by G. S. Fields
“Thank you…for Jin, I mean.”
She nodded.
Looking back at the captain, I asked, “So you put together a new list?”
“Yes,” he said. “My executive officer is finishing it up now. I hope you don’t mind, but we started with the list that you had originally submitted to the Council. We found it on your data mat.”
I smiled. “No, I don’t mind at all.”
“We’re still tweaking the list, but I think that your suggestions line up pretty well with our requirements.”
I began to feel more relaxed. I wondered if it was the medicine or hearing all of the good news. But the feeling was short lived.
“Wait! They’ll be coming here. They’ll attack us!”
“Easy, Mr. Atherton,” the captain said. “Who are you talking about?”
“Them…the pirates,” I said. “Shannon said they were going to attack Lohifushi, but when she finds out about the new list she’ll attack here. I know she will. She’s crazy!”
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” the captain said.
“Yes,” Helen chimed in. “That nice man, Pun, took nearly the whole MDF over to Lohifushi. The priates where there and they were not expecting a visit from Pun.”
“And Shannon?” I asked. “Was she there?”
The captain answered, “We don’t think so. Nobody fitting her description was found, but some of the pirates managed to escape back to their mother ship. Luckily, with the information you sent out in those messages, it wasn’t hard for my men to locate them.”
“And?” I asked.
“And…well…my men discovered a new use for the shuttle’s plasma ejection engine. It turns out that if you invert the polarization of the plasma coils it results in a pretty significant backfire. By significant, I mean that my men turned the mother ship into a new reef.
I wondered if Shannon was on board the ship when it was destroyed, but somehow I doubted it. She was a survivor. And the thought that she could still be out there somewhere sent a chill through me.
“Thanks,” I said. “At least those of us staying behind won’t have to worry about the pirates for a long time.”
I looked at William, suddenly worried that he might not be on the list. As if the Captain had read my thoughts, he said, “And don’t worry about William. He’ll be going with us too.”
A mix of emotions swirled inside of me. I was going to miss that kid, but I was so relieved that he would get off this dying rock and have a chance for a better life. I looked at the captain and the doctor. I could tell they were good people. William would be in good hands up there. Suddenly my eyes began to well up with tears and I said, “I’m really glad to hear that.”
“He earned a seat,” the captain said. “I was impressed with William from the moment he tried to give me your friend’s data mat. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.” William smiled and the captain continued. “I had the opportunity to spend some time with him over the past two days, and he told me about how the two of you had figured out how to hack in to a Chinese quantum computer and program it to decrypt the messages. Initiative and innovation like that are the exact qualities we are looking for, so I feel pretty lucky to get him.”
“You mean us ,” William said.
I raised an eyebrow and the captain said, “Yes, of course. It turns out that William is also a pretty tough negotiator. He only agreed to go with us if you came along. He said that you were partners or roommates or something. Anyway, what do you say, Mr. Atherton? Will you join our team?”
As I waited for the lump in my throat to go away, I struggled with what to say. William leaned forward.
For twelve years, I’d waited impatiently for death to free me from this prison so that I could be together with my family again. I closed my eyes and pictured Kelly and the girls. I saw them as they had looked on the day that they said goodbye to me before my trip to India.
They smiled. Their smiles ignited a light within me, a light that burned away the shroud of guilt that had covered my heart for the last twelve years.
“Well?” William asked.
I opened my eyes and looked into his eager face. I wondered what he’d look like as a man. Kelly and the girls would understand if I went with him. William was part of our family now.
“Well,” I finally said, “How far are you guys with the terraforming? Is there any place to fish up there yet?”
Everyone smiled.
“We have several thousand lakes and the beginning of two oceans, but we’re about five years out from fishing,” the captain said, “But I’ll tell you what. I used to be a pretty fair angler myself once upon a time. So when we get back I’ll push the biology team to thaw out some of those frozen fish eggs and see what it would take to stock a lake for us. How’s that sound?”
Helen and Mohamed looked at me. I was going to miss them. It wasn’t going to be easy for them, but they’d manage. They always did.
I looked up at the captain and smiled. “Hmm,” I said. “No fish, huh?”
William started to look worried.
"Well, I suppose that William and I will find something else to keep us busy until then. Count me in.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G.S. Fields is the being heralded as one of the up-and-coming stars in dystopian fiction with his debut novel, Under Vanishing Skies. A masterfully crafted balance of action, drama, and science, he offers his readers a heart stopping tale of humanity at its worst and best in a world on the edge of destruction.
G.S. Fields served in the United States Air Force for over twenty three years before retiring to California. He rose through the enlisted ranks and was eventually commissioned an officer. He graduated from the University of Akron where he studied Computer Science and went on to earn a master’s degree in Information Resource Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology. G.S. Fields lived in Europe for over eleven years and was stationed in numerous other places around the globe including the Middle East.
During his travels, he gathered together a rich arsenal of stories and characters that he expertly weaves together in new, fresh ways. It was on one such trip to the Maldives that the spark for Under Vanishing Skies was ignited in his head by a cold beer under a thatched umbrella on a pristine white stand beach.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Table of Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
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