Leon awoke feeling gritty and unkempt. Rolling to his feet with a low groan, he stood and made his way to his duffle bag. Pulling out a spare change of clothes he walked into the hall and headed to the showers. After getting undressed and taking a quick shower, Leon dressed in a fresh set of clothes and headed back to his room to drop his dirty laundry off.
Leon made his way out into the hallway again and checked the time, it was still rather early, but he felt unable to sleep. He decided to head to the cafeteria again for some breakfast and a big cup of coffee.
Leon walked down the hall rubbing his eyes as they were still a little fuzzy. As he entered the large room he cast his gaze towards the long counter with the appliances. Smiling as he saw the coffee brewing stand, he wandered over to it. Since the climate had changed, many different areas that had been growing crops for hundreds of years suddenly found themselves incapable of growing their previous products. And the Coffee market had suffered terribly as a result.
Luckily for Leon, a crafty scientist crossbred the coffee with a similar species that was more survivable in the new climates and kept it from going extinct like so many other foods.
The coffee machine made a low tone as it worked on his drink, grinding and brewing in a few minutes. As he grabbed the steaming cup of caffeine, he saw another of the crew walk into the cafeteria. Figuring now was as good a time as any to introduce himself, he waved to them as they finished grabbing a plate of chilled fruit and yogurt.
They were walking to sit down when Leon decided to go and have a quick chat. Walking over to the now seated man, he slid in across from him and introduced himself “Hello there, My name is Leon, you excited for the mission?” The man gave Leon a smile and set his spoon down.
“Well nice to meet you Leon, my name is Taylor and yes, I have been wanting to go to space since I was a tiny child. I never in my life thought I would get to do this though. Isn't it just incredible.” Taylor said in a beaming voice. Leon smiled wider as he saw the younger man's excitement.
“Yes, it is incredible. They have been working on this for years, they said, and we are the lucky few to be the first. Ignore the fact that our names will never be forgotten, but think of the things we might find, even, the whom.” Leon finished with a mystical look on his face. Taylor hung onto his words and remained silent before answering him in a whisper.
“You think there might be aliens out there?” the younger man asked while looking at Leon intently.
Leon looked at him and replied “I do, I can't believe in a universe that is this big that is empty, we are here, we made it this far. Sure we had some close calls in the past, but if we can do it then so can others. The fact that they made the probe work proves that faster than light travel is not only possible, but exists. I can't possibly justify to myself why we would be the first.” Leon said with conviction.
Taylor nodded and asked “It wouldn't make much sense, I mean, what with the multiple extinction events in our past, most other life should be millions if not billions of years ahead of us. What if we aren't the first, but the last? What if all the others already came and went before us?” The man suddenly said.
Leon shook his head slowly and took a long drink of his coffee. Looking off into the distance he said “I'm not sure I could believe that, where is the evidence? Unless they are so advanced as to be undetectable to us.”
They both sat there for a few moments longer before they heard a small noise from the entranceway. Turning to look, Leon saw another crew member, the woman who had introduced herself as Myung. Waving at her, Leon motioned for her to join them. Myung nodded after a moment of hesitance and made her way to the fridge area, grabbing something and taking it to the appliance area. After messing with a few items, she made her way over to their table and sat on Leon’s side a small distance away.
“Hey, Myung, was it?” Leon stated, she nodded and he continued. “You brought up a good point earlier. Me and Taylor here were just discussing the likelihood of being alone in the universe.
Myung looked at her food, which Leon noted was a bowl of oatmeal with some sort of sugar added. After a moment she raised her head and said “I spoke out of fear, nothing like this has ever been attempted, did they even do live specimen trials? For all we know the act of traveling faster than light could be utterly inimical to how we function. We could come out in a vegetative state, or be vaporized, or twisted into some sort of abominations. As for us being the first, I don't believe that.” She finished.
Leon gave Taylor a glance at her mention of the emergent technology they were expected to make use of. “Sure warp travel is brand new, but I trust that if a delicate piece of machinery like the probe can make it there and back, we will be fine. I mean, just look at the clarity of the images it brought back. It couldn't have taken those if it had suffered any kind of damage to its camera array.” Leon said to her while taking another drink of his coffee.
Taylor piped up right after and asked her “If you don't think we are the first, then do you think we might be too late? I mean, look at how long it took us to develop from single cells to where we are now, and how many times it almost ended completely.”
Myung shook her head again and said “I don't think we are alone, but the universe is a vast place. We could search every star in the milky way in a day and still find nothing, or we could find life under every rock, but I don't think Intelligence is at all common. It's just not a good survival tactic to expand our brains so much. Sure, it worked for us, but look into our ancient history, at the number of times we almost went extinct. Off the top of my head I can think of at least five times, and those are only the ones we know about.” she finished with a huff and a large spoonful of her oatmeal.
Leon thought about what she had said, sure brains were an important part of life, but some of the oldest and most successful creatures on earth did not have intelligence, or even brains. Look at deep sea sponges, hundreds of millions of years old and not a single thought in their spongy bodies. Yet they had persisted when millions of other more complex life forms had perished. Maybe she was onto something, maybe the universe was full of simple life and they were the first complex life to truly spread its wings so to speak.
He glanced over at Taylor and said “Maybe she is right, we could be the last life to develop, but maybe we are the first intelligent life to develop. What if we find life everywhere, but its as simple as bacteria. That would be interesting.”
“Interesting, sure.” Taylor said “But kind of depressing too. I'm not saying that there are going to be intelligent friendly aliens everywhere, but if there was, what could we accomplish together that we can't do alone. We could form some sort of alliance and share our knowledge and expertise.” he said excitedly.
Myung snorted slightly and said “Yeah, or they might be ruthless, conquer and destroy us, or enslave us. They could be so advanced that they view us as nothing but insects, bugs to be exterminated so they can move in. What if they are more like that.” she said before returning her attention to her meal.
Leon frowned at her statement. This mission was the pinnacle of human science and ingenuity, and here she was going on about intergalactic destroyers and slavers. This wouldn't do. He spoke up before Taylor could say anything “Myung, while I understand where that is coming from, I don't think it's an appropriate attitude for one of humanity's first great explorers. What if we meet some sort of telepathic aliens and all they see in our heads is thoughts of doom and death. I'm sure they wouldn't want to be our friends at all if that happened.”
Leon saw her sigh and prepared for some sort of argument but she instead looked him in the eyes and said “I'm sorry, you're right, I should be more positive, I am just tired and a little shocked by everything still. I guess I just let a bad night's sleep get to me.”
Leon smiled and said “Well, I'm here to help if you need anything. I just want to help everyone maintain good morale and stay positive. It makes everything smoother if we can all get along.” he saw Taylor nod and Myung gave him a funny look.
“What are you, our psychologist?” she asked.
Leon laughed and said “No I think we have one named Natalia Garcia or something like that. But she isn't here, and I am. So I figured I would help out where I could.”
“Oh, okay.” she said with a dismissive gesture. Leon smiled and finished his coffee.
He stood after a few moments and bade the two farewells as he walked towards the recycling and reclamation area. He placed the paper coffee cup into the proper bin and then made his way to the main hallway, as he exited the room, he saw that the majority of the others were just now getting up and out of bed.
Ge looked for Sabine but didn't see her, he did see Chad though and gave him a wave as he walked by, Chad nodded in a friendly way as he passed and Leon smiled to himself. At least some of the crew seemed to be in good spirits still. Leon wandered down the hall a ways before he saw Mr. Green walking towards him from the other end.
"Ah hello and good morning Mr. Muikman, I hope you slept well." The man said as he got closer.
Leon just nodded noncommittally and asked "So I'm assuming we can't just run around wherever we want here right?"
Mr. Green chuckled dryly and answered "Of course not. This is a top secret facility, there are places here that even I'm not allowed to go, and I'm the Director's assistant."
Leon frowned and asked "So then what's next?" He watched the hustle and bustle behind him and then turned back to the suited man.
Mr. Green smiled and said "Well, first things first. Now that everyone has slept on it, we will be having a meeting in the conference room about a few more basic details. Then we will be discussing your futures here, training and some basic courses in aeronautics and physics so you don't hurt yourselves or others in space." Leon nodded as the man spoke, it made sense. "Your training will be taking place while the Leif Erikson is under construction. It shouldn't be longer than six months."
Leon raised his eyes at that. "Six months? But the ship is massive, how are you building it secretly in such a short time?" He looked at Mr. Green intently as he smiled again.
Mr. Green said proudly "We have found the best way to remain anonymous is to hide in plain sight. Like this facility here, this entire facility is marked on the maps as an airplane research facility owned by the German government. We regularly stage fake flights and tests on the airport outside to maintain this cover, and we have actually made quite a few advancements here over the years giving us an airtight seal. No one is going to come snooping around because in their minds, there is nothing interesting happening here."
Leon looked at the man puzzled. "Wait, so how are you hiding a massive two hundred plus meter starship?"
Mr. Green gave a thoughtful nod at his question and answered him confidently. "The ship is being built under the guise of an orbital research facility, a joint project funded by the UN to test the long term effects of low gravity simulation on the human body. The best lies are based on a kernel of truth after all."
Leon shrugged and said "That sounds plausible. Do you have any kind of contingency if that's not the case?"
Mr. Green just nodded his head but didn't elaborate. Leon shrugged again and turned towards the other end of the hall. He stood next to Mr. Green and watched the bustle of the various crew members as they went about their morning routines. Leon watched in silence for a few minutes when Mr. Green nudged his arm and motioned him to follow.
They walked a short distance down the hall to the door of the conference room, when they reached it Mr. Green propped the door open using the small arm near the top and made an after you gesture. Leon gave a small nod and stepped inside to see that there was already someone in the room.
Stolen story; please report.
The short man turned from his inspection of the inert projector and stood in an attentive manner as his eyes flicked around rapidly. Leon pulled up short as he looked at the small furtive man.
Mr. Green smiled and said "Ahh, Samuel, it's good to see you again. I missed you yesterday, another test flight?"
The small man named Samuel stood straight and replied "Yes sir, it went as well as can be expected." He gave Leon a suspicious look and Mr. Green nodded at Leon.
"Mr. Muikman has the clearance to hear about your project Samuel, he is going to be the mission commander after all." As he spoke, Samuel seemed to relax slightly.
He spoke in a quick and slightly accented voice saying "Well then, the SSV is functioning at well over 95 percent its optimum capacity. I believe the newly developed heat shielding is partially responsible for the improvement. What's more, there is none of the degradation we experienced with the last coating. It seems as though this one should be viable for multiple uses before needing maintenance."
Leon was confused. "What is an SSV?" He asked Mr. Green.
The suited man replied cheerfully "Well, over the course of your mission it may become necessary for you or members of your crew to visit the surface of a planet. In light of such an eventuality, we have developed a new generation of Surface to Space Vehicles, or SSVs. These craft are able to take a crew of six and equipment from space to the surface of a planet and back again in just one refueling. They have been the work of decades, but as you heard, the hard work has paid off. We now have a heat resistant coating that negates up to seventy percent of the friction generated heat of reentry and is able to quickly dissipate the rest as the craft slows. Samuel here, well, the project was started by his grandfather and he has been a major proponent in its successful completion. While he is a very capable engineer in his own right, he will be joining you on the mission as your primary pilot." He finished with a gesture at Samuel.
Leon raised his eyebrows as Mr. Green explained it to him before looking respectfully at Samuel and saying "That's quite the feat, I'm sure your grandfather would be proud of you."
Samuel scowled slightly and replied "Thanks, and yeah he is, but you won't ever hear him say it." The man said derisively.
Leon frowned and was about to ask him more but was interrupted as several crew members walked through the door.
Mr. Green turned towards them and clapped his hands together saying "Ah, welcome. We will be beginning the conference shortly, please make yourselves comfortable." He made a gesture towards the many padded chairs that lined the long tables edges and then looked towards Leon and Samuel. "You two ought to sit as well, I sent a message that should be gathering everyone here shortly." Leon nodded his head and walked to the table.
As he sat he noticed Samuel standing nearby and waved him over. Samuel hesitated and then seemed to come to a decision. As the man sat Leon struck up a quiet conversation with the shifty man "So, I never got to formally introduce myself. My name is Leon Muikman, formally a member of the UN Peace Corps, now apparently the mission commander of Earth's most important endeavor to date. It's a little overwhelming honestly, but anyways, you?" He finished with an outstretched hand.
Samuel took it and gave it a quick shake before saying "My name is Samuel, you can call me Sam if it's easier. I have been involved with the work here since I was a very young man. As I got older and became more involved, I learned how to design and fix machines, then to operate them. From what I hear, I'm some sort of prodigy when it comes to flying things. I don't see it, but I have always liked flying. As it stands, I was able to beg, bribe, and blackmail my way onto this mission despite what my grandfather wanted. He may be in charge, but I know people here too." Samuel finished with a wink.
Leon smiled and asked "So, your Grandfather, you said he was in charge? Do you mean in charge of the project?"
The smaller man looked around embarrassed and hissed quietly "I don't like to talk about it, but as my commander I feel like I need to learn to trust you." Leon nodded encouragingly at him.
"My lips are sealed, trust me Samuel, I won't say anything that you don't want me to." Leon said encouragingly.
Samuel hesitated a moment longer before whispering "My Grandfather is not in charge of just the mission, he is in charge of everything." He gave Leon a knowing look.
Leon looked at him and asked quietly "The Director?"
Samuel nodded his head and looked around before sitting upright and saying "Yup. And you can imagine what that was like. Anyways, it looks like the others are arriving so, uh, keep it between us ya?"
Leon clapped him on the shoulder and smiled "Not a problem my friend. You can count on me, and can I just say, I'm glad to have you aboard. I don't care what your Grandfather says, I think you will do a great job." Samuel nodded at him gratefully and they sat back in silence as the last of the other crew members walked into the room.
Leon looked around and saw the familiar faces from the previous night's meeting. The Director wasn't present today however and he looked towards Mr. Green at the head of the table in expectation.
Almost as if summoned, the Director walked into the room and closed the door behind him while saying "Sorry everyone, I was held up by another matter that demanded my attention. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
A chorus of pleasantries and platitudes greeted the older man as he walked to the head of the room. Mr. Green waved and said "Not at all Director, in fact, we only just gathered, your timing is quite opportune if you ask me."
Leon saw the Director nod as he replied "Good, good. Are we ready to begin then?" Mr. Green nodded and turned on the projector before walking to the wall and pulling down the old projection screen.
The Director began by greeting them all and then asked "So, I'm sure that you all have many questions. I am here today to answer as many of them as I can before I move onto the real purpose of today's activities. That being said, do you have any more questions pressing on your minds?" He finished and the room was silent for a few moments.
The small woman that Leon recognised as Myung raised a hand before asking "Yes, as I mentioned last night, what is the mission plan? What are we looking for?"
The Director nodded as a series of voices joined hers in similar questions then said "That is an excellent question. Your primary mission is the search for alien life. While it is not expected to make contact with alien civilizations, you will be furnished with a data server containing the sum of human knowledge that you can use at your own discretion. If no life is detected, your secondary mission is to look for habitable worlds that we can expand to, and barring even that. Your mission is to explore the reaches of our local neighborhood. There is a high chance that this mission will lead to totally new discoveries that change our fundamental views of science and perhaps even reality itself. In the case of harrowing or otherwise mentally damaging information or experiences, Dr. Garcia will be available on the journey. She specializes in traumatic experiences and will be there to maintain your mental health. For your physical health you need look no further than Dr. Kimathi." He said while indicating a dark skinned woman sitting near his left.
The woman nodded and gave a small wave while flashing a brilliant smile as she said "I will patch you up no problem. Pleased to be here." Leon smiled to himself at her bright attitude, she would be a valuable crew member just for her positive morale alone.
Another man said "Well, that answers my question."
The Director nodded and looked around the table for a moment before Chad spoke up "I was wondering if I could get a closer look at the specs and mechanics of the ship, is that allowed?" Leon saw Sabine nod her head from beside him at the question.
The Director smiled and answered "Oh course. You have been given full access to all of Project Fermi and its associated programs. For any such information just ask or look it up on a terminal. Now, speaking of terminals, you will all be undergoing an exhaustive series of courses and training to ensure that you are prepared for any eventuality that we can think of. Some are bizarre, yes, but just as important to understand."
Leon nodded to himself, the act of being prepared for all outcomes was something he was familiar with from his service in the Peace Corps.
Leon sat quietly as the conversation continued, there were several similar questions and a few outliers, but for the most part everything seemed well in hand. Finally it seemed as though everyone was satisfied for the moment and the Director pulled out a small remote and directed their attention towards the screen.
He began by pulling up a list of jobs that intersected and twisted in on itself. "As you can see, there isn't a single one of you that is unable to perform multiple functions on the ship during the mission. Our goal with your training, is to expand upon your natural abilities until each and everyone of you is capable of performing the basic duties in a passable manner." He switched the screen to another chart, this one showing primary duties this time. "As you can see here, each of you has a primary role, whether that be engineering or botany, they are all an important part of running the ship. The Leif Erikson is equipped with state-of-the-art hydro and aquaponics as well as biological and chemical co2 scrubbers. As long as these systems are maintained, the ship should be able to operate almost indefinitely. Pair this with the top-of-the-line Thorium reactor that provides primary ship life support power, and your mission could feasibly extend as long as fifty years before energy issues arose."
Mr. Green spoke up as the Director finished "The ship is large, with a core length of just over two hundred and ten meters, with a ring diameter of one hundred and twenty meters, there will be more space on the ship than thirteen crew could feasibly use. This extra space is dedicated to additional cargo, life support, medical facilities, exercise facilities, and water storage. The water and waste reclamation facilities are the same that are used on the Martian colonies and nearly one hundred percent efficient. But you may still experience some small amount of nutrient loss and mineral depletion over your journey. This is solved in two ways. You can either minimise this through the gathering of raw material from carboniferous asteroids that can be chemically synthesized into nutrient rich fertilizers, or if the opportunity arises you can harvest the resources from life bearing worlds using the SSVs equipped in the Leif Erikson's rear hanger." As he finished speaking everyone went quiet as they seemed to mull over the information.
Leon shifted in his chair and then broke the silence. "Well I'm convinced, this ship sounds like a veritable home away from home to me. Plus it has more room than a UN Navy Cruiser, so that should be fun." A few of the others chuckled at his comment, that was good. He liked to put people at ease, it smoothed things out.
“Yes indeed.” The Director agreed. “As for your training, it will be taking place on site. If there are things you wish to take care of or get, now would be the time. After training starts, we cannot allow you to leave this facility for safety and security purposes, not to worry though. There is a large underground complex with all the amenities you might need. It's a little place we like to call Riddle City, not sure why, but that's what it's been called for over a hundred years. Anyways, you will be heading down there tomorrow. Today you largely have free, please take this time to relax and unwind, settle your debts and pack your things. Thank you for being here. Humanity is counting on you.” and with that final bold statement, the Director nodded to Mr. Green and walked out of the room.
Leon watched him leave and looked at Samuel, he shrugged back at him and they both went to stand up before Mr. Green walked over and said “Mr. Muikman, a moment of your time please.”
Leon said “Hey catch you later Samuel, yes, what do you need?” as he walked with the man a short distance away.
Leon frowned slightly as a few of the others shot them questioning glances then turned his attention to Mr. Green.
Mr. Green spoke “Mr. Muikman, I must say, I am glad that we decided to bring you into this project. We have been monitoring your interactions with the other members of the crew and have seen the way you constantly put others at ease and lighten otherwise dark moods. I told the Director you would be a good fit, your military background is a plus too, that regimented attitude should keep discipline in check over the course of the mission. Is there anything you would like to know? Any burning questions that you would like answered?”
Leon paused, they had been monitoring his conversations? Of course they had, this was the very beating heart of the government after all. It was unlikely he could get away with a fart in this complex, let alone a discreet conversation. He thought about bringing up Chris’s conversation from the night before, but decided that they already knew how he stood in that regard, and he was still here so they must not care. Instead he simply said “Nope, it all seems clear enough to me. So we start the hard stuff tomorrow huh?”
Mr. Green gave him a single eyebrow raise and then replied “Yes indeed. I will be on my way then if there is nothing else you need from me.” Leon just shook his head and watched as the man nodded and walked out of the room.
Leon watched him go before jumping in surprise as a voice sounded from directly next to his ear “Huh, what was that about?”
Leon placed his hand over his rapidly beating heart and then turned to glare at Sabine. “Damn it girl, you know I hate it when you do that.”
“Oh? What's the matter old man, your weak heart going to give out?” She snickered back at his consternation.
He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and couldn't help a small smile from forming on his face as he said “It's not going anywhere, neither am I. I was just distracted.”
“Distracted about what?” she asked innocently.
Leon shot her a knowing look and said “That's not for me to say. When I'm told to keep my mouth shut I do it, unlike you young’uns always jabbering away at every little thing.” he said, nudging her with his elbow.
She feigned shock and outrage before smiling widely and letting out a chuckle.
They stood in silence for a moment, sharing the mood before he spoke up once more. Well, that was a long meeting, and I skipped breakfast. Are you up for an early lunch?”
Sabine nodded and said “Lunch sounds nice, you up for some pan fried noodles, maybe some sauteed vegetables?”
Leon laughed and said “Sure, why not. To be honest I was just going to microwave a few burritos or something like that.”
She looked at him aghast and said “You poor deluded fool. Come, I shall teach you the ways of my people.” and she began to leave the room.
Leon moved to follow her and said “Hey, they are my people too.” but all he received in return was laughter.