“Everything looks good,” the doctor remarked. “How are you feeling?”
“No nausea,” her mother replied, “but Haruka sure made me feel like crap.”
Gabi turned her head when she heard the name. She sat still for a moment to listen to what her mother and the doctor were talking about, but they went back into a boring conversation about her mom not being able to work. Gabi picked up Peluisina again and rolled onto her back. She held the cat high above her head with one hand and made a sweeping motion, combined with a whooshing noise. She imagined the fat, stuffed cat was flying, trying to catch an evil mouse with a rocket pack that had stolen her food.
After a couple minutes, Pelusina caught the imaginary rodent. Gabi kissed the cat and gave it a squeeze. She sat up, and could hear the voices from beyond the wall again, this time a little louder.
“Haruka doesn’t care about me,” her mother’s shrill voice rang out. “She already said she doesn’t care what you have to say about it either, Ken.”
Dr. Petrovsky spoke in his soothing tenor. “She’s got a lot of weight on her shoulders, Maria.”
“Then someone needs to do something about it.”
“Like what?” Emilia asked. “If she’s not listening to us, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Then get someone to remove her!” Her mother’s voice jumped almost another octave. The piercing sound made Gabi curl her knees to her chest, and squeeze Pelusina tight.
“Shh,” the doctor soothed. “Calm down. There’s no reason to be so harsh.”
“Isn’t there? She doesn’t care about me, she’s ignoring you two altogether. She’s running Troy and his crews ragged. Is she trying to work everyone to death?”
Stop yelling, Mama!
“She has a point,” Emilia added. “When’s the last time she didn’t put us on the back burner? How long was poor Will back before she sent him back out scouting again? Did he even get to say goodbye to his mom before he left? And she’s pushed Nick back to work before he was really ready.”
“You’re damn right, she did.”
“Mama, bad word!” Gabi called out.
“Be quiet, Gabi!” she shouted back.
She shrank back into a ball and buried her nose in Pelusina. Gabi’s lip began to quiver as she wondered what she had done to make her mother angry again.
“Take it easy on her,” Dr. Petrovsky said in a stern tone.
“Stop telling me what to do. She’s my daughter.”
Gabi heard footsteps approach her and heard the soft rustle of fabric on the sleeping bag that was draped over the bed. She peeked out from her soft, albeit dirty, protection. Emilia offered her hand to Gabi.
“Come on, Gabi. Let’s go somewhere else and play for a while, okay?”
She nodded and took the nurse’s hand and was led out of the clinic. The sun was slowly sinking toward the sea, streaking the scattered clouds above with brilliant shades of pink and orange.
“Let’s go to the Palace,” Emilia said as she pointed to the long building across the street.
“Why?”
“To see if Caleb or Karina can play.”
Gabi glanced back at the clinic, then down the street at the small hut that she shared with her mother. It stood silently at the end of the street, with its storm curtain rippling in the cool breeze. For a second she thought about asking Emilia if she could go home instead, but without her mother or friends there, the hut could feel very lonely and frightening. Though she didn’t really want to play with Caleb, she agreed to go in the Palace anyway.
As they rounded the corner to find the entrance, Caleb and Karina skipped through the village square with the Vandemark sisters. Kristin spotted Gabi as she sped by, giggling and joking with Karina.
“Hey Gabi,” she called. “We’re going to the beach to have a fire and sing songs. Want to come with us?”
Emilia leaned over and whispered to Gabi, “That sounds like fun. You should go.”
“But what about Mama? She won’t know where I am! And Pelusina is afraid of fires!”
The nurse plucked the stuffed cat from her hands. “It’s fine if you go with them. I’ll tell your mom where you are, and make sure Pelusina is waiting for you at home when you’re done.”
“Yippee!” she exclaimed and hopped up to the younger Vandemark girl. Her heart raced with excitement; it had been far too long since she had sung.
Calvin McLaughlin
15 April, Year of Landing, 17:09
Michael
Cal looked aft down the brightly lit upper gallery. The utilitarian panels and braces that were so dark and eerie during their journey were now just an endless repeating pattern of steel; creases and bolts flowed into a linear sea as the vastness of the gallery stretched before him.
Why does this feel so much like home? Cal asked himself as he ran his hand along the cold metal bulkhead that contained the airlock. The flight suit he had changed into after his earlier swim tightened a little around the cuff as his arm extended. There’s something about being here. About participating again.
Dr. Taylor leaned against the wall just on the far side of the airlock. She had a worn paperback copy of A Tale of Two Cities splayed open in one hand, and she was thoroughly engrossed in the story. Captain Donnell Gibbins and Sergeant Cameron Drisko stood a few feet away, poring over a clipboard full of reports of colonial activity for the last few days. The sight of what he expected from the crew helped calm his frayed nerves. He still knew that the meeting they were about to have would be anything but relaxing.
Hunter emerged from the airlock and greeted him. “Colonel Dayton is ready for you.” His eyes darted around the group. “All of you. Please, come to the bridge.”
Cal stepped through the portal that joined the command section to the upper gallery. The familiar split staircase sat ahead, and Cal marched up the stairs, every motion of his legs and feet deliberate. Each rising step made more goose bumps rise on his skin, and when he reached the top and saw the massive glass canopy, he shivered.
The glass was streaked with tiny rivers of water. A light rain had started to fall right at sunset. Though the skies were now dark, the light from inside the bridge clearly reflected in the water that pooled up at the very top of the ship. Under the panorama, the command chair sat on its raised platform. Colonel Dayton stood at the chair’s side, resting his arm on the back. His back was turned to the group as he stared into oblivion somewhere off the starboard bow.
The others took positions in a semicircle around the command chair. Cal stopped about six feet from it and leaned against the metal railing just above the engineering terminals. His hands gripped the smooth, slightly tarnished steel out of habit. Hunter stopped on the other side of the chair back from Colonel Dayton and softly cleared his throat.
“Colonel, sir,” he said, bobbing his head in Cal’s direction.
The ship’s commander turned around and scanned the gathered crowd. His crow’s feet looked like they had doubled in size, and formidable, dark circles under his eyes told the story of a man who desperately needed sleep. His beard had grown as well, and was not as well groomed as Cal had remembered.
“Mr. McLaughlin,” he said in his thick New England accent. “Lieutenant Ceretti tells me that you have some interesting news. Something about our friends on the other side of the river. I understand that you have had contact with one of them, against my orders.”
“Yes, sir,” Cal replied, making an effort not to stutter. “I didn’t realize who he was at first. To be honest, at a distance I mistook him for Captain Gibbins. But I guess I would have talked to this guy no matter what, since I saved him from drowning in the river.”
Dayton nodded. “I don’t blame you for doing that at all. But from what I understand, the contact wasn’t accidental. Ceretti mentioned that he ran into the river to… speak with you?”
“That’s what I figured. He was definitely trying to get the attention of Lexi and me. He did a good job at that when he fell in. We were
both a little freaked when I fished him out and found he was from Gabriel. But he wasn’t armed, and he wanted me to give you a message, and ask for help.”
“Help,” Dayton spat. “They had their chance at that. And then they landed over there.”
“Please hear him out, sir,” Captain Gibbins interrupted.
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“He said that he was part of the crew, but that Colonel Eriksen booted him when he questioned why they landed on the far side of the river,” Cal continued. “He told me that Eriksen has gone out of his way to twist the trials of Doctor Kimura and Lieutenant Reid to force at least one to be convicted. He fears that if Eriksen succeeds that he might become even more corrupt, and he’s afraid of what that means.”
“Was part of the crew?” Dayton scratched at his thick brown beard. “So we’re taking the word of a disgruntled former crewmember.”
Captain Gibbins took a single step forward. “Sir, I know this man. He’s one of the most devoted officers I’ve ever seen. Back at Laramie he would pull extra shifts when things needed to get done, never once complained about it. Hell, I even saw him showing some of the refugee kids how to tuck down a bed properly before we left Earth.”
“Who is he, Captain?”
“Lieutenant Darius Owens.”
“Owens… Owens. I know that name. He was the officer that relayed messages to Eriksen for me.”
“Sir, I know a little about Lieutenant Owens myself,” Hunter added. “He’s my counterpart on Gabriel. He’s the one who found the bug in the extracom software that the assassin was using against his prey. I can hardly believe that a man like that would be going behind Colonel Eriksen’s back because of a simple grudge.”
“It’s not just him either, Colonel. He told me that there are at least twenty others that he could vouch for who were concerned by Eriksen’s actions. He believes that the majority of the colonists would too, if they knew what was going on.”
Colonel Dayton took two slow, measured steps around the command chair, not making eye contact with anyone. He lowered his body into the chair, lost in thought.
Come on, sir. You know that I’m telling you the truth.
Cal wasn’t convinced by his own words. Some bitter rift between the colonels of all three ships had flared up at some point. One was now dead; Cal considered her the lucky one, as she didn’t have to play games with her colleagues – or the lives of the colonists – any more.
“I’m not sure what to say to all of this,” Dayton finally replied. “If this is true, then Colonel Eriksen and myself are in two completely different frames of mind as to how to run things. He’s rushing through two trials, while I haven’t even thought about conducting Major Forrest’s court martial. He’s putting pressure on his people, while I am trying to keep morale as high as possible. He’s agitated someone enough that they risked drowning and God knows what else just to send us a message, with no guarantee that we’re even listening.”
His chin rose up and he looked to Captain Gibbins. “Is Lieutenant Owens a bold man?”
“Not really, sir. He’s friendly, but can also be quiet and reserved. He never signed up for combat, and he was also real nervous about the idea of space travel.”
“To me, that alone speaks volumes. I’d like everyone’s opinion on the situation. Ceretti?”
“If Colonel Eriksen is losing grip on his colony, or even if he thinks he is, it could be a dangerous situation. I don’t know if it’s more dangerous for us or the civilians under his watch, but I don’t think I could stand by and watch innocent people get caught up in this.”
“Drisko?”
“What are we even going to be able to do about it, sir?” Cameron replied. The passion in his voice emphasized his grave concern. “We don’t have any boats, and if we march up there and try to take over, he’ll see us coming a couple miles away. We can’t send any civilians over there, either. It’s too risky.”
“Thank you. Mr. McLaughlin?”
“I don’t know. This guy seemed truly upset and desperate. If it’s that bad, shouldn’t we help? Can we even help?”
“Doctor?”
“It’s not my place to say anything, Colonel. But please, let me know if whatever you decide may end up in bloodshed. I’m not a trauma doctor, so any surprises might end up proving deadly.”
Dayton nodded. “Captain Gibbins?”
“If they are in a sticky situation over there, what better way to prove that we’re serious about working together than to help them without asking for reciprocation? If we show them that we’ve got their backs, then don’t you think they’ll have ours when it comes down to it?”
The colonel slumped into his chair. He craned his neck upward and stared at the torrents rolling down the canopy above. No one in the circle moved; Cal supposed that, except for Dr. Taylor, the rest were trained to wait for Dayton. But the wait was not sitting well with Cal, and he wrung his hands nervously on the metal railing.
“I need to sleep on it,” Colonel Dayton grumbled. “Thank you, gentlemen, Doctor. You are dismissed.”
Cameron, Hunter, and Gibbins gave quick salutes before they turned away. The five companions silently filed down the stairs.
“I’m going to get some rack time,” Hunter said as he took the turn down the lower stairway to the crew pod.
“Me too,” yawned Cameron, who followed suit.
Donnell Gibbins clapped Cal on the back. “Thank you for fishing Owens out of the drink. Not many people I know would stick their neck out for someone like that.”
Cal nodded, though his fatigue and shyness kept him tongue tied. He watched as the captain followed the others down into the crew pod. He was left alone with Dr. Taylor, who stepped in front of him. She held her book to her chest with one hand and tucked her reading glasses into the other.
“Do you know why I didn’t offer an opinion in there?” she asked. Cal shook his head. “It’s that I’m not certain about what’s going on. I only have parts of the picture, and they’re not pretty. Throughout history there have been wars fought for religion, land, and slaves. Others were the sole product of political ideals. Those are the ones that can be the most inspiring, but also the most treacherous and devastating.”
“I don’t know where you’re going with this, Doctor.”
“I didn’t think you would,” she retorted. “You’re still young and idealistic. You’ve got the grand and beautiful notion that we can reach out and save friends, loved ones, and strangers alike with a gesture. But there’s an opposing force that might take issue with that gesture, and we have no idea how strong it is or how it will react if pushed. With Dayton and Eriksen already feuding, how much do you think it will take to start a full blown war between the two crews? And in a very literal sense, all of the civilians are caught in the middle. Remember that when you return to your tent with Alexis tonight.”
Calvin swallowed hard as a sketch on the foggy windshield of the crawler returned to his memory.
The Battle of Concordia. Great. Just great.
Darius Owens
20 April, Year of Landing, 11:00
Gabriel
“The court’s recess is over,” Captain Quinn boomed over the din of the crowd that gathered at the base of Gabriel’s loading ramp. “As the prosecution has rested, it is time for the defense to call its first witness.”
Eriksen had to put a pawn somewhere, didn’t he? Quinn acting as judge. How thin is your veil, Colonel?
Darius rocked from one foot to the other as he anticipated his turn on the stand. Don Abernathy appeared at the top of the ramp from within the long hallway beyond. He was dressed in a flannel button down shirt and jeans. The Hollywood image of a lawyer in a fine suit, strutting in front of an enraptured, seated jury was shattered by the day’s events. Don and Fred were both dressed in their finest attire, which did not include a shirt or even slacks for either man. The jury was composed of six men and six women randomly selected by lottery; this was the lone guarantee agai
nst Eriksen’s scheming that both counselors came up with. They stood in a row at the base of the ramp, three paces in front of the throng of colonists that had come to watch the trial.
Along with Quinn and Don, the top of the ramp was host to Colonel Eriksen, Fred Hausner, Doctor Kimura, and Lieutenant Reid. Reid was bound at the hands with rope, though the doctor was allowed to stand without bondage.
The lieutenant had been called as a prosecution witness early in the morning, and was questioned about his contact with the doctor, as well as the role that the research staff had him play. It was damning testimony, but freely given. Like Dr. Kimura, Reid seemed to cooperate completely, never once hesitating to answer any question that was thrown at him.
Admirable, even if they are convicted.
In an unusual move, the prosecutor called the defense attorney, Don, to the stand after Lieutenant Reid. He answered only a few questions, all of which were legal definitions of the crimes that had been leveled against Dr. Kimura: conspiracy, theft, and treason. Colonel Eriksen had turned beet red and ground his teeth at this display, which was the only amusement that Darius had all week.
“The defense would like to call Doctor Tadashi Kimura,” Don belted out loud enough for all to hear.
Darius felt a hand clasp his left arm and squeeze lightly. He looked to his left at the doctor’s wife, Sarah, as she clutched to him. Her eyes were fixated on the spectacle above them, and her face was almost ghost white. Just beyond her stood her daughter, Saika Reid, and Lieutenant Reid’s sister, Kayla. Kayla held her arm around Saika, whose head rested on her shoulder. She wiped her cheek with a handkerchief.
Doctor Kimura walked to the center of the deck, just in front of Captain Quinn. Quinn held out a Bible and raised his hand. “Place your hand on the Bible, and repeat after me.” Kimura obeyed. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
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