by I. O. Adler
Carmen had seen enough footage of her mom and the other astronauts from the capsule camera during the last Mars mission’s launch footage. She remembered how liftoff had shaken them and pressed them into their seats. But those men and women had pressure suits and cushioned chairs.
She fought to catch her breath. She let go of her sister and joined Barrett on the floor. Her neck and back ached. Her mom had described it as an elephant sitting on top of her chest. Sounded about right. But the elephant was getting heavier with each passing second.
“Jenna?”
She could barely take in air. Her joints hurt and she could no longer move. From somewhere next to her Agent Barrett was moaning. She couldn’t even turn her head to look.
Jenna’s voice sounded from the light. “I’ve got you. Carmen, are you still there? Oh, wait—”
The voice cut out. Carmen couldn’t speak. Felt herself grow woozy. The hard floor was unyielding as her body was crushed into it. The events of the day vanished from her mind. All she could think about was that her nephews and her father would need someone to look after them after she passed.
The floor shifted beneath her. She felt support beneath her neck and spine. She was moving upward as a portion of the ship morphed into a couch like the one Jenna’s body was lying on. Second by second the pressure became more bearable. She still couldn’t rise. But at least she could draw in a lungful of air.
She lost track of the minutes as she endured the crush. Found herself nodding off. Was it moments or hours later when she looked over and saw Agent Barrett was likewise reclined on a couch made of the gray ship-stuff?
Again she faded out.
Somewhere in her stupor she heard Jenna, but the voice was muffled, as if her sister were in a nearby room and had forgotten Jenna’s hearing wasn’t perfect. The red light continued to shine.
“Wake up. Carmen, wake up.”
Not Jenna. Agent Barrett was calling for her.
He remained reclined on his couch but was looking at her. “Your sister was speaking. Said she was going to help you, but didn’t say how. If that’s her, she at least knows we’re in trouble. She’s ignoring me. Talk to her. Say whatever you can to get her to tell us what’s happening. Where are we going?”
“Sis? It’s Carmen. Can you hear me?”
She focused on listening. She knew that with the pressure in her head it would be more difficult than normal.
A couple minutes later, Jenna replied. “I’m here. There’s a delay, isn’t there? Are you okay?”
“Turn up your volume a little. I’m okay. Agent Barrett is with me. Tell us where we’re going. Are you in control of this thing? Because I’ve seen you drive…”
“Nix the sarcasm,” Barrett hissed.
They waited again for a reply.
“Oh, Carmen, if you could see what I see. Wait a moment. I’ll show you.”
Carmen felt an instant jolt of dread. If Jenna had launched the sphere without fully understanding what it would do, then anything was possible. She found herself gripping the couch’s armrest.
The sphere dissolved around them.
As the floor, walls, and ceiling vanished, Carmen felt as if she were suddenly falling even as the pressure across her body continued to pin her down. They were hurtling through space. Millions of points of light hung on the black curtain of the sky, curling beneath her and around her. The sight stole her breath away. With no point of reference she couldn’t tell how fast they were going. Was this an actual view from the sphere or was it an illusion?
Turn us around, she wanted to cry.
If Jenna was actually there and in control, she might listen to her plea.
But her sister was somehow stuck and hadn’t returned from the spaceship. And their mother was out there somewhere. There was no choice but to see this through.
Agent Barrett was laughing. It began as a mad titter at first, but he let loose with a whoop as if he were a boy riding a roller coaster. He composed himself after a moment and fought to rise and look behind them.
“It’s Earth. We’ve left Earth. I can’t believe it.”
Carmen struggled to crane her neck and immediately regretted it. She felt a fresh wave of dizziness.
But there in the distance, suspended in the blackness, was the blue-and-green circle that was her home. It was growing smaller. She settled back in and decided it would be best to close her eyes.
Chapter Fourteen
The sphere went solid around them. The interior lit up. It was as if the walls themselves had brightened, like black curtains illuminated from behind by sunlight. The red light continued to hover, but nothing else within the sphere had changed.
No, Carmen corrected herself, something had changed.
The pressure on her body was easing. Her neck felt stiff as she eased herself to a sitting position. Too fast. Her stomach lurched as if it was about to have a final say on the events over the past hours. But she kept the nothing inside her down.
Agent Barrett appeared to have passed out. He stirred when she stood. It took a moment to find her balance. She tottered towards the red light. Again she tried to touch it and the space around it.
“Jenna, are we close?”
It took her sister only moments to answer. “We’re close. Sit down again. This might be as hard as the liftoff.”
“Why?”
“Because the computer I’m seeing says we need to slow you down.”
“We’re closer now, aren’t we?”
“Yes.”
Carmen returned to sit on the couch. It had the slightest give to it, like an ultra-firm foam mattress. “Jen, you remember that talent show in my freshman year?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you do. You were there. You also bought me a vinyl single which we covered for our opener. What was the song?”
The question got Agent Barrett’s attention. Carmen realized she didn’t know what they would do if Jenna didn’t know the answer. What if her mom and Jenna were both impostors?
Jenna barely hesitated. “The band was the Voodoo Glow Skulls. I can’t remember the track. But I can’t forget you bobbing around with your trombone and almost knocking down your bass player. It wasn’t my kind of music. You guys were pretty loud.”
“I know. But you managed to smile through the whole show. I love you.”
“Lie down. I don’t want you to get hurt. I have to concentrate.”
Carmen did as her sister instructed.
Agent Barrett settled back on his own couch. “Did you post that concert online?”
“Why?” Carmen asked.
“Think about it. Your mom had access to the net. If this isn’t your sister, she could have looked that up.”
“Not that quickly.”
“No? How about if they uploaded our entire internet before the Big Wipe ever happened? Anything that was there, they know.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m telling you to be careful. These are powerful beings. This could all be a game to them. When you next reach her, let me do the talking.”
Before she could agree, the sphere made a stomach-churning turn that pressed Carmen hard into her chair. The pressure never let up but the spinning finally stopped. It felt much stronger than their departure and the elephant on her chest was replaced by a family of brontosaurs. She fought to keep her teeth from grinding as her body trembled. She began to pass out and couldn’t focus when her sister spoke sometime later.
“Step stones,” Jenna was saying. “It’s like stepping-stones over water. Your sphere. Mine. And so many others. I think I got it. I’m bringing them together like the computer is showing me. It’s as simple as connect the dots. We’ll be in the same place. We can then find Mom.”
Carmen fought to speak. “I don’t quite follow. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Jenna? This is Agent Barrett. Can you show us what you see? We’re blind here and it would be good to understand what’s going on.” When nothing happened, he said
, “Carmen, ask her. Have her at least explain what’s happening. What does she mean about connecting the dots?”
“I’ll try,” Carmen said. “Hey, Jen, I know you said you have to concentrate. But let us see what’s happening. Because right now it’s like being locked in a trunk of a car that’s going really, really fast.”
A moment passed. Just as Carmen felt as if the crush couldn’t get worse, it began to ramp up. She lay half-submerged in her couch and she couldn’t lift a finger.
The top of the sphere went clear. Again the stars, but now she saw a dark circle ahead, which was growing larger. She could only imagine how quick they might be going. This was no midnight run along the 101 narrows in her ex-boyfriend’s Mustang. The rockets that took the astronauts to orbit and the moon and Mars pushed their payloads more than 20,000 miles per hour. But astronauts received training.
Was this similar? Was this more?
Exhausted, she felt herself again slip to black. She came in and out of consciousness. The circle above now filled half her view. But if they were hurtling towards it, shouldn’t they be slowing? But calling out to Jenna wasn’t possible. She couldn’t see how Agent Barrett was faring.
If Jenna was out there and in control, Carmen had no choice but to trust she wasn’t going to slam them into something.
What was the line to one of the songs they covered? Something about how the world already ended yesterday. This was nothing but a replay.
She closed her eyes and began to hum.
Slowing now. Definitely slowing.
The dark sphere above now occupied all of the view with only a small perimeter of space and stars at its edges. The sense of relief at finally allowing all her muscles to untense was offset by the fact that they had almost arrived at whatever rendezvous Jenna was arranging.
She forced her weary body to rise. Dizzy. But she sat up. She could see through the floor beneath them along with the rest of the sphere. There below her was another circle drawing closer to them. And arcing beyond it was yet another, much further away, and a third lay beyond.
Theirs was part of a chain of spheres. Or what had Jenna called them? Stepping-stones.
Agent Barrett placed a cautious foot down on the invisible floor. He was drenched with sweat. “Are you okay?”
Carmen nodded. She didn’t think she could stand without collapsing. She pointed up. “It looks close. I think we’re almost there.”
“You’re right. But that’s not the direction we’re going. Look down towards our feet. We flipped around. Which means the floor is pushing against us. And that’s the direction we’re really going.”
Dark spheres approached from both above and below with them in the middle. But regardless of what was really up or down, there was nothing to do but endure the ride and see what would happen when all the parts came together.
He got his footing and studied the spheres closing in on them. “Is this anything like what happened to you before?”
“No. It felt like we were inside a bigger ship with many rooms and a long curved hallway. But I was also inside a robot like that one. My mom called them spindlebots. I could see and hear and move just fine.”
Through it all, the bot still stood where the exit had been like a dormant guardian.
“Ask your sister what’s going to happen next. Will there be enough air? And how about water or food?”
“Jen, can you hear us? It feels like we’re slowing down. But we’re worried. We went pretty fast there. We need to know if we’re going to be able to breathe with whatever’s about to happen.”
The circles above and below appeared to align and shift. Then they moved as if rotating around them, revealing a dozen circles or more trailing behind in either direction. These too broke formation and began to crowd closer. A sense of sideways motion began that instantly made Carmen feel like she was going to fall over. She gripped the couch.
Agent Barrett placed a hand to steady himself. “We’re spinning.”
The other spheres were now a cluster. They soundlessly continued to maneuver as if toys guided by an unseen hand. No plumes of exhaust came from any of them. They began to arrange themselves in a massive ring while a lone sphere above kept getting closer. Soon it completely eclipsed the stars.
The interior of their sphere went opaque.
A heartbeat later, the head of the robot lit up. Jenna’s face appeared as the bot turned towards them.
“I did it. You’re here. We’re together.”
The Jenna bot lurched forward as if it was about to fall. Agent Barrett sprang up and moved out of the way. The bot took a moment as if regaining its balance.
“I’m okay. I’m okay. Hey, Car, is that me lying over there?”
Carmen looked at the limp form of her sister on the first couch. Her sister hadn’t moved. She could only hope that the couch had likewise protected her from the effects of acceleration and deceleration.
“It’s you. It looks like you’re figuring things out, but before you do anything else, check with us first.”
“I’ll try,” the Jenna bot said. “It’s so much to take in.”
“The other spheres…what are they?”
“They’re ships like the one we were on. Parts of a single ship, actually. And I brought them all together.”
“Is Mom on board one of them?”
“No. I can’t find her. She was inside like I was, but then when Peter destroyed her body, she went away. I’ve tried to look, but it’s confusing. I can look again. She was able to connect here from wherever she is. Maybe I can locate her and bring her here too.”
Agent Barrett eyed the bot warily. “Hold on. Don’t do anything. We’re going to take each step together and get us back safely. But let’s cover the basics. Are we going to be able to breathe?”
“I think so. The other sections are all under my control. I’m getting the hang of it. I can ‘see’ every part of the ship. It’s like a bunch of lights and I can ‘touch’ each and take a look inside.”
“Go slow. Don’t touch anything else without my say-so. And what do you mean by ‘I think so’?”
“She’s doing the best she can,” Carmen said. “Jen, we’re counting on you. But I need to know you can wake yourself up.”
The Jenna bot moved towards the couch where her body lay. “I can. Now I see that’s just another step away. But the ship is ready for you. Do you want to see it?”
Chapter Fifteen
During the first visit to the spaceship, the corridor had curved to the right or left. But now it sloped gradually upward. The walls and trim were now a gray color that reminded her of her sister’s condo complex, except they also had a smooth sheen that threw off enough light for them to see where they were going.
Carmen remained wobbly. All she wanted to do was lie down and close her eyes and regain her equilibrium. It felt like a lingering case of car sickness, like a drive along the curvy roads to Lake Tahoe during one of the few family vacations when they had all been together and stuffed inside the minivan.
The air tasted flat. She couldn’t put a finger on it. Not stale, not fresh, not quite outside air nor inside. It smelled of nothing. But at least it was breathable.
The Jenna bot led them to a nearby doorway that revealed what might pass as a bathroom. A toilet stood dead center along with a sink with a faucet but no handles. The water was flowing. Carmen hurried over and ran her fingers in the water.
“Be careful,” Barrett said, but he didn’t try to stop her. He had been quiet since they had stepped out of their sphere and into the ship. He appeared to be taking it all in, occasionally touching a wall or the floor or the robot giving them the grand tour.
The water felt cold and Carmen was parched. She drank a palmful. Tasted as plain as the air, but it was wet and soothed her throat. She gulped down more until she felt sated. She’d save the toilet test drive for later.
“You said you can find out where Mom is. How did she connect to the robot here?”
Jenna’
s face on the screen blinked out for a split second. “She accessed a communication node. I can’t figure out where she is exactly. The computer’s not telling me. It’s where we’re heading but it will take a while to get there.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know. I’m checking, but there’s information I can’t access. It’s like there’s parts of the ship that aren’t here. It’s hard to explain.”
Barrett walked around the sink and toilet as if they were objects in a museum. “Can you show us where we are? How fast are we moving?”
“It’s fast but it could be faster. We’re also spinning so we have an up and down. The controls appear ready to make things comfortable for us, as if someone had pre-programmed them.”
“And you’re controlling everything virtually.”
“It’s like a touchscreen right before my eyes. But for every one thing I understand, there’s dozens of others I don’t.”
“Then keep being careful. If someone had this place ready for us, then that’s good. But there’s so many questions I have. What about this voice I talked to? Have you communicated with them?”
Jenna’s face blinked out again, and this time it took a few seconds for her to reappear. “She was talking to me, but I got confused. I turned her off.”
Carmen wiped her wet hands on her jeans. “What do you mean?”
“She was trying to speak while I was working to bring us together. I was getting distracted so I broke the connection.”
“Don’t turn it back on until we know what to say,” Barrett said. “We need to learn what we can and can’t do with this spaceship. Can we return to Earth?”
“Yes. I can take us.”
“We’re not going back until we find our mom,” Carmen said.
Barrett walked back out into the corridor. “Right now we don’t know enough about anything. I haven’t forgotten about your mother. But there’s no point in trying to find her if we can’t get home ourselves. And if this is going to take time, we’ll need food. Even more important, I need to talk to Earth. Jenna, can you boost my phone signal? Do you have any way of making a radio pop out of the floor?”
