Dash tapped his goggles and paused the recording, then walked up to Onsurez and gave her a shoulder a squeeze. Onsurez stiffened for a moment, then turned around and embraced him.
“We’re all that’s left,” Dash whispered. “How can this be?”
Onsurez shook her head. “We are not alone, Dash. Not for a moment.”
Three days after Erebus struck the Earth, the last signals stopped. Dark gray clouds swirled around the once-blue marble. Earth would remain a part of the solar system, but it could never again be humanity’s home.
At least not for centuries...
More than the ubiquity of flight suits, grief became the mask everyone wore. People struggled with the loss of their families and friends, with the death of an entire world now preserved in memories and digital storage devices. The youngest children understood that something was wrong, but the loss didn’t pain them as keenly as the others. They didn’t comprehend the magnitude of the disaster.
Dash envied them at times.
After dinner, Dash lay in his bunk, reading through the Qur’an. Twenty-seven unmarried men lived in the block. A divorced oncologist looked to be the oldest, but he kept to himself. Dash heard there were few people in the crew over the age of forty-five.
In some ways, it reminded Dash of summer camp plus freshman year in the dorms. He didn’t mind the lack of space and appreciated the company of others. Most people decorated their bunks with pictures of families or homes. One young nuclear engineer put up pictures of swimsuit models, but he seemed to be the exception.
The destruction of Earth had shattered everyone’s lives and few wanted to face the experience on their own. Dash and the rest of the morale department spent their days poking their heads into various compartments of the ship, chatting with crewers at their posts, gathering groups together for exercise or other activities, or just talking to people who seemed to need a shoulder to cry on.
There were a lot of those.
Dash’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out from under his pillow.
REPORT TO CDC ASAP. CO
“Hmm.” Dash slipped the phone into his pocket after tapping out a quick reply, then climbed out of his bunk.
“Where are you going?” Moray asked, laying against the bulkhead.
“Captain wants to see me,” Dash said as he tugged his kufi into place. “I’ll be back shortly.”
“Okay” Moray grinned. “Don’t take too long. I think Bert’s going to get a card game going.”
Dash snorted. “Save me a seat. I’ll watch.”
“Sure thing.”
Dash made his way aft along the portside corridor, then climbed down the ladder to the deck below. Enterprise still had thousands of compartments he hadn’t yet discovered, but he was getting pretty good at finding a galley when he needed it and he didn’t get that lost making his way to the bridge.
Dash stepped into the CDC and announced himself. “Reporting as ordered, Captain.”
Onsurez turned to him with a smile. “Come on over here, Dash. I thought you’d like to see this.” The short Latina hopped out of her chair and walked over to the big bank of screens. She tapped a command into a keyboard and the largest one shifted.
The ashen remnant of Earth still dominated the picture, but Dash noticed the rest of the fleet stretched out in a loose formation.
“Fourteen aircraft carriers, Dash,” Onsurez explained. “Kennedy has a big camera mounted on her stern—that’s where we’re getting the feed.”
Dash shook his head. “Alhamdulillah,” he said. “That’s incredible.”
“We can’t see Russia’s ship because he’s ahead of us, mated to India’s Vishnu, but behind us you can see Queen Elizabeth and Charles De Gaulle. Those two are Izumo and Hyogo, from Japan.”
“None of those are nuclear vessels, though.” Dash frowned. “How can they make the journey?”
“De Gaulle is nuclear, but as for the others? Retrofitting, mostly.” Onsurez tapped two other ships. “This is Liaoning and Dalian, both Chinese carriers. Liaoning was a refit, too, but Dalian was China’s first nuclear-powered carrier. The USS Carl Vinson was rechristened Europa. Saudi Arabia renamed Ronald Reagan to Muhammad, South Africa changed Bush to Mandela, but Israel kept Carl Stennis the same.” She shrugged. “Go figure.”
“Incredible,” Dash repeated. “So many countries.”
“So many cultures,” Onsurez stressed. “One thing we all agreed upon was that our countries couldn’t go to Mars. We’re going to need everyone to survive, but we’re going to have to forge new identities.” She stared at the fleet in silence, then turned back to him. “I just wanted you to see that we are anything but alone.”
“I understand, ma’am.” Dash glanced back to the screen, at the massive steel ships spinning in pairs. “Could I get images of this sent to my email? This sort of thing could boost morale. I could add them to the ship’s blog.”
“Of course.” Onsurez nodded, the considered Dash for a moment. “I noticed your hat, skullcap thingy. You didn’t wear it when we first met. Were you in disguise?”
“More like denial,” Dash admitted, his fingers brushing against the cloth cap. “I’ve struggled with my faith since I was a teenager.”
“But not any longer?”
“My brother and father were devout men. My mom was dutifully so when she was still married to my father, but she stopped praying soon after their divorce. I stopped for a long time, but I’m trying to honor their sacrifices for me. It’s not like I disbelieved or anything, I just...” Dash took a deep breath. “I think I’m where I’m supposed to be. I hope that’s enough for now.”
Onsurez leaned forward, “I empathize. My family is Catholic, but I resented it as a child. Hated going to Mass, resented asking for forgiveness—it was a struggle for me.”
“What changed?” Dash wanted to know.
“My children asked questions I couldn’t answer,” she replied. “I know science can’t account for all the questions and perhaps faith can explain a few of the weirder ones.”
Rasul’s easy smile appeared in Dash’s mind. “My brother thought the same thing.”
“Faith isn’t easy,” Onsurez said.
Dash sighed. “No, definitely not. Still, I think I understand mine a little better now. ‘And whoever is mindful of Allah, He will grant them a way out, and will provide for them in ways unimagined.’” Dash waved at the room around them. “What is all this if not an unimaginable way out?”
“Quite true.” Onsurez glanced at the crew working around them. “So, do you think we have a chance now?”
Calm settled over Dash’s heart. The journey ahead would challenge them in ways they couldn’t possibly understand yet. Still, he smiled and bowed his head.
“Inshallah.”
Erebus Page 24