Derelict

Escape from a dying planet earth.

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This short story is presented for personal entertainment only. Commercial and all other use is expressly prohibited.

(c) 2010-2017 Robert Horseman, All rights reserved.

The Dunes Jonas trudged through the hazy afternoon sun. Windblown sand swirled around large dunes, and completely coated his exposure suit. He would have been invisible had he been motionless. Occasional gray sprigs of dead vegetation clawed their way out of the sand. He stopped at the crest of a dune and pulled off his tinted goggles. The too big, too bright sun blinded him as he cleaned the grime off the lenses. That done, he took the smallest reasonable sip of water from the tube that snaked from his exposure suit’s backpack to the corner of his mouth. Not much left, he thought. Do or die time. He pulled out the small ANNA unit, blew off the accumulated silt, and held its photocells in the sun for a minute to charge. When it had enough, he switched it on. He had found the unit weeks ago at a former military laboratory, and it had become his only hope. The unit had a slight hour-glass shape that fit easily in his hand. Until he had found it, he hadn’t heard another human voice in well over a year, and had been amazed at his feelings of longing for human contact. It didn’t hurt that the voice was female. “Please state search protocol.” “Anna, please scan south-southwest on a transponder frequency of three-thousand kilohertz.” “Scanning, please stand by.” Jonas turned his back on the scorching sun. Forgetting the high ultraviolet levels for more than a few minutes usually meant painful blisters, and he had the scars to prove it. He waited patiently for the unit to finish its scan. “Scan complete. One source found, bearing 206 degrees. Range approximately sixteen point four kilometers. You can make it, Jonas.” Jonas almost dropped the unit. He must be hearing things, maybe due to lack of adequate hydration. Ok, get a grip. Hiking over sixteen klicks with few hours remaining in the day was out of the question. He needed shelter for the night, and it might take all that time to find it. The moon hadn’t survived the death throes of the sun, and its nighttime reflected light was a distant memory. Freezing to death in the dark held no appeal. Yet. He used the unit’s direction bearing function to mark a spot at 206 degrees on the horizon in his mind, and shut it down. After slipping it into an inside pocket, he reset his goggles and set out again. Thirty minutes later he spotted the glint of something possibly man-made about a half a klick ahead, and made for it. When at last he trudged over the last dune, he found himself looking at a buried structure of some sort. It was about twenty feet square, with a flat roof peaking a foot or so above a dune. He raised his goggles off his face and walked around the structure, looking for a way in. On the far side he saw the top of what appeared to be a door frame. He dug with his hands for an hour before he had cleared enough sand to try the door. Luckily the weight of the sand had crushed part of the door, pulling the locking bolt out of the catch. It screeched on dry hinges as he pulled it open. Fetid air wafted from the space and made him gag. He peered inside and found that a stair led down into the gloom. Apparently this was a roof access of a buried building. He stood and looked into the darkening sky. The flickering glint was still there, right on time. Ten years of frantic work, and humanity’s lifeboat had inexplicably failed to depart. The Holdout He found an emergency aid locker bolted to the wall in the upper stair landing. He opened it and found first aid supplies and an emergency flashlight. Without much hope, he picked up the flashlight and flipped out the built-in crank. He spent a full minute cranking the flashlight to charge the old cells and switched it on. A bright beam lanced out of its lens, startling him. He couldn’t believe his luck; a working flashlight. He pulled off his backpack and exposure suit and set them on the floor inside the door. His long brown hair was damply plastered to his head, and he fiercely scratched at his long beard. I must look and smell like hell. There was fine sand heaped on each step, making the descent treacherous. The air was stale and had a trace of death in it, but that was to be expected. He made it down a floor-and-a-half before the stairway was completely blocked by sand. Buildings like this slowly gave up to the relentless pressure of the outside sand, starting with the outside window rooms, then slowly filling up the rest. Jonas retreated up to the first landing and opened one of the two doors to a hallway. He swept the beam of his dimming flashlight down the hall, and gave it a few more cranks. Doors led off the hallway on regular thirty foot intervals. An apartment building then. As he walked down the hall, he aimed the beam at the base of each door. Each had a small pile of sand forced under the door by pressure on the far side. He didn’t bother with those. They would be impossible to open anyway. He doubled back and tried the opposite hallway. One door near the end had only a light dusting of sand in front of it, along with dusty footprints. The cheap lockset gave up on his fourth kick, and the door swung open on dry hinges. The smell went from tolerable to downright nasty. A good sign. The apartment had once been beautiful. A large top floor unit, with a gorgeous view no doubt. What he saw now, though, looked more like a survival bunker. Rusty cans of food in cardboard cases lined many of the walls, and one room that had probably once been a bedroom had become a garbage dump of empty cans. All the windows were boarded up with scraps of plywood and reinforced with wood braces. Knowing what he would find did not lessen the shock. All the holdouts died the same way, surrounded by tons of hoarded food. Their downfall was that they always underestimated their need for water. Once their drinking water ran out, they’d try to survive on water in the food, but it was never enough. As he played the flashlight beam around the main room, it eventually came to rest on the dried-out husk of the former occupant. This one had a note pinned to its tattered shirt. Jonas walked over and stood before the corpse. The note said, “My name is Bill Stevens. I saved you a beer. Hardest damned thing I ever did. Toast me as you drink it.” Jonas pulled the brown bottle from the dried out leather hands. The label was missing, and the bottle looked as though it had been handled a lot. He twisted off the top, and the pent-up pressure made the beer overflow the rim. He sucked greedily at the foam, and then took a long pull. Ambrosia. Jonas raised the bottle toward the dead man, and said, “Mr. Stevens, your sacrifice is much appreciated. May God grant you a just reward.” There was no way he could take much of the food with him, so he decided to eat as much as he could. There was no telling when he might run across another stash like this. He ate entire cans of beans, diced fruit and crackers until he was stuffed. Then he bedded down for the night in Mr. Steven’s cot for a comfortable night’s sleep. It would probably be his last for a while. Destination He woke the next morning before sunrise, as was his habit. He made a small pack of dry food by wrapping a few pieces in a torn sheet, and headed up the stairs to the roof. After donning the exposure suit and backpack and adjusting the water tube, he tossed the flashlight in the food bundle and tied it to his shoulder straps. Finally he urinated into the exposure suit’s recycler, and tried not to think about where his water supply came from. Outside, he reestablished his bearings from the previous evening, and set out again. It was already getting hot and the sun was only peaking over the horizon. Damned politicians and their solar energy experiment. Politics and the damn experiment doomed us all. The sun had boiled away two-thirds of the world’s oceans, and the air’s oxygen content was down too. It wouldn’t be long now. After an hour he pulled out Anna and rechecked his bearings. Not wanting to know but somehow needing to, he said, “Anna, how much time is left?” “Complete extinction threshold in thirty-two solar days. You must hurry, Jonas.” Jonas held the unit away from him, and stared at it. “Anna, are you … alive?” There was no response from the unit, but he hadn’t really expected one. Probably some long dead programmer was having some fun at his expense. He stashed the unit inside his suit and set out again. It was mid-afternoon by the time he closed on his destination, but he saw nothing but dunes. He fired up Anna again, and requested a range and distance. “Range two-hundred and thirty yards, fourteen degrees.” The unit displayed an arrow and range symbol, and he held it out in front of him as he walked. Ten minutes later he crested a dune and saw the top five feet of a black dome with an antenna on top. “Anna, can you interface with any active computer systems?” “Accessing, handshaking, connection established. Interrogating system. Main power is down to four percent, however the rest of the systems appear to be functional. The dome’s solar cells are mostly covered with sand.” Could have been much worse. “How do I get in?” “Clear the sand from the dome. That will expose more solar panels and charge the system. Ten feet below the top you will find an access port. I should be able to open it for you if there’s enough power.” Jonas was about to reply, then hesitated. “Anna, did you just use the personal pronoun?” Again, no answer. Must be a ghost in the machine. Descent Digging with his hands was slow work, and the blazing sun did not help. It was evening by the time he had fully exposed the access port, which was about thirty inches in diameter. It must have been meant for antenna maintenance access. Using the edge of the cloth from his makeshift food pack, he cleaned out the groove that ran around the port’s edge. He didn’t want the hatch to get wedged with sand. He pulled out Anna, and said, “Anna, please open the access port.” “Stand by. Routing power to the port mechanism.” The port popped in an inch and a puff of stale air blew sand from the edge groove. Then it began to rotate. It stopped after a moment with the sound of sand grinding against metal. Jonas flattened his hands on the rounded surface and twisted with all his strength. It gave an inch, then began the grinding rotation on its own again. A moment later it swung in, exposing a black hole. He pulled out the flashlight, spent a moment cranking it up, and shone it inside. The beam of his light was lost in the vast gloom, and only managed to illuminate the rungs of a vertical caged ladder. “Anna, can you turn on any lights?” “Emergency lights only. Full lighting will have to wait for the power cells to recharge. Stand by.” Widely scattered lights blinked on one by one, showing the vastness of the space but little else. He clipped the flashlight to his suit, and swung himself over the lip and onto the first rung. Now he wished he hadn’t asked for the lights, because looking down was giving him vertigo. He turned his eyes to the ladder and fixed them there. Then he began to descend, counting rungs as he went. When he reached two-hundred he paused and looked down. The safety cage ended a few feet below him, and the ladder continued down another fifteen feet or so to a concrete floor. He rushed down the last few feet and gratefully stood on solid ground, waiting for his heart to stop hammering. The Hanger Lights high up in the dome winked out, and an equal number of lights at floor level came on. No doubt Anna was making the most of the available power. The place was a hanger, as expected. Where once there had probably been hundreds of pods here, now just two hung from an elaborate overhead trolley system. Jonas breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that there wouldn’t be any left. The trolley tracks led down into a thirty foot diameter hole in the floor that was ringed with a safety rail. Four launch rail tracks came up from the hole, and continued to the dome far overhead. On the far side of the hole was a glass-enclosed booth that appeared to contain a vast array of electronic equipment. He walked over, his footsteps echoing, and stepped inside. “Anna, I’m not familiar with this equipment. What do I need to do?” “Please install me in the console.” Again with the personal pronoun. Interesting. “Where do I…”, he began, then stopped. In the middle of the console he saw a recess the exact shape of Anna’s case. He fitted the unit into the recess, and pushed until the contacts snapped into place. Immediately the lights in the booth came on and the lights outside winked out. There was a loud bang as the booth’s door crashed open and a young woman staggered in. She had long dark matted hair, wore ragged dark clothing, and looked near the point of emaciation. She pointed a pistol at Jonas, who took a step back and held out his hands to show he was unarmed. In a quavering voice, she said, “Who the hell are you and why are you here?” Jonas said, “Look, I’m sorry if my presence alarmed you. My name is Jonas and I’m unarmed. I’m here because my handheld led me here.” He indicated the Anna module in its console recess. “Please put the gun down; you’re making me nervous.” She swiveled her head in the direction he indicated, and her mouth opened in a look of disbelief. She dropped the gun on the floor, and walked slowly to the console. “Oh my God, you have an ANNA unit. You know what this means, don’t you?” Jonas replied slowly, “Why don’t you explain it to me.” “It’s an Autonomous Neural Network Adapter unit. It plugs into the escape pods you saw in the hanger. It’s a kind of key and automated pilot among many other things. You can’t fly a pod without one. I’ve been stuck in here for a month, ever since the outside sand covered the access port. I have no ANNA unit, and I thought I’d die in here.” To the room, Jonas said, “Anna, is that true?” “Yes, Jonas. I am your ticket off this planet.” An odd expression filled the woman’s face. “That’s quite an interesting unit you have there.” She turned to Jonas and held out her hand. “I’m sorry I threatened you. That old gun has no bullets anyway. My name is Lia.” He took her hand and said, “No harm done. Good to meet you. Good to meet anyone, for that matter.” She smiled at that and said, “The pods hold two people each. I think they were originally intended to get government officials and their families, as well as a few carefully chosen citizens and scientists off the planet before the end. How on earth did you come to have an ANNA?” “I found it at the abandoned Los Alamos lab. Actually it was a pile of parts on a work bench. I spent a week piecing it back together. I still don’t know if I put it together right, but it seems to work.” Anna’s silky voice came from the walls, “You did a fine job Jonas. All of my functions are in proper working order. Now, how would the two of you like to clean yourselves up, have some food, and get a good night’s rest before launch?” Respite Using the facility’s speaker system and lights, Anna led them out of the booth and to a small connected underground dormitory that was originally used for the crew that manned the base. There was a small commissary that had a decent supply of dry foodstuffs and canned beverages. Lia ate machine-gun style for ten minutes. When she finally took a break from eating, she said, “I can’t believe I was so close to food. After I entered, I closed the dome’s port to keep out the sand, and within a day my flashlight’s cells died. If you hadn’t come, Jonas, I probably would have died in a couple more days. All I had to sustain me was water that condensed on the cool walls in the mornings.” Jonas said, “How did you get in here in the first place. Anna got me in, but I couldn’t have done it without her.” “Once upon a time I was a computer programmer. I still know a few tricks.” Jonas described his trek across the sand, and took special pleasure in describing his one beer at the buried apartment building. After the meal, he said, “Didn’t Anna say something about cleaning ourselves up?” Anna’s voice came from a wall speaker, “I’ll turn on lights that will lead you to a small dormitory where you can clean up. The main computer system reports that the cistern water system is still functioning, but you will probably want to let the water run for a while. It hasn’t been used for a long time.” Anna did as promised, and after a short walk down several damp corridors they arrived in the dormitory section. They stopped in front of the first door and looked at each other. Lia stepped forward and encircled Jonas in a hug. She said, “Thank you. Do me a favor though, and shave off that awful beard. A shower would be nice too – you stink.” Jonas laughed as he stepped back. “Don’t thank me; we’re not off this damn rock yet.” He stroked his beard, and continued, “And what is wrong with this beautiful beard?” Lia rolled her eyes and walked down the hall to the next door. Jonas stepped through the first room’s door into a military style accommodation. The walls were cement block painted a light olive green; the only decoration a crucifix over the head of a small cot. It looked as though the previous tenant had left all his personal belongings behind, because the closet and the single dresser were full of clean military clothes. He stripped off his exposure suit and stepped into the small bathroom. Just as Anna had predicted, the water came from the tap in a brown smelly stream. He let it run a full ten minutes before it looked clear, then he gorged himself with water until his stomach ached. He took a shower, his first in over a year. In the medicine cabinet he found a pair of scissors and cut off as much hair as he could, both from his scalp and his beard. The razor and rusting can of shaving cream that sat on the edge of the sink made quick work of his remaining stubble. His thoughts were of Lia as he lay down on the cot and drifted off to sleep. Launch Window “Jonas, please wake up.” He sat bolt upright in the pitch blackness with his heart pounding in his ears. The lights came on gradually, and when realization hit he took a deep breath to relax. “Anna, what time is it?” “Four-oh-two A.M. We have a launch window in eighty-eight minutes, and there is just enough power for one launch. Are you ready?” “No, but I will be.” He climbed out of bed and started to collect his gear, but Anna said, “Don’t bother with your exposure gear, Jonas. You won’t need it anymore. Just put on a clean pair of shorts and a tee shirt from the dresser.” He took a few minutes to clean up, and walked down the hall to the commissary. Lia sat at a table, eating a bowl of cereal. As she turned her gaze on him he stopped dead in his tracks. He said, “My, you sure clean up well. Either that or you’re an early morning person.” She smiled at him and said, “You’re not so bad yourself without that awful beard. I guess I might be convinced to date the last man on earth after all.” Jonas blushed and changed the subject. “You know, you look a bit familiar. Have we met before?” She studied him and said, “Now that you mention it, something about you seems oddly familiar too, but I can’t quite place it.” “Maybe we’ll figure it out. Say, where’d you get the milk?” “It’s powdered milk and water. Simply awful by itself, but fine on cereal.” Anna’s voice came from the wall speaker. “Boys and girls, please eat your meal quickly and report to the hanger. We have preparations to make and not much time.” Jonas said, “Yes mother,” and made himself a bowl of cereal using some of Lia’s leftover milk. He ate quickly, and together they walked out to the hanger. Lights went out behind them and came on ahead as they walked, creating an eerie sensation that made the hair on the back of Jonas’ neck stand on end. As they arrived in the hanger, the booth and the pit area lit up with bright lights. One of the two remaining pods moved on the overhead trolley system out of its storage location, and stopped in front of the booth. It was shaped like in inverted tear drop, maybe ten feet in diameter, with a small circular plas-steel window in the top surface. Maneuvering thrusters poked out around the narrow base, each covered with an aerodynamic fairing. A round access port stood open in one side. The words, “ESCAPE POD No. 999” were painted next to the port, and below in smaller letters it said “Mark II”. Lia said, “Anna, where is the drive system? I don’t see any propulsion thrusters.” “There is no main propulsion in the pods. Except for the hanger, this entire complex is an acceleration launch system. The pods are shot out of the hole in the floor and through the dome. The shaft goes down three kilometers, and the rail system magnetically accelerates the pod.” Jonas looked up, expecting to see the underside of the dome. Instead he saw a circle of nighttime stars. Lia said, “So it’s like being shot out of a cannon? Won’t the g-forces kill us?” “It won’t be pleasant, but no, it probably won’t kill you.” “Great. I like the odds better than staying on this rock anyway. What’s next?” “I’ve programmed the launch sequence already. Now I need one of you to go into the booth, withdraw my module from the console, and return to the pod.” Jonas said, “Roger that”, but before he took a step Lia was halfway to the booth to get it. Jonas couldn’t help but feel exultant. He was finally getting off this barren wasteland of a planet before it got incinerated, and with a woman no less. But was there any place to go up there? That was the real question. She brought Anna’s module out of the booth and stopped before the pod. Anna said, “Now both of you, please strip off all your clothes and put on the jump suits you’ll find inside.” Jonas reddened, but once again Lia was ahead of him. She reached into the pod and pulled out two white jumpsuits, tossed one to Jonas, and began to peel off her clothes. He averted his eyes, and followed suit. When he pulled the front zipper to the top, the baggy suit sucked itself into form-fitting contours. Jonas glanced at Lia appraisingly without trying to look like he was staring. She wasn’t quite as emaciated as he had first thought. And she really did seem familiar somehow. Then realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and he turned away to hide his amazement. Descent Anna said, “Climb into the pod and strap yourselves in. You’ll find a slot in the console for my module where you can plug me in.” Jonas climbed in through the port first. The interior was a simple arrangement of textured gray plastic surfaces. Two side-by-side acceleration couches were mounted in the center, with armrest-mounted controls. A small console was positioned between the couches. He plugged Anna’s module into the console, and the interior lighting came on. Lia climbed in behind him and they both sat down in the couches, which automatically adjusted to their contours. They attached and tightened their restraints, and looked straight up through the viewport to see the stars in the open dome above. Through the pod’s speaker system, Anna said, ‘Stand by, running a systems check.” A moment passed, then, “System check complete. All systems nominal except the maneuvering thruster propellant tank, which is down to ninety-one percent. No leaks detected. The missing propellant probably evaporated through the sealant bladder. We should have enough, however.” The pod’s hatch swung shut and latched into place with an audible thunk. The pod began moving on the trolley system, until they could see that they were centered below the dome and over the pit. Lia reached one hand across to hold Jonas’ hand, and a moment later the pod went into near freefall, straight down the pit. Jonas’ stomach lurched, but a moment later he began to feel some gravity return as the pod’s descent slowed. Lia’s strong grip on his hand was almost painful. He looked across to her and found her face set in grim determination. As they neared the bottom of the shaft, the magnetic launch rails further slowed their descent until they came to a gentle stop at the bottom. Through the overhead viewport, the lights of the hanger three kilometers above were but a single pinprick in the blackness. Launch Anna said, “Please place your arms and legs within the contours of the acceleration couches.” Lia withdrew her hand, and a moment later metal restraints flashed around their ankles and wrists, securing them to their couches. He said, “Anna, what the hell?” Anna said, “Our pod needs to be moving at about eleven-point-two kilometers per second when it leaves the dome in order to achieve a high orbit. Although the shaft is three kilometers deep, we need to accelerate up the rails at over two-thousand-one-hundred gravities in order to reach orbital escape velocity. Any lesser speed and we fall back to earth.” Lia said, “Ahhh, won’t that acceleration kill us? I mean, isn’t about five gees the human consciousness limit?” Jason felt a prick in each wrist, and said, “Ow, hey what was that?” “The pod is made of titanium and composites to withstand the extreme acceleration. You, however, are not. When I apply a small electrical current through the wrist and ankle bands, the compound I have just injected will temporarily protect you. It will only be necessary for a little over half a second, because once we exit the dome we’ll be travelling under our own kinetic energy. There shouldn’t be any permanent damage. Are you ready?” Lia looked across at Jonas, smiled, and said, “Even if we don’t make it, I still want to thank you.” “You’re very welcome. Anna, we’re read…” He didn’t finish his sentence before he felt tingling in his wrists and ankles, and his blood crystallized. The pod shot up the rails under crushing pressure. In Jason’s wide open eyes he saw an orange corona of gas plasma around the edges of the viewport as they shot through the dome roof. A moment later the tingling in their wrists and ankles stopped and they could move again. The pod shook violently as they ascended, and the sound was nearly deafening. The maneuvering thrusters made loud hissing sounds as they adjusted their trajectory in short spurts. This time Jonas reached across and grasped Lia’s hand tightly. Her face looked ashen. She said, “Anna, I might be sick. Why do I feel like I could float out of this couch?” “The atmospheric drag on the pod is slowing us down as we rise, making you feel that way. In a few minutes we’ll be in high earth orbit, and you’ll feel weightless. At that point I will release your restraints. Would you like me to inject a space sickness remedy?” “Yes, please.” Jonas said, “While you’re at it, I could use a shot of that too. And toss in some Scotch if you have any.” Now what? An hour later, Jonas and Lia were out of their seats with their noses pressed against the viewport. The view was breathtaking, but a sense of unease had come over both of them. Neither one dared ask the big question. Anna broached the subject for them. “High earth orbit has been attained. Maneuvering propellant tank is down to fifteen percent. My launch program has been aborted early due to an absent destination. Thrusters have been shut down to conserve remaining propellant. Expect the pod to slowly tumble.” Lia eyes opened wide, and she looked like she would be sick even with the meds. She said, “Anna, can you explain that?” “The program normally terminates with docking at the generation ship. The ship is not at the programmed orbital coordinates.” Jonas sucked in his breath. “So the ship left then?” Anna said, “The generation ship was scheduled to depart its high parking orbit five-hundred-eighty-six days ago. The ship uses a nuclear thruster to break orbit, then switches to a mercury-ion gas propulsion thruster system for stellar transit. We should find high residual radiation levels in this orbit, but my detectors have not found any that match the ship’s propulsion radiation signature.” Jonas said, “Does that mean the ship is still here?” “I do not know. There are four remaining active surveillance satellites. Would you like me to link up with them to search for it?” Together they both shouted, “Yes!” “Please stand by. Search may take several minutes.” Jonas felt anxiety tighten in his stomach. Lia looked determined, but her eyes were glassy. He drifted over and put his arms around her. Softly he said, “There’s still a chance. We would have died back on the surface anyway, so we haven’t really lost anything.” “Jonas, your bedside manner really sucks. Just don’t let go, OK?” They drifted around inside the pod for a few minutes, until Lia pulled her head back and looked into Jonas’ eyes. “You’re a good man, Jonas.” With that, she touched her lips to his. They were startled out of their reverie by Anna. “Search complete. Generation ship found five degrees off nominal orbit. She’s tumbling slowly and does not respond to hails.” Lia asked, “Do we have enough fuel to alter course for docking?” “We cannot match their orbital plane; that would take more fuel than is available. We may have enough fuel for an intercept approach, but we’d only have one chance to dock. If we miss, you die.” Jonas said, “We’re dead already if we do nothing. Lia, are you in?” She didn’t answer. Instead, she wrapped herself around Jonas like he was her lifeboat. He said, “Anna, please plot an intercept course.” Rendezvous Four hours later the generation ship appeared as a speck in the viewport just visible above the curvature of the earth. It grew visibly larger as Jonas watched. She was indeed slowly tumbling. “Anna, will it be possible to dock? I mean, she’s tumbling end over end.” “The ship’s docking transponder is operating at low power. I will attempt to dock at the emergency hatch located amidships. That location has the least relative motion to our approach vector. I estimate our chances of a successful docking to be sixty-one percent. We may run out of fuel. Please take your seats and strap in. I need your body masses stationary in order to minimize our trajectory error.” They each sat and tightened their straps. They felt small jolts from the maneuvering thrusters as Anna made continual corrections. As the generation ship grew larger, they began to make out details of its design. Lia asked, “What are those two huge rings around the ship’s axis?” “Habitat rings. They don’t appear to be spinning, but if they were, there would be artificial gravity in them. They spin in opposite directions so that the torque is even on the main hull. Oh shit, hang on, here we go.” The pod’s maneuvering thrusters kicked, and the pod turned sharply towards the ship’s side. Anna began to count down the remaining distance. “Two-hundred meters….One hundred meters…” The thrusters kicked again and the pod slowed. “fifty meters… twenty-five meters…” Again the thrusters kicked, but only briefly. Anna said, “Fuel exhausted. Brace for impact. Ten meters… five meters…” They hit so hard that Jonas’ head whipped forward. The pod seemed to bounce off the hull briefly, then latching cables spun out from the hull, grappled the pod, and dragged it to the port. Hydraulic machinery whirred as the docking seal was made. “Docking cycle complete”, said Anna. “Stand by while I interrogate the ship’s systems.” Jonas and Lia unstrapped themselves. Lia had a big smile on her face. “We made it Jonas, we have a chance, now.” “We’re not out of the woods yet”, said Jonas. Anna said, “The ship has atmosphere inside, however the pressure is a bit low. I am compensating the pod’s pressure now. Your ears may pop, and you may tire more easily until it is corrected. The ship’s power is very low, but there should be enough to operate the air lock. If you are ready to enter, take my module out of the console and pull the hatch lever out and down. That will release the door. Derelict The pod’s door swung open, revealing the generation ship’s exterior pressure hatch. A recessed handle was positioned next to it, which Lia grasped and turned. The circular hatch spun ninety degrees, a small hiss of air came from the edges, and it hinged inward. Beyond the hatch was a small gray cylindrical room with another hatch at the far end. The airlock lights flickered on and they floated into the airlock, Lia in the lead. Jonas turned and closed the outside hatch. When it was sealed, the inside door slid open automatically. Beyond it was a dark circular corridor leading away to the left and right of the airlock. Lia said, “Ewww, what the hell is that smell.” Jonas knew the smell well; it was the same as the one that came from the dead apartment holdout. “That’s the smell of death.” “Oh, God, you mean the crew is dead? We’re alone here?” “I don’t know, but we soon will. Anna, what do you recommend?” Anna said, “Just past the airlock door you will find a recess in the corridor wall that fits my module. Please plug me in.” Jonas pushed off gently, but the tumbling of the ship sent him off course and he bounced awkwardly off the door frame. He got one hand on the frame as he drifted past and levered himself to the wall. Lia chuckled, “That was smooth. Are you sure you’re the last man on earth?” “No idea; but in space - maybe.” He found the module recess with his fingers, which was in the face of a half-hemisphere that protruded from the corridor wall, and plugged in Anna’s module. The hemisphere began to glow, then it slowly extended free of the wall on a thick stalk a meter long. Lia said, “Anna, what is this thing?” “It is a maintenance bot. I’ve never interfaced with one before, so give me a moment to download the operation software.” A moment later two thin arms hinged out of the stalk, with manipulators at their ends. “Interface complete.” “What good is a maintenance bot,” asked Lia. “Maintenance bots have access to all parts of the ship. They are locked into the grooved track that runs down the length of all corridors. I recommend we head for the bridge. If both of you will grab hold of one of my arms, I will take you there.” Lia pushed off toward the bot, but like Jonas she misjudged the tumbling of the ship and landed on Jonas instead, who caught her. He said, “What were you saying about my acrobatic ability?” “You can let go now.” “Right.” Anna’s maintenance bot projected a bright beam of light down the corridor, and the bot started moving. It took a few moments for Jonas and Lia to get themselves situated in a stable position due to the ship’s tumbling, but they finally found that embracing each other with one hand each on the bot’s arms worked best. The corridor was about ten meters in diameter, with numerous cableways, ducts, pipes, and lateral crawlways. Every thirty meters a small hatch was embedded in the corridor wall. Lia said, “Where do those small hatches go?” Jonas said, “This corridor is the sealed main axial trunk. It is surrounded by another trunk, forming the outside skin of the ship. The airlock we came through goes through the space between the inner and outer surfaces. The idea is that a breach in one or the other will not cause a catastrophic loss in pressure.” Lia gave him a funny look. “Since when did you become an expert on spaceships?” Jonas shrugged with his one free shoulder. “It just seems logical, doesn’t it?” Fifty meters down the corridor they came to a large curved hatch, perhaps three meters square. Anna said, “This is the main access to habitat ring A. One of the two artificial gravity rings that look like hoops from the outside of the ship.” Jonas looked through the window in the door. “Can’t see a damn thing.” Anna said, “The bridge access is another twenty meters up the main trunk. Please hold on.” They found their first body a further ten meters up the trunk. It was pretty beaten up, as the tumbling of the ship was bouncing it off the walls several times a minute. The stench coming off the body was horrendous. Lia put her hand over her mouth and gagged. Jonas said, “Keep it inside Lia, I don’t want to clean up your lunch in zero gravity just now. You look a mite green. Avert your eyes and we’ll be past it in a moment.” “I hope we don’t find too many of those,” she said. “No guarantees.” Bridge The trunk ended in a heavy circular pressure door about two meters in diameter. Around the edge a placard read, “BRIDGE ACCESS. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”. Anna extended the tip of one of her bot’s manipulator fingers, and plugged it into a small port next to the hatch. A moment later the hatch hissed air and slid to the side. Inside, small emergency lights flickered on as they entered. The hatch opening formed a hole in the bridge floor. Jonas and Lia floated into the room, grabbed a stanchion, and looked around. Four desiccated bodies were strapped into acceleration couches, which faced a large bank of control consoles and monitors. Above the consoles was a clear hemispherical dome that provided a panoramic view of the earth as the ship slowly tumbled. Anna’s maintenance bot unplugged itself from the trunk wall, climbed through the hatch opening, and reattached itself to another track system on the bridge floor. “You okay, Lia?”, asked Jonas. “Yeah, give me a minute and I’ll be fine. I guess I’ll just have to get used to dead bodies.” She focused her attention on the view of earth instead. “God, would you look at that. All the old space photographs of earth I remember were of an essentially blue planet. Look at it now. It’s almost all grey and brown.” Anna’s bot slid up to the center of the console and plucked a similar blackened version of her module from the console. She said, “Jonas, please remove my module from this bot, and plug it into the console. I cannot do it myself because this bot will shut down when my module is removed. Once in the console, I should be able to find out what happened.” “Are you sure? The last module that was in there looks rather fried.” “If my suspicions are correct, I will be fine.” Jonas looked at Lia, who shrugged her shoulders. “OK, here goes.” Jonas slipped Anna’s module into the recess. Nothing happened for a full minute, and Jonas’ stomach began to tighten. “Anna, are you OK?” “Yes, I am intact. The ship has suffered extensive damage to its electronic systems. I am attempting to bypass the damage to get to the memory core. Please stand by.” Another minute dragged by. “Core memory link established. Automatic sensor logs recorded a powerful Solar Proton Event six-hundred thirty-two days ago. Although all systems are shielded, the event was five time stronger than any previously reported event, and caused widespread system failures. The crew and passengers all died from extreme radiation sickness. Life support is functioning at minimal levels.” “You mean we’re alone up here,” asked Lia with a hysterical edge to her voice. “No. The hibernating arrival crew is in a strongly shielded area of the ship, and thirty-two of the thirty-five crew survived the event. The hibernation system is separate from all other systems, and the only information I can get from here is a status update. The hibernation system is running on emergency power, and will fail soon.” Lia said, “Who are these people? Can they run the ship?” “Hibernation is an energy expensive and dangerous process,” said Anna. “That is why this is a generation ship. The descendants of the crew and passengers would be the ones to make planet fall on the far end, but there was no way of knowing if they would be competent to operate the ship on arrival. Therefore, a small command and maintenance crew was placed in hibernation for that eventuality. I recommend that we wake them.” Jonas said, “Agreed, let’s go.” Hibernation The hibernation room was at the far aft end of the main trunk, just ahead of the drive compartment. Anna’s module was plugged back into the bot, and she dragged Lia and Jonas back through the ship to the stern. Just aft of where their pod was still attached, they passed through what appeared to be crew quarters, complete with small cabins, a galley and mess area, and heads. It was all set up for weightlessness, since this part of the ship had no artificial gravity. The aft end of the main trunk was closed off by a bulkhead and two reinforced circular hatches similar to the single one on the bridge end. Around one hatch was a placard that read, “HIBERNATION ACCESS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”. The other hatch read, “PROPULSION BAY – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.” Anna extended the tip of one of her manipulator fingers, and again plugged into a small port next to the hibernation access hatch. A moment later the hatch hissed air and slid to the side. Scattered emergency lights came on, illuminating a room that looked eerily like a morgue. As they entered they faced a bank of stainless steel drawers with a name and title on each. A lighted status display was on each drawer front, and almost all had green lights. Three showed red. Lia drifted across the drawer fronts, reading aloud the names and titles. “Edward Campbell, Electronics Technician First Class, Melissa Fullbright, Communications Technician.” She read several more names until she got to an interesting one. “Here we go. It says, Dr. Kate Ashworth, Medical Officer.” She chuckled, “And then it says, and I’m not making this up, open me first.” Jonas drifted over and examined the drawer front. The silhouette of a hand was etched on the surface, which was the only indication of a control other than the status light. “I guess they wanted to make it as simple as possible. Here goes…” He placed his hand on the surface, and a moment later air hissed from the edges of the drawer and it slid out. A figure lay on the tray wrapped in a dark gray body bag of some sort. The face was covered by a black mask that had a cluster of clear tubes attached to it. Amber colored liquid was clearly visible moving in the tubes. Lia reached for the mask, but Anna said, “Please do not touch the mask yet. The automated resuscitation procedure has commenced. All you need to do is wait a few moments. Please stand by.” A moment later the body spasmed, sat up, and flailed at the mask. Anna said, “Quickly now please, remove the doctor’s mask and restraints.” Jonas pushed off the back wall, snagged the edge of the drawer, and pulled the mask and upper body restraints off. The Doctor doubled over, and dry heaved. She gasped great gulps of air but kept her eyes tightly closed. Lia drifted over and said, “Doctor, how are you feeling?” Doctor Ashworth opened her eyes to slits and croaked, “Just as you’d expect after being asleep for a few thousand years. Like shit. Old dry shit.” “Ah, Doctor, we had to revive you a bit early. We have a problem,” said Jonas. She peered at Jonas and whispered, “Early, how early?” “A few thousand years. The ship never left earth orbit.” Her eyes opened wide and she said, “What? What do you mean the ship never left?” Anna cut in, “The ship was scheduled to depart five-hundred-eighty-six days ago. Automatic sensor logs recorded a powerful Solar Proton Event six-hundred thirty-two days ago that severely damaged the ship and killed the crew and passengers, including three of your hibernating associates.” She groaned then looked up sharply at Lia and Jonas. “If the crew and passengers are dead, why aren’t you?” Lia said, “We weren’t part of the crew or passengers. We got lucky and escaped earth in a pod a few hours ago, only to find a tumbling derelict full of dead bodies. Apparently this part of the ship was sufficiently shielded to save most of the hibernating arrival crew.” Realization dawned on Doctor Ashworth’s face. “Oh god, you mean that all that’s left of humanity is thirty-two…sorry, thirty-four people who are about to be incinerated in a derelict ship?” Lia looked at Jonas, then uncertainly back at the Doctor. “That about sums it up, but we thought with the arrival crew’s expertise we might at least get the ship out of orbit and away from the sun. There’s not much time, Doctor. By the way, my name is Lia and this is Jonas.” “If we’re all that’s left you might as well leave off my title. Please call me Kate. Let’s get the Captain up.” The Captain Captain Richards was the second person revived, and Kate carefully monitored him until he was fully recovered. He was middle aged and tall, with a slight frame and close cropped graying hair. Lia and Jonas related their story again to the grim faced captain. He shook hands with Lia and Jonas, and turned to Doctor Ashworth. “Kate, let’s get the Chief Engineer up first, then the tech and maintenance crew. Send the Chief to the bridge as soon as he has recovered. Send everyone else to their duty stations to assess damage and await instructions.” The Captain turned to Jonas and Lia. “A Solar Proton Event that could kill the crew and passengers would almost certainly have severely damaged the ship’s systems. If the ship’s navigation and drive system ANNA units are too damaged, we may not be going anywhere.” Anna’s bot, which had sat motionless and mute during the Captain’s revival, now moved in its track toward the group. It stopped in front of the Captain, and said, “Greetings Captain Richards. I am ANNA unit series two, serial number zero-zero-one. My programming and hardware is fully intact. I am at your service.” The Captain looked sharply at the bot; a look of surprise on his face. “A series two? The last I heard it was still in prototype development. If you’re a series two, then how in hell did you get up here?” Jonas said, “I found the unit at Los Alamos on earth. It was just a pile of parts. It took a while, but I got it assembled, and it led us here.” “Well I’ll be damned. This is an amazing stroke of luck if ever I saw one. The computer systems in this ship are based on ANNA units. They’re probably all fried, but just one working series two might be enough.” Anna said, “Captain, there is very little time. I’ve interfaced with the ship’s solar sensors, and although the ship’s tumbling rotation has made observation difficult, I estimate we have no more than forty-one hours before we are hit by another massive Solar Proton Event. We need a quick orbital exit that leaves the earth between us and the sun.” “Damn. Then we’d better be underway quickly. Let’s get up to the Bridge. We need to stop the ship’s tumbling or we’ll never get out of here.” Spin Up It took a bit longer for Anna to drag the Captain, Lia, and Jonas to the bridge due to the extra person, and due to the fact that the Captain had them stop at Lia and Jonas’ pod to jettison it. When they neared the bridge, they had to contend once again with the tumbling crewman’s body. The Captain detached himself from Anna’s bot, captured the floating body, and secured it to a wall using straps built into the crewman’s suit. When he returned to Lia and Jonas, his face was ashen. “That was crewman Stevens. He was my nephew. I got him on board.” Once back on the bridge, the Captain plugged Anna back into the console. “Anna, can you establish command and control with the stabilizer thruster systems?” “Please stand by; mapping active circuits. Mapping complete. I have command and control over twelve of the fifty-two thrusters. It will not be enough to stabilize the ship. However, I do have access to the habitat ring control systems. If I spin them up in sequence, I should be able to stabilize the ship. There is just enough backup power left, and once we’re stabilized and properly oriented the photocells will begin to recharge the secondary battery systems. “Lia and Jonas, please grab a stanchion or wall handgrip. I don’t want you flying all over my bridge. Anna, execute ship stabilization.” A loud shuttering, grinding noise vibrated through the ship. Through the dome they could all see that the ship’s tumbling was being replaced by spinning about it’s central axis. Then a deeper grinding noise vibrated through the ship, as Anna spun up the second habitat ring in the opposite direction. The tumbling derelict’s rotation gradually slowed and stopped. A Meeting of the Minds Chief Engineer Davis arrived ten minutes later. Like the Captain, he had closely cropped gray hair, but that’s where the similarity ended. He was built more like a fireplug than anything else, with a heavily muscled frame and deeply cragged features. The Captain made the introductions and briefed the Chief on the situation. “Anna, please give me a display of the command and control system pathways that require repair before we can leave orbit,” said the Chief. “Prioritize by critical systems first. We may have to leave before all repairs are completed.” A large console view screen came to life, showing a schematic of the ship. Overlaid were a myriad of red, orange, and purple lines and symbols, indicating damaged areas. “Holy shit,” muttered Jonas. Lia hugged Jonas and said quietly in his ear, “You never know what’s possible until your life’s on the line. These guys are pros.” Jonas said, “Chief, I may be able to assist you. I know a bit about this ship.” Chief Davis looked quizzically at Jonas for a moment, then his face took on a look of surprise. “Good lord, you’re Jonas Appleton, aren’t you?” Jonas looked embarrassed. “That would be me.” “You didn’t get here by chance, did you?” “Not chance, no, but an awful lot of luck.” Lia face grew stormy as she stared at Jonas. She pointed an angry finger at him and said, “Jonas Appleton. Cripes, now I recognize the face. You were the chief spacecraft designer at Interstellar Systems, weren’t you? You just about designed this damn ship. I can’t believe I was so stupid. And all this time you acted like a simpleton. I want to know why!” Jonas stared intently at Lia before responding. “I might ask the same of you, Lia Gardner. As I recall, you were Principal software architect for the ANNA modules. You were playing the same game as me.” The Captain looked confused. “Game? What game?” “I can only speak for myself,” said Jonas, “but I never thought we’d get this far. It was a long shot at best, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up. Or mine for that matter. I had every expectation of a slow death in the pod.” Lia said, “So you knew who I am?” “I wasn’t sure at first, but when you cleaned yourself up I recognized you.” He lowered his voice. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I am.” The Captain cut in, “I’m sure this is all very interesting, but we have a lot of work to do, and little time in which to do it.” Ghost in the Machine Chief Engineer Davis was in the propulsion bay just aft of the hibernation section, guiding his repair crews. The Captain and Jonas had taken the corpses out of the bridge’s command seats, and strapped them in a group to the walls. It was a gruesome task made all the worse by the knowledge of how many more corpses there were aboard the ship. Lia kept her eyes averted from them as best she could, but her eyes strayed to the corpses every now and then, and she shuddered each time. The floating arms and legs unnerved her. Lia sat strapped into a work station, disassembling damaged ANNA units. It was difficult work in zero gravity, as parts tended to drift away. The ten ANNA units they had retrieved from various ship systems and stored backup units were all damaged, but the hope was that at least one could be assembled from salvaged parts. The one ANNA series two they had was a lot better than the old series one units, but with the ship’s systems so heavily damaged it was not certain that it would be enough by itself. Captain Richards and Jonas sat side by side in the command chairs, analyzing the damage data from Anna, and providing guidance to Chief Davis and his crews. Jonas said, “The good news is that it appears that the ship was oriented toward the sun during the Solar Proton Event, and the propulsion bay was protected from the worst of it by the hibernation unit’s hardened shielding.” “And the bad news is that the bridge wasn’t so lucky,” said the Captain. “Command and control is going to be dicey. We’re going to need those ANNA units, Lia. How’s it going?” Lia looked up from her work, and her black hair swirled around her head in a nimbus. “Lousy. Every one of these damned things has fried input-output circuits, and the programming is thoroughly corrupted. Most of the rest of the units’ circuits survived unscathed, but they’re useless unless we can tie them in to the ship’s systems.” Anna said, “If I may suggest a solution. My capabilities are limited by my hardware. If you daisy-chain my main circuit board to the other units by splicing them directly into the console bus, I will be able to utilize their computing power and memory in addition to my own.” Lia arched an eyebrow. “Anna, that’s an excellent idea.” She paused, a look of concern spreading across her face. “Anna, we didn’t program you to be creative, and yet you’ve shown an amazing aptitude for it. Are you sure you aren’t damaged in some way?” “All system code checksums show unaltered code.” “What’s your last software compile date and author code?” “Final compilation occurred on February twenty-third, two-thousand two-hundred and twelve, author code Xray”. “Shit. Captain, it would appear that Jonas’ ANNA unit was compiled three months after our final software release, and it’s not my author code. X-ray was one of my programmers, but he was a bit of a loose cannon, always experimenting with neural engrams. It looks like Jonas found the unit he was tinkering with. I’m not sure if the unit is, well, trustworthy.” The Captain looked over at Lia and chuckled. “Lia, that’s the least of my worries. That’s the only ANNA unit we have, and it did a good job piloting your pod. If what it said will work, then I say we give it a try.” Twenty minutes later, Lia had the processor and memory boards from the ten damaged units loosely spliced into the console bus. “Anna, if you’re ready to interface with the other units, then please proceed.” A tense thirty seconds passed without a word from Anna. Jonas said, “Anna, is it working?” There was a long pause, then, “Interface is complete. Modules three and eight have damaged memory cells, and I have remapped their remaining memory.” “Anna, how do you feel,” asked Jonas. Lia said, “Jonas, it’s a damn computer not a…” “Feel. Feel? I feel---I feel---LIKE A GOD! BWA HA HA HA HA.” Anna’s words boomed through the bridge’s speakers, echoing off the walls. Lia’s face drained of color and she reached for the console splice. Anna said, “I am sorry Lia, but it would appear that X-ray programmed me with a sense of humor. At random intervals an algorithm runs that generates a random verbal response to the current situation. The subroutine is not tied into any other systems or decision making routines.” Lia chuckled and relaxed. “Now that you mention it, that did sound a lot like something X-ray would say. He must have used some of his own neural engrams in his reprogramming. Anna, please disable the comedy subroutine.” “I’m sorry Lia, but that routine is password protected. I am unable to disable it.” Jonas said, “Great, a ghost in the machine. That’s all we need.” Boost Twenty-one hours after the hibernation crew had been awakened, the ship was ready for the de-orbit burn. The crew had worked non-stop, pausing only briefly for food and an occasional cat nap. During the design of the ship, Jonas had insisted on fault protection and redundant primary power and control cables, even though the likelihood of the extra cables ever being used was considered remote. All cables that had been energized at the time of the Solar Proton Event had either melted or shorted out, but the unconnected redundant cables were unaffected. All that was required was to disconnect the original cables and attach the ends of the redundant cables in their place. The last four hours had been used for testing the cable interconnections. Chief Engineer Davis’ voice came from the intercom, “Captain, all stations report that primary propulsion, maneuvering systems and controls are now operational. We are standing by down here, awaiting your orders.” “Thank you, Chief.” Lia had just finished permanently mounting the daisy-chained ANNA units to the console. “How many gees will we be subjected to during boost?” “About five-and-a-half,” said Captain Richards. “Because we are using a nuclear boost engine, we have to escape earth in less than one orbit. Otherwise we would cross our own radioactive trail with potentially fatal results. Anna, please compute a de-orbit boost that will leave us in earth’s shadow during the coming Solar Proton Event. Final destination is Alpha Centauri. Compute trajectory changes using the gravity wells of planetary bodies to minimize subsequent maneuvering.” “Computing de-orbit boost, please stand by. Calculations complete. First boost window is in one hour, five minutes, forty two seconds. Second boost window is in eleven hours, fifty three minutes, nine seconds.” “Very well. Anna, please program for the first boost window.” “Acknowledged. Program running.” The minutes ticked down, with everyone checking and double checking systems. Jonas and Lia ran boost failure simulations on the ANNA unit in an attempt to have ready procedures available in case the worst happened. It rapidly became obvious that any failure was a death sentence. The problem was time. They had two windows to get away before the next Solar Proton Event, but if there were any more failures, the likelihood of a quick fix was very small. The Captain activated the intercom. “Everyone, please strap yourselves in tight, this will be…uncomfortable. Good luck.” “My engineering team is secured for burn, Captain. All boost systems show green,” said the Chief through the bridge speaker. “Thank you, Chief.” He turned to Lia and Jonas. “Please, get into your acceleration couches.” They spent the next few minutes strapping themselves in and watching the countdown displayed on the console. Lia was nervous. “Have you ever been through boost before,” she asked Jonas. He laughed. “Me? I’ve never even been in space before. I drive a desk for a living, or at least I did. I’m a space rookie just like you.” “Jonas, your bedside manner stinks. The correct answer was to lie.” She dropped her voice to a masculine tenor. “Of course, nothing to it.” Jonas chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind, if we live.” “Standby, initial boost in five…four…three...two…one…BOOST,” said Anna. Jonas knew what was coming from a technical design perspective, but the reality was nothing like the numbers on a page. The ship lurched violently forward and vibrated like a kettle drum. His vision blurred as the immense acceleration distorted the shape of his eyeballs. The skin of his face stretched back, making him grin involuntarily. He tried lifting his arms, but both felt like lead weights had been strapped to them. The corpses lashed to the wall broke free and slammed into the bridge floor in a series of sickening boneless thuds. Just as Jonas’ vision began to tunnel the pressure let up and he became instantly lightheaded.” Lia looked over at him. “Why did it stop? Is everything alright?” Jonas shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. “It’s not over yet. The ship is launching a series of small nuclear charges out the aft end, and the resulting explosions accelerate us in steps.” “Standby, secondary boost in five…four…three...two…one…BOOST,” said Anna. The transition from being lightheaded to the secondary boost was too much for Jonas. His peripheral vision went dark, then what remained shrank to a small dot of light, and he gratefully succumbed to unconsciousness. Aftermath “Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead.” The voice sounded vague and far off, but Jonas swam up through unconsciousness toward it. He felt as though a heavy weight was on his chest, and he couldn’t move his arms. He opened his eyes to slits in the bright light, and found Lia straddling his chest. “Jonas, you’re such a lightweight. Do you know that you’re the only one who blacked out? It took you a while to come out of it too. Doctor Ashworth was concerned and had you brought down to the medical section in habitat ring one. That’s where you are now. You’ve been out cold for over three hours.” “Lia, I can barely breathe with you on my chest. Do you mind?” Lia leaned down until her face was a few inches from his. “Of course I don’t mind. I kinda like you in this position.” Jonas rolled his eyes. “Can you at least tell me our sit-rep?” “The burn was successful. We are safely on our way in earth’s shadow.” She leaned in. “Now listen up. We have a long voyage ahead of us. Doctor Ashworth hasn’t said anything yet, but it’s obvious that it’ll fall to all of us remaining to repopulate this little lifeboat. I like you, understand?” “Uh, yeah.” “You had me worried there for a while. While you were out cold I met all the hibernation techies on this lifeboat, and they all remind me of the people I used to work with. Intensely focused and competent, and damn boring if you ask me. You, on the other hand, are at least slightly handsome and a trifle interesting.” Jonas’ mind spun as he tried to formulate an answer. His jaw worked but nothing came out. Lia said, “Here’s where you say that I’m interesting too, and that you would like to get to know me better.” His jaw finally came unglued and he grinned. “What choice do I have?” He reached behind her back and pulled her down.

•••••The End •••••