Leon looked out the small, rounded window on the wall in front of him. Outside he saw only darkness. A kind of shimmering black that was at once darker than space and filled with flickering static. It was the artificial event horizon of their warp bubble, the darkness was thinner than the finest hair and yet so dense that nothing could pass through it. Not even the fabric of space itself.
He was disturbed from his musings by a rapid and insistent beeping coming from the bulky object he wore on his wrist. He looked down at the CAMs device and saw an incoming call from Myung. Answering it he spoke clearly so as to be understood, “Good morning. What do you need Myung?”
The Greater-Korean woman’s voice filtered through the device to him. “I was working on the hydroponics with Natalia, and we found that some of the pipes were calcifying from the inside. When we checked the pumps we discovered that the buildup had nearly shredded their internals. I checked the micropore filters and the water demineralizers, but they all looked fine. I just wanted to let you know that there was likely an issue somewhere else along the system. A contaminated tank or something like that.” She spoke with an air of worry that wasn’t lost on Leon. Their hydro and aquaponics were the lifelines of the ship, providing both food and recycling oxygen. If there was a real problem with the system it could mean much more than a temporary inconvenience.
Leon tapped the reply button, “Well, that’s not the good news I was hoping to hear. Call Sabine or Chad. They might be able to help you track down the source of the hard water. If nothing else they can help you get the pumps repaired.”
Myung responded quickly. “Ok. But I don’t want to hear them complaining about how the water smells funny anymore.” She chuckled. “I will call you if we figure it out.”
Leon nodded even though she would not have been able to see the movement. “Good. Good luck.” The call terminated with a slight beep and he shook his head. If it wasn’t one thing there was always another.
Speaking of the other, Leon turned back to the task he had been struggling with before he had been interrupted by Myung’s call. His console showed a star map, one with english notations that were superimposed over a much more exotic looking alien text. It was a piece of the recovered Aori astrological archives. He had studied it in great depth many times before, Henry had broken the language down and provided the translations.
According to the data that he had been able to glean, the Aori empire at the height of its power had spanned nearly two thousand light years in average diameter. That mind boggling number had always sat ill with him, how did they communicate over such impossible distances? He knew that they had likely had much more advanced technology, but still there were hurdles that could not be overcome with the application of brute force.
Some of the systems on the map were marked with amber circles, small notations next to them could be expanded to reveal their current status. These were the systems on the map that they had been to in the past, most had been destroyed or worse. It had been his decision to stop following the archive as nearly all the worlds they had encountered had been hazardous. He had a strange feeling in his gut about the archives though, as if they still had some vital part to play in their mission.
Leon shifted in his chair and glanced around, he was alone, and yet the small hairs on the back of his neck prickled. That same old feeling of being watched made him sweat slightly as he cleared his throat. One world stood out to him, one that was actually near to their current path, if a few dozen light years out of the way. It was a small G-class star, very similar to Sol in size and composition, though much older if the records of the archives were correct. And to his knowledge they were.
The system was unnamed in the archive, that had been the first thing about it that stood out to him. Most of the worlds and stars that were marked as important on the charts were named, but not this one. He could have mistaken it for one of the many tens of thousands of unmarked and unexplored systems in the archive, except for the fact that it did in fact have a notation. In fact it had two of them.
The small drop-down menus opened up into a wealth of information when he clicked on the reconstructed archives, the lists full of both astronomical and geological data on the various planetary bodies that resided within. Of particular note to him was the mention that two of the inner system worlds had oxygen atmospheres with evidence of liquid water present on their surfaces. A pair of worlds, neither named nor marked as documented.
He had come to the conclusion that they must have been recent additions to the archive when the Aori were attacked by the Ruiners, the data was incomplete and the survey mission had never been completed. He intended to complete that survey, even if it was several hundred-thousand years late. He chuckled at the thought.
It made him wonder, would there still be people talking about him and the UNSS Leif Erikson in a thousand years? In a hundred-thousand? He shook his head, making his long hair flail. No, it was unlikely. They would quickly be forgotten, unless.. They completed their mission.
He smiled. Yes, if they completed their mission, made contact with a sapient alien race. That would set them up nicely to become historical figures of great significance. He needed to keep the goal in mind but not let it consume him. That was the easiest way to depression, to get one’s hope too high. And what with everything that had already happened on the journey so far that was the last thing he was looking for.
His thoughts about their mission and the legacy they would leave behind got him thinking on all the other things that he had done in his life. Nothing compared to even the smallest of their more recent achievements. Not the years spent in the UN peacekeeping corps, not all his time spent trying to live up to the image of his ancestors. No, this was it, the culmination of all his life’s choices.
He stood, walking a few paces away from the computer and to the window on the far wall. The ship was composed of six counter-rotating habitat rings around a central core. From this point on the ship he could see the ship’s core far above him, nearly fifty meters away. It seemed to turn, rotating slowly in place, though Leon knew that it was actually the ring he was in that was in motion. The huge one-hundred-and-twenty-meter ring turning just fast enough to simulate seventy percent of Earth’s natural gravity. Not really enough to keep them from experiencing bone density loss, but more than enough to keep them healthy with some rigorous exercise on a daily basis.
Leon flexed his arm and smiled, he was in the best shape of his life actually. The constantly healthy diet and diligent attention to his physical condition had hardened all his soft places and grown new muscle in places he had previously never known existed. He laughed a little at the thought of his current self meeting his military self. Back when he had thought himself secure in his own superiority, he could kick his past self’s ass if he had a time machine.
He paced back and forth a bit as he glanced back towards his abandoned computer. He wanted to check out the system, but they were mid jump to another star. One admittedly close by, but he wasn’t going to ask Samuel to drop them out of warp prematurely simply to head to a system that could be a dead husk by now for all he knew.
“No, it’s still alive.” He said aloud.
“What’s still alive?” He jumped around as a voice spoke from the door behind him.
He whirled and saw it was Dr. Kimathi. “Oh, hello there Blessing. I was just talking to myself, I found a new lead from the Aori archives.” She raised an eyebrow at his comment but changed the subject.
“Well, if you are done with what you are doing, your presence has been requested in the medical bay.” She noticed how nervous he got, she added, “It’s not Natalia.”
Leon relaxed, that was a good thing to hear. But now he was doubly curious as to who could be asking for him at the infirmary. He opened his mouth to ask but realised that if she had been planning to tell him she likely would have done so already.
He gestured for her to lead the way, turning off the computer as he passed by it. He would have to come back to it later when he got the chance.
The two of them walked down the gently curving hallway towards the nearest ladder spoke in silence. Leon was really feeling the quiet and so he turned to her and uttered the thoughts that were burning in his mind. “What is going on? Who asked for me if it wasn’t Nat?”
She shook her head, her long black hair tied back in a severe pony tail that swayed with the movement of her head. He looked into her dark eyes and saw worry there, the kind that a person might show if they were caught in a deep moral dilemma.
He stopped, Dr. Kimathi took a few more steps before she halted jerkily. “Blessing.. what is happening? Please, you can tell me.”
She shook her head, the worry in her eyes growing like cracks in marble as her face creased. “It’s not my place, but I will show you. I just, I can't keep it from you or anyone else any longer, action needs to be taken or at the very least agreed upon.”
That got him worrying. If she was this torn up over whatever it was then it must be serious. Had Aden regressed into madness once more, was Samuel’s self inflicted injury causing complications? Did Max bite somebody and the antivenom wasn’t working this time?
All these horrific situations and more ran through his mind as if on a loop as they crawled up the ladder shaft to the main core of the ship. The crossing to the second ring where the medical suite was took far longer than Leon wanted, if he could have willed it he would have teleported directly there without having to cross the intervening space. But alas he possessed no such power, and so they painstakingly crawled their way down the forty-five-meter ladder to the medical ring. Dr. Kimathi hurried, barely waiting to make sure that Leon was still behind her as they rushed down the hall towards the medical labs.
It wasn’t lost on Leon that they passed the quarantine and intensive care wings without stopping, what could be such an emergency that didn’t require the use of either theatre?
He was soon to find out as they walked into the general medical examination area and passed through the hermetically sealed airlock. A wash of ultraviolet radiation shining on them from all sides as they closed their eyes, the purpose of which was to limit the bacteria that grew and took hold on the ship. Some amount of contamination was always going to happen, but at least they could mitigate it to the best of their ability.
They were through and into the room quickly. No sooner had the inner doors opened then Leon heard voices. They didn’t sound panicked to him, in fact at least one of them sounded almost elated in tone. He frowned and followed Dr. Kimathi into the rear of the suite, back where the patient rooms were. A place he himself had been on more than one occasion on their journey.
He stepped into a small room, the walls were clinical white and the ceiling was a pleasant pale blue. In the middle of the small room was a single medical bed upon which lay Terry. The woman seemed to be in good health, though he noticed the look of silent dread that flickered over her face as she turned and made eye contact with him. He realised that he was still frowning, his features likely screwed into a somewhat severe mask of confusion and curiosity. The next thing he noticed were the others.
Taylor was there by her side of course, one hand resting on her belly on top of the thin medical sheet she was under. Next to him was Natalia and Myung, he cocked his head at that, they must have been invited there in the same manner as he himself, though what they all had in common with the unknown situation he was now dying to find out.
He made the first move as silence descended onto the room like a cruise missile, the moderately animated conversation dropping still almost as soon as they entered the room. He gestured to the group and asked in as cheerful a voice as he could manage, “Well? What's the special occasion?”
Terry looked from him to her husband and then to Dr. Kimathi standing next to him. The dark skinned woman moved quickly from her place in the doorway to the far side of the room where she picked up a medical dataslate and stylus. She seemed reluctant to tell him what was going on even now that he was here.
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He shook his head and looked over towards Natalia. To his surprise he saw the same look of suppressed dread that he had seen on the good doctor’s face. Now that was really an oddity, she was rarely if ever that concerned unless she had good reason. He looked around the room again, trying to gain some clues as to what was happening through the context clues of the room. It was near pointless though as he soon found that he was at a near total loss.
He threw his hands up and then took another step into the room. “Alright, you got me. What’s this about? I have no idea what is going on here.”
Dr. Kimathi figited and then answered in a way, “Well, you were asked to be here.. by Terry.” the woman glanced at the couple near the bed, Taylor took one of Terry’s hands in his larger one and seemed to give her a reassuring squeeze.
Terry took a deep breath and then spoke softly, her voice a bit wavery as if she was in great pain. “I..” She glanced at her husband, Taylor again squeezing her hand in a supporting manner. She swallowed, seemingly having difficulty finding the words. “Well, Taylor and I came to a decision a few months ago. Maybe we should have said something before, but we decided to go through with it anyways. I wanted to do it, we wanted to do it.” She reached out and placed a hand lovingly on Taylor’s strong shoulder.
Leon started to become suspicious. The way she was talking, the words she was using. Surely she wasn’t suggesting what he was now beginning to suspect she might be.
Terry continued, her faltering words no less determined. “Well, the long and short of it is.. I’m pregnant Leon.”
Leon’s mouth opened. He shook his head as his brow furrowed, this was bad. Very bad. They couldn't have this happen now, not when they were in the middle of the mission. He was about to say as much when Myung spoke out in the other woman’s defense as if she knew he was about to disagree.
The short pale skinned woman gestured towards the couple. “They will never have a life on Earth, Leon. Everything they will know until they are nearly fifty will be contained within the metal confines of this ship. By then it would be too late, radiation damage and the ever present advancement of time would have obliterated their ability to have children.” She spoke quickly but with a near rehearsed air as if planning for this very eventuality herself.
Leon saw the way she was rationalising the situation, but he didn’t agree. “That’s not the issue here. I am not thinking of the future of your family life, I am thinking about the mission. About the rest of the crew. Think of the dangers that you have undergone so far, think of the hardships yet to come. I just can’t see this being a sound idea given the dangers we constantly face.” He thought about the many times the ship and the crew had nearly been killed.
Natalia frowned as he spoke, causing him to stop. She shook her head, hands resting on her hips as she scolded him, “Leon! How could you say that? We are talking about a child here. You can’t seriously be telling them to abort the pregnancy.”
Leon put up his hands. “I am saying nothing at the moment, all I am pointing out is that the likelihood of this child leading any semblance of a normal life is gone. They will face dangers that they may not survive, how do you even know that the baby will be born at all? What with the radiation doses that some of us have received in the last few years..” He stopped, another thought occurring to him. “They would never know the sun or the sky. Never experience the sound of the wind through trees or the joy of warm rains. Could you really subject them to an entire life stuck inside this vessel?” he hated the words even as he uttered them, but his point was solid.
Terry clutched her slightly swollen belly as if she could shield her unborn child from his words. “No. Blessing has checked over and over again. The baby is healthy, maybe even stronger than they would have been if born back on Earth, even without the sky.” Taylor was nodding at her words.
Leon scrubbed his hands through his hair and sucked in a deep breath as he began to pace back and forth in front of the doorway. He swore silently to himself, the pain of command stabbing him in the back now that a decision had finally cropped up that tested both his personal belief and his mission. He shook his head again. “I can’t condone this pregnancy.”
He said it mildly, preparing to say more. But before he could Terry let out a small sob and leaned into her husband. Dr. Kimathi straightened and stabbed her stylus in his direction angrily. “Leon, if you ask me to terminate this pregnancy you will not only lose all respect I have gained for you, but you will also lose my trust. You need to understand that..” he cut her off with a raised voice, a touch of anger entering his tone as he waved a hand.
“No, you need to listen. It is you that doesn't understand the situation. I am not asking anyone to do anything, but as the mission commander it is my duty to think of the whole ship instead of a single life. I was chosen for command because they knew I understood sacrifice for the greater good.” he paused. The room had fallen silent once more and he felt his heart sink. “I would sacrifice any one of you if it meant saving the rest of the crew, I would sacrifice myself. Don’t presume that I am to be swayed by emotion in this matter.” Several sets of eyes were fixed on him, many appalled, some more understanding.
This was it, the moment. This was a pivotal decision, the wrong words would lose him not only the respect of half the crew, but likely Natalia as well. He felt the weight of dread settle on his shoulders as he made his choice. It was likely the wrong choice, but when all the choices were wrong the best one could hope for was the ability to sleep at night.
“I can’t stop you from having this child Terry, Taylor.” He looked both of them in the eyes as he said their names. The worry that emitted from their tensed and hunched postures was palpable. But he needed to say it, no matter the personal cost. “It is likely that this babe may be born healthy and then still die. Pregnancies in zero gravity never turn out well, and to my knowledge there have never been any problems with low gravity births, look at Mars for example. But there has never been an interstellar child. Not even one born further than the asteroid belt.” he stopped to suck in a breath.
The atmosphere of the room had chilled somewhat during his speech, but the frowns and furrowed brows had lessened somewhat as they seemed to be getting his point. “What I am meaning to say is that there is absolutely no precedent for what is happening here, and we are hundreds of light years from help or backup. Do you understand? Trillions of kilometers. If something goes wrong, we may not have the facilities to rectify the issue.” Terry nodded solemnly. “I understand what it’s like to lose family, and close friends. I just..” He stopped as a tear leaked from his eye.
Leon turned away slightly as he wiped it away. He took a second to compose himself, the deep pangs of loss echoing in his heart as he thought of the ones he himself had lost over the years. “I just don’t want you to have to deal with that. But I won’t stop you. If it is your true wish to do this then who am I to stop you, I am not god. I'm simply a man. A deeply flawed man that.. just...” He shut his eyes as the anxiety spiked the lingering pain of his cybernetics.
He growled under his breath as he felt the tremors start and clenched his eyes shut as he felt one of the familiar hollow pains spread in his middle. It lasted only a second, but in that second he felt as if hours had passed.
He opened his eyes and straightened. “Do what you feel is best.” he choked out and turned to leave, his arm clutched painfully to his chest.
He felt a hand on his shoulder though as he was about to exit the room. He was spun around and grunted in mild discomfort as Natalia wrapped him in a fierce hug that squashed the air from his biological lung. He smiled after a moment and returned the hug with his left arm.
She spoke softly as he leaned his head on her head, “I knew you would make the right choice Leon.” she pushed him back and he glanced at the others. Dr. Kimathi was looking at him with undisguised concern, her instinct to heal those around her likely having been triggered by his mild psychosomatic attack. Terry and Taylor had embraced, their attention wholly focused on each other as they shared a moment of joyful bliss. Myung was nodding slightly at him, her face cracked by a slight smile. Who knew what she was thinking, but a part of him speculated that he had just opened a floodgate and there was now no way of sealing it again.
Natalia didn’t care about any of it though, she just smiled at him as she placed a hand on his cheek and guided his eyes back to hers. “I think that you let command of the mission override your good sense sometimes my love.”
He smiled wide, his teeth showing as his face lightened from her words. “But where would I be without my guiding angel to keep me on the straight and narrow. My iron rod that guides me to salvation.” he whispered.
She giggled, “What, are you quoting that gospel mash at me again?”
He shrugged. “Sorry, old habits are hard to break.”
She slapped his left shoulder lightly as she took his shivering right hand in hers. “Well, I didn’t tell you to stop, you big lug.” He felt the tremors slow and then stop, her touch soothing him in a way that no pharmaceuticals or therapy ever had. He breathed in her scent and smiled.
“I am sorry I even gave you pause to worry. I could never have demanded they kill their child, I just.. I wanted to do the right thing for everyone, think of the strain this may place on Terry and Taylor. And through them, the entire ship.” He mumbled his worries into her hair.
He felt her shift, her pretty full face tilting up to look into his eyes. “I don’t care what the strain is, we will bear it. You also fail to think of what kind of morale boost it might be to have new life on this rotting tin can.” he chuckled at her comment. She was probably right, but a part of him was still not fully convinced.
Leon released her and took a step towards the bed as Terry looked over towards him. The worry had melted from her face and had instead been replaced by a look of pensive consideration. She was still a bit wary of him it seemed. He smiled to assuage her fears and sat on the edge of the bed much to her surprise, she made a small peep as she bounced slightly from his weight on the soft mattress.
He took a deep breath. “Terry. I won't deny that a part of me is scared, scared for you, for the crew. And yes, a part of me thinks that this isn’t right for the mission.” She tensed, but he shook his head sadly and she relaxed. “But I am not a computer like Henry, mindlessly executing pre-programmed tasks without thought. I am a man, and because of that fact I can understand both your thoughts and the gravity of the situation.”
She nodded at his words. A tear leaking from her eye. “I understand Leon. And thank you.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t do anything Terry, but I wish that I had done more. Please, accept my apologies in advance, because this is going to be hard. And I may yet have hard decisions to make in the future.”
Once more she nodded silently. Taylor placed a hand on his shoulder from across the bed. “Leon, I trust you. I may not have always seen eye to eye with you on all things. But I know that at the end of the day, you will do what is right for us. And I respect the hell out of you for that.” Now it was Leon’s turn to give a silent nod.
He didn’t trust himself to speak, for if he did he might not be able to hold himself together. Instead he just patted Terry on the back and stood to his feet. His hands figited at his sides for a moment before he made a gesture towards Dr. Kimathi. “Well, I am taking up all of your time. I had better get going and let Blessing take another look at you. Um.. good luck.” And with that he turned and made for the exit.
He breezed past Natalia, he gave her a quick head bob as he passed but said nothing. After making it to the main airlock he stopped and waited. Presently Natalia strode around the corner and then slowed, she walked over to him and he shook his head as she opened her mouth to ask him a question.
“No, not right now Nat. I just need a few more minutes.” He paused, her face a curious mixture of love and worry. “I.. I don’t want to be the bad man. But you and I both know the perils that this child will be asked to face. They may not even survive the pregnancy, births in space have been known to result in abnormalities and genetic defects.” he would have continued but she shushed him, effectively cutting off his worries with a single sound.
“No.” She stepped closer and gripped his arms tightly in her small hands. “Dr. Kimathi wont let that happen to them, Terry is going to have that child and you are going to do everything in your power to help this child grow to be a productive member of our little society.”
He just shrugged. “A society of less than fifteen. We have nothing to offer a growing child. No games or toys, nothing that they can interact with safely that is.”
She shook him gently. “None of that matters. For now we need to focus on getting the ship to the next system.” he straightened as best he could, throwing his shoulders back and straightening the curve of his spine.
Natalia chuckled. “My big strong soldier.” She leaned into him and he stiffened.
“I am serious Nat. We need to think of..” She cut him off by placing a hand over his mouth and chuckling.
“Yes, and I understand. But right now I think you need to go and get a cup of coffee and relax. You are stressed, I can see it, feel it too. Let’s go to the mess hall, after that we can go and look at the archive data together. Sounds like a plan?”
Leon had to admit to himself that a coffee did actually sound nice. “Alright. But coffee and nothing more. I already ate and don't need to get into any bad habits like the rest of you, with all your snacking.” He smiled involuntarily as she put her chin on his chest and smiled up at him.
“Okay, but I am getting a snack, as you called it.” She started off in the direction of the airlock on her way to the mess hall.
Leon waited a moment, a frown crossing his features as soon as she was out of eyeshot. The situation was as dire as could be, had he let his emotions get the mission into trouble? He shook his head, he needed to put it out of his mind for the moment. Until they solved their more pressing matters it was something that didn’t bear thinking too hard about.
He heard the airlock open and Natalia called to him, “Leon? Are you coming love?”
He made a decision in that moment. He would do everything in his power to keep the child safe, maybe that was his true mission. Not the discovery of alien intelligence beyond the Earth, but the preservation of their own. He smiled, the feeling of dread lessening somewhat as he turned towards his wife and gave her a nod.
“Yes Nat, I am on my way.” They strode out and into the hall together, her hand in his as they chatted about the mission and other mundane things. Leon knew that as long as she was by his side that everything would work out alright in the end.