“You’re an ass, sir.” Although I had to admit he was right. Just as when I had said goodbye to the Earth for the final time, ascent into orbit was relatively safe. Both ships were loaded with scanners that could identify particulate down to the nanometer and Ka’thak had personally signed off on the orbital conditions with the newly reestablished NASA mission control before the launch sequence was initiated. Everything would be just fine. The ship got bigger and bigger in our view until it was right next to us, mirroring our orbit. The sight of it was something to behold. The engines stopped firing when the twin ship established a coordinating flight path, the blue exhaust plumes extinguishing themselves suddenly.
“That would appear to be that,” Ka’thak said. “I will leave you and get in contact with their pilots should they need any assistance.”
“Yes, sir. Do you mind if I remain here for a while?”
“Not at all.”
After he left, I tried to reach Alex but I couldn’t raise her on her phone or by radio. If she was already on the ship it was entirely possible that they would be under a communications lockdown until everything was secured, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Each attempt at contact rang through, and I left messages on several different platforms.
“Hey Alex, it’s David. I’m not sure if you’re up here already or not—wave out a window if you are. If you’re still Earthside, I hope everything is going all right down there. Get back to me when you can, all right? Big changes up here. I don’t want you to miss it.” I ended the call and put the tablet away so I could watch the Earth and the ship as they drifted by.
3
Alexandra
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.” I groaned, putting my head in my hands. My temples throbbed and my vision was starting to feel a little blurry. I had never gotten migraines in my life but I was starting to wonder if this is what it felt like.
“Dr. King?” Damilola, one of the interns I had recruited to push the ambassadors through the initial investigations of Proctor’s men, poked her head into my office.
“Mhmm?” I responded, not moving from my position.
“…are you all right?” The young woman cautiously walked into my office, almost tiptoeing with worry that she might disturb me. I took a deep breath and lifted my head. It wasn’t her fault that I was exhausted.
“Yes, I’m all right,” I replied. I’m sure that sounded believable. I had been up for two straight days. After President Wright announced that it was going to be my responsibility to select the passengers for the ship we had seized from Proctor, sleep had become elusive. After all, I was now in charge of deciding which out of millions of people were worthy of living and which I would sentence to a horrific death. Between the endless work and the ethical crisis, I was lucky if I could grab a couple hours every night. Anyone facing this kind of decision should find it hard to sleep. Alas, I was still human and the lack of rest was wearing hard on me.
“Can I get you a coffee or anything?” Damilola waited in front of my desk.
“You don’t have to get me anything, Damilola.” I sighed. “But if you’re offering, I’d kill for a mint tea right now.” The cups of coffee I had been chugging to stay awake were wreaking havoc on my stomach.
She smiled sympathetically at me. “Of course, Doctor.”
She returned a few minutes later with a large mug of steaming tea. I shut my eyes as I inhaled the calming smell. It was still too hot to drink so I set it on my desk and invited Damilola to sit with me while we waited for it to cool.
“I haven’t been keeping up with every detail of what President Wright set out for you but it’s plain that it’s been pretty rough.. Would you like to talk about it?”
Did I? Was it possible for me to even convey how horrific this was? I didn’t have any idea about how I could look this brilliant woman in the eye and tell her that I would be killing her parents, her siblings, and possibly her. I hated this. I had tried to pass the responsibility off to anyone and everyone else, and the President blocked me at every turn.
“I would love to talk about it, but I’m afraid it’s not my place to disclose anything.” I rolled my eyes to convey my disdain for classification. “Top secret stuff. It’s bullshit, but I’m sorry. They’d have my head.” Coward, I thought.
Damilola frowned and seemed ready to say something but I guess she thought better of it. She reached across the desk and placed her hand gently on my arm. “I understand, Doctor King. I’m sorry I can’t help take some of the pressure off of you.”
I smiled a regretful smile. “I really do appreciate the offer, Damilola. Get home, it’s well past your time to leave.”
She stood and walked to the door. “What can I say, I like the work.” She grinned and left.
I set the mug of tea down and closed my office door, then let my head fall to the desk.
“I hate this,” I cursed to the air. “I fucking hate this so fucking much.” Language, Doctor! I heard Jackson’s voice in my mind. He was always so jokingly appalled when I swore. I took a deep breath and sat up to review the lists again. After her death, all of President Lee’s notes had devolved onto me. It seems that it was her wish that should she meet an untimely demise that I should be the one to take over the project for her. Unfortunately, that power was not mine to take. Soon after his swearing-in ceremony President Wright had kicked his staff out of his office and made his own list.
The issue of supplies had already been settled. After space was allocated for the necessary equipment we would need for colonization, we would be able to fit a thousand humans aboard. We had hoped for two thousand, but the breadth of supplies we needed took up more space than expected. President Lee’s list of passengers had included the best and brightest, as she and I had discussed, but it also listed passengers with humanitarian talents and services as well. We had some of the world’s greatest scientific minds that were meant to share a berth with the planet’s most prolific artists. I was happy to see that the former President understood that humanity would need the arts almost as much as it would need the tools to survive. She wasn’t wrong.
Under my left hand was President Wright’s list. His was decidedly more ridiculous; while he hadn’t completely shunned the direction of his advisors and included a good number of doctors and engineers, the other half of the list was comprised of current or former military personnel. Taking up the last few spots were names that everyone knew. Those who had been wealthy enough to buy their way in. America at its finest. Gross, to say the very least. I had been scheming ways to try striking a compromise with the President. My latest idea involved cutting the number of military personnel dramatically but allowing the President to hand-select a platoon’s worth of soldiers and officers to board. I was feeling pretty good about that one until one of my interns pointed out the possibility of coming across hostile life on an unknown planet.
Another plan shot to hell by the obvious. Damn. As much as I groused about it, I had to admit he had a point. Hell, how many times had I had a gun held to my head over the past year? I had to admit that he had a point, so I scrapped the offer. The best I could come up with after that was pitching to the President that if we were going to source military as passengers that it would be beneficial to bring on troops who had some other credentials besides being able to shoot. We could bring in soldiers with degrees in engineering, experience with medical care, things that would be needed to rebuild a civilization.
I picked up my phone and dialed Shawn, one of my interns who was a former grunt in the Army. It was getting on past dinnertime now and I was surprised that he picked up.
“Hey, Shawn, who else is there with you?”
“Hi, Doctor King. Just me and a couple of the guys trying to get some extra work in before heading home, why?”
“I hate to do this, but can I ask you to gather everyone who is still here and bring them to the conference room? I’ll order pizza. And beer.” Bribery always helped, I just hoped that the remainder of the team was up to it at this ho
ur of the day.
Shawn chuckled over the line. “We do technically work for you, you know that, right? You can just order us to get our asses into the conference room. Ma’am.” I stifled a laugh. For his young age, Shawn was very prim and proper. A true military gentleman. I had cultivated such a casual workplace that I think he forgot his polite Midwestern upbringing once in a while. “Please excuse my language, Doctor,” he responded. “Of course I can get these guys together. Give us ten minutes and we’ll be there. Oh, and can you get a Hawaiian pizza with the other ones you’re ordering? I have a bet with Jenkins here that he won’t be able to eat it.”
“Sure, you want me to tell them to put extra anchovies on top?” Talking with my interns helped. The hellish tasks ahead started to feel a little more distant and I felt my shoulders relaxing.
“Heck yeah. Bet you five bucks he pukes at the smell.”
“You’re on.”
I hung up the phone and dialed the only pizza place near here that was still operating. This wasn’t by accident. When the President heard about my insistence to keep my young staff, he had personally re-hired the staff at the local pizzeria and told me to put everything on my government tab. Far be it from me to let that money go to waste.
As it turned out, Jenkins did not vomit at the smell of the pizza. Worse, he ate most of it. The meeting lasted just over two hours. I instructed the interns to poke holes in the argument and they admitted that they couldn’t. It would be very hard to argue that it would be more important to have the average infantryman over a specialist. I trusted my interns and was about to wrap things up when one of the security guards for my building stuck his head into the room.
“Miss? Phone for you.”
“Who is it?” I was enjoying myself, chowing down on pizza and drinking cheap beer with young people who were still full of hope for the world. It had better be damned important to make me rip myself from this.
“It’s the President, miss. Should I have them transfer the call to your office?”
Crap. I told the guard to do that and dismissed the interns for the night. I heard them laughing and joking as they scooped up the remaining pizza and beer before leaving for the night. I paused before a small mirror to check my appearance before I answered the video call ringing on my desk. I looked like hell, but there wasn’t a lot I could do about it now. I finger-combed my hair back and did my best to straighten my shirt.
“Mr. President, to what do I owe the pleasure?” I was surprised to find that President Wright looked almost as haggard as I did.
“Could you update me on your work, Doctor? I don’t need the play-by-play, the Cliff-notes version will do.”
All right, straight to the point then. “We are making excellent progress on determining who should be allowed aboard the ship. We will have our recommendations to you in the next day or two.”
“That’s good to hear, Alex.” I sincerely doubted that, as the President failed to even manage a feeble smile. I bristled at the use of my first name. After the past couple of days, I was tempted to correct him but the faster I got finished with this call the quicker I could try to get some sleep. “I’m afraid I must ask yet one more thing from you.” I managed to disguise my glare as fatigue. I blinked my eyes a few times before answering.
“Yes, sir. Forgive me, it’s been a long day.”
“Understandable. I have the engineering and maintenance teams ready to go here, but they don’t have the procedures down pat yet.” I thought I was making the decisions on passengers? “Given your close relationship with Commander Ka’thak and Lt. Colonel Jackson, I would like you to ask if the aliens would allow some of our crews to shadow them aboard their ship for a little while to get some first-hand exposure to what they will need to work on.”
I bit the inside off my cheek to keep from laughing. This was going to go over as well as a lead balloon. Sadly for me, I had to recognize the President’s logic. It wasn’t a totally unreasonable request.
“I can certainly do my best, sir. I think I can get them to agree.”
No, I can’t, you ancient fool. I knew that the truth wasn’t going to help me here so I chose to omit it.
“Good. I expect you to make the request tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll arrange to get myself on a shuttle, sir. The aliens won’t appreciate a remote call for this. If I’m going to ask any further favors from them I had best do it in person.”
The President waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, whatever you need to do. I’ll have confirmation of your shuttle sent to your inbox. Be ready for an early morning. Doctor.”
Oh, goodie.
4
Jackson
“Sir, have you heard the news?” I practically skidded into the bridge. Ka’thak turned and cracked a smile at my enthusiasm. A few others nodded toward me with grins. None of them had seen me this elated before.
“Only that the good doctor is coming to visit us, but what’s the news?” He chuckled.
“Fine, be that way.” I grinned to take the sting out of my words and resisted the urge to stick out my tongue. Alex was coming! I was overjoyed at the news. I could chalk it up to boredom waiting for the Earthers to get their shit together but the truth was that I was a little too thrilled about the prospect of seeing another human being. I was woefully cut off from contact up here and I couldn’t wait to sit down with Alex and hear about everything going on down on the surface. I wanted to know everything that was going on with her too, make sure that the American President wasn’t making her life too much of a hell.
I nodded and sprinted off to go receive the shuttle. When I got to the landing bay the craft was already on approach. I reminded myself that bouncing up and down with glee was unbecoming of a senior officer and settled into leaning against the wall while the ship docked with ours. I crossed my arms and tried to look as intimidating as possible. Though I was no longer among their number it was always fun to screw with the infantrymen. A small cadre of guards stepped out. I recognized one or two from previous missions and they nodded, smiling quickly at me before forming into a line. It was good to see that the President hadn’t shaken things up too much. After the grunts filed out I saw Alex, clad in her usual outfit and looking a bit shaky. Her face lit up when she saw me and I gave her a bear hug that made her struggle for air.
“How was the ride, little sister?” I laughed as she held onto the wall for support. She shot me the finger.
“I…” she stammered slowly, trying to bring her breathing back to normal. “I think I might hate that more than helicopters.” A significant statement, considering she had been in a crash and kidnapped out of one before. I grinned. Airsickness is bad. Spacesickness is worse. Or so I had heard.
“Doctor, what a pleasure it is to see you again!” Ka’thak’s voice rang from behind me. “Was your trip into orbit pleasant?”
“As much as it could be, I’m sure.” Alex hurried to the alien and caught him in an embrace. He seemed surprised for a moment but returned the gesture. One of the guards Alex had brought with her coughed. She rolled her eyes and introduced her guards. One by one, they nodded seriously at Ka’thak. Showing deference to a fellow soldier? Or trying to look intimidating when confronted with a powerful alien that had at least six inches of height on the tallest of them.
“Stay here. Please,” Alex instructed the guards. “While you have been given permission to be on this vessel I wouldn’t count on all of the aliens being thrilled about it. I am well guarded. Besides, I’m not sure I rate highly enough on the President’s list to have one of you follow me to the bathroom.”
The man who had cleared his throat opened his mouth but shut it again. Sit, stay. You boys have no idea what you’ve gotten into, have you? I thought. Poor bastards. I was glad to see that the doctor had embraced her new command with more confidence. She certainly had earned it.
“Come,” Ka’thak said, “I’ve prepared a room for us.” He led us down a corridor to a room normally reserved for officers
to gather. Alex sat and set her briefcase on the table. I remained standing, waiting for further instructions. Before Alex could open her bag, Ka’thak held up a hand and disappeared from the room. A few minutes later he returned with a female, both of their arms laden with food and drink. The female set the food on the table, dipped her head to me and Alex, and left. “First, we eat and drink,” Ka’thak said. “You may sit, David.”
I sat down next to my commander and took stock of the spread in front of us. There were surprisingly few alien foodstuffs present. It seemed that one of the chefs had taken special care to research Earth food and prepared a number of different options, including chocolate chip cookies. I wanted desperately to reach out and grab one—or four—but I waited for the commander to serve himself first. It was the polite thing to do. Ka’thak served his own plate, piling different foods from each tray onto it. When he saw my hungry look he picked up a cookie as well.
“I have never tried most of your food, I’m afraid,” he admitted. “Is there somewhere I should start?”
“The cookie.” Alex and I pointed to it at almost the same time and laughed. Ka’thak examined it carefully and sniffed before taking a delicate bite. He chewed for a moment and then his eyes went wide before he chowed down the rest of the cookie.
“Delicious! They call this a ‘cookie’? Fantastic. I will have to have my cooks prepare them more often. Thank you, Earthlings. Truly a good place to start when sampling your cuisine.”
Alex and I both piled our plates as high as Ka’thak’s—out of courtesy, of course. There was a wide assortment of meats, cheeses, fruit, and bread. Everything looked delicious, and the fresh food smelled just like it had at home. I wondered for a moment where the chefs had located half of it but pushed my curiosity out of my mind. I’m sure they had a replicator or two hiding in the kitchens that I didn’t know about, or that they 3D printed asiago cheese from scratch. I had grown accustomed to alien fare but I couldn’t wait to stuff my face with some good old homegrown chow. We filled the breaks between bites with innocuous questions. How was everyone holding up? What was the mood like, both here and on Earth? Was the new President a good one? Was Alex enjoying her first time in space? She dramatically clutched her stomach at that question and asked us to not remind her.
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