Awoken by a jolt similar to a trip in a dream, my eyes sprung to life. Instead of a bed breaking my fall, it was the harness gently but firmly pressing against my chest. My Curiosity over how long I was out for was exchanged with another new sensation - weightlessness. There’s no hope in trying to trick a panicked mind either. The hull of the ferry was windowless and with no idea of which way was up or down, left or right, nausea was truly set in.
All up it took three hours trying not to vomit and cursing every person I could think of that had a hand in putting me in this position, in this lifetime, but for the first time since leaving the voice-link in my helmet activated. It was the ferry captain, announcing the imminent rendezvous and docking to our new home - the Transporter Salvation.
At the will of the turning ferry, my body bounced in the confines of my harness as it manoeuvred in to dock. The muffled sounds of thrusters adjusting, a couple of violent shakes, followed by a stillness started to ease my mind. We had made it. Whirls, hisses, and cranking filled the next few minutes with an occasional subtle shake to the ship - providing much needed relief that we had made the first leg of the journey.
It wasn’t until a crewman entered my seating area that I realised there was… gravity!? “Alright listen carefully,” the crewman announced, tapped into our helmets voice-link.
“Walk through this door behind me, keep following it off the craft onto the walkway and keep going until you hit the lobby. Do not stray and do not remove helmets until outside of the craft!”
After the all clear to disembark, the seat harness released - and to my surprise so did all my co-passengers. While being so anxiety ridden during boarding I had forgotten that this Ferry was probably carrying hundreds of other people as well. As I joined the group, we exited through the airlock, we merged into the other passengers - the true scale of the Ferry made apparent by the sea of people stretching toward the direction of the lobby.
Straddling the side of the crowd allowed me to look down through the large window-lined wall to the docking bays below which was abuzz with crews hastily working around the multiple Ferries, with their wings folded 90 degrees to allow for their comfortable fit. With only limited time until the windows stopped my eyes darted around to attempt to take in as much as possible. Approaching the last window I noticed a small, odd group walking through the middle. Their suits charcoal and black in colour - a stark contrast to the white and grey suits the bay workers wore.
Entry into the ‘lobby’ as the crewman referred to it, was incomprehensible -it was open all the way to the top of the craft and spanned almost the whole width. It had small information hubs, seating areas, even food kiosks scattered around. Elevators ran up and down and each floor looked as if it was carved into a steel cliff. If it weren’t so massive you would have thought it was a grand lobby of a hotel rather than a spacecraft.
As the sea of people walked further in, us new arrivals were funnelled through some temporary ropes where crew registered our arrival. As I approached the start of my line I couldn’t help but notice how exhausted the woman looked, her face drawn out with little emotion like she’s on autopilot.
“What’s taking so god damn long” a frustrated passenger ahead cried out.
“Sir, you need to calm down, the ship is significantly under capacity Including crew.” She explained while glancing over her side with a nod of her head.
Immediately, three men approached the rowdy passenger, one of which was the crewman from boarding. Gasps of shock and murmurs made its way around the crowd, looking on in shock as the crewman tried to drag the resisting passenger out of view. The scene unfolding stuck out in an otherwise chatty and tame-filled lobby, so much so, that it gained the attention from another group.
All around, bodies snapped upright and the tiredness wiped from their face. The crew looked almost intimidated in what was to come as a group of four more people approached, all wearing the same charcoal and black suits I saw earlier down in the bays and making their way over to the commotion.
“What’s the issue here” Asked a stern female voice as she stepped out in front of the group.
“Nothing to do with Miltech” Snarled the man from boarding, with the three crewmen still holding the passenger.
“You sure about that?” She said as she raised her hand and signalled the group behind her to move forward.
In an instant, the Miltech group progressed forward with batons, swiftly buckling the crewman at the knees with an extra strike to the torso for good measure. Outnumbered and seemingly outranked, the crewmen didn’t put up much resistance and were soon getting escorted away from the prying eyes of the passengers.
Watching on as they disappeared out of sight I couldn’t help but notice a man standing off to the side behind the chaos - it was a young man with thick glasses resting atop a youthful smile on an otherwise weathered face. This time however, his crew issued suit from earlier was swapped for one of charcoal and black… it was Jeremy.
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Utterly baffled I kept my eyes locked on Jeremy as he slowly trailed behind the group. I couldn’t deny that it was satisfying to see the crewman get some karma, but I also had an unnerving feeling that Jeremy orchestrated swift revenge so soon after our arrival.
Confusion lingered amongst the passengers as the line slowly began moving forward again, clearly shocked by the brief show of force. Had we just got a first glimpse into what life is going to be like now? I thought as I reached the women registering arrivals, who looked even more rattled than before.
“Well that was intense” I said to the woman as I reached her, trying to ease the tension with a gentle smile.
“Ha yeah, that’s just how it is with those Miltech guys.— what’s your name please" she replied while trying to brush it off and move things along.
“Uh Alex Carter, so what’s Miltech?”
“They’re the ‘new military’ that’s attached to each transporter.” She answered taking on a more sarcastic tone with an obvious dislike of them.
“Is the transporter really that under-capacity?”
Looking up from her Data Slate for the first time and with a stare daring me to continue she reluctantly answered.
“Half capacity in fact. A bunch of the shitty ferries assigned to this transporter never made it. Now, unless you want to sign up you better move on and stop wasting my time. Take your slate, sit, and orientate yourself with Salvation.”
I took her advice and moved on. Sitting myself down and stealing a minute to take it all in. It’s surreal and still hard to comprehend, that I was sitting in a ‘lobby’ of a massive space craft …in orbit… around our dying planet, where billions were (or maybe are?) still down there. Meanwhile people all around me are chattering again and filled with excitement of being up here and the impending adventure. Admittedly, it was easy to forget the whole reason we’re all up here as I found myself carried away in awe of the Transporter like the rest.
Opening the data slate I noticed that was pre-filled with as much information about me as they could possibly have, even records about me during the most turbulent recent years. How the fuck would they have this sort of information from when all hell broke loose? I thought, reminded of when the civilisation we left behind turned into a shit show of mad max proportions.
Name: Alex Carter
Gender: Male
Age: 34
Height: 5ft 11in
Injuries:
Left shin break - scar visible along shin
Bullet wound on left forearm- scar visible
Multiple scars over torso
Concussions - multiple
Notes:
Recommended that passenger be utilised within Crew or Miltech. The last 5 years he has been combat trained and working in the Regional Protection Force.
The RPF was a handover organisation when police and military were pulled from active duty and reassigned to Miltech. He was involved in heavy fighting in defence of his regions towns and assets. Many of his injuries can be attributed to combat in service. He is reserved but shows characteristics that could cause rifts within the transporter if issues should arise between crew and passengers. He did not originally have a seat aboard this ship, only gained through force.
______
I had to give it to them..they were transparent about the information they had on you at least. I continued to flick through the slate, skipping over most likely important information until I found my quarters designation - D3-24 (or Deck 3-Cabin 24).
After making my way over to the elevators and trying to figure out the pad, I noticed a deck named ‘main’. Pressing it the elevator whirled and briskly carried me up to the deck in a matter of seconds.
Stepping from the elevator felt like you were thrown back down to Earth. Hit with a mix of chatter, laughter, music, and a surge of aroma had transported me to a metro-style market. It was bustling with people, their expressions lit with the soft glow of neon from shopfront lighting. As I made my way through the mini market streets, I finally saw it. A window! Giving a glimpse of black with a subtle tear of light streaking across it.
So absorbed in getting to the window I came to a halting stop and felt my head clash against a hard object. That hard object? A crewman’s head. Of course of all the people I could of ran into I had to run into the only man with the build of a fridge; He had a clean-shaved head, a furled brow, and a hint of gritted teeth behind a well kept beard.
My shirt dropped a few sizes as the fridge of a man gripped my shirt, wrapping his hand with the material to gain control.
“Are you fucking blind or what!” he shouted with a heavy hitting British accent. Using his hold on my shirt to pull me closer then push me backward onto the ground.
I had no time to even form a response before a woman’s voice interjected. “Don’t be such a dick Kai, Major Lewis will put you on restrictions before we even leave.” Taking a second look I noticed it was the same woman from the lobby.
“Oi—c’mon c’mon” Kai pestered, as he reached out his hand out and made a subtle raking movement, telling me to grab it.
He pulled me back up, still not letting go of my hand while grabbing my shoulder with his other hand. “Just a bit of play with my new mate here Ro, don’t get so uptight” he said, putting on a laugh and slapping my shoulder a few more times before he turned and made his way to a nearby bar.
“Don’t worry about him, I’m Sergeant Ro by the way,” said the woman.
I must of taken too long to respond because before I knew it, she had pulled out a scanner and shoved it in front of my stunned face.
“Alex Carter, hmm, interesting name,” said Sergeant Ro, clicking her tongue over one side of her mouth with a look of intrigue on her face.
“I’ll catch you around Carter. You’re deck is that direction, and try stay out of trouble won’t you,” she concluded as she turned to go and join Kai at the bar.
Still rattled by the little scuffle with the fridge they call Kai, I made my way back to the elevators completely forgetting the excitement of seeing my first glimpse of space off the ground and made my way to my quarters.