determination and tenacious spirit had inspired him. She had grown up on a foster farm on some backwater moon where confederation law was scarcely enforced. The owners of the farm took in as many orphans as they could only to force them to labor in the fields for long hours, feeding them as little as possible, and pocketing the money meant to go toward their care.
In her teen years, she had become more defiant, and her overseers lost patience with her. When she was fourteen, they sold her to a skin merchant who regularly stopped by the moon looking for fresh young meat to stock the brothels of the Periphery’s more lawless colonies. Instead of accepting her fate, she fought back, killing the skin merchant and hijacking his ship. Unable to figure out the ship’s warp engine, she had flown halfway to Albercom B using only grav-thrusters.
An OCF patrol cruiser intercepted the ship and found her emaciated and half dead. After hearing her story, they decided against prosecution. Instead, the OCF crew nursed her back to health and placed her in an orphan sanctuary on Albercom B. Under the care of more kind and responsible guardians, she was put into school.
Morales caught up quickly on all the years of education she missed while slaving away in the fields. She then insisted on enterin
g pilot training. Her treatment on the foster farm left her with a compulsion to not be tied down in any one place, and her near-fatal adventure on the skin merchant’s ship left her with an insatiable sense of wonder for the vastness of space.
After graduation, and unable to join a military fleet due to her small stature, undoubtedly caused by her lack of proper nutrition as a young child, she set out to find work on a merchant vessel. All these random events led her to meet Sharp that day on Talius Prime Station and join his crew.
Now her life was held in the hands of a five-hundred-year-old madman, hell-bent on completing his failed mission.
“Don’t worry about me, Cap,” Morales said over the comm. “Blow the fucking doors.”
He heard a muffled struggle, and the comm clicked off. He clenched his fists and pounded the console. “If you hurt her, so help me, I will destroy your embryos and kill every last one of your crew, you hear me, Pierce? Then I’ll blow your tiny little ship into oblivion. I’ll erase you from history, goddamn it.”
Static hissed over the comm as it clicked open. “I hear you, Captain Sharp. Her life is in your hands. Surrender and no harm will come to her.” Pierce said calmly, but with a hint of superiority.
Frustration boiled inside Sharp, and he swore to himself. He saw no way to get the upper hand in the situation. Pierce had Morales held hostage, and Sharp wasn’t about to trade her life for an old freighter. As much as he loved the bucket of bolts, the Rojo could be replaced. Ensign Morales could not.
He stilled his rage and calmed his voice. “Okay, Pierce, you win. I’m coming out.” He switched off the decontamination field and left the control room. His head hung in defeat as he crossed the empty hold to the access door.
10
Expelled
Sharp sat tied to a chair in the galley. Since his reluctant surrender, Morales had been released unharmed and locked up in her quarters along with the rest of his crew, save for the traitor Commander Cormac. She hadn’t even had the resolve to face him. She had stayed hidden up on the bridge while Pierce and his men had apprehended him.
Captain Pierce sat across the table, staring at him while rhythmically tapping his fingers on the stainless steel surface. Sharp returned his gaze undaunted.
Pierce sighed, breaking the silence and his gaze. “I have been thinking about what you said, Captain,” he began as he looked down at the table. “About how our presence on your ship has been disruptive.” He looked up at Sharp. “You were right to try and expel us back to our own ship. I see now we cannot coexist together on this vessel. Captain, I am a peaceful man, but your actions have led me to violence. Three times I have had to capture you, and twice you have escaped, the first ending in the death of two people. Instead of accepting your fate and letting me finish my mission, you lash out, causing unavoidable conflict.” He paused, staring at Sharp. “So, I have decided you and your crew will have to leave.”
Sharp released a short laugh. “Even Cormac?”
Pierce gave a thin smile. “No, she will stay to pilot the Rojo.”
“You can have her,” Sharp spat in disgust. “What makes you think she won’t betray you like she betrayed me?”
“Look, Captain, I do not wish to argue with you. We have both lost crew members—”
“That’s on you, Pierce,” Sharp interrupted, fuming with anger. “If you’d just been honest with me and told me what your cargo was and why it was so damn important, I probably would have made an exception and found room for it. But you had to be so secretive and untrusting. Look where that’s gotten us.” Sharp pulled at his bonds to emphasize his point.
“I could not take the chance, Captain,” Pierce frowned. “I do not like this any more than you do, but we are where we are, and there is no going back to change things. The best option now is for you to leave this ship.”
“The best option for you maybe, but what about me and my crew? You’d banish us to drift on that derelict of yours?”
“We will send a ship for you as soon as we reach the Alpha Centauri system,” Pierce tried to assure him. “You will not have to drift for as long as we did.”
“How comforting,” Sharp retorted. “And what do you hope to find once you reach Alpha Centauri? I’ve told you it’s already been colonized. Your mission is over. You can go anywhere you want. Why go there? There are thousands of uninhabited planets out there waiting to be colonized. We can find you your own world, and it’ll be all yours.”
Pierce paused for a moment, thinking. “Because, Captain, Alpha Centauri is all I have thought and dreamt about for the past five centuries. I Have no desire to go anywhere else. It is my system and I will take it for myself and my children.” He slammed his fist down on the table at his last sentence, driving the point home.
Sharp studied his face. He hadn’t seen him break his composure before, and now his emotions were written all over him. But something else had caught his attention. “What do you mean?” he asked, more curious than combative now. “You thought and dreamt about it for five hundred years? I thought people weren’t conscious during cryostasis?”
Pierce’s eyes narrowed. “I was told it would be as simple as going to sleep and then waking up as if no time had passed,” he said, in a low rasping voice. “Instead, I awoke to find myself not at our destination but trapped in a waking nightmare. Unable to move. Unable to open my eyes to look around. Unable to judge the passage of time. For all I knew, a thousand years had passed, or maybe only a day. I was locked inside my own mind for what felt like an eternity. The only thing that brought me comfort was imagining the worlds we would find and the children we would raise to populate those worlds. Those planets are mine. They are owed to me and I will have them.”
Sharp was quiet, stunned at the sudden revelation. Pierce truly was out of his mind. If he had been conscious for the five hundred years of his stasis, it had clearly driven him mad. He doubted the people of Alpha Centauri would share Pierce’s sentiments on him being owed their planets. The Centaurians had worked tirelessly to build up their colonies and had struggled and died defending their autonomy in the Independence Wars. Eking out a living on strange and wild new worlds, surely gave them more of a claim to the planets than this lunatic.
“And what will you do with the people already there?” Sharp asked in a calm tone, trying not to further inflame Pierce’s madness.
“I will give them a choice,” he said, almost benevolently as he stared off into the space above Sharp’s head. “They can either accept me as their leader, or they can leave my kingdom.”
“I see,” Sharp replied. “And what if they choose to stay and not follow you? Will you kill those who oppose you as you killed Franklin? As you killed Lewis? How many lives are you willing to take for your so-called mission? A hundred. A thousand. A million? How many will have to die for your misplaced desire for power?”
“No one will have to die, and I hope no one else will. I will give them the choice and if they choose to oppose me rather than follow, then their deaths will be their own fault.”
“Oh, come on. You’re smarter than that, Pierce,” Sharp shot back. “You know it’s your choice and your choice alone that will lead down this path. You can choose to forget about your mission. Just let go. It doesn’t have to mean defeat. Hell, if you want your own planet so much, there are plenty of systems in the Periphery waiting to be colonized. I’ll even take you there myself. All you have to do is make the choice to turn away from this path of destruction and let go of your dreams of Alpha Centauri. Think of your crew. Think of the lives of those thousands of unborn children sitting in the cargo hold. Will you lead them into a future full of conflict and death? Or will you be the responsible guardian you swore to be and allow them to grow and flourish on their own new world full of peace and opportunity? The choice lies with you, Captain, it is ultimately up to you. What will you do? Will you go down in history as the madman who tried to conquer the Alpha Centauri system? Or will you be known as the captain who came back after be
ing lost for half a millennium and founded his own new world that thrived under his strong and wise leadership?”
Pierce sat staring back at him. Sharp saw the internal conflict playing out on his pained face. His mouth twitched, and his eyes darted back and forth as the gears turned in his head. Maybe he had gotten through to him, Sharp hoped. Maybe all this death and destruction could be avoided simply by reasoning with the man. Sure, his mind may have been broken by the long years locked in the cryotube, a prisoner in his own head, but maybe there was a semblance of rationality left in there that he had reawakened underneath the cacophony of madness.
All hope fell away as Commander Thompson walked into the room and snapped Pierce from his trance. “Sir, the cargo is secure. We’re ready to release the docking ring and get underway,” he reported.
Pierce stood up from the table and walked around to where Sharp sat bound. Leaning down close, he whispered to him, “I am going to the Alpha Centauri system, and you are staying here.”
Sharp shook his head. It was no use. The man was too far gone. He couldn’t be reasoned with. The situation was bad enough when all Sharp knew was Pierce was after his ship, but now after having listened to his rambling plans of conquest, Sharp had to stop him. He couldn’t let him get away and make it to Alpha Centauri.
Pierce straightened and looked to Thompson. “Take the prisoners to the Endurance,” he ordered. “Captain Sharp and his crew will not be joining us on our journey.”
