Phoenix In Chaos (Exodus)

by Robert Stadnik

  “What was your function?” asked Thresha.

  “I was created to maintain the operation of the planet, research a means to undo the Screen’s modification of the atmosphere, and protect the planet from invaders.”

  “Your defense of the planet leaves a lot to be desired,” commented Alex’sis.

  “Your statement is an assessment of my substandard duties regarding planetary defense,” said Vish. “I have been unable to keep up with the equipment degradation occurring on the planet. Approximately three of your years ago the primary adjunct network to main defense control was destroyed in a fire and I lost control of all defense systems. With no secondary network to reconnect, the systems have powered down to standby.”

  Drix spoke up. “You said you have been directed to find a means to undo the attack on the atmosphere. What is your progress on that?”

  “My research has been limited to data simulations,” said Vish. “Access to the Senfo government science facility was disrupted eight of your years ago. As a result, I have been unable to conduct live tests of my theories.”

  “Captain,” said Alex’sis. “If we could get a hold of Vish’s research, we might be able to try and restore the planet’s atmosphere.”

  “I’m all for it,” replied John. He looked at Julie. “Have all the science departments focus their efforts on this. If we can save the Senfo from this catastrophe, let’s do it.”

  “I’ve already confirmed that we can operate in environmental suits on the planet,” said Myers. “We should evaluate the stasis pods and determine how they operate before attempting to free them.”

  “Fine, I’ll leave you to it.” John couldn’t help but come across cold to the doctor, as he was still angry with him about not coming forward about Admiral Johnson’s dementia.

  “We should deploy our fighters to patrol the area,” recommended Alex’sis. “In case the Screen patrol this area of space.”

  “Good idea,” said John. “It sounds like we’re going to be here awhile. So I want a constant rotation of fighters doing patrols in the system.”

  “Captain,” said Donavin. “We’ve added a sub-routine to Vish that would allow it to control our bots. We should send some down to help with fixing any equipment that might help us.”

  “Agreed,” said John. “I’ll leave it up to you to decide how many bots will be needed.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Commander, do you have a moment?”

  “Of course, doctor.” Julie was heading down to science lab three to get an update on the scientists’ efforts in restoring the Senfo planet’s atmosphere. PHOENIX had been in orbit around the planet for almost four weeks now working on it.

  “Normally, I’d bring this to the captain, but he’s made it clear he wants nothing to do with me.”

  “I’m sorry about that.” Julie was going to talk to John about it. He needed to stop blaming Myers for Nicole’s death. John was still reviewing Admiral Johnson’s personal logs and confided in Julie his fear that he would learn of more deaths at the hands of the admiral.

  “I’m giving him as much room as I can,” said Myers. “However, I have a pressing matter. Do you remember Betty Christen.”

  “I do.” Betty was an engineer who was involved with Jeffrey McCail, the man killed by the Io a few months back.

  “Betty gave birth to a son last night,” said Myers.

  Julie stopped walking. “What?”

  “I’ve been providing her prenatal care for the past few months,” said Myers. “She refused to permit me to divulge her pregnancy with anyone. Commander, I know the ship rule mandating no procreation, but what’s done is done.”

  Everyone who joined the EXODUS Project agreed not to have children. The ship’s mission was too much of a risk to have an increasing population occurring on the ship that would require more resources as time went on. Both John and Julie agreed with the mandate when they came on board.

  “Who’s the father?” But Julie felt she already knew that answer.

  “Jeffrey McCail,” said Myers. “Even if she did ask about terminating the pregnancy, it would have been difficult considering the father’s dead.”

  “I understand,” reassured Julie. “But the captain isn’t going to like this.”

  “I’m afraid the baby’s birth will be known around the ship soon,” said Myers. “Nurse Fuchi is already talking about posting a baby welcome video on the ship’s feeds.”

  “Great,” said Julie. This was something she needed to tell John before he found out through the rumor mill. “Do me a favor. Go to science lab three and get their status report. I’ll go see the captain. Computer, location of the captain?”

  “Captain Roberts is in his office on the command deck.”

  Minutes later she was up there telling him about the baby. She almost cringed as she saw the look on his face, which was stone cold. He said very little, only telling Julie to follow him. They went down to medical where John stood in front of the incubator, looking at PHOENIX’s newest addition. He just stood and looked at the baby, saying nothing. Nurse Fuchi saw them and started to approach, ready to tell the captain all about the birth. But Julie quickly waved her away.

  Soon the silence was too much for Julie. “Are you going to say something?”

  “What do you want me to say?” It was clear John was mad.

  “That you’re upset, happy, something.”

  “I’m pissed off,” said John, trying to keep his voice down so as not to wake the baby. “What idiot thinks it’s a good idea to have a kid on this ship?”

  “John…”

  “No, I mean it. I know people get horny and need to get their rocks off, but that’s no excuse to throw common sense out the window. We all made a commitment here. This isn’t a place to have a family.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked Julie.

  “Flush it out an airlock,” replied John sarcastically.

  “That’s not funny.”

  “What can I do? She had a kid. I can’t do anything about it now.”

  Myers saw John and Julie by the incubator as he entered medical. He dreaded going over, but knew he had to confront the captain about this sooner or later.

  “Here’s the status report,” Myers said as he handed the DAT to Julie.

  “Boy, you just can’t help yourself,” John said to Myers. “You just have to stick to the doctor patient privilege rule no matter what.”

  “I had to respect Betty’s privacy,” said Myers.

  “Well at least no one got murdered over it.”

  “Captain,” said Julie. His comment hit a nerve with Myers.

  “Any other pregnancies you want to tell me about?” John asked Myers. “Or are you just going to let me be surprised?”

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Myers said as he quickly hurried to his office.

  “That was uncalled for,” Julie said upset.

  “The hell it was,” said John. “He’s lucky I haven’t flushed him out the airlock.”

  “That’s enough!” said Julie. She understood John’s animosity towards the doctor, but she wasn’t about to let the captain continue to bad-mouth Myers.

  “Hey, I’m…” John realized he was getting worked up. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that…forget it. I don’t want to talk about it.” John elected to keep Myers as chief medical officer, but he was wrestling with that decision. How could he continue to work with a man he blamed for his sister’s death?

  “I can’t imagine what you’ve gone though,” said Julie. “But do you think Myers would have allowed Johnson to continue running the project if he really knew what he had been doing?”

  John didn’t want to answer that. Giving Myers any benefit of the doubt felt like a betrayal to Nicole, and the young captain couldn’t go there. He looked around and saw Betty laying in a nearby bed. She smiled and waved at him like a giddy school girl.

  “Doesn’t he look just like his father,” said Betty as John came to her bedside
.

  “Yeah, he does.” The only image of Jeffrey McCail John had was his head sitting in a container on the Io planet. He quickly dismissed that image from his mind.

  “How you feeling?” asked Julie, joining the pair.

  “Oh, I feel great,” said Betty. “Doctor Myers was wonderful and he said the baby is perfectly healthy. I can’t wait to tell Jeffrey the good news.”

  “Who?” asked John, caught off-guard by her statement.

  “Jeffrey. He’s going to be so happy to learn he’s a father.”

  John and Julie exchanged looks of concern. “Betty, Jeffrey’s dead,” said Julie.

  “I thought so too,” said Betty. “But Chris was mistaken when he told me the news. As soon as the doctor says I’m ready, I’m taking my baby to see his father.”

  “And where do you think Jeffrey is?” asked Julie.

  “He’s in the Io computer module in medical storage,” said Betty. “I was going to ask that Jeffrey be released from storage months ago, but I wanted to wait until the baby was born. He’s going to be so surprised.”

  “Betty, that computer module isn’t Jeff,” said John. “Jeff’s dead, and I can’t risk activating an alien device we know little about.”

  Betty’s smile disappeared and she quickly became agitated. “What? You can’t keep Jeffrey locked up. It’s cruel. He has a family now. You can’t keep him from us. It’s not right!”

  “Hey, Betty. Easy, easy,” said Julie, calming her down. “You need to rest and get better for your baby. Once we get you back home, we’ll talk about seeing Jeff.”

  Julie’s soothing words made Betty feel better. “Thank you, commander. I knew you’d understand.”

  John stepped away and went to the entry to medical. As soon as Julie finished talking to Betty, she joined him.

  “Great!” said John as Julie joined him. “I’ve got a mother whose also a psychotic lunatic.”

  “Chris said she was devastated by McCail’s death,” said Julie. “I didn’t realize it had gotten so bad.”

  “Let Myers know and have him notify Professor Harthy,” said John, referring to the ship’s lead psychiatrist.

  “It’s possible they may recommend she interacts with the module, as part of treating her,” said Julie.

  “The idea of turning that thing on scares the hell out of me,” said John.

  “We may not have a choice,” said Julie. “If it’s the only way to begin Betty’s recovery process.”

  She was right, John couldn’t deny it. “If it means helping one of our crew members, I’ll consider it. I just hope we can avoid turning that thing on.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  A few days had passed since John learned about the first child being born on PHOENIX. Strangely enough, he had already gotten used to the idea of a baby on the ship. He was concerned more about Betty. She seemed almost delusional when she talked about Jeffrey McCail. She clearly believed he was alive and inside that alien computer box in medical storage. John never once believed that Jeff was that thing, even when it was spouting off what it knew about the PHOENIX. He should have had it destroyed and began questioning why they still had it. Several of the ship’s scientists wanted to reactivate it so they could learn how it operated, but John refused. He only allowed cursory examinations of the module. But in the back of his mind, something was nagging him to destroy it. But for whatever reason, he chose not to do so. Maybe it was because in John’s deep subconscious, he wanted to believe that Jeffrey’s mind was in the module.

  “Rough day?” asked Mario as he set a mimosa down on the table.

  “You have no idea,” said John, grateful for the interruption. “You want to be captain for awhile? I need a break.”

  “No thanks,” said Mario. “And you’re doing a fine job. What don’t you let me get you some food?”

  “My stomach is so tied up in knots I don’t even want to think about eating.”

  The café owner patted John on the back. “Alright then. Let me know if you change your mind. But don’t let whatever’s on your mind get to you.”

  “Am I that transparent?”

  “Anyone can see you were deep in thought,” said Mario. “Captain’s aren’t suppose to carry the world on their shoulders. That’s why they have executive officers.”

  “Point taken,” said John.

  The young captain fiddled with his glass as Mario left him to attend to other customers. John continued to think about Betty. Her and the baby were released from medical and back in her quarters, being looked after by psychiatrist Neeman Harthy. John hoped that Neeman would advised Betty not to speak with the Io module. John felt that no good could come from it.

  “Excuse me, captain.” John looked up to see a woman. “I’m Ashley Fluente, one of your sociologists. Do you have a couple of minutes?”

  “Sure,” said John, motioning for her to sit down. “You want anything?”

  Ashley shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Ok, then what can I do for you?”

  “I wanted to talk about the baby the engineer had recently,” said Ashley

  “Betty? What about her?”

  “I find it extremely irresponsible for that woman to have a child. Everyone was aware what was expected of them when they joined the EXODUS Project. For someone to abandon the principles that made the project a success is a slap in the face to all of us.”

  John was a little surprised by the intensity in Ashley’s words. She was clearly not happy. “I agree that the choice was poor, Ms. Fluente,” said John. “But what’s done is done.”

  “You’re not going to take any action?”

  “What would you have me do?” asked John.

  “You can’t allow that woman to keep the child. It might incite others to do the same thing.”

  “What do you mean, keep the child?” John could tell by the woman’s demeanor what she was referring to. “You would be so cruel as to propose something so heinous.”

  “You have to set an example,” said Ashley. “You need to deter others from doing the same thing.”

  “Not by murdering an innocent child,” said John. “He didn’t have a say about being born.”

  “It’s a baby,” said Ashley. “It won’t feel a thing.”

  John was disturbed by this line of conversation. “You’ve thought about it? How should the child die? Lethal injection? Flush it out the airlock?”

  “That woman disregards the rule and doesn’t suffer any consequences?” asked Ashley, ignoring John’s questions. “What about those of us who followed the rules? Those of us who gave up dreams of a family to see this mission through?”

  “You can still have a family when we get back home,” said John.

  “No, captain. I can’t,” said Ashley. “I made a choice to make the EXODUS Project my life’s work. I believed in Admiral Johnson’s vision and did whatever I could to make it happen.”

  “And thanks to you, we’re out here,” said John.

  “I had myself sterilized.”

  Her words stunned the captain. He didn’t know how to respond.

  “I can never have a child of my own,” said Ashley. “That’s what I was willing to sacrifice for this project. But I guess it means little to you.”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Fluente. “Sorry for what you gave up.”

  The woman got up from her seat. “I’m sorry too, captain. Sorry that you’re not willing to do the right thing.”

  John never expected that this could turn into a contentious issue. If she felt this way, how many others had similar viewpoints?

  “There’s nothing I can say or do to make you feel better,” said John.

  “There is something you can do,” said Ashley. “But you won’t take the initiative.”

  That’s it. She crossed the line, and John was done being nice. “We’re not going to agree on this, Ms. Fluente. But let me make myself perfectly clear. If anything happens to that child, I’ll be coming directly for you. And I won’t be a
sking you any questions. I’ll just grab you by the throat, drag you to the nearest airlock and vent you into space. Do you understand?”

  Ashley’s anger turned to fear as she could see the coldness in his eyes.

  “I’m waiting for an answer, Ms. Fluente,” demanded John.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Dismissed.”

  Ashley made a hasty retreat as Mario returned to the table. “You ok?”

  “You heard?” asked John.

  “Every word of it,” replied Mario. “If she wants kids so bad she can have the ungrateful brats I left back on Earth.”

  “What do you think of what she said?” asked John.

  “Me? I just run a restaurant. I don’t know nothing.”

  “Don’t duck the question.”

  “Listen captain, I understand the need for rules. But people are going to do what they’re going to do.”

  “The rule for no procreation was instituted for a reason,” said John. “And it’s one I happen to agree with.”

  “Yet you sat here defending the life of that child,” said Mario.

  “Any decent human being would’ve done the same thing,” said John. “But how can I justifiably enforce this rule? We don’t have a shortage of resources. It would take years to reach the ship’s maximum complement. And what about the Aldarians? What about Drix? They didn’t agree to the rule when they came on board.”

  “Neither have had any kids so far, so you haven’t faced the issue yet,” said Mario. “But it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind.”

  “I guess I have,” said John. “Seems like I’m learning more about myself here.”

  “And that’s a good thing,” said Mario. “Least you’re willing to learn from experience. Wish my good for nothing family could do that.”

  John smiled. “You learned from your mistakes.”

  “How so?” asked Mario.

  “You didn’t bring your kids along on this trip.”

  Mario laughed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Neeman Harthy brought his recommended course of treatment for Betty to John and it was one the captain wasn’t happy to hear. But after serious consideration, he decided he needed to put her needs above his own fears.