by Joseph Rhea
“How fast is not fast?” Raines asked.
“Speed over ground reads one point three meters per second, which is just under five kilometers per hour.” She powered her station back down then looked up at Jake. “Not bad, Captain. That’s nearly half of what we were doing with thrusters.”
Jake looked back at Jessie. “You better start pinging vertically now. Let us know when we are within one hundred meters of the Surface.”
“A hundred meters?” Vee gasped. “No one, and I mean no one, has ever been that close. Ever.”
“What if we accidentally hit it?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t plan to hit the Surface,” Jake said, “which is why I’m having you watch it with your ears. I want to get as much altitude as I can before we flood ballast tanks and start back down.”
“But what if we do hit it?” she asked again. “What if we crack the Surface?”
Raines sighed. “Are you afraid that we will all be sucked out into space?”
Jessie nodded her head. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Every school kid knows the Law of Pressure. For every ten meters you climb, the pressure drops one atmosphere. At some point, just beyond the Surface ice, the pressure has to reach zero. As in a vacuum. As in empty space.”
“That’s why we have a solid ice Surface at the top of the ocean,” Vee agreed. “It separates us from the vacuum of space.”
“So, you believe the ‘Ice Ball’ theory of our world?” Raines asked. “That our world is a big ball of water, with an icy outer crust.”
Vee tilted her head. “Doesn’t everybody?”
Raines sat back. “Well, I for one—”
“Bilge!” Jessie screamed. “I wasn’t watching. Sixty meters and closing quickly!”
It took a second for Jake to realize what she was talking about. “Power down, quick!” he yelled then looked at Raines. “Fill the tanks as soon as you can. As fast as you can.”
As they quickly followed his orders, Jake turned and looked out the forward viewport. He dropped low to try to look up, but without the low-light filters, it was completely black out there. But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he thought he saw a faint light from above.
“Tanks are filling, and we’re slowing,” Raines called out. “Vee, get ready to drop our bow when we start our descent.”
“Hold on,” Jake said without taking his eyes from the viewport. “Hold at this depth.”
“Holding,” Raines said.
“What’s wrong, Captain?” AJ asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Jake replied, “but you all need to come see this.” Out of the forward viewport and becoming visible out every viewport on the bridge, a glowing sheet of ice stretched out above them in all directions.
“Is that the Surface?” Vee asked.
“Why is it glowing?” Jessie asked. “What’s making it glow?”
Raines stood beside Jake, his eyes as wide as anyone’s. “This is a profound discovery,” he whispered. “We need to study this, record this, or at least make notes of what we are witnessing first hand.”
“That’s where I’m from,” Jane’s small voice said from the back of the room. Jake looked back and saw her compressed into a fetal position by the stairwell.
He walked back to her and kneeled beside her. “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered. “You’re just confused. We found you in a jungle dome, remember?”
She seemed to look through him. “Before that. Before I was born.”
He gently took her by the shoulders. “You’re not making sense, Jane.”
Her eyes suddenly focused on him. “That’s where they’ll come from too.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand. Who?”
“Three…two…one,” she counted down. “One,” she repeated then reached out and held Jake by the face. “One.”
“I’ll take her downstairs to her quarters,” Jessie offered. “She sometimes says crazy things when she gets tired. I think she’s just a little overwhelmed by all of this.”
“I think we all are,” Jake said as he stood up. As the two headed down the stairs, he said, “Have Wood check in on her. I need you back up here.” Jessie nodded and then headed down with Jane.
“So, what’s your theory on this?” Vee was asking her grandfather as Jake returned to the bow.
Raines shook his head. “I’m afraid that I don’t have one yet, dear. This phenomena is…unprecedented.”
“Second only to making first contact with the isopods, right?” she replied. She looked back at Jake as he approached. “How does it feel to make two monumental discoveries during one trip, Captain?”
Jake looked back out of the viewport. “To be honest, I’m not all that excited. Maybe if we weren’t all alone out here and on the verge of certain death, I’d be celebrating more.”
“Wow,” AJ said as she turned away from the side viewport and sat down at the navigation station. “You really know how to kill a mood.” As she said those words, he suddenly flashed back to his talk with Jane a few days earlier and then with AJ in his quarters right before the crash. She was right, he realized. He did have a knack for killing moods.
“All right, people,” he said, “let’s prepare for descent. Same drill as before, only this time we will be going down.” He looked at Raines and Vee and said, “We’ll be visiting the Surface every few hours from this point on. I think you’ll have plenty of opportunities to study it later.”
Before Raines could respond, Jessie came up the stairs. “Jane is in her quarters, and I asked Wood to check in on her. I think she’ll be fine.”
Jake nodded then addressed the crew. “Okay, now that we know this works, let’s see if we can turn it into a routine that we can handle without all of us being up here at once. We’ve still got a long trip ahead of us, and we will need to start our shifts again.”
“I’ll keep track of our forward velocity and try to figure out the best ascent and descent rates,” Vee said. “We might be able to stretch it out to two hour glides.”
“Good idea,” AJ said. “The fewer times we have to blow or fill ballast tanks, the better. Plus, if we can stretch out the gliding portions, we should be able to get by with one or two people on the bridge at a time.”
Jake smiled to himself, realizing how lucky he was to have a crew like this. Even Cole himself would have approved.
Chapter 13
Two days later, Jake was heading to his quarters when AJ stepped through her door across the hallway. “Turning in early?” she asked.
“Actually, I’m…” He couldn’t think of a way to say it that didn’t sound stupid. “I’m going to do a little writing.”
“In the book?”
“Wait. You know about the book?”
She nodded. “Jane gave all of us copies, with instructions to tell our version of events since we’ve been onboard the ship. But I think you’re the only one who has admitted to writing in it yet.”
His earlier embarrassment faded. “To be honest, it does calm my nerves a bit. I thought writing about the past year would be like living in the past, but it feels good getting it on paper.”
She smiled. “You sound like Norman. I think you need to get off the ship for a while.”
Now he smiled. “Wouldn’t that be nice.”
“No, I mean it. You should visit Rem Town tonight.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re involved in that.”
She shrugged. “We all are, even Dr. Wood.”
He shook his head. “I never got into shared dreaming, even back when I was a kid. It seems a little too personal for me.”
“With the rec room shut down, we don’t have an easy way to escape the daily routine. Rem Town may not be as versatile as a true simulation, but it’s still pretty nice.”
“So, it really doesn’t use any external power?”
Her eyes widened. “You’re telling me that you’ve never tried it? In your entire life?”
He shuffled his feet.
“My parents were pretty strict when I was a kid. They said they worked long hours to give me access to the surface dome and therefore didn’t let me do any simulations at all.”
She stepped back inside her quarters then brought out a pair of ear buds and handed them to him. “I’m on shift in a few minutes, so you can use mine. Vee and Jane are connected right now, so if you hurry, you can catch up with them. Vee can show you around the place. She’s the one who did most of the work setting it up.”
He looked at the dreamset in his hands. “I don’t know how to use these.”
She put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him towards his door. “Lay back on your bed and stick them in your ears. There’s nothing to it.” He wanted to ask more questions, but she turned and said, “Just close your eyes and enjoy the experience. Look for Vee; she usually hangs out in the club.”
“How do I find it?” he called after her, but his door closed before he could finish.
He looked at the open book on his desk and then at his bed. Maybe for an hour or so, he thought, just to see what it was like.
The moment he closed his eyes, he found himself in the center of a brightly-lit city at night. The buildings around him were impossibly tall, nothing that could actually fit inside a real dome. And there were people everywhere, more people than he had ever seen on the streets of Capitol City. Of course, there, most people lived below the streets, down in the lower levels. Only the rich and well-connected ever spent much time topside.
AJ said that he would find Vee and Jane in a place called The Club, and as he thought those words, a passerby stopped and pointed towards his right and nodded her head. This was a dream simulation, he reminded himself, so people reading his mind was probably to be expected.
It took him a few minutes to figure out how to walk normally. In recreation rooms, walking meant utility fog sliding under your feet and took some getting used to for first timers. Here, it was actually much easier once you let go of the fact that your body was lying in your bed, and just tried to live in the moment.
A few blocks away he found what he was looking for; a large circular building with the words “The Club” in giant, multicolored flashing letters. Inside, he discovered that it was a dance club, and it was so crowded he could barely move. Even so, after so many months living aboard the Wave, the room seemed huge, and the crowd felt welcoming. Everyone had a drink in hand, and the music was blaring. He could have just stood there in that one spot for the next hour and would have enjoyed the experience.
When an attractive woman walked up and offered him a tall glass from a tray she was carrying, he awkwardly brushed the hair over his ear and felt an ear bud, a stark reminder that this was all a fantasy. He could have pulled the buds out at that moment, ending the dream. Instead, he accepted the drink, thanked the woman politely, and then proceeded to look for his two crew members.
He found them a few minutes later, standing next to each other on the far end of the circular dance floor. He dodged his way through the crowd of dancers and watchers then slid up behind them unnoticed.
“Having fun?” he asked.
Jane turned first. “Jake! So glad you joined us.”
Vee was less excited to see him. “What are you doing here, Captain? Is my shift up?”
He shook his head as he watched a couple dancing nearby. “Relax,” he said. “I’m off duty too. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And besides, this isn’t me, remember? I’m in my quarters.”
“Well, in that case,” Vee said, swallowing her drink and grabbing one of his hands. Jane did the same as they pulled him on to the dance floor.
“No, thank you,” he said as he tried to politely pull away from them. “I don’t dance.”
“This isn’t you, remember?” Vee said as she started gyrating to the music, still holding on to his hand.
Jane copied her movements perfectly, almost as though she was mirroring her. “Come on, Jake. Loosen up.”
He felt awkward at first, but with the heavy beat of the music vibrating in his chest, it helped him relax a bit. Even the drink tasted more real than a rec room version, which surprised him. He silently scolded his parents for not allowing him an experience like this.
The beat suddenly dropped its tempo, and he saw people around him taking partners to slow dance. Vee smiled and pushed Jane towards him. “I’ll take the next dance,” she said then grabbed another man and spun away into the crowd.
Jane put her arms around his torso and pressed her body tight against his. It felt more like hugging than dancing as they swayed back and forth to the music, but he wasn’t complaining. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So, this must be what relaxing feels like, he said to himself.
Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head and saw Captain Steele staring at him from the crowd, her face stone-like and scowling. He blinked once, and she was gone. Hoping it was just his imagination, he looked back at Jane but saw only the hooded people beyond the window of his now-familiar Interrogation Chamber.
“We don’t have time for these diversions,” one of them said.
He felt the hand of the doctor on his shoulder. “I’m sorry that we had to bring you back, Captain Stone,” she whispered. “Some of the less moderate members of your jury want me to end this interrogation.”
He tried to look up at her, his eyes still adjusting to the brightness of the room. “I’m all for ending this,” he said.
She looked down at him. “I don’t think you understand. Ending it early means that they get to pass judgment on you without further evidence. We still don’t know what happened to your ship and its crew.”
“I will not end this interrogation until I have the facts,” Captain Steele’s voice said from behind him. “However, in the interest of time, I will allow the doctor to advance the subject’s memories a full week to see if we can—”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Captain,” the doctor interrupted. “The most I can give you is two days, three maximum. Otherwise we risk damaging the subject.” Since when did I lose my name and become “the subject”? Jake thought.
“I’m not concerned with risk to the subject,” Steele replied. “I’m only concerned with getting the facts.”
The doctor’s hand tightened on Jake’s shoulder. “Advancing his memories too quickly also degrades the accuracy of the recall process. If you want the facts, you need to let me do my job.”
There was a long pause before Steele spoke. “Very well, Doctor. Advance the memories three days, and let’s both hope we find our answers soon.”
There was malice in Steele’s voice, but when the doctor relaxed her grip on his shoulder, he guessed the reason. The doctor was bluffing about the accuracy of his memories degrading. She was trying to help him. She was on his side after all. He looked up, hoping to catch her eyes, hoping to silently thank her. But as before, he felt something cold on his neck, and then he was back on his ship.
Chapter 14
“You haven’t answered my question,” AJ was saying. Startled by the sudden shift in location, he stumbled backwards against something hard and pointed. He looked around and realized he was inside the cargo bay with his back against the Walker.
“What question?” he nearly yelled but then coughed from the effort.
AJ looked a mess. Her hair, usually worn in a tight Shipper-style ponytail, was hanging down around her face. “Are you kidding me?” she wheezed. “I don’t have the energy to repeat myself.” She bent over and tried to catch her breath then stood and faced him. “I agree with Dr. Wood’s plan, but I think I need to stay awake with you. One more set of lungs can’t make a difference.”
Then it came back to him. Dr. Wood’s plan. It was the twenty-first day of their journey, five days after turning the Wave into a glider, and the ship was running out of oxygen. The scrubbers were still working, removing carbon dioxide from the air, but human bodies used oxygen, and they were running out. Without enough energ
y to pull oxygen from the seawater, they had no other option than to keep moving forward, hoping to reach their goal before their onboard supply ran out.
Wood, who had previously been more hindrance than help during their three-week journey, had risen to the occasion when asked for solutions to their predicament. His suggestion was to place the entire crew in medically-induced comas, to lower their metabolic rates to near-death levels in order to conserve air. The idea was radical and dangerous, but they were desperate, and it was the only solution that made sense.
“The doc thinks we need everybody asleep in order for this to work.”
“Everyone but you,” she corrected.
“Yes,” he replied. “Someone has to steer the ship, keep us moving forward, monitor communications, look for our new home.”
“You can’t do it alone,” she pleaded, her voice sounding uncharacteristically childlike. “You need me.”
He walked over and put his arms around her. It wasn’t something a captain would normally do, but this wasn’t a normal time, and this was AJ. “What I need is the air you are sucking up right now,” he said, patting her back. “Everyone except you and Wood are already asleep, and he’s waiting for you in your quarters.”
She stepped away and stiffly saluted him. “Sir. Yes, sir. Reporting to my quarters, sir.”
She turned to leave, and he was about to stop her, but then he let her walk out of the room without a word. Nothing he could say would make it any better. If things were reversed, if she was the captain and he was her first mate, he would insist on staying awake as well. On top of that, AJ was a fighter, and she would rather face death wide awake than die unaware in her sleep.
By the time he left the cargo bay and returned to the staging area, Dr. Wood was just coming down the stairs from B-deck. “Is it done?” Jake asked.
Wood nodded. “Now if you will assist me, I will join them.”
Jake followed him back to his own quarters in the rear, right next to Jane’s room. She had been the first to volunteer for the procedure, which involved attaching a number of dermal medical patches to her arms and then lying back on her bed. He was sure she would have had something to say before the drugs took her away from him, some final thought, or perhaps one of her riddles to perplex him in the days to follow, but she didn’t. She just looked at him, smiled, and then closed her eyes.
