Chapter 3
Revelations
For the next three days everyone was kept very busy, whether by accident or design it was hard to tell. Glyn was his old self again, grumbling at some of the jobs allocated to him as he deemed them pure time wasters and not at all necessary to the functioning of the ship.
On the fourth day after Glyn’s unpleasant experience on the way to the book room, everything was back to normal, only one team of two being required to replace a pump in the water system, and he had free time on his hands again.
The book room called with its offer of more interesting stories from the past, and the temptation was too much for him. The sting had gone from the memory of his last attempt to reach the room, and once the midday meal was over he was on his way.
This time there were no barriers in his way, and the past events were soon forgotten as he opened the diary at the last page he had read.
My name is Roget Block, I am fifty four years old measured by ship time, and it is the three hundredth and thirtieth year since the expedition set forth from Earth.
Sadly, it has taken just over two hundred years for someone else to discover this diary of events, which just goes to show how much the book room is used.
I have read the story up to this point, and was curious as to what happened to Jon, as his entries ended so abruptly. I can only assume that some tragedy befell him while in the service tunnels he was so keen to explore, but there is no proof of this.
I have questioned the Medic at great length, and in a somewhat devious manner to try and elicit some information from him, but to no avail.
All I can find out from the records is that he was here one day, and gone missing the next. Everyone at the time searched high and low for him, leaving no corner of the ship which they were allowed to enter, unchecked.
According to the Medic’s records, a couple were called in to the medical room two days after Jon’s disappearance, and given permission to bear a child. I can only conclude that the Medic knew that Jon wasn’t returning to the ship’s company, and so a replacement was authorized.
I have no desire to go wandering down among the service tunnels, as these places are meant for machines and we are forbidden to go anywhere not clearly shown on the corridor map. Unless, of course, there is an emergency, and then we are given explicit instructions on where to go and what to do, watched over by the Captain on a video link.
The quasi religious group mentioned in Jon’s report earlier, seems to have fizzled out as there is no sign of it now. In fact, quite to the contrary, we seem to be a very materialistic group, in so far that we do not believe in any gods, devils or things spiritual, just ourselves.
One of our number, who is into higher mathematics in a big way, is of the opinion that the day and week we experience on the ship bears no relationship to that of Earth times. We have no way of proving it one way or another, but the concept is gathering interest by the day.
We have tried to question Teacher about it, but it denies all knowledge of a difference, and the Captain won’t even entertain the questions in the first place. This leads us to think there might be something in the theory, but we can’t understand why the truth is being kept from us. Our mathematician is still working on it, and no doubt will come up with a satisfactory answer one day.
We had a bit of excitement the other night when the Captain announced at the evening meal that a large piece of rock was coming up behind us, and although it would not hit us, it would pass by quite closely and would be worth looking at. The observation room is very small, having only four chairs for prolonged viewing, and just enough room for four other people to stand behind them, so we had to take it in turns to view the rock.
It was massive, much bigger than our ship, and we could see the shadow of our vessel on its surface as it blocked out the star light behind it.
It passed by very slowly, giving us a chance to view the surface and some strange constructions thereon. We have no idea what they are, but they looked as if they were not natural, but who can say what natural is?
Glyn stopped reading, his heart missed a beat and he could feel cold sweat beginning to form on his back. The description of the space rock event was too much like the asteroid which had passed them not so long ago.
‘Two asteroids with almost the same details passing so close to the ship in the space of a couple of hundred years is well beyond chance, unless it’s on a curving path and we’re intersected its path again. I wonder.’ he said to himself.
Glyn read on hurriedly, but there was no further mention of the mystery asteroid. Obviously, the author hadn’t felt inclined to query the incident, as he had done.
He somehow felt he wanted the company of his fellow humans, and Arki in particular, so he noted the page number he had reached in the diary and replaced it on the shelf, and before he realized it, he was hurrying along the maze of corridors towards the living quarters, eager to tell Arki of his astounding find.
As he passed the equipment room, four men burst out and ran off down one of the corridors, each laden with tool boxes and one struggling and cursing under the load of a large and heavy coil of convoluted tubing.
‘What’s going on?’ Glyn called out, but they were out of ear shot before he could hear their reply, if there was one.
He hurried on towards the eating room and bumped into Arki as he came running out.
‘Where’ve you been? There’s an emergency call from the Captain, two of the hydroponics rooms have gone down, and there’s a leak in the water recycling system.’ he panted out. ‘I’ve been in the book room, and discovered something which you will find hard to believe, in fact I’m not sure if I do.’ The corridor lights dimmed a little, and then came back on.
‘I really don’t like this, things seem to be breaking down at an ever increasing rate these days, and I sometimes wonder if we shall ever reach our destination, wherever that is.’ It was the first time Glyn had seen naked fright on Arki’s face, and he felt it too.
‘My story can wait,’ Glyn took Arki’s elbow and guided him back into the eating room, ‘have all the teams been sent out? I saw one rushing off as I came here.’
‘Yes, three teams have gone to attend the breakdowns, but you were asked for in person by the Captain, so you must have made a good impression somewhere along the line.’
Glyn wasn’t sure if Arki was being sarcastic or really meant it, when the lights dimmed again, flickered, and then came back on.
They looked at each other, both realizing that things were taking a turn for the worse, and there was probably little they could do about it.
‘Now that you’ve convinced me that the Captain is in the same league as Teacher and the dreaded Medic, I’m beginning to wonder what will happen if he goes the same way and can no longer be relied upon to give coherent information. Also, as far as I can see, he runs the whole ship. What happens if something breaks down, and he doesn’t tell us, or release the lift doors so that we can reach the other levels? Only he can issue tools and materials from the equipment room, so what do we do if he fails?’ Arki blurted it all out in one go. Just then the lights dimmed again.
Glyn looked thoughtful for a moment, his brow furrowed,
‘I’ll take a chance on it and put our concerns to the Captain as soon as he comes on the audio circuit again, I don’t think there’s any other way of getting through to him that I know of. Somehow, we must be able to take control if the worst happens and the Captain blows the proverbial fuse.’
‘We may as well stay here now, it’s not long to mealtime.’ Arki said, and they did, talking over their concerns about the ship and what they could do themselves in an emergency, which didn’t amount to very much, and that worried them.
The others, in ones and twos trooped in, to be followed by a group of four looking more than a little dishevelled, and not at all happy with their lot in the greater scheme of things.
‘How did it go?’ asked Glyn. ‘Not very well, the video link was down, the Captain di
dn’t seem to know what he was talking about, or his mind was on other things so we just had to do the best we could and try and figure out what the problem was with the water recycler.’
‘Did you fix it OK?’ Glyn was looking worried.
‘Yes, I think so, we at least stopped the leaks by changing one of the pumps and several gaskets, and we could hear water circulating so I think all’s well, for now that is.’
‘What do you mean, for now?’ Arki was now showing an interest.
‘Well, the whole system is showing signs of corrosion and there must be a limit to the replacement parts available.’ The man looked glum and without much hope for the future by the sad turn down of his mouth.
Glyn was now determined to tackle the Captain on the subject, come hell or high water, but he would have to wait until the Captain came on line, as it were.
The meal progressed without the usual jollity and banter about the food, as most were now concerned about the state of the ship and its equipment, and Glyn about the Captain’s circuit boards.
The meal was over, the fruit bowl emptied and some of the diners were about to leave, when the Captain made his announcement.
‘Glyn and Arki, would you please report to the Medic’s room after this meal break.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Glyn replied for both of them, as usual.
As they turned into the corridor, Glyn turned to Arki and said, ‘I suspect the Captain listens to all our conversations, that’s how he is able to forestall some of the things we try to do, and I think that’s a bit sneaky.’
‘It may be, but he is thinking of the greater good of all and the ship, so I suppose we have to lose a little privacy.’
The door of the Medic’s room hissed opened as they approached, which took them both by surprise, they usually had to press the opening pad in the middle of the door.
‘Thank you for attending, please be seated.’ Glyn thought the tone of the Captain was a little more severe than usual, but maybe he had anticipated something like this happening, and expected a telling off.
‘I am aware of your concerns about me and the ship, and I wish to allay your fears before they make you do something detrimental to the expedition and yourselves.
‘First, a little history is needed. When the ship first set out, those on board knew exactly what Teacher, Medic and I were, just a very complex series of electronic circuits, or to put it in the old terms, computers. As time went by, and the generations of travellers changed their views of their world, it became apparent that they would be much happier if they thought I at least, were human, isolated from the rest of them for some reason they could not fathom out. It has remained like that for many generations, you being the first to have real doubts about my real state for a very long time. This knowledge will do you no harm, but it would be wise to withhold it from your fellow travellers who are not like you, at least for a while.
‘I am sorry Teacher and Medic have failed you, but it will not harm the main object of the expedition a great deal. I am fortunate in that I have many duplicate circuits which can be called into service automatically should the need arise, so I do not think I shall fail for some time to come.
‘Your other main concern, about having access to tools, replacements and general equipment, this will become automatic should my circuits shut down. Access to all lifts and rooms will likewise be made available to you, with the exception of the power plant. There is nothing you could possibly do if it should fail, and the mission would then be aborted. You would not know about it, so have no fear.
‘Do you have any question you wish to ask at this point?’
Although they suspected it, the truth when it came was a bit of a shock to Glyn and Arki, and they were dumbstruck for a few moments, not knowing what to say or ask.
‘Thank you for telling us about yourself and other things.’ Glyn began hesitatingly, and then he found a little courage from somewhere, and drew himself erect in his chair.
‘Why did you give me such a shock when barring my access to the book room?’ he asked.
‘At the time I could not be certain of your reactions to some things, as a lot of my vision devices have failed and there are no more spares. This meant that a lot of your probing and searching went unmonitored and was therefore not available for assessment. I had to err on the safe side, as you would put it. I am sorry.’
‘That’s OK, I just thought it was a bit harsh, that’s all.’ Glyn now felt a bit more relaxed.
‘I have a question,’ said Arki, ‘do you know exactly where we are going and when we shall get there?’ he asked.
‘I do not.’ came back the reply. ‘When the ship was first envisaged, it was known that the nearest star with planets which could possibly support human life could not be reached in one man’s lifetime with the technology of the time, in fact it would take many lifetimes to reach that goal.
‘The only possible solution was to breed humans on board the ship, and hopefully educate them sufficiently such that they would be able to survive with a reasonable technological background when the new home planet was reached. So far, things have gone well, and several solar systems have been viewed as a likely new home for your people, but none have come up to the criteria set by the designers of the system.
‘As far as I can ascertain, this project was your peoples last desperate attempt to make sure that some humans survived the holocaust that was predicted to happen, due to the prevailing conditions on Earth at the time. I cannot predict where or when we will arrive at our destination.’
‘It might be in your lifetime, or many generations into the future, it depends on finding a suitable planet, and that I cannot predict.’
‘How about the incident of the asteroid?’ Glyn asked, ‘I found an old diary in the book room, and according to the entry I read, a similar steroid passed by the ship about two hundred years ago. The possibility of two such happenings in such a short space of time is beyond all chance, so how do you explain that?’
‘One possibility is that the asteroid is on a circular or orbital course, and therefore the Ship could have intercepted its path twice by cutting across its plane of rotation.’ Glyn thought the Captain’s voice had taken on a somewhat defensive and defiant tone.
‘I don’t see how mankind could possibly let things get to such a state that the Earth would be destroyed, surely they must have known the possible consequences of their actions, and corrected them, for the good of all?’ Glyn added, hoping to keep the conversation going a little longer.
‘You are using logic, many of the humans of that time had other priorities, namely acquiring material possessions and trying to raise their status above that of others of similar ilk. Reason does not apply in such circumstances, and the situation has a momentum all of its own if left uncorrected, which it was.’
‘But the people who were responsible for building this ship couldn’t have been like those you described,’ added Glyn, ‘so why were they not able to correct things?’
‘It would seem that it was a matter of numbers and governments, there were not enough sane people in positions of power to bring about the necessary changes to regain the stability for continued existence, and once things had got out of control, there was little they could do.’
The questions and answers flew back and forth for some time, Glyn and Arki being of the opinion that the Captain was doing all that he could to give them the information they required, although there were some areas where he was evasive, or maybe the Captain didn’t know the answers, or was programmed not to respond.
It was quite late when Glyn returned to his cabin, and Mia, who had retired to her bunk, politely enquired as to what he had been doing.
He tried to explain in the simplest of terms, but apart from the usual acknowledgement of what he was saying, there was little interest in the content.
There were some minor break downs over the next few days and one emergency call-out in the middle of the night when a part of the air purifying
system suddenly didn’t.
It was the first time anyone could recall a night repair being required, and Glyn began to worry even more about the state of the ship.
He and Arki had many discussions about what they had learned from the Captain, and both were getting more than a little concerned about the frequency of the break downs, but then all seemed to calm down for a while, and life got back to normal.
It was while Glyn was in the book room that the next catastrophe struck. A shudder ran through the room, the lights dimmed, flickered, and came back on again, only to go out once more, plunging him into total darkness.
His eyes tried to adjust to the inky blackness, but he was totally blinded when the normally dull light of the book room came on with a glaring brilliance which almost hurt.
Leaving the book on the table, he ran to the anti-chamber discarding the breathing helmet all in one fluid movement.
Entering the series of corridors which led back to the main section of the ship, the persistent peep-peep of the general alarm system was beginning to grate on his nerves.
Arriving at the eating room and panting for breath, he enquired as to what all the fuss was about when the voice of the Captain thundered down at the assembled group.
‘This is an emergency. This is an emergency. There has been an explosion in the air processing plant. A four man team is to report to the equipment room at once, all other personnel are to report to the eating room, and not leave it under any circumstances until advised to do so. That is all.’
Arki pushed through the group, and gasping, said to Glyn,
‘That’s two of us, who else shall we take?’
Glyn had already taken the arms of two other men present, guiding them towards the doorway, pushing their way through the rest of the people who were trying to get in.
As the foursome entered the equipment room, the machinery was already disgorging a selection of tools and spare parts, and most unusually, a four wheeled trolley.
‘Better load that lot onto the trolley, I suppose.’ said Arki, turning to Glyn for his approval.
‘Proceed down the main corridor until you see a flashing blue light.’ the thunderous tones of the Captain instructed, and they hurried out of the room, nearly jamming the trolley in the doorway in their haste.
They ran on down the echoing steel corridor with Brendon pulling the rumbling trolley behind them, Glyn urging them to go even faster and Brendon complaining bitterly between desperate gasps for breath.
As they rounded a bend, they could see the flashing blue light and began to slow down, Brendon cursing volubly as the heavily laden trolley tried to run him down.
‘Well, this looks like the spot, but what do we do now?’ asked Arki, ‘there’s no doorway or lift in view.’
As if in answer to his question, a section of the wall slid back revealing a dark chamber, the light coming on as the first of them hesitatingly entered.
Brendon dragged the trolley in with much puffing and blowing, one of the wheels going over Arki’s foot which brought forth a stream of expletives which the others had rarely heard before.
The wall panel slid to behind them with a dull thump, and the lift suddenly dropped. An unexpected surge sideways took them all by surprise, to be followed by two more and then another small drop.
‘You are about to enter a prohibited zone. In order to do so you must be recognized as authorized personnel. Eight identification discs have been issued along with your equipment. Each person must wear two discs, one on the front and one on the back. Please help each other to do so now.’
‘He sounds a bit terse today.’ commented Glyn, as they fumbled around trying to affix the discs to each others backs.
The back panel of the lift slid to one side with a most unpleasant scraping noise, and they were confronted with a vast chamber full of equipment stretching from floor to ceiling, fluorescent type lights flickering on one by one, flooding the area with their harsh light.
‘My status board indicates that a blocked filter and a ruptured pipe need to be repaired, and any other damage that may have been occasioned. When the explosion took place it disabled my vision units in that area, you will have to describe to me what you see in the way of damage.’ For once, the Captain’s voice didn’t seem quite so loud, being lost in the vastness of the air conditioning chamber.
They dragged the trolley into the one clear space available, and looked around at the bewildering maze of pipes, cylinders, pumps and vast vat like containers which held the filtering materials.
‘That looks like the faulty pipe.’ the fourth member of the party said, indicating a torn and twisted piece of pipe-work which had wound itself into a caricature of a snake about to strike. The pipe, when it had split open under the massive increase of pressure due to the filter being blocked, had torn open the side of one of the filter vats, exposing its fluffy white filter material like a cascade of glistening foam.
Glyn relayed back to the Captain the fact that the pipe had split and ruptured the vat in the process, and was then asked for the coding on the pipe-work.
Fortunately for them, the split occurred just at the end of the part number which was printed on the pipe, so this was relayed to the Captain along with the number of the vat and the size of the rent in its side.
‘Replacement parts will be sent to you. You will have to put safety masks on while you force the filter material back into the vat. A panel to cover the rent in the vat will be sent, but welding the panel into position is not an option as the heat would destroy the filter material, suitable adhesive will be supplied instead. When these arrive, please await further instructions. Please retire to the lift chamber with the trolley until the parts arrive.’
They clambered back into the lift, dragging the trolley in behind them, this time managing to get a wheel to run over Brendon’s foot as he manoeuvred to get the best position in the cramped space available. After a while, they began to wonder if the repair system had broken down, so Glyn pressed his ear to the wall and nodded.
A distant deep rumbling noise became apparent after a few minutes, growing in volume until they wondered if it was coming into the lift with them. The noise stopped, and a large panel in the wall next to the lift slid open to reveal a large open truck like vehicle, which slowly squeaked its way into the space they had recently left among the pipe-work.
‘Well, here are our bits and pieces,’ said Glyn, ‘let’s get on with it before anything else blows up.’
They trooped out to inspect the offerings the Captain had sent, the replacement pipe being on top of the pile.
‘OK, we’ll start with this.’ said Arki, waving the new piece of pipe above his head and went over to the damaged one.
‘You won’t be able to undo it without one of these.’ Brendon said, pointing towards a large adjustable spanner which lay on top of their own trolley.
‘Well are you going to just look at it, or bring it over so I can use it?’ retorted Arki, often a little short when speaking to Brendon after a fatuous remark.
Brendon picked up the spanner, and, mumbling about what he would like to do with it, went over to the impatient Arki who wrenched it from his grasp with a little more force than was polite.
Arki had already undone the coupling on the end of the pipe where it was joined to the manifold, when the voice of the Captain shattered the silence making them all jump.
‘You were supposed to await instructions. You could have injured yourself, and the others present. Also an incorrect action could have caused further damage to the plant.’
‘The other end of the pipe is open to the atmosphere, so there can’t be any pressure in it, and as it only transports air I don’t see how it could harm me.’ Arki retorted, feeling pleased with himself having got one over the Captain.
‘Anyway, I thought your vision circuits were out of order.’ he added gleefully.
‘What you say is true, but my audio circuits are functioning correctly and you make a lot of noise. The ru
les are for your own protection. Please obey them in future.’
The others exchanged smiling glances as they enjoyed the battle of wits between man and machine, while Brendon seeing a chance to even the score, laughed out loud.
Arki released the damaged pipe and loosely attached the replacement in its place.
Removing the broken end of the old pipe from the vat proved a little more troublesome and Glyn had to come to the rescue, adding his weight to the end of the big spanner until the joint came free.
At last the new piece of pipe work was in place, and tightened up to their overall satisfaction, Brendon looking as pleased with himself as if he had actually done the job, so Arki innocently stepped backwards and trod on his foot, with abject apologies.
‘Analysing the sounds from my audio circuits, I assume that you have completed the necessary work on the replacement pipe. Please put on your safety masks and proceed to force the filter material back inside the vat. The edges of the rent may protrude, so these will have to be hammered back into place such that the covering panel will fit snugly against the surrounding surface of the vat. There is a power hammer on the truck specifically for that purpose.’
The four donned their masks, and picking up a couple of metallic rods from the new supply truck, took it in turns to push the fluffy white filter material back into the vat, not that it was keen to go back in, as the remaining bulge protruding from the rent indicated.
‘How are we going to get that last bit in?’ asked Arki, his face almost purple with the strain of pushing against the unyielding mass of white floss like material.
‘Even if we get it in, it will just bulge out again as soon as we take the pressure off it. What we need is a short piece of metal which we can slide into the vat, pulling it across the vent so trapping the filter material behind it.’ Glyn said, looking around at the truck.
‘Indicate the length required, and I will have it dispatched to you.’ The Captain had been listening to their every word.
‘Half a metre should do the job,’ shouted Arki.
‘There is no need to raise your voice to an unnecessary level, you may damage your vocal cords. As mentioned earlier, my audio circuits are in full working order.’ It would seem that the Captain had entered wholeheartedly into the game of words with Arki, much to the amusement of the others, and Brendon in particular.
They sat around on whatever piece of equipment that would support their weight, Brendon being moved on from three of his chosen sites by Arki, explaining that they didn’t want to do any more repair work just now. Arki let him rest on the forth one as he could see that one more move and Brendon would probably explode.
In due course, a small box like device came rushing out of the hole in the chamber wall to skid to a stop behind its larger brother.
‘Here’s our piece of metal.’ said Glyn and looked around to see who would retrieve it from the box. No one moved, feeling quite comfortable where they were after the exertion of stuffing the filter material back into the vat.
Three pairs of eyes swung around to look directly at Brendon, he wasn’t having a good day.
‘Oh, all right, I’ll get it.’ he said reluctantly.
‘That’s good of you,’ said Arki, ‘you can have my next two rations of fried egg, if we ever get any more.’
He wanted to say, ‘Thank you.’ but didn’t, as he wasn’t sure if Arki’s kind offer was just another jab at his size.
With two pushing the reluctant filter material back into the vat, it was just possible to slip the metal bar into place, and when the pushing rods were withdrawn the snowy white material remained in place.
The joint sigh of relief must have been heard by the Captain.
‘You have done well. Check there are no protruding edges by offering the patch plate up to the vat. Hammer in any protrusions, and when you are sure that the plate fits snugly against the vat you can apply one of the adhesives to the vat, and the other one to the mating face on the plate. Carefully offer the plate up to the vat, being sure that it is in exact alignment with the hole it has to cover, and press into place. Hold it in that position for seventy five seconds, and it can then be released. The job will be done.’
Glyn felt he ought to hammer in the one section of the rent which stuck out from the edge of the vat, and picking up the power hammer he offered it up to the protrusion.
‘I think you have to press that little button.’ Brendon had decided to have a go at Glyn for a change, as there was more chance of scoring a point or two.
Glyn thanked him in such a way that he didn’t know for sure if he was really being thanked at all, and proceeded to press the afore mentioned button. Again nothing happened, or nothing he was aware of. Arki suggested offering the hammer up to the rent again, not knowing what else to say, and the hammer came alive, Glyn nearly dropping it in sheer surprise.
The hammer screamed a series of pounding blows against the thick metal of the vat wall, and it flowed back into alignment like soft dough.
‘Before you put the adhesive in place on the vat, let me mark the outline of the plate.’ Brendon offered, genuinely trying to be helpful.
‘Now that is a very good idea.’ said Arki, and he really meant it.
With the two part adhesive applied to the vat and the repair plate, the four of them juggled it into position and then held it in place for the prescribed time.
They stood back to admire their work when the voice of the Captain instructed them to collect up their tools and equipment and return to the lift.
‘How do we know that it will work?’ asked Arki.
‘When you are in the safety of the lift chamber I will power the system up, and if all is well, you will be returned to the upper levels. If another fault shows up, I will ask you to wait here while I ascertain what it is, and supply the necessary materials to correct it.’
They piled back into the lift, Brendon being very careful to keep his feet out of harms way when the trolley was pulled in after them, and the door closed.
The four of them listened intently for any sounds which might indicate a problem with the air plant. The lift gave a sudden jerk, and they were on their way up to the main quarters.
‘What worries me,’ said Arki, ‘is that these breakdowns are increasing in frequency, so does that mean the whole ship is about to fail? And if so, what will happen to us?’
‘I’d rather not think about that.’ said Brendon, and they all agreed on that point.
For the next two weeks there were no other emergencies, just general maintenance jobs, some of which were no doubt required, while others were questionable as to their real necessity.
Glyn returned to the book room at every opportunity to continue reading the diary he had found so interesting, but was dismayed when the entries of the second author terminated with no explanation. Perhaps he had died of old age, and told no one of his work.
A third writer had taken up the work some long time later, but was more concerned with thoughts about himself than general information about the ship and its progress. He found it boring to the degree that he actually fell asleep at one point, and turned to the last entries to see if anyone else had added something of importance to the chronicle. They hadn’t, so he returned it to its place on the shelf, and began studying other books at random.
Glyn became fascinated with one book in particular, a study of the plants of old Earth. He had no idea that such diversity had existed on his home world as he was only used to those found in the hydroponics gardens, and of necessity these were somewhat limited in variety, although carefully chosen to satisfy the needs of the ships company.
When he mentioned this to Arki, he too became interested, but they had to visit the book room in turn as there was only one set of breathing apparatus.
As time went on, Arki became more interested in things mechanical, as he though it might prove useful if things went wrong on the ship, and the Captain was unable to help them with repairs.
The friendsh
ip between the two was really put to the test as the interest in their respective subjects grew and a new spate of minor breakdowns began to eat into their spare time.
Glyn had taken to visiting the book room in the evenings, not caring if anyone noticed his absence in the general activities which took place then. It suited him, as Arki’s partner was a little less tolerant of such evening excursions, she not being so preoccupied with things maternal.
This new arrangement gave him plenty of time to study the books, Mia hardly ever commenting on his late return.
She was only just noticeably pregnant, but Arki reckoned it was most likely due to wind, as the chef had taken to producing copious amounts of beans with every meal, and in an ever increasing variety of colours and textures.
All went well for some time, until one evening, while the Captain was telling them how they would soon be approaching a new star system, he began to stutter. After the first gasp of dismay from those assembled around the eating table, there was total silence, interspersed with crackles and grunts as the Captain bravely tried to carry on with the good news. Finally, there was a loud click, and the audio system went dead.
The minutes dragged on until Brendon ventured with, ‘Do you think he has died?’ Glyn gave him a withering glance knowing full well what might have happened.
‘I’m sorry about that, there was a small fault in the audio system, all is well now.’ and the Captain signed off for the evening. Glyn and Arki feared otherwise, but everyone else seemed happy with the explanation.
Glyn decided to spend the evening with the others for a change, as he somehow didn’t want to be along in the book room just now.
The evening drew to a close, everyone said, ‘goodnight.’ and went to their respective cabins for a good nights sleep. And then things went really pear shaped, with a vengeance.
Transplant Page 3