Event Horizon

by Scott McElhaney

  “Don’t you think she’ll be a little too busy with the sick people? She’s probably going to need to hang around the medical bay.”

  “Yeah, but she needs to get up here for your injection. We’re not taking any chances.”

  . . . . .

  “Attention, please. This is Nav speaking and I’ll have the intercom from here on. At this time, I need everyone to brace for collision as we are about to begin braking procedures. I will not be doing a countdown since I have other things to contend with. Your final warning will be at ten seconds,” Chasen said, watching his viewing panel, “And that’s now - ten seconds.”

  He set down the handset and punched in his final password into the console. He looked over at Autumn as she buckled herself into her chair. She smiled nervously at him.

  “No turning back now,” he said, “I love you, Captain.”

  With that final word passing over his lips, a tremendous shudder ripped thorough the ship. The whole room shook violently and continued to do so for several seconds. When it finally stopped, Autumn cried out his name. She finally opened her eyes looked over at Chasen who was grasping his head with a bloody hand.

  “What was that all about?” he shouted angrily.

  Autumn quickly unbuckled and leapt from her chair. She instantly realized something was wrong as her feet hit the ground. She fell forward, tripping over nothing in particular. She carefully stood up and looked over at Chasen. Each step was a struggle to keep from falling over. Chasen picked up the handset with his free hand.

  “Attention crew. I have no idea what that was about, but I am currently running scans on everything. According to the information I’ve gathered so far, there was no collision,” he said into the intercom before Autumn took the handset from him.

  “Medical emergency on the bridge,” she shouted into the handset, despite Chasen’s attempts at ignoring his head wound.

  “Cancel that,” Chasen spoke in the handset, “You need to stay available in the medical bay, Paige.”

  Autumn grabbed the handset back from Chasen.

  “Doctor Morgan, Nav is trying to hold together a gaping head wound and is in need of stitches. We will apply pressure, but please come up here as soon as you are available,” Autumn said into the intercom while she glared at Chasen.

  He continued to scroll through the damage reports with his available hand. His attention never left the screen in front of him as the blood continued to flow between his fingers. Autumn took off her shirt and rolled it into a ball. Standing behind his chair, she reached over him and pulled his hand away from his head. Then she held the shirt tightly over the wound while he continued to read through the scans and reports on his screen.

  “No collision at all,” he muttered, partly to himself, “I think it was… it was caused by two stress bends in the GF Ring. Thanks to those bends, we were never riding the perfect warp. Breaking free of that warp could have never ended smoothly.”

  Autumn looked over his shoulder at his viewing panel as she held the shirt tightly to his forehead. Chasen was now operating five separate screens at the same time while he tried to keep control of the braking.

  “Why is it so hard to walk?” Autumn asked.

  “We’ve been living in perfect artificial gravity for all of our lives. Now we are going to experience some G forces coming from the front of the ship for the rest of the trip. I compensated for this with the forward anti-gravity field generators, but it won’t get rid of the sensation completely,” he said, tapping a few more keys, “We shouldn’t even notice after a few days since we’ll get used to it. Kind of like sailors back on Earth. We just need to get our ‘sea legs’.”

  “Are we in the right system? You mentioned that we weren’t riding the perfect warp,” she said.

  “Yeah, we definitely made it to the right spot. We just created quite a bang when we hopped off the wave,” he said.

  Autumn looked around the bridge then back toward the door.

  “Where’s Paige?” Autumn growled, keeping a hold of Chasen’s head.

  “I’m probably not the only one in need of stitches right now, Autumn. There are probably worse injuries than this out there,” he replied, “I just hope Jenny’s alright.”

  “I’m sure she is. She told me that she was going to tie herself to bed for this. She probably enjoyed it,” Autumn said with a laugh.

  “Get ready for another G force disruption,” he said, tapping a few keys, “I’m starting the second stage of braking right…now.”

  The ship shuddered lightly. Autumn suddenly felt her stomach churn as everything tugged inside of her.

  “Oh no,” she said, breathing heavily.

  “It’ll pass. Just please don’t puke on…”

  The contents of her stomach spewed suddenly from her mouth. She tried to turn her head in time, but still ended up soaking Chasen’s shoulder. She retched again, still managing to keep her grip on the Chasen’s wounded forehead. Chasen reached up and held his hand to the shirt-bandage on his forehead.

  “Go ahead. I’ve got it,” he said.

  He could hear her panting behind his chair. She finally let go of the shirt and crawled over to her chair. She unscrewed her bottle of water, quickly filled her mouth and spat it onto the floor.

  “What a sight we are,” she said, trying to laugh, “I’m so sorry, Chasen.”

  “Hey, that’s what I’m here for… to puke on,” he said with a snicker.

  . . . . .

  “What’s going on in here?” Paige asked as she stepped onto the bridge.

  Paige suddenly felt embarrassed as she discovered what appeared to be an intimate moment between Chasen and Autumn. She could see the Captain, wearing what appeared to be a thin t-shirt, seated on the side of Chasen’s chair with her arm wrapped around him.

  “It’s about time, XO,” Autumn said, turning to her.

  “You two looked like you were about to have a little fun,” Paige said, suddenly noticing the puddle of vomit on the floor, “Or were you just finishing up.”

  “Hey, I would have busted my head on purpose if I’d have known I was going to get this kind of attention over it,” Chasen said, standing up for the first time in over an hour.

  He turned and finally realized what a disaster the bridge had become. Paige just looked at him and shook her head.

  “It smells like barf in here. And you need to get some clothes on, Captain,” Paige said with a laugh.

  “Funny,” Autumn blurted sarcastically, “It could have been worse. I almost didn’t wear a t-shirt today. If that were the case, I’d have just let him bleed to death.”

  Paige walked over to Chasen and lifted the makeshift bandage from his head. She examined it then led him back to his chair.

  “I’ve seen worse today. We’ve had two broken bones and four other people in need of stitches. Apparently one of the cooks didn’t take your advice. He was in the middle of preparing the salads for dinner. I really doubt he will get full use of his left hand ever again. I never saw a cut so deep,” she said, shaking her head, “You didn’t have the salad today, did you?”

  “I ate nothing thanks to the stench of puke in here,” Chasen said with a laugh.

  Autumn punched him in the shoulder. Paige opened her medical kit and gently pushed his head back.

  “Lucky for you, I’ve had a lot of practice at this today. If you stay still, I’ll be done in fifteen minutes,” she said.

  Week #714

  Stephen grabbed ten more packets of energy cells from beneath his bed and set them on top of the underwear sticking out of the box. Kyle looked over at him and shook his head.

  “I’m telling you, man, they probably have thousands of those in the dome already,” Kyle said, “Save the space in your box for chocolate. Chocolate is not going to be a necessity on the new planet. I guarantee you that there will be no chocolate down there.”

  “I’m thinking about survival. In ten years, these energy cells will be like gold because we’ll have used th
em all up on our electronic gadgets. I’m going to be the one sitting on that gold mine,” Stephen said, “How many boxes did you pack up?”

  “I’ve got four. It’s hard to believe my whole life fits into four boxes,” Kyle said, “I still don’t understand why we’re all moving into the Landing Dome already. We’re a few months away from Ephraim.”

  Stephen leaned over his box and pushed all the contents down.

  “It’s actually a good idea. If we get all our stuff moved over there and get used to living in it, we’ll be all the more comfortable when we get down to the planet. We’re going to have enough new things down there to contend with, and we don’t want our home to be new also. Besides,” he said, standing up, “This will give us enough time to see if we forgot anything. Once we detach the dome and head for the planet, there will never be any turning back. It could be centuries before we ever develop the technology to return to space again. If we leave something behind, it’s lost forever.”

  “Wow, that’s grim,” Kyle said.

  “It’s called reality. We’re not bringing any rocket ships down there with us. We’re lucky to be bringing all the technology that we’ve got in the dome,” Stephen said, patting him on the shoulder, “At least we’ll have two full-size land skimmers, two motorized watercraft, and a few plastic canoes. And we’re lucky that they stored several hundred repair parts for those vehicles in the dome. We’ve definitely got enough technology in that dome to last us for decades.”

  “But what about communication with Earth?” Kyle asked, “Are we bringing that technology?”

  “We haven’t had any communication for years, so why worry about that now? This ship will remain in orbit around Ephraim acting as a relay satellite for us. We’ll still have the possibility to communicate with Earth if we want to.” Stephen said, “You know what I think? I think that the Earth knew about the plague and they just figure we’re all dead.”

  . . . . .

  “What are you going to show us?” Jenny asked as she skipped down the passageway with Donny in tow.

  “An awesome looking planet,” Chasen replied.

  Chasen led them down the passageway, toward the bridge. The door opened to the bridge where he discovered Autumn and Paige gaping at the large viewing panel on the main wall. Displayed on the panel was a live view of the massive gas planet that they were currently passing.

  Autumn strolled over to Chasen and put her arm around him. Paige smiled at them then returned her attention to the viewing panel.

  “Awesome!” Donny shouted as he rushed in behind Jenny, “That looks like a painting.”

  “Yeah, look at those beautiful orange and red swirls,” Chasen stated, pointing to the viewing panel, “God really took his time when he created everything.”

  “Hey look, that swirl is moving,” Jenny said, pointing toward the bottom of the planet.

  “It’s a massive storm,” Chasen said, “If we were down there, it would be moving really fast. From way up here, it all seems to move in slow motion.”

  “Did you take any pictures?” Donny asked.

  “Hundreds. I’m documenting everything so that we can have some accurate school books on Ephraim. Just think, in a thousand years, we might be only to the point of sending out unmanned probes to these planets. But here we are seeing it with our own eyes,” Chasen said.

  “How slow are we going? It seems like we’re barely moving compared to that planet,” Jenny asked.

  “Believe it or not, we’re still drifting at almost a quarter of the speed of light. People don’t realize sometimes how huge these planets really are. That one right there is about a thousand times the size of Earth. Even our textbooks don’t make it clear enough how awesomely large the spans are between the planets. The diagrams are too small. Even as fast as we’re going, we’re still a long way from the inner-system,” Chasen said.

  “I think our navigator is finally enjoying his job,” Paige stated, patting him on the shoulder.

  “It’s only when you get close enough to these planets and stars that you realize the magnificence of God’s creation. There’s nothing man can make that can even compare. He’s the ultimate artist,” he replied.

  . . . . .

  The dome was much smaller than she envisioned. Although it was built to shelter the whole crew of ten-thousand, it wasn’t designed to house them comfortably. Each berthing was made up of four beds, dressers, a closet, and small table with two chairs. Small bathrooms were situated between two berthings, in order to be shared by the eight passengers. Paige wondered if it was wrong to be grateful that they weren’t trying to share the limited space with ten-thousand people as was originally intended.

  She carried her box to the berthing that was connected to the medical facility. Had there been a whole medical crew aboard, she would be sharing the berthing with nine other people. Now the whole room was hers. She set the box down and looked around the room at all the bunks. She had her choice of any bed. Her train of thought was interrupted suddenly by an arm grasping her violently backward. Before she could react, a piece of cold metal pressed against her neck.

  “Yeah, you feel that? That’s called a filet knife. It’s made for slicing flesh,” the raspy voice growled from behind her, “If you make a peep, it will be your last. All you have to do is listen to me and do what I say. Nod carefully if you understand.”

  She moved her head slightly, fearful of the blade at her neck. The person was holding it too close and she worried he would cut her unintentionally.

  “Now, please don’t feel like I singled you out. The Captain will get hers next. You two have a great scheme going on here and I’m putting an end to it tonight. This dictatorship isn’t fair to the crew and it simply isn’t legal. But you two don’t care about laws, do you?” he growled.

  She finally recognized the voice to be that of Randall. He was apparently still angry about the release of Chasen. The hand that wasn’t holding onto the knife reached around her abdomen and pulled her roughly to him. He then unbuckled her belt and unsnapped her pants.

  “You’re going to let me do what I need to do. You’re going to let me give you something that I think you’ve needed for a long time. After that, we’re going to discuss the future government of this ship and where you’ll fit into that future,” he said, dropping her pants to the floor.

  She began to cry as he slid the knife higher onto her throat. He took her earlobe between his lips as he grabbed a hold of the waistband to her panties. She cried harder, staring at the wall before her. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears as she felt him tug on her underwear. Then she literally heard her heart explode. The wall before her immediately turned a bright crimson, like a can of paint had exploded nearby. Randall dropped the knife and crumpled behind her as she continued to sob.

  “Doc,” Stephen said, “Paige?”

  He walked up behind her and spun her around to face him. She reached out and slapped him hard on the face. Then she punched him over and over again, knocking him to the ground.

  “Doc, it wasn’t me. It was Randall,” he cried, trying to brace her hands.

  She finally realized what she was doing and fell onto his chest, weeping. He held her head to him and lay there in the growing pool of Randall’s blood. Chasen rushed into the room, followed by Kyle and Autumn.

  Week #723

  Stephen lay on his side, staring at the bunks across from him. He turned his bed into a makeshift tent by tying a sheet to the top bunk and hanging it down the side of the bed. He had it pulled to the side now that his roommate was not in the room. He lay there with a pen in his hand and a notebook beside him. He looked down and wrote another sentence as he envisioned his roommate in his head. Some words were never meant to be spoken. But when the unspeakable words chose to come out, he wrote them.

  . . . . .

  “Did you get rid of the guns?” Autumn asked, taking a seat on the chair in Chasen’s berthing.

  “Nearly all of them,” Chasen replied, “I l
eft us with thirty hunting rifles and a million rounds of ammunition. The remaining several hundred weapons have been jettisoned. It’s disgusting to think of how many weapons were on board.”

  “Well, remember they were going to kill all the Christians. There was supposed to be a war,” she said, “But it’s a good thing that Stephen knew about the stash. I swear that guy has peeked into every cubbyhole on this ship.”

  “I just hope that he’s not screwed up over having to kill someone. I really don’t believe that I could have done it,” Chasen said.

  “You wouldn’t have had a choice. He was going to hurt Paige. What would you have done?” she asked.

  “I can’t even think about it. There’s a reason God sent Stephen instead of me.”

  She nodded sadly. Her eyes took in Chasen’s distracted gaze. She got up from the chair then sat down next to Chasen on the bed. He looked over at her, realizing that she was gazing into his eyes.

  “What if it would have been me? I could have been killed without ever getting a chance to kiss you,” she said, easing closer to him.

  He turned to her and brought his lips quickly to hers. His initial urge was to kiss her with all the passion that had been building up inside him over the years. Then feeling the softness of her lips and light touch of her hand on his cheek spoke of a need for patience. He slowed down to savor the kiss while he held her in his arms. He had no intention of letting go anytime in the near future.

  . . . . .

  The bathroom door opened, but no one stepped out. Stephen quickly drew his curtain down to cover his bed. Then he lifted a little corner of it just slightly so he could still see. She stepped out of the bathroom wearing a long bathrobe and thick slippers. He didn’t quite know why he watched her as he did. Perhaps it was because she had been attacked twice and both times, it was he who she ended up relying upon. She was nearly double his age, yet she concerned him like a little sister. He almost felt like it was his duty to look out for her. It was like – almost like he cared.