She entered the oblong room filled with screens, with Vance and Henry following her. In the middle and on both sides sat three pilot swing chairs fitted with soft upholstery. The blue light of the screens shone on the man’s scruffy face in the middle seat, others were hardly visible, hidden by shadows.
“Incoming high-scale debris, vector (-1, 0.6, -0.75), velocity 1200km/h. Correction recommended by velocity increase of 2000km/h for 10 seconds.” voice came from the right-side seat. The viewport overlay showed a line coming from one of the huge fragments. There was a lot more information than she expected – the ship’s velocity, weight, rotation delta from Sagittarius A* and even the estimated fragment’s weight. All the information that pilots needed to make accurate adjustments.
“Impact on our fuel reserves?” the man in the middle questioned.
“Negligible.”
“Correction approved.”
The ship noticeably jolted forward, grav plating adapting to the new acceleration. They knew what they were doing, and the whole scene had the air of a military operation. The communication was too practiced, too precise, for them to be civilians.
“Captain–” Vance said with a wavering voice. Was he afraid of the captain, or was it just a momentary lapse? The middle seat swung towards them. The man’s face bore scars, one over the left eye coming down to the cheek and one coming from the right cheek towards the neck. The wrinkles on his face showed the age and story of his stature, he was clearly in his 50s and served a long time in peacekeeping forces – corporate security guards and especially a captain, would have their face taken care of. The cosmetic surgery was an important perk to keep up the appearances.
“What is this?”
“We found her stumbling through the corridor after we’ve taken off. Seems she has been an engineer, but she’s a stowaway nonetheless…” Henry said.
The look coming from the man in charge was cold and calculating. There was a goal and he was going to fulfill it.
“Jon, how much of the rations we have?”
“Not enough for another person. We’ll be on emergency rations as it is in the last 2 weeks of the voyage.” the man from the left-side seat responded.
“What is your name, girl?” he asked her.
It didn’t matter, not anymore. The cattle don't know they are being brought to slaughter, but humans are more intelligent – we can smell our death coming. “…you’re going to kill me anyway, so what’s it to you?” she said to him dryly.
“Very well. Kai, call security.”
The person in the right chair hesitated but clicked through menus anyway. “On their way…” they looked at her and under their breath said “I’m sorry”. Beautiful light eyes twisted in a saddened expression, forced smile that showed their dimples in the corners of the mouth. Unruly curly hair cast thin shadows on their face, partially hiding their brow.
Jes nodded slowly. Two wide chested figures entered behind her.
“This person is a stowaway – take her to air lock and space her.”
“Will the protocol be observed?” one of the figures asked.
“Yes, I will start the sequence myself.”
The figures looked at each other briefly and took her under her arms and started to pull her forcibly out of the room.
Nothing else was said.
***
Everything was blurry, her feet were scraping the flooring, the steel from the toe rubbed through the faux leather and left a visible mark.
She didn’t care, she knew what came next. What death by spacing looked and felt like. Countless hours in simulators has prepared for the cruelty of it. The tears came and dropped to the ground. Another trail left by her. Is that all there will be? Only a few scrapes and some salt? At the dawn of humanity, instead of dying with others, she will be executed for something she didn’t know has happened.
They passed through the middle connection, and she glanced towards the computer core room, the place that became her tomb in a sense.
Blood.
Unmistakable red color.
Blood.
Viscous yet thick, it pooled.
“...wait” she said with a raspy voice. Her executioners didn’t stop, she repeated with a stronger voice, “Wait!”.
They stopped startled, “What, what is it girl? You know that there’s no way for you to appeal-”
“No, that’s not- I saw something, near the core. I- I think it was blood.”
One of them sighed, “You’re saying this to delay-”
“No! If someone from the passengers is hurt, isn't it your duty to tend to them?” All this might be just a trick of light, maybe it was her own blood but if it’s true, they might not have to execute her, she would become useful. She would become the tool they needed.
“Okay, we’ll come back to the junction, but if you’re lying, you’re going to get one to the teeth.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
They shuffled awkwardly and turned around. Slowly, the connecting corridor was approaching them. And then they saw it, somebody was lying on the back in the big pool of blood. The corpse was wearing a white shirt, stained on the bottom with blood, slowly climbing to the top. The blue trousers were looking almost black from the amount of liquid held. It all looked very unusual, there wasn’t an obvious wound visible other than his face smashed in, you could see towards the back of his skull, through the brain matter.
She felt sick – now the trick with holding her puke didn’t work, and she vomited through her nostrils. Stomach acid burning her nostrils and the smell attacking her. She opened her mouth and barfed the rest.
They dropped her to the floor, she splashed in her own puke.
“The fuck happened here?!” the man on the left has said. Both of their mouths left agape. They slowly approached the scene.
“Said, call… call this in”
The darker man was shell shocked, he was staring at the body, his eyeballs moving around, analyzing it.
“Said!” the white man shook him, “C’mon, walk away and call it in. Others can take care of it.”
Both of them nodded, Said took out a small communicator and walked away around the corner. She was left with the white man. He looked at her with disgust, only now comprehending she soiled herself. There weren’t any spots on his uniform, she didn’t get any on it.
“Sorry, I’m bad with blood.” she sighed.
“He’s bad with it too.” He paused, thinking. “To be honest, I don’t know what to do with you now. I hope you’ll live, it’d be a shame to lose an engineer.”
“Thanks.”
She finally had a moment to look at his features, strong square jaw, his brows were almost fluffy and seemed to connect into an unibrow, he had a little bit of stubble and a singular scar right in the middle of his cheek. His hair was short and cut into a square, similar to how Schwarzenegger had his hair cut in old action movies. An earring gleamed on his right ear with the symbol of a circle and an arrow going upper left – covert symbolism.
“Is something wrong with it?” he noticed her staring at the earring.
“N- No, it’s nothing…” She knew the symbol but couldn’t remind herself what it was. She wiped her mouth, the sour taste still in her mouth, what she wouldn’t do for a shower and a toothbrush… He sat down near the corner with a big sigh.
“What’s your name?” she found herself asking.
“Carl. You?”
“Jes.”
“Did you have anyone on Earth?”
“A girlfriend, Janet.”
“I had to leave my 2 children.”
She looked at him with horrified eyes, “They didn’t allow you to take your family?”
He laughed at her. “Those Richie-rich types only care for their own skin. Besides, I didn’t know them. I knew I had them, just never got around to reaching out.” He put his head back on the wall, his expression more solemn this time. “Maybe that’s better, considering the circumstances…” Carl wasn’t a good human being, he was flawed, just like everyone else. The regrets will now haunt him, till his eventual death. What would be his life if he reached out? Would he even be on the ship, or would he die, holding them until the end? ‘Empty words and empty regrets, all of it.’ he thought to himself.
Footsteps resonated in the hallway from which they came. More than one person was coming. Carl got up and steadied himself on the wall. Jes also stood up, trying her best not to slip in the puke.
Captain with his entourage turned into the junction. He looked around the scene and fixed his eyes on Carl.
“Report.”
“We were going to the back airlock, as dictated by the protocol. We went by the connecting corridor and the girl told us she saw something, something red. For the ship's safety, we decided it would be best to investigate – she would have nowhere to run anyway. We arrived at the scene as is, the girl vomited all over herself at the sight of blood.”
Captain eyed Jes, she felt embarrassed at her dirty clothes.
“We’re here captain!” Vance’s voice came from behind, he was holding a different case than she’s seen before, bigger and made from leather – real leather. “What’s happened?” Then he noticed the blood on the floor, “Oh my goodness…”
Captain turned toward Henry, who was stalking behind Vance. “Boy, when you found her, did you see anything odd here?”
“No, sir. I was strolling past this very area and nothing and nobody was here before.” Seems like they made their report to him just a few minutes ago. It was to be expected.
“Doctor, examine this body – I want a full report, anything you can find about how this man had died. I want the identity confirmed as soon as possible. And you–”, he pointed his finger at her, “you’re extremely lucky, you get to live. You get to live, because he died.”
“Thank you…” she said out of habit.
“Don’t thank me. Thank him and his sacrifice.” He eyed her once again. “I see that you were an engineer – you’ll report to Mr. Donovan tomorrow at 09:00 in the morning. We all have our jobs to do on this ship, you won’t be an exception. Security will assign you an empty quarters below the ship.” He nodded towards his entourage of security officers, who were already tapping on their tablets.
“Room 023 is empty, consider it yours. Captain, we will want to search this man’s room, as soon as the identity is confirmed.”
“Of course. Carl, will you show her the room?”
“Of course, sir.” Carl shifted.
“One more thing, security will give you a tablet to fill in the data for the manifest – it’s important you fill it out still today. Otherwise-”
“Otherwise the computer will not recognize me and I wouldn’t be able to access anything on the ship” Jes interjected. Captain squinted his eyes – she knew it was a mistake to interject like that, but her mind was already racing ahead in the conversation.
“Very well. Make yourself familiar with the database available on the tablet – you’d get to know a little about the ship, its occupants and most importantly, its mission.”
Captain turned around and left the scene. It was time she got going too. The whole thing felt incredibly surreal to her, just a few minutes ago, she was about to be thrown out. And now she’s part of the crew. She was standing there dazed for a minute until Carl poked her in the arm. It hurt, and she didn’t wake up – all of it was true.
“Come, you need to wash up.” He smiled a little at her.
“Yeah, lead the way.”
***
Her cabin was small, but it was still bigger than most flats in America these days. She even had a separate bathroom that she didn’t have to share with anyone. Room measured 3 meters by 4 meters and the bathroom-toilet combo unit at 2 meters by 2 meters. The plans of the ship at this point were burned in her mind. On the left the room had a small cupboard, a bigger cupboard under the wall, an upholstered chair with a faux leather cover and a plastic table with one of those fancy crooked legged designs and on the right stood a cupboard. The bed swung open from the wall opposite the entrance door. All of this familiar, too familiar even, it’s embarrassing to think how many hours she spent sleeping in one of these, instead of her own home. Janet was mad every time she didn’t come home. A cuddle session would ensue the very next day she entered through the door to an all familiar scent of lilac perfume.
She sat down on the chair after standing too long in the entryway and broke down. Every emotion, now with no adrenaline blocking them, came rushing to the surface. The tears streamed down her face, she couldn’t stop them. She didn’t want to stop them.
This was it. This was her world now. Only a few inches from death at all times.