Phoenix Among The Stars (Exodus)

by Robert Stadnik

  The crew members who walked past her nodded and smiled. Some said hello, but she did not engage them. It was hard enough walking alone on this alien starship that was now her home.

  The Aldarian stopped in front of a shop and gazed at the most unusual display in the window. Three white manikins stood in pose in the window, each wearing garments that she had never seen before. One was wearing a long emerald green blouse and pants, the second a short red skirt, and the third a black cocktail dress. Along with the garments, the mannequins had strange metallic items hanging from their ears, around their necks, and on their wrists. The combinations of the jewelry and clothing had an intriguing effect on the Aldarian. She couldn’t explain it, but she was fascinated by these material things. What would it be like to wear these items? She looked down at her white plain robe, which now seemed insufficient in comparison.

  She was so enthralled by the window display she didn’t realize someone had approached behind her.

  “You look like you have an eye for fashion.” The Aldarian turned around to see a human male standing behind her. She recognized him as the singer called Chris Anne who had been spending time with her people. “The green dress is my favorite, although you can’t go wrong with red. It’s very complimentary if you have the body.”

  “Why would anyone wear such dressings?” asked the Aldarian.

  “To express a mood, to feel better, or to make a statement.” Chris pointed at the window. “Each of those dresses tells a different story. You just have to decide what story you want the world to see.”

  “Would it not be easier to tell the story?” asked the Aldarian.

  “Possibly,” said Chris. “On our world there are many ways to tell a tale. Fashion is just one of them.”

  “But it seems so confusing deciding what to wear. There are so many choices.”

  Chris smiled. “That’s half the fun, sweetie.”

  The Aldarian didn’t understand. “Your people surround themselves with so much variation, yet you seem to thrive in it. My people have always believed that consistency is the path to attain happiness.”

  “For humans, variety is the spice of life.”

  “I am not sure I understand such thinking.”

  “Then may I suggest an introduction to our world.” Chris stepped in front of her and extended his hand. “Venturing into something new can be frightening, but not when you have a friend by your side.”

  The Aldarian could sense Chris’ good-natured intentions. She let him take her hand in his and lead her into the shop.

  Inside there were racks of clothes on display. The various colors and designs were almost overwhelming to the Aldarian, the styles seemed infinite. Everywhere she looked, there was something new to behold.

  “Chris.” An older woman approached from the back of the store.

  “Beverly.” The Aldarian watched as Chris and the shopkeeper kissed each other on each cheek. Was this how humans greeted one another?

  “You need another dress for your show?”

  “Not for me,” said Chris. “My friend here is interested in what you have to offer.”

  The shopkeeper’s eyes lit up at the Aldarian. “Ah, my dear, I’ve been waiting for one of you to stop by. I’m Beverly, welcome to my shop.”

  “I’m Mrekul.” Beverly smiled and gently grabbed Mrekul’s hand, walking her through the shop. “Tell me, my dear. What captures your eye?”

  “I do not know,” she said. “There are so many to choose from. I do not know what to pick.”

  “Who says you had to pick one,” said the shopkeeper. “You can build an entire wardrobe, something for every occasion.”

  “Could…, could you teach me?” asked Mrekul.

  “We both will,” said Chris, as he plucked a dress off the rack. “I think this is your size.”

  By the end of the day, word had spread around the ship about the Aldarian woman who walked out of Beverly Margio’s shop wearing a sea blue dress and carrying a bag full of clothes. Mrekul returned to her people to show off the clothes she bought at the shop. She told them how the humans thrive on the variations they create in their culture, how their clothes are one means by which they express themselves.

  The next day six more Aldarian women showed up to Beverly’s shop. It wasn’t long before most of the Aldarian women had traded in their white robes for more colorful attires.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Professor Hagger thinks we can use the xixia plant as a food staple,” said Julie, going over ship status reports with John in his office.

  “Good, now all we need is an Aldarian recipe book instructing us how to prepare it,” said John as he sipped his coffee. The procurement of plants from the Aldarian homeworld, as well as their technology, provided a new diversion for John to read up on besides ship status reports. He was getting tired of reading about ship operations and welcomed a new subject to dive into. The young captain was realizing that being a ship commander wasn’t glamorous all the time. He secretly hoped for the Screen to appear and attack PHOENIX to provide some excitement to a life that seemed to become routine.

  “I don’t recall seeing an Aldarian bringing a cookbook on board,” said Julie as a joke.

  “They don’t seem to have a problem eating our food, so there isn’t a reason to think we should have any issue consuming anything from their world,” said John, as he looked over the report. “Damn, it looks like our tech group still can’t make heads or tails of any of the Aldarian’s devices.” He looked up at Julie. “I understand they lost their scientific knowledge when most of them died out, but it’s still hard to imagine they don’t know how to operate any of this stuff.”

  Julie shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever killed the Aldarians must have happened long ago. I’ve talked to several of them and they all claim they lost their people around 1,500 cycles ago. We’re still trying to ascertain that measurement to our units of time. It could have happened 100 years ago…”

  “Or five thousand years ago,” said John.

  “Chris Anne to captain,” came the whispered voice of Chris over John and Julie’s pip.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Captain, we have a problem.”

  “What is it? And why are you whispering?”

  “A group of civilians are coming up to see you. I’m following not too far behind them.”

  “So?”

  “Captain…”

  John and Julie’s pip beeped. John rolled his eyes. “Hold on, Chris. Computer, patch the other call.”

  “Brandus to captain.”

  “Go ahead, lieutenant.”

  “Captain, I’m on deck thirty-two in the chemistry lab and people here are pretty upset.”

  “About what?”

  “They claim the Aldarians have telepathic powers and are covertly reading our minds.”

  “What?!” John was perplexed. How the hell did anyone know about their telepathic abilities?

  “It’s going around the ship like wildfire,” said Alex’sis. “I started hearing the rumor about an hour ago.”

  “Mute transmission,” said John as he looked at Julie. “Did you say anything?” He told both Julie and Doctor Myers last night after speaking with Thresha, but he explicitly told them to keep quiet about it until he posted an announcement on the ship’s information board.

  “Absolutely not,” said Julie. She shared John’s concern about handling this matter carefully. She wouldn’t have done anything to undermine him.

  “Shit,” said John. “Computer, resume call with Brandus. Lieutenant, get up here. Don’t say anything to anyone.”

  “Is it true, sir?”

  “Just get up here. Roberts out.” He got up off his chair and paced around. “This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.”

  Their pips beeped again. John looked frustrated, but Julie held her hand up and took the call. “Go ahead, Chris.”

  “We’re on deck two,” said Chris.

  “What do they want?” asked Julie.

>   “They’re mad about the Aldarians having telepathic powers.”

  “Stand by. Computer, mute call.” Julie looked at John. “What do you want to do?”

  “The cat’s out of the bag,” said John. “We have to deal with this.”

  Julie nodded. “Computer, resume call. Chris, allow them access to the command deck and bring them to the captain’s office.”

  “Ok, commander. Chris out.”

  “This is not what I meant about excitement,” muttered John.

  “Captain?”

  “Nothing.” He sat down behind his desk and collected his thoughts. He wanted to contact Myers and verify if he said anything, but he knew the doctor wouldn’t have mentioned this to anyone. No, somehow it got out and John suspected it was done on purpose.

  The door chime rang and John cleared his throat. “Come in.”

  Five individuals walked in, all civilians. Right behind them was Chris. John recognized two of the individuals: Smitty’s bar owner Franklin Carl and Professor Morton Wu of the computer artificial intelligence group.

  “Gentlemen, what can I do for you?” asked John.

  “I’ll go ahead and leave,” said Chris.

  “No, stay. You too Julie,” said John. “We have nothing to hide.”

  “Why didn’t you tell the crew about the Aldarians’ telepathic abilities?” asked Franklin.

  “Where did you hear about that?” asked John.

  “Are you kidding?” said a man John didn’t know. “It’s all over the ship. You let these aliens walk around probing our minds and say nothing to us.”

  “Hey!” said Professor Wu. “Calm down. We’re here to get answers, not make accusations.”

  “Thank you, professor,” said John. “Now, Mr…?”

  “Jeremy Hakins. I’m with the mining group.”

  “Well, Mr. Hakins, let me clarify your misstatement. I only learned of the Aldarians’ telepathic abilities yesterday. I waited for medical to complete their analysis of their physiology before asking Thresha about their ability to converse with us without microns. She was upfront with me about their telepathy. They can sense other people’s emotions and can read minds, but not without significant concentration on their part and the subject feeling the entire process.”

  “And you believe them?” asked the other man John didn’t know.

  “I wanted to believe it at face value,” said John. “But I have the welfare of the crew to consider.” John motioned to the monitor on the wall. “Computer, run the captain’s telepathy test video file.”

  The computer bleeped and the monitor lit up. The group watched as John and Thresha were sitting in the main surgical bay, facing one another.

  “I had Thresha read my mind,” explained John as the group watched the video. “To verify her description of how their telepathy works. I can assure you the experience was quite unpleasant. I felt significant pressure on my mind during the entire process.”

  They watched John on the video as he physically reacted to the mind probe, showing obvious signs of discomfort.

  “And for the record,” said Julie. “Both Doctor Myers and I were present during the test. If you like, the doctor can show you the captain’s biometric readings he recorded during the experiment.”

  “Computer, end video,” said John. The group turned their attention back to him. “I was planning to post the information this afternoon, accurate information. But unfortunately, someone decided to open their mouth. Now we have baseless rumors running rampant throughout the ship.”

  “Maybe you should have told us yesterday as soon as you found out,” said Jeremy.

  “And have it twisted into the same false rumors now going around?” said John. “Any statement I made about this matter needed to be supported with evidence.”

  “You don’t know that,” said Franklin.

  “Yes, the captain’s right,” said Wu. He looked at John. “Will you let anyone see the video?”

  John nodded. “Of course.”

  “Then our business here is done,” said Wu. “I’m sorry for having to come up here like this, but we appreciate you clarifying this information.”

  “You really believe these aliens are harmless?” asked Franklin.

  “They haven’t done anything to make me question that they have anything but good intentions,” said John.

  “Alright,” said Franklin. “If you think they’re not a threat, I’ll stand by your decision.”

  “I’m still not comfortable with the opinion of someone who was only a cadet a few months ago,” said Jeremy.

  John felt he was being very diplomatic, but now Jeremy pushed the wrong button. “Admiral Johnson selected me to command this ship for a reason. He knew I would make the right decisions for this crew. I may have been just a cadet a few months ago, but never forget this cadet went through military training and is better prepared for handling situations out here than a common civilian miner.”

  Jeremy’s blood boiled at the insult, and wanted to respond, but John didn’t give him the chance.

  “If you were so concerned about a cadet commanding this ship, then perhaps you should have stayed behind on Earth.”

  No one said anything for a long moment, but they all felt the tension in the air.

  “The captain answered all your questions,” spoke up Chris. “Now I think we should let him get back to running the ship.”

  “Yes, we should,” said Professor Wu, impressed by how the young man stood up for himself. He nodded to John. “Thank you, captain.” He proceeded out of the office, with the others following behind.

  “I’ll escort them off the command deck,” said Chris.

  “Thank you, Chris,” said Julie. Once the group left she spoke. “You were pretty harsh there.”

  “I can put up with a lot of things,” said John. “But he crossed the line.”

  “He’s just scared. You’ve got to learn not to react to personal attacks.”

  “I won’t put up with people questioning my abilities,” said John angrily. “I’m not perfect, but I haven’t done anything to warrant people questioning my command, especially in front of others. He wanted to undermine me in front of the other civilians.”

  Julie wanted to argue the point, but she chose to drop it. John was mad, and she wouldn’t be able to reason with him while he was upset.

  “I better make the announcement,” said John. “Gather the senior staff and let them know.”

  “You don’t want to tell them?”

  “I’ll let you handle it. I’m a little too pissed to meet with anyone. I’ll wait twenty minutes before informing the crew.”

  “Ok.” Julie retreated from the office, and John reclined in his seat. He was upset, but not for the reason Julie thought. Someone questioning his command ability didn’t bother him, what bothered him was that someone on the ship leaked the information about the Aldarians. It could have been a fluke, but John couldn’t help but wonder if it was a deliberate attempt to cause problems on the ship. Julie and Doctor Myers were the only ones he told about the Aldarians’ telepathic abilities. He wanted to believe they wouldn’t have done this, but he knew he had to keep an open mind. Without more evidence, anything was possible.

  John made his announcement, and it did calm the nerves of the crew. Chris even facilitated a public forum at his club, where Thresha and some of her people explained their abilities to attendees. It went a long way of soothing fears on the ship. There were those who were still in doubt, but most of the crew was satisfied.

  The civilians who visited the captain went their separate ways, except for Jeremy and Franklin who headed to Smitty’s Pub in Central. Jeremy wasn’t satisfied with the captain’s explanation, so Franklin offered him a beer to calm him down.

  “I still don’t think the captain told us everything,” said Jeremy as he took a seat at the bar. It was early afternoon and only a few patrons were there.

  Franklin filled a large mug with Jeremy’s preferred dark ale and set it in
front of him. “He didn’t hold anything back and showed us that video.”

  “I don’t know,” said Jeremy. “I think he only submitted to having his mind scanned to cover his screw up in allowing these aliens on board without having all the facts about them.”

  “Look, I’ll admit they probably should have learned more about these Aldarians before inviting them on the ship, but keep in mind, the captain’s a young kid. He’s still learning.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder if Admiral Johnson made the right decision in choosing him for command.”

  “Let’s see,” said Franklin. “He successfully fought against the Screen, twice. He navigated the ship through TERRA’s military without killing any of them…”

  “Fine,” conceded Jeremy. “I’ll give him credit for that, but letting telepathic aliens on board without knowing about it? That’s huge. And how do we know that this Thresha didn’t put some thoughts in his head. He could be under their control now.”

  “I think you have way too much time on your hands,” said Franklin. “Drink your beer, go home, and get some rest.”

  Franklin went to service the other bar patrons, leaving Jeremy to himself. The miner didn’t need time to process anything. As far as he was concerned, the captain had put the crew in danger and felt no remorse for his actions. He was certain that if Admiral Johnson was here he would not have approved.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “How bad is it?” asked Julie.

  “I’ve never encountered a more unpleasant scene,” said Doctor Myers as they walked together down the corridor. “He has an elevated fever and vomiting. His condition isn’t fatal, but he’s been vocal with his discomfort. I’ve seen four year olds handle being sick better than the captain.”