She hated her personal life being discussed by anyone. It had taken Barrington three years to get her to open up about her first husband, Daniel, who had been killed during an outbreak of Ebola X in Liberia. During their first year together as man and wife, the most virulent strain of the centuries-old virus had ravaged him within two hours of contact during a botched experiment on a vaccine in one of the makeshift Jycorp CDC labs. She had watched through a quarantine field as his cries of agony went unanswered. The Jycorp CDC had strict protocols when dealing with this airborne disease. It was the only virus to fall under section 35C -Paragraph 13 of the manual for airborne contaminants; (‘Once detected, any subject infected must be immediately contained and destroyed without prejudice. Any such person or persons who enact this action are granted total immunity from any prosecution under the laws herein. Failure to comply with said protocol will result in life imprisonment without the possibility of reprieve or parole’). Knowing the protocol well, he had pleaded with her to end the pain. With his bloodstained hands pressed against the translucent field, she had flipped the switch and incinerated her husband in front of her eyes. She had found solace in knowing that it had not lasted long and that he would have thanked her for it had his ability to speak been within the realms of possibility. It was a pain she had kept for herself. Not willing to part with it through counselling or pharmaceutical dampening. It was her pain. And she wanted it.
“We’ve talked about this, Kyle; you need to give me time,” she said gently. She loved this crazy Scotsman. He made her laugh harder than anyone ever had and she truly believed that he was her soul mate. She just wasn’t ready to let Daniel go. Not yet. “Please give me time.”
McDonnell pouted and sunk his head back into her abdomen. “I’m starting to think you’re ashamed of me, ye know,” he said in a baby voice. She sat up, taking exception to the idea and held his face firmly in her hands.
“Listen to me, you silly oaf,” she said with deadly serious eyes locked into his. She loved his eyes. Full of warmth and charm. It was his eyes that had sparked her interest. His keen doe eyes that had so blatantly locked onto her the moment she had touched down on this red chunk of rock, like a lost puppy looking for its owner. “I love you more than your silly face can handle. I love your heart, your soul and that rugged man body.” McDonnell sucked his stomach in, which was badly in need of a workout. She tickled it playfully and he giggled like a child.
“I promise you that, when I’m ready, we will announce it to the whole world, what’s left of it, and we will celebrate and dance until the stars fall away. I promise.” He nodded lovingly and kissed her passionately on her soft lips, before resting his forehead on hers.
“Okay, toots. My lips are sealed. Now can I please have my fucking microscope back?” he said, and grabbed her armpits as they struggled in a mock fight amongst the sheets.
Aquaria Base - Mars Colony 1
12:22 Martian Standard
“There is something off with Tyrell,” Carrie said to her seated father. She was standing in the doorway of his office but she just came out with it.
“Sit down, Dice. What’s up?” he said, sitting back in his chair. Her father looked awful and she regretted having not come in on a lighter note. There was a harassed look on his face and his comm system kept bleeping, leading him to interrupt every few seconds to speak to various members of the colony about logistical and construction updates on The Agathon.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I can come back later.”
“No. No. No... Please sit down, we haven’t talked in a while and I could use a break from this,” he said, pointing to his comms control panel and inhaling loudly. He got up and walked around his desk, stretching his back and arms in the air.
“You need to sleep, Father. You look terrible,” she said. “You won’t be any good to us if you drive that thing into a moon because you’re half awake.” He laughed and put a hand on her shoulder. It felt nice.
“I’ll do my very best, Dice. It’s hard to get shuteye with half a planet on its way to destroy us. We have a lot of frightened people here, Carrie. I know you know that much, and frightened people need answers. I wish I had them,” he said, staring out of his large glass window and over the colony.
“I hear you took a trip this morning,” he said, giving a little knowing look which caught her completely off guard.
“Eh?” she replied. His smile widened.
“Some things don’t need your abilities, Dice. How does she look?” “
“She?” Carrie said.
“The Agathon. How does she look?” Carrie smiled and tried to disregard the blush in her cheeks.
“She’s the most beautiful ship I have ever seen. And she’s waiting for her captain.” Her father smiled, revealing the newly formed lines under his eyes. Carrie wished she could lighten his burden.
“Now, what’s going on with you in the lab?”
She suddenly felt silly bringing him this information on a gut feeling. “Nothing,” she said.
“Come on, Dice. You have a fight with the doc? Look, I know scientists are a bit strange, present company included,” he said with a playful grin. “But it’s in their nature. Tyrell probably a bit more than most, but without him we would be in serious trouble down here. I don’t have to tell you. What happened?”
She looked out the window and observed the lights of the living quarters. “Nothing, honestly. I accidentally broke an important piece of equipment and he got upset. It was my fault really and it wasn’t my place to bring it to you.” She hoped he bought her lie. “Truth is, I think I just wanted to see you.”
“Well, you have to be careful around some of this science types, Dice. Everyone is under pressure at the moment, but if it becomes something other than a dressing down you come to me. You got that?”
“Of course, I really am sorry I bothered you with this.”
“Don’t be silly, Dice. I’m here for you. But you have to fight your battles. I will not be around forever,” he said, looking warmly into her eyes.
Carrie could not imagine a life without her father and pushed it to the back of her mind.
She knew that resonated with him and he quickly responded. “But that won’t be for a long time. Buy me dinner?” he said.
“Would love to,” Carrie said.
“Okay, give me ten minutes to send some communiqués and we’ll be on our way,” he said. One hour later they left his office.
Main Observatory - Mars Colony 1
14:44 Martian Standard
Tyrell stared at the gargantuan rock in the imaging chamber as it glided unforgivingly through the emptiness of space. The fragment from Earth was massive. Its entourage of broken rock, ice, metal and core fragments accompanied it like an ominous security detail.
“Look at you,” he quietly said. “I see you.” His finger pointed to the manifestation of the doomsday fragment headed their way. His tone was playful, as if he were speaking to a new-born baby but with a hint of menace. The tears running down his cheeks had dried, leaving residue. He held a bottle of 1950 Glen Grant single malt loosely in his fingertips. It was empty.
“Little fucker,” he said, looking at the approaching debris. “Told you little fuckers,” he continued. “Told you all and now look at you. Can you breathe? Can you fucking breathe now? Think you can laugh at me with the darkness seeing you. Fucking little insects.” He started to laugh half-heartedly and wobbled in his chair, almost falling out of it. His laughter increased to a full wholehearted hysterical bellyache. He calmed himself and leaned forward towards the live stream of holographic images.
“Who needs you anyway, you ingrates. You small pathetic primates. Now look at you. ALL DEAD! DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. YOU HEAR ME, MORRETI?” His anger was swallowed up in fresh tears. He caught his breath and sat back in his chair.
“You old fuck.” He laughed. “
Not the fool anymore, I would say. Am I, Meretti? How do you like my methods now, you corpse. You see now, don’t you? You do, don’t you?” He looked up. To the ceiling.
“You know now, don’t you? Your consciousness floating around out there with all the answers, you fuck. My equations were flawless. You know now, don’t you?” He stood up from the chair and faced the imaging chamber. He walked up to its translucent barrier and pressed his hand against the glass.
“That you, Meretti? That you coming to get me?” His tone turned to fury. “Is that you coming, Meretti? Is that you, you self-righteous egomaniac?” The chunk of Earth slowly grew in the viewer. Two of the adjoining fragments smashed into each other and scattered themselves amongst the flotsam. Tyrell looked on with horror in his eyes.
“You FUCK!” He hit his palm against the glass. The clunk of it reverberated around the empty lab. He hit it again.
“Fuck you, Meretti. Come get me, you miserable old bastard. I want it. I WANT TO KNOW!” he screamed.
“You laughing, Meretti? You fucking laughing? Who the fuck do you think you are? You fucking corpse. You are NOTHING. You hear me, you old fool?” He punched the glass and screamed at the inanimate object.
“I was right. Look at me.” He turned away from the image and walked over to one of the diagnostic tables. He grabbed a chair, hurling it at the imaging chamber. A small crack appeared.
“I SEE YOU!” he screamed. The chair lay by the glass.
“I fucking see you,” he said, grabbing a large rock sample and hurling it at the chamber.
“Do you fucking hear me, old fool? You won’t kill me.” He stumbled over the table and hit the ground. He struggled to his feet. A mixture of alcohol and sweat coated his shirt. He grabbed a titanium chemical diffuser from an equipment locker. The heavy two-foot pipe lay firmly in his grasps. Small trickles of blood ran from his knuckles. He gathered himself and walked with fury towards the tank and stood nose to nose with the image of the approaching rock.
“You... won’t... get... me,” he screamed, raising the pipe above his head. He brought it down in one swift motion. The glass cracked easily.
“You old fuck!” he screamed. He began attacking the imaging chamber with tremendous violence. The image of the Earth cut out and sparks flayed across the lab, as the chamber exploded in a frenzy of shards and charged particles. The force of it knocked Tyrell clean off his feet and threw him across the floor of the lab. He lay on the ground with the wind knocked from his lungs, covered in cuts and the remnants of the destroyed imaging chamber. He turned onto his side and vomited. The broken bottle of whisky lay scattered around the lab.
He gathered his breath and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He slowly rose to his feet, wiping his mouth from the excess stomach contents, and stood among the debris of the imaging chamber. Smoke rose from the destroyed equipment. With his hair now soaked in sweat, he stood alone and in silence in his lab. With the pipe still held firmly in his hand and drained from the outburst, he dropped to his knees and began to cry uncontrollably, still watching the empty space where the imaging system had stood. He dropped the pipe, which landed with a thud. He looked around his lab and towards his private room, which held his sample of The Black and then back to the empty space.
Gathering himself, he got up and walked to a small cabinet. He grabbed another bottle of whisky. He walked quietly over to a chair and slumped himself into it. He opened the bottle and drank freely from its neck. Still out of breath, he looked at the cuts on his hands and arms with apathy and then looked back at the empty space.
“Can’t catch me,” he whispered, as he gently began to fall asleep.
PART 2
8
Time since evacuation 78 days
13:23 Martian Standard
Jycorp Orbital platform
“Iam staying,” said Chancellor Sienna Clark to the room of men, who stared in disbelief.
“No you are not,” said Young, quickly dismissing her comment out of hand and turning to Tosh whose mouth was wide open.
“Yes I am,” she repeated virulently. Young ignored her.
“Ryder?” he asked. James Ryder was seated next to a side table and chewing his glasses. His haggard suit and thin checkered necktie curved evenly over his rounded gut.
“What do you want me to say, Young?” he said, defeated. “I can’t knock her out with gas anymore and start dragging her around the galaxy. The rules have changed and you know it. I know what you want from me, but I have to admit what the chancellor is proposing makes good political sense, if no actual sense. The leader of the world abandoning her people to the nothingness of space while she jets off to find somewhere to live with the CEO of Jycorp. If we are to try and build a future for our people and you want Sienna Clark to lead those people, then I can see no fault in the chancellor’s logic from a purely political standpoint. Even if I think that it is suicide. Be that as it may.”
He looked Sienna Clark in the eyes. “My place rests at the side of the chancellor and as such I will also be staying.”
Young was beginning to get visibly irritated and looked at the two security detail standing at the entrance to his office. Greyson Kane and Kevin Ruffalo were looking forward quietly, as details do. Listening to every word yet not listening. Their blank expressions trained to non-engage in matters that did not concern them.
“Kane?” Clark’s head of security flicked his eyes toward the chancellor, who did not look at him. She knew what he would say before he said it.
“With all due respect, Mr. Young, I don’t think I need to answer that. We serve at the pleasure of the chancellor.” Clark couldn’t resist the slightest of smiles. Young had his head in his hands. Clark could see Young’s face struggling with the announcement.
“The people left behind,” Clark said, her tone soft and resolute, “will be lost, afraid and angry. And let’s not think for one second it is anything else other than that for the moment. They may grow dangerous and desperate. Survival has a way of changing people, Jerome. I have no doubt that you have doubled security on The Agathon to prevent any incursions?”
Young didn’t answer.
“I have no planet to lead.” The sentence came out and released a flurry of emotions within the chancellor. She thought of her brother and looked out of the window behind Young.
“All I have left are a handful of its people and they need me. I can be their light in the darkness. I can be their focus for their pain, their frustration and maybe even their anger.” She leaned forward and looked Young in the eyes with absolute certainty and unwavering confidence in her voice.
“I have to do this. I AM... DOING... THIS.” Young looked at Ryder, who simply shrugged. He sighed, rubbed his eyes and sat back in his chair. After several minutes of awkward silences he looked at the chancellor and nodded.
“Now that that is out of the way, how are you proposing to select the personnel for The Agathon?” she continued, as if it was a normal morning briefing. There was a subdued silence from the room as Young stared at his desk.
“Essential personnel have already been selected. Remainder will be determined by volunteers then lottery,” he finally added. “Truth is, there are those who would rather stay on the stations than take their chances on a test ship.”
“I see,” said Clark. She could feel Young was not going to be too keen on mulling over details and decided to cut the meeting short.
“Gentlemen, it is imperative that we maintain a united front on this,” she said, looking at Tosh.
“Of course, Chancellor,” Tosh added. She liked Daniel Tosh. He had a no-nonsense way about him and she respected his loyalty to her office.
“Ryder and I will compose a communiqué now to broadcast to what is left of the human race. So if I could get clarity on the exact details of how this is all going to work by nineteen hundred hours, that would be doing me a favour.” Young still
had his gaze fixed on his desk. She stood up and made her way to the exit, collecting her staff as she went. Ryder gave a nod to both Young and Tosh and followed them out. The room fell silent. Young played with a pen, letting it fall between his fingers.
“She’s right, you know,” Tosh finally said. Young didn’t answer. “I’ll be with Emerson in thruster control for the rest of the day if you need me.” Young gave him an acknowledging look. Tosh smiled back at his old friend and glided across the office to the door, then slid outside into the corridor. A moment passed as Young took a photo of himself and his father, which was sitting on his desk, and flung it across the room.
The Agathon
14:45 Martian Standard
Boyett stiffened her posture and fiddled with her lapel at the airlock.
“You want a breath mint?” said Chavel, who stood by her side.
“Shut up, Lieutenant. You sure you aren’t needed at waste recycling or something?” she said, slapping his stomach. There were six visibly exhausted yet immaculately dressed crew members awaiting the commander’s arrival, uniformly standing three on each side of the white corridor which led from the ship’s main docking airlock on the port side of the vessel. Chavel smiled and cleared his throat.
“He knows about you and his daughter?” Boyett whispered out of the corner of her mouth, as the clamps drew back and the lights at the port window switched from red to green. Chavel didn’t answer as the door rolled back. Barrington stood at the airlock and drew a breath.
“Permission to come aboard,” he said enthusiastically. Boyett knew it was difficult to resist the overwhelming sense of authority this man brought to the surrounding environment and she felt an overwhelming sense of relief in her stomach, knowing the commander had just arrived.
“Permission granted,” she said, suddenly aware she was beaming from ear to ear.
The Agathon: Book One Page 12
