Project Columbus: Omnibus

by J. C. Rainier

  Is she Fox’s pawn?

  Nova continued counting tools, this time a strip of assorted sockets. Silence descended upon the control room for a moment. Nova stopped and looked up, “Did I say something wrong, ma’am?”

  If she is, Haruka thought, let’s see if I can get some information out of her first.

  She turned back to the screen and pretended to work. “What have you heard about my father, Weyler?”

  “Not much. I over heard Lieutenant Singh talking to a couple other bridge crew, and he said something about how he’s under arrest.” The blonde stopped counting tools and looked at the doorway. “Then I swear Singh said the oddest thing.”

  “Oh? What’s that?”

  “That the CO of Gabriel is still letting your father work until they reach the planet.”

  Haruka stopped her false typing, and began to process that. “Doesn’t sound too odd to me. Dad helped design the sleeper units, there’s nobody on these ships that knows what effect they have on the passengers better than he does.”

  “Well, all the same. Sounds like there’s going to be a few trials when we get there. I just hope we chose the right judges,” Nova said as she placed the last of the tools back within the box.

  “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

  Nova looked up, and Haruka could see her right eye and the corner of her mouth twitch for a moment as she replied, “By what, Lieutenant?”

  She knows something.

  “We chose the right judges, Airman. What do you mean by that?”

  Nova once more looked at the doorway and her eyes widened, “I… I misspoke, Lieutenant.”

  “No you didn’t, that was a deliberate choice of words. You say that like there was some sort of fix-up in the selection process of the passengers. Not only that, but you say it like you had direct involvement.”

  “Involvement in what?” asked a familiar voice. Haruka turned toward the doorway and saw a ghost pale Marco Mancini floating within, one arm holding his stomach.

  Nova was now visibly upset. Haruka could see her eyes were watering, and her mouth was twisted in an attempt to hold back her emotions.

  I’ve got her now. Fox never should have sent this girl to try to deal with me.

  Choking up, Nova blurted, “Please, Lieutenant Kimura. I don’t want to get in trouble. Colonel Fox won’t care how well I…”

  “I don’t care what Fox sent you here to do,” she interrupted. “Now tell me what you meant.”

  Mancini tried to step in. “Kimura, stop it. Leave her be and let’s…”

  “Stuff it, Marco,” she snapped. “She knows something. It’s written all over her face and in what she says. Fox sent her to spy on us, probably trying to find an excuse to stuff us in our sleepers for the whole trip and court martial us.”

  The two lieutenants stared at Airman Weyler, who was now sobbing. She looked pitifully back at Haruka as tears floated away from her cheeks.

  “No. Please, Lieutenant…”

  “ANSWER ME!”

  Nova let out a frustrated scream and began to cry louder than before. Haruka crossed her arms victoriously and let out a slight grin. Marco entered the control room and closed the heavy metal hatch behind him.

  “Jesus, Kimura. They can probably hear us all the way on the bridge,” he said.

  Haruka glanced at her terminal briefly, verifying that the com system was turned off.

  “They’re a kilometer away, Marco. She can cry and scream all she wants, Fox will never hear her.” Haruka turned back to Nova and repeated, “Answer me.”

  Nova just continued to sob, stopping only to blow her nose on a cleaning rag she produced from her flight suit. Haruka tapped her foot impatiently on the deck plating as she waited for an answer.

  “Haruka, what on Earth do you hope to get out of her?” Mancini pressed.

  She ignored him, “C’mon, Weyler. What is Fox really going to do to you, huh? Now answer me.”

  Nova screamed once more, this time Haruka heard the anguish within it.

  “She will have me court martialed, Lieutenant! Don’t you get it? I don’t work for Colonel Fox.”

  Haruka’s heart sank. Wait, if I’m wrong about Fox, then… Oh, shit!

  “You want your answer, Lieutenant Kimura?” she screamed. “You want to know how I know that the judges were selected?”

  Now I’m not so sure that I want to know.

  “Yes, Airman.”

  “Do you know who Major Dan Forrest is, ma’am?” she asked, her voice broken by her sobs.

  She paused a moment to recall, “He’s an engineer. He was assigned to Michael, correct?”

  “He was SUPPOSED to be assigned to Raphael, but two days before we started the passenger launch, Colonel Fox pushed through a reassignment. She put him on Michael, and brought Captain Maynard over to Raphael.” Nova took in a deep breath, calmed herself a bit, and stared back at Haruka.

  “It was from him that I found out about the alterations that were made to the final approved passenger algorithm. It was from him that I found out that, specifically, judges were manually chosen. And it is because of that, and because of what has happened, that I hope that the selections were fair and just men. Not just for you and your father, Lieutenant, but for Dan as well.”

  Oh, you silly girl, what have you gotten yourself into?

  “Wait, so that means that Fox screwed you, right?” asked Mancini bluntly.

  “Marco!” Haruka said, horrified.

  Nova sniffed and wiped her eyes. “No, he’s right. She separated Dan and I. We were supposed to be together, that was the plan. Now I won’t see him again until we reach the planet, and even then…”

  She began to sob once more.

  “Even then what?” prodded Marco.

  “Marco, shut up,” Haruka shot back.

  “What? What did I say?”

  Haruka gave an exasperated sigh, “Because when we get to the planet, she’s got at least two problems. First, we’re going to arrive before the other two ships, so she will have to wait around for the major to land.”

  “That’s not so bad. What’s the second problem?”

  “They’re going to court martial him as soon as they land.”

  Upon hearing those words, Nova Weyler once again broke out into a fit of crying. Haruka blinked long and frowned. Damn it, she didn’t need to hear that from me.

  Marco intruded once more, “Yeah, I know. They’re going to court martial Shipp and Reid too. But why the water works?”

  “Because I’m in love with him, you ass,” wailed Nova.

  Mancini’s jaw dropped, and he began to stammer, “I-I, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

  Haruka unbuckled from her seat, retrieved the tool box from Nova, and shoved it roughly into Mancini’s arms.

  “Go make yourself useful, Marco.”

  “But…”

  “Go.”

  He sighed, and then made his way to the hatch leading down to the generators. He opened it, took one forlorn glance back, and made his way with the toolbox down into the black below.

  There was silence for a minute after Marco’s departure. Haruka watched Nova as she sobbed, wiped her eyes repeatedly, and finally calmed down. She could tell that Nova was still distraught, her eyes watery and bloodshot and her cheeks flushed.

  “I’m sorry about Marco. He’s a good guy, but sometimes he just doesn’t get it.”

  Nova sniffled and managed a weak smile, “At least you know how to handle him, ma’am.”

  This poor girl. I’ve made a terrible mistake today. Haruka started to move her arm towards Nova, but hesitated, unsure of herself. She smiled, and then placed her hand on Nova’s hand. The young blonde looked up at Haruka.

  “I’m really sorry that I jumped on you like that. I thought that maybe Colonel Fox sent you to spy on Mancini and I. After all, she stripped us of our positions simply because she thought that I was involved in whatever my dad is accused of.”

  “I know sh
e did. I thought of all people that you might understand me. I need a friend out here, someone to talk to, and I thought that maybe you’d be the one,” Nova said, her voice still cracking. She pounded her free fist on her thigh, “I’m so stupid. I never…”

  “Hey, hey, hey. Don’t beat yourself up. We’ve both probably made mistakes today, but that’s ok. How we handle them now is what’s important.”

  Tears began to well up again, and Nova’s voice squeaked, “But now you know about me and Dan, and that I know about the algorithm. Oh God, Lieutenant, don’t tell her. I don’t want to be court martialed!”

  Haruka squeezed her hand harder. Her voice softened even more, “Hey, Nova. Your name is Nova, right?”

  Nova bit her lip and nodded quickly.

  “Hang in there, Nova. Wait until we get to the planet, then we can see about getting my dad and Dan cleared up of this mess, ok?”

  And Brandon, too.

  Nova smiled and wiped her eyes one more time. Drawing in a deep breath, she said, “Thank you, Lieutenant, you’re right.”

  Haruka returned the smile, “Please, we both know Fox isn’t going to come back here for any reason. No need to salute me, Nova. Call me Haruka.”

  “H-Haruka. Thanks. Does this mean…”

  “You’ve got the friend you’re looking for.”

  “Now isn’t that just a touching moment,” Marco Mancini’s voice rang impishly in her ears. The two looked over and saw him, grinning wide, half of his body visible in the hatch to the generators.

  “Marco, you dork, how long have you been there?” she grabbed Nova’s cleaning rag and tossed it at him.

  “Long enough to hear you two serenade each other,” he laughed. “Now let’s get to work, these generators aren’t going to clean themselves. And I ain’t gonna to do it all while you polish each others’ nails, ladies.”

  The two women laughed, and followed Mancini down into the darkness.

  1st Lt Darius Owens

  22 September 2019, 08:28

  Gabriel

  A light flickered on the computer screen and the com system came to life.

  “Quinn to Lieutenant Owens.”

  Darius tapped a button on his headset. “Owens here, go ahead Captain.”

  “Mr. Owens, I need to report to the propulsion section. Are you available to monitor Doctor Kimura?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll switch my terminal to monitor him.” He turned off the com system and then brought up a split screen view. In the smaller corner window he brought up the link to Dr. Kimura’s work. After he watched several pages of data pass, he turned his attention back to the broken com software.

  He skimmed two pages of good code before coming upon a third that had significant damage. Chunks of programming had been replaced in the system by various symbols and almost unrecognizable characters.

  I don’t think the com system runs well on emoticons and accented vowels, he mused.

  Darius removed the entire middle third of the page and recreated what he believed went there. A pass through with the debugger told him he was wrong, and he edited his work one line at a time until he got a positive result. He glanced at the inset window and noticed that the doctor had not advanced his work in around fifteen minutes.

  Again?

  He sighed as he unbuckled from his bridge station. As he maneuvered towards the bridge exit, he felt the eyes of Colonel Eriksen lock on him.

  “I’m going to see what the doctor needs, Colonel.”

  He received a curt nod from his commander before proceeding off the bridge and towards Dr. Kimura in pod four.

  I understand he’s got problems right now, but if he plans on working through the whole trip, he’s got to stop doing this.

  Darius reached the inner hallway where Kimura was set up to work. He spoke in a voice barely more than a whisper, “Doctor Kimura, you’re daydreaming again.”

  Dr. Kimura shook his head and focused on the computer screen before him. He rubbed his hands over his face as he took a deep breath, “Sorry, Darius. I’ll get back to work.”

  “What do you keep thinking about, anyway?”

  “Sometimes about my family. I still worry about Saika, but there is nothing more I can do for her. I miss Haruka and Sarah, and again there is nothing I can do…” his voice trailed off.

  Darius waited for the doctor to continue, but he didn’t. “But?”

  There was a great sigh. “But I keep thinking of Project Columbus, of Dr. Benedict. Every time I find one of the few empty sleeper berths, I think of his sacrifice. I think of everything that he has done for the passengers of these ships. Worse, the consequences if he failed.”

  A sudden chill ran down Darius’s spine. This sounds even worse than the dirty bomb.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Kimura stared blankly at Darius. “How many personnel from the military are on board these ships?”

  “Forty each on Gabriel and Michael. Raphael has only thirty nine; they reported a casualty back on Earth.”

  “And do you have a count on the Marines that made it on board?”

  There was an uneasy silence for a moment. Darius knew the answer was unpleasant, but he couldn’t deny the doctor’s request.

  “Seven.”

  “Seven,” echoed Kimura.

  “Out of one hundred twenty four.”

  The rest were either killed by the Chinese or by the bomb, no doubt.

  “You know this war will end civilization as we know it. In the time we were in biostasis, it probably already has,” Kimura continued in a dead tone.

  “I had a feeling after the first three cities were leveled by nuclear weapons.”

  The other fifteen were just humanity’s painful reminder of that fact.

  “Tokyo, Seoul, and Pyongyang weren’t even the tipping factor for Dr. Benedict. Washington and Beijing were. There was no going back after that, there was no way we could let Project Columbus live after those cities were burned to ash.”

  Darius could feel his heart beat through his chest.

  “What do you mean, couldn’t let it live?”

  A frown crept across the aging man’s face.

  “We could not allow for the possibility that another sleeper ship could be built, especially not by an enemy. If so much as one sleeper ship were to follow us, carrying soldiers…”

  They would easily conquer the colony. The very thought made Darius cringe. Dr. Kimura nodded slowly.

  “Now you understand why Dr. Benedict stayed behind; to destroy all plans and records for Project Columbus. David had always struggled with the thought of being labeled a traitor, but in the end he said this would be his ultimate act of patriotism.”

  “And you’re not so sure?”

  Kimura shrugged. “It was for him. Martyrdom will probably go far in redeeming his image when history writes this chapter. I gain some personal justification from the fact that the government betrayed us all first, but I do not deny that I will be labeled as a traitor.”

  Darius sized up the doctor. He seemed to have aged in those five years, even though they had all been in stasis and should have effectively aged only a few days or so.

  “You are no doubt under a lot of stress, Doctor. Should I revive Miss Reid?”

  “Heavens no, Darius. If you wake her up, she will find out about her brother’s arrest. She had no knowledge of what was going on, and it would be an undue strain on her to revive her early, force her to work, and give her knowledge of the depth of trouble that Brandon is in.”

  Darius furrowed his brow slightly. “But you yourself are dealing with the same issue.”

  “I’ve been preparing for the possibility of my own arrest, or the arrest and punishment of those around me for years, Darius. Yes, I have some stress to deal with, but I knew it would be there.”

  Darius shifted his weight against a sleeper berth as Dr. Kimura continued to cycle his screen through sets of passengers. Darius could see the doctor’s face bore a flat expression and his ey
es seemed listless.

  His heart isn’t in it anymore. I don’t know how much longer he thinks he can take this.

  “Darius, do you have a copy of the passenger manifest matrix?”

  “Of course, Doctor, why?”

  “May I look at it? I need to find a passenger.”

  Darius shook his head solemnly, “Sorry, Doctor Kimura. Your access has been restricted to the passenger vitals routine and com system only. Colonel’s orders.”

  “I understand. In that case, can you please ask Colonel Eriksen to come speak with me, as I am also restricted from the bridge?”

  Darius raised his eyebrows, “You don’t want me to ask him for access for you?”

  Kimura turned and looked directly into his eyes. “This is not a slight against you. I have the utmost respect for you, my friend. However, I feel it is best if I speak my request directly to the colonel. He said that my cooperation will be a mitigating factor at my upcoming trial. In that spirit, it is best that I make any special requests directly to him.”

  Darius considered the point for a moment and then nodded.

  I hope he listens to you, Doctor.

  “My gratitude, Lieutenant.”

  Darius pushed himself off of the sleeper berth, and then pulled his great frame through the hatch and out of the sleeper pod. His mind raced with terrible scenarios of Dr. Benedict failing to destroy the design records.

  Images of lush greenery and rolling hills flooded his senses, and he could almost taste crisp spring air. The taste soon became bitter as he saw plumes of dark smoke rising in the distance beyond, the telltale sign of destruction.

  Focus, Darius. Do your work.

  He moved in silence towards the bridge, trying to stay one step ahead of the nightmare image.

  Calvin McLaughlin

  22 September 2019, 09:16

  Michael

  Calvin stared in wonder at the endless field of stars beyond the massive glass canopy. Thousands of tiny points of light twinkled and pulsed in a cosmic symphony. This was one performance that was beautiful despite lacking sound. The gravity of the sight was not lost on him, either.