Terraformer

by Scott McElhaney

  “We’re going to die?” it felt like those words were spoken by someone else entirely, but it was ultimately me who uttered them.

  “That all depends on the honesty behind the vow you made. We have all the time in the world to come up with a plan,” she said, taking a sip from her glass.

  “How does a planet even die? We’d seen plenty of video! It was progressively looking more and more like Earth!” I sputtered, sounding angrier than I had intended, “And ‘all the time in the world’? There is no world!”

  “Cuttar, are we going to have a problem here? You promised me I’d have your help and support no matter what,” she said, setting the glass down, “And by ‘all the time in the world’, I was referring to the fact that we have air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. We don’t have to hurry up and make a rash decision. Sorry if I phrased it inappropriately.”

  “Wait. You’re right - I promised and I’m sorry. I just hadn’t been expecting to discover that the act of landing the ship wasn’t actually the biggest obstacle,” I said, looking down at my half-eaten pizza pocket, “What do you need from me? I’m at your service.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad to hear it,” she breathed out a long sigh, “For now, I really just need someone to talk to. As I explore our options and review what we have available, I may need to just have a second opinion.”

  “Ah, so you need a sidekick!” I chuckled, “I’m the Watson to your Holmes. I’m the Robin to your Batman.”

  She nodded just then as she chuckled, “I guess so. Can you be my Watson? I’ve never been the sort of person to work alone.”

  “I’d be honored, Sherlock,” I grinned.

  “Great!” she said, lifting her glass in toast.

  And just like that, it seemed that we actually moved past the two horrifying bits of news we’d received today. As I lifted my glass and clinked it against hers, the dead crew and the dead planet had somehow become ‘acceptable’.

  “So, here’s what I was thinking…” she began.

  NINE

  During the whole hour that followed, dinner conversation had become strictly business. She presented me with the worst news first which was the simple fact that this ship didn’t have the supplies or the means necessary to fix the situation on Inglenook. There was nothing that we could do to save that planet or to make it livable again.

  The good news, however, was that she believed there could still be habitats down there filled with survivors. She reminded me that people had been living on that planet just fine while the atmosphere wasn’t breathable and the terraforming was taking place, so the habitats should be sealed and self-sustaining somehow.

  The bad news that she followed that up with was the same thing that always seemed to plague her – the inevitable lack of trust in people. She wondered if we’d be accepted by the descendants of the original settlers. After all, over a hundred years had passed since their great great grandparents had arrived.

  During all this, I mostly just listened, sometimes offering my agreement or challenging her with some ‘what ifs’. Before long, we returned our thoughts to the ship. We agreed that needed to pack away the two dead bodies that were lying out in the open, perhaps by merely sealing them inside their cryogenic chambers. After that, we both agreed to leave those rooms sealed and to never revisit them again.

  Then her thoughts moved to our current living arrangements. That was where the conversation finally got interesting as I was finally able to catch a glimpse into the true person seated before me. Up until that point, I’d mostly seen her as a hard and somewhat paranoid leader who was strictly business all the time.

  “These suites all have those side doors that can connect these individual rooms to the neighboring suites. As it stands currently, you and I are both situated on opposite ends of the ship. I’ve got the captain to my left and the doctor to my right,” she said, folding her hands on the table, “Since my room isn’t far from the bridge, I think it would make more sense for you to move your belongings into the room adjacent to mine, rather than having me move to the aft portion of the ship near you.”

  “So that we can join our suites together sometimes?” I asked.

  “Listen, can I be straight with you?” she asked, appearing to be worried all of a sudden.

  “Sure, and just so you know, I’m not complaining about moving. I was just wondering why it mattered where our suites were located on such a small ship,” I said.

  She shifted, noticeably uncomfortable as she looked over at me. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out for a good two seconds. After a sigh, she finally spoke.

  “I’m not comfortable, Cuttar. Not by a long shot,” she was whispering now, “As a matter of fact, I’m extremely uncomfortable.”

  “Is it me? Am I making you uncomfortable?” she shook her head the entire time I spoke, “If so, please let me know. I can take it.”

  “No, not at all. I’m very uncomfortable regarding the existence of dead bodies on this ship. And no, I don’t believe in zombies or ghosts. I just…” she seemed to mutter.

  “I get it. We’ll be neighbors who can check up on each other. Nothing wrong with that,” I offered, “I’ll start moving right after dinner.”

  “I can help with that, by the way. But there’s more in regards to my comfort levels,” she said, fidgeting now with the salt shaker, “I’m uncomfortable because I’m very social by nature. Even back on Earth, I was living with three roommates. We had bought a nice four-bedroom house and split the mortgage payment four ways. This here, though... I fear I might honestly go insane if I don’t have a bunch of people to talk to and interact with. Had I been the sole survivor, I know for a fact I would have lost my mind.”

  “Listen, that’s good to know! Here’s why! I brought three decks of playing cards! I’ve got my entire VID5 videogame system which is loaded with over a hundred and fifty games! I have four controllers just in case the first two break,” I laughed, “I’ll do whatever is necessary to keep you from going insane.”

  She grinned as she still looked down at the salt shaker in her hands, “Thank you. I actually look forward to seeing what games you’ve got on your VID5. I also brought something to while away the time. I’ve got the past thirty years’ worth of Steelers games which includes all the Wachowski years and those ten seasons with Thurman as QB.”

  Those names meant nothing to me at all since I didn’t follow football, but I could see that it was important to her. I nodded with a smile that suggested I’d be glad to watch those games with her.

  “But there’s something else,” she slid the salt shaker back over to the middle of the table, “Would you mind if we left the door open between our rooms at night? Again, keep in mind that we would be sleeping inside a ship full of dead bodies.”

  “I think I’d want the same thing anyway. We can lock our bedroom doors as well.”

  “Indeed!” she looked at me and smiled, “So, how do you suggest we proceed?”

  “I’ll seal off the dead bodies first, then I’ll move into the room adjacent to yours,” I said.

  “Perfect! Would you then care to watch a game in my room?”

  “I’d love to!” I lied to her.

  TEN

  It took me no time at all to carry the engineer back to his CWC. I then made certain to close and seal both of the occupied chambers. Then I hastily left that unintentional graveyard with no intention to ever return again.

  When I arrived in my suite, I discovered that Sydney had already removed all my clothing from the drawers and presumably brought them into my new room. I grabbed my suitcase, then looked around the room to see if I had been forgetting anything. I’d never actually made the room my own just yet, so I found nothing else to gather up.

  I arrived in my new suite a moment later to find that Sydney was placing my clothing into the dresser. On the bed behind her were stacks of female clothing, apparently taken from the very dresser that my clothing currently occupied. This had clear
ly been the room that should have belonged to the crew’s doctor had she not died along with everyone else.

  “Thanks for not asking me to help with the dead bodies,” she turned to me as she closed my dresser drawer.

  “Hey, I was strong enough to lug that guy out of the coffin, so I could surely put him back in,” I said.

  My subtle joke of calling the CWC a coffin fell flat. She gestured toward my suitcase that I’d just tossed onto the bed.

  “That looks a little overstuffed,” she said.

  “Yeah, I really needed about three or four suitcases if I was going to be truly happy. I left a lot of my favorite things behind,” I replied.

  “Such as?” she prodded.

  I shook my head, then gestured toward the brown door next to the bed, “Is that the door to your room or is it the one over there next to the dresser?”

  “You’re avoiding the question,” she pointed out as she nodded toward the door beside the bed, “But it’s that door. So, let’s see what the head of Larkin Industries brings with him as he departs the Earth forever.”

  I crossed my arms as I looked over at her with a grin, “I’m not showing you my private stuff. It’s personal.”

  “Come on! I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” she chuckled, finding the humor in her own statement.

  “Whoa! First you get me to move in with you, then we get straight to the ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’?” I laughed, feeling comfortable with such flirtations considering we both knew that I was clearly not her type.

  “Seriously, come check out my suitcase!” she gestured toward the door, “I don’t care!”

  I groaned as I then approached my suitcase on the bed, “Whatever! I guess if we’re going to be living up here in orbit for the rest of our lives, there’s going to be no room for many secrets.”

  “Yay!” she truly looked excited as she moved next to me while I unlatched the suitcase.

  I then flung the lid open and gestured toward the contents as though presenting her with a major award.

  “Here’s all the Earthly remains of Cuttar Larkin,” I said.

  Much to my surprise, she actually began sifting through the contents, carefully setting aside some of the items so that she could get to other things that I had buried deeper. She removed the videogame system and its controllers, then she proceeded to cautiously unwrap the delicate porcelain angel that had belonged to my mother. She examined it for a moment, then placed it on the end table next to the bed.

  One by one, she withdrew each of the metal spaceship toys that had kept my imagination vibrant throughout much of my childhood. All her movements revealed a respectful curiosity. She treated each of the miniature ships as though they had been made of glass, placing all ten of them gently on the pillow at the head of the bed. It was then that she located my most prized possession tucked in along the side of the suitcase.

  She lifted this dark wooden box from the suitcase, then stuck her fingernail under the little brass fastener, popping open the little latch. Then she very cautiously tugged open both of the hinged doors, revealing that beautiful collection of over a hundred colored pencils. She reached into one of the slots at the bottom and pulled out one of the three pencil sharpeners. It was one of the old fashioned manual sharpeners that many had probably never seen before. She seemed to examine it for a moment before putting it back into its fitted slot.

  “Two of every color,” she observed aloud, “Do you like to draw?”

  I gestured toward the three different-size sketch pads she’d partially uncovered in the suitcase. She grabbed the smaller ten-by-twelve pad and immediately opened it to the first page.

  “Oh my!”

  It was a scene depicting a lovely woman gazing out of an observatory window in outer space. The lady was clearly peering out at an alien ringed planet in some other imagined star system. The foreign sun was peeking out from beyond the planet, highlighting the rings on that side.

  “You did this?”

  She didn’t even wait for my answer as she then turned to the next page. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at a space battle between two very massive interstellar battleships. An Earthlike planet encompassed the bottom right corner.

  I enjoyed watching her as she evidently appreciated my hobby. She turned the page to one of my favorite drawings. It was of a beautiful woman sitting up in bed with the covers held up to her chin. Her bed was situated up against an enormous window, overlooking an alien planet. Whether she was aboard a space station or a spaceship wasn’t clear and I’d done that intentionally. All that mattered was that she woke up to a beautiful scene in outer space every morning.

  “She’s the same woman from the first drawing,” she turned to me, “Was she real? I mean, was she drawn from life?”

  “Yes, but the woman never knew I existed. She certainly didn’t know that I stole her face and her body over and over again in my drawings,” I grinned.

  She closed the pad, then grabbed the medium-size fourteen-by-twenty drawing pad. She actually gasped when she opened that to a close-up of the woman in question. She was seated on the floor of a domed observatory, looking out again at a beautiful alien system. In this one, she wore nothing but her underwear as she sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms holding her legs into that cannonball position. Although her body was beautiful, it was the look of awe and wonder on her face that captured the observer’s attention. I’d done that intentionally, taking what could obviously be a sexually desirable woman, and forcing you to instead focus your attention on her face, her mind, and her adventurous heart.

  “These are so beautiful, and the way you blend the colors to make the scenes look so real… I’m awestruck,” she breathed, pointing to the woman in that particular scene, “I want this! I want it framed and hung in my room!”

  I laughed, “It’s yours, Sydney. Although I don’t know if we have any framing options available up here.”

  She turned to me, shaking her head as she closed the drawing pad, “No, I could never take these from you. These belong in a museum, but if that’s not a possibility, it seems they’re safest inside these books of yours.”

  “I really don’t mind if you want to take that and hang it in your room. Besides you and me, who else will ever get a chance to see it or appreciate it the way you apparently do?”

  She shook her head again, then looked at me as though a thought had suddenly occurred to her, “If… if I promise not to wrinkle it, would you seriously not mind?”

  “I’ll even personally hang it on the wall for you! Just tell me where!” I chuckled.

  “Thank you so much, Cuttar. Sincerely, you don’t even understand what that means to me,” she said as her brow furrowed, “You see, up until you and I woke today, the universe had been a mystical and beautiful place. That woman you keep drawing… she reminds me of myself! I was the unemployed terraformer who gazed upon the universe in awe and wonder. That was me ever since I was ten or eleven years old. That was me before… well, before this hell we discovered on that planet.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I breathed.

  “Sorry? No, apparently you and I saw the universe through shared eyes! Your drawings… that’s all me! Yeah, I’m not beautiful like her, but that doesn’t change the person inside. For as long as we’re stuck up here in space, I’d sure love to see that drawing every day. I’d love to cling to what I always believed in.”

  I smiled at her as I took the drawing pads out of the suitcase, “I’d be honored to contribute to keeping your dreams alive. I’ll locate some adhesives or magnets tomorrow so that we can get this hung for you.”

  “Thank you. And you know what? I have a newfound appreciation for you as a person, Cuttar Larkin. Your toy spaceships, your fantastic drawings, and that exceptionally worn plush polar bear with the missing eye. You took up valuable space inside that suitcase for items that most people wouldn’t quite understand,” she said.

  “Wait, let me explain the bear,” I blurt
ed, embarrassed that she’d seen it tucked into the one corner of the suitcase, “When I was-”

  “No need!” she interrupted, “It’s important enough to you that you’d leave something else behind on Earth. It’s a priceless treasure, is it not?”

  I nodded, “Yes. Yes it is.”

  “Then I appreciate it for what it’s worth to you. When the time comes that you discover my personal belongings, I’m hopeful that you’ll react in the same understanding way.”

  “When the time comes?” I pointed at her, “No, I showed you mine, so it’s time for you to show me yours!”

  “No, I think we’ve both experienced a little too much awe, amazement, and terror for one day. How about we cap off the evening with the first Steelers game of the 2387 season?” she asked, taking the polar bear from my suitcase and tossing it to me, “My sofa and my monitor.”

  “Really?” I looked at her as she started for the door that separated our rooms.

  “It’ll give you something to look forward to tomorrow. Trust me, Cuttar,” she turned to me as she unlocked the door, “When we wake tomorrow and look out the window, it’s going to be the opposite of your beautiful drawings. We’re going to be looking down on a Venus-like planet which, as you know, is the sheer definition of hell.”

  I watched as she propped the door open, turning our two suites into the shared two-room home that we’d already agreed upon. I wanted to argue further about the fact that she’d just raided my belongings while I was left completely in the dark in regards to her personal stuff. But then I recalled that she was actually struggling more than I was. Although she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it, I knew that her true emotional state wasn’t real good. For the time being, I thought it best to just play along.

  “Kickoff in two minutes!” she hollered from somewhere inside her suite.

  ELEVEN

  I had decided to play along with her silliness. She had tossed my polar bear at me when she decided that we were watching a Steelers game instead of raiding her suitcase. Because of that, I decided to join her on her sofa with that very same cyclops polar bear. She had gotten comfortable on one side of the sofa while I sat on the other. It was when she looked over and saw the bear in my lap that she grabbed the remote and paused the game just before the initial kickoff.