Project Columbus: Omnibus

by J. C. Rainier

  The walls of her bed rattled, and the noise did not go away. Gabi covered her ears, which helped for a moment. But the noise kept growing and growing, and even her hands could not keep the noise out.

  “Mamaaaaaaaaaa,” she screamed and burst into tears.

  Her mother did not answer her terrified cry.

  Brev Capt Haruka Kimura

  30 March 2058, 09:39

  Raphael

  Haruka’s legs burned as she tore down the length of the gallery. Her sprint from the bridge had left her breathless. She bled from scrapes on her left knee and elbow from where she had fallen again in the gallery; the light gravity played nothing but havoc with her balance. Captain Maynard was already halfway down the propulsion corridor by the time Haruka reached it.

  She skidded to a halt just inside the airlock. Alarms blared from both sides of the junction in a chilling discord. Haruka grabbed the heavy door and pulled against it, grunting hard. It slowly swung with a mournful creak. She ducked her way around it as it swung, and then closed and sealed it. Terror gripped her for a moment; she had just closed herself into the aft section with the crippled nuclear reactor.

  Pull yourself together, damn it, her mind screamed at her. Protect the passengers. Do your duty, Captain.

  Haruka wheeled down the hall and bounded toward the control room. At the side of the hallway, the hatch to the computer core opened and Lieutenant Mancini stumbled out. He gave her a frightened glance as he struggled to a knee.

  “What the hell is going on, Kimura?” he yelled as she ran past.

  “No time,” she huffed. “Hurry up.” She reached for his outstretched hand and pulled him to his feet. Mancini stumbled as they raced down the hall, but Haruka steadied him and pushed him through the open hatch ahead and into the control room. She leaped inside, spun around, and slammed the hatch shut.

  Nova sat in her usual seat near the ladder to the reactor, her pale hands gripping the armrests of her chair. Maynard sat at the left station and keyed away at his terminal with alacrity. A great heave from the ship threw Haruka to the floor next to Mancini. Raphael rattled like a can of ball bearings in a paint shaker. Haruka knew the only way she would be able to hear anyone would be to get to her station and headset.

  Haruka lunged for the back of the chair and wrapped her arms around it. She struggled to regain her feet, and then maneuvered into the seat. Her hand shot to the headset that was secured by Velcro and jammed it on her head.

  “…running out of time, Captain,” she heard Emberley through the com.

  “Transferring nav control to Captain Kimura now, Major,” Maynard boomed. “Captain Kimura, vid link to the bridge should be up on your station. We will evacuate the bridge on your order.”

  “Standby,” she barked into her microphone. The familiar bridge camera that she used to monitor during maintenance cycles popped on her screen, as well as an array of touch sliders and controls for the propulsion system.

  Damn, she thought. No physical controls. No canopy view. She shook her hands out. No time to worry about precision, just get the job done.

  Haruka looked at the nearly empty bridge. Only three stations sat occupied, and Major Emberley sat fast in the command chair. She recognized the slicked, dark hair of Lieutenant Morado at nav. Hang on, kid. I’ll get you out of there in a second.

  Haruka tested her thruster control. Raphael groaned in response, but her telemetry indicated that the ship was very slow to respond.

  “Maynard, did you bring the chemical thrusters online?” She tapped her thrusters again with little response.

  “No, standby.” More rattling and rocking came from the sleeper ship. “Chemical thrusters online. Go light on them, the ESAARC pods need them for landing.”

  She tapped the thrusters again and Raphael’s descent halted for a moment. “We’re good to go. Evacuate the bridge, Major.”

  “Understood. Morado, Perez, go for pod one. Overton, you’re with me. Pod two. Move!”

  Haruka watched the video feed as the four men released their restraints. Something at the bottom of the image caught her eye. Haruka looked on in horror as she realized someone was walking up the bridge steps toward the command chair. Emberley turned to the rear of the bridge as he rose, and for a split second Haruka saw the major frozen in place.

  A glint came from the side of the scruffy long-haired visitor. Haruka’s heart sank as she instantly recognized the M4 carbine that Colonel Fox leveled at her former first officer.

  “Major, look out,” she screamed into her boom.

  Her warning came too late. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Haruka heard the first shot through her headset. Major Emberley’s shoulder jerked back. Two more cracks came in rapid succession, and he started to fall backward to the deck.

  “NO!” Haruka screamed.

  Fox swung the weapon around and squeezed off three more rounds at the nav station. Morado caught one round to the face and fell limp instantly. Haruka watched in horror as the two other rounds slammed into the front canopy, damaging the glass. The colonel turned to her right. Haruka saw a twisted, sadistic grin on her face. Crack, crack, crack, CRACK. Fox placed two rounds in Overton’s chest, and he spun and fell over his station.

  In just over a second, a massive crack spread through the canopy glass from the nav station to just off the right side of the screen. The last thing that Haruka saw before the video feed failed was the shattered canopy blowing out into space, dragging Fox, Perez, and the bodies with it.

  Her screams were drowned out by alarms that rang out in the control room. Haruka stared at the video feed, but all that remained was static. No. Oh God, no. That didn’t just happen, did it?

  Maynard’s urgent voice in her headset brought her back to task. “Kimura, get us out of here!”

  “You have to drop the pods first, Captain,” she shot back.

  “They auto-dropped when the gallery lost pressure. They’re gone. Full thrust, now.”

  “Yes sir.” Haruka slid her thruster controls to maximum. She watched her altimeter carefully. Their rate of descent slowed, but did not stop. Warning lights flashed on her console that indicated atmospheric entry was beginning.

  We’re not going to make it. The plasma thrusters are too weak to use this close to the planet, and I only have one bank of chemical thrusters left. She gulped and flipped desperately between gauges. Something caught her eye. Our tail is dropping. Maybe if…

  “Captain Maynard, bring the main plasma drive online.”

  “What? Are you nuts?”

  “Just do it,” she barked.

  “It’s already done, Captain Kimura.” Nova’s voice was barely audible in her headset. Haruka glanced over and the young blonde gave her a weak thumbs up.

  Haruka cut power to all thrusters in the aft half of the ship. She winced as the tail of the ship dropped and slammed her forward into her harness. Alarms rang through the cabin, but she ignored them and steadied herself.

  Wait for it…

  “What are you doing, Captain?” Maynard screamed.

  The tail of Raphael dropped perilously close to 90 degrees. Mancini could no longer hold on to his perch and slammed into the back of Nova’s chair. Haruka strained against her harness as she pushed the throttle of the main plasma drive to full and cut the remaining thrusters. The stricken ship responded by hanging in place for what seemed like an eternity, and then slowly Raphael built up speed directly away from the planet.

  “We need altitude, Kimura.”

  “Check your gauges, Captain. That’s what I’m giving you.”

  Maynard responded, “We need it faster. Generator two is criti…”

  The control room shook from a blast beyond its walls. Haruka was dazed and her ears rung. The screen blurred as she fought for consciousness. She clutched her head and shook it for a moment. The ringing was replaced by the whine of a generator at full speed that filled the compartment. A new alarm blared, and a yellow and black radiation symbol flashed on Haruka’s screen.
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br />   “Radiation leak,” Nova screamed. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Just a few…”

  “Generator two is gone,” Nova cut her off. “Number one is overheating and the reactor is about to go critical. We have to leave now!”

  “Damn it.” Haruka set her controls to lock the drive at full. “Abandon ship.” She dangled her feet onto the wall behind the terminal and unstrapped. She shuffled to the corner and dropped to her knees, then opened a hatch in the floor plating.

  Haruka looked up into the control room. Gaping holes had been torn in the steel walls of the control room by shrapnel from the failed generator. Nova had made her way down to her corner and crawled through the escape hatch. Mancini had climbed his way up to Maynard. She saw the engineer’s arms limp and bloodied, and his head bent backwards over the chair, blood dripping from a deep gash across his forehead. Mancini yelled at her, but she could not hear. She did not need to; Haruka knew that Captain Maynard was dead.

  “Come on,” she yelled at Mancini and waved her arms furiously at the hatch. He jumped down to the bulkhead that Haruka stood on and crawled through the up-ended floor hatch. As soon as his feet cleared the hatch, Haruka knelt down and crawled behind him along the ladder.

  Haruka’s bloodied knee had opened again by the time they made their way along the long, metal ladder and into the escape skiff. Nova was already inside, and had started the craft’s systems. Mancini dropped into the seat next to Nova and grabbed for his restraints. Haruka winced as she lifted herself into the pilot’s seat. She secured herself and donned a headset while Nova closed the hatch leading to Raphael.

  “Marco, tell me when Nova is strapped in so we can launch,” she said.

  “You got it.”

  Haruka checked to make sure all of her controls were ready and active. Her finger hovered over a large red button bordered with yellow and black stripes.

  “Alright, let’s go,” Mancini barked.

  Haruka pressed the button. With a lurch, the escape skiff detached from Raphael and cleared its underside. Through the cockpit windows, Haruka could see the moon Arion and the remnants of Raphael. The ship looked like a sad shell of itself; it had no sleeper or cargo pods attached to it. As it slowly turned like a corkscrew, Haruka saw the black maw at the front where the bridge had been torn apart. A scar across the top of the propulsion section marked the damage that sealed the sleeper’s demise.

  “My God,” Mancini said and pointed at the torn hull. “What the hell caused it?”

  “It’s blown out from the inside,” Nova stated. “Something failed, big time.”

  Haruka replied. “Hang on, this will probably get bumpy.” She fired her nose thruster and the craft did a slow back flip. Arion and Raphael dropped out of view, and the vast blue expanse of Demeter’s oceans dropped down from the top of the canopy.

  “I’ve locked on to one of the pods’ emergency beacons, Captain,” Nova said. “Feeding the info to the nav system now.”

  Haruka performed a half roll and pitched the nose up slightly. Demeter now covered the lower portion of their forward view. “Beginning atmospheric entry,” she exclaimed.

  The skiff began to rattle and blue wisps of light flowed over the nose of the craft. After a twenty or so seconds, the blue light was overpowered by orange flames dancing off the nose. The bumps and jitters intensified, and Haruka felt herself clutching the controls even tighter.

  “Nose up, Kimura,” Mancini called through the com. “You’re coming in too hot.”

  “We’re fine. Demeter’s approach path is more forgiving than Earth’s. I need the speed to catch the pods.” She tweaked the roll of the vessel slightly to compensate her course.

  “We’ve lost computer link to Raphael, Captain,” Nova said.

  Then it’s done. The reactor breached. Haruka gulped and adjusted her grip on the attitude controls.

  The darkness of space drifted out of view, and only Demeter itself was visible. A vast blue ocean extended in front of her. Only a faint trace of land could be seen, at the very edge of the horizon. Haruka activated the HUD. A broad, broken green oval encircled a wide path of her forward view, while crosshairs slashed the center. A red blip showed in the lower left quadrant, moving erratically.

  There’s the pod, she thought. The escape skiff was losing speed quickly, but it still gained ground on the ESAARC pod. Haruka banked toward the pod and dipped the nose to gain more speed.

  “This is Captain Haruka Kimura to unidentified emergency pod. Requesting status check.” The com crackled with static, then silence. “I repeat, this is Captain Kimura requesting status from unidentified emergency pod.”

  Again, static and silence filled her ear. Then a muffled voice squeaked through the com. “This is Lieutenant Harjit Singh in sleeper pod nine. We hit a patch of turbulence and lost automated control. My pilot is unconscious and we’re losing altitude fast. Help us, Kimura!”

  Damn it! “Are your thrusters firing, Lieutenant?”

  “I.. I don’t know. How do I tell?” Singh’s voice was laced with panic.

  Haruka closed her eyes and imagined the touch controls in Raphael’s engine room. “Do you see the altimeter in the center of your console?”

  “Yes. Please hurry!”

  “Okay, the two bars to either side of that. Take your fingers and slide them all the way up,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

  “Okay.” There was a pause. “It’s not working, Captain!” A warning beep sounded through the headset. “I’ve got a warning. Altitude critical.” Singh screamed in terror, then Haruka heard a loud bang, and silence. The red blip on her HUD vanished.

  Her stomach revolted against her. She closed her eyes for a moment and used every bit of her concentration to keep from throwing up.

  “Nova,” she choked, “get me another pod to follow.”

  “Y-yes ma’am,” she responded.

  Haruka opened her eyes. A landmass was now clearly visible ahead of them, though still very distant.

  “Pod beacon linked to nav system, Captain.” A blip appeared on Haruka’s HUD, this time to the right and above her horizon.

  Damn it, were we following Singh into the sea? Haruka fired her pitch thruster hard, and the skiff’s nose soared into the air. “This is Captain Kimura to unknown emergency pod. Status check, please.”

  The response was almost immediate this time. “Lieutenant Cormack here, pod seven. We’re on final approach right now. There’s a lot of trees down here. Wait… there’s a clean place to land, right there. See it, Daniels? Right there, set it down right there.”

  “Is everything alright, Lieutenant?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Our pilot is headed for a clearing in the woods. Can’t talk anymore, but I’ll see you on the ground,” he said, and cut the com link.

  Haruka sighed in relief. That’s where we go, then.

  “Alright, Marco, Nova. We’re going to make for that pod. Start tracking the other pods so we can round up the other passengers.” Haruka dipped her wing and banked for the red dot on her screen.

  Gabrielle Serrano

  30 March 2058, 10:06

  ex-Raphael sleeper pod 8

  Gabi’s bed rocked. She sobbed quietly, but dared not remove the straps that held her down.

  The nice man told me I can’t take them off. Mama said she will when she can.

  She glanced to her side, but the evil cat’s eye was no longer there. It had disappeared a while ago and had not returned. Gabi was now all alone in this dark, scary place.

  The rattling and creaking had died down and only an occasional sway was left to startle her. Gabi grabbed the straps that lay across her chest and pulled at them. They reassured her in a way; her mother always said the straps on her car seat were to keep her safe in case they crashed in the car.

  Suddenly, there was a loud roaring noise, and Gabi felt as if she was being pressed into her bed. She cried out for her mother, but could barely even hear her own voice. The walls shook with a ter
rible clatter. Gabi dug her fingers into the fabric of the bed and closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face.

  Gabi wondered how long it would be before her mom would come and take her out of this dark place. It had been a long time since she had heard anyone’s voice. Even the nice man who talked to her through the walls wasn’t talking to her any more.

  The bed shifted and pitched hard to the left. Gabi slammed into her straps, which bit into her skin. She screamed, though she didn’t know if it was more from terror or from pain. She tried to hold back against the straps, but she could not pull herself up to do anything.

  There was another lurch, and her bed rolled more and more, until Gabi landed on her back. Her head slammed into the pillow as everything lurched to a stop. She could not hear anything at all, but her chest throbbed and there was a sharp pain in her hand.

  Gabi cried with a blood curdling scream, “Mama!”

  She wailed as she waited for her mother to respond. As she waited, she saw a crack of light cut through the darkness near the edge of the bed. Gabi reached for the crack and her fingers brushed against the metal wall, which gave way and swung upward with a slight creak. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the brightness pouring in from outside her berth.

  She sobbed and cried out again. “Mama? Papa? Where are you?” For a few seconds, there was no noise. Then Gabi heard a creak, like the sound made by the door of her father’s truck. “Papa?” She heard the creak again.

  Panic gripped her. She knew something was wrong, but not what. She grabbed at her harness and ran her fingers along their length until she found the buckles. Gabi’s fingers fumbled as she tried to release the latch. Her tiny fingers were not strong enough to work the mechanism. She tried to get the latch open over and over, sobbing and trembling as she did so. In a fit of frustration, she screamed and yanked at the harness.