Project Columbus: Omnibus

by J. C. Rainier

  She watched as the simulation ran its course. Once more, Raphael maneuvered successfully over the near moon and into the approach plane.

  Everything is fixed. We’re going to make it, and I will get to see Mom, Dad, and Saika as they walk off of the ship. Haruka chewed on a thumbnail and thought about her father’s situation. Maybe I won’t get to see Dad. They’ve accused him of a serious crime. Will they even let him walk off the ship? Her thoughts began to race. Saika will be devastated. Not only is Dad being accused, Brandon is as well.

  Haruka leaned back and closed her eyes. She could see her sister’s face in her mind. Saika was in the first wave of launches, but Haruka had to remain behind one more day to pilot her own transport. Haruka remembered a conversation with Saika on the day her sister boarded a rocket bound for Gabriel. Saika was extremely excited about something, but no matter how hard Haruka tried, she could not get her sister to tell her. “Just wait,” she kept saying. “I’ll tell you, Mom, and Dad at the same time.”

  That was the last time Haruka had spoken with her sister. By the calendar, that was over forty years ago. It had only been a few weeks for Haruka, thanks to hibernation. Haruka now worried about what her sister meant. If I had to guess, she probably wanted to say she’s pregnant. Oh, Saika… this is a terrible situation you’re in. Haruka could feel anxiety well from deep within her. I know you love Brandon with all your heart, so how will you react to his arrest?

  Haruka tried to project her feelings out, as if the walls of the computer core could not stop them. She imagined reaching with her mind through hull of Raphael as if the distance of space were nothing. Haruka willed herself to talk to her sister, asleep and far away. If you’re pregnant, Saika, you have to stay strong. Whatever happens, don’t lose that baby.

  Calvin McLaughlin

  Date and time unknown

  Michael

  The heat of the Texas sun washed over Cal. He could see the bright orange glow through his closed eyelids and the grass beneath his body tickled the back of his neck and ears as he stretched, soaking in the warmth. The smell of food grilling on a barbecue taunted him from afar.

  “Finally found yourself a little slice of heaven, huh?”

  Cal’s eyes slowly opened to see his doppelganger standing over his head, his face hard to recognize upside down.

  “Just working on my tan,” Cal responded as he closed his eyes again.

  “Shouldn’t you be working?” He could hear the disdain in his clone’s voice.

  “I’m on vacation.”

  “From what? You haven’t done anything yet, you slacker. Hell, you don’t even have a job. Not a real one, anyway.”

  Cal gave a half hearted laugh. “That depends on how you define work.” He folded his hands across his chest. “I survived you, that’s a good start.”

  His mirror self laughed in an unnerving way. “Did you? Then why am I still here?”

  “You’re here because I’m going nuts. Crazy people talk to themselves and hear voices, they say.” Cal took in a deep breath through his nose and relished the smell of burgers being grilled. Can’t wait to have one of those again.

  “Or I’m here because you’ve still got issues that you’re trying to figure out,” his voice shot back. Cal ignored his double and started to hum a song. He was not sure where he had heard it, but it was certainly catchy. “Now you’re just plain being rude.”

  “Shhh,” he hissed. “This is the best part.” He hummed his way to the bridge in the song. I think this was something that Hunter was playing through his hidden stereo.

  “Show some respect, Calvin,” his father’s voice cut through the song.

  Cal opened his eyes and looked up at his father’s inverted face; His cheeks were red and his nostrils flared. Cal slowly sat up and turned to face him. His father’s face was no longer distorted in his mind as he looked at him from an upright position. Cal crossed one leg over the other and twisted to the side. His body reacted with a series of pops as he cracked his back.

  “Are you trying to get deep with me there, Dad? A little bit of a crack at how I have no self respect?”

  General Andrew McLaughlin took the hat off of his short, blonde hair and tucked it in the armpit of his pressed dress blues. “Can you blame me? With what all happened in the last couple of months, it seemed that you didn’t respect anyone. Including you.”

  Cal sighed and looked down at the grass. He passed the palm of his hand over it and felt the teasing blades run across his skin. This is starting to feel too real, he thought.

  “What happened to you, Calvin?” his father asked.

  He picked a handful of grass and tossed it aside. “It won’t do any good. You’re already dead.”

  “Maybe you should blame me. We had a rough go at the end there, didn’t we?”

  Cal motioned to a spot on the ground in front of him. “Sit down, Dad.”

  The elder McLaughlin walked forward and sat cross-legged in front of Cal. His dress pants wrinkled slightly, and blades of cut grass dotted the fabric.

  Cal looked into his father’s sad, blue eyes. “I don’t hate you, Dad. I’m certainly not going to blame you for anything.”

  “I got you into this mess,” his father retorted quickly.

  “Yes you did.” Cal smiled gently. “I should be thanking you for that, not blaming you. If I had stayed on Earth, I probably would have gone to war and been killed.”

  “I never told you what I was planning.”

  “Do you think I would have allowed you to send me here if you had told me?” Cal hesitated as he reached for his father, but pulled his hand back and turned his gaze to the ground once more. “As angry as I felt in the moment, I now know that everything that you have done has given me another chance. A chance I never deserved.”

  Cal looked up and saw past the dress blues of the soldier at the man behind them. Andrew McLaughlin was fighting back his emotion, and Cal saw tears roll from each of his eyes. “You are my son,” he said, choking up. “You deserve every chance that I can give you.”

  “I was terrible to you, Dad,” he said as he jumped to his feet. “All of the drinking and trying weed was because I was getting back at you for Mom leaving us.”

  Andrew rose quickly to his feet, a look of devastation on his face. He turned to walk away but Cal grabbed his arm and spun him around. His father pushed Cal and he stumbled backward and fell on his butt. “That wasn’t my fault!” He spun and tried to run off.

  Cal launched himself from the ground and sprinted after his father. No, I am not going to let you run away this time, Dad. He pumped his arms and legs furiously as he slowly caught up with his father. Cal lurched one more time and grabbed Andrew firmly by the wrist. He dug his heels into the ground. Andrew wheeled around as his shoulder jerked backward and his hat was sent flying.

  Cal grabbed hold of his father as hard as he could with both arms. “I know it wasn’t your fault. Mom didn’t love either one of us, that’s why she left,” his voice cracked as he almost shouted at his father.

  “Don’t say that, Calvin.” Andrew could no longer hold back his emotion. He was crying, tears streaming down his face. “Your mother may not have loved me, but she loved you. How could you say that about her?”

  “Because it’s true, Dad,” Cal spat back, half sobbing himself. “You weren’t around often enough to know it, but she changed. Five years ago, something about her was different. She’d barely talk to me, she wouldn’t tell me she loved me, she wouldn’t hug me. She never asked me about school or my friends. She’d leave sometimes and come home late at night, smelling like booze and cigarettes.”

  “No, it’s not true,” Andrew whimpered.

  “It’s all true.” Cal looked up at the blue sky above. “Dad, you were more of a parent than she was. You were almost never around because of your duties, I got that. But when you were around, you made me feel like I was your whole world.”

  “Cal…”

  “I miss you, Dad.” Cal couldn’t
hold back any longer. He buried his face in his father’s shoulder and wept. “And the worst part is that I never got to tell you that I love you. I never got to say goodbye to you. You died protecting me, and all I could think of at the time is how pissed I was at you for taking me away from my friends. Friends that really couldn’t give a shit about me.”

  Cal felt his father return his embrace. It had a warm familiarity about it, and reminded Cal of when he was a young child; how his father could make any care in the world disappear with a simple hug.

  “I love you, Calvin,” Andrew whispered in his ear, choked up by the words.

  “I love you too, Dad,” Cal sobbed. The words made Calvin feel as if he were weightless and on Michael again. He pushed his father out to the edge of his grasp, arms on his shoulders, and looked him in the eye. “Just know that you didn’t die for nothing. You protected me. You protected everyone on these ships. I owe you a debt that I can never repay, but I will work every day of my life to make sure that I do the best I can to make up for it. I’ll make sure that everyone whose life I touch lives their lives to the fullest. For you, Dad.”

  Andrew McLaughlin bit his lip and nodded. He turned around and walked with his head down to where his hat had landed. He reached down, picked it up, and seated it precisely on his head. With one sad glance back, General Andrew McLaughlin walked over the crest of the hill and out of sight.

  “Goodbye, Dad,” Cal said to himself.

  Brev Capt Haruka Kimura

  26 January 2058, 06:00

  Raphael

  Haruka stowed her soiled flight suit in a locker stuffed full of other laundry items. She opened the adjacent locker and rifled through a disheveled pile of clean suits to find one in her size. Goose bumps rose on her naked skin as the cold air teased her body. She unfurled the fresh suit with a snap, pulled it over her body, and zipped it up.

  So this is what final approach feels like, she thought. Somehow Haruka had imagined that when she awoke from hibernation for the final time that everything would feel different, brighter and more vibrant. Instead she was greeted by the soft sounds of the life support system as it cycled air through the crew pod.

  She heard a click from behind her and turned around. The hatch of one of the sleeper berths opened, and a groggy, shaggy Captain Maynard emerged. He groaned and threw an arm up to his eyes, shielding them from the light in the pod. She heard a loud sigh from him. “Are we really awake for the last time, Kimura?”

  “It doesn’t feel like it,” she replied, “but we are.”

  Maynard rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t look at the clock before I came out. How long?”

  “A little over three years since the end of the last cycle. Forty three years since we left Earth.”

  “That’s a long time.” Maynard paused and looked off into the distance, then shook his head. “Best not to think of that.” He unzipped his flight suit and quickly disrobed.

  Haruka was caught off guard by the captain choosing to strip in front of her. Her eyes fell momentarily to his waist, and realized that he had removed his underwear as well. Her cheeks flushed, and she turned around to face the sleeper unit. Maynard chuckled from behind her.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen one of those before, Kimura,” he quipped.

  “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to look.”

  “I’m not your superior any more, Kimura. I won’t salute if you won’t.” Haruka heard the scrape of metal on metal as he opened a locker.

  “Sorry, force of habit.” A smile crossed her face. Now I sound like Nova.

  “Well, get used to it,” he replied. Haruka jumped slightly as the locker banged shut.

  Déjà vu. Creepy. I wonder if I sounded like that to Nova.

  There was a moment of awkward silence, and the sound of rustling fabric. “It’s safe now, I’m decent,” Maynard said as the zipper of his flight suit confirmed the completion of his wardrobe change.

  Haruka turned around. Maynard’s flight suit was fresh, but it did little to improve his disheveled look. He looked around the hallway.

  “No one else is up,” he noted.

  “Major Emberley is,” she replied. “The rest are going to be asleep for another four days. The three of us are needed a little early. This is why Marco needed access to the com system.”

  “I see. So what are we doing?”

  “Course corrections,” she said, hoping that her voice would not tip Maynard off to the severity of the situation. “Major Emberley wanted you to bring the propulsion systems online for me.”

  Maynard rubbed his face and tried to stifle a yawn. “What’s wrong with our course?”

  Damn. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask. Haruka shrugged. “We’re a little off the approach plane. I just need to make a few corrections so we hit the atmospheric entry window correctly.” Haruka saw Major Emberley enter the hallway from behind Maynard. The engineer did not turn around, oblivious to the commanding officer of Raphael.

  Maynard’s brow furrowed. “Something doesn’t sound right about that. Why do you need so much time?”

  Haruka looked at Emberley. The major nodded and spoke, startling Maynard. “It’s okay to tell him, Captain. By the time the rest of the crew wakes up it won’t matter.”

  “Tell me what? What’s going on, Kimura?” Haruka could hear the worry in Maynard’s voice.

  Haruka sighed. “After Captain Bartrand executed the low orbit slingshot maneuver around Earth that Colonel Fox ordered, he tried to recalculate our course for Demeter. His calculations for speed were off.” She looked into Maynard’s eyes and lowered her voice. “We’re two months ahead of schedule. If I don’t slow down Raphael and make course adjustments, we will fly right past the planet to our deaths.”

  All color drained from the engineer’s face and his jaw slacked.

  “You can see just how dire this problem is, Mr. Maynard,” Emberley added. “We didn’t want to panic the crew, so only Captain Kimura and I knew the extent of the problem. Once the corrections are made, it won’t matter.”

  “Y-yes s-sir,” he stuttered.

  “Enough talk for now.” Emberley swept one arm grandly toward the exit. “Captains, if you will please take your stations. Maynard, is the telemetry link between the bridge and propulsion room up?”

  “No sir.”

  “Very well. Please go to propulsion control and bring all of the plasma systems online. You can then work on the telemetry link and join us on the bridge once that is established.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Kimura, you’re with me.” Emberley grabbed the frame of the exit hatch and pulled himself out of the hallway. Haruka followed; Maynard brought up the rear. When they reached the top of the stairs, Major Emberley and Haruka spiraled up to the bridge while Maynard departed for the rear of the ship.

  Haruka glided to her workstation at the front of the bridge. As she passed the command chair, Haruka saw Alpha Centauri B for the first time. Raphael was still far away; the orange star was a dot just below the horizon of the canopy, no larger than the tip of an eraser. She maneuvered to her seat and secured her restraints, then stared out at the star. She smiled as the idea that their journey was nearly at an end began to sink in.

  I don’t care if we don’t land next to Marco’s white sand beach, she thought. I’ll just be happy to stretch my legs and feel the sun again.

  Haruka heard a thunk as Major Emberley locked the command chair in place. “Are we receiving data from the approach probe?”

  She looked down at her screen and brought the workstation to life. “Just a moment, Major.” With a few swift taps and swipes, she brought up the probe data file. She opened the file and saw data within, and a pair of green arrows showed an active link with the device. “Yes, we have a data stream from the probe.”

  “What do we know about Demeter?” There was an air of anxiety in his words.

  Haruka scrolled through the dizzying array of information that the probe had already sent back to Raphael’s computer. “W
hat would you like, sir? I have information on satellites, mass, diameter and gravity. It looks like the probe has made several passes and compiled maps of the planet. We’re receiving more data, too.” She paused a moment as she read several lines of incoming data. “It looks like atmospheric data.”

  “Atmospheric. I’d like to know if the air on that rock is breathable.”

  “Just a moment, sir.” Haruka called up the atmospheric data stream. She beamed and her voice boomed as she read the data off. “Nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. Seventy seven point nine percent nitrogen, twenty point nine percent oxygen. Trace amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and noble gases. Average atmospheric pressure of nine seven zero millibars.” She turned and looked at Major Emberley. His eyes were closed, and his mouth moved in what appeared to be a silent prayer. “It’s breathable, Major. It’s almost identical to Earth’s.”

  His eyes dropped to meet Haruka’s and he exhaled loudly enough for her to hear. “Breathable,” he repeated. “That’s a very sweet word to hear right now.”

  “Agreed, sir.” Sweeter than any word I have ever heard.

  “I want to hear more. Does it have any moons? What’s the gravity like? How big is the planet?”

  Haruka turned back to her terminal for the answers. “Two moons, just like Doctor Benedict predicted. The inner moon is much smaller than the outer moon. Gravity is point nine two g. The probe estimates the circumference of the planet Demeter to be about 37,000 kilometers. Axial tilt is estimated at nineteen percent.” She paused and tapped through several photographic images of the planet. “Sir, this is… beautiful.”

  “What is?”

  “Demeter. The probe has sent back pictures of the planet. I’m sending them to your screen now.” She transferred a group of photographs to the command chair’s terminal.