Survivors

by Alex Isaacs

  Friday morning, we head out again, putting two more asteroids inside the base. The personnel is now able to work inside the third section of the FSV. The closed-in area can now have oxygen in it. The section I find out will produce oxygen for the whole vehicle. The material we bring with us is lightweight for the containers to hold the fuel components. The crew for the new vehicle is coming up every day to learn everything about the FSV. It should not take that long for the fuel-producing section to be complete. The landing bay in the last section will be like the landing area in the asteroid base, with doors. It will hold the four PSV-15’s plus a few of the PSV-14’s. They will be able to do repairs in special garages that will not lose the oxygen in them while doing regular landing and taking off.

  We get back down, going for our training course. The eleven of us walk in late on purpose again. Kelly is calling to us to get ready for the extra work. One of the people asks for permission to speak. Once given, they ask what is going on; this select training group is growing. We know the six new people in the group have their new assignments. We are left out because we do not have a chance at an assignment. Kelly looks at Jenny, Jason, and me. She commands all people not in this battalion, to leave the area for ten minutes. She gets Jenny and Jason to stand at the doors, not letting anyone else into the area.

  Kelly gets everyone to attention, stating they are not to say a word about what they are going to hear. Kelly explains that it was punishment for Lieutenant Isaacs; Sergeant West happened to be in the wrong spot each time. Then the next three figured out they would like the extra training, beginning to be late with the Lieutenant. Now the next six do have their assignments; thus, we figured they should get extra training in as well. A voice in the back asks for permission to speak. Kelly says, yes, go ahead. The person asks if he can take extra training if it might mean early assignment. Kelly looks at me, then asks by show of hands how many more would like to do this as well. The hands start going up; soon, every hand is up in the air.

  Kelly looks at me. I tell her they are volunteering for extra training; mine can still be for punishment reasons. Kelly says for all volunteers to get their backpacks, put in half their weight, then be ready to start in five minutes, plus no one is to say anything except they are volunteering. Kelly gets the others to open the doors to let the people back into the room. We start our extra training as a group, then head out for the two-lap jog around the base with backpacks. Kelly and I are leading the group; we see the General, saying eyes left, then salute. The General yells out for our group to stop, calling for Captain Jones and Lieutenant Isaacs. We hurry, standing at attention in front of the General, saluting. The General asks what is going on here. Kelly says extra training for the battalion. The General tells Kelly this is supposed to be for the Lieutenant only, why has the whole battalion joined in with this. Kelly says they volunteered, sir. The General approaches the group, asking if it is true, are they all volunteering for this. Everyone yells out, yes, sir. The General asks why pointing to one soldier. The soldier says that six people joined because of their new assignments, sir; then, said we want the chance for an assignment, sir. The General says, carry on, looking at the two of us, telling us to report to him after the training class.

  We join in, completing the run, we finish the regular training class, then head to see the General. The General does not look impressed with Kelly; he asks her if she can run this battalion or not. Kelly says yes, sir, she can run the battalion. The people in it are working together, wanting to do everything together, sir. The General now looks at me, saying if he finds out I have anything to do with this or any other thing in the battalion, he will double my punishment. I look at Kelly; she has not asked about the astronomy course for all the pilots. I salute telling the General I am involved in another thing for the battalion. He glares at the two of us. Kelly says, sir, we request that all the pilots take the astronomy course that we are both in right now. The General, still glaring at us, tells us to get him the details by the morning, he will look into it. The General then tells the two of us to get out of his office. We salute, leaving quickly.

  We leave, talking with each other about what the General might do to the two of us now. We go to dinner, then draw up the papers for the astronomy course for all the pilots to give to the General in the morning. The next morning, we take the papers to the General’s office, then sign out all the people going to the university astronomy lab. Kelly has to borrow some street clothes to come with us. Ann, being her size, lends her an outfit to wear. When Kelly appears, I begin to stare at her; she tells us not to say anything. She looks great in street clothes, just like the rest of the three girls. We get to the lab, doing all of our assignments, then heading back for our daily training.

  When we all enter in for our training, the General is waiting for us all. We come to attention; the General says he has a couple of things to say to everyone. First, we have set up the course for all the pilots to take; the Captain and Lieutenant Isaacs will help in running the course. Next, the Captain and Lieutenant Isaacs will now do an extra two laps of the backpack run, on their own, with no volunteers. The General asks if that is clear with everyone. Everyone yells, yes, sir. We have our punishment. The General then tells us to go about our business now, leaving us as we salute him.

  The battalion does their training, Kelly and I do our extra laps. The rest of the day goes quickly; I can do more school work, along with the others. Sunday is the same, school work and the training. No flights for a few of us, allowing other pilots some more time. We do set up the new course for the pilots. Simon and Joe are happy to see it start. Simon asks if the General is coming down too hard on any of us. Kelly and I both say no, we do not need any more time in front of the General.

  Monday morning, Kelly comes with us to see the FSV, it is supposed to be ready to fly. We heard a rumor that the outer part of the landing bay is complete. The work on the interior can happen away from the docking bay, allowing the start of the CSV vehicle. Kelly and I go into the command section for the FSV. All the power is working; there is fuel on board. All sections are working, except for the landing bay. The interior work will go on; a unique connecting walkway will attach it to the first section of the CSV when it is in place. Kelly and I get the go-ahead to take the FSV out to test fly. The detach the walkway from us; we begin to move away from the asteroid base on its test run.

  The vehicle is running smoothly; there are a couple of small problems, but we can fix them quickly. Our fleet is growing. We get back to hook up to the walkway once more. There are cheers from the people on the asteroid base. The FSV is secure for more work. We get a message from the base; the General wants to see the two of us immediately after we land. We both do not like the sound of this; we wonder what we have done wrong now. I let Maggie land us at the base; I am shaking, wondering what will happen to the two of us now.

  Chapter 10: Our Fleet is Complete

  As we enter the office, we salute the General. He instructs us to follow him; he looks intense. I wonder if I did something else wrong today. We enter a larger room, Simon, Joe, Rose, Jenny, Jason, Zoey, Ann, Mandy and Maggie are waiting for us to come into the room. Simon and the others congratulate us on the safe test run of the FSV vehicle. I thought this is great; we are not in trouble. Then the General assistant calls for us to come to attention. We fall in, standing in order of our ranks. The General begins to talk, saying some of us are a pain in the butt to command. I now thought, here we go, we are going to get into trouble now.

  The General asks Captain Jones to step forward; Kelly is getting in trouble first. The General salutes Kelly, saying congratulations Major Jones. I breathe a sigh of relief. The General calls Jenny, Jason, and then me after looking at me. He congratulates the three of us; we are now Captains. The General is adding that I should not have the promotion for the trouble I have caused. He now calls Zoey up; she is now a First Lieutenant. Now Ann and Mandy get to step forward; the General congratulates them, they are now Lieutenants.
>
  The General is now looking around the room. He calls Sergeant West to step forward. Maggie steps forward, the General asking where her mother is; Maggie says she might be waiting outside sir; The General gets his assistant to get Maggie’s mom. The General gets Jody to stand front and center, asking if she is going to stay in the army and possibly go to the valley to work in the battalion up there. Jody says she would like to go, but it depends on how her daughter is handling the army now. The General turns to Maggie, saying Lieutenant West, how are you doing now. Maggie salutes, saying she is just a sergeant. The General says no, you are now a Lieutenant, your rank of a co-pilot. Maggie replies by saying the psychologists have to clear her first. Jenny and Zoey say Maggie is clear to continue flying; she was clear after the first two weeks. Maggie, salutes, saying I am fine, sir. Jody asks Maggie if she wants to stay in the battalion, Maggie says yes as long as she is Captain Isaacs co-pilot.

  I see the glare in the General’s eyes; we might have another person in our select punishment group. The General tells Maggie not to make any demands of her position. Maggie apologizes, saying she will go where he wants her to go. The General says Lieutenant West, as he is about to say her assignment, I see Jody looking at the General, the General clears his throat saying Lieutenant West, you are Captains Isaacs co-pilot. Maggie salutes, saying thank you, sir. The General turns to Jody, saying if she is still willing to stay, he will reassign her to the valley with a promotion. Jody salutes the General, thanking him. We can now stand down; the General’s assistant leads the General out of the room. We congratulate each other, putting our new rank insignia on our uniforms. Simon and Joe ask what the General meant about me; I tell them I overstepped myself once with the General.

  Jody asks when she can visit the valley to see if she wants to stay there in the army. I say it is up to the General if we can get some time off and arrange to go there. Simon says to find out if you can get the time off, he will arrange the transport. Simon now tells us that he has to go up there to increase the production of goods for the fleet. Jody says she will put in a request for time off and possible transfer. I talk with Kelly; she says she will put in the request for Maggie and me, it will be hard to get more people off at this time. We head over to do our training after Maggie picks up her new uniforms. Everyone begins the extra training; we see the General watching us. He stays where he can see Kelly and myself doing our extra two laps. I now wonder if he will even approve my time off.

  We find the orders for the new astronomy class; we have a separate room to run the course, with a big screen for all to watch. I go to Joe, getting a separate computer to copy all the online courses. I will let the students rewatch them if they need to. We find out that we will not register the students at the university. The professor will grade these students for the General and Simon. We go to eat; then, do our classes for the day before going for our evening run. I get back, checking on my emails. I send one to my dad about us trying to get up to the valley; I will let him know when. I ask him about getting a farm for Jody, her daughter Maggie will stay with her when we get up to the valley.

  I notice an email just sent from Scott. It has been a while since we exchanged emails. I think he wants more information to help his group along. I open it up, finding out that they have found an area about two hours away from his university. It is an old mine complex. He has some new people working in his group to put up walls for protection. Scott says they will be well protected, another couple of members will see to that. Scott asks what else he should get for the area. They have solar panels to generate power and are putting up a couple of greenhouses to grow food.

  I send back a reply, saying I hope he is getting money for all of this. I add in that they should stock up on food, any type that they can get. They should get medical supplies if they have not thought of that, along with more equipment to expand to have livestock and to plant fields for food. I send it off, receiving a quick reply. Scott says they have crafty friends that are getting stolen goods from some gangs. They can make money by selling some of the goods. They will get medical supplies by a couple of the other members in the group; one is a doctor. I now think of what to add to Scott’s list. I tell Scott if he has access to be able to get fuel for the vehicles that they will have to use if anything does happen. I add some other things to the list; then, I send off this email to him.

  Scott sends back another quick reply, thanking me for the help. Scott asks how I am doing, then tells me he will send me a burner phone for me to use if anything happens. Scott will keep a spot open for me and any of my friends. Scott says he needs a place to send it. I give him my parent’s post office box number to mail the phone; it is the same as before when I went to see about the scholarship with them. I finally can get to sleep; I know the next few days will be busy. Simon wants to step up the work we are doing. We also have to train more pilots for the PSV’s and the CSV’s.

  We get going to do our work, Kelly and Jason will be training the new pilots. I have the honor of helping the pilots for the FSV. Once it is ready to go, it will head out to the asteroid belt to harvest fuel. These four pilots will have to watch the astronomy course en route to the belt. With our day finished, we all head back to do our training. After we finish, I get a message to report to see Simon. I see Simon; he hands me copies of the emails to Scott. I fill Simon in on Scott and his survival group. Simon says he knows I am not saying anything here about our operation, but he would like to know about these stolen goods they are selling, we might be able to use some of them. Simon tells me not to email him about it, but when Scott emails me again, ask a couple of questions, like who will buy these stolen goods. What type of goods are there to buy from him. Simon then tells me that no one else knows of this email business, he would like to keep it a secret, especially if it can help us out.

  I leave Simon; he wants to buy stolen goods now. I wonder why he is starting to rush things. I head in to eat, meeting the rest of the group. After dinner, I do my classwork; there are less than five weeks until my exams. Kelly says the General will let Maggie and me go to the valley when I finish my exams for a week. I thought this is great; now, I can let my parents and Simon know. I send my dad off another email, letting him know the dates that three or four of us will be coming to the valley. My dad emails me back saying Simon is coming up tomorrow; he thought we would be with him. I send my dad back another email, stating I still have my classes, adding I will call him on the weekend.

  The next day, Maggie gets a message from her mother, she will go with us when I am going to the valley. We head out to do our runs. The new CSV is in place; it has a tunnel and walkway being added to it to attach to the FSV when it gets back. Simon gave the go-ahead for it to head to the asteroid belt this morning. We see the vehicle off on its first voyage. We now bring in more asteroids that came in from the belt, sending the PSV back on another run.

  Along with our training of new pilots, we are bringing up more materials for the CSV. We get a message from Joe that we will be bringing fuel down to go to the valley once the FSV returns. Now I know something is going on. Simon is hiding a lot more from everyone. As the week goes on, the first section of the CSV is in place. The workers can now install all the computers, controls for the whole vehicle, along with all the pilot area, which will house all the equipment to help navigate in space. Some quarters will be in this section, along with a medical unit. The second section will hold the crew quarters, the cafeteria, storage for food, and other essential goods. There will also be the hibernation units, which they are testing on the FSV right now. Food production will have a level, using the animals on board to help feed the crew, not in hibernation. There are twenty levels in this section; the engineers will be using all of them for different things.

  The third section will be different, even though the levels are less, some levels are double in height, especially the farming levels. The two CSV will be like the whole valley but split up into separate farms. The bottom level will be for the fish fa
rms, producing oxygen for the vehicle. Another level will be for the greenhouse; this will be for the production of fresh fruits and vegetables, mostly done by hydroponics. The other farm levels will house the cattle, horses, pigs, chickens, sheep, and the fields for growing the feed and some food for us. The engineers will use the water in the fish farms, sending it up to the upper level, letting it produce electricity on its trek to the fish farms again. The fourth section will have a landing bay. It will include repair bays, fuel storage, and excess water storage.

  The second CSV will have the same layout as the first, but the second section will be a little less in size, as the third section will need more space on the floor level to house the whole farm of my parents in the valley. More space for farms means more food for the fleet. These farms will save us from looking for food out in space. We know where we can find fuel, our course will take us near the nebulas to gather what we need. The second CSV will have an area to produce water to send to the other vehicles in the fleet. Each CSV will be like a small city, with its farms, production areas, and storage areas.

  The amount of equipment that Simon will bring with us will help to start a new world by the looks of it. I get back down after another trip to the asteroid base. We do our training, then Simon asks to see me. I go to see him; he has great news, the production that my parents are doing in the valley exceeds his estimates. My dad enjoys electric vehicles in the valley. Simon then asks me if I think my parents will go with us to the CSV’s. I say he might have to drag my mother to get her on board; my dad might be willing to go. Simon tells me he is going to get the engineers to reproduce my parent's farm down to the last twig. The buildings will not be cement; the engineers will use lightweight plastic, which is as strong as cement. He is getting the engineers to put up holographic projectors in all the farms to help keep the animals calm. Simon tells me he will give my mother a drug, then transfer her and the contents of the farmhouse to the farm on the CSV. I tell Simon, my mom will not like it. Then I stop myself, why is he saying this to me now.