Colony One (4 page)

Her eyes scanned the room instinctively before zeroing in on the door as the banging started up again. In a flash, she was on her feet – much quicker than someone who had just woken should have been. Since she had already identified the distinctive knocking, she simply cracked the door open without checking her viewer to see who it was, and then turned to walk to the kitchen unit for some much needed coffee. The floor crunched as she stepped on a wayward take out box and she pushed another off the counter and into the waste bin.

Her old military buddy, James Hunter, pushed through the door, “You’re alive!” he observed and closed the door before asking, “Why on earth have you not been answering the OMNI?”

Alexa shrugged and pointed to her glass device that lay broken on the floor, “It seems to have lost a fight with the wall.” She said in way of answer. The device had a habit of telling her that her blood-alcohol levels were too high, and she didn’t appreciate it.

He shook his head at her and removed his filter mask, revealing his surprised, but amused expression. “Most impressive. Those things are supposed to be pretty difficult to break.”

Alexa shrugged and changed the subject; “Don’t tell me you’ve joined the filter bandwagon?” She gestured to the apparatus hanging around his neck as she started a pot of coffee. She was grateful he had not worn his uniform to see her – the large overcoat he now wore, while grey like the military uniforms she knew so well – was a civilian cut.

“What can I say?” It was his turn to shrug, “Air quality just keeps getting worse, and my lungs haven’t been the same since our last tour. Not to mention, World Corp is handing them out for free to just about anyone who wants one. Creative problem-solving for the world’s pollution concerns.” He added with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Though she tried to hide it, Alexa visibly flinched at the mention of the war. She took a deep breath before she could turn back towards him and retrieve coffee mugs from an upper storage compartment. “Yea, the masks are free, but the filter refills aren’t. Funny how that works.” She offered stiffly.

“You’d get one, too, if you ever left this high-rise.” James pointed out. It was true most high rises had everything you’d need – filtered air, hospitals, grocery stores, schools and more – but the human condition begged to go outside eventually. Alexa was a stubborn hold out, and it made James worried for her. 

As soon as she saw his face, she knew that he knew her thoughts. Giving in, she finally asked, “What do you want, Hunter?”

James set his filter on the counter and leaned in. His cobalt blue eyes were sincere as he explained, “I want to help you get past this. We all miss you back at barracks. We know you’re not going to re-enlist. But at least keep in touch. Come out and see us.” He paused and glanced away for a moment before returning his gaze to her and adding, “Or at least meet me out somewhere.”

“You’re wasting your time.”

“We’re a unit, Dilyn.” His tone was earnest. “A family,” he reminded her. “That doesn’t change because you’re no longer fighting the war with us.”

The concern in his voice was almost too much for Alexa – she couldn’t handle being treated so delicately. “Save it…” she warned, her tone becoming venomous.

His jaw set and he paused for a moment, as if to evaluate if he should say what he was thinking. In the end, emotion ran over, “Is this how you want to live the rest of your life?” James gestured to the scattered mess around the small apartment. Empty and half full alcohol bottles lined the back counter and spilled over to the floor near the trash receptacle. Take-out containers were stacked on end tables. “Drunk and living in this hole of an apartment until you get kicked out because you can’t pay rent? You’re better than that, Dilyn. You could be helping people like you coming back from the war.”

His words made something in her bubble over. Her fists slammed down on the counter with speed and powe
r.
After a pause, she explained; “I don’t
want
to help them.” She spoke slowly, voice on the verge of seething. Her head began to ache and she instinctively put her fingers to her temple and circled them counter-clockwise. The urge to find and finish a bottle of whiskey became overwhelming, “Don’t you get it?” She opened her eyes and fixed him with a pleading gaze, “I just want to forget! I want…” she paused and gestured towards the window and began to pace as she tried to put words to how she felt, “I want to be able to walk the streets without getting panicked when I have to cross a gap. I want to sleep through the night without waking up in a sweat. I don’t want to relive it every damn day of my life. I want to… I
need
to forget.”

James held up his hands – he knew a dangerous situation when he saw one. “Alright, alright.” He caught her gaze and nodded reassuringly until she visibly calmed. He always had that ability with her – something about the depth of his eyes put her at ease. He sighed and looked around, “Will you at least let me help you clean up this mess?”

Alexa glared at him for a few long moments, but he held his ground. The sincerity in his eyes convinced her. “I guess,” she finally surrendered. At her words, he was already shrugging off his overcoat and collecting takeout containers before she could pour the first cup of coffee.

They spent the morning together, talking about menial things. Neither of them had families to speak of, and the one real thing they had in common was their service. So they talked about rumors of secret communes in secluded parts of the globe where people were bio-stamp free. That made them both laugh. They talked about the weather, and the new development across town that was going to add 20 floors to an already 30 story building, and of talk about a new project to lessen the population burden that had been advertising non-stop on the viewer.

Alexa was glad to have James as a friend, but his company and even his devotion was not enough to chase away her demons. She thought his attentions were based on the bonds forged in training and battle, but the truth was that James was hopelessly in love with the woman. He lingered with her that day, until the pull of the bottle was too much for her. Embarrassed to drink in his company, she made an excuse for him to leave and drowned her shame in a way all too familiar.

Later that night, Alexa lay in bed nursing her fifth glass of whiskey and scrolling through the news feed on the viewer. One of the World Corp sponsored propaganda pieces caught her attention. She selected the play icon and gestured sloppily with both hands to expand the picture.

The video began with a landscape so beautiful it was almost beyond comprehension, with trees and a crisp, clean purple-blue sky. A disembodied but soothing voice began to speak, “Do you ever dream of living on Earth the way it used to be – before the overcrowding and pollution? This is your opportunity to move on from Earth and help start a new colony. World Corp is looking for volunteers to take the first voyage to Colony Alpha – a fully habitable planet in the neighboring Alpha Centauri system. Set sail among the stars and experience the beginning of your new life.”

A few more scenes of pristine rivers and forests displayed, accompanied by patriotic music. COLONY ONE in thick white letters appeared with a field of stars in the background.

The video timed out and a link to a registration form appeared along with paragraphs of text explaining the conditions.

Alexa eyes bounced with blurred vision from the viewer to the glass of whiskey that she still held firmly in her grip. She stared at it for a long time before downing the rest of it in one big gulp. When she was done, she dropped the glass to the floor. It bounced once, then rolled away until it hit a wall.

In that moment, she realized James was right. She couldn’t live like this anymore. She tapped the link – and with that one stroke of consent, the viewer read her bio-stamp and submitted her request for assignment to Colony One.

The network crunched the numbers – weighing stats like age, medical and family history, income level, employment status, and with dizzying speed, it was decided. Alexa Dilyn would be leaving Earth forever.

ɸ ɸ ɸ

“What about you?” Someone nudged Alexa’s shoulder. “You haven’t said how you came to be here.” Retrieved from the depths of her memory, Alexa shook her head and smiled faintly at Ndale, who had asked the question. He elaborated, “A lot of us had nothing to lose or something to prove. Which one are you?”

“Just wanted a change of scenery, I guess.” She said with a shrug. She knew exactly what she was running away from, but could barely admit it to herself, let alone a group of people she had just met. Nor did she want to explain that her choice to join Colony One was a drunken decision, made one night in a fit of desperation that she couldn’t undo even if she wanted to.

She thought of James and felt a lump in her throat. She had been so careless and selfish – she didn’t think he would ever be able to forgive her. She knew he thought he would have more time to try and fix her – to put her back together. If she had thought it possible to do back on Earth, she might have stayed.

“Way to take it to the extreme.”

“This is about as extreme as you get.” Alexa pointed out in a dull voice. She blinked and refocused on the others, “When you think about it, it is a marvel that so many people volunteered for this trip.”

“What do you mean?” Luca asked.

“We’re in uncharted space – or we will be. The list of unknowns would be enough to keep any sane person from stepping foot on this ship. And yet, here we are. All twelve-thousand of us.” Alexa recalled the first sober moment after she had volunteered herself for the mission. She had immediate doubts and fears – but what was done was done.

“Some might argue that it’s a testament to the inherent optimism in the human condition.” Luca countered with a lopsided smile.

“Nah, I’m with the medic here – we all must be out of our minds!” Ndale said with a laugh, causing a chain reaction of laughter from many of the others.

05

Present Day, Kennedy Space Center, Hyperion Task Force Launch Day

While the air wasn’t as clear as it was on the day Colony One launched, it was still much clearer than the average inhabited area – which, with a population of 20 billion, was pretty much everywhere.

Margret Avery was not helping the situation as she puffed on a thin cigar. She was going to miss smoking, and knew full and well that she should have tried to wean herself off the habit long before locking herself in a confined space for a month or more. She lived her life in direct contrast to what she ‘should do’ most of the time, however, so being unable to give up the guilty pleasure was no surprise to her or anyone who knew her.

She narrowed her eyes at the ship in the distance, watching the far away outlines of people as they approached it. She recognized the build of each one, waiting purposefully until she was sure the entire crew was on board.

Charles Foster stepped onto the bridge of the Hyperion with a swelled chest. The compartment was quiet and peaceful. His eyes scanned the consoles from left to right – a slow, determined motion. He had arrived an hour and a half early so he could get a better sense of the controls – of the ship herself, having a long standing belief that every ship had a personality.

He let out a long, contented sigh, “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, babe.” He spoke aloud.

“I believe we already met, no?”

Charlie nearly jumped out of his skin as a Russian voice sounded from above him. His chin shot up as he reeled backward, feeling like he had jumped out of his skin. He’d arrived thinking he would be the first aboard by a long shot. To his very real surprise, he found that Makenna had army-crawled her way into the circuitry in the overhead compartments. She had a panel open and was reading diagnostics on her glass tablet. She’d spoken without looking away from the interface, otherwise disinterested in the pilot outside of wanting to make sure he didn’t blather on any further.

Charlie took a moment to try and slow his heart. “What are you..?” He started, but it was obvious what she was doing. “I thought you said the ship was ready to launch?”

“Da,” she answered, tapping the glass surface and then making an adjustment on the panel. “It will fly. But when I fix, it will fly well.”

Charlie walked the length of the bulkhead where Mekenna had been working. Several other panels were open with wires exposed and some looking tangled. “We launch in three hours!” Charlie exclaimed, his voice clearly indicating, ‘what a mess!’

“You no worry,” she reassured him in the brisk coldness that only Russians seemed to be able to master. “I fix.”

“Well, when you put it that way, I feel
much
better.” Charlie shook his head, gave one more wayward look at the open circuitry and forced himself to walk away. He brought his focus back to the pilot’s control panel and sat down with considerably less enthusiasm than when he arrived.

Niko arrived next, speaking to no one and relegating himself to the small briefing room located just off the bridge to pore over the classified star charts he had been given for the mission. When the doctor arrived, everyone knew that he had. Overburdened with bags, he fumbled up the loading ramp, and then the set of stairs that led to the bridge, knocking into things as he went.

From where she was shoulder deep into one of the floor consoles, Mekanna shot him a dark look. He was dangerously close to stepping into a hole in the decking she’d made by removing one of the tile squares. If he did so, he would probably break his ankle but, more importantly, he’d crush the circuit board that controlled part of the floor heating system, which would have been unacceptable. She was presently re-routing the system to bypass the heating – which she considered an unnecessary luxury – to more important ship functions.

Charlie noticed the same hazard and asked in an effort to mitigate any damage, “Need a hand, Doc?”

Winston looked visibly relieved at the offer and handed over all his bags to Charlie, “Much obliged.”

Charlie’s lips pressed together and he thought very hard for a moment before deciding in favor of restraint. “Sure, Doc.” He murmured, looking for a space to haul the load. The ship was made for function, not storage, and he wondered if the good Doctor had gotten the memo.

He turned with the bags and was suddenly faced with a small, redheaded woman. Her hair just brushed her shoulders, wavy and somewhat mussed. She had an excited smile on her face and all Charlie could think to say was, “Uh, hi.”

“Excuse me, miss, are you lost?” The doctor elaborated on Charlie’s thought.

“I’m Finn Connolly,” She held up the heavy looking camera that hung around her neck into view. “The photographer,” she smiled and added – “I know what yer thinkin’, wit a name like Finn – and ye’d be right, my da wanted a boy.” She explained, exaggerating her elegant Irish lilt. “Don’t ya worry, I get it all the time.” She began to unwrap the scarf from around her neck. It looked well-traveled, as did she – there was a distinct youth about her, but also a disposition of patience and wisdom. It was jarring at first, but the juxtaposition quickly became an attractive quality.

“That is a beautiful antique,” Niko spoke for the first time since boarding. He had pried himself away from the briefing area to investigate the arrival of this new person. His tone was neither derogatory nor ironic, he seemed to genuinely appreciate Finn’s large-lens camera.

“Thanks!” She pulled the strap over her head and closed the distance between she and Niko, offering it to him to take a look. “I have found the imperfections of the older models add a certain realness to my photos.” She explained, her accent less pronounced as she adjusted to the excitement of boarding the Hyperion.

Niko gently accepted the camera, took the opportunity to introduce himself, and then put his eye to the small viewfinder.

Charlie took a half step forward, and with a grin, tipped an invisible hat, “Charles Foster – but you can call me Charlie.” She smiled and tipped an imagery hat back.

“Doctor Winston Waltham,” the doctor followed suit and they shook hands.

When the Russian didn’t take the opportunity to introduce herself, Charlie did it for her. “That’s Makenna Krasnov. She’s our engineer.”

“Privet,” Mak said hello in Russian, but remained engrossed in her project.

“Should I be worried half the decking is currently ripped up?” Finn asked casually. As she did, she heard the shutter snap of her own camera and looked over to see that Niko had taken her picture.

It wasn’t an accident. He smiled, “How often does the photographer ever get her picture taken?” He asked and offered her the camera back.

“Never,” she confessed.

“So where is our fearless leader, eh?” Winston asked, seeming both anxious and bored all at the same time.

“Probably off somewhere making the ‘hard decisions.’” Charlie joked.

“Not yet,” Avery answered from the base of the stairs that led up to the bridge with a stony expression. She took measured steps to climb to the upper platform where she found Charlie blushing. “But I’m sure the time will come. Are you the bellman now as well as the pilot?” She asked, eying Winston’s bags and finally cracking a hint of a smile.

With chagrin, Charlie finally dropped the bags.

“Hey!” Winston protested as the sound of glass coming together could be heard when the bags hit the bulkhead.

“I thought this was supposed to be a mission of peace,” Niko vocalized what everyone seemed to be thinking when their eyes fell on the side arm Avery had strapped to her thigh.

“I don’t leave home without it, let alone earth.” Avery patted the pistol, then went to rest her hands on her hips, “Take off is in 30. Krasnov, get this bridge put back together and everyone else, report to your stations for launch.”

Just as suddenly as she arrived, she disappeared, leaving the rest of the crew temporarily stuck in their places.

“What kind of a contractor did they say she was, again?” The doctor asked.

“They didn’t,” Charlie answered.

“Right.”

Makenna put the bridge back together with an alarming speed. Charlie had asked her if she thought she’d put everything back right, and learned very quickly to never ask that kind of question again. Everyone was strapped in and ready to go when mission control gave them a green light to push off without fanfare. The task force launch date had been kept a secret, along with the names of the crew to avoid protests, harassment or infiltration from the more cynical members of Citizens United. As a result, there were no crowds and no onlookers to see them off.

Charlie piloted the Hyperion off the ground with practiced ease and after the brief violence that always came with breaking through the ozone layer, they were flying smoothly.

“You’re right, Mak, she does fly well.” He commented once he had the initial headings punched in.

“Do not call me Mak,” was her only response.

Charlie mouthed ‘OKAY’ to himself with wide eyes and went back to double checking the numbers that scrolled across the heavy-duty glass console.

“Not bad Charlie Foxtrot,” Avery commented, unstrapping.

“The Pilot did not authorize the unbuckling of seatbelts,” Charlie pointed out.

“I don’t see any ‘no unbuckling’ signs.” She countered, moving to stand behind him. She leaned forward and scanned the readouts from his console. “Command says all we need to do is follow these communications buoys,” Avery pointed to the console that showed the distance to the first one. “At a certain range, we’ll be out of verbal communication capability. How long until then?”

Charlie tapped and slid his fingers across the console until a read out appeared, “24 days.” He reported. The improvement of technology being exponential as it had been for the past several years, and the Hyperion being only six months old, it had an edge on the technology used for the Colony missions. While it took the first colony ship three months to hit the non-comm line, with her advanced engines and reduced size, the Hyperion could make the trip in much less time.

Avery turned towards Niko where he was still strapped into his seat at the navigation console, “Any anomalies or debris we should worry about yet, Andris?”

“Negative,” Niko reported. “Just a bunch of empty space ahead.”

“Good. Krasnov, try not to take too much of the ship apart to pass the time.” The Captain advised and Makenna shrugged in concession. ”I’ll be in my quarters. If you need something, try to figure it out yourself before you bother me,” she informed the crew and strode off the bridge.

“She’s real friendly.” Niko observed.

“Doesn’t look like they required a personality test when they hired her,” Charlie put in, then opened a communication’s line ship-wide to tell the Doctor and Finn it was safe to un-strap and enjoy the view.

It didn’t take Finn long to find her way to the bridge, camera in hand. They let her snap pictures and waited until she was transfixed with the field of stars ahead of them before interrupting her process.

“Never been in space?” Charlie asked.

Finn shook her head to answer, but was not willing to pull her gaze away from the stars yet. “No. The closest I’ve been to space is at the summit of Mount Everest.”

“So how’d you land this tour?” He wanted to know.

“Yer guess is as good as mine. I didn’t think World Corp would take me, to be completely honest. I have a reputation for recording civil unrest, protests, war zones… you get the idea. I believe I am what they call, ‘bad press.’”

“They must really be out to appease Citizens United to send you,” Niko guessed. “That’s why all of us are civilians, with the exception of our Captain.”

Finn nodded, “Makes sense.” She finally turned to face him, explaining – “So I threw my name in the hat, anyhow. You can imagine my surprise when they sent a Tibetan Monk out into the snow to find me. I want to hear the story of these colonists, to see what they have created. It must have been an incredible journey.”

Niko’s lips twitched with a hint of a grimace – but it flashed so quickly across his face, Finn didn’t have time to try to read it. “I just hope we find them…. thriving.”

06

Colony One, Mission Duration: Three Months

“Good evening Colony One.” Captain Fairfield’s voice came over the audio system throughout the ship. “We have just passed the last communications marker capable of communicating verbally with Earth. The good news is that this marks the halfway point of our journey. There is no bad news – we’re doing great!”

Javier looked down from where he had lifted his chin to listen to the announcement, “I wonder what she’s eating for dinner, because this freeze dried brick for food is not ‘great.’” He sat with several others at their community table for the evening meal.

“I hear they have better food over in the Purple section.” Demetri put in, using a syringe to stick himself with a liquid supplement. Without the supplement, malnourishment was a guarantee due to the limitations of the freeze-dried food.