Fable Hill

by Christopher Uremovich

  “She’s a Generation Three AI. Her mainframe design is a decade old,” Roland said.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I prefer cougars,” Alexei said.

  “The Gen Fours they made too human-like, too annoying,” Mia said.

  “Sounds like these old AIs know to be seen and not heard, eh Mia?” Alexei said as Mia flipped him the bird.

  “All non-mission-related conversations cease now. Prepare for launch,” Roland ordered.

  A long, slow-building humming noise coalesced throughout the ship, drowning out all other noise. It grew dark on the bridge as magnetohydrodynamic generators redirected the reactor’s fissionable material to the engines, causing the ship to darken from lack of power. Thermoelectric backup generators kept the ship running in a low-power state.

  From the dim red spectrum lighting, Roland’s voice echoed the apprehension of the crew as Frank watched engine power reach one hundred percent.

  “Ten seconds, sir!” Frank could hardly contain his excitement. It had been a long time since he had felt any.

  “Launch,” Roland declared triumphantly.

  Frank disengaged the docking tether safety lock. A burst of chemical thrust pushed the Yamada away from Fussa Station. Once a safe distance was achieved, the all-clear was given by Devin and his team.

  “May our endeavors advance the human race. Into the void we go,” Roland recited like a poet.

  Electromagnetic fields released mass amounts of fissionable waste heat trapped within the containment chamber of the reactor. It passed through dual rocket nozzles with a flash of iridescent, subatomic radiation. The Yamada’s interior roared like a mythical beast, sandwiching the crew into their seats, unable to move or speak from the intense external forces.

  Frank kept a close eye on his G-force counter; it slowly ascended until stabilizing at a steady 6.2. Frank focused on breathing. He was in his element, having regularly withstood 6 gs piloting the F-35.

  “One more minute.” Frank’s voice sounded funny.

  A steady thrum hit the bridge as aluminum strained under acceleration. Frank monitored his maintenance tab; all systems looked normal. That’s odd, he thought to himself.

  “Tapering off,” he said at last as power returned to the bridge. Light dissipated from the engine nozzles, leaving a trail of glittering radioisotopes.

  “Everyone good?” Roland asked.

  “No, Renee passed out, sir,” Mia said.

  Frank floated over to where Renee sat, lightly patting her face until she came back to consciousness.

  “Welcome back, ma’am,” he said with a laugh.

  “What’s wrong? Did I pass out or something?” she asked.

  “Don’t worry, I was about another two seconds from joining you,” Alexei said.

  “I was all stars, man.” Keiko high-fived Mia in celebration.

  “What’s our speed, Frank?” Roland inquired.

  “33,000 kilometers per hour,” he replied.

  “Not bad. We will do an acceleration maneuver once a day,” Roland said. “My plan is to triple that speed.”

  “How many days until Mars?” Keiko asked Frank.

  “Well, if we can get to target speed, plus two weeks for accelerating and decelerating, I’d say about sixty days,” he said.

  “No good!” Roland barked. “The Chinese were estimated at ninety days, and that was over thirty days ago. We will need to increase our schedule to about fifty days.”

  “Phew,” Mia whistled.

  “Think you can do it?” Roland asked Frank.

  “I think I can. Let’s see what this puppy can do.”

  “That’s a lot of blackouts,” Renee said.

  Chapter 11

  It had been eight hours since departing Earth and Frank had just gotten out of his spacesuit for the first time. He smelled of vinegar and body odor.

  The door to his room opened at the push of a button. It was made of thin plastic walls. He analyzed the room’s interior; it was surprisingly spacious with a twin-sized bed, small couch, and table.

  He entered through the doorway. The floor felt flimsy. In fact, everything he touched felt like it would break if he applied too much pressure. It reminded him of his family’s old RV that they took on summer trips when he was a young boy.

  Tossing his belongings onto the bed, he sat down on the firm mattress. The floor, like the rest of the ship, was compartmentalized for more efficient storage. A closet-sized lavatory completed the room with a paper-thin sliding door.

  Inside the bathroom was cramped, with a toilet and a small shower. Frank turned on the water faucet and water trickled out. A thirty second timer appeared on the wall.

  “Oops,” he said aloud, shutting off the faucet.

  Sarai’s voice came over the room’s intercom. “Stand by for a message from the captain,” she said twice.

  “Everyone get changed and settled in. Don’t use any of the facilities until we can get a schedule made. Meeting in the dayroom in ten,” Roland said.

  Frank walked back over to the bed. A small viewport the size of a dinner plate hung above. He glanced through the reinforced glass at never-ending darkness and gave out a long sigh. Sitting down on the bed, he removed his titanium legs one by one, propping them against the bed. He threw himself back and closed his eyes, falling into a deep slumber.

  Frank awoke to the sound of metal clanking together. Keiko sat on the bed, handling his titanium legs with curiosity.

  “Don’t touch those, they’re my only set,” he said to her with a groggy voice.

  “Not anymore,” she said, pointing to his titanium legs still propped against the bed. “My father had these made for you,” she said, setting the brand new prosthetics on the floor.

  Frank stared at them for a while and didn’t say anything. He was feeling drained and shut his eyes again.

  “Roland sent me to backbrief you on the meeting,” she said.

  Frank opened his eyes and sat upright on the bed. He leaned up against the wall and let out another sigh. “Tell Roland I'm sorry I missed the meeting, I—” Frank was cut off by Keiko.

  “Nobody cared,” she said.

  Looking down at his watch, Frank noticed he had slept for eight hours.

  “Roland called a vote and we discussed daily schedules.” Keiko handed Frank a laminated sheet of paper. Listed were detailed instructions on everything from fitness regimens, chow hours, and hygiene requirements.

  “One, thirty second shower a week?” Frank critiqued. “You’re going to smell terrible.” Frank smiled at Keiko.

  “Me?!” she said in surprise. “What about you? I could smell your room from the bridge,” she shot back.

  “Yeah, you’re right, I'm the stinky kid,” he said.

  “Oh, Alexei smells far worse than you do, and I have to room next to him.”

  “Where is everyone?” Frank asked.

  “Sleeping . . . it’s like two in the morning right now,” she said.

  “But my watch says—” Again, she cut him off mid-sentence.

  “We're on Zulu time now, while in space. Did you sleep through that meeting too?”

  “Probably,” Frank replied.

  Feeling tired, Keiko said her goodnights to Frank and departed his room. Wide awake as ever, Frank decided to explore the ship.

  The two adjacent habitats were quiet and dimly lit. Frank loitered in different rooms to get a feel for his new surroundings. He ended up in the kitchen for a late night snack.

  Electronic dispensary machines dotted the kitchen’s faux granite countertops. Grabbing a cup, he filled it to the brim with nutritious mash. To his surprise, it tasted great. He grabbed a cup of grape juice and meandered around the hab some more, closely inspecting each area.

  A distant grunt followed by the thud of an object striking the ground caught Frank’s attention. He swung back around to investigate the noise. It led him to the fitness room. Inside, Mia blared music through her headphones and threw weights around the room.

&nbs
p; Frank sipped his grape juice and watched as Mia continued her workout routine. She exhibited a distinct grace to her movements, and had perfect form. The intensity of the workout impressed Frank; he could sense the dedication.

  Mia jumped from one box to the other, rotating from left to right legs. Her knees were wrapped in sports bandages, as well as her wrists.

  She hopped down from the box and spoke to Frank with her headphones and music still on. “Are you going to just stand there and stare, or lift?” she snapped.

  Frank smiled at her cheekily, prompting Mia to throw a medicine ball in his direction. Frank caught the ball with relative ease and slid it rolling back to her.

  “You would've made a good Marine,” he said.

  Mia removed her headphones, “What?” she demanded.

  “I said, do you need a workout partner?” Frank asked.

  “That’s not what you said.” Mia picked up her things, scattered along the gym floor, and brushed past Frank, disappearing into the dark habitat.

  “Well that went well,” Frank whispered to himself.

  Frank made his way to the bridge, floating through the main corridor of the ship. He buckled himself into the pilot’s chair and secured his harness tightly.

  “Sarai, turn on main aft camera.” Frank entered his access pin.

  With a flicker, Earth appeared on the viewscreen. Frank was surprised to see the Moon transiting the Earth, obscuring it from view as it now appeared the larger of the two bodies. Breathing a long sigh of boredom, Frank returned to his quarters and forced himself to sleep. He wondered in his heart whether this had been the right decision, going to Mars.

  •••

  Alarms blared throughout the ship, piercing the darkness and turning all lighting systems blood red. “All crew to your stations, real world,” Sarai howled.

  Frank awoke once again out of another bad dream. The alarms reminded him of attack sirens in Iran. His first instinct was to roll off the bed and hide underneath, but shelves blocked his access.

  Keiko ran inside Frank's room and pulled him from his sleeping bag, legs not attached.

  “Jeezuz, Frank, your legs,” she said, startled by the realization he was still disabled.

  “Leave them! It will take too long!” he shouted as Keiko dragged his stunted body across grated floors. Roland and Alexei came to assist, fireman carrying Frank until weightlessness took over.

  The others waited, huddled in a corner on the bridge. Roland grabbed an emergency lead liner and draped it over the huddled crew.

  “Radiation?” Frank asked.

  Roland hushed everyone from speaking so he could hear Sarai’s commands. The ship’s AI counted down until gamma radiation would strike the vessel.

  Renee began prodding Frank’s leg stumps. She turned on a tiny medical flashlight for her examination. Alexei watched with great amusement.

  “Renee, everything is going to be alright, you know,” Alexei said.

  “I’m not freaking out, Boris.”

  “We all know you start examining people when you’re nervous,” he laughed.

  “Shut up.” Roland swatted Alexei's thigh.

  Silence gripped the crew as Sarai counted down from ten. Mia reached out from under the blanket and grabbed a handheld Geiger counter, used for detecting ionizing radiation. Immediately, the gadget went haywire.

  “What’s the reading, Mia?” Roland asked.

  “250 millisieverts!” she exclaimed.

  “Damn,” Frank said.

  “It’s fine, we're fine. You have to remember that it’s short term exposure,” Roland reassured.

  “The world’s most advanced radiation shield and we’re huddled together in fear,” Frank attempted to lighten the mood.

  The crew pondered his words but said nothing. Alexei opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Sarai.

  “All clear, all clear.”

  •••

  Roland addressed the crew in the conference room adjacent to the living quarters. He waited for all to take their seats before starting.

  “After last night’s event, it is confirmed: we have left Earth’s magnetosphere. We still have some protection, however.” The holographic projector showed a scaled-down Earth with different layers of its magnetosphere.

  “Here's the plasmasphere, highlighted in red. Here we are, entering the bow shock of the southern tail.” Roland pointed. “It shows us the incredible speed we are traveling at right now. In only fifty-six hours, we have left our planet’s protection bubble,” he said to applause. “So expect more of this space weather as we keep pushing forward.”

  Sarai, represented now by a solid white light on the wall, turned a flashing blue as she spoke. “Currently, we are 57 hours into our 1,300 hour voyage, traveling at a speed of 100,800 kilometers per hour. We have traveled approximately 3.7 million kilometers of 220 million kilometers,” she said to more applause.

  “And we did it while almost getting killed twice!” Renee added.

  “Three times, Renee. Three,” Alexei corrected.

  Renee gave Alexei a questioning look as she cocked her head sideways.

  “Missiles on Earth, missiles in orbit, and radiation,” he said.

  “Alright, alright, we get it, let Sarai continue.”

  “It is quite alright, captain. I am nearly finished.” Sarai ended the meeting with video messages sent from family, friends, and fans of the crew.

  Frank left the room as he had no correspondence with his family, instead choosing to spend the day going over flight controls on the bridge. The crew carried on without him, enjoying coffee and conversation, taking turns sending video files.

  Mia watched as Frank exited the room and for the first time felt fleeting compassion for the old man. She fought the urge to follow him, however, remembering a promise she had made to her husband—to carry on without distractions.

  Chapter 12

  It was getting late as Sarai switched to Yamada’s low-power state. Alexei had spent the better part of the day reprogramming system errors encountered by Sarai from the last two weeks.

  He rubbed his eyes and splashed water onto his face, trying to keep from nodding off. Despite their clocks and Sarai’s pre-programmed light fluctuations, the crew struggled to keep consistent sleep schedules.

  Mia entered the engine room, carefully navigating the plethora of sharp objects and exposed wiring. The engine room was a striking contrast with the rest of the ship, as if unfinished. She found Alexei asleep above his work station. He resembled a drowning victim.

  She grabbed his arm and dragged him out, only to hit his head on a steel support beam just outside the engine room door. “Ouch!” Alexei muttered.

  Inside Habitation Module Alpha, Renee was finishing up a late night snack. Nagoya was careful in their dietary program, making sure the crew had ample supplies of nutritious meals. Not all of it, though, was solid.

  “More slop on the menu tonight, Renee?” Frank moseyed in from his room.

  “You know, three-fourths of our supply is that Nutri-Rich,” Renee pointed out.

  “Yup. Personally, I like it. Better than the stuff I ate in the service,” Frank replied.

  “You’re not constipated from it?” Renee asked.

  “You just have to drink more water.”

  Roland entered from Bravo module with fork in hand. Seeing that it was Nutri-Rich, he put his fork away and grabbed a spoon in defeat.

  “Hey, captain, it could be worse,” Frank said.

  “It could always be worse,” Roland laughed.

  Sarai’s blue light lit up the habitat’s control screen, displaying a message alert. Roland strolled to the main panel and opened it.

  “Get everyone to the conference room,” he said sternly.

  Bright light flashed through the tiny glass viewing port inside the low-lit conference room, catching the attention of the others. Roland could understand their concern. After all, they were confined to an aluminum and plastic box, hurtling thro
ugh space now at 150,000 kilometers per hour.

  “It’s ok. There was a hull breach by some very fast-moving particles,” Roland said. “Sarai is using the robotic arm to patch the hole. We didn’t lose any cabin pressure.”

  A sigh of relief came over the crew inside the stagnant conference room. Some got up to leave the meeting but Roland stopped them at the door. “Wait, that isn’t all,” he said. Keiko rubbed her eyes incessantly; she had slept for quite a while.

  Roland brought up a holographic display and hit the playback. An unfamiliar face graced the screen, a woman adorned in a Nagoya polo shirt.

  “Hello, Yamada crew. My name is Dr. Alyssa Warner and I am temporarily filling in for Dr. Hyuk. As you know, since leaving Earth over one month ago things here have drastically improved. The Chinese and Russian governments have come to the table for peace negotiations and an armistice has been signed. We have been working closely with our brothers and sisters across the South China Sea in repairing damages done to our companies and nations. The Japanese people, all the people of Earth’s governments and societies root for you and pray for you daily.

  “Our trackers here on Earth have the Yamada ahead of all schedules and pre-flight predictions. We are in daily contact with Captain Chartier, and are working around the clock to make sure problems are resolved in a timely manner.

  “Embedded with this message you will find video logs of your family members as well as encrypted personal correspondence. We look forward to your successful landing on the surface of Mars.” Dr. Warner finished the remainder of her message just in time, as interference rendered the connection unstable.

  •••

  The following morning the bridge was populated again, as the astronauts took their seats and strapped in. Frank analyzed the data on his computer. They were officially over the halfway mark at 126 million kilometers from Earth.

  “You ready to drop our payload, Frank?” Roland asked.

  “Yes, sir. Initiating drop sequence of relay network.” Frank’s fingers danced along his keyboard. The relay network was a collection of satellites that acted as optical amplifiers, expanding the power of lasers beamed from Earth. These beam-expanders kept the flow of information consistent and combated interference levels.