Chapter Sixty-Eight

A year had passed since Viktoriya had defended the ark from the attack. No new ships were coming, no alien assaults.

All was quiet and calm.

Military strike ships deployed around all the arks under construction in orbit, and attack fighters accompanied each shipment delivered from Earth to one of the provisioning sites.

They were getting closer to completion at a good pace, as round-the-clock work was constantly ongoing for each ship.

Viktoriya spent much of her time on the flagship ark, The Viktoriya. And even though only eighty percent of it was habitable at the moment, she claimed her favorite space and lab, one of the largest on the vessel.

A few days prior, they had shipped some of the last resources she needed for her latest request. She had successfully set up the transparent board covering half of her laboratory’s wall and the carbon-fiber holo-tables rooted just in the center of the lab.

“CLEFF, put that case on the floor over there, close to the power link, please.”

She smiled at the completed lab. Then her smartwatch went off, signaling it was time for her quarterly checkup. She turned seventeen today.

She hauled the whiteboard to the corner of the room; the calculations made on it still barely visible on the old surface, then shut the glass door behind her, the keypad automatically locking the door.

It had been almost a year since she last saw her parents. Well, if you exclude the constant video chatting to see if she was faring well, along with the online sessions they kept with Dr. Maribelle.

She told them she was okay, but the sessions were the only reason they even allowed her to stay there in space on her own. Ever since her Artic victory, they were worried anything could happen at any moment.

She entered the ark’s med bay with CLEFF close behind, beaming at the woman. Her tan skin sprinkled with freckles on her face gave her a bright smile. She said calmly, “Hey, you’re right on time for the quarterly check.”

With a nod, Viktoriya took the pod she normally sat in, rolling up the sleeve of her gray shirt to reveal half her arm’s length as she carefully took in newly arrived items in the lab.

The small open cooler with different samples of rocks that the doctor had thought to be medicinal, only if she could release their contents and do the necessary research. The vast wall clock hung just above the door, its ever-aggravating ticks constantly breaking the silence between them.

And, of course, the few extra clinical beds were always empty and neatly made with the corners folded.

“Hi, Vik. How has your CyberArm been lately?” the doctor asked.

“Hi, Kelly. Excellent. It is responding just like I hoped it would. It took a while, but now it’s just me.”

The doctor prepared the test device and probes, then returned to her to attach the cables.

“Lift your right leg, please.”

Viktoriya noticed the vases arranged with flowers and some tropical plants in the corners, giving the office a more pleasant setting.

“You requested flowers and plants for the office?” she asked.

The doctor’s gaze remained fixed on the pad in her hand when she said, “Yes. It helps to relax the environment and improves oxygen.”

Viktoriya smiled back. “How nice. I think I’ll request some for my lab.”

She watched the doctor as her eyebrows furrowed, and she repeatedly tapped against the tablet, holding down her finger on the Retest icon.

“What’s wrong?” Viktoriya asked.

“Hang on a sec; I need to retake this.”

“You have done that four times now. So… what’s going on?”

The doctor raised her head, her blonde hair seeming even brighter in the lighting as she adjusted her glasses.

“Let me grab another sensor, hold on a minute.” After re-scanning with a different sensor, Kelly said,

“Well, this cannot be right.”

“What can’t be right?”

The woman swiped her screen on the tablet again, then raised it to show her patient.

“From what I see here, and this is only my hypothesis since I have had no one double-check the data, it appears—” she adjusted her glasses again, more fidgeting with them than correcting anything.

She took a deep breath, as though trying to clear a lump in her throat.

“From what it looks like, you have stopped aging, on a cellular level,” she said, then let out a croaked laugh that sounded even more awkward than the news she had just broken, pushing up her glasses once again.

“Oh, my!” CLEFF exclaimed.

“I mean, it can’t be right, can it? That’s not possible,” she muttered more to herself than to Viktoriya, then bit on her lower lip as she tugged her glasses one more time, rechecking the readings—almost as if the more she handled them, the better the readings would become.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“It must have something to do with the meters. I think they, they have to be bad,” she muttered.

“Ah, wait. Did you say anything to my parents?” she asked.

The doctor frowned. “Viktoriya, I’m sorry, I just sent them the readings just a few moments ago to see if they had ever experienced anything like this with you before.”

Viktoriya stripped the black strap away and flung the probe from her hand.

“You’ve got to be kidding! Did you at least send it through a secure channel?”

The doctor frowned again, clearly confused by whatever it was she was driving at.

“There is no telling who may have been tapped into that signal! You should have checked with me first!” she snapped. Her tone was curt and stern as she barked the words at the doctor. She had already unstrapped the probes on her thighs as she jumped off the pod. Her voice was much louder and forceful than she would have wanted to admit.

“I don’t think—” the doctor muttered as she cut her off.

“I’m an adult, and I have rights of my own, you know that!” she said and held the woman’s hardened gaze.

“Well, technically, you are still a minor, seventeen, and apparently will remain that way for quite a while!” Dr. Kelly said, laughing. Then she paused, looking to witness Viktoriya’s expression of discontent, realizing her joke sounded funnier in her head than when she actually said it out loud.

“By the way, I do have the authority to check with my colleagues, which your parents are, to inquire if they have had any prior experience with something similar,” she added.

“Miss Kelly is correct, Viktori-Ya,” CLEFF confirmed.

The doctor’s words had her taken aback. Not the actual words she had spoken, but the tone and control she said them.

The memories of her parents treating her like she was a troubled child had taken their toll on her. Dr. Kelly had only done what she thought was best, and Viktoriya knew she had not really been acting on her best behavior toward her.

Despite that, she was too upset for an apology, too unwilling to prolong the fight, especially now when they had to be prepared for whatever may be out there.

The two ladies stared hard at each other, green eyes meeting blue-gray ones. The contest ended with the scrambled noise from Viktoriya’s comms link.

She peeled her gaze to the black device clipped on her belt and adjusted the screen until she accessed the secure channel code.

“Commander Mike, this is a surprise.”

“Viktoriya, please, I need your attention for a moment. Are you in a secure area?”

She raised her head to stare at the doctor, who now turned away from her, heading to do whatever her hands could find on the table to keep busy.

“Yes, go ahead. Is this about my bio-med checkup?”

“No. Wait, what? Are you okay?” the commander queried.

“Oh!” she replied.

“Are you okay, Viktoriya?” Mike asked again.

“Yes. Yes, I am. What’s the matter then?” she asked, stepping out of the door.

“We just tracked two small alien ships arriving out of deep orbit at Quadrant 9078. And we’ve just sent every available fighter to intercept and to the ark to take them out before they can get there and do any damage.”

“Oh! Really? I thought you had fighters stationed here at orbital stations already?”

“We do, but we are sending more. A lot more.”

“Oh! Okay! And you, um, What do you want?”

“Well, since you are the only one that could save us from the alien mothership, I am hoping you can help launch an assault from your ark also so that we can end this for good,” the commander said.

“I can do this!” she shouted.

As though summoned, CLEFF showed up from the other side of the room, positioning behind her, striding in step as they ran toward the hangar.

She stopped and turned to the doctor, who now stood outside the infirmary door, and said, “Doctor, you need to get yourself a security detail. Your transmission may—You may have put yourself in danger.”

Before she could finish the sentence, the blaring of alarm filled the air. Glittering red lights replaced the white translucent ones.

She turned toward CLEFF, continuing to race toward the hangar as she strapped the comm back on her waist belt. “C’mon, CLEFF,” she called, running in front of him.

“Be safe, Vik!” Kelly yelled.

The whole of the ark was disoriented. The present occupants were slowly making their way out of their rooms to inquire about the alarm.

Victoriya and CLEFF made for her quarters, rushing past the curious bystanders. She quickly raised her hand to the ID pad, and the door slid open. She stepped to the table where her backpack and gear lay, quickly grabbing everything as they sprinted for the ark’s hangar.

The protection details were rushing for the hangar, each fully armored with helmets and guns. For a moment, she stopped to cast a glance through the thick, translucent bay window.

The ark offered a view of Earth covered primarily in ice, and at that moment, she imagined the children playing as she used to when she was young. She imagined the ones making snow angels who would never have a chance to grow up, should she fail.

She was going to save her people.

The children had no one else to save them, so she would do it herself. She would save them all.

That is what I am here for. To save us all.

Even if it meant casting herself down for their sake, again and again, she would not fail them.

She secured her backpack, and with a final thought, she ran through the door into the hangar, the colossal metal blast shield slamming shut behind her.

She turned to the crew, who all were standing, watching her with solemn faces that questioned if this day would be their last.

Yet when she looked into their eyes, all she saw was the commitment to go further into battle this day, even if it meant that it was to their end.

Viktoriya could see it now, their emotions, where she had struggled before and failed to understand how to read people’s expressions. She did not need any facial expression cards now. She saw clearly a message in their faces that if this day, they drew their last breath—they would do so gladly while fighting by her side.

Again, she found the courage to step into the small fighter ship with CLEFF beside her, fully ready to engage.

CLEFF banged into the side of the loading door as they rushed in.

“Sorry!”

“Watch it, partner, we have to fly in this thing, buddy!” one of the team joked.

“Okay, buddy! I’ll adjust my movements to be more cohesive wi—”

“That’s enough; take your spot, lock in!”

Everything was happening fast. The men and women gearing up, filling the other ships beside her. The blaring of alarms now, the drum of war, the pumping of blood through her veins, seeking only one purpose.

Stop the attack.

Save the ark.

She began seeing the universe in real-time and felt synchronicity between her and the Spectrum. As the alien ships drew closer, moving almost like streaks of light through space, the black-bodied ships were twice the size of their own fighters, racing toward them.

The ark’s defensive gunnery turrets deployed, firing at the distant approaching ships as she and the rest of the team jettisoned into space.

First one, then in sequence with the others, until the defensive ships lined up like the cavalry shielding all the arks from the aliens coming to raid them.

Viktoriya became overwhelmed by her desire to save humanity and everything, everyone that she held dear.

For the children who would build snowmen, for the mothers who longed to see their children grow up to be more.

For her parents.

For Choe and Aura.

She would press through hell and back, if need be, navigate the most perilous seas or even remain here, rushing through space toward her foes.

For the ark.

For their salvation.

If there was any fear left in her, she had misplaced it and now felt only the insatiable flame growing within herself to protect.

She began to glow as before, not only her hands, but now swirling around her entire body was the translucent, glowing aura of the Spectrum, now growing, enveloping their entire ship as a wobbly sphere.

“Viktori-Ya! Look, you are a flaming vortex of… You are The Spectrum!”