Oceanus: Chapter 13
"And for the rest o’ th’ fleet, Which I dispersed, they all have met again" - William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
Chapter 1-5| Chapter 6 |Chapter 7| Chapter 8| Chapter 9|Chapter 10| Chapter 11| Chapter 12
A short one this week because things are ramping up on Oceanus.
Balthazar entered the bridge of the Demeter. The auto lights did not come on when he unlocked the doors. Funny he thought. He searched around for a light switch. That was when he saw it.
The creature rattled around behind the captain’s chair. Its shadow seemed to cover the room depending on its position.
“I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” Balthazar began to whisper but no matter how much he tried, he could only think of the lyrics of an old rap song and not the much needed psalm.
“Computer, lights!”
No response. He could hear the hissing behind the captain’s chair. “W-whatever you want, j-just take it,” he stuttered, the freezing instinct gripped him by the gut and held him there. “I just want the comms s-system, yeah?” The hissing continued. “Lights!” he commanded. The darkness withstood his newly discovered authoritative tone.
He decided to abandon the mission and head back to his cabin. As he swiped his fob across the lock panel, nothing happened. He ran it past the panel again and again. He tried wiping his fob against his shirt and then swiping. Nothing. He was locked in there with the thing.
“Liana. Lights”
“Balthazar! Are you going to ask nicely?” Oh thank god, he thought.
“Liana, please turn the lights on.” The creature was drawing closer to him. He could feel its warm breath against his cheek. He clamped his eyes closed and held his breath.
“Balthazar, what are you doing here in the dark?” Liana was sitting in the captain’s chair, cross legged and smiling. The bridge was fully lit with all control panels working and flickering. Their reassuring hums and bleeps made him take a deep breath.
“Liana, please plot a course for Atlantis from Oceanus.”
“Oh honey,” she shook her head, “we can’t plot courses for planets that aren’t in the database.”
“You can’t? How does anyone get back then?”
“They have to map it.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Me neither honey. Those are just the rules.” She was admiring her pink fingernails.
“Let’s send another distress call out then.”
“Sure thing.” she winked and turned to open the computer. “Oh wait a minute.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a message!” she said excitedly. “It’s for you.”
Balthazar leaned over to the computer Liana was sitting at. It was a message from the Atlantis Science Council. For a moment, he could only stare at the message notification.
“Open it.”
B Swaine,
Message received. We are unable to provide assistance. our message was tracked as originating from a system that we have no jurisdiction in.
Your message has been forwarded to the relevant bodies who may be able to issue emergency legislation, but this is unlikely at present. We have also notified New Botswana, The Rimar and Atlantis of the S.S Demeter’s status.
End transmission.
Balthazar’s stomach sank deeper than he thought humanly possible. He didn’t breathe for some time. “Is this all of it?” he asked.
“I think so. That was the end of transmission there.” she pointed at the red line on the screen.
“They’re not coming.” he felt his breath shortening and tried to stay calm. He rested a hand on Liana’s shoulder.
“What will you do next?”
“Me?” he had forgotten that he was indeed on his own, no matter how helpful Liana was. “I don’t know. Can we scan for life signs?”
“Of course.”
Within seconds, new data appeared on the screen.
Human: 13
Uncategorised: 2
Liana swiped to reveal a three dimensional computerised blueprint of the planet. “Those red dots are where the humans are.” The small planet consisted mostly of ocean with one small land mass. To the north of the island was a cluster of five red dots. To the south of it was one red dot heading north. On the eastern edge of the island was another cluster of six red dots. In the centre, there was one red dot. On the same point of the map was a white dot and another white dot further to the south west of the island. “The white dots are uncategorised. Either the body temperatures are out of regular parameters or the scanners have detected other organic life forms by mistake.”
“Other organic life forms? Like, cows for example?” He didn’t know why the cow was the first animal that came to mind. “Please tell me it means animals.”
Liana turned to look at him gravely. “Animals are usually categorised as animal or ‘organic/other’” she said.
“What?” Balthazar’s heart was racing. “You mean?” he couldn’t bring himself to say alien.
“It’s possible.” Liana nodded.
“Oh my god.” Balthazar felt sick with giddiness. “Ok, do we know if they’re dangerous?”
“No way of knowing but the humans on the planet are alive so that’s a good sign.”
“We’re only missing five, maybe seven.” he started to count on his fingers. “Captain, co-pilot, Engineer guy, comms guy, me…” he struggled to name anyone else.
“I could pull up the personnel report for you?”
“Excellent. Let’s do that.”
The list contained eleven names including the crew and the passengers. “What? There are eleven people on the planet.” Balthazar was stunned. “Who the hell are the other two?”
“It’s not clear.” Liana said.
“Do we have any chance of finding out who these guys are?” Balthazar swiped across to return to the blueprint. The same red dots were flashing.
“Not really. I can find shuttles and see who piloted if that helps?”
“Yes please. Scan for shuttles.”
Liana retrieved new information to display on the screen. This time, there were four shuttles. Three were flashing green and one was blue. “What does blue mean?”
“It means unserviceable. It’s broken down or damaged.”
“Can we get it back up and running?”
“Maybe. Want me to see if I can fire up the ship’s tractor beam? There doesn’t seem to be a storm today.”
“Yes please, Liana. See if you can get that shuttle back in action.” Liana tapped away on the other consoles, swiping screens and pushing buttons. Balthazar, despite his copious reading of the previous twenty four hours, felt so far out of his depth that he happily watched Liana work. He sat in the captain’s chair, watching the life signs on the overhead screen with bated breath.
The two white dots stirred deep feelings of fear mixed with fascination. He wondered if this was an opportunity to seize or a catastrophe to avoid. He wished he wasn’t in charge any more.
Things are indeed ramping up! Can’t wait for more!