“Thanks guys. I don’t mean to be a party pooper. You’ve all had a lot longer to adjust to what’s going on here than I have.”
“Okay then,” Hunter said. “It’s time to leave the stress behind for now. We’re done with the maintenance cycle. We just chill and relax for a couple hours, go to sleep, and wake up again in five years. No biggie, right?”
Cal grimaced. That depends. Do I go back to five years of torment and nightmares?
“I don’t know, man. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”
Hunter pushed off from the sleeper and activated the computer terminal. “Seriously, you’re still too stressed. Let’s see if I can help with that.” His fingers flew across the screen almost faster than Cal had ever seen anyone type. “How about a little trance?”
The hallway filled with pulsing beats and almost hypnotic patterns. The sounds were clear, and the bass hits were not distorted.
“Trance?” he asked. “And how is it playing so clearly? I didn’t know that terminals could do that.”
Hunter gave Cal a broad smile. “You like it? I made a slight… ah… modification to this terminal.” He pointed to the corner of the ceiling where a speaker box had been hidden. “The good stuff deserves to be played on something better than the crappy com speakers.”
Cal rose up as he felt the music beat as if it was within him. “Wait, so why did you modify this one and not one in the crew pod?”
Hunter laughed. “I did. Dayton caught me doing it and told me I couldn’t modify the crew pod. He never said anything about passenger pods, though. So here we are.”
Cal chuckled. “Yeah, this is pretty good. I could listen to this for a bit.”
“It’s a deal, then we’ll listen to something else. Your choice.”
Dr. Taylor pulled herself to the exit. “Sorry, boys. This isn’t my cup of tea. I’m off to go find something a little quieter to do.”
“Give my regards to Elvis,” Hunter joked as she left.
Cal listened to the music for several minutes as he watched Hunter attempt to dance. The lack of gravity made him seem more like a cat having convulsions in midair. When the lieutenant tried to make a spin move and lost control, Cal had to dart out of the way. Watching Hunter bounce off of the wall did make him laugh however.
They were joined a few minutes later by two crew members. The first was Cameron Drisko, the ops officer whom Cal had recently learned was quite talented with the guitar. The second was the acting chief engineer, Vince Hartley.
Hunter greeted them as soon as they entered. “Hey Cap. Hey Drisko. Have you heard the news?”
Drisko replied, “No. What’s up?”
Hunter placed his arm across Cal’s shoulders and squeezed his hand into Cal’s clavicle. “Colonel Dayton asked Calvin here to help out Doctor Taylor during the next cycle.”
“Really? That’s great!” Drisko extended his right hand towards Cal. There was an awkward moment as Cal returned his left hand instead of his injured right. The two figured it out and shook hands.
“Congratulations, kid,” said Hartley as they shook hands as well.
“Thank you, Captain,” Cal replied. “I’m still surprised by it all.”
“You’re not military. Please, call me Vince. And I’m not all that surprised, to be honest.”
“Oh? Why is that, Cap... I mean, Vince?”
“Colonel Dayton is really interested in you. He’s had me monitor your work now and then, and I know he has asked the doctor about you many times.”
Cal was shocked. All he could manage to say is “why?”
Hartley shrugged. “I don’t know, you’d have to ask him that yourself. But what I do know is that he hasn’t been asking if you’ve been getting in trouble, but rather how efficiently you have been doing your tasks. Obviously, he liked the answers he received.”
Cal gave a short, nervous laugh. There’s a first time for everything, I guess.
He watched as the three others chatted and laughed, smiling at this little bit of normalcy. It was the first thing that made him feel even a slight bit at home since he had left Earth. The music pulsed and swayed as he answered questions about himself, his home, and his injuries. He asked Drisko and Hartley about their families, and was intrigued to find out that Drisko’s mother was Korean. As time passed, a song came on that grabbed Cal’s attention. Its beat was fast, and he recognized that it was meant to be a love song. The lyrics struck a chord with him, and at once he felt a sadness he could not bear.
He took Hunter aside and lowered his voice, “I’m sorry, Hunter. I’ve got to go.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Cal looked around. “Look, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You’ve helped me take my mind off of things, but I’m still not really in the party mood if you know what I mean.” Hunter nodded in slow acknowledgement. “See you next cycle?”
“Yeah, Calvin. Take care.” They shook hands and Cal departed.
As he slowly snaked his way out of the sleeper pod, the music faded and the walls made it echo horribly. Cal could barely hear it once he reached the solitude of the gallery. He worked his way aft and into Dr. Taylor’s pod.
He searched each of the four sleeper hallways, but he could find no sign of her. A cold emptiness consumed him. His shoulders slumped and he made his way for the ESAARC pod. He opened the pod door and was startled to find Dr. Taylor inside.
“Calvin?” she asked as she looked over her shoulder.
“Jeez, Doc. I didn’t expect to find you in here.” He maneuvered to the seat next to her and worked his way into the restraints.
“I find it’s a quiet place to go when I want to read, or when I want to be alone with the stars.”
Cal nodded. “Same for me. I don’t see a book in your hands, am I disturbing your alone time?”
She straightened up in the seat. “No, not at all. Just getting another good look at them before we all go to sleep.”
Cal smiled and leaned his head back to look out the canopy windows. He searched for his “Polaris”, such as it was. It took him a good two minutes to pick it out of the field. He breathed in deeply.
“You said I should come to you if I have any extreme mood shifts, right?”
“That’s right. Have you experienced one?”
“I’m pretty sure I just have, a few minutes ago. Hunter was trying to cheer me up, but a song I heard made me feel really sad.”
“Well, music can be a powerful emotional tool. What can you tell me about the song?”
Cal sighed. “Here’s the thing. It was a really upbeat love song. But something about the lyrics just really got to me.”
“I see. Did you have any suicidal or violent thoughts because of it?”
Cal glanced over at Dr. Taylor. “You’re kidding, right?” She shook her head. “Dear God no. That just wouldn’t make any sense.”
She reached to her side and produced what looked like a long leather pouch, but at the end it had a valve similar to the drink pouches. “You’d be surprised what makes sense to an irrational person. That’s why they’re called irrational. Here have some of this.” She gently floated the pouch over to Cal.
He opened the valve and sniffed, and was greeted by the smell of alcohol. His brows raised and he asked, “Really, Doctor?” She nodded. “I’m underage, you know.”
“This is for medicinal purposes. I’m administering a treatment to you, Calvin. Now please, drink. Not just a sip either. Take a good long drink.”
This has got to be the strangest treatment anyone has ever administered to me. He put the valve to his mouth and squeezed hard. Cold liquid streamed into his mouth, but as soon as he swallowed he nearly gagged, and his throat felt like it was on fire. He flinched and he jammed his shoulder into the belt.
“What the hell is this?”
“Tequila. Another drink please, Calvin.”
“Does Colonel Dayton know you have this stuff?”
“Dayton is well aware that I have alcohol in
my possession. Just not this particular alcohol. Drink.”
Cal took a deep breath and held it as he forced more of the tequila down his throat. The second swig burned worse than the first, and his stomach churned. He coughed twice hard, but stayed himself from vomiting as he passed the alcohol back to Dr. Taylor.
She took a swig and returned the pouch to its hiding place. “I know, it’s not the greatest stuff on the planet. There wasn’t a whole lot to choose from before we left Earth.”
“I take it that’s not standard military issue,” he said, almost choking on the words.
“Not in the slightest,” she replied. “And as far as I know, I’m the only one on any of the ships who has one of these things.”
Cal’s eyes darted to where she had hidden the pouch. “What is it, exactly? It looks kind of like our drink pouches.”
Dr. Taylor nodded. “It’s similar in several ways. Except unlike the ration drink pouches, this is reusable. I got the idea from the ancient wineskin. I figured that they worked in the same basic way as the zero-G rated drink pouches, so I could fill it up on Earth with whatever and drink it up here.”
“Clever.” Cal could feel his fingers tingle slightly.
“Thank you. In any case, I had Dr. Kimura’s wife, Sarah, make a few for me. The only problem is that you can’t refill them while in space; they still need gravity for that.”
“So I hope that this doesn’t mean that our ship’s doctor is a space lush.”
She smiled at Cal. “Not at all. This is only the second time I’ve had a drink. The first was five years ago, before I went into biostasis.”
He could feel the effects of the alcohol take hold. The chill of the ESAARC pod was less pronounced, his fingers were almost numb, and the stars seemed to be dancing above his head.
“So, feeling better now, Calvin?”
He considered his reply for a few seconds. “I’m not sure if better is the term, but definitely buzzed.”
“But a love song made you sad. Are you still sad?”
Cal remembered the lyrics one more time. He bit his lip and nodded.
“So who is she?”
His jaw slacked open. How does she know? He recovered and tried to play it off. “What? What do you mean?”
“Who do I mean? The girl that you’re in love with,” she replied, staring Cal dead in the eye.
Cal sat dumbfounded in silence. He looked down at his right hand and flexed the fingers slightly. They responded with a dull throb.
“That’s why you broke your finger, isn’t it? Oh, Calvin.”
She released her restraints and wrapped him in a hug. He wanted to cry, he wanted to express his rage, but he was too numb. There was another emotion that he couldn’t put his finger on. Dr. Taylor’s embrace was comforting, almost like his mother’s had been, and yet he still felt unsettled. He wrapped his arms around her but that did little to help.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” she whispered in his ear.
“There’s not much to tell. I screwed it up. I acted before I thought, and I drove her away.” His voice cracked as he spoke in a hushed tone.
“I am so sorry.” She broke her embrace but held him by the shoulders as she looked at his face. “If I can ever do anything for you, let me know.”
Cal nodded.
I wish there was something you could do. But you can’t change the past or make me forget about her. Sorry, Doctor.
He took his leave and made way for his sleeper berth. When he arrived, he opened the door and stared at the darkness within for a minute. He was unsure of what awaited him once he entered hibernation, but he steeled his resolve and secured himself within the berth.
If there are demons, they are mine to face. No more running for Calvin McLaughlin. Ever.
1st Lt Haruka Kimura
27 September 2019, 00:10
Raphael
Haruka groaned and her head throbbed. Her eyes adjusted to the soft light as she opened them. She could see an airy, vaulted ceiling. She shifted, but was stopped by a harness across her chest.
What the hell? She jerked and fumbled in an attempt to release the buckle.
“Easy, Lieutenant,” soothed Dr. Nelson. “Here, let me get that for you.” He drifted to the table that Haruka was strapped to and released the restraint.
“Where am I?” she asked as she pulled herself upright and looked around the unfamiliar room. There were a few other tables scattered about, and several storage carts were secured along each wall.
“You’re in medical pod one. I’m glad to see you’re awake, but please don’t exert yourself.” He looked at her with sad eyes, and his voice lowered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Haruka reached up to her aching head and felt a bandage near her temple. “What happened? You did this?”
“It was purely on accident, Lieutenant. When the struggle broke out on the bridge and I saw Cormack get hit in the trachea, I rushed to help him.” He looked down at the deck. “I admit, I should have watched where I was going. In my haste, I hit you in the head with my knee pretty hard. You hit the deck plate, and I guess I knocked you out.”
Crap, the bridge. Marco and Emberley were in trouble.
She swung her legs around to push off from the table. Dr. Nelson put his hand out in front of her.
“Whoa, where are you going?”
“To find Lieutenant Mancini,” she said quickly as she pushed the doctor’s arm away.
“He’s in stasis.”
Haruka froze for a moment. Her heart began to beat hard within her chest. “Then the major needs me.”
“Relax, Lieutenant. He’s on his way here. He wanted to speak with you as soon as you woke up.”
Dr. Nelson’s words seemed to melt away Haruka’s anxiety. She breathed a sigh of relief and slowly swung her legs back up onto the table. That means that Fox is not in command. Which means Marco must be okay.
“Is everyone ok? How’s Cormack doing?”
Nelson moved to a storage cart and rummaged through it. “Cormack is fine; the colonel didn’t do him any permanent harm. Lieutenant Mancini will probably have a nasty shiner from his fight with Captain Bartrand. As for Bartrand and Colonel Fox, they shouldn’t have any lasting effects from the shocks they received.
“Now, for a little bad news,” continued Dr. Nelson. “You may have a concussion. I’ve volunteered to stay awake with Major Emberley to make sure that you recover properly if you do indeed have one.”
“Stay awake? How long have I been out?” Haruka massaged her head in a vain effort to dull the throbbing.
Dr. Nelson looked at his wrist watch. “About six hours. Since the maintenance cycle is over, most of the crew has reported to their berths for hibernation. Although I had to practically order Mancini to his sleeper berth. He was very insistent on making sure that you were alright.”
“You said most of the crew? How many are left?”
“Besides the doctor and myself, two. But we will get to that in a moment,” came a deep voice from behind her.
Haruka turned around and faced Major Emberley. His tall, slender frame almost filled the entire doorway vertically. His arms were stretched to either side, bracing against the sides of the doorframe. Haruka snapped her body straight and saluted.
“At ease, Lieutenant,” he said. Haruka dropped her hand to her side and eased her shoulders. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine, sir.”
“I imagine your head hurts, but can you still perform duties?”
“Yes, sir.” She paused as the Major nodded. “Sir, may I go back to my original assignment?”
Emberley pursed his lips and shuffled a wrist up and down the door frame. “I’ve reviewed the logs and there is something that I saw in there. As much as I loathe admitting it, it would seem that Colonel Fox accidentally stumbled on a way to increase our maintenance efficiency. We don’t need a full time pilot during maintenance, and we don’t need two ops crewmen either.”
He
r heart sank. She knew now that Emberley was not going to return her to her duties as a pilot, and it didn’t seem as if he was keen on returning Mancini to his duties as well.
“The propulsion work gets done much quicker with three crewmen,” he continued. “As such, both you and Mancini will continue your propulsion duties going forth.”
Haruka let out a loud sigh. “Yes, sir.”
“Don’t despair, Lieutenant. When you are done with your propulsion duties, I’d like you to report to the bridge to see if you can sort out whether or not Captain Bartrand put us off course.”
Or, I could be wrong about him. She could not contain her smile. “Yes, sir!”
“Now, I need your help with some special duties right now.”
“Only light ones, Major. I don’t want her lifting anything, or doing systems maintenance, or anything like that,” protested Dr. Nelson.
Emberley flicked his fingers dismissively. “Nothing like that. I just need her to help coordinate a grid search of the ship.”
Haruka tilted her head, “Sir?”
“We seem to be missing a crew member, Lieutenant Kimura. That is unless you happen to know where Airman Ellsworth is.”
“No, sir.”
The major grunted. “Nobody seems to know. Doctor Nelson was the last one to see him, if I have my timeline straight.”
“I had left him at the airlock after the autopsy of Lieutenant Shipp,” the doctor added. “He said he wanted to give Shipp a more proper burial than just being dumped naked into space. I went back to the medical pod to finish cleaning up.”
Haruka was filled with a sense of dread. She didn’t know Ellsworth well, but one thing she knew is that he always performed his duties. The idea that he would simply vanish was unsettling.
“Sir, you don’t suppose…” she trailed off.
“I suppose nothing at this point, Lieutenant. Do you have any information that may be useful to finding him?”
Project Columbus: Omnibus Page 16
