“I haven’t seen it this close up before,” said Carrie, as The Agathon grew in size as they approached. He drew the shuttle up to meet the nose of the vessel and fired his manoeuvring thrusters to hold The Jenny in place.
“Let’s see if anyone’s home.” He smiled. He tapped into the comms system.
“Jenny to Agathon, repeat, this is the shuttle pod. Jenny to Agathon.” No answer. Then a response.
“Agathon here. Chavel, is that you?” said Boyett.
“Affirmative, Agathon, just doing a flyby. I have Carrie Barrington on board.”
“Christ, Dave, we’re a little busy up here. Can you take your picnic elsewhere, please?” Boyett seemed stressed. Chavel knew when to call it a day with her.
“Sorry, Charly, I’ll get out of your hair. See you later on this evening. You have a boarding party on its way from the Jycorp base to help out and I’ll be mucking in.” Silence on the comms.
“Thank God. Get your lazy ass up here and help me get this bridge working. Sorry, Ms Barrington, didn’t mean to be rude.”
“Not at all,” Carrie said. “She looks beautiful. You’re doing a miraculous job. We have great faith in you and your team, Lieutenant. You’re giving us all hope.” There was an eminence in her voice that even shocked Chavel. Without realising, she had just sounded like her mother.
“Eh. Thank you, Ms Barrington, that’s very much appreciated. Tell you what. While you’re out there, you can check our running lights. Hang on.” Comms went dead and Chavel looked at Carrie.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Not at all. I really think she needed to hear that today,” said Chavel. Carrie smiled. Seconds later the ship’s outer hull erupted in lights. Both the inner FTL ring and outer ring began pulsating with rotating colours of red and green. It was a spectacular show of life from the chaotic scenes of construction. Rings of rotating lights began to swirl around the ship. Several crewmembers that were standing on the exterior hull stopped and watched. From the surface of the planet, it looked like two rings of light circling each other in perfect unison. It filled Carrie with an enormous lift of emotion.
“Incredible,” she said. She realised Chavel was not looking at the lights and only at her. He took her hand gently and without hesitation reached across and kissed her. It caught her by surprise but she warmly accepted. It wiped her mind clean and sent it to another place. The end of the world did not matter anymore. Not when there was this. The moment only lasted seconds, but it was enough. A momentary jolt of electricity separated them. They both laughed.
“Must be static,” said Chavel.
“Must be,” said Carrie. She placed her hand on his neck and they embraced. She was hooked.
“How’s she looking, Jenny?” came Boyett’s voice somewhere in another universe. “Jenny?” she repeated. “Jenny, you there?”
Aquaria Base-Mars Colony 1
19:22 Martian Standard
“How many do we have?” asked John Barrington. Young’s image on the screen answered.
“Four transports in total. Four thousand, three hundred and fifty-two people just docked between the two stations,” replied Young.
“That’s it?” replied Barrington.
“So far, yes,” said Young.
“Christ,” said Barrington. “The chancellor?” he continued.
“She is meeting with the various captains to confirm manifests.”
“What do you need, John?” pressed Young.
“Most of your engineering staff,” he replied. “Progress on the outer hull is progressing according to our timeframe, but the navigation system is a big problem right now. If we cannot get that up and running, God knows where we’ll end up.”
There was a real concern in Barrington’s voice. Tyrell had given him some disturbing news about the fragment approaching earlier in the day. “Two months, John. And it’s game over,” he had said over the comms. Barrington’s response to pressure had always been the same. Contain it, rationalise it, and solve the problem. He was tired. The five hours a night he was getting just wasn’t cutting it for him and the weight of saving his people, of saving Carrie, was beginning to show around his eyes.
“Tyrell has confirmed that timescale, yes?” asked Young. Barrington didn’t like repeating himself.
“Yes, Mr. Young.”
Barrington felt it was time for a conversation with the head of the now obliterated Jycorp. Young, sensing the frustration in his voice, opened the door.
“John, I think we should have a talk about how we should handle next steps, don’t you? From a command point of view.” Barrington listened. The tone of Young’s voice softened.
“Look, I realise that my position in your eyes is purely a civilian one, now that I have no company or planet to run, but the people we lead both up here and down there need to believe that the human race still functions as it always did. So here’s my proposal. Chancellor Clark’s role will remain unchanged, as will yours as commander of The Agathon project. I defer military and ship-wide decisions to you of course, but the chancellor retains her role as leader of…” he paused
“What are we now? A tribe?” Barrington didn’t answer. “Policy and ‘tribal’ decisions must be approved by her. What I suggest is that a new council be formed with the chancellor at its head. The first Terran Council.”
“Mr. Young, with all due respect, I do not have time to play politics. There is a very real chance that we are about to become an extinct species and my energy and focus needs to go into getting that ship ready to leave.”
Young seemed to be taken aback by Barrington’s tone. “I understand that, John, which is why you have complete autonomy and support on this, as well as the chancellor’s.”
Something about that did not sit well with Barrington. Some tough calls needed to be made shortly and while he thought the tone of the conversation was one thing, it was turning out to become something different. Fucking Jycorp. He calmed himself.
“Mr. Young,” he said. “Regarding the space on The Agathon.”
“Yes. That is an issue,” Young replied.
Barrington asked the obvious. “How do we decide who stays and who goes?” There was a pause.
“Tosh has something on that issue and I would like to iron some of the details out with him before we cross that bridge. In the meantime, my personnel are at your disposal to complete The Agathon project. I will begin arranging their transport immediately. Luckily for us at least, the last of the materials are already in orbit.”
“There are already rumours beginning to spread that some will have to remain behind, Mr. Young. I would like an answer on this as soon as possible,” he pressed.
“As would I, John. I am hoping to have a plan of action to propose later on this evening.” Young’s patience for this conversation seemed to be running out. “Let’s talk again in the morning?” he said.
“Of course,” replied Barrington and cut communications. He rubbed his eyes, sat in his office chair in silence, and looked at a photo of Jennifer he kept on his desk.
“Miss you,” he told her. “I’ll get her out. I promise.”
Main Observatory
Time since evacuation 51 Days
14:44 Martian Standard
“Doctor, what are going to do about the samples of The Black?” asked Carrie. She had spent the afternoon precariously preparing the storage pods of Tyrell’s equipment for safe transport to the science labs on board The Agathon. Her mind was not on the task. On several occasions, she had dropped samples of base materials with protests from Tyrell.
“I don’t know what planet you are on today, young lady, but it is not this one,” he had said, sending her off to do menial tasks for fear she might inadvertently blow the place up. Carrie knew that she wasn’t hiding her lack of concentration very well.
“I don’t know, Carrie,” he sai
d from under a control console. “Your father has blown the entrance to the cave and as such the only live samples we have left are the ones in this lab and in Meridian’s.”
“Do you not think it wise we destroy it?” she said. Tyrell stopped rummaging around in containers and looked up at Carrie, who was fiddling with a scope.
“Why do you say that? I thought you were a scientist. This is the first life form outside our own that we have discovered anywhere in the universe.” He continued rummaging through one of the containers. “Just because something is lethal when threatened does not mean that we simply destroy it, Carrie. If that were true, the great sharks of Earth’s oceans would have been extinct for a hundred years or so. Destroying nature is a last resort, Carrie. If something poses a threat to humans indirectly, we simply stay out of its way.”
Carrie was taken aback by the abrupt tone in Tyrell’s voice. Surprised at this reaction she answered, “It killed four people, Doctor. One of them intentionally.” Tyrell paused and took a seat next to one of his diagnostic tables. He took a breath.
“Carrie, what happened to your mother was an accident.” It was the first time Tyrell had ever mentioned Jennifer to Carrie directly and she was taken aback by his honesty.
“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not know what she was dealing with. It could have happened to anyone, Carrie, on any planet anywhere in the universe. It was her fate and there is no cheating that. But her death, Carrie…” he paused, “her death led to the most significant discovery in the history of the world, outside of the signal.
“She was a heroine, Carrie. Her name will never be forgotten, but now we move on with life. Fraine’s death can only be attributed to Lorenzo Fraine. His methodology was sloppy and he was foolish to run an experiment like that without proper controls. Whatever the reason for The Black’s reaction to the equipment or his presence, what is clear to me is that it was protecting itself. Nothing more. Our samples in the lab have not reacted the same way when I duplicated the experiment. Nothing happened, Carrie. So tell me logically, from a scientific point of view, why would we destroy the only extra-terrestrial organic substance currently known to exist?”
Carrie began to hear frustration in Tyrell’s voice. She contained her feelings about her mother’s death and focused on his mind. She felt ruthless discipline from him and something else. Something dark. Save Carrie! came a scream in her head. She took a step back, as if given a jolt. She dropped the scope on the floor, and it smashed into several small pieces. Tyrell just looked at her. Focused eyes. He knows.
“I am sorry, Doctor Tyrell. I… sorry.” She knelt and started picking up the fragments of the scope.
“Do not worry about that, Carrie. I have many more, just throw it in the disposal unit.” He stood up and approached her. He stood beside her and placed a hand on one of her shoulders.
“What we are about to do, Carrie, will take all our focus and all our...” He paused. “Talents. I have been impressed by your work here. You are a gifted scientist. A natural, and you have been of enormous help to me. Do not be afraid of where we are going. The answers are out there, Carrie,” he said, pointing to the ceiling.
“We will find them together. You and I.” Carrie did not like the soft touch of his hand. There was a surreal calm about the doctor, a vacancy in his eyes like a shark before it attacks. He took a deep breath and returned to his workstation, as if the conversation had never taken place. Carrie knew at that moment that Doctor Tyrell was dangerous.
Jycorp Orbital platform
19:33 Martian Standard
“Should have kept the military on a tighter leash,” Young said.
“What was that?” an aide replied.
“Nothing,” said Young as he made his way out of his office and through the station. People scattered about, letting him pass. He had a long stride and never stopped to speak to anyone unless it was absolutely necessary. Now, more than ever, his image of strong leadership needed serious reinforcement. His very small and weakened security personnel were beginning to look uneasy in his presence. They still maintained an absolute veil of professionalism, but there were times when he would catch a questioning glance from one of them.
His father had bestowed an old Chinese saying from Sun Tzu to him many years earlier. “If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things.” What did the human race have left but the routines of old? He hoped that he could maintain that sense of purpose long enough to get on board The Agathon. Time was running out and questions were being asked. The greatest threat now was not the huge chunk of rock headed their way. The problem now was revolution. Every man for himself! He began to imagine the faces around him tearing each other apart to gain access to their only escape route. The Agathon. Time was running out and he needed options before that happened. They would follow Barrington. They all would. But not him. He had neither led men in war nor bled with them on any battlefield. He was a suit. A powerful one in the old world, but this new one could quickly degenerate into madness.
He travelled down the many corridors to the central engineering sections of the space station. The huge room was filled with large control consoles and walkways, which carried its inhabitants to the six-storey-high engine access ports. Tosh and Emerson were waiting for him near one of the artificial gravity field generators. They were in deep discussion about something and did not see him enter.
“Gentlemen, please wait here,” he instructed his guards. They waited at the entrance obediently. He walked casually over to the two men and stood next to them. They looked up and nodded.
“Mr. Emerson, I thought you had been assigned to The Agathon engineering team?”
“Eh. Yes Mr. Young, I’m on my way there now. Daniel had some thoughts on our...” He looked around to see if anyone was watching. “On our space issue and he needed me to run some quick numbers by me before I departed.”
“I see,” said Young looking at Tosh.
“And?” Tosh seemed reluctant to say what they had been talking about and looked at Emerson to begin. Emerson clearly wasn’t up to the task and put his arm out.
“Age before beauty,” he said. Tosh sighed.
“Gentlemen, can we please get on with it?” Young was in no mood for nonsense.
“Well. Here is how I see it,” began Tosh. “Before we start killing each other trying to get off these stations, I think we have only one option to propose.”
“Jesus, Daniel, will you just fucking spill it,” Young said. He did not like having to ask the same question twice and hated indirect answers more than anything.
“Okay, Jerome, take it easy. Here’s what I think. We fire the fusion engines of both space stations and the transports that just arrived and we break off orbit and head deeper in the solar system. Our calculations indicate that they would both survive a long burn and gain enough momentum to break past the outer planetary systems and past the outer rim.”
Young couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What? Are you insane?” he said.
Tosh raised his hands. “Just hear us out. Both stations are self-sustaining and could easily survive in interstellar space for decades. That is what they were built to do. We lock in the locator beacons of all ships directly into The Agathon central computer, that way it can rendezvous with them any time it wants, no matter where in the void the stations end up. We crew The Agathon to its capacity. It jumps to the Aristaeus system and determines its habitability. It offloads the crew and jumps back to pick up the rest of the people on the stations. A couple of good runs and we get everyone safely to the surface of the planet in no time at all.” Tosh waited for a response. Young took a moment and looked at the floor and sighed.
“How did it come to this?” He put his hand up to stop Emerson from adding any new information and paced over to the edge of the walkway. He placed his hand on the rail and stared up at the vast array of machin
ery, which made up the heart of the space station.
“Tosh, you’re asking over half of what is left of the human race to die alone in the middle of nothingness.” Tosh looked surprised at Young’s reaction. It was unlike him to look at things so negatively, but he had grown tired over the last few days and his encounter with the chancellor had been less than pleasant. Tosh floated over and joined him at the rail.
“That’s not what I’m suggesting, Jerome, and you know it. We do nothing and these people will die. This way they have a chance. I think you should propose it to the chancellor and Barrington. Maybe Tyrell has come up with something else I don’t know about, but right now this is how I see it. In any case, what if The Agathon blows up during the FTL drive start up? This way we save most of us. Who knows, in a few generations the convoy could reach a habitable planet and that will be that.”
Young didn’t like the sound of a generational convoy of humans limping through the galaxy, but his mind would not focus.
“Let’s bring it to the chancellor, Tosh, but I want you there when I tell her. The woman has a mean right hook.”
7
Time since evacuation 61 Days
Quarters of Dr Chase Meridian - Mars Colony 1
09:33 Martian Standard
“At some point you’re going to have to tell someone that we’re married,” said Doctor Kyle McDonnell. The pair were still wrapped in each other after a marathon session of lovemaking and McDonnell was currently resting his head neatly between her thighs. Meridian was still out of breath and her soaked body was splayed across the relatively modest bed in which they had spent the last three hours.
“I mean the fucking world has ended, I don’t think it really matters anymore,” he said, catching his breath. “Besides it might bring some joy, no?” McDonnell had been pushing her to go public with their romance for months, but Meridian was having none of it.
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