Chapter Seven
December 30th, 2027
Hades had been on its return trajectory to Earth for nearly three months. Callum was sitting alone in the cockpit, gazing out the window at Saturn, which was still a full day away, but already large enough to see in great detail.
Throughout the mission, the control tower at Darkside would periodically make contact with Hades, via video transmissions, which would be delayed several hours, due to the ship’s distance from Earth. Since leaving Charon, the crew had become accustomed to receiving updates from Mandrake and company more frequently and with a shorter delay each time.
However, it had been almost a week since Darkside’s last transmission. During that time, Callum and Simone had made several attempts to contact Earth and had received no reply. As Callum later learned, there was no way to verify that any of the messages were even being transmitted. Something was jamming the ship’s communications systems and Callum had been awake for nearly twenty four hours, attempting to fix the problem.
After another inconclusive diagnostic of the communications systems, Callum inspected the ship’s autopilot display one last time, to confirm that Hades was still on its predetermined course. He also used the radar console to do a sweep of the sector, to ensure that there were no obstacles that could potentially interfere with the ship’s path.
Once he was satisfied with his findings, he left the cockpit and headed for the sleep chamber. His plan was to wake up Jack, who had agreed to take his place in the cockpit, once his insomnia had caught up with him.
Callum floated into the dark sleep chamber, to find Jack and Max sleeping at opposite ends of the row sleeping bags. He put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and Jack slowly opened his eyes.
“Is it that time, already?” Jack asked, in a groggy voice.
“I’m afraid so,” Callum replied.
Jack reluctantly unzipped his sleeping bag and pushed himself away from the wall, to face Callum.
“Anything new?” Jack asked. “No. Nothing at all,” Callum replied. “Just static. It might be more serious than we thought. I just hope you have better luck than I did.”
“You’re just exhausted,” Jack assured him. “I told you it was a bad idea. You’re not the only person here who can patch software. You need sleep.”
“I know. You’re right,” Callum said, as he let out a long yawn. “Just promise me you’ll wake me up if anything changes.”
Jack laughed and replied, “You’ll be the first to know.”
Jack then made his way towards the cockpit, as Callum got ready to secure himself in his sleeping bag. But before Callum could make himself comfortable, he had a sudden urge to check on the whereabouts of the rest of the crew.
He passed through the sleep chamber, into the next compartment. It was a dimly lit storage compartment, with just a few crates of miscellaneous supplies strapped down to the floor. As he approached the far wall, he could hear movement on the other side. He made his way to a closed hatch that separated the two compartments and could hear a faint whimpering sound.
At first it sounded like a woman crying, but when he peeked in the hatch window, he saw that Richard and Sophia were inside, having sex. Despite his anger, he ignored his urge to barge in and reprimand them. He was too tired to do that. He was also intrigued by the blatant awkwardness of it all.
Richard and Sophia appeared to be enjoying themselves, but were having a considerable amount of difficulty, establishing a good sexual rhythm in a zero gravity environment.
Richard had his back to the hatchway, while Sophia had her eyes closed and her head slung over his shoulder, as he struggled to bob up and down.
After a few moments Sophia began to open her eyes and was seconds away from seeing Callum in the window. Callum then quickly backed away from the hatch and made his way back towards the sleep chamber.
His desire for sleep increased with every second, but he couldn’t resist the urge to have one last look at Drellic. He was still residing in the ship’s medical station and still appeared to be in a persistent coma.
Callum made his way up the tunnel, leading to the upper deck. There, he found Simone leaning against the hatchway to Drellic’s care unit. She flared her eyes at him, as he approached her.
“What was that look for?” Callum asked.
“I’m just tired of seeing you do this to yourself,” she replied.
“I don’t see you sleeping,” Callum remarked.
“That’s because you were keeping your face buried in those monitors. I just got twelve hours,” Simone replied.
“So, now you’re right back here?” Callum scoffed. “Waiting for what? Him to tell you his life story? There’s only so much we can do for him here. Face it. He’s going to be dead, long before we reach home.”
Simone hesitated for a moment and said, “Don’t be so sure.”
Callum became frustrated and let out a long exhale.
“You still haven’t told me everything. It’s been three months and you keep giving me the same three bullshit lines,” Callum began.
“It’s all I know,” Simone insisted.
“Bullshit,” said Callum. “You honestly expect us to believe that Mandrake told you about some unsanctioned listening post for ET hunters? A bunch of brainiac students went underground and acquired the funds, equipment and a ship to make it out to Charon to look for aliens? How would that not have been on every news report? Nothing like that could’ve stayed a secret.”
“But it did. And it was need to know,” Simone replied. “Mandrake said some of their findings had merit. It was a sensitive issue.”
Callum was becoming irate with Simone again, and was drifting uncomfortably close to her. But as nervous as she was, she never broke eye contact with him.
“I’m done with you,” he said. “I’m not doing this anymore. Not while we’re out here and we can’t even talk to home.”
“Good,” Simone replied. “Then maybe you’ll accomplish something, like fixing the damned com system.”
After a series of uncomfortable glances, Simone gently pushed Callum aside and said, “I’ll be in my room. Please don’t disturb me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You got it,” Callum hastily responded.
Callum let out another long yawn and saw that the medical station hatch was left slightly open. He peeked inside at the heart monitor, which was showing normal rhythm, and glanced over at Drellic’s body, which had been lying on a gurney, since the day they left Charon.
He was covered in a large white sheet, which had to be converted into a hospital gown, since none of the clothes on board would fit a man of his size. Callum looked on, as Drellic remained stationary and looked to be as peaceful as ever.
As Callum backed away from the hatch, he looked down at his right hand, which had almost completely healed, but was still noticeably swollen.
“Son of a bitch has quite a grip,” Callum said quietly to himself.
He then made his way back to the tunnel leading to the sleep chamber below, but just before he began to climb down, he noticed that the beeping sound from Drellic’s heart monitor had stopped. He quickly turned around and saw that he had left the hatch slightly open, as he had found it. He then looked inside the medical station, to see that the gurney was empty and that the life support equipment had been disconnected.
He frantically grabbed the hatch and swung it completely open. He then floated around the hatch and entered the room. Looking on in disbelief, Callum saw that Drellic was still lying perfectly still on the gurney and that all of the life support equipment was still connected and working properly.
A moment later, he felt a warm hand on his back and quickly turned around to see Simone in the hatchway. She noticed his frightened expression and heavy breathing.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “I just thought I heard something. Is everything OK in here? I thought you were going to sleep.”
&n
bsp; “He was gone!” Callum exclaimed. “What?” Simone asked. “Just a second ago. He was gone and everything was a mess,” Callum replied.
Simone calmly entered the room and saw that Drellic was still unconscious. She glanced over at the heart monitor, to see that his heart was beating at the same pace it had been, since he was first brought on board. She then looked back at Callum and smiled.
“Callum, you need to sleep,” she said, forcefully.
Although he was almost completely certain as to what he’d seen, Callum doubted himself just enough to take Simone’s advice. He gave her a respectful nod and made his way down into the sleep chamber. He secured himself in his sleeping bag and allowed himself pass out.
Simone exited the medical station, sealing and locking the hatch behind her. She then turned around and faced the hatch with a fearful expression.
“You can’t do this to me,” she said. “Not yet. I’ve come too far. I’m not letting you fuck this up for me.”
She then returned to her private compartment and closed her hatch behind her. A moment later, Drellic was standing just outside her room, with anxious eyes.
The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three Page 9