The Eden Project (Books One & Two)

by DP Fitzsimons

  “Zeke,” Tuna said. When Zeke did not respond, Tuna turned back to his commander. “Hey, Zeke. I think you will want to see this.”

  Zeke glanced at Tuna slightly annoyed before his eyes fell back to his movie. He reluctantly hit pause on the scrollpad, stood up and walked to Tuna. “It better be good.”

  “I think it’s time for you to stop watching those space movies and start to have your own adventures.”

  Zeke leaned in to examine Tuna’s screens. “What do you mean?”

  “We have a target. I can calibrate a path,” Tuna said. “I think we can go nuclear for eighty days to test the ship.”

  “Where would that put us?” Zeke asked.

  “In a place a lot like where we are now. The middle of nowhere, but we will have traveled the speed of light for the first time in human history.”

  “When do we upgrade that to the sail-grade push?”

  “Well,” Tuna said, “next time out we can go five times the speed of light for a hundred days.”

  “Max potential?”

  “Fifty times the speed of light.”

  “Cool,” Zeke said as he paced behind Tuna deep in thought. “When do we get this started?”

  “I have our target. We can hit the juice in less than twelve hours.”

  Zeke punched the side of Tuna’s shoulder gently to celebrate. “Get to work. We could be cruising past Alpha Centauri later this year.”

  Zeke picked up his scrollpad on his way out of flight deck.

  * * *

  LEXI CAREFULLY WIPED DOWN a cryo chamber when she noticed Trinh standing quietly on the other end of the room over the chamber containing her intended, Jax.

  “Must be weird for you,” Lexi said loudly as she walked down the row of chambers on her way to Trinh.

  “Weird how?” Trinh inquired.

  “The two of you being so close together and not insulting each other. That’s a first.”

  Trinh grinned as she stared devotedly down at Jax frozen within the glass. “It’s kind of our thing.”

  “At least you have a thing.” Lexi stepped in front of Trinh to wipe down the glass of the chamber so she could see Jax better.

  Trinh stepped back to let Lexi work. “Be patient, Lexi, you’ll be paired with Tuna in the end. I know it.”

  Lexi turned back to Trinh. “Be real, Trinh, there’s a three year age difference. Zeke would never pair us.”

  “Yes, but you guys are so in sync with each other and Tuna is, forgive me, out of sync with the rest of the world.” Trinh took Lexi’s hand in hers to assure her. “And you may be three years younger, but you are the oldest unmated girl.”

  “I don’t want to count on the Commander making me Tuna’s intended until it’s official, you know?” Lexi’s shy smile melted away her usually tough exterior.

  Lexi let go of Trinh’s hand quickly and regained her formal expression as Zeke walked into the cryo deck. He froze in his tracks when he saw the two girls together and staring at him.

  “Welcome, Commander,” Lexi said. “Is there anything you need?”

  Zeke glanced at Gen’s chamber and then back to the girls. “Lexi, you don’t have to call me Commander all the time.”

  “Yes, Commander, I mean, Sir,” Lexi searched for the right words.

  “It’s Zeke when we are outside an official meeting.”

  Lexi nodded. “Of course.”

  He glanced at Gen’s chamber again. He could not help himself. “I came by to check on, uh, everything.”

  “Everything is A-okay,” Lexi offered.

  Zeke stepped toward the door, defeated. “That’s good. Very good.”

  Noticing Zeke becoming uncomfortable and ready to go, Trinh grabbed Lexi by the hand. “We were just going actually,” Trinh said. “Weren’t we, Lexi?”

  It finally dawned on Lexi that Zeke was there for a private moment with Gen. “Of course. Yes. We were going. Absolutely.”

  Trinh pulled Lexi out the door.

  Zeke exhaled and moved closer to Gen’s chamber. Lexi suddenly reappeared, wiped down Gen’s glass and darted back out the door with Zeke watching her go.

  Gen slept peacefully. Beautiful in a pale, preserved way like a porcelain doll, Zeke thought. Something he had never seen but in movies.

  His hand reached out nervously to the glass above her face. “When you wake we will have traveled faster than light.” He turned back to make sure he was alone in cryo deck. “Maybe then I will tell you I wrote those letters, not him.”

  Zeke tried to imagine her lips as they were the night before she went into stasis, but they seemed so pristine and lifeless as she lay beneath glass. He started to wonder if it ever even happened. His dreams had become so vivid since they left Earth.

  Her one response to his anonymous letters was real enough. He had read it a hundred times. Close your eyes and you can travel a trillion miles. Close your eyes and my kiss will find you.

  When Zeke closed his eyes, the sirens began to wail.

  -8-

  Tuna clicked the celestial map up onto the flight screen just as Zeke entered followed by Lexi and Trinh. Their eyes immediately became fixed on a red pulsing dot on the left edge of the star grid.

  Zeke stepped to his Commander’s chair, hit a few buttons and turned off the deafening emergency siren. The girls walked up to the flight screen both curious and concerned about the pulsing red dot.

  “There’s something out there,” Zeke almost whispered walking slowly to Tuna unable to takes his eyes off the red dot.

  Tuna turned a dial slowly so that a grinding, high-pitched sound could be heard. Listening closely, Zeke perceived a repeating pattern.

  “It’s a distress signal,” Zeke said.

  Lexi and Trinh turned to Zeke stunned.

  Tuna stood up and put his finger in front of his lips. He wanted everyone to stay quiet and listen to the eerie sound of the high-pitched code. “It’s almost barbaric in its simplicity.” He could not help but smile.

  “Tuna, I honestly don’t understand this,” Zeke said. “There can’t be anything out here. Nothing has ever been out here.”

  “It could be the ES3,” Lexi suggested hopefully.

  Zeke considered Lexi’s words and turned to Tuna. “How far out is it?”

  Tuna glanced down to his small data screen. “Let’s call it ninety thousand miles. It’s almost certainly not ES3. They’d be 7.3 billion miles off course. That means they would have had to use their nuclear propulsion and now be suddenly rendered without power.”

  “Can they see us?” Zeke asked.

  “Probably not,” Tuna said, sitting back down. “The signal they are sending is so unsophisticated it makes me think their ship is not operational. It’s the space equivalent of a flare gun being fired above the ocean. They’re shipwrecked.”

  “You’re saying it’s a ship and that there are living people on it?” Trinh asked joining Lexi behind Tuna to study his screens.

  “People or maybe something else?” Zeke wanted clarification.

  Tuna glanced at each of his friends. “It’s some form of ship. That’s certain. And yes, humans sent that signal. It’s a standard nine element SOS sent by very low gigahertz radio waves.”

  “So we go to their aid, right?” Trinh said.

  “That’s not our mission.” Zeke walked to the screen to take a closer look at the pulsing red dot. “They’re probably dead anyway. The code is on a permanent loop, right?”

  “That’s correct, Commander,” Tuna confirmed. “It’s very low tech. Likely a final, desperate act. It could have been sent months in the past, even years.”

  “So what’s the harm?” Trinh persisted. “They’re low tech, probably dead and our mounted weaponry could blow them out of the sky if they so much as looked at us cross-eyed.”

  “She’s right,” Lexi added. “And isn’t it international and moral law that you must respond to a distress signal?”

  Zeke laughed. “International law? What nations are you referri
ng to? There are no more nations. No Earth for that matter.”

  “Morality then?” Lexi said.

  “The mission is beyond morality. We don’t save people. We save species. One species. Our species.” Zeke paced behind them and exhaled. “And it’s not right in front of us. It’s ninety thousand miles away.”

  “Actually, to the ES1 that’s right in front of us,” Tuna clarified. “A quick, six minute sightseeing trip.”

  “Come on, Commander, aren’t you the least bit curious?” Lexi said. “I’m sorry. I mean, Zeke. I have to remember that.”

  “Maybe Commander is better after all,” Zeke said, smiling through his frustration. “All right, but with guns readied. It is getting boring out here.”

  Lexi and Trinh celebrated. Tuna turned back to his screens. Zeke sat down in his flight seat ready to change course.

  * * *

  THEY MOVED SLOWLY TOWARD the derelict ship. When they moved within 35,000 miles, Tuna determined the distressed ship’s engines must be off. The ship emitted almost no heat.

  “It’s just out there floating,” Ethan, the shift engineer, said. He had joined the others on flight deck as he had the most complete knowledge of ship design and, therefore, national affiliation.

  “What appears to be floating in space is actually free falling,” Tuna pointed out.

  Ethan shook his head. “Wow. Thanks, Professor. You remember your intro to astrophysics. How non-impressive of you.”

  “If either of you want dinner tonight,” Zeke scolded, “you’ll stop that schoolyard bullshit right now.”

  Lexi gasped at the language Zeke used. She had never heard that type of language even though the older boys had used it often in secret.

  Tuna and Ethan had been bitter rivals since Tuna finished second to Ethan in the annual science project competition some years earlier. Whenever they could, they took shots at each other’s science.

  The ES1 crept slowly up to the derelict ship nearly twice its size. Although it appeared abandoned, Tuna was able to determine that dozens of life forms were moving about onboard.

  “I have not seen this design, but it is definitely an Earth craft,” Ethan said moving closer to the flight screen. “Reminds me of some of the Russian designs from twenty years ago.”

  “Why does it not call us?” Zeke wondered. “I don’t like this. Feels like a trap. Tuna, defense shield up.”

  “Been up, Commander,” Tuna said. “Their defenses are down.”

  Zeke slowed the ES1 to a stop. “Guns ready?”

  “And hot,” Tuna said.

  “What are you doing?” Lexi asked.

  Zeke glared at her. “You do not question your Commander’s orders, you follow them. Please leave flight deck. That’s an order.”

  Lexi stood shocked at Zeke’s severe tone with her. Trinh helped her move toward the door. At the door, Trinh stopped. She let Lexi leave by herself. Trinh was not going to miss this.

  “Commander,” Tuna said. “They’ve brought up a small pocket of power.”

  “Fire on my ready,” Zeke said leaning forward in his seat.

  Ethan and Trinh staggered to the side to watch.

  “What are they doing?” Zeke said to himself so all could hear.

  “Wait,” Tuna said. “The distress signal is off.” Tuna moved his fingers quickly across his console’s touch pad. “Commander, they are calling. Hold.” He hit a few more keys and split the flight screen.

  On the left panel of the flight screen the derelict ship sat lifeless. On the right panel, an image emerged. A young man, maybe eighteen, wearing a red and black uniform.

  Zeke sat back in his seat to stare at the sight of another human out here in no man’s land. An alien might have been less of a shock. His crew had similar speechless reactions.

  “We are Hero Journey 1. We are European Coalition ship. We need help,” the young man on the screen said with no emotion whatsoever.

  Tuna and Zeke glanced at each other unsure what to do or say.

  “I am Commander Firstborn of the Eden Sphere 1. What is your condition?” Zeke finally said.

  The foreign man turned away as if he did not hear the question and nodded to someone off screen. “We have a gross electrical issue on ship. We cannot fly. Requesting to transfer crew to your ship.”

  “And who is it I am now speaking with?” Zeke asked.

  Again, the man hesitated. “Pavel. My name is Pavel. I am ship’s engineer.”

  Zeke and Ethan exchanged a confused moment.

  “Where is your commanding officer?” Zeke asked losing his patience quickly.

  “He is sick,” Pavel said glancing to his side again. “Our water supply is not good. We have been with no power six months. We are unable to recycle our water. Our crops are dying. Our water almost gone.”

  Zeke could not answer. He made meaningful eye contact with Tuna. “Pavel, my friend. Give us a few moments to discuss your situation.”

  Pavel nodded and opened his hand to give approval. “Of course.”

  Zeke pointed to Tuna who cut the feed.

  The four officers of the ES1 sat or stood quietly for the better part of a minute. Trinh walked closer to Tuna. Ethan followed. Zeke stood up and joined them.

  “Even if we do something to help,” Zeke began, “we cannot save them. They can never board this ship.”

  “But we can send them water,” Trinh said, “right?”

  “Maybe we could help them fix their ship,” Ethan suggested. “I’d guess their solar panels failed to keep out radiation, but that’s a stab in the dark.”

  Zeke rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. He noticed that Tuna never turned around and held his hands over his console. “Tuna, what do you think? What should we do?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not fit to lead, remember?”

  “Tuna, please,” Zeke said.

  “Well, what I want to do is open our arms and have them bring over their cases of vodka and sing Russian war songs all night.”

  “Really?” Zeke questioned.

  “I said that’s what I would want to do.” Tuna finally turned back to crane his neck up to meet Zeke’s eyes. “What we need to do, Commander, is blow them out of the sky while we still can. I stand ready to do so.”

  “Tuna!” Trinh shrieked. “How can you be so bloodthirsty?”

  “I’ve located their engines,” Tuna continued. “We need to disable them at the very least.”

  “He’s heartless, Commander. We’re better than that,” Trinh said then turned away from Tuna trying to control her contempt.

  “No, he’s right to be cautious,” Zeke concluded. “This is not about their ship or our ship, it’s about hundreds of future generations of our kind. We must guard them first and foremost.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Trinh said. “We answer their distress signal and come over here just to blow them up?”

  “We’re not going to blow them up. We’ll send them water right away and any other food supplies we can spare. Ethan can talk with Pavel later and see if there is any aid we can supply in their attempts to repair. Then we will leave and their fate will never be known to us.”

  Trinh seemed pleased. Tuna, like Pavel, remained emotionless and standing ready at his console.

  “Tuna,” Zeke commanded, “get Pavel back on the screen.”

  -9-

  The day Elijah was born became a new beginning. Baby Eli’s magical eyes and sweet smile were like sunshine in the darkness of space. He was not born of the Earth. He began a new generation born among the stars.

  Earth would be to him a mythic place of legendary wars and beasts he could never lay his eyes upon. His home would be the ship or, if luck was on their side, a new planet where everything exotic would become normal to him.

  “He’s a fighter,” Adam said, looking up from his scrollpad in the officer’s lounge.

  With Eli there, the officer’s lounge was a warm and happy scene of domestic bliss. Sylvia laid on her back with her legs h
anging over the arm of the sofa. She had earplugs in both ears and bobbed her head to music from her scrollpad. Maya knitted a sweater for Eli who was on the floor on a blanket.

  The baby wore a tiny green onesie which could not conceal completely his blue diaper which squeezed out of the leg holes. Maya and Adam both watched his fighting spirit as he kept pushing and pushing trying to turn over from his belly to his back.

  “He’s not quite ready to turn over, but that won’t stop him,” Maya said proudly.

  “Eli wants to be on the move like his father,” Adam said.

  Maya nodded, contently. “He will need a playmate before too long.”

  Adam could only blush.

  “That girl there,” Maya said referring to Sylvia, “she wants to have five babies with you, like yesterday.”

  Adam considered Sylvia who could not hear them. “There’ll be a time for that.”

  “Yeah, it’s called bedtime,” Maya said amusing herself.

  “You don’t stop,” Adam said. He had heard it all from her before. “You are going to chase me out of here again, you know that?”

  Adam rose. Sylvia quickly sat up and took her earplugs out.

  “You have to go?” Sylvia asked sadly.

  Adam bent down and kissed Sylvia’s cheek which caused Maya to wink at him. “Afraid so. I want to recheck the charts for tomorrow.”

  “It’s a big day,” Sylvia said proudly.

  “It is,” Maya agreed as Adam turned to go. “It’s the day your man tries to outrun the light.”

  Adam glanced back to them and grinned as the door slid open.

  “But you can’t outrun everything, big guy,” Maya said.

  Adam hurried out of the lounge. Sylvia bent her face confused but let it go and put her ear plugs back in.

  * * *

  WHEN THE BIG DAY finally came, Commander Thirdborn allowed everyone on the ship to be present on flight deck. Everyone, that is, who were not already in deep sleep on the cryo deck.

  Adam thought it would build a sense of accomplishment to help balance the likely chain of disappointments that would follow as they traveled trillions of miles on a wild goose chase.