Sunspots and Forever Dark Omnibus

by Gary Martin

  “See you very soon, John,” he says, and then heads back in the direction of the bridge. I slide open the wardrobe doors and look at the clothes they’ve left for me. A few dark blue shirts, some grey t-shirts, and two pairs of black cargo trousers. My shoes are on the deck at the side of the bed. Someone must have spent time cleaning them as, last time I saw them, they were covered in blood.

  I drop the dressing gown to the deck, put on the largest grey t-shirt, pull on a pair of trousers and sit down at the edge of the bed. My mind is a whirlwind of thoughts. Are we saved? Will this place be worse than the Zeus? Is Mister Jelvus real? Am I going out of my mind? Have I died?

  I don’t bother picking up the intercom but instead leave my quarters and slowly climb the ladder to the bridge. I pop my head through the hatch. It’s almost identical to the Sunspot Two’s bridge, except it’s a hive of activity. Two or three people on each station. Sunspot Two was never like this. But then again, Martin Hooper didn’t like spending money and only put on the bare minimum amount of people possible to run the ship. Maybe if he’d paid to put a full complement of crew aboard, Rupert would have been stopped, the sun would be shining brightly and everything would be as it was.

  Mister Jelvus sees me and once again offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me out of the hatch onto the bridge.

  “Here we are, John. The nerve centre of the Utopian project. Look out of the window. What do you see?”

  I look out of the forward viewport. Now there’s a crazy sight. Twenty or thirty ships all tethered together haphazardly by umbilical tubes. It looks like a giant, tangled fishing net. Behind that, I can make out the outline of the Moon. Around it, a blue glow where it’s eclipsing the sun.

  “This is us. It may not look much, but we have twenty-seven ships, and one thousand, three hundred and seventy-three, no, seventy-eight people. All working to keep us alive. Every ship is linked together, so there’s a sense of a larger community,” he says, smiling.

  I’m a little gobsmacked by it all.

  “Follow me, John. We’re now going to the hangar deck.”

  I follow him down the ladder two decks and we get off on the bustling rec deck. I follow him through the throng of people, almost all of them we pass wave or say hello to Mister Jelvus. I feel like I’m with a rock star. We go through the doors of the cargo bay and turn right to the closed hatch of the hangar deck.

  “This is one of our biggest achievements here, John. We’d been happily living at the Jupiter station for just over ten years. But when Skylark was formed, we knew they would destroy us. We sent out a ship to build bridges with them, but it was sent back to us, the crew brutality murdered. We had to evacuate, as we were no match for even one Skylark cruiser. The Jupiter station was left to look fully functional. That would at least make them think they’d won, that they had destroyed us. But for a long time after that, we were lost and had no hope. We headed back to Earth with no plans. After lots of arguing, we decided to set up in the sensor black spot in the shadow of the Moon. Hiding in plain sight. It was dangerous and hard work but we somehow managed. It felt like sticking a finger up to the corruption of the Earth. Then, the sun went out. Everything changed. We listened to as many frequencies as we could and realised that Skylark was rounding up ships and people for their own dark reasons. So, we sent out an old-fashioned radio signal, one we knew Skylark couldn’t receive, leading ships that could receive it to the dark side of the Moon. Martin Hooper and his Sunspots waste disposal company were the first to come. They were followed by more and more. They didn’t have anything. Just very scared people. Their food was running short, so we joined forces: our years of knowledge on how to keep alive under the radar, and their ships and people. In no time at all, a new community was formed. Which has led us to this place. Please, come through.”

  “That’s quite a story. But what’s so special about a hangar full of Earth’s waste?” I ask.

  “Have a look yourself.”

  I walk through the first set of doors and press open on the second set. My feet clank as I walk onto the upper metal gangway of the hangar. My eyes open wide and I lean against the rail, looking down on what should be thousands of cubes, full to the brim with everything horrible humans wanted to get rid of, or had no space for. What I see instead is a huge garden, filling the entire bottom deck of the hangar. There are plants, trees, crops and at least forty people toiling in the soil. Things are actually growing.

  “The Jupiter station didn’t have spaces as vast as this one, John. When we evacuated, we took all we could. Plants, soil, everything we had that kept us alive. Our ships had light drives, but were small, and only had tiny versions of this. Look at this place. It’s vast, and better than I could ever have imagined. Enough food for everyone, as long as everyone is willing to do their fair share.”

  “It’s amazing,” I say.

  “This is my ark, John. This is what I’ve always been working towards. Thanks to you and your friends, whether you meant to or not, you have removed our biggest threat. The Zeus was Skylark’s only super destroyer. Happily, it’s in millions of pieces. Now, we’re safe,” Mister Jelvus says.

  I haven’t had a chance to think about what happened. It was all so fast. So many people died so we could escape. It’s a horrible thought. It’s almost abstract, hard to get my brain around it. Many of those on board were the same as Flick and me. Slaves of Skylark. Hoping the chance for escape would eventually come, before they were executed. Then, as a final insult, their bodies were ground up for food.

  I close my eyes.

  “There were so many innocent people on that ship. Maybe even people you knew. Don’t thank us. We don’t deserve thanks. Incarceration, maybe. Not gratitude. I’m surprised that the deaths of so many people would make you happy. This is supposed to be a utopia isn’t it?” I say, anger starting to bubble to the surface.

  “Don’t get me wrong, John, I’m not happy that they’re dead. All I know is that it’s happened, and there is nothing I can do about it. It was an accident. But it has made us safer. There’s no point denying that. We have to move on and live our lives.”

  My anger fades. He’s right. Forget about it and move on. Maybe I can make up for it in the future.

  I look down on the garden one more time and then back onto the metal gangway. A large man in a white suit is walking towards us.

  “John, my boy!” Martin Hooper booms.

  I walk up to him and shake his hand.

  “Hello, Mr Hooper, I’m glad you survived,” I say, smiling.

  “Of course I survived! How could I not? Just look at me.” He grins widely and looks upward. He looks me in the eye, his face suddenly deadly serious. “I’ve been told what you and your friends have been through. I’m surprised that you got through it. But I always knew you had fight in you, John. We need that. But let’s get to the most important matter,” he says.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “You owe me seven billion pounds for the destruction of my property, the star ship Sunspot Two.” He stares me in the eye. I don’t know what to say to that. Is money even a thing now? What would be the point of it?

  Martin Hooper then belly laughs. “Your face! You should have seen it!” he exclaims as he bangs me hard on the shoulder and walks past us, still chuckling to himself.

  “He’s a character all right,” I say.

  “By that, you mean something else, don’t you,” Mister Jelvus replies.

  “I do, yes,” I say.

  “I’m surprised he was able to keep his good humour. They went through a lot of horrors before we joined up. Anyway, this is where I leave you for now, John. If you head to the thruster control room at the end of this gangway, there’s someone you want to see.”

  Mister Jelvus then turns and head back toward the crew compartment of the ship. I watch him go for a second or two and then head to the front of the hangar bay.

  As I get closer to the thruster control room, flashes of memory start popping into my b
rain. It was here where I thought Kerry had died of solar radiation and I was desperate to save her, so long ago. Not here. Just somewhere that looked almost identical to here.

  I knock and push the half open door. There are a pair of legs sticking out from under the control console. I recognise them instantly. Tight black trousers covered in holes and huge boots.

  “Hi Flick,” I say.

  The legs move, she heaves herself out and looks up at me.

  “John,” she says with a beaming grin. I offer her my hand but she’s standing up before she even notices it.

  “They said it would be days, maybe weeks, before you woke up.” Flick wraps her arms around me and kisses me on the cheek. I stare in to her red eyes and kiss her on the lips.

  I don’t know where the time went, but we must have been kissing for at least thirty minutes. It was fucking amazing. Flick pulls away and smiles at me.

  “I never thought kissing could be like that. I always thought it was nice, but sort of pointless.”

  “I guess it depends on the person you’re kissing,” I say.

  “Here we are, finally together at the end of the world. I never thought this moment would come. It feels like a dream. Do you think we can be happy here, John?” she asks me.

  “I think I could be happy with you anywhere,” I reply.

  “Robert has explained a lot of things to me. I now understand why you did what you did. It was heart-wrenching at the time. But you came back for me. None of this was your fault.”

  “The only thing left from that life now is my son,” I say.

  “I’ve had time to think about it. I’m going to help you bring him up. Maybe we can try for some more,” she says.

  I smile cheekily. “It’s the trying part I’m looking forward to.”

  “Then come with me.”

  37

  I wake up with a start. I’m covered in sweat and my heart is beating fast. The nightmare was vivid enough to wake me, but now I have no recollection of it. The room is pitch black. I roll over to turn on the light, and I am stopped by something, no, someone in the bed next to me. Two flickering red orbs suddenly appear.

  “You okay, John,” Flick asks.

  “I’m really very okay,” I say and cuddle up to her. I close my eyes again and try to go back to sleep but there’s a knock at the door. Light shines through the crack as it slowly opens.

  “You’re finally awake then,” says the silhouetted head poking through the crack.

  “Hey, Robert. How’re you doing?” I say.

  He walks into the room and turns on the light, blinding me in the process.

  “Really quite good. Have you seen this place? Fucking hell. I thought they were stupid hippies. But they know their shit. This is so much better than I could have imagined. I think I’m actually happy to be living here,” he says.

  “From what I’ve seen, it’s pretty awesome,” I say.

  “Anyway, not to be blunt, but when do you want your son back? No rush, just as soon as you feel fit would be great. Dad loves the little bastard, but I’m clueless.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll pick him up today,” I say.

  “Excellent. I shall see you later then. Room eleven. Enjoy,” he says and shuts the door.

  “What time is it?” Flick asks.

  “Morning, I guess. Last night was great. No, that doesn’t do it justice. It was stunningly awesome,” I say.

  “It was pretty special. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve felt … I dunno. Normal? Whatever it is, it feels good. Come on, let’s get dressed and pick up your son.”

  It takes us a little while to get dressed. We try, but end up getting undressed again and get a little carried away with each other’s bodies. We start to get ready again, then have some more sex.

  “You’re insatiable,” Flick says, putting on her top and smiling.

  “It has been a while. Got a bit of a backlog going on I think,” I say.

  “You have such a beautiful way with words. Come on, let’s head out,” she says.

  I pull on my trousers and shirt, then realise that I’m still wearing my socks.

  “Sorry. I must have been quite the sight,” I say.

  Flick laughs. “I’m glad I didn’t notice that last night. I would have kicked you out. Come on, time’s a wastin’,” she says and pulls me off the bed. We walk out onto the habitation deck corridor.

  As we get to room eleven, I suddenly get the fear and freeze up. I have the burning realisation that I have no idea how to look after a small baby. And I’m now not sure I really want to. I’m not ready yet. I need some more time.

  “Before we pick up my son, do you want to wander around a bit first? I need to check this place out, get my bearings. There won’t be a chance once we have my son,” I ask Flick.

  “Go on then. I’ll let you put it off for a bit. Where do you want to go?” she asks.

  “I’d like to see the garden close up.”

  “Come on then.”

  Hand in hand, we slowly walk around the metal gangway that runs along the top of the hangar deck, and watch from above as everyone down on the field is working and toiling. It’s still an amazing and surreal sight. It feels oddly romantic.

  “I imagine when I’m assigned my duties, I’m probably going to be toiling down there. To be fair, I think that’s about all I’m good for. Best to keep me away from any sort of position that would put me in charge of anything. What do you reckon your role will be, Flick?”

  “I’ve already got my role. When we got here, there was nothing we could do for you except wait. So, Matt asked what I could do.”

  “Matt?” I ask.

  “Sorry, Matt Jelvus. He knew you from school apparently. I told him about my past as an underground computer expert. He took me to his ship, which I thought was pretty weird until he showed me seven different sized boxes. He said something about them holding the soul of the Internet. Utter drivel. But there’s more information in those boxes than I’d ever seen in all the years I was working with my hive. I’ve been tasked with connecting up every computer on every ship, and have this information freely available to everyone. It’s literally a dream come true.”

  “I’m so happy for you,” I say, genuinely feeling pleased and uplifted. Suddenly, I feel ready. It’s time for me to be a father.

  “Come on, let’s pick up Warren,” I say.

  “Ouch. That’s an awful name,” Flick says.

  “I know. I would change it, but I’m guessing Ez must have wanted that as a name. No idea why. It’s shit. Maybe I’ll grow to like it. Or maybe we’ll think of a good nickname. Fuck it. We can do what we want. Old rules don’t apply anymore. Any names you like?”

  “Let’s not rush into anything, let’s just pick him up and see where everything takes us,” she says, grabs both of my hands and kisses me.

  38

  We pick up Warren and Jack looks genuinely sad to be letting him go. I say he can look after him or visit whenever he wants. He seems to be happy with being an honorary uncle, but happier that he and Robert have been put in charge of keeping everything in the Utopia project working. The head engineers.

  I was correct in my assumption and I’ve been tasked with working in the garden. Planting, growing and keeping everything alive. Everyone in the project has to do a couple of days here every week and, oddly, I’ve been put in charge of making sure everyone does their fair share. I fucking love it.

  It’s been nearly a month since I woke from my coma and everything is falling into a nice rhythm. Well, a sleepless rhythm. It turns out raising a small baby is very hard work. Kind of rewarding but mostly disgusting. It seems to mainly consist of cleaning up sick and shit. Flick has risen to the occasion and is a brilliant step mother but any plans for more children have gone out the window. We have to take it in shifts to look after him because of our work. I’m surprised she hasn’t run away. But she is genuinely great.

  The time we do get together, we tend to sit in the rec deck, st
aring out of one of the aft facing rectangular viewports, drinking beer or the home grown equivalent. Tonight, we have Warren with us because Jack is busy dealing with engine troubles on one of the smaller ships and couldn’t babysit.

  Through the viewport you can see about half of the Utopian project. It’s a crazy sight. I look at Flick, her beautiful flickering red eyes staring out at the universe, and to my son, and smile contentedly. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good. It could be the tiredness, but I don’t think so.

  The world as I knew it is gone forever. I miss a lot of things about it and a lot of people. Especially Jacob and Terrell. I will never have friends like those again. I’m forever in their debt. They always had my back, and I always had theirs. I loved them deeply.

  Ez. I wish I could have made up for leaving her like that. But, at the time, I didn’t think that the world would end. I thought I’d get back to Earth and try to fix everything with our relationship. But it wasn’t to be. I will do everything to make sure our son grows up happy and knows who you were.

  After everything that’s happened, I never thought I’d have anything close to a happy ending. If this is how and where I’m going to live the rest of my life, and I’m content, what more could I ask for?

  39

  I pat down the dirt and stand back to look at my work. I smile, really pleased with myself.

  “It’ll fall over,” Greg says, in his usual, overly critical way.

  “No, it won’t. This time it’s definitely deep enough. It’ll be fine,” I reply, annoyed that he keeps bursting my bubble. It has to be said he knows his stuff, probably because he’s been with the Utopia project from the start. It’s still annoying.

  “I do hope, for your sake, it stays up. A third time would be very embarrassing,” Greg says and walks back to the far side of the garden.

  It’s only a metre tall, but soon it’ll be the utopia project’s first apple tree. One of Sunspot One’s crew had it in a small pot in her quarters. It had only just occurred to her that if she planted it in the garden it would actually grow. It’s a good feeling knowing that everything I’m doing is for the benefit of not only us but future generations.