Chapters 1-5| Chapter 6 |Chapter 7| Chapter 8| Chapter 9|Chapter 10| Chapter 11| Chapter 12|Chapter 13| Chapter 14|Chapter 15|Chapter 16| Chapter 17| Chapter 18|Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 |Chapter 21
Seretse Walner, the captain of the S.S Demeter, was a man in his late forties and– as far as people from the colonies were concerned– a rare native of wealthy South African Earth. Balthazar, a Martian, had always been envious of Earth’s inhabitants; especially those living on the African continent. Walner, despite coming from a country that financially propped up Earth and, by extension, colonisation of space with its wealth of natural resources and tourism, served as a Captain of an envoy ship, hundreds of millions of miles away from home. Balthazar, wanting to ask him why, always held back and imagined an exciting scenario instead. Perhaps Walner did something scandalous and took a job in space as a way of saving his reputation. Perhaps, he fell in love with a visitor from one of the colonies and followed them back to the frontier. Whatever story Balthazar cooked up in his head, he still didn’t get it. Why would such a privileged man from Earth come to space?
Walner was funny, professional and approachable but even so, Balthazar understood the basics of command and knew ‘the captain isn’t a friend,’ as his father had warned him, several times. Once, when they were departing for New Botswana, he laughed a little too hard when the captain said, “New Bots is just like old Bots… but shit.”
Balthazar had never been to Botswana. He would probably never be able to afford to, either. Captain Walner was the closest he would get, so he clung to him like a captivated child wanting another story about lands far from reach.
He wouldn’t have been the only Martian to feel this way. There were people on Mars who–given the chance–would sell organs to live on Earth, had there been any need for organ donation on the planet in the twenty-fourth century.
With Balthazar’s help, the Europa had travelled back to the Demeter with a strained Captain Walner, an unconscious co-pilot, a frightened navigator, a rattled engineer and an exhausted communicator. The only person able enough to help him get his ship back up and running was Balthazar Swaine, Cabin Steward.
“Swaine? You did all this by yourself?” the captain asked, looking over the ship’s log and status reports. The familiar hum of the machines and cool breeze from the air conditioner soothed him as he looked around at the consoles and lights. “You don’t know how nice it is to get some functioning lights for once,” he said. “I need to see how everything is working and then we can relax for a minute.”
“Aye, sir.”
The captain pulled the blueprint of the ship onto the screen and activated the SITREP update. “Ok Swaine, how are the engines?”
“Seem to be working, sir, but I’m no engineer so I couldn’t switch them on or anything.”
Walner smiled. “Fair enough. Damage?”
“None that I know of.”
Walner sat down in his chair, watching the screen for any anomalies. “I need to know the current status of the uncategorised.”
The uncategorised. That had been the first thing on Balthazar’s agenda when he opened the shuttle bay for the captain. In his mind, he had hoped they were on the brink of an exciting, life-changing discovery and Balthazar Swaine, certified ship’s idiot, would be part of it. Successfully suppressing his tendencies to blurt out or impulsively start on a new activity, he had instead greeted everyone with a smile, readying the medical bay for the crew.
“They’re here, sir,” Balthazar said, pointing to the co-pilot’s screen on the bridge. The white lights stood still, almost on top of one another. Beside them was a solitary red light. “One has moved since I last saw this screen.”
“Mhm,” Walner said. He held his chin in his hand, brooding over the data. “Is this red one one of ours?”
Balthazar shook his head. “I’m not sure, sir.”
“Well, six are back on here. Six are next to the Callisto… but we can’t be sure who.” Walner leaned back and placed his hands on his knees. “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do… we’re all going to take the Lisbon test. No one comes back on the Callisto until they’ve– oh–”
The SITREP report had finished, revealing several areas for review. Walner opened the notifications tab and inspected them. “Cause of damage to the shuttles… Ion storm. Another Ion storm on the way. Should be here in an hour.”
“That’s not enough time to get them back, sir.”
“No, it’s not,” he agreed, sitting upright. “We can get a message to them. It shouldn’t affect them on the ground– it’s just too dangerous for launch and entering orbit. It’ll cover the upper atmosphere and cut communications for a while. Once it passes, they can launch.” He stood up from the console. “Tell them to do the test and find shelter– just in case. It could be another twelve to twenty-four hours before they can come back… luckily, the Callisto isn’t damaged.”
“And the uncategorised, sir?”
Walner fixed his eyes on the white dots. If he was worried about the uncategorised, Balthazar couldn’t see it in his face. Instead, he could only see that his captain was coming to a decision. A deep crease set in on Walner’s forehead. “They’re not going anywhere by the looks of it. I’ve seen this kind of thing before.” He noticed that Balthazar was staring at him, wide-eyed and, not wanting to stir up a frenzy, waved his hand dismissively. “No, no aliens or synthetics or anything like that. It was just a couple of turtles, believe it or not.”
“Oh, I see.” Balthazar’s shoulders sank. He felt that his dreams of discoveries were shattering before his eyes. “Could just be some reptiles. Of course. I should have thought of that. Reptiles.”
“Maybe. Reptiles are good at that kind of thing. The crocodiles in Bots are a pain for fooling the perimeter scanners.” He shook his head. “We’ve gone through many pet dogs as a result. Anyway, let’s just review it over the next twelve hours. If they’ve been here for the entire time that we have, the threat level is low. Just tell the crew of the Callisto to test, find shelter and approach that part of the island with caution. I also want a status report on their welfare. I hope they haven’t been through anything like what we’ve had on the Europa; Quinn was seeing things from the moment we landed; Ahmed is worn out, Jessops is unconscious, and Jorgensson is the only person on board with medical training. We’re in dire straits, to be honest with you. I’ll get us a cup of tea and check on that lot downstairs,” he said, swiftly exiting the room.
“Aye sir.”
Balthazar typed in the clearance code and opened a channel to the Callisto. “Oo, wardroom wets. I must have done all right,” he said to himself.
Chapters 1-5| Chapter 6 |Chapter 7| Chapter 8| Chapter 9|Chapter 10| Chapter 11| Chapter 12|Chapter 13| Chapter 14|Chapter 15|Chapter 16| Chapter 17| Chapter 18|Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 |Chapter 21
This is the first chapter I've read. Well written. I'm happy to know that Earth will be the premier place to live in the twenty-fourth century.
Good chapter, but now I have a lot of questions, mostly about these uncategorized dots, seems like trouble. Also loved this line "There were people on Mars who–given the chance–would sell organs to live on Earth, had there been any need for organ donation on the planet in the twenty-fourth century." Great work.