Project Columbus: Omnibus

by J. C. Rainier

  “The first,” he continued, “is also easy. I gained my work ethic early in my life, from my father and uncle. They taught me the value of discipline and hard work, traits that certainly helped me in my early studies.” The scientist gave a quick laugh. “I should thank them and their lessons for helping me earn my Doctorate so early, and attract the attention of the minds behind Project Columbus.”

  Dr. Kimura’s smile did not last long, as the corners of his mouth turned down and he returned his gaze to his work. “The third, I try not to think of. They are the undoing of the other two.”

  You must be a very strong man to be able to suppress your feelings like that, Doctor. Darius nodded, even though Dr. Kimura could not see him. Minutes of awkward silence passed as Darius alternated between thinking of Dr. Kimura’s situation and attempting to assuage his own physical pain. The silence was only interrupted by the occasional chirp of the terminal processing requests that had been made of it. Darius concluded that he should concentrate on his own work and well being.

  The fact that Colonel Eriksen has us constantly monitoring him is a little absurd, he thought to himself. The man is not going to do anything stupid. He’s not going to hurt anyone. And from what I’ve learned of him today, he is never going to abandon his duty.

  Darius pulled himself from the hallway and navigated his way through the upper gallery to the cold bowels of the ship. He sought out one of the forward cargo pods and exposed the absolute darkness within. With a flick of his fingers on the computer, dim lights flared within, allowing him to rummage through the contents of the crates within. He procured some migraine medication and washed it down with the coffee he had saved from earlier.

  He then made his way slowly toward the rear of the ship. The cold of the lower gallery made him shiver, and he rubbed his muscled arms together for warmth. The medication would take some time to take effect, and he knew that the mainframe terminal screen would only make his headache worse. His thoughts drifted from his work and he found himself thinking of the future.

  There are two decent, hard working men whose lives will be at stake when we reach Demeter, he thought. Lord knows I owe one of them a debt I’m not sure I can ever repay.

  He reached out and touched one of the walls, near frozen from its position far from any active heating system. Darius closed his eyes and let himself be consumed by his vision.

  He found himself in his mother’s hospital room. An IV was stuck in her frail, flabby arm and she wore a breathing mask over her nose and mouth. A monitor beeped nearby as her vital signs marched across its screen like a solemn banner. She coughed, but her body seemed too weak to affect any change in her condition.

  Mama. Her bony, veined hand drew her mask down from her face as she beckoned Darius to come closer. Mama, don’t, he pleaded in silent desperation.

  “D-Darius,” she whispered. He leaned in towards her. “You a good boy, Darius.”

  He could feel tears well within him as he recalled the moment with utter clarity.

  “Mama, it’s okay. I’m here for you. Just please, rest. Doctor said you need rest,” he pleaded.

  Her hand rose up and stroked his face. He could feel her warmth, even in his dream state. “Look at you, all handsome in your uniform. Your daddy would be proud.”

  Darius choked up, “Mama, please, just sleep. I’ll be here for you, but you need to sleep for us, okay?”

  He reached for her mask but she pushed his hand away. “Ain’t no sense fussin about it. I know the cancer is shuttin everything down. I know I’m out of time on Earth and the Lord will be comin for me soon.” Darius tried to hold back tears as his lip pouted. Her hand wrapped around the back of his shaved head. “No, don’t cry. You got your whole life ahead of you, sweet child. And the Lord gonna see what a fine man you are and take care of you, you hear?”

  Darius leaned his head against his arm, his brow resting on the cold steel of Gabriel. In his mind he bit his lip and nodded an acknowledgement to his dying mother.

  “You promise me one thing, Darius?”

  He nodded without hesitation.

  “Never forget what your daddy and granddaddy did for our country. Never forget the men that they were. Always strive to be the man that your daddy was, you hear?”

  “I promise, Mama,” he said, tears streaking down his face.

  She smiled at him one last time, and her eyes closed as she slipped into her final coma.

  I promise, Mama. Now and forever, with God as my witness.

  Darius wiped his tears on the sleeve of his flight suit. He took his bearings and continued his journey aft and up into the gallery. He made his way down the lonely corridor into the propulsion section and finally to the computer core. He strapped into the chair and looked at the blank screen for a minute.

  There are two decent, hard working men whose lives are at stake, he thought. There will be trials. One civilian, one a court martial. I will do what I must.

  Darius turned on the mainframe terminal.

  XCS-02 MAINFRAME LOGIN:

  He entered his username and password.

  XCS-02 LOGIN ACCEPTED. OWENS, LT. DARIUS. MAINFRAME ACCESS ENABLED. ENABLE VOICE INTERFACE?

  Darius entered a negative response.

  COMMAND?

  He entered a command to open the communication system, and then proceeded to the null mailbox he had created. His eyes widened at the number of files contained within. Thousands of communications had been received by the main communication array over the past five years. They varied greatly in size from just a few bytes to almost a gigabyte in size.

  Darius stretched and then cracked his knuckles.

  Time to get to work.

  1st Lt Haruka Kimura

  22 September 2024, 06:45

  Raphael

  Haruka grimaced as Dr. Nelson lifted her left eyelid and shined the light from his ophthalmoscope in her eye. He repeated the procedure on her other eye. After he let go, green dots scattered across her line of vision. She tried to blink them off, but they followed her movement as if to taunt her.

  “Any headaches?” he asked. Haruka shook her head. “Any confusion? Sensation of missed time?” Again she indicated in the negative. “In that case, I don’t believe this to be related to your recent concussion. You probably just have a mild case of hibernation sickness. I do, of course, want you to come see me if any of those things happen, or if you experience severe mood swings.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” she said with a sigh of relief. The spots had mostly vanished and she could see his face again. Dark circles under his eyes made her wonder if his sleep was not restful, or if he was getting any at all.

  The investigation is taking its toll on him, she thought.

  Haruka could still remember the look on his face when he confirmed that the blood found inside the airlock matched Airman Ellsworth. She was glad that Major Emberley ordered the doctor to go into hibernation before the remaining crew recreated the events as they believed they had occurred. As it was, he had turned white as a ghost and looked as if he wanted to pass out when the major explained their belief that Colonel Fox had fought with Ellsworth, locked him in the airlock, and then murdered him by cycling it.

  But why would she have done such a thing? She shook her head and tried not to speculate. Major Emberley will find out. He should be interrogating her again right now.

  “Are you okay, Lieutenant?”

  Her attention returned to Dr. Nelson. “Yes, sorry. Just lost in thought.” She quickly looked around the medical pod. “I must get back to my duties now.”

  “Alright, but remember what I said. If you have any more symptoms, come see me right away.”

  She nodded and made her way out of the pod. She paused for a moment and looked longingly toward the bridge, hoping to see it beyond the wall of darkness. I will be up there soon enough. I just have to help Nova and Marco finish the propulsion checks. She turned and wandered to the rear of Raphael. Haruka knew that the sooner she finished her primary t
ask, the sooner she would be able to join the bridge crew. Still, she could not make herself go any faster. Her dislike of crawling through the bowels of the ship and the sinister glow of the reactor made her almost dread the task at hand.

  As she drifted down the propulsion section hallway, she listened to the din coming from ahead of her. It was not as loud as usual, and the echo was not a chaotic jumble. Marco must have one of the generators offline already. She would have to perform a physical inspection of the reactor. The thought made her shudder.

  Haruka passed through the empty propulsion control room and down into the generator room. Generator one lay silent; its access door was open and a faint light glowed within. She looked around at the otherwise empty room and sighed. As she approached the generator’s casing, she could hear Mancini at work.

  “Marco,” she yelled. There was a clang, and the generator casing thrummed for a moment.

  “Ow! God damn it, Kimura,” Mancini cursed as his head popped out of the casing with his hand clutched to his scalp. “Don’t sneak up on people like that. Not cool.”

  A wry grin crossed her lips. “I’m sorry, should I kiss it and make it feel better?”

  “Ha, ha. Very funny.” He closed one eye and rubbed his head where he had bumped it. His sleeves were streaked with grease, and Haruka saw flashes of light in his hair that made it look like he had managed to transfer some from his hand to his hair. “What do you want?”

  “Have you seen Nova?”

  “Maybe thirty minutes ago. She said she wanted to get a head start on inspecting the thrusters. Why?”

  “Oh, just hoping, I guess.”

  “Yeah, well if you want to get out of inspecting the reactor, you need to wake up earlier. Now you gonna help us or not?”

  Haruka scoffed. “Fine, I’ll look at the stupid reactor.”

  She turned away and glared at the reactor. Nova’s the damned nuke tech, she should be inspecting this thing. Haruka retrieved a Geiger counter and a flashlight and began her inspection with the fuel loading system. Inch by inch she moved down the length of the reactor. She looked for cracks in the shielding and listened to the counter for anomalies in the radiation level.

  Haruka had just completed the inspection when she heard something from a nearby terminal. She moved toward it. “Emberley to Kimura,” she heard as she sidled up to the workstation.

  “Kimura here. Yes, sir?”

  “Where are you, Lieutenant?”

  “Generator room, sir. I’ve completed the reactor casing inspection.”

  “Good,” he said. His even tone was a refreshing change from the Fox’s squawking. “Please report to medical pod one. I need to speak with you.”

  “Right away, sir,” she said and disconnected the com system. She turned for the ladder and nearly knocked over Mancini. “Sorry, Marco.”

  “Whoa, whoa, what’s the rush, Kimura?”

  “Emberley wants to see me. Can you hold down the fort until I arrive?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, sure thing.”

  “Great.” She floated over to the ladder and grabbed it. Haruka paused and turned back. “If you see Nova, make sure she did both sides of the ship, ok?”

  Mancini nodded his head and waved two fingers at her. She climbed up the ladder, glanced at the reactor readouts on a workstation, and then bolted for the medical pod. This is as urgent as I have ever heard the major sound. I wonder what he wants. She passed the dark voids of tunnels leading to pods on both sides as she made her way amidships to her meeting with the major.

  “Ah, good,” said Emberley as Haruka entered the room.

  Dr. Nelson was at his side. He was frowning as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If you don’t mind, I will take my leave, Major.” He did not wait for a response as he hurriedly shot past Haruka and out of the pod.

  “Don’t mind him, Lieutenant. He’s got a lot on his mind, and a new task to complete.” Major Emberley paused and scratched at his chin. “He’s not the only one. How are your team members coming along with the propulsion maintenance?”

  “It looks like we’re a little ahead of schedule, sir. Airman Weyler is already inspecting the thrusters, and Lieutenant Mancini should be done with the first generator by now.”

  “Good. I don’t want to be a burden to them, but it looks like the rest of your team might have to carry a heavier work load. I have need of you.”

  Haruka felt her heart flutter a bit. “What do you need me to do, sir?”

  “Captain Maynard is hunting down an anomaly in the com system. I’m doing a little rotation of crew right now to make sure stations are covered on the bridge, but unless we pull from elsewhere or wake a reserve crew member, we’ll still be one short.” He gave Haruka a warm grin. “So I need you at nav. I’m probably going to have you monitor ops as well while you’re up there.”

  She tried to contain herself, but could not help letting a broad grin escape. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  “I want you to start your calculations to see if Captain Bartrand brought us off course with his maneuvering.” His face one again bore a flat expression. “But there’s more. I got some disturbing information from Colonel Fox when I interrogated her. It is clear that she cannot be restored to command. I have assumed full command of the mission.”

  Haruka nodded. “I understand, sir.”

  “Hopefully you understand as much as I think. I have not had an opportunity to observe you in action for very long, but back in Laramie I saw your files and was impressed with your service record. I also know that your actions helped stop Colonel Fox, who was clearly a danger to the ship.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  He held up one hand. “I’ll admit, you were not my first choice for this. However, my first choice turned down the position. I hope you will accept, given your service thus far.”

  “Accept what, sir?”

  “The position of First Officer.”

  Haruka was struck speechless. Me? First Officer? Her heart began to beat furiously and her fingers tingled. She struggled to find words but still could not.

  “Do you need some time?” he asked.

  “No, sir. I accept,” she blurted.

  “Very well. I am glad to hear it. I’m giving you a field promotion so your rank can accommodate the position.” Emberley extended his long, slender arm. “Congratulations, Captain Kimura.” She reached out and grasped his hand. Emberley’s grip was deceivingly strong, and she felt as if he might crush hers was they shook hands. “Now, please report to your new station, Captain.”

  “Yes, sir,” she grinned and exited the pod.

  Marco’s going to hate me for this, she thought to herself in a moment of selfish delight. But I won’t have to touch that reactor again.

  Calvin McLaughlin

  22 September 2024, 06:58

  Michael

  Cal slowly floated down the silent gallery toward the bridge. A knot grew in his stomach and the hairs on his neck seemed to stand on end. Something was not right, but he could not say what for sure. A metallic groan sounded through the darkness ahead of him as if Michael complained about an ache. He stopped and cocked his head to listen as the sound faded and the echoes died off.

  Get out of here, you idiot. You’re in danger, a voice screamed from the back of his mind. Cal screwed up his courage and continued forth. He heard the ship creak and moan once again, deeper and louder than before. This is wrong, turn back now!

  Too late Cal reacted. Before he could turn he saw a deep gash form in the canopy of the gallery, and the steel hull of Michael tore open. Cal was violently sucked, screaming in futility, through the massive hole made by the explosive decompression.

  He awoke to the sounds of his own screaming, his body twisted and jammed in his sleeper’s harness. Sweat drenched his flight suit. His screams gave way to weak sobs and fits of coughing.

  It was only a dream. Cal exhaled a breath of relief. No, it was a nightmare. But still not real.

  He spent several minutes tak
ing deep breaths and convincing his fragile nerves that he was safe. He reached for the com panel and activated the clock.

  9-22-2024 07:04

  And I’m probably late for duty to top it off.

  Cal opened the hatch and squinted as the light filtered in. His stomach churned, but he took a deep breath and fought back the urge to vomit. With a single heave, he pulled his gangly body from the berth. A sharp pain in his hand reminded him that he needed to be more cautious. Cal winced and again struggled to keep his stomach from turning. He glanced for a moment at the berth containing Alexis.

  It’s not me.

  Cal sought out a meal pouch and consumed it in the hallway. He could not bring himself to take it inside the ESAARC pod today, lest he revisit his failure with Alexis. He reserved a small amount of coffee from his meal and fished his hand into his pocket, where he found a small pack containing two ibuprofen pills that he had stashed. He tore the pack open with his teeth and washed the pills down with the remaining drink, and then set off to find Dr. Taylor to begin his work. He found her at work in her sleeper pod, staring at her usual terminal. She looked at Cal as he moved past her to the other terminal.

  “Good morning, Calvin,” she said in a soft voice. Cal grunted and turned on his workstation, and then pulled up a pair of passenger vitals. “Is something wrong?”

  “Oh no, everything’s just peachy,” he said, his voice laden with sarcasm.

  Cal saw Dr. Taylor out of the corner of his eye as she turned off her console and turned to face him. “Do you need to talk to someone about it? I’m here for you.”

  “Nope.”

  “Are you experiencing any depression? Anger that’s difficult to control?”

  Cal clenched his teeth. “Yes to the first, no to the second.”

  “Please, Calvin, I want to make sure of something. So you need to talk to me about this.”

  He pressed the power button on his terminal in a very deliberate manner with his left hand and then slowly turned to face the doctor. “You want to talk about it, huh?”

  “Yes,” she reached out to brace her arm against a sleeper as she spoke.