..[ CINDY ]..
“What is your name?”
“What?”
She didn’t understand what Frea was asking. They had been working together for years, it would be insulting if Frea didn’t know her name. Come to think of it, she was sure she had heard her say her name before.
“Your name. What is it?”
“Cindy?”
“I know that,” she responded somewhat angrily. “What is it short for?”
“You could have asked that to begin with.”
“Yeah, yeah. Answer please.”
“Cinderella.”
And suddenly she was walking alone. It took her a few steps to notice though, before looking back to find her group of five near stopped.
“What?”
“Like the princess?” Frea asked as she recovered from her shock and joined her.
“None of you knew? I thought I told it to someone on the ship.” It was more than once if she recalled correctly.
“Nope,” Rincon to her right answered. “Every time I thought about it, Cinderella never came to mind.”
“Me either.” Someone from the back agreed.
“How much were you thinking about me?” she asked them.
“You are an authority figure on the ship. People are always thinking about you one way or another,” Frea answered for them. “Change of topic. I heard you are one of the lucky few people who will be commanding their own Explorer Class ships when we get back.”
“Yeah.”
And it had been good news at first, until Mativo told her the expected crew size of the next generation of Explorer Class ships. Where Mativo was concerned, that number would only get higher. It would be like being in command of a town. Her previous commands had been on Luxury Class ships carrying a crew of around a thousand people. It would be a big change.
The conversation continued as they moved along the fields of what had appeared to be grass at first. But on closer inspection, they had found them to be nothing like grass at all. They had no leaves or tassels to speak of. They were composed of thin branchless stems that ended in a trumpet-like structure. The structure housed sporangium that disseminated spores far from the plants to colonize the surrounding area. The analysis of the spores had been inconclusive forcing them to don their visors again. Paul had pointed out that it was already too late for that. They had been exposed already. Cindy had them keep the visors on anywhere.
Other than the potentially dangerous spores, the planet rotated at a highly tilted orbit keeping the northern pole in constant daylight. It was also filled with swatches of forests made up of ferns and conifers. They had seen moss, lichens and liverworts in some of those forests. What they hadn’t seen were animals. Or any animal like organism. Not the large kind or the microscopic. All the groups on the planet had reported back the same thing.
It had led to more groups being send to explore the water bodies of the planet. They had discovered nothing but plant related bacteria. They had finally concluded that the planet had never evolved the animal line at all.
Cindy was sure that some scientists would dedicate considerable Years of their lives in pursuit of those answers. Her job was done; it was time to move on to the next exploration destination. The shuttle would pick them up in two Days, less if they were lucky. The lack of animals on the planet made the search for a camp site all the more easier. And no watches were needed either. She went into her tent after her dinner and wishing the group a good sleep. Couldn’t really call it night with the star always on the sky.
…
She woke up in her quarters, a little groggy and disorientated. The last thing she remembered was going into her tent back on the animalless planet. She couldn’t even recall if she had gone to sleep or stayed awake for the rest of the Night. She went through her morning routine before heading for the kitchen for a bit of breakfast.
“Mosnins, Secosd,” a crew member dressed in combat suit, greeted her as she got off the elevator at the Kitchen Deck. She was so groggy she was seeing crew as homo-reptilians. She hadn’t even fully understood what the crew had said to her. She took breakfast to one of the wall tables, trying to ignore the more than normal number of other species on the ship. Half through, after her stomach settled down and her head cleared up some, the other species were still present. She paused her eating and fully took stock of the crew in the Mess hall. It was more diverse than she remembered, and were all dressed in full combat suit. Full humans, at least those who looked like they could be called that, only made up a third of the crew. The rest were the mature versions of the hybrids she had seen all over the ship and species from the worlds they had visited. There were hybrids of their kind too. The homo-reptilians appeared to be the second most numerous single species, third if she counted Mativo’s hybrids as a single species. She decided to continue ignoring them for the time being. They weren’t attacking her, and the ship was operating remarkably well. After her meal, she would get to the bottom of the situation. After her meal.
She found the Bridge as she was used to; Chantel, Mativo, Matt, Mũsango, Pon and Xhalo were all manning their stations.
“Took a really long nap, didn’t you?” Mativo asked her as she settled in her seat. After commanding several Luxury Class ships, it still felt a little weird to have two seats on the Command Platform.
“I cannot believe you could sleep while we are in a situation like this,” Chantel said dryly from her station.
“Hey, she was tired,” Mũsango said in her defense.
“She would have been of no use to us if she couldn’t make any sound decisions,” Xhalo added.
Cindy didn’t think she had been that tired before she went to sleep. But there was a lot she could remember that she couldn’t openly dispute their claim. Besides, what was this situation that they kept referring to. She decided to ask,
“What kind of situation are you talking about?”
“She can’t serious. See, she is not even aware of our current situation.” Chantel angrily stamped her fingers at her console.
“We are—” Mũsango was interrupted when the ship signaled a red alert situation, hueing the whole Bridge in red. Then Matt announced,
“Enemy ships approaching. Five million kilometers out, and closing in fast.”
“Enemy ships?” she found herself asking, not sure if anyone had heard her.
“The Riteks and Slissians.” Apparently Mativo had heard her, but the names didn’t register at all. The last one sounded like something the homo-reptilians would use. But she had seen those on the ship, she doubted it could be them attacking too.
Suddenly, the ship jolted as if hit by something. She knew that the anti-acceleration field was not hundred percent. Especially where sudden unpredictable movements were concerned. But this felt too much, like the field wasn’t working at all.
“Hard hit to port. Considerable damage to hull plating. Hull integrity still intact.”
“Anti-Acceleration Field at sixty-three percent.” Canary had a more feminine voice where Robin’s had been neutral. The announcement explained why she had felt the impact. If it dropped below forty-five percent, they would have to drop to sub-light speed. Unless they wanted to be reduced to gore on the Bridge.
“Is the Deflector Field down?” she asked. She didn’t understand how that hit could have landed with their Deflectors on.
“They have projectiles that plain ignore it completely,” Xhalo reported.
“Why aren’t we shooting at them with our pulse cannons?” she asked again.
“Have you forgotten? Those have no effect on their ships.” Mativo told her, giving her an appraising look.
“What about the hull-piercing projectiles?” she asked in a whisper this time. She was starting to think she had more than forgotten a lot of important details.
“We ran out on the second Day of the chase,” Mativo told her. “What is it? You should know these things already.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
She debated on what to tell him for a few seconds before deciding on everything. “I don’t remember anything that has happened for the last few Days. I think.”
“Days? What is the last thing you remember?”
“Going into my tent for the Night back on the planet.”
Mativo got this confused look on his face, like he didn’t understand what she was talking about. And all around them, chaos continued as the rest of the Bridge tried their best to get away from their pursuers.
“I don’t understand. Elaborate.” He finally said. She had gathered that much already.
“We had gone on an exploration mission on a Class H6 planet—”
A strong jerk made her strain sharply against the seatbelt. That will leave a bruise. An alarm was blaring, but she couldn’t remember what it was for.
“—we found it filled with plants, bacteria but no animals. We were on our second to last Day before the shuttle came for us.”
That seemed to make sense to him. He turned to his arm console, tapping away for a few seconds while whispering animalless to himself.
“Hmm… this is interesting. And disturbing.” He delayed the last part for a second or two longer than was normal.
“What did you find?” She was desperate for anything, good or bad. It would be better than not knowing.
“There is only one known exploration to an animalless habitable world. One that had evolved plants on it,” he said, turning to look directly at her, composed as always. How he could remain so composed when they were literally running for their lives was beyond her. After a few seconds, he continued. She wished he hadn’t.
“It was one-sixteen Years ago.”
She could hardly believe it; she was over one hundred years into the future. Technically, she had lost over hundred years-worth memories. But she didn’t have the time to mourn her lost time.
“There is more ships than there were six hours ago. Seven in total; three Ritek, four Slissian,” Xhalo announced to the Bridge as two windows were opened on the Display showing the ships.
On the left window there were three slim looking ships with what appeared to be an open snake mouth showing its fangs on the front side. And one rugged thing; it looked like a bunch of cubes of different colors bundled up together to from a rough triangular shape. On the right window, there were two more of those rugged things and one of the slim-fanged ships.
“Deflector Shield down.” Canary announced.
“Left engine has been hit. Light-Shield Field is unstable. We might have to drop out of SuperLight speed soon.” Pon announced after another subdued jerk. Though it was followed by the dimming of lights on the Bridge before they went back to normal.
“Shuttle Bay doors breached. Three enemy shuttles aboard.”
“Keep trying to get out of this. We will go take care of the unwanted intruders,” Mativo said as he made his way off the Command Platform.
She thought Mativo was underestimating their own security crew, but a quick glaze at the windows on the Display took that thought away. There appeared to be hundreds of shuttles making their way to the ship. She didn’t know where the aliens planned to land all of those shuttles. She cursed as she quickly hurried out of the Bridge and into her quarters. She couldn’t go to battle unprepared.
She found the Shuttle Bay filled with thousands of humanoid ape and reptilian looking aliens, dressed in green and brown combat suits. They appeared to be replicas of their own combat suit. Then there were the sounds of screaming and yelling, and thousands of pulse guns all firing at the same time. An individual pulse gun produced a barely audible whirring when it fired, thousands of them firing at the same time was definitely audible. Their own pulse guns didn’t produce any visible shots, but the alien opponents’ did. Their shots looked like those found on old Scifi movies and TV shows with pulse guns. She had read a report back on Earth on a debate on whether pulse gun shots should be made possible.
Their opponents were dying in drops, but they just kept on coming. It was crazy, like they didn’t have any self-preservation bone in them. They also took a fair share of the crew down. Soon, the order was given to pull back and abandon the Shuttle Bay. Following the order, she began her retreat while still firing at the advancing Riteks and Slissians. She slipped on something and stumbled. As she was trying to get her bearings, she was shoved left, right and then down so hard she got dazed. Before she could even gather her wits to get up, she saw a boot come crashing down on her head.
She came to on a hospital bed, with a metallic after-taste in her mouth. Looking around told her she was still on the ship, but the injured, and the dead, filled the Sick Bay. There weren’t enough doctors on board to attend to them all. She could still feel the ship jerking and the sounds of fights far outside. She got out of her bed and made to leave the Sick Bay. But she was unsteady on her feet, nearly falling down on her second step. She took a few breaths before trying again. The unsteadiness had cleared by the time she made it to the Sick Bay doors.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mũkanzi asked her as she tried to open the doors. She was shorter than her by a few centimeters, and it was enough for Cindy to stare down at her. “Muso- Mũsonde said y-you shouldn’t l-leave until he c-cleared u!”
She really made an effort of barring her but the high-pitched ‘u’ made her sound like a frightened puppy. Thankfully for her, Mũsonde arrived before Cindy could bodily slam her out of the way.
“You are not fit to get back out there.”
“And yet, it’s where I should be,” she replied with an authoritative tone. Under normal circumstances, Mũsonde could order her not to go. “Where is Mativo?”
He hesitated to answer and that was all the answer she needed. “Then, as his Second, I should be out there with him.”
“As his Second, you are next in Command. If he falls, you will be needed to command the ship.”
“What about—”
He didn’t even let her finish, “Most of them are out there fighting.”
“Well then, some are safe. You will have someone to command the ship.” She moved past him and opened the Sick Bay doors. “Besides, if Mativo falls, the ship is lost.”
The Hospital Deck was still safe from enemies. And it had several crew lining the hallways in wait of the enemies. She found the first bodies two decks below. With lots of Riteks and Slissians, and a few blue suited bodies. A few corners later and she came to the back of an advancing body of brown and green. She tried to retreat but they had somehow seen her. She went for her pulse gun and found it absent, then drew her two swords and fully unretracted them.
They were pathetic in close combat, highly untrained. She cut a large swatch into the group before their sheer numbers began overpowering her. They were using short rod-like weapons, with sharp tips. Mostly like quarter staffs and stabbing when the opportunity presented itself. But before they could fully overpower her, attacks from the front distracted them and soon there was none left. She noticed Mativo and Jacy before they quickly moved past her and started fighting again. Apparently another wave had been coming at her from behind.
The fights continued all over the Decks for what felt like hours. They never really got a break to talk. The ship’s systems continued to fail Deck after Deck, and the fights moved Deck to Deck. Soon enough, the Hospital Deck was overrun. The top deck, with the Bridge came after that. And still, they fought and their group grew smaller and smaller. They soon found themselves herded back to the Shuttle Bay, and only Mativo, Jacy and her remained. Their suits were no longer sky blue but red. Cindy could hardly tell them apart from the browns of the Riteks. Maybe it wasn’t brown after all. No matter how good they were, they were already tired from hours of fighting. And the Riteks and Slissians’ numbers never seemed to dwindle. Mativo fell first, Jacy soon after. She gave up after that, dropping her already droopy hands and just stared at them. The crowd parted for one ugly looking Ritek to approach her. They were slightly taller than her, average for the little she had seen of their species. And bulky too. Their face was covered in scars. They drew their rod, and punch it right through her chest. She didn’t even try to defend. They said in a guttural voice, “Now, WE rule.”
..[ MATIVO ]..
I found myself in Sick Bay looking at all the beds filled with one-o-two people. The last time there had been a lot of people in Sick Bay had been after the Ganymede incident. Back then, it was because the crew had pushed themselves to their limits in the effort to save the lives of their crewmates. This time, we were fighting a stupid spore.
The Day before, Cindy’s exploration team had returned from their exploration all healthy. Though they had reported that they had been exposed to spores which their tests had given inconclusive results on how they would affect the human body. After an hour of thorough tests, they were released after the doctors found no trace of any foreign entity in their bodies. Not even the supposed spores themselves. They were however advised to report immediately to the Hospital Deck if anything changed. Twenty-four hours passed with no incident.
Then, I had been called by Xhalo to inform me that there was an issue with the return crew from the mission. Apparently, some of them had started attacking the crew for no reason at all. The security personnel had made short work of them. After examination by the doctors, they were ordered to be transferred to Sick Bay. Apparently the spores had reared their ugly heads. In the crew’s heads.
By the time I made it to Sick Bay, they had all been rounded up. Plus, the rest of the crew who had been on that exploration mission. Some hadn’t come willing. And others had tried to fight their way out when they finally succumbed. They were all put under.
“Have you made any progress?” I asked Mũsonde when I saw him moving into the Hospital Deck’s main lab.
“Not yet. I’ve a drug agent that can get into the brain but I need a few hours to formulate something that will dig the spores out. Root and stem.”
“Will they be okay?”
“They are merely dreaming, but the presence of those spores should make the dreams feel more realistic. Let’s hope they are in what they would consider their happy place.”
“Because otherwise it would be a very realistic nightmare.”
“Yes.”
He left after that. And I went back to my meeting with the Operations Department, but not before telling one of the nurses to alert me if something changed. Good or bad.
…
A few hours later, Mũsonde alerted me to head over to Sick Bay. I found some of the crew already up but still in their beds. Doctor’s orders, apparently. I was a bit infuriated that no one had called me when they had decided to administer the drug they had developed.
When I saw Cindy getting up, I went to her first.
“Took a really long nap, didn’t you?”
“Please don’t ever say that to me again.” She sat up and looked around before returning her attention to me. “Since you are here I’m guessing that was all a dream or hallucination.”
“And from that statement I’m guessing that I died in this dream-hallucination.” She nodded. “Let me guess, I got stabbed in my sleep. No, no, I got it. I was taking a shit when the plumbing system was exposed to the vacuum of space.”
She just stared at me, unblinking.
“It can’t be worse than that,” I told her confidently.
“No it wasn’t.” But she didn’t elaborate. And I decided not push it. I didn’t want to find out the crazy way she thought I was going to die.
“Anyway, you’ll be happy to know that Ritek and Slissian have become official species names,” I told her, hoping a bit of good news would lift her mood. But it did the opposite.
“No,” she said in such a defeated voice I barely heard it. “Those two species on the homo-reptilian planet?”
“Yeah. I thought you would be happy. You had been ecstatic when we learnt what the homo-reptilians called their neighbors.”
“Wait, I already knew this?”
“Yes?”
“Gracias, universo.” And I literally saw her shed weight from her shoulders. “What about the homo-reptilians?”
“We haven’t come up with one yet. Leaving it to the colonists to figure it out. Apparently, from what little we could figure out, the other two species aren’t even aware that they are there.” She already knew all this, why was I repeating it to her? “Just how much did those spores mess with your head?”
“I think I lost a few chunks of memory, but every time you say something I already knew, it comes rushing back.” She gave me a smile. “I will be fine.”
I sure hope so.