“Define ages.” Miller crossed his arms.
Sarah shrugged. “Six or seven months.”
“Okay. That gives us half a year to figure out where to procure more.”
Several faces dropped around the room. They were coming to understand what may be ahead of them. Braxton could see it in their eyes. That was good.
Miller resumed pacing. “Food will be more of a problem. We took on enough to feed the passengers and crew for a two-week cruise. We’ll have to start rationing immediately.”
“If we do that, Captain, we could get complaints.” Glen Price shifted in his seat.
Several of the senior staff gave him raised eyebrows and rolled their eyes.
Glen’s expression remained resolute.
“These people have paid top credit for their place on this cruise. They’ll be expecting a certain level of service.”
“I understand that Mr Price,” Miller said in a calm tone. “If any of them do complain, please let them know they’re welcome to take the first available shuttle back to Earth.”
Glen nodded.
Braxton sniggered under his breath. And the prize for the crew member they didn’t need went to …
“But you raise an important point,” Miller said. “Passenger morale. These people came on board expecting a holiday. They’re expecting to be pampered and have their every wish met. There’ll be unrest as soon as they realise many of those expectations are going to go unmet.
“That’s my point Captain.”
“Worse than that, people are going to be on the verge of panic because of what’s happened on Earth.” The captain placed his hands on the table and stared at Glen. “Your job is to keep the passengers calm. The last thing we need is a riot. To that end, carry on with the entertainments.”
Braxton shrugged. The captain had a point. Maybe this trumped-up bellhop would serve a purpose after all.
“Absolutely Captain,” Glen said. “As they say—the show must go on.”
“Let’s hope all our entertainment staff believes in that old adage.” Miller pressed a control on his wristband.
Everyone else focused their attention above the conference table. What were they looking at? Jaylen locked eyes with Braxton.
“Let me just grant you security clearance.” Jaylen tapped his wristband, then swiped at the air. A three-dimensional map of the sector snapped into existence. So that was what they’d all been looking at.
Miller waved his hand and the image zoomed out. A pointer followed the direction of his finger.
“I think we should head here. It’s outside the border of what we would consider Earth-controlled space. We can see the odd alien ship dotted around Earth space, but there’s nothing out this far.”
“That’s also relatively unexplored space, Captain,” Maya pointed out.
Miller nodded. “That’s true, which of course means the possibility of unknown dangers. But we’ll be clear of the aliens.”
Braxton leaned forward. “What kind of armaments does this ship have?”
“Armaments?” Miller snorted. “This is a cruise ship, Commander.”
“I’m aware of that. What kind of armaments?”
Miller sighed. “There are two small disruptors. They’re designed to incapacitate a pirate ship long enough for us to escape.”
“Thank you.” Braxton stood. “It’s not enough.”
Miller’s face clouded.
“We need weapons. We’re in the middle of a war zone.”
“This is a ship full of civilians.” Miller’s gaze hardened. “We’re not going to war. Our intention here is to flee, not to fight.”
“I agree, but we need to be able to defend ourselves.” Braxton pointed at the route Miller had drawn on the map. “What do you see here, Captain?”
“The most direct route out of the danger zone.”
“I see an opportunity for ambush. We could meet an alien ship anywhere along this course.”
“There are no alien ships along this course.”
“Not now, but there could be soon. From what little we’ve seen, we know these things are fast. What we don’t know is where they came from. And whether there are more waiting outside Earth-controlled space.”
Miller crossed his arms. “What are you suggesting?”
Braxton reached and pinched the projection near a green speck. It zoomed in to show an Earth warship. “This is an Earth ship. It’s sitting there, dead in space. What does that tell you?”
“It’s probably all but destroyed.” Miller frowned.
“Exactly. One of our downed ships they didn’t bother to completely destroy. It could still have working weapons. It’s a perfect opportunity, and it doesn’t take us too far off your prescribed course.”
Miller gasped. “You want to raid a ghost ship for guns? As you pointed out yourself, there could be aliens nearby.”
“The risk is worth it. Some day we are going to come face to face with an alien ship. If we’re not armed and ready, we won’t survive that day.
Miller shook his head. “I won’t do it.”
“Captain—” Braxton said, but was cut off.
“You seem to forget we have a thousand passengers on board. Civilians. Ordinary people. Every second we stay in the danger zone puts them at risk. My first and only priority is to get them out of reach of the enemy.” Miller waved the projection off and leaned across the table at Braxton.
“I cannot and will not condone your shopping expedition.” He stretched to his full height. “Meeting over. Dismissed.”
Braxton glared at the captain. This was going to be a hard road.
Chapter Ten
Haylee took a deep breath to steel herself. Everything would be different out there today. Tensions would be high. People would be a little crazy. The kids wouldn’t understand. Austen wouldn’t understand. She leaned her head against Ronald’s shoulder.
“We’ll have to tell them.” Ronald stroked her shoulder.
“I know. We can’t avoid it, but maybe we can delay it.”
He pulled back. Haylee looked at him. There was a weariness in his eyes she’d never seen before.
“I want to protect them from this. I want to keep them safe.”
“We can’t.” Ronald shook his head.
“Not today, okay,” she said. “I want to give them one last ordinary day. We’ll go get some breakfast, then we’ll take them to do something fun. Elsie wants to play minigolf. We’ll do that.”
“People are going to be talking about it all over the ship. The kids won’t understand—especially Austen.”
“I know, and maybe we’ll have no choice but to explain it all to them, but let’s at least try. Okay?”
Ronald nodded. “Okay. It’s a plan. One last normal day.”
She glanced around the room. The unmade bed mocked her. She and Ronald had been up all night. They couldn’t sleep, not after what the Captain had said in his broadcast.
They hugged, then Ronald walked over and opened the door to the kid’s bedroom. “C’mon you two. It’s breakfast time.”
Austen scrambled out of the room. “I want bacon and eggs again, Daddy.”
Ronald ruffled Austen’s hair. “Sure thing, buddy. You can have whatever you want.”
The hallway was silent. No doubt everyone was hiding in their rooms, trying to process what had happened. They probably wouldn’t meet many people at breakfast. They took the lift up to the main promenade level and stepped out.
A roar of voices hit them square in the face. There were people everywhere, some milling about in the middle of the promenade. Some were yelling, some were screaming, and a few seemed like they were trying to get coherent sentences out. Security guards circled the group trying to keep things calm, grabbing people and dragging them out of the way when they started to get violent. Ronald put his arm out, blocking the path of the kids.
Ronald turned to Haylee. “Everyone stay in the lift, okay?”
She nodded.
&n
bsp; Ronald took a few steps out. Haylee peered after him. A young man wearing a suit and tie stood on the raised platform usually reserved for performers serenading shoppers, flanked by security on either side. The cruise director—she recognised him from the floor show the other night. He was waving his arms about, pleading with the crowd to calm down. His lapel microphone amplified his voice.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Austen asked.
“Nothing for you to worry about, sweetie.”
“Please calm down, everyone,” the cruise director said. “Captain Miller is doing everything possible to ensure your safety and survival. The best thing you can do is go about your day as normal. All of today’s entertainments will be going ahead as planned.”
The crowd roared at this.
“It’s not hiding from the truth. It’s waiting out what’s happening. There’s nothing any of you can do to help, so you need to stay out of the way of the crew. Let them do their jobs.”
“Mom, I wanna go to breakfast.” Austen yanked on Haylee’s arm.
“We may never see Earth again,” a man in the crowd yelled. “And you want us to listen to show tunes?”
Ronald turned and walked back into the lift with them. “I’ve seen enough,” he said. “We’ll find another way to the restaurant, or we’ll find someplace else to eat.”
“Mom, what did that man mean?” Elsie asked.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Will we never see Earth again?” Austen asked. “I want to see Earth again. What about grandma?”
Haylee looked into Ronald’s eyes. She clenched her fists and sniffed, trying to hold in the tears. She sniffed. Must hold it together. She was okay. She had to be okay.
“Kids,” she said as the elevator door closed. “There’s something we need to talk to you about over breakfast.”
Her walls of control crumbled and the tears trickled down.
#
Les flopped into the seat behind his desk and tapped on his keyboard. He preferred real keyboards to virtual ones, so he always kept one in his office.
He called up a star chart. Maya was right—they were heading towards unexplored space. He needed a plan of action for when they made it out of Earth-controlled territory.
The passengers had reacted badly to the news. Glen had his hands full trying to calm them down, and the security team was almost overwhelmed. They may need to recruit more security, but from where? Other staff positions? Passengers?
Les stared at their planned course. Every light-second they travelled brought them new information on the long-range sensors. Les peered at the screen, hungry for any hints about the area of space they were heading into.
So far, the screen had shown him little but the odd unremarkable star. It wasn’t as if humanity knew nothing about these regions of space. Mankind had been staring into telescopes for centuries, but looking from the safety of Earth and actually being out here were two very different things.
Food was going to be a problem. Their supplies would have to be replenished, and soon. No Earth-Analogue planets yet. A new star system scrolled into view. Les zoomed in. There was a planet in the habitable zone. No guarantee they’d find food, but it was a start.
His wristband beeped. Les tapped it.
“Captain.” Maya. “You remember I told you that Dalia Spring was on board?”
Les groaned. That stuck-up billionaire. “Yes?”
“She wants you to visit her.”
“Excuse me?”
“She wants a meeting with you, in her cabin.”
“Who does this woman think she is? Talk about self-important.” He clenched his jaw. “Just because she has money, she thinks she can order the captain of the ship about.”
Maya said nothing. “Shall I tell her you’re unavailable, Captain?”
Les crossed his arms. “You can tell her I’m trying to save all our lives. I’m not dropping what I’m doing to visit her, or anyone. If she wants to talk to me, she can make an appointment to see me in my office.”
“Yes Captain.” Maya hesitated. “I suppose I could accidentally send her directions to the airlock, rather than your office, but I know how you hate the paperwork when a passenger takes a walk outside without a suit.”
Les grunted a laugh. Maya smiled. “That’s better.”
Les returned the smile. “Thanks, Maya.”
“I’ll leave you to it.”
Les thrust his finger through the projected disconnect icon.
The long range sensor display popped back up. Sensors indicated high levels of solar radiation. Les clenched his jaw. The planet was radioactive. No options for food there.
#
An oppressive blanket of silence hung over the restaurant. Haylee surveyed the subdued faces around her. These people had all given up.
“So that’s why everybody is so frightened,” Ronald said. The kids stared at him, wide-eyed.
Haylee leaned down to meet their eyes. “I know you’re scared, but we’re not in any danger here on the ship. Dad and I are here with you. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
She kissed them both on the forehead. They nodded but their faces remained downcast.
A waitress appeared and motioned them to a table. Once they were seated she finally spoke.
“We have less food out this morning and we are limiting the buffet to one plate per passenger. The captain has instituted food rationing.”
“Understandable.” Ronald nodded.
“You hear that, kids?” Haylee asked. “One plate, so think carefully about what you want.”
They both nodded.
“Off you go.”
She leaned close to Ronald as the kids wandered over to the buffet. “I guess that went as well as can be expected. I’m concerned about them.”
“They’re resilient. Kids don’t worry as much as we do, they’ll trust us to make it all okay.”
“I’m not sure about Elsie. She’s practically a teenager. Haven’t you noticed how she overreacts to things?”
“We’ll have to keep a close eye on her.”
“It’s not just them I’m worried about. What’s going to happen if the other passengers don’t calm down? We could have a full-blown riot. I don’t want the kids mixed up in that.”
“We’ll hide in our cabin if we have to.”
“Things could get ugly.”
He nodded.
“Nobody seemed to be listening to the cruise director. There’s nothing we can do. That’s what he said. Still, nobody wants to sit around and pretend to have a vacation when the world is ending around them.”
“He’s right, though. The best we can do for the moment is sit tight.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Haylee poured a glass of water from the bottle on the table. “Then again …”
Ronald raised his eyebrows. “What? I can see your brain ticking away behind those pretty eyes. What are you thinking?”
“Only that I’m an out—of—work astroengineer.”
“Yeah?”
“And maybe they could use an extra hand with all the trouble. If someone gets hurt or killed … it’s not like they can get replacements from Earth.”
“Killed?”
Haylee shrugged. “Or even burned out. We’re a closed-off community and we might be on this ship a long time. I might actually be able to contribute something to the crew. I have a valuable skill that’s directly applicable to our situation.”
“And they’d probably appreciate knowing that there was somebody on board who could help out.”
“Exactly.”
Ronald nodded. “So what are you going to do?”
She tapped on her wristband. “I’m going to send that cruise director a message.”
Chapter Eleven
Braxton smiled. The crew mess was a maelstrom of human activity. This was more his style than a cruise. It was hard to believe he was on the same ship. This wasn’t much different from the mess back on the Hobart. Crew o
f various positions and rank milled about, lined up for food, and scoffed it down quick as they could.
Yes, this was home.
“I hope you like pasta,” Maya said. “We eat masses of the stuff here.”
“I like pasta just fine.” Braxton nodded. “Good honest fuel for the body.”
“Well, we could all use some fuel. Stress takes it out of you. At least, it does me.”
“Dunno about stress, but after pouring over star charts and ship schematics all morning, I’m drained.”
“Found a workable defence plan?”
Braxton shook his head. “There’s no way this ship can survive an encounter with even a single alien ship. We’re on a bloated whale with no teeth. I have to convince the captain to reconsider his plan. That derelict wreck was our best chance. Jewel of the Stars will never be a mean fighting machine, but maybe we can give her some fangs.”
“Sounds like you need to find some common ground with the captain.” Maya pointed to a table. “Look, he’s put in an appearance.”
“Does he always eat in the mess with the rest of the crew?”
“Not all the time, but often. We should sit with him. You go take a seat and I’ll line up for us.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Braxton nodded. “Cheers.”
He headed over to the table and sat down opposite the captain. “Hope you don’t mind, but Maya invited me to have lunch with you lot.”
“She can be a persuasive woman. I was planning to skip lunch today but she threatened to drag me down.”
“Seems we’re both the victims of her enthusiasm for body fuel.” Braxton chuckled.
“Settling in okay?” Miller put his knife and fork down. “I know you weren’t planning on working this trip.”
“I live for this. I never liked cruises anyway. I wanted to get back out into space.” He gestured about the room, “this is where I belong. This is heaven to me.”
“Good for you, Commander.” He returned to his meal.
Jewel of The Stars - Season 1 Episode 1 - Earth's Remnant Page 5
