End of report from seeker 3.
TRANSMISSION: END
Day Sixty
It had been eight days since the baby rat was born. Against all odds, it had survived and was growing at an incredible pace. She decided that if he had lived this long, he should have a name. After some deliberation, she named him Rocky.
Rocky had become a little bit of a celebrity on the ship, and crewmembers stopped by often to check on his progress or to help with his care. Parker, especially, developed an attachment to him. Because of his deformation, he was not likely to survive the entry into full gravity. The deformation affected his legs, which were short and stubby and did not appear to bend. He did not seem to notice or care, and moved easily around the cage by hooking his paws into the holes of the wire cage and then shoving himself forward. If he were in a full gravity environment, his limbs could probably not raise his stomach above the ground as he moved. Even in microgravity, they were a great hindrance. His pluckiness and determination helped the crew to rally around a common interest, which took their minds off the accident that had taken Col Quesen’s life.
Lennon had slept in today. The crew had agreed to take “weekends”, two days during the week that crew duties were limited and personal time was the greatest. Each person had his or her “jobs” during the week (or weekends when something they were responsible for broke). Lennon was responsible for crew health and psychological examinations and treatments, as well as biological experiments and observations in the Atrium. It kept her very busy, and she enjoyed the work. Parker was responsible for assisting Lennon with chemical analysis as well as conducting experiments and studies on the growth of various crystals in microgravity. She spent a lot of time in the Atrium with Lennon. Abrams worked on the maintenance and repair of just about every electronic or mechanical device on the ship. He constantly migrated between C2 and the Gearbox, which unfortunately for him, were on opposite sides of the ship. He grumbled about that fact at every opportunity. Matthews and Dish helped him with his duties as well as all of the work involved in piloting the craft and doing command and control to keep the orbit maintained. They mostly worked in C2, but occasionally followed Abrams to the Gearbox.
Because the women spent most of their time in the Atrium and the men in C2, many jokes passed back and forth about the men and their “toys” and the women tending to their “flowers and jewels”, referring to the plants that Lennon tended and the crystals that Parker was studying. Abrams, passing through the Atrium on a daily basis, tried to stay out of it because he knew that the “flowers and jewels” comment made Lennon angry and that Dish and Matthews liked to say it just to see her get that way. Once Lennon learned from Abrams that they were just trying to rile her up, she ignored it. Despite the ribbing, even the men occasionally stopped by to see Rocky or to enjoy the video screen.
Lennon slid open the door to her bed and crawled out of her personal area. She locked the door to her storage bin and draped the chain that held the key over her neck—forgetting that necklaces do not hang in space. She took it off, wrapped it around her wrist, and then tucked the end into her watchstrap so it stayed in place. Parker was gone already. Lennon left the quarters and shut the door behind her.
The ship’s designers separated Crew Quarters on the Seeker 3 into two sections: the Men’s Quarters and the Women’s Quarters. A corridor ran parallel to the quarters, so the whole area was set up much like the sleeping areas on a train car. Lennon was now floating in this corridor. Between the Men’s and Women’s Quarters, accessible only from the corridor, was a small area that contained the toilet and the shower. The shower was a lot like a phone booth in size and shape. The middle of the walls of the shower, from the position of the knees to the shoulders, was opaque while the remaining sections were semitransparent frosted glass.
She began to head to the ChowBucket for some coffee when she heard a bump and some giggling. She moved back down the hall. It was coming from the shower. She peered around the corner and could see that the shower was in use, although the water was not on. Through the frosted glass on the bottom and top, she could see the obvious shapes of two people.
There was laughing again, and the door to the shower began to open. Lennon held her breath and pushed herself backwards to the Women’s Quarters. The door to her room remained shut from when she last used it. She did not have time to reopen it. She pulled herself flat against it while the two people came out of the shower.
Dish came out first, backwards, pulling Parker by the hands. She laughed and continued floating forward even after the wall had stopped him, colliding into him. She gave him a quick kiss on the mouth, and then they headed down the corridor to the Men’s Quarters. He whispered something in her ear. She laughed and pushed him in, which pushed her backwards just as far as she had pushed him. She bounced into the wall, giggled, and then turned her head and saw Lennon.
They stared at each other for a few moments in shock. Parker’s face turned red and she had a sudden look of shame. She looked down at the ground, and then kicked off the wall and out of sight into the Men’s Quarters. Lennon heard the door click shut.
She stood for a few moments, unable to move. The sound of the air blowing through the vents seemed like a roar. After she composed herself, she turned and headed for the kitchen. She did not know what to do.
The pepper plants were developing nicely. Lennon smiled and hummed softly while she examined them, checking for signs of disease or improper growth. Small balls were forming at the tips of some of the branches. Flowers. It was possible that the growths were abnormalities, but Lennon was an optimist.
She was probably going to have to pollinate the plants manually. Pepper plants are self-pollinating; however, Lennon was sure that any breeze in the Atrium would be insufficient to transfer pollen. If the flowers opened, she planned to transfer pollen from flower to flower with a small brush.
She saw movement behind her and turned to see Parker float into the room and move next to her.
“We need to talk,” Parker said softly.
Lennon looked up expectantly and said nothing. Go ahead, her expression said.
“What happened back there…it’s not what you think.”
“It’s not?”
“Well, it is, but I don’t think you understand exactly what is going on.”
Lennon touched the leaves of a pepper plant. “It’s about to flower,” she said. “We may be blessed with a small harvest.”
“Blessed. That is an interesting term. What do you believe in, Lennon? What drives you?”
“I believe in God.”
A strange smile appeared on Parker’s face. “Haven’t you ever done something impulsive? Something that, later on, you don’t understand? Something you fully regret?”
“Everyone makes mistakes, Parker. What about Dish? Was that a mistake?”
“I don’t know. I just… I’m not perfect, Lennon.”
Lennon smiled. “No one is, Parker. We just do our best.”
“Not even you, Lennon?”
“No, not even me. Nevertheless, why would you do this? I don’t understand.”
“You’ve never been lonely.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“If you had been lonely, you would understand. Sometimes, I need this, even if it might cause problems in the long run.”
“I understand that you feel like you need it, but I don’t think you really do. I think your affliction is not loneliness, but lack of self-worth. You need to learn to see yourself as deserving more. Someone worth waiting for. Someone who’s affection should be earned.”
“You may be right. I don’t know.” She played with her fingernail, her forehead wrinkled in thought. “It doesn’t feel that way.”
Lennon watched her carefully. Parker was certainly troubled, and Lennon was surprised that none of this had come up in the screening process. She hoped it did not get worse. “How is it between you two? Is it serious?”
Parker turne
d her head sharply, as if Lennon had pulled her out of a deep thought. “Dish? No, it’s not serious. I don’t even know if it is anything at all.”
“I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”
Parker smiled. “I know. Thank you.”
“I have to go; it’s my time in the Box. You’re welcome to stay, if you like.”
“Oh no,” Parker said, pointing.
Lennon followed her finger. “What?”
“One of the rats died.”
Sure enough, Melvin the rat was floating around the cage lifelessly.
“It looks like it was strangled,” whispered Parker.
Lennon cast a sharp look at Parker. The rat had obviously distracted her and captured her attention. Why would she say such a thing? It did not even look dead, at first, until she observed it long enough to see how randomly it drifted around the cage.
“Why do you think it was strangled?” Lennon finally asked.
Parker shrugged. “Doesn’t it look strangled to you?”
It was Lennon’s turn to furrow her brow.
Day Sixty-One
The day started normally for Lennon, with coffee and breakfast followed by morning exercise, alternating between the bike and the Box with Major Matthews. Her scheduled time for the shower was not for another few days, so she cleaned herself with wet wipes after exercising. Once finished, she headed to the Atrium to start her workday.
It was immediately apparent that something was unusual as she entered the Atrium. Small green triangles floated around the circular room, flowing with the air, which formed a gentle cyclone in the atrium due to the spherical shape of the room. She plucked one of them out of the air and examined it. It was a leaf.
Distressed, she looked around the room for the source of the chopped leaves. “No,” she whispered to herself as she found the pepper plants and examined them.
When she initially prepared the plants, she had wrapped the pots in a protective material to keep the specially formulated soil from escaping. Normally, she watered the plants with a sprayer, and the material and the soil absorbed the water and brought it to the roots with a wicking action. The pots were undisturbed; however, protruding from the material in each pot was a single stem, cut about an inch up from the soil. Someone had cut her pepper plants and chopped them up.
She gasped, in shock. Who would do this? Moreover, why? Her thoughts turned to Parker. Would she do it? It did not make sense. Parker worked with her every day in the same room, and had even helped water the plants. She had talked about how excited she was to see the peppers grow.
Abrams floated in from the front of the ship. “Whoa,” he said in a surprised voice, “takin’ a little off the top, are ya?”
“Somebody cut my plants,” Lennon said quietly. She still could not believe what had happened. “All of the peppers are destroyed.”
“What?” He moved over to her. “Are you sure someone cut them?”
“Yes, Abrams; I’m a doctor, not a moron,” she answered harshly. She felt badly for taking it out on him, but the more she thought about what had happened the angrier she became. “Why would someone do that to me?” She looked over at him, but he was looking past her at the opening that led to Crew Quarters. He did not answer her. “Abrams!” she clamored, “Do you hear what I am saying?”
He still did not answer. She looked to the doorway but there was nothing there. “Hello,” she called, and waved her hand in front of his face.
“Shh,” he said, and put his hand up.
“What do you mean, shh?” she said, exasperated. “Are you listening to me?”
“Something’s wrong,” he said. “Listen. To the ship.”
She did not hear anything, and told him so. He pushed past her and left the Atrium. She threw her hands up in the air and then brought them down and crossed them. She pouted, wondering what to do.
Then she heard it. It was a low hum, coming from the rear of the ship. It seemed to be more of a vibration than a sound. She placed her hand on the bulkhead by the door and could feel the sound through the cold metal. She followed Abrams.
She found him after passing through Crew Quarters. He was standing in front of the door to the Box. To eliminate motion sickness as much as possible, the Box had a solid door so that the operator could not see the motion around him or her when the Box moved. In addition, the outer door to the exercise room would latch shut so that no one could come through and collide with the swinging arm.
“It’s locked,” Abrams said. “I need to get through.” Access to the Gearbox had to come via the Box. In what may have been a design flaw, there was no way to access the rear of the ship if the Box was in use. The engineers must have determined that there would never be a case when that would be a problem.
“You have to stop the Box,” suggested Lennon.
“I’m an engineer; not a moron,” he said, cutting.
She deserved it. “I’m sorry; that was a mean thing for me to say. I was angry. I still am.”
He sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get this door open.”
“Who’s in there?” Lennon asked.
“Far as I know, Parker’s on the bike and Dish is in the Box.” He hit the door with his hand. There was no answer.
“She probably has her headphones on. We need something louder,” said Lennon. There was no intercom from room to room; the only place where you could select individual room intercoms was in C2. Abrams pushed the intercom button to contact anyone in C2. Nobody answered.
He cursed and pushed past her. “I need my tools,” he said as he left.
“What, are you going to disassemble the door?” she laughed. He ignored her and returned a few minutes later with a large wrench.
“I don’t think—” she continued, but he still ignored her and moved to the door. Instead of using it on a bolt, he banged the front of the metal door with it.
The humming slowly faded away and the door popped open. Parker’s head popped out, wide-eyed. “What was that?” she asked.
“Where’s Dish?” asked Lennon, but Abrams was already pulling open the latch to the Box. He reached inside and pulled out the limp body of Captain Petri. “Lennon,” Abrams shouted, “he’s unconscious.”
“What?” asked Parker, aghast. “What happened?” No one paid any attention to her. Lennon checked Dish for a pulse. “He’s got a strong pulse and he’s breathing,” she said after a few moments. “He should recover.”
“The Box was going too fast,” Abrams said accusingly, and looked at Parker.
“What, do you think I did it?” she retorted. “You know as well as I do that there’s a governor on that thing. There’s also a heartbeat sensor in case someone passes out. Why didn’t that go off, Abrams?”
His face red, he turned and examined Dish again. Dish had attached the heartbeat sensor by strapping it around his chest, and then he had connected a small wire from it into a jack on one pillar of the Box’s frame.
Major Matthews spoke from behind them. “What could cause this to happen, Abrams?”
“Oh,” said Abrams, “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I saw you get your wrench in a hurry and I followed you here. Do you know how this could happen?”
Abrams scratched his head. “Ah, I’d have to check the logs to see if the computer was reading his heartbeat. It should have alarmed when he passed out. As far as the speed goes, a magnetic resistance system is supposed to kick in when the speed sensor picks up a certain rotational velocity. In addition, a reaction wheel system activates to counter the rotational effect on the ship from the spinning of the Box. That’s what the hum was—the reaction wheel operating outside of its normally expected rotational rate. I really don’t know why the governor didn’t kick in and enable the magnetic resistance.”
“Didn’t you see him lose consciousness?” Major Matthews asked Parker.
“No!” she said, waving her hands defensively. “I was watching a movie on my media player. I thought the syst
em would alarm if something went wrong! I didn’t know I could kill him, just by riding a bike! Stop looking at me like that, all of you! It wasn’t my fault.”
Dish stirred and held his head with both hands. “My head is killing me,” he said.
“I’ll get you some medicine,” Lennon offered.
“I want a full report, Abrams, ASAP,” ordered Matthews.
“Yes sir,” he responded, and shot a look at Parker. She crossed her arms and huffed.
Matthews continued: “No one is to use the Box until we find out what went wrong. Lennon, come up with an alternate exercise plan.”
“Yes sir,” she said, as she left to find some medicine and water for Captain Petri.
Petechiae. It was definitely petechiae, and the discovery was frightening to Lennon. The term refers to areas where broken capillary veins bleed into layers of skin. Some sort of trauma most often causes it. Discovery of petechiae is one of the leading indications of strangulation.
She moved the magnifier to Melvin’s eyes. Distinct red areas of petechiae formed around them. She further examined the rat—difficult because she had to perform the autopsy in a sealed container with rubber gloves protruding through holes in the walls for her arms—and discovered that the rat’s ribs were probably broken. She moved back to the eyes. It was hard to tell with the only magnifier that she had access to, but she was willing to bet that there was bleeding inside the eyes. Something, or someone, had strangled the rat.
Dish lay without movement. A wet cloth rested over his eyes. The bright light of the Atrium surrounded them, leaving no area concealed in shadow. Leaves of the pepper plant drifted aimlessly around Lennon, performing a slow circular dance in the room as the vents cycled the air, taunting her and testing her patience. She had not taken the time to clean them up yet, and clumps of them were collecting over the intake vent. Lennon forced herself to ignore them and continued her study of the rat, but found no new results.
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