The Sable Valley

by Courtney Bowen

e Valley

  By Courtney Bowen

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events

  and places either are the products of the author’s imagination

  or are used fictitiously

  Copyright © 2013 by Courtney Bowen

  Cover Image: Detail of Andromeda, 2012, NASA/JPL-Caltech

  All book/story rights reserved.

  And then she was waking up to the sound of klaxons blaring. She blinked a couple of times, blearily staring up at the plexiglass surface. Once she gained full consciousness, then she realized that something was wrong.

  Caroline managed to lift her arm, pounding weakly on the covering. The stasis pod attendant should be here to get her out of there. She looked around inside the stasis pod, and found the emergency escape button. She pressed it, and another siren added its noise to the growing clamor as she watched the plexiglass shielding finally retract.

  1.

  Caroline had never been far from the only home she knew. So when they asked, she immediately said yes—she would join the space program.

  No one else had expected it, because no one else in her colony would have ever been accepted. Yet she had always made good grades in school. The robotic teachers praised her in their monotonic voices whenever they passed around the ID cards that displayed their holographic grades. Hers were always the highest, shooting past all of the others in class.

  If some of the others had complained, then so what? She was the best, really, and even Marjory had to accept that.

  Marjory had been her best friend, which was hard to explain when they had been enemies at practically everything else. Every time there was a competition, for a class project or for a relay race, Marjory and Caroline would always compete. They would exchange heated words, push each other around, but afterwards they would hug and say they would never fight again…until the next competition.

  Caroline polished her helmet, smiling at her reflection. Marjory sat on the fold-out seat. “Well, congratulations, Caroline.” She said. “You made it off of this rock.”

  “Maybe I’ll get assigned to Earth.” Caroline said. “See where we came from.”

  “What for? There’s nothing left but rubble.”

  “I know, but…it sounds exciting, doesn’t it?” Caroline walked over to the window. “Maybe I’ll see something we’ve never seen before.” She said, looking out into the blackness, the dimness between stars in space.

  “We’re never going to see you again, are we?” Marjory asked. “You’re going, far away…when are you leaving?”

  “Soon. As soon as it’s clear on the space lanes.” She placed the helmet on her head, looking out through the visor. “I’m going to be out there.” She said. “Once I’m done with my training, I’m going to be out there patrolling the universe, saving lives when other ships are stranded or attacked—I’ll be the one they’ll look up to when the doors are opened.”

  “I can’t stand it.” Marjory said. “I’ll be left alone. With nothing to show for it, just a--degree in quantum engineering.”

  “Quantum engineering?” Caroline took off her helmet. “What about the terraforming studies?”

  “Who cares what it’s for?” Marjory exclaimed. “It’s just a degree, nothing like being in the service!” She calmed herself down. “I’m sorry, Caroline, I’m just…really in a bad mood right now.”

  “Who can blame you? I would be just as mad as you are, maybe even madder if I was in your place.”

  Majory got up and walked out of the room, turning back at the threshold. “I’m not going to say anything bad against you.” She said. “I’m just going to wish you luck.”

  “Luck? Aren’t you going to--”

  “You’re going to need it.” She said. “Maybe not now, but later, wherever you go…you’re going to be sorry that you ever joined the space program.” She slammed the capsule door shut.

  2.

  She sat up, a little woozy still as she clambered out of her bunk. She nearly got electrocuted as a loose wire sparked close to her. She shrieked, and then tried to calm herself as she looked around the wreckage of the stasis pod chamber.

  There were a couple of units completely shattered--their occupants dead. Some of the control panels along the wall had been smashed at or shot at, Caroline couldn’t tell, but those stasis pods connected to them would probably keep their inhabitants in permanent hibernation.

  She heard a few other stasis pods opening--some of them had been spared. But she stared at the dead attendant, lying across the main control board at the center of the room, and breathed heavily as she tried not to panic.

  3.

  Caroline had sped right through basic training. It was simple enough—just do whatever the platoon leaders told you to do, and you could survive. Even while other girls were dropping out, and some of the boys, Caroline and a handful of young women were able to make it through.

  They had courses on rocket mechanics, on steering and navigating a ship, on alien species and even how to recognize the different variations between nebulas and comets—namely when a comet was about to hit you. Caroline was able to do the paperwork easily enough, it was just the physical aspect of training that had given her some trouble.

  Still, she had passed—just barely when there was a problem with her spacesuit for the final test. Then she had been awarded a certification for completion, given a rank, and assigned a duty on the next patrol. Caroline couldn’t believe that there wasn’t anything more than that. She was an officer--in the space program; why couldn’t she have more of a celebration?

  Still, her parents and just about everyone else back at the colony would be pleased to see her…except for Marjory. As she boarded the ship bound for home, granted a short leave for visiting, she wondered why she hadn’t heard a word from her best friend. It had been awhile since their last few harsh words had been exchanged, but Caroline could only think that Marjory must have cooled off since then.

  The stasis pod attendant led her to her assigned bunk, telling her that oxygen would be supplied to her by the support systems until they arrived on PX294. “How long will this take?” Caroline asked.

  “About a year or two, but don’t worry.” The stasis pod attendant said. “We’ll have you in sleep mode the whole time. You’ll have a nice, pleasant trip, and by the time you wake up, you’ll be there. It’ll only seem that you’ve been asleep for a couple of seconds.” He dialed in the access code to her bunk.

  Caroline nodded. “I remember.” She said. “I’ve been on this trip before, coming to the Central Planet…it was a magical experience. One minute I was home, the next I was in orbit around the Central Planet.”

  “You’re lucky.” The stasis pod attendant said. “I have to stay awake the whole trip. I used to have another co-worker to share the burden with, but now they’ve cut down on the staff. Apparently it costs less to feed us than it is to keep on extra crew members.” The stasis pod opened. “Well, step on in and have pleasant dreams. Thanks to Universal Mercury Space Transport, we’ll have you home in no time.”

  Caroline stepped into the stasis pod. Lying down, with gas pipes and medical scanners surrounding her, she stared up at the plexiglass shielding being lowered down on top of her. She breathed in deeply, allowing the sedative gas to flow into her lungs. She watched the world fade from her vision, with a brief glimpse of the stasis pod attendant looking in on her…

  4.

  One of the people coming out of a stasis pod appeared to be a businessman. As he looked around, he muttered, “This has got to be space pirates. They’ve been nothing but a scourge to this galaxy for years now. When I get my hands on them, I’m going to--”

  “You’re not going to deal with them.” Caroline insisted. “You hav
e no idea how to handle them.” She looked around. “Where is the luggage?”

  One of the ladies pointed out the storage compartment, a closet full of bags and belongings. “I’ve got to get back home, miss,” she said, “I’ve got to see my Johnny. He’ll be waiting for me, at the spaceport, and--”

  “It’s all right, ma’am. I’ll take care of it.” She strode over to the storage compartment, opening it up with a smile. “There’s our stuff.” She said. “They haven’t begun raiding yet. They’ll be going through to the bow of the ship, and then they’ll come back once the bridge is completely under their control.”

  “Who are you?” asked the businessman as she rooted around in the luggage.

  “I’m Lieutenant Caroline Swanson, Officer of the Central Space Program.” She said, pulling out her bag. “And I’m going to get us all out of this mess.”

  She unzipped her bag, pulling out the sheath for her special officer-issued rapier of silver nitrate quartz. She checked the blade to make sure that it was in good condition, and then moved past her fellow passengers. They stood aside to let her go, afraid of what she might do.

  She carefully navigated through the hallways of the spaceship. Going down corridors where dead or dying crewmembers were scattered about, she found the equipment to be in bad shape. Having been shot or slashed at to disable the ship, nothing worked. She wasn’t going to be able to send a distress call,