Earth

Parthenon One—The super-structured orbiting Lagrange space station…

With over five-hundred thousand people on board, a majority of the populous had made this orbital station their permanent residence. Parthenon One’s superstructure stretched forty-four hundred miles across; Filled with docking bays, cargo areas, populated cities, and military bases. The super-station was considered the hub of Earth Core United. Generally, most would prefer to live Earth-side, but seeing how the living conditions on the surface wasn’t considered ideal, Parthenon One was a far better choice for those that could afford it.

Sitting in a large open spaced waiting room of Wentworth Hospital (the foremost top medical facility of Earth), Sarah Brigham waited patiently with her legs crossed and occasionally fiddled with her blue ECU military uniform. Sarah stared out of the huge panoramic-wide sized window and watched the the busy traffic out in space; Large vessels of every shape and size slowly moved past as they birthed and uncoupled from their docks; Small commuter shuttles flew past in-between the behemoths and darted about like bees as they made for their own destinations. The sun was just starting to peak around the edge of the planet, and the solar screens slowly inched up to shield the glass from the focused rays.

Tourists would often stand to marvel at the sight of such a scene, but for those living and working on this station, this was nothing special. Beautiful to look at, yes, but, a vision of the stars and Earth that many have grown accustomed to viewing; This was just another day living on Parthenon One.

“Sarah?”

She immediately turned to see the nurse waiting for her. The black woman had a clean white uniform with a red and blue symbol marking the division of care she belonged to. A hospital outfit that all medical staff generally wore. Sarah stood up and acknowledged nurse a nod and smile. The nurse then gestured to the doors behind her.

“You can see your mother now.”

“Is it a good day? Or a bad one?” Sarah said, as she straightened her uniform.

“A good one,” the nurse grinned. “She’s doing well. The treatment is helping her cope with the side effects of the cancer. So, you might be able to get a longer visit this time around.”

That seemed to please her. Sarah passively nodded and joined the nurse in entering the section. The hospital was advanced and very sterile in design; Clean white walls with stainless steel and clear glass panelled doors. The staff were busy; Doctors, nurses, medical technicians and robots went about their tasks as they passed by. The corridors were marked with red and blue lines that directed visitors and staff to the necessary rooms required. The lines themselves were holographic, they would scroll the patient’s name as they walked along, and then it would switch for each person stepping on them. A gentle computerized voice would inform them of where they needed to go. It only took a few moments to find her mother’s room.

As they entered, Sarah could see the condition of her ailing parent. Various tubes were hooked into her arms, a breathing mask covered her face, holographic vitals hovered over her bed, and she could hear the sound of oxygen pumping in and out. It pained Sarah to see her like this. Once the nurse left them alone, Sarah allowed herself to shed a tear and tried not to let the emotion get the better of her.

How many times had she seen her mother like this? They’d been to so many different hospitals on Earth, and now here, on the station. Cancer had been cured in the past, but now there was a new strain, one that was more resilient to treatments and far more insidious than the others had been. The medical community had a hard time finding ways to combat it. Being in space was they only way to slow the progression. Her mother didn’t deserve such a terrible fate. It was like living a terrible curse. Sarah removed those negative thoughts from her mind as she looked upon her mothers face. She looked so lovely and peaceful.

Sarah found a chair near by and sat beside her. The hi-tech hovering bed lowly hummed with power as the holographic monitors surrounded her head with stats of her vitals. They randomly beeped and blooped in the quiet room as the nurse came around to check on them with a data pad in hand. Sarah gently caressed her mother’s long flowing silver-white hair. She knew it was just a wig, of course, but that didn’t stop her from admiring how lovely she looked in it.

“You have a visitor…” The nurse calmly announced.

“Hm?” The mother roused.

“It’s me mum…” Sarah said, still stroking her hair.

“Where’s Dana?” Her mother said. She slowly opened her eyes and turned to her. “Is she not with you?”

“Diana, mum,” Sarah corrected her, giving a slight sigh. “You always keep getting her name wrong.”

“Whatever…” The mother snickered while briefly rolling her eyes. “Why isn’t she with you? What happened this time?”

“Nothing,” Sarah shrugged. Her mother glared at her. Sarah gave in and explained. “We just didn’t see any reason to stay together. I guess my drama was too much for her.”

“Oh, please…” Her mother chuckled. “You pushed her away, especially when things get complicated, like always… just like your father did.”

That jab seemed to hurt Sarah slightly. The last time she’d ever seen her father was when she was twelve years old. He left their London home after having an affair with a twenty-two year old Canadian woman.

“Good riddance,” Sarah thought after it happened. “He was a lousy dad. Mum was a princess that never deserved a twit like him. A stupid drunkard that can go die on Mars with his equally drunk girlfriend.”

In fact, she had wondered if there would ever be a day when the call would come. That her father had died, flat on his face or accidentally sucked out of an airlock while inebriated. But no, there was no such news on that. Not that she would care to hear of it anyway. The nurse finished up her duties, looked at them bother and smiled.

“I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes…”

Sarah nodded, as did her mother (as best she could), and the nurse left the room to give them some privacy. Once she was gone, Sarah stopped grooming her mother’s hair, sat up straight and peered at her.

“Mum, I have to tell you something. It wasn’t easy for me to do this, but, I’ve decided to join the Deep Contact mission.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Oh?” Her mother’s eyes perked. “So the real reason for your break up becomes apparent. With you, the stars and adventure comes first.”

“No, it doesn’t,” She contested. “I’m just tired of waiting for my chance to be captain. This mission will give me the opportunity to advance much faster.”

“So you say…”

“I do,” Sarah assured. “Once I have that command, mum, I’ll be better suited to take care of you. I’ll take you to the other colony worlds, ones with better care and medicine…”

“Hogwash,” The mother sternly muttered. She closed her eyes and rested her head onto the pillow. “Stop being so damned bloody ambitious, girl. You’re young, you have time to explore other careers, start a family…”

“Not this again, please mother.”

Sarah cut that conversation instantly. Once again the subject of ‘family’ and ‘have children’ came up. Her mother would always feed a line in about having grandchildren at some point. Perhaps that’s inherent in all parents to do so, but Sarah found it annoying that her mother would even suggest it. An uncomfortable silence came upon them. Her mother struggled to prop her head up, trying to get a more comfortable position to look at her daughter.

Sarah relented her anger and aided her parent with the task. Her mother always thought she was a good child, a wonderful girl she was pleased to have, but hated being such a burden to her. She patted Sarah’s hand and took in a few deep inhales from the small oxygen tube hooked to her nose before speaking.

“I just want you to be happy. That’s all”

“I know, mum, I know.”

“Deep Contact, you say?” The mother looked at her with confusion. “Won’t that be like a five or ten year mission”

“Yes,” Sarah nodded. “Or more, depending on what happens out there. We maybe gone before you… you…”

“Aw, baby doll…” The mother noticed the tears forming Sarah’s eyes. The regret in them shinning through with a quivered lip. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine, don’t you dare worry about me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, to leave you like this, mum!” Sarah broke down in tears. “I should never have accepted it. I was… I was only thinking about myself in the moment. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please forgive me.”

Sarah began to weep and put her head down onto her mother’s chest. The mother tried to comfort her daughter. She stroked her hair and tried her best to ease the sorrow.

“Oh, sweetheart… Don’t you dare give up on your dreams. Not for me, do you hear? I only wish I could go with you into that infinite cosmos. Perhaps I will, if this cancer takes me, but for now, I will endure and await news of your great achievement. Come, girl, look at me…”

Sarah gazed up at her mother. She bore a proud smile at her and clutched her hand with ever bit of strength she could muster.

“Know that I am always with you. Out there, among the stars, you take my soul with you wherever you go. I shall do my part to stay alive as long as I can, just incase you do return, but… don’t you dare use me as the excuse to bail out of the chance of a lifetime. Yes?”

Sarah nodded, wordless, with tears still rolling down her cheeks. She gave her mother a long hug and sat back down in the chair. It took a moment to subside the emotion, but once she got it under control, they began talking again.

“When do you leave?” The mother asked.

“In three months,” Sarah said, wiping her eyes. “Perhaps sooner if the ship is completed ahead of schedule. They seem to be in a rush to get going.”

“Oh, how odd…” The mother said. She leaned back in the pillow and took in another deep breath. “It must be that damn Omega Group, I’ll bet… never could trust those lil’ bastards.”

“I know, I feel the same.” Sarah said, she briefly looked over her shoulder, as if to see if anyone could hear her. “They’ll be putting one on our ship. Can you believe that? Can’t we do anything without those brats? Honestly, I think they want us to fail.”

“They do,” The mother sighed. “I’ve piloted many a ship with one. Trying to tell me how to fly, as if I need them to stick their ruddy-noses in my business. I know how to fly, cheeky bastards. Then they go and revoke my pilot’s license for lack of proper protocol. Personally, I think they knew I was the better pilot, just couldn’t stand to see a ‘norm’ like me out preform one of them.”

The nurse returned into the room and interrupted their conversation. Sarah hoped their little chat didn’t go noticed and quickly silenced as the black woman came to her mother’s bed side.

“Time for another treatment session, Mrs. Brigham.” The nurse cheerfully stated. “Dr. Zola wants to prep you early before trying another dose of the radiation.”

“Another one?” The mother grumbled. “Feels like I just had bout not too long ago.”

“That was a week ago, Mrs. Brigham, don’t you remember? I guess it can feel like time is flying by when coming out of a stasis tube.”

“Why was she in a stasis tube?” Sarah curiously glanced at her.

“Dr. Zola feels it can help with destroying the mutating cells from growing soon after a treatment. He bombards the cancerous body with targeted blasts and then puts the patient in stasis to slow the growth.”

“Dr. Zola is an Omega Group physician…” Sarah’s mother explained. “I’ve become a person of interest due to my rare form of drug resistant cancer. They can’t seem to irradiate it with the typical medicine and treatments. So, now I’m being prodded and studied like some weird experiment. I’m more a lab rat to them than a patient.”

“Now Mrs. Brigham, that’s not true…” The nurse said as she adjusted the woman’s pillow for her.

“Well, it feels like it.” The mother quipped.

Sarah was unaware of this. She stood up in disbelief and glared at the nurse.

“When did this happen? Why wasn’t I informed about the change?”

“There was no need.” The nurse shrugged. “Dr. Zola felt that speed was essential and decided it would be better not to inform every minor detail to you. Your mother was the only voice that mattered in this. At least, that was his assessment on the matter. After reviewing the medical information the other doctors who worked on her case, he took it upon himself to oversee her final treatments.”

“Final treatments?” Sarah stressed. “These are final treatments? My mother doesn’t look at all better, and now she’s in the final treatments?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I can’t say more. You’ll have to contact Dr. Zola’s office, fill out the proper request for review and permission from him to get the details.”

Sarah looked infuriated. She wanted to scream at the nurse, the staff, and Dr. Zola as well. But, her mother held out a hand to curb her obvious angered glare. Sarah could see that it was taxing on her and decided not to drag it out further. Sarah couldn’t believe the sheer gaul of this Omega Group physician. Those spoiled and overly pampered brats got away with everything. She hated them with ever fibre of her being. So what if they gave them new technologies and cured many diseases, that still didn’t give them the right to treat the rest of humanity as a bunch of idiots.

“Believe me, I will.” Sarah finally said, gritting her teeth with a low growl. “I want to know everything they’ve done to my mother.”

The nurse gave a simple nod in response. There was nothing more she could say. The anger was apparent in Sarah, so the nurse switched off the magnetization beam holding the bed in place, and gripped onto the handles on the back. The bed was now freely hovering in place and with an effortless push, the nurse started to move it out of the room.

“Just give me one more minute please…” The mother asked of the nurse. She acknowledged her request and waited patiently. The mother gripped Sarah’s hand and held it to her cheek. “Go be a pilot, my dear, I’ll be fine. Exploration is part of the job, and I can’t be the one to hold you back on that opportunity. Send me a message every now and then, if you can, mind you, and tell me what it’s like out there among the stars.”

“Oh, mum…” Sarah sniffled. She bent over the bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I wish you were coming with me to see it. I know you wanted something like this your whole life…”

“No more of it,” The mother said, releasing her hand and easing back in the bed. “I’ve said everything I need to, now go, you have your job and I have mine to do as well––being cured by these damn super genius doctors.”

Sarah chuckled at that and stood back with a nod. The nurse saw the mother motion her hand as if to say, ‘let’s go’ and moved the bed once more. Sarah waved, blowing a kiss afterwards, and once the nurse was gone with her mother, she let out somber sigh. The emotion of it all washed over her. Sarah wanted to break out in tears and collapse to the floor, but, no… she wasn’t going to let that happen. She arched her back and tried to forego that thought.

“You will be the best pilot of this mission.” She affirmed to herself. “Get a grip, Sarah. Do the research on the ship and its crew, make sure you’re in good hands. If not? Well, then,” She glanced out the window, the crest of the Earth was in view as the sun shone over it. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get back. I won’t abandon her, not them, not to anyone… I will do what I must, for her.”