Event Horizon

by Scott McElhaney

  “Someone’s been in here recently,” Chasen said.

  “How can you tell?” the Captain asked, brushing the dust from the lighting control panel.

  Chasen walked over to the doorway marked “storage”. He pointed to the manual door lever.

  “No dust. No one should have any reason to be entering this landing dome. If they’re stealing supplies… well, this is our livelihood once we land.”

  She walked over to the handle and looked closer. Indeed, there was not even a thin layer of dust. She reached down and turned the lever slowly. Then she pushed the door open quickly and stepped inside the large room.

  “Hello?” she hollered.

  Chasen stepped into the room after her. The storage area appeared to be a deep room with a passageway dividing the large shelving units on each side. The shelves were jammed full of cans, boxes, and odd shaped canisters.

  “I think we will be able to survive for a hundred years. Remember that there’s enough here to support ten thousand people,” Autumn stated, moving further into the room.

  “What did you need me to check on here?” Chasen asked, recalling something she said about the navigation system.

  She proceeded further into the storage room, glancing throughout the shelves. The shape of the room itself curved inward, matching the shape of the dome. She continued several meters further before she turned abruptly and faced Chasen with a grin that frightened him.

  “You brought me here to kill me,” Chasen said, hoping that he was joking, “No one will hear.”

  She kept smiling, but offered no confirmation… or denial.

  “You were the one who was sneaking in here,” he realized, backing up a step.

  “Yes. Curiosity got the best of me. I found something. Can you keep a secret?” she whispered.

  “You’re scaring me, Autumn… I mean Captain,” he replied, “Sincerely.”

  “Stop it, Chasen. It’s me. I’m not going to kill you or do anything else you might be thinking about in your crazy mind.”

  He watched her for any signals that would reveal her intentions. She finally turned around and waved for him to follow her deeper into the storage room. He resigned himself to follow her, but made sure she could hear his grumble of protest.

  “Hurry up,” she said, running further.

  Finally they found themselves at the end of the storage room. Autumn reached into the shelf and pulled out two large pillows and set them on the floor by the wall.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, buddy. I know what you’re thinking,” she said with a laugh.

  She reached further into the shelf and pulled out a wooden box that resembled Jenny’s jewelry box. Autumn then sat down on one of the pillows and then patted the pillow beside her in invitation. Chasen stared at her, unsure of what to do. She sighed as her expression turned to one of irritation.

  “Sit down, and that’s an order. Is that what you want to hear?” she asked, “Come on already. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re my only friend in this blasted place.”

  He nodded then knelt down and took a seat on the pillow beside her. She placed the box in her lap and started to open it.

  “Before I open this, I have to warn you that what I have here is illegal. It’s been illegal for two hundred years now. It belonged to one of the people in the boneyard. It’s mine now,” she said, “But I think I’m ready to share it. I need some help figuring it out.”

  “If it’s drugs, I’m sorry but…” he started.

  “Of course it’s not, but it’s just as illegal. It’s a book of ancient Christianity,” she said, opening the box.

  Inside was a black leather-bound book with the inscription “Holy Bible” on the cover. Chasen stared in awe.

  “How did someone get that aboard? I heard about those books from my mom,” Chasen said.

  “I don’t know, but it’s the real thing,” she said, lifting it gently from the box and setting it on Chasen’s lap.

  Chasen was shaken with fear as he realized the repercussions of even touching such a book. The only thing keeping him from running away was the fact that the Captain was the one who handed it to him. It didn’t matter, though. They would share the same punishment in the end.

  “We’re safe, Chasen. It’s just us,” she calmly stated, placing his hand in hers, “It’s me - Autumn. It’s Autumn and Chasen… not Captain and Navigator. Can we just be Autumn and Chasen like old times?”

  He looked over at her, trying to dispel the fear inside. He never imagined that he would be in the same room with such a piece of contraband.

  “Autumn and Chasen,” he muttered.

  “Yes, Autumn and Chasen,” she said with a nod.

  He nodded and then looked down at the book in his lap. Millions had been put to death over this very book. Many crazy people willingly chose death rather than to simply relinquish this book. When this book and all it stood for became illegal, the punishment was jail. That punishment turned out to be useless. The jails quickly became crowded because the Bible-followers didn’t seem to care.

  That was when the courts changed the punishment. In order for justice to prevail, the Bible-followers had to be threatened with death. All that did was chase the criminals into hiding. The book and its followers still existed in secret societies and underground churches. That’s when the military was forced to hunt down these hidden groups and weed them out. Millions of people would die in a matter of months. Now here was Chasen looking at one of these books - one of probably a dozen left in the entire universe.

  “Amazing,” Chasen said, “Could you imagine what a historian would pay for this?”

  “I’ve been reading this one portion, and it’s scary at times. I’m starting to think the book may be true,” she said.

  He turned to her with a smirk on his face.

  “You’re kidding. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen into the spell of this book. It’s got something in it that people die for. Do you remember all those people who chose death instead of simply relinquishing it?” he said.

  “I’m not kidding at all. This book is dated several different years of the twentieth century. It must have been revised a lot. There are notes preceding each section defining the years that they were originally written. This one guy - Jesus Christ - is the fellow from which our years are numbered. He lived almost three thousand years ago and it says he was the Son of God,” she explained.

  He touched the worn, brittle cover. The leather binding was so deeply creased that he worried it would crack if he opened it. He carefully lifted the cover and peered inside.

  “I wanted to show you because of something else,” she said, reaching over and turning two of the pages, “See, ‘copyright 1973, 1978, and 1984’. Now check this out.”

  She flipped the pages rapidly, seemingly careless of the book’s feeble state. None of the pages fell apart however as she thumbed her way toward the back of the book. She slowly turned a few more pages then pointed to a verse.

  “Look at this: ‘The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water – the name of the star is Wormwood’,” she read before turning to him, “Do you remember Wormwood?”

  “Wormwood,” he repeated, testing the name, “Yeah, wasn’t there a comet by that name? What about it?”

  She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it.

  “Listen to this: ‘Wormwood’s trajectory will bring it on a potential collision course with Earth during its next pass in eighty years. If this occurs, it could very well cause another mass extinction.’ This article was dated a year before we left – 2902. And don’t forget, Wormwood was just discovered and named forty-one years prior. And in case you think it was named intentionally, remember that the Bible has been extinct for two hundred years,” she said.

  He grabbed the article out of her hand and reread it. She looked over at him as he picked up the Bible and read the verse agai
n.

  “That section called Revelation is about the end of the world,” she said.

  “What are the odds?” he muttered.

  “I really think that whole book might be true. What if there really is a God, and not just a God, but the God? What if the God of Israel is real?” she asked.

  “Show me some more. What else did you find?” he asked, handing the Bible back to her.

  She smiled and took the book from his hand.

  Week #694

  “What can you see?” Kyle asked, holding onto the bottom of the ladder.

  “Hold on a second,” Stephen replied.

  Stephen was standing at the top of the ladder holding onto a small video display. He depressed the button on the side, scrolling through the meaningless data that appeared on his screen. Kyle struggled with his patience as he watched from the bottom of the ladder.

  “Someone could walk by any second and catch us,” Kyle urged his friend, “Hurry up.”

  “If someone asks, we’re just checking out a faulty wire in the ceiling. Now sit tight until I find it,” Stephen replied, focusing intently on the little screen.

  Kyle glanced down the hallway, hoping no one would search this part of the ship. The door at the end of the hall stared back at him with a haunting scowl. Some unknown delinquent had painted an angry face on the door. That thin steel door was all that stood between him and thousands of dead passengers. One could only imagine the horrors beyond that welded doorway.

  “Got it!” Stephen hollered, “Live camera feed and now I’m recording.”

  “You can seriously see in there?” Kyle asked, jumping up and down at the bottom of the ladder.

  “Hold on. Most of the hallways are dark. I guess it makes sense, though. Why waste the power to keeps things lit over there?” Stephen said, scrolling through the different video feeds.

  “This is so awesome. Wait until Andy finds out we can see into the boneyard,” Kyle said, “Did you mark the wire you tapped into in case we have to leave and come back?”

  “Sure did. And… oh, my,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I located a lit-up passageway and there are… wow, there are really some corpses in it,” he said quietly.

  “Let me see,” Kyle said, climbing up the ladder.

  “No, wait,” Stephen said, trying to maintain his balance.

  The ladder wobbled suddenly and then they came crashing down onto the floor. Stephen rubbed his forehead then punched Kyle in the shoulder.

  “I told you I was recording, you idiot. Why did you climb the ladder?” Stephen asked.

  Kyle pointed up at the ceiling. The small video display was still hooked into the wire and dangling from the ceiling.

  “Yeah, you’re lucky it didn’t fall from there and smash,” Stephen growled, lifting the ladder from the ground and propping it against the thick strand of cables, “We’d better get back to work before anyone notices we’ve been down here.”

  . . . . .

  Page 114 of the ISDC Operations Manual

  The entire fourth deck is dedicated solely to the manufacture of agricultural foods. This deck is built with reinforced steel and titanium to withstand the weight of the soil and water that spans the whole deck. The soil is three meters deep in most areas. Five acres are dedicated to corn, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, and beans. Three acres are devoted to the manufacture of hay and other animal feed. The remaining three acres are dedicated to wheat and barley. Throughout these areas, fruit trees have been planted to assist with oxygen production. Other items of choice may be planted in the remaining half-acre as determined. With the limited ceiling height of only twelve meters on deck four, the trees will need to be trimmed away from the ceiling as necessary. If this is not maintained, there may be interference with UV lighting and the water sprayers in the ceiling.

  . . . . .

  Jenny reached out for limb above her. She grabbed a hold of it and started to pull herself up.

  “Here, let me help,” Donny said, grabbing a hold of her dangling legs and pushing her up into the tree.

  “Thanks,” she replied, finally drawing her leg up around the limb.

  She pulled herself into a sitting position as she watched Donny make his way quickly up onto the same limb. She sometimes swore he was a monkey in a previous life. He sat beside her on the limb, holding onto the branch above them. She gaily swung her feet and looked over at the boy beside her.

  “So, how much longer until the rain starts?” Donny asked.

  “Should be soon,” she said with a smile, “Can we kiss again like on Saturday?”

  Donny looked over at her. He wondered what she would look like when she got older. At eight, all the girls were cute. Well, all except for Angie. But with Jenny, she had something else. Her cheeks were so rounded and her lips were so full, except when she was mad. Then those lips disappeared completely. He couldn’t imagine her becoming ugly. Her eyes had a downward slant that made her look sad, but in a cute way. He watched his older sister become uglier every year and worried sometimes that all girls would progress the same way. But with Jenny, that would be impossible.

  “Only if you close your eyes,” Donny said, inching his face closer to hers.

  She immediately closed her eyes and puckered her cute little lips. He didn’t know why he was so afraid of her seeing him when he kissed her, but he was. He pressed his lips quickly to hers, watching her eyes the whole time to make sure that they didn’t open. Just like last time, he kept his lips on hers for a few seconds and then pulled away with just a little squeak from his lips. She opened her eyes and held his gaze.

  “Are you mine forever?” she asked, just like last time.

  “Forever, Jenny,” Donny said with a smile.

  Just then, the sprinklers in the ceiling made a loud groan followed by a drizzle of cold water. They laughed as the light patter of the rain increased in strength, soaking them in just a matter of seconds.

  . . . . .

  Kyle tossed a mop to Stephen then dragged the cleaning cart out of the smelly closet. Stephen dipped the mop into the bucket and sloshed it around in the foamy water.

  “There’s no way we’re getting both bathrooms done and the kitchen,” Kyle grumbled.

  “Hey, ladies,” a familiar voice called from the end of the passageway.

  Stephen turned to find the XO heading their way.

  “What now, Ed?” Stephen said, leaning on the mop handle.

  “Look who has bathroom duty today,” he replied, reaching over to Kyle and squeezing his shoulder.

  “And look who never has any duties…ever,” Stephen replied, “Mr. Ex-Oh.”

  “Oh, I have duties and those duties unfortunately keep me coming back to you. You two were supposed to have fixed the flour mill yesterday. Also, there are seven bulbs out on deck two and eighteen out on deck four. The spare freezer is still broken and you promised it would be fixed last week. I also noticed that-”

  “We get the picture, Ed,” Kyle interrupted, “And if you’d take us off the bathroom rotation, we’d have a little more time. Until that happens, things aren’t going to get done as quickly as you’d like. So when are you going to be Captain anyway?”

  Ed laughed and patted Kyle on the back.

  “Hey, I’ll take you off bathroom duties the very moment I become Captain. Maybe that’ll motivate you enough to leave a nice soapy puddle in front of Autumn’s bedroom door. One good slip could be all it takes to get you off bathroom duty,” he whispered.

  “How do you know I wasn’t recording that just now?” Stephen said, pulling his video device from his pocket.

  Ed smirked and looked down at the small object.

  “Because if you got rid of me, there would be no one left to protect you two from the evil queen. We all know what she does with worthless fourteen-year old boys,” he replied, making a grinding motion with his fist, “Hamburger.”

  Ed laughed as he turned around and started back down the passageway. Stephen shoo
k his head then peered over at Kyle who bore a frightened expression.

  “She doesn’t grind people up, Kyle,” he said, “Are you that gullible?”

  Just then, the ship’s intercom beeped twice to announce a message from the Captain.

  “Attention. There will be a meeting tonight for all crew members at 1900 hours. All crew members are to report to the second deck Port Lounge at 1900. Thank you.”

  “Hamburger time?” Kyle asked.

  “Hmmm,” Stephen said.

  . . . . .

  “Doc?” Autumn said as she tapped on the open door of the medical office.

  “Captain,” that familiar voice rose, “Come in.”

  Paige Morgan held the title “Doc”, though she wasn’t actually qualified as a doctor. Her formal education only qualified her as a ship’s nurse and nothing more. Now, though, she was the closest thing to a doctor that the ship had left. At twenty-eight years old, she was also the oldest living person aboard the CetiDrifter.

  “Something came up and I thought maybe you might have some information that could help me,” Autumn said.

  “Well, I definitely could try,” Paige replied, setting her pen down.

  “As you know, we’ve been left with very few records regarding our manifest. Now some serious questions are being raised by the crew and I don’t feel I can accurately answer them,” Autumn stated.

  “Such as?”

  Autumn stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

  “We obviously know that we’re headed to the Ceti system and to a planet within the star’s habitable zone. Now though, there’s rumor that our whole trip was based on hope, luck, and a few satisfactory scans. And everyone is well aware of the fact that this was a one-way trip,” Autumn said, “We were all just toddlers when this whole journey started. I was hoping you might have some other input. Or maybe you can make my day and tell me that you have the previous Captain’s passwords.”