Colonization

by Scott McElhaney

  I sighed, then looked over at the doctor who was growing more and more impatient. I then looked back over at Renata.

  “But Zane is coming back to KMA. What then?” I asked.

  “If I had my choice, with or without Zane, I don’t want to be here,” she said, “I truly and utterly hate this place.”

  I saw Leah throw her hands into the air behind Renata. I shrugged and then turned to the doctor.

  “I’ll get his EVA suit and we’ll somehow get it on him. If it’s alright with you and the captain of the South Carolina, there will be three of us relying on your hospitality,” I said with a bit too much resignation.

  “Yes, we have plenty of space, but I want everyone suited up as soon as possible. Your husband has given me a lot of work to do.”

  Rigel Knight

  Chapter Seven

  “USN-SD Charleston to USS South Carolina:

  LCDR Rigel Knight,

  We reviewed all the data as well as the report from you and your crew. You are cleared to abort the current trip to Europa. Report the condition of any survivors you bring aboard before heading back so we can prepare an appropriate medical team and medical shuttle. Return at flank speed and report to dock 8 of Orbital Shipyard Two where you will receive a change in orders and the survivors will be offloaded. Please relay the following to any conscious survivors of the CP-4:

  ‘To the heroes of the Colonization Project #4,

  I, the Secretary of the US Navy, would like to extend to you our nation’s heartfelt welcome and sincerest appreciation for all that you’ve managed to accomplish over the years since your mission began in spite of many unforeseen obstacles. We’d also like to extend our sympathies for those who have been lost and assure you that none were lost without honor. Living and dead, you represent mankind’s first interstellar travelers and interstellar colonists and will receive all the honors that come along with that. By the time you receive this, we will have already gathered up a full freighter of supplies to bring the colony the most comfort and assistance possible, which is long overdue. You will be receiving a modern reactor that can be brought online within hours of receipt; you’ll receive the supplies for proper winter housing which will not be in the form of tents, proper bedding which will not be in the form of foldable cots, a full supply of electric furnaces and ductwork, plenty of food and drink, clothing, tools, and many care packages from people here who want to honor you. We will be sending you a crew of no less than fifty Navy electricians and builders who will work to get your colony comfortable in less than a week’s time. You will also be receiving an addition of two medical staff to your colony. The Navy hasn’t forgotten you and you will be cared for and supplied as current members of the USN-SD.

  Fleet Admiral Melissa M. Smith, USN-SD’

  I also received your attached notification that you would like to resign from the USN-SD due to not being challenged enough in your current role. After review, your resignation is not accepted, but only due to the fact that you will be receiving a different set of orders upon your return. As the first to make contact with the lost colony on KMA, the Navy requests your continued position as a liaison. Be prepared to discuss this further when you return.

  Sincerely,

  Rear Admiral Steven J. Torres”

  I read it three times. How could someone say “I don’t accept your resignation”? I was glad to see they still valued me, but I could also read between the lines. I had given them the exact coordinates of the wormhole gate. I had given them the instructions on how to create a permanent structure there where they could control the wormhole – all provided on the tablet from KMA. And what would that structure ultimately turn out to be? It would very obviously become a space station where ships could dock and people could walk through a gateway directly to KMA. And if it’s a space station with docks… there would need to be ships going back and forth between Earth and the dock… and there would need to be captains of those ships.

  I wasn’t willing to fly back and forth and back and forth for the rest of my career. I was an explorer at heart. I wanted to see the stars and not just the same ones over and over again. I didn’t want to be a liaison to the wormhole entrance. I wanted to go to KMA and see Tau Ceti as the main star in my sky. I wanted to look up and see Kepler 963a in the sky at night.

  “Captain, we’ve got a blue ball suddenly hovering in the cargo bay,” Ensign Moran hollered over the intercom, “Looks like you backed us up perfectly so the wormhole is literally in the cargo hold, sir!”

  It wasn’t hard. Once Doctor Lord disappeared behind the ship, I put on the reverse thrusters at minimal speed and tried to bring that spot into the ship.

  “We’ve now got a person strapped to a cot in the hold. Mr. Stone is drawing him away from the glowing ball.”

  I switched off the message from Earth and then flipped on the visuals so I could see for myself now. Another person appeared in a flash of blue light. Both were wearing the older EVA suits that still had rank insignias on the sleeves. The person in the cot was a first class petty officer and the other was a full commander. Another person suddenly appeared, wearing the markings of a ColSup. The XO continued to announce everything that was going on.

  After Doctor Lord appeared in a flash, the miniature blue orb disappeared. She gave a thumbs-up, letting us know to close the cargo bay door and to vent a breathable atmosphere into the hold.

  “Keep completely suited until the wall-beacons turn green,” the XO accidentally blared throughout the ship.

  He forgot to switch the communicator over to the cargo hold. I watched as the atmosphere was vented into the hold. Everyone just stood there next to the person strapped to the cot as the winds buffeted them. The cargo hold was never meant to be an airlock for the transfer of personnel, so there was no reason to limit the process of atmospheric transfer. The entire cargo hold could be converted to vacuum in just under thirty seconds and then converted back to a breathable atmosphere in the same amount of time.

  As the warning lights went away in the corner of my screen, the people in the cargo hold started to move about. I wondered just then if these were the only survivors of the entire CP-4. It was time to meet these people and welcome them aboard.

  Sarai

  Chapter Eight

  I helped Doctor Lord with the makeshift stretcher, leaving my full EVA suit on just because I had no hands to carry the helmet. Renata removed her helmet and walked up ahead beside the doctor. I watched from my point at the rear of the stretcher as this beautiful young girl just strolled along as though she had not a single care in the whole world. She had run her hand across the back of her neck, tugging out that long shiny lava flow of hair that had been tucked into her EVA suit. In a matter of ten seconds, she went from being an indistinctive part of the collective to a beautiful young woman.

  I couldn’t understand the relationship between her and her mother. The good-byes took less than a minute, and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t a tear shed between them. How could a mother and a daughter react as though it wasn’t a big deal? To hear Renata talk about it, she was never returning to Kepler Moon Alpha. Renata didn’t care and neither did her mother.

  Suddenly we were accosted by two sturdy enlisted men, both engineers. They took command of the stretcher while Doctor Lord gave them a quick direction I didn’t understand. Two other men were coming down the metal stairs that had led from the upper catwalk surrounding the bay. Doctor Lord and I removed our helmets just as the men reached us.

  “Welcome aboard the USS South Carolina,” the Lieutenant Commander stated, offering his hand to me, “I’m the captain of this ship, Lieutenant Commander Rigel Knight. And this man beside me is my exceptionally capable XO, Ensign Michael Moran.”

  “It’s very good to meet you, sir, and we are extremely grateful for your assistance and hospitality. I’m the commanding officer of what you would know as Colonization Project-Four, which is now merely a colony of seventeen… uh… sixteen people,” I paused to lo
ok at Renata as I recalled that she was no longer part of the colony, “I used to be the XO, but the captain died before ever reaching KMA. I’m Commander Sarai Stark and the man who is at your doctor’s mercy is my husband ColSup Zane Stark, though he still wears the EVA suit of the Welder First Class he once was. This young lady is ColSup Renata Richards who is requesting transport back to Earth as she is resigning her position as a member of the CP-4 and the KMA colony.”

  His eyes settled on hers a little longer than the two-second handshake warranted. I took the opportunity to finally look at the South Carolina for the first time in years. Other than the color of the paint on the walls and the new non-skid coating on the stairs behind the captain, it looked every bit the South Carolina I piloted long ago. I had to wonder how poorly the Navy was funded was now. I would have never expected them to keep something like this running for more than half a century. I think the ship was twenty-some years old when I had her. Although, our orbital shipyards were older than that, assuming those indeed were still the same.

  Up ahead, there was an odd looking yellow shuttlecraft that I quickly discovered wasn’t a shuttlecraft at all. The four large propellers or screws along the sides, told me that it was most likely a submarine. And not just some remote submarine, but one with bulbous windows all around with visible seating inside. It looked like they were doing significantly more beneath Europa’s crust than back when I had this ship.

  “We are happy to assist in any way we can,” the captain stated, “Please allow me to show you the ship and where you’ll be staying for our trip back to Earth. We are only four or five days out once we get underway.”

  Chapter Nine

  Since eighty percent of the ship was wide-open cargo space, it didn’t take him long to show us around. I was impressed to see the way they updated not only the passenger’s living spaces, but also those of the crew. The passengers, which were often scientists heading to and from Europa, were given expanded suites which could have only been accomplished by joining two or more of the older berthing spaces together. The South Carolina I once knew could transport a maximum of sixty passengers plus cargo. Commander Knight stated that now he only transported a maximum of twenty, but this particular trip he only had one. But he assured us that if they had to suddenly evacuate all nine-hundred and ten souls from Europa, he obviously could handle that. They just wouldn’t all be living in the sort of luxury the current suites suggested.

  “Why are they wasting your time on a single passenger?” I asked, suddenly wishing I could take it back, “I mean-”

  He laughed suddenly, “I know what you mean, Commander. You said you ran this particular route before and I bet you hated it as much as I do.”

  We had stopped just outside the ship’s mess hall, or the dining room for those who weren’t familiar with Navy terminology. He turned to Renata and me and smiled handsomely.

  “I have to admit, the Europa run was… let’s just say tedious,” I replied, “But it gets better.”

  “I imagine it does,” he agreed, then nodded his head to the mess hall, “Why don’t we grab a bite to eat and discuss what we’re going to do before we head out?”

  We agreed, even though I didn’t feel much like eating considering the fact that I had no idea what my husband was currently going through. Doctor Lord warned me before we arrived here however that for the first few hours, I wouldn’t be allowed to see him anyway. He would be taken into surgery within a half hour of our arrival and she expected that to take a minimum of three hours. And that didn’t even involve setting the bones which she would be doing while he was unconscious anyway.

  We loaded up our trays with an Italian pasta dinner that was being served when we got there. The only other people eating at the time was an older Asian gentleman and a balding ensign who wore an engineering symbol on his shoulder. I expected that he was the ship’s chief engineer since the XO was also an ensign.

  It surprised me when the captain seated us at the same table as the civilian Asian man instead of with the chief engineer. I smiled and nodded a greeting to the man across from me. He reached out his hand and I shook it.

  “I’m Doctor Tuan Nguyen,” he said, “Microbiologist for the Europa Science Foundation. Nice to meet the world’s first real colonists.”

  “Doctor, this is the commanding officer of that colony, Sarai Stark, and this here is one of the colonists Renata Reynolds. The doctor here is my only passenger,” the commander stated by way of introduction.

  After the hand-shaking, we sat down and I immediately took a long drink of the orange juice. I hadn’t tasted orange juice in more than six months. Renata was equally emptying her glass of water much too quickly. Our filtration process on KMA wasn’t up to par, so the water there not only smelled, but it wasn’t fully clean either. When we put our empty glasses down, we noticed the two of them just sitting there gaping at us. Doctor Nguyen quickly grabbed our empty glasses and stood up.

  “Allow me,” he said, tears suddenly welling in his eyes, “I’m embarrassed that I forgot what blessings we have here and that you have been living without.”

  I was suddenly feeling choked up at how poor and needy we must have seemed. The captain also appeared to be as apologetic as the doctor, though they should have been anything but apologetic. They were the ones who answered our distress call and were currently taking care of us. I suddenly felt hurt as I looked down at the food on my plate.

  “Captain Knight, my colony…” I started to say, “We need food and water. We need everything.”

  “I completely understand and my men are in the cargo hold waiting for the wormhole to open again in about fifteen minutes from now,” he replied, “Doctor Lord told me about the plan and we are sending over the supplies that were intended for Europa. They will have plenty of food and water to carry them over until we get another ship out here.”

  He took out a folded sheet of paper and handed it to me. It was the text of a message from Earth in regards to our colony. The doctor returned with full glasses for Renata and I while I was reading what was sent. I was impressed, amazed, and honored by what the Secretary of the Navy had written. I guess I shouldn’t have been startled by the thought that the Secretary of the Navy was personally involved, but I still was. I hadn’t realized what a big deal the discovery of our surviving colony would have been to the people of Earth, not to mention the discovery of an operable wormhole between the two star systems.

  I handed the letter to Renata and shook my head. I couldn’t believe that my colony was going to get instant action from the US Navy. My colony was going to not only survive, but we would have everything we needed and more. We were going to succeed and get to live ordinary lives instead of fighting for every kernel of corn.

  “How quick?” Renata interrupted my thoughts, “How soon do you think we would have a normal place to live?”

  “Well, from the looks of that letter, I’d say weeks, maybe a couple months?” the captain said, “And this is ordered by the Secretary of the Navy. You don’t get any higher than that.”

  I lifted a piece of garlic bread and took a small bite, savoring it as I chewed slowly.

  “My men attached copies of that letter to the first pallet of supplies that we’re sending through along with instructions for them to open the wormhole every six hours thereafter in case we have trouble setting up something to open the wormhole on this end when other ships arrive,” he said, “Your home will be a realistic home again soon.”

  “Home…” Renata repeated.

  “You don’t have to leave, Renata,” I turned to her, “Imagine a world with houses, heat, food, and water. We’ll get sunlight and tropical temperatures before you’re too old to enjoy it.”

  “But it would still stink,” she said, “Literally.”

  “You couldn’t smell it,” I said, “You only remembered that you could smell it. And even that is as temporary as the dirty sky. Your kids will never know how dark or smelly the moon once was.”

  She l
ifted her glass, looked at it for a moment, and then took a drink, “Can I have some time to think about it?”

  “We are leaving for Earth after the delivery in a few minutes, but you don’t have to make a decision before that,” Commander Knight offered, “You are welcome on my ship as a guest until you decide, as long as it’s alright with your commander.”

  I took another bite of the bread and nodded, “As far as I’m concerned, Renata, you are part of the colony. If you change your mind and want to come to KMA, you are more than welcome. I imagine it will be at least a few weeks before Zane and I can return to the colony, so maybe you can plan on returning with us at that time and spend the time between just trying to decide for certain.”

  She seemed to think about it and then agreed. We went on with our meal, discussing the return trip and what would be expected once we arrived back home. He and Doctor Nguyen asked many questions about our fourteen months on KMA, all just curiosity on their parts. They weren’t compiling a report but warned that someone would most likely be compiling one once were planet side.

  After dinner, Renata retired to her suite with adamant plans to take a long shower and then get dressed into something more comfortable. Against the captain’s wishes, I went to the medical bay where I planned to wait until I could see Zane. The captain ultimately stated that he would be returning to the bridge to get us underway and that he wasn’t going to stop me.

  Rigel Knight

  Chapter Ten

  I couldn’t stop thinking about Renata, much as I tried. I had brought the ship about and began the rapid acceleration procedures after we completed the transfer of supplies to KMA. After having gone nearly twenty hours without sleep, I turned the controls over to the XO. He would continue getting the ship through the first three stages of acceleration during his twelve hour watch. I was mindful that he had also lost several hours of sleep as well during the recent events.