Far From Home: The Complete Series

by Tony Healey

  LaPlante nodded, slowly. “Yes sir, and it’s repeating at regular intervals. Definitely not a natural phenomenon.”

  “Okay. Can you detect audio or visual? Or a data stream?”

  “Not yet,” LaPlante said, “But we’re going to lock onto it, isolate it from everything else, and see if we can’t make out what it is.”

  “Good work,” the Commander said. “Tell Chang and Boi when you hand over to the day shift.”

  “Aye sir,” LaPlante said.

  Greene sat down in the captain’s chair. “Okay everyone, let’s get back to work. Your relief won’t turn up for another half hour yet. And the computer will take a while to process that signal. Let’s get this bridge shipshape and ready for the day shift.”

  * * *

  “As far as I can tell, you’re in great shape,” Dr. Clayton said as Hawk stepped down from the treadmill. The doc had made him go from a steady walk to a light jog, to a full-on sprint. Hawk dabbed his face with a towel.

  “Well, yuh sure as hell made me work up a sweat, that’s for sure.”

  Clayton shrugged. “It’s what I’m here for,” he said dryly.

  Hawk laughed, put his uniform top back on. Clayton turned to a console and added some notes to Hawk’s records. “You know, you’re the first patient of mine with a break in his medical history lasting fifty years. It seems strange to compare your blood pressure from fifty years ago and find it hasn’t changed.”

  “Fine stock,” Hawk said with a cheesy grin.

  “Hmm, maybe,” Clayton said doubtfully. He turned at the sound of the door whooshing open.

  Jessica stopped in her tracks. “Oh. Are you two in the middle of something? If you are, then …”

  She made to go. Clayton got up to stop her.

  “Not at all. We’re done here, actually,” he said.

  “We are? Great,” Hawk said. He saluted Jessica. “Morning Captain.”

  “Same to you, Captain Nowlan,” Jessica said with a salute.

  Hawk remembered the meet-up for Marquis Day and asked her if she’d be attending.

  “Sure. I can’t see why not,” she said.

  “Swell. Okay, I’ll see y’all later then,” Hawk said and left.

  Jessica waited for the doors to close before she sat opposite Dr. Clayton. He regarded her with his always-tired-but-never-impatient eyes.

  “He’s a funny guy,” Jessica said.

  Clayton’s eyebrows rose, he shook his head and said, “Or something like that.”

  Jessica laughed. “Yeah I know what you’re getting at. He can be a little hyper sometimes.”

  Clayton accessed the Captain’s records from his terminal.

  “Okay, if you’re ready for them, I have the results of the tests,” he said.

  Jessica sobered, held her hands in her lap as though she were a child again.

  “Okay.”

  “You ready?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

  “Right,” Clayton said. He took a deep breath. “You tested positive as carrying the MS gene. You also tested positive as having the very early stages of it. I’m sorry.”

  She felt as though the wind had been punched out of her.

  “But, I feel fine.”

  Clayton waved a hand. “No, no, no. That’s not to say you’re ill with it. It just means that it’s there.”

  “Okay,” she said, a tremor in her voice.

  Clayton waited for it to sink in. “Jessica, you should know what to look out for. Numbness of the legs or feet. Pain in the back. I’ll send all of the data to the terminal in your quarters, encrypted so that nobody else can see it. I take it you don’t want to inform the crew …”

  “That’s right. I don’t. It’s the last thing they need to worry about.”

  “But -“

  Jessica’s face was stern. “No.”

  Clayton spread his hands in an open gesture. “Fair enough. You’re the patient. But what about the Commander? Jessica I think you should tell someone. If only so that you have someone to talk to,” Clayton said.

  “No. It’s best kept between you and me,” she said. “Besides, it -“

  They were interrupted by the comm. unit on the wall.

  “Captain, this is Greene.”

  She got up and hit a button. “Go ahead.”

  “Sorry to interrupt your meeting,” Greene said. “But we need you on the bridge.”

  She looked across at Dr. Clayton. He was full of concern. Worry.

  “I’m on my way,” she said.

  * * *

  “Captain on the bridge!” Commander Greene announced. The bridge crew stood and saluted her.

  “Report,” Captain King said as she took the command seat.

  “We’ve detected a signal,” Greene told her, sitting back down. “And I don’t think you’ll quite believe this, but it’s one of ours.”

  “Ours?” she asked, taken aback. “Are you sure?”

  Greene nodded. “Yes ma’am. It’s on an older band, but it checks out.”

  “And what’s the content?” King asked, turning to Chang.

  Lieutenant Chang cocked her head to one side as she assessed the data on her screen. “It’s undetermined at the moment.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it’s very weak. A little too weak to be sure at this point, but I think it’s audio.”

  King crossed her arms. “Any way of hearing it?”

  “Not yet,” Chang said. “However, it seems to repeat on a cycle. I might be able to patch it together once it’s cycled through a couple of times, to fill the gaps in the stream. Then we can probably listen to it, but no guarantees on quality.”

  “Noted,” Captain King said. “Commander, have we pinpointed the origin?”

  Greene handed over to Lieutenant Kyle Banks.

  “I’ve narrowed it down to a point about two days’ travel at standard cruising speed,” Banks explained.

  King looked around at them all. She raised her hands. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Banks, get us underway.”

  “Aye sir,” he said.

  King looked at Commander Greene. “Let’s see what’s out there …”

  2.

  The Marquis Day celebrations were in full-swing. Captain Nowlan had forgotten that replicants could drink, just the same as any other man or woman. For once, as he made his way through the dancing bodies with a beer in one hand and Selena Walker hanging from the other, he wasn’t the biggest drunk in the room. The music thumped, boomed, and the noise in the room was incredible in volume.

  They both made the rows of seats on the other side of the room and were thankful to get out of the crowd for a moment.

  “Here,” Hawk said as they sat. He planted a kiss on Selena’s cheek.

  Selena smiled, lifted her drink to her lips and took a sip. “Thanks. What was that for?”

  “Do I have to have a reason?” he asked her with a smirk.

  She just shrugged, grinning. “No …”

  He leaned forward, kissed her on the mouth this time. He watched her close her eyes as they kissed. He closed his too. As they pulled away from each other, Hawk felt something well up inside of him. “I love you,” he said.

  She looked embarrassed. Unsure what to say. He stroked the side of her face, and whilst she didn’t shrug him off she looked visibly uncomfortable.

  “What is it?” he asked her. “What’s wrong?”

  The boom of the music seemed to fade away into the background as she looked at him straight on, her eyes seeming to probe the depths of his soul, like they always did. Though this time it was different.

  “I’m just not sure I feel the same way yet,” she said. “It’s not been long, and -“

  “It’s fine,” he said, brushing the issue aside. He raised the glass of beer. “Just the drink talkin’.”

  She nodded. “Hawk, it’s not like I’m saying it won’t be there over time. Or that I don’t feel anything for you right now, because I
do. Trust me I do.”

  Hawk looked away at the writhing bodies that seemed to fill the room on all sides. Marquis Day was a day to remember what had been achieved, and to celebrate freedom. They were always like this. A full-on party. But now he felt sober, no matter how fast he finished his pint.

  Selena reached out, held his hand. He turned back to her.

  “I just worry about sticking labels on things too early on,” Selena explained. “But I do have true feelings for you, Hawk … more than I’ve ever felt for anybody else.”

  He squeezed her hand. “And I think you’re all right too, sweetheart.”

  She slapped his leg, drained the last of her drink and handed him the glass.

  “Hey, make yourself useful and grab me another drink. And tell ‘em to put some booze in it this time.”

  He stood up, swallowed the dregs of his beer. “Where will yuh be?”

  “Here of course. Waiting for my knight in shining armour to bring me a fresh mojito.”

  Hawk waded back into the crowd with their empty glasses, chuckling to himself.

  * * *

  “Ah, yuh made it Cap,” Hawk said when he saw Jessica at the bar.

  “I’ve just got here,” she said. “Quite a crowd. I might’ve thought twice about clearing this little get together if I’d known just how many people would be turning up.”

  “Well …” Hawk said. “What yuh drinkin’?”

  She jiggled a glass of clear liquid. “Got it. Water.”

  Hawk looked flabbergasted. She might as well have shot somebody in the head right in front of him for the look he gave her. “Yuh jokin’, right?”

  Jessica laughed. “Where’s Selena?”

  “Waiting for her mojito,” Hawk said and handed the empty glass to the bartender.

  “You know, you both make a cute couple. Even if you are older …”

  Hawk broke into a grin as he collected the fresh mojito. “You’re never too old, Cap. Never too old.”

  He wandered back into the party.

  Somebody bumped Jessica’s back and she turned to see who it was. A young woman with mousy brown hair stood directly behind her, leaning against the bar. “Sorry, did I bump into you?”

  Realisation bloomed in her face as to whom it was she’d been jostled into. She broke into a sloppy salute.

  “At ease,” Jessica said with a chuckle. She raised her glass. “We’re celebrating.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just mad in here,” the woman said. “You’ve gotta fight ten men just to get to the bar.”

  “I don’t recall your name. Isn’t it … Dana?”

  She smiled. “Yes. Dana Oriz.”

  “I remember now,” Jessica said. “You’re a, uh …”

  Dana nodded. “Yes. A replicant.”

  Now Jessica noticed the blue eye and the green eye. Typical of any replicant, or replicant-born.

  “Both parents?”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  Jessica indicated the writhing mass of people around them. She didn’t know if the ship had ever held such a party. “So all of this must have special significance for you.”

  “You could say that,” Dana said. She took a glass of wine from the bartender, and as Jessica watched her drink she wondered absently how long the booze would last. When would it - and other things - run out? The meeting two days before indicated their general stores were in good shape. For the time being.

  Enjoy that glass of wine while it lasts, she thought.

  “So what’s your speciality on board, Dana?”

  “Well, I don’t hold a rank. I’m a Doctor, but I don’t touch anything in Dr. Clayton’s arena. My speciality is history. Life sciences. Humanities.”

  “That’s a broad canvas,” Jessica said.

  “I guess it’s the study of civilisation.”

  Jessica took a sip of water. “You know, I could use you for something.”

  “Oh?”

  “Come to my quarters later and I’ll explain it all. Here,” she drained her water and handed the glass to Dana. “Be a dear and give that back for me. I’m gonna make a quiet exit. Enjoy the party and I’ll see you shortly.”

  * * *

  “Ah! Just in time, sir,” Greene said as Jessica arrived on the bridge.

  “What is it?” she asked. She stood next to him at Chang’s station.

  “We think we’re ready to play you some of the transmission. It’s a short piece, but it’s clear,” Greene said.

  Jessica looked around the bridge. “Okay, Commander, Chang and Ensign Boi, come to my quarters. Let’s keep this contained for the minute. Banks, you have the bridge.”

  “Aye sir,” Banks replied from the helm.

  They arrived in King’s quarters moments later. She told Chang to access the transmission via her personal console. It took several seconds.

  “I didn’t want anyone else hearing this. Not right away. So this is need to know, understood?”

  “Affirmative,” Greene said.

  Chang played the first recording they’d been able to pull from the scramble. Jessica crossed her arms and sat on the edge of her sofa. Boi stood by the door, his hands in his pockets as he listened. Commander Greene walked back and forth, hands behind his back.

  The scratchy sound of the static and interference, the pop and fizz of the recording, like a radio signal extracted from a million year old stone, gave her a chill.

  “ … crewman Lukas. I am a replicant and, I believe, the last surviving crew member of this vessel. If you are listening to this, then it is probably too late. I am abandoning ship to learn what has become of the Captain and the other missing crew. I doubt I will continue to exist following the encounter with this planet’s natives, but I must go. It is my duty.

  With any luck, they are only captives to these people. Perhaps I can reason with them. After all, I am not human …”

  Jessica shivered. But not from the cold.

  3.

  For the first time in too long the Defiant entered standard orbit of a planet. A world made up mostly of yellows and browns, with small patches of bright green broken by bodies of water. A weather system moved across the northern hemisphere, a swirling maelstrom of white and grey with intermittent flashes of blue thunder.

  “Good to see a planet again,” Captain King said.

  “Standard orbit achieved, sir,” Kyle Banks reported.

  “Excellent,” King said. “Ensign Boi, anything?”

  He shook his head. “Just the signal. Obviously it’s stronger, but still just as fractured. Almost like it’s decayed.”

  “Can we pinpoint the exact origin? Enough to get some landing co-ordinates?”

  “It’ll take a minute. And I might have to launch a probe to do so, in order to triangulate,” Boi said.

  “Understood. Do what you have to do. Chang, do you detect any signs of technology? An advanced civilisation down there?”

  “Nothing as yet. Though I am picking up an energy signature of some kind, but it could just be the source of the transmissions permeating the atmosphere. We won’t be able to rule that out until Ensign Boi has located the source. Other than that, biological readings indicate the planet is inhabited.”

  Jessica got up, walked to the front of the bridge, as close to the viewscreen as she could get. “Life …”

  “One hundred per cent certain of it, sir,” Chang said. “But whether or not it’s intelligent life is anyone’s guess.”

  “Hmm. The air down there … is it breathable?”

  “From what I’m reading it’s close to Union Standard Atmosphere,” Chang said.

  “Captain, I have a position on the transmission source,” Boi reported.

  She turned on her heel. “Good. Go with Lieutenant Banks and fire up a shuttle. Commander, I want you to stay behind and watch the ship.”

  “Aye,” Greene said, disappointed.

  “Chin up, Commander. I’m sure it won’t be the only shuttle to the surface,” King said.

  She walk
ed back to her chair and accessed the comm. Her voice echoed throughout the ship. “Dana Oriz, report to the shuttle bay please. Dr. Dana Oriz to the shuttle bay.”

  Jessica slapped Greene on the arm as she left the bridge. “Keep the old girl together for me, Del.”

  * * *

  King waited outside the entrance to the shuttle bay. Dana came running down the corridor, her cheeks flushed. She looked like she anticipated anything from a firing squad to an award.

  She broke into a salute when she saw Jessica.

  “Captain, I thought I had to come to your quarters later -“

  King held up a hand. “Apologies, Doctor, for the lack of forewarning. We’re in orbit of a planet. We tracked an errant signal here, and now we’ve located the source. Lieutenant Banks, Ensign Boi, and myself are going down there to investigate. I thought you might appreciate coming along for the ride.”

  “I’m, uh, flattered, I …”

  Jessica led the way. “Then there’s not a minute to lose.”

  Dana caught up with the Captain as she strode across the hangar to the awaiting shuttle. “I’m honoured you thought to ask me along, even if it is sudden …”

  “Spontaneity is the spice of life, Doctor,” King said with a smirk. “Besides, I’ve been getting stir crazy. I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to some fresh air.”

  * * *

  The upper layers of the atmosphere parted as they dropped to the surface, the underbelly of the transport glowing red hot.

  “I always hate these things,” Dana said.

  King chuckled. “It took a long while for me to get used to them, too.”

  “Thirty seconds till we hit the cloud layer. Then we should be able to see something,” Banks reported.

  “Good,” King said.

  The little ship bucked and shook, and Dana gripped the sides of her chair, tense. Seconds later it steadied somewhat and Banks took them into a smooth dive through the cloud layer. They dissipated to reveal a dry, sandy landscape below them with patches of lush green and small oceans.

  “An world of oases,” Dana said.

  “Seems that way,” Jessica said. “Pretty, in a way.”

  “I’m closing in on the co-ordinates now. We should be able to land in about ten minutes,” Banks said.