Colony One

by E. M. Peters

  “I’ll get her!” Finn exclaimed and rushed out. She seemed to take joy in finding a purpose for herself, even if it was errand girl.

  Avery walked over to the navigation console and picked up the coffee mug she had left not long before, “I knew I left this somewhere,” she commented and brought the mug to her lips. When Niko looked away, she winked at Charlie with a grin that he did not particularly like. She then turned away and looked interested in the navigation console, sipping the coffee and seeming to be in better spirits than the crew had otherwise ever seen her.

  Charlie caught Niko’s eye and gave him an inquisitive look. The navigator just shrugged as if to say – ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

  It had taken exactly 50 minutes to arrive within visual range of the target object. Charlie reversed the thrusters for a burst to counteract their forward momentum and to stabilize the ship so it floated motionlessly. When they were anchored, he activated the forward cameras and relayed their images to all available consoles on the bridge. Then he keyed in the command to activate the forward flood lights, illuminating a large hunk of floating metal.

  Makenna stood with her arms crossed and leaned forward to squint out of the viewscreen. “This does not seem correct,” was her initial assessment.

  “We’ll need a little more than that to go on, Miss Krasnov.” Avery pointed out. She monitored one of the camera feeds while Niko monitored the other. Finn was floating between them, snapping quiet photos of what was obviously a tense moment.

  Winson sat nervously in the briefing room, medical bag at his feet. Since there was an organic reading, the Captain had asked him to report ready to provide medical treatment if necessary.

  “I need to confirm. Mr. Foster, please to circle object.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Charlie answered and engaged he starboard thrusters to send out an impulse burst, accompanied by activation of the aft thruster to initiate a clockwise drift around the object.

  It was hard to tell the debris was anything in particular. If it had been a coherent shape at some point, it didn’t seem to be that way anymore. As they circled to view the opposite side, a gasp escaped from every crew member but Mak, Avery and the Doctor. Though to the doctor’s credit, he could not see the viewscreen or a camera feed. Finn stopped where she had been holding her camera up to snap a picture and slowly let her arms lower.

  A frozen body drifted away from the wrecked object, then back towards it as a tether yanked it back in a bleak orbit. “I don’t think we’ll be needing your services, Doctor...” Charlie spoke, sounding detached from his own voice as he watched the scene with wide eyes.

  As the Hyperion continued to circle the wreckage, the body went out of view.

  “This is not logical,” Makenna spoke, disbelief cutting through her Russian accent. “This is scout ship called ‘Runners’. Designed for planetary atmosphere. It should not be in space by itself. It is not meant to travel long distances or experience reentry through atmosphere.”

  “Did the colony ships have these aboard?” Niko asked.

  “Da,” Makenna answered in the affirmative.

  “Why would they launch a scout ship out here?” Charlie wondered. “And what happened to it?” He looked over at Makenna, hoping she would have an answer.

  “It appears severely damaged from collision. The hull strength not so good on these ships.”

  “The cockpit burst open.” Niko said as they made another pass along the front side of the Runner.

  “Can the sensors tell how many were aboard?” Charlie asked.

  Niko slid the camera feed off the console interface and brought up the sensor readings. “Assuming that more didn’t drift away… it appears from DNA residue to be a total of five with this Runner.”

  “How many can it hold?” Charlie turned to address the question to Makenna.

  She shrugged and made an indecisive expression, “Safely, it can hold three or four. If safety is not concern, probably up to eight.”

  “Were they using these as escape pods?” Finn wondered.

  Silence was her answer. No one seemed to want to postulate on the idea something so terrible might have happened before a colony ship could reach land that they had to abandon ship so far out.

  Finally, Avery broke the silence, “Foster, Andris – any sensor readings for more debris or organic material nearby?”

  The two turned to their consoles and pulled the readings, finishing at the same time. They shared a look, and then turned their eyes to the Captain, “No.” Niko said first. “Confirmed,” Charlie agreed.

  “Then I suggest we keep following our breadcrumb trail.” Avery keyed off the console she had been monitoring and stood with purpose.

  “We’re just going to leave them?” Finn asked with surprise. “Shouldn’t we try to figure out who they were? What happened to them?”

  “This boat didn’t come with spacesuits, Miss Connolly.” Avery said simply. “Even if it did, I wouldn’t risk sending any of us out there. Mr. Andris, see if you can link up wirelessly with the Runner to get her logs. Mr. Foster, when he’s done; save these coordinates and resume course.” She said in way of parting words.

  No one could argue with her decision. The best they could do was salvage the logs. If they saved the coordinates, they could alert the Confederation of their whereabouts if a recovery party was indeed approved.

  “Yes, sir,” Charlie said as Avery stepped off the bridge. The remaining crew stood and sat in silence for long moments as Niko worked. It was a respectful silence for the dead, and a frightened silence for what this particular breadcrumb meant.

  Niko finished his work and turned in his seat to address the crew, “At least this is the only craft,” he said. “There is still hope.” He added, though it was not clear if it was for their benefit or his. “I have the log,” he told Charlie.

  “Ready to resume breadcrumb course,” Charlie voiced with a somber tone. His announcement was met with silence as he tapped the command that re-engaged the short-distance engines. Once they were far enough away from the wreckage, he keyed on the long range engines and slumped back in his chair.

  12

  Colony One, Mission Duration: Six Months

  Skylar was beside herself with anticipation. Mission Command had estimated it would take somewhere near six months to reach Colony Alpha, and here they were, crossing that time threshold. She had a calendar marked in the cockpit – Patrick thought it was taunting, Skylar the opposite, as usual, thinking it was motivational.

  Colony One did not have much in way of long range sensors, but the sensors it did have, Skylar was watching over like a bird of prey. Very soon, she thought, they should be detecting the gravitational pull associated with the large spinning mass of their new home.

  The first day of month six passed, and she shared her optimism about arriving at Colony Alpha with the rest of the ship. Day two came and went with no indication they were near any planetary mass. It was a week and a half into the sixth month before an uneasy feeling rose up in the Captain.

  Patrick felt it, too, and was the first to put voice to it, “Something is wrong.” He told Skylar when she joined him in the cockpit for her shift.

  “The estimate was optimistic, it seems.” Skylar agreed, but held onto her positivity without fail.

  “They told us six months at the longest,” Patrick reminded her. “Something is wrong.” He turned toward the forward console and projected the sensor readings he had been studying before she arrived. “These are the star charts we were provided for this mission.” He pointed to the hovering image on the left. “This is a read out of our sensor data, both past and present.”

  Skylar regarded both images with a frown. “They look nothing like each other,” she remarked, the unease in her stomach flaring up.

  “Exactly. So what went wrong?” Patrick asked, keying off the projection with visible frustration.

  “We’ve maintained every heading flawlessly,” Skylar externalized her thoughts. �
��We have followed every instruction.”

  “I know I have,” Patrick said with a bite to his words.

  After six months in space with Patrick, Skylar knew the man was quick to irritation. Now his attitude was evolving altogether into something much worse, “Hey, we’ve got to stick together out here. Now more than ever,” She told him in a calm, reassuring voice.

  Patrick’s jaw set and he struggled to keep from arguing with her. He knew she was right, but he still couldn’t help himself. He wanted someone to blame. He wanted someone to have the right answer. He wanted a break – both mentally and physically. He wanted, more than anything, to see land again.

  “What now?” He said simply, though his tone had changed to a drastically more agreeable one.

  Skylar considered his question and brought up the charts on her interface. She compared what the confederation had given them with reality. “There has to be some similarity that we can use to find our way.”

  “What we need is a proper astronomer.” Patrick said grimly.

  Skylar nodded in agreement, sinking back into her chair before her face lit up with excitement, “Hey! We have one of those!” She exclaimed, recalling a name paired with a profession on the manifest. Before Patrick would inquire further, she hopped out of her chair and descended the ladder to the cockpit in record time. She was on a mission to find Niko Andris.

  She made quick work getting to the purple section, where her OMNI said he would be bunked. She rushed in, half out of breath, and scanned the room.

  “Hey, Captain!” Someone called after her. “Are we there yet?” The voice asked and there was a round of laughter within the compartment.

  “First time I’ve heard that all hour!” Skylar answered back, which got even more laughter. She was glad to see spirits high, though it made her especially reluctant to have to break any news of delay. “I’m looking for an Andris. Anyone seen him?”

  “I’m Andris,” a man stepped out of a circle of people. Skylar looked at him, then at her handheld. He matched the picture.

  “Great. Niko Andris?” She asked when he got closer. She watched as blood seemed to drain from his face and thought that was a curious response.

  He looked around before taking a step to be closer to the woman, “Yea, that’s me.” He said lowly.

  “I need you to come with me, please.” Skylar explained.

  “Okay,” he answered, looking sheepish.

  She led him away and it wasn’t until they were walking a corridor alone that Luca spoke up, “So what’s this about?”

  “Just need to leverage some of your expertise.” She waved the handheld and he saw his, or rather Niko’s, picture on it with detailed information. “We’re headed to the cockpit so you can take a look at a few star charts for us.”

  “Oh,” Luca said, and when it dawned on him what she was saying, he repeated with a longer, “Oh,” – the kind that indicated full understanding. He stopped in the stretch of hallway where they were walking toward the bridge.

  Skylar stopped, too, but with a confused look, “What is it?” She wondered. When he didn’t immediately respond, she underscored, “This is somewhat urgent.”

  Luca raised his arm to rub the back of his neck, looking at the floor, “There is probably something I should tell you…” he said and gave the Captain a short version of the fact he was not, in fact, Niko Andris.

  “What!” Skylar exclaimed when it was all over. “What… How…!” She sputtered. Finally, she collected her thoughts, “That’s not possible!”

  Luca grimaced, “It kind of is. My brother is the astronomer.”

  “Well what do you do?” Skylar asked.

  “Uh, you know. Stuff.” Luca answered vaguely.

  Skylar narrowed her eyes, “Are you a criminal?” She asked. She couldn’t even reliably scan his bio-stamp. He had obviously bypassed it somehow to get on the ship to begin with.

  “No!” Luca denied emphatically. “When we left Earth I was just… between jobs.”

  “Unemployed,” Skylar put a finer point on it.

  “Yea,” Luca admitted with some shame.

  Skylar shook her head and paced in a circle, “That’s… fine, I guess.” She was unable to stay mad for long – it was just her nature to forgive and move on. “You have no idea how valuable it would have been to have your brother aboard right now, though.”

  “Why, what’s going on?” He asked, sensing real desperation from the Captain.

  She gave him a sideways look, evaluating if she could trust him with the information, “Between us?” She asked and he nodded earnestly. “We need some help making sure we’ve stayed on course.”

  He frowned – not liking the sound of that. “How much help?”

  Skylar sighed – she didn’t want to admit it to herself, let alone to Luca. “A lot,” she said in a somewhat defeated tone.

  Luca’s frown deepened and reflected on how excited and optimistic Skylar sounded when she made announcements on the audio system. In a big way, she set the tone for the rest of the ship – Luca had witnessed it firsthand. If it wasn’t for her, morale in the behemoth ship would have been dismal considering the terrible food options and monotony. Seeing her now, in this moment, Luca realized what an enormous burden she was shouldering and marveled at how she had managed to keep her spirits up. It could not have been easy, that was for certain, and here he was contributing to adding to the burden, simply by taking his brother’s place. The guilt was beginning to consume him when a memory stirred.

  “We’ll… figure it out,” Skylar spoke after the moment of silence between them. “I’ve got to get back to the cockpit,” she said and turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Luca stopped her. “There’s this girl in our section… Her name’s Jia. She said she used to work at a research lab. It sounded science-y.”

  Skylar laughed, “Science-y? Is that the technical term?”

  “It’s the best I can do,” Luca admitted with a shy grin. “I can go get her. It’s worth a shot, right?”

  The Captain shrugged, “Who can argue with science-y?”

  Luca’s face brightened at the idea of redemption. “Wait here,” he told her and turned to jog the way they had come.

  Skylar waited, as instructed, and looked at her handheld to pass the time. Niko’s face stared up at her and she marveled at how the universe sometimes enjoyed throwing her curveballs. A moment of serendipity had turned into a Greek comedy with the twin swap. She exited Niko’s profile and searched the manifest database for the name Jia. When she found the record, she keyed it open.

  The woman laughed, in an ironic kind of way. Almost all of Jia’s record was redacted with black highlight over her profile information. Skylar let her arms fall to her side, “Of course.” She said to no one. She wanted to learn about this mystery person Luca was fetching, but, in truth, she was mostly trying to keep her mind busy. She did not want to think about the implications of being lost in space.

  Luckily for her, Luca returned with the frail looking woman in tow within minutes. “Captain Fairfield, this is Jia. Jia – Captain Fairfield.” He made the introduction.

  “Thanks for coming,” Skylar said. Jia simply nodded, looking timid. Her demeanor made Skylar immediately question Luca’s assessment that she might be helpful. “Can I ask what you did back on Earth?”

  Jia looked at Luca, then back to the Captain. Skylar thought there was perhaps hint of betrayal in her eyes and wondered about the dynamic between them. “I worked in a research lab in China.”

  Skylar nodded, feeling a tinge of hope as she recalled much of the research and development for the colony missions happened in China. Since Jia seemed reluctant, Skylar decided to forego any additional questioning, “I don’t know what you did there, so I’m just going to tell you what’s going on, and you can tell me if you might be able to help.”

  “Alright,” Jia said, sounding less reluctant knowing she would not have to divulge anything if she preferred to keep it to herself.
>
  Skylar glanced at Luca, “You can go back now if you want.”

  “That’s okay,” Luca smiled and she wasn’t sure if he was being purposely oblivious or not.

  She shook her head at him but didn’t insist he leave. “I’ll ask that you both keep this confidential,” the Captain explained and then looked expectant. When they both nodded, she continued, “My co-pilot and I have been keeping our course heading exactly as we were instructed. It has become evident, however, that the information they gave us does not match our current location. We need someone who can provide… a fresh perspective.”

  “We’re lost,” Luca put it in plainer terms.

  “No,” Skylar corrected in a patient voice. “We simply need to re-orient.”

  “We’re lost,” Luca repeated. He didn’t sound critical – simply matter of fact. “In space,” he added.

  “No,” Skylar also repeated and was about to continue when Jia interjected.

  “I can help.” She said simply.

  Both Skylar and Luca could not hide the look of surprise on their faces. It took the Captain a moment to respond, “Great,” she finally said. “Uh… follow me.” She turned to lead the way and noticed Luca had invited himself to join them. “Mr. Andris, do you feel that you can also contribute?”

  Luca shrugged, “Maybe. It’s in my blood, after all.” He pointed out with a well-practiced smile.

  Skylar sighed, “Fine.” She surrendered hoping it would contribute to ensuring his silence on their lost status.

  It wasn’t long before they found themselves sharing a cramped cockpit with a very confused Patrick. “Who are they?” He asked Skylar.

  “Luca and Jia. They’re going to help. Well, Jia is. Luca appears to be her official escort.” Skylar summarized, not particularly helping Patrick understand the situation.

  “Can you show me what the Confederation gave you?” Jia asked, unaffected by the strangeness of the situation.