by Travis Sande
"I guess I just keep replacing robots." Derrick let out a small chuckle on his way back to the greenhouse.
"Yeah, and you're much better company than an automated arm." Ben laughed.
Derrick returned to the greenhouse section and headed for the storage cabinets. Carrots, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, green beans, and summer squash were the vegetables selected for the garden. Derrick consulted his CCD for the layout of the garden before starting to plant.
Carrots were going to be first. Grabbing the metal planting device, he turned the dial to carrot. The device was preprogrammed with every vegetable for their garden. Attaching to the top of each soil pod, the device would plant seeds to their required spacing and depth. It was a middle ground between full automation and manual.
Derrick repeated this for each vegetable in the garden. Every so often he would turn his attention to Ben sitting outside. After over an hour of planting he noticed Ben had barely moved. There was only one row left and Derrick decided to wait until then to speak with Ben.
Just as he started loading the summer squash he could hear something behind him. Turning around he saw a second suit was standing next to Ben. Their suits muffled their voices just enough to make the conversation impossible to understand from within the greenhouse. Curious what they were discussing, he kept his eyes on them as he planted the final row. They traded places to allow for the other person to view the sample. At this point Derrick assumed it must have been Sian. She is the only other one that could have deciphered anything from those images. This last row seemed to be taking an eternity as Derrick wanted to get out there any see what was going on.
Finally, the last pod of summer squash was complete, and Derrick looked to the main lab area. He noticed Ben point at him briefly. Derrick quickly put the planting device back in its place and moved toward the entrance of the greenhouse. Once outside, he activated the irrigation system via the panel attached to the greenhouse wall. Sprinklers came to life and bathed the greenhouse in its first watering of the journey.
"Hello, Derrick." His suspicion was correct, it was Sian.
"Hello." Derrick said in return. Concerns for what was going on flooded into his mind, but he did his best not to show it.
"Derrick, Sian and I have a few samples to go over. Great job with the garden, you managed to have it activated before ten. Looks like we are going to be on schedule." Ben had genuine pride in his voice. A reassuring sensation rushed through Derrick as he appreciated the optimism.
"Yeah, that's great, you saved a lot of time by prepping most them." Derrick thanked Ben. "Any update on the samples?"
"Sian and I were just going over those actually. We won't be far behind you. I have synced your CCD to the greenhouse monitoring system. If you don't mind checking in at the times I have appointed, that would be great." Ben turned from the interface as he addressed Derrick.
"No problem, just keep me posted." Derrick agreed. Ben seemed to be avoiding Derrick’s question but decided not to think too much of it.
"Remember there are two decontamination cycles, leave the suit on for the first. Once you see the yellow light you can remove the suit and hang it on the side as you found it. The second cycle will complete, and the green light will indicate you are free to exit." Ben gestured to the exit.
"I got it, thanks." Derrick wanted to stay and find out more about the sample, but it was clear they wanted some privacy.
"I would like to remind you of our appointment at 11:00, Derrick." Sian interjected as Derrick entered the decontamination area.
"I'll be there." Derrick said with a forced smile. Being reminded of a doctor’s appointment wasn’t fun when you were at home, let alone in deep space.
Derrick couldn't help but feel like he was rushed out of the bio lab. He found it odd how Ben ditched the small talk in favor of exit instructions. Derrick stopped himself before letting his mind wander about the situation. Thinking back to Luke’s words in the galley about speculation. He decided to do his best to ignore it and relax before his follow up appointment.
Returning to his quarters, Derrick decided to sync his CCD to the desk terminal. Ben had scheduled him to check the greenhouse garden three times a day. A note was written that it was to establish a routine and might not feel necessary at first. Necessary or not, he was glad to have responsibilities. A daily scheduled routine was one of the psychological requests for the mission. Attempting to limit any crew member from spending too much time isolated or sedentary. A mission under these conditions had never been attempted before and all precautions were being taken to ensure a healthy crew; physically, and mentally.
Derrick noticed a small number one hovering above the message icon at the bottom of the screen. "Someone messaged me?" Derrick had a tendency to speak aloud when he was alone. The message was from Nik and was just informing him of laundry being done. His clean suits were placed back into the laundry receptacle of his quarters. He stood up to check and sure enough, there they were. He took them out and placed them back in the closet.
Wanting to thank Nik for it, he sat back down and replied to the message. As he sent it he noticed a schedule request on his CCD. Sian wanted to move his appointment up almost an hour. His relaxation time would have to wait, the new appointment was five minutes from now. Although the change felt abrupt, he approved it. “Let’s get this out of the way.” Derrick said to himself as he stood and exited his quarters.
Derrick made his way through the ship and into the infirmary; Sian was waiting inside. "Hello, Derrick, thank you for accepting my schedule change. Please, have a seat." She motioned him to the table at the center of the room.
"Should I be concerned?" Derrick was already concerned.
"No, I knew you were off duty and saw no reason to wait an additional hour." Sian and Ben must have finished their consultation in the bio lab.
Derrick got onto the table and Sian approached him with the breath test apparatus. Knowing what she wanted, he took a deep breath and blew into the sensor.
"Good." curt always, Sian wasted no time with small talk. She turned around to set the device back on the side table.
"So, I’m all clear?" Derrick was cautiously optimistic about the situation. Sian still seemed to be behaving slightly strange. Although he could never read her at the best of times, it felt awkward, even for her.
"Yes, no sign of infection whatsoever." Sian seemed almost confused by the news.
"Is there something you're not telling me? You seem confused by my overwhelming vitality" Derrick hid his concern behind light-hearted jest but he wanted to know exactly what was going on.
"Eradicating the bacteria present in the rec area has proved to be difficult. I expected a similar case with you, but it appears the treatment was successful." Sian raised an eyebrow. Staring directly at Derrick, she placed her hand on her chin.
"You almost sound disappointed." Derrick felt an unease overcome him.
"Not necessarily disappointed, it's just a curious situation. Two identical bacterial infections were administered the same treatment, one was successful and the other failed. Ben is currently researching how that could be possible." Sian said as she returned the breath test to its drawer.
"So, the rec area is still quarantined and infected?" Derrick was starting to think his afternoon of leisure wasn’t going to happen.
"The bacteria was greatly reduced but still present. Commander Lorn has issued an indefinite quarantine of the area until a solution is found." Sian replied.
"Do you guys have any idea what could be going on?" Derrick was disappointed in the news but shed those selfish thoughts abruptly when considering the implications of the matter.
"We have several theories that are currently being explored. As for now, I am clearing you of any health flags on your CCD." Sian entered a few commands into the infirmary terminal.
"Thanks, Sian." Derrick got up to leave.
"Alert me if anything changes in your status." Sian said as he left
the room. “Anything.” Sian yelled as the doors closed behind Derrick.
Derrick grew concerned about the bacteria in the rec area. He was happy to be clear himself but didn't know what consequences an infected section of the ship could have. As he stepped into the corridor Derrick decided to check in on the bridge, knowing Luke and Eilik would likely be there.
As expected, when the door opened he found Luke and Eilik at the engineer panel. Eilik appeared to be instructing Luke on the use of the rift matrix. "Hey, Derrick." Luke immediately noticed him arrive.
"Hello." Eilik’s translator made every ‘hello’ identical. Luke had suggested multiple times that Eilik mix up his choice of words. Even using other languages or slang to greet people. To this point, Eilik hadn’t implemented that suggestion, deeming it unnecessary.
"How are you two?" Derrick inquired as he moved onto the bridge.
"Great, just getting acquainted with this thing. Using it isn't bad but monitoring and maintaining it is another story." Luke was referring to the unstable rift matrix. The very nature of the apparatus was in its name, ‘unstable’. Even with the utmost care and attention, the matrix could collapse at any moment due to quantum fluctuations. It wasn’t uncommon in Vryl history for entire ships to be swallowed by the resulting wake. Eilik was at the forefront of rift technology and believed to be capable of diagnosing catastrophic scenarios before they escalate. With the matrix itself being their only source of real-time communication, shutting it down was a last resort and left to Eilik’s discretion.
"How's he doing, Eilik?" Derrick motioned to Luke, curious about his aptitude for the daunting tech.
"Progress is slow but steady." Replied Eilik.
Luke turned to face Eilik, offended by the lukewarm endorsement. “I think I am doing great.”
When it was clear that Eilik was not going to comment on Luke’s assertion, Derrick changed the subject. "I don't want to cause concern, but have either of you heard about the rec area still being infected?" Derrick wanted to hear their thoughts on it. Hoping that some insight might allow his mind to relax.
"I was actually the one that found it. I couldn't sleep this morning, so I decided to just get up and conduct a sweep. As soon as I saw trace amounts of resilient bacteria I informed Lorn. I guess he rescheduled Sian to come take a look. I left it to them. Sian wanted to reconvene later today. Outside of that, I haven't heard much." Luke shrugged.
"Eilik, do you have any insight? I know the membrane surrounding each ship section is Vryl technology. Have you faced anything like this?" Derrick was uncomfortable being in the dark on the issue and searched for any source of information.
"I was debriefed by commander Lorn and Sian earlier. This is not something we have experienced before. All information has been rerouted to the Triumvirate and Setu. A solution is expected before the end of the day." Eilik reassured Derrick. The deadpan delivery of the translator held a quiet confidence about it.
Derrick nodded, acknowledging Eilik’s assertion. "That’s good news, I was starting to get worried.”
"Oh, there's no need to worry, it's confined to a specific area and the amount I detected was miniscule. The treatment was working, just not completely. Sian and Ben alone could find a solution, let alone the collective minds of Humanity and the Vryl. Don't lose any sleep over it. Besides, Eilik seems confident in our abilities." Luke slapped Eilik on the back as he finished his sentence.
“Please do not strike me.” Eilik’s translator attempted to confront Luke about the shoulder slap. Luke proceeded to hit him again. “Human behaviour eludes me.” Eilik turned back to the panel.
Luke laughed and continued. “It’s going to be fine.”
"Yeah, you're right." Derrick felt much better having gained a little perspective on the situation. "So how exactly does this rift thing work? Do you just talk into it like any communicator?" Derrick shifted his focus, wanting to learn more about the unstable rift matrix connecting them to the Triumvirate.
"It's mind boggling how complicated it is. Everything that is fed through the rift is scrambled so completely, that no algorithm could possibly reorganize it. The solution that Eilik and his friends came up with is to use quantum pairs for every piece of information sent. This allows them to utilize quantum entanglement to detect and reposition all the information we receive. It's extremely tedious and I have found out that ‘real-time’ isn't quite as instant as they implied. Still, it's incredible and I can't wait to talk with Yanna about it." Luke’s enthusiasm for Vryl tech dripped from every word. His eyes wide with excitement as he summarized it as concisely as he could for Derrick.
"That is a rudimentary and not entirely accurate explanation. Reorganization is handled through a process known as slip monitoring. Quantum entanglement, as you call it, is only utilized to orient the organized data into a comprehensible format." Eilik corrected Luke. “Detailed specifics about the technology are beyond your current understanding, Derrick. I apologize for not investing more time at the moment.” Eilik’s words were condescending but honest. Derrick knew they were not malicious and let them slide off his back.
"Yeah, I don't understand all of it yet but it's fascinating." Luke was clearly still learning; his enthusiasm for the topic was palpable.
"I just wanted to check in with you guys, glad I did." Planning to leave them to their work, Derrick started toward the exit.
"Anytime, how was your morning with Ben?" Luke asked, drawing Derrick’s attention back to him.
"Great, I got the entire garden up and running. Now we just have to wait for it grow." Derrick was happy to discuss his project on the upper deck. While still in its infant stages, he was excited to see it mature.
"I am already sick of that gel, so the idea of some actual food is exciting. How long do you think it will be before we can dig in?" Luke rubbed his hands together.
"Honestly, Ben mentioned that it's scheduled to be part of a week fifteen sustainability experiment. So... fifteen weeks, at the earliest, sorry" Derrick winced as he delivered the bad news.
"That's ok, I guess every aspect of this mission is an experiment of some kind, so I am not too surprised." Luke’s posture deflated slightly, but he shrugged off the bad news.
"Yeah." Derrick laughed. "I'll let you guys get back to work, I am going to grab some of that gel you like to much." Derrick smirked at Luke.
"Ok, thanks for popping in, Derrick. I can't wait until I understand what Eilik is saying to me." Luke chuckled at his own statement, waving to Derrick.
"Bye, Eilik." Derrick said as he turned to leave.
"Goodbye, Derrick." Eilik turned his attention to Luke. “You don’t understand what I am saying? Is my translator failing?”
Derrick laughed as he left the bridge, glad he had taken the time to visit. It was reassuring to hear their thoughts on the rec area. Knowing the information had been relayed to Earth and Setu gave Derrick far more confidence in a solution. Concerned about the origin, Derrick wondered how the bacteria got aboard the ship; was he infected before the launch, was he responsible for this entire episode? The thought was troubling, but ultimately pointless. How the infection arrived was irrelevant. Looking forward to a solution was the only thing worth focusing on.
As Derrick emerged from the bridge corridor he noticed Nik enjoying lunch alone. He decided he would sit down with her and thank her in person for the laundry she had done earlier.
"Hey, Nik, mind if I join you?" Derrick asked as he approached.
Nik swallowed her mouthful of gel and said, “Of course not, sit down!”.
"Thanks again for getting the laundry done so soon. With my workout and illness, I was blasting through my wardrobe pretty quick." Derrick grabbed his meal and sat beside her at the table.
"Oh, you're welcome, Hank and I decided to stay ahead of things." Nik smiled at the comment. “Thanks for the message as well.”
"I appreciate it and I am sure everyone else does too." Derrick continued. "Did you hear about the rec area?"
&n
bsp; "Yeah, Luke mentioned it to me before he went to the bridge with Eilik. Kind of scary that we were both up there. I am glad the strain you caught was treatable." Nik shed the smile, adopting a look of concern.
"Definitely." Derrick nodded. "I am not sure what is making the other so resilient. I talked to Luke and Eilik on the bridge, they have relayed all the information to Earth and Setu. I hope they have a solution soon. Sian and Ben were also working on it all morning while I planted the garden."
"Luke said it's confined to a single section and the treatment had an impact. I’m not too worried about it, just sad that I can't access that area. I already miss the chairs." Nik smiled and took a spoonful of her gel.
"At least we got to see it. Better to have lounged and lost then never to have lounged at all." Derrick smirked while digging into his lunch.
Nicole laughed and nodded to him with her mouth full. After swallowing, she said, "Your first lounge is always the toughest to get over."
"True." Derrick chuckled.
Nik’s company was comforting, but Derrick couldn't help thinking about the infection. He knew the problem was in good hands, but his mind raced with speculation. His internal voice was all over the place. ‘How could the infection go undetected, either in me or in that membrane? If that went undetected what else did? If it's the same bacteria, why wasn't the treatment successful in the rec area? Am I really cured, what if the infection just migrated? Ben said the bacteria couldn't survive outside of organic tissue, is the membrane alive?’ His thoughts got the better of him and Nik appeared to notice.
"Are you alright?" Nik asked. "You got really quiet."
"I'm fine, sorry, just thinking." Derrick awkwardly transitioned out of his own head and back into the moment.
"About what, if you don't mind me asking?" Nik had a genuine curiosity about her. Always looking to listen to whomever would indulge her.
"Just the bacteria, worrying is my forte." Derrick shrugged, admitting to the fault.
"Well it's concerning, and I know if I had been the one infected I would worry about it. Sian said you are in the clear though." Nik did her best to reassure him. “Don’t worry about it, Derrick.”
