Authors: Wade Andrew Butcher
Chapter 14
February 7, 2830
The patrol duty assigned to me yesterday took me to the interior. It was business as usual as far as I knew. There had been no word from Leonidas about my assault on the doctors. They were probably too scared to say anything.
From my quarters in the midsection of the ship, I climbed through the ladder tubes that joined the concentric layers on my level. The weightless center was my goal. Going all the way from the cylinder edge to the center took some exertion against the artificial gravity over the thousand-meter radius, but with each sideways coriolis push from inside the tubes, my weight decreased during the journey. I passed all of the inhabitable portions and reached the water tanks, used for the long-term water supply as well as fusion fuel. The last half of the traversal was a long uninterrupted climb through the final ladder tube. I eventually reached the center corridor, the completely weightless section running through the center of a toroidal ocean of saltwater.
It was a logical place to assign a patrol in theory, but in reality the usefulness was questionable. If anyone were trying to hide, they would probably not have done it in an open weightless area.
The center corridor was the closest thing I had to free space. Twenty meters in diameter and a substantial five kilometers long, the passageway offered space for me to lightly exercise my atrophied wings. It was very unsatisfying to travel the entire length in less than three minutes through a space requiring only forward propulsion. Not needing the full expanse of my wings, I removed only my shirt. (Resembling fins of a fish as much as wings of a bat, the sections that fold under my shirt can be retracted independently. Although it does not hurt to draw them in, it sure does feel good to let them out, like a good stretch in the morning after waking up stiff.)
I flapped my wings in the weightless space. With each passing movement, I built speed through the tunnel. As quickly as I had begun, I slowed to reach the end. My heart rate was barely elevated from the short sprint. I placed my hand on the wall to feel the warmth generated from the propulsion system in the distance on the other side. I did not understand how it worked and envied our mechanics who did.
I kicked off the wall and headed the other way. I pushed hard, trying to see how fast I could reach the top end situated under the Ward, the Lander, and the Bridge. As I reached full speed, the figure of a woman came into view in the distance. I groaned. I hated slowing down when I was just starting to enjoy myself.
I could count on my appendages the number of times I encountered anyone in the center corridor. As I slowed to a stop, I tried to recognize the one who had seemingly followed me there, but her identity evaded me. She was young, about twenty years old, obviously born on the ship. I saw no insignia that authorized her to be there. She held up her hand.
“Salazar, a word please?” The unfamiliar person addressed me by name, but I did not acknowledge as I used my wings to stop. I tried to briefly give her the benefit of doubt and a chance to explain what she was doing in a restricted section of the ship. “Excuse me, sir, …” she continued with a little bit of a stutter.
Oh, what I would give to just have a conversation with someone that considered me normal. “Spit it out,” I said.
“I was wondering, sir, I am a new genetic engineer, well trained. I was wondering if I could get a sample of some kind. Hair, skin, blood, …doesn’t matter.”
“Do you know this is a restricted area? Water tanks are off limits except for maintenance,” I stated. Unlike some of my overzealous colleagues, I had no intention of punishing her, but I was annoyed at her brazen approach.
“No, no I didn’t. I just really wanted to talk to you,” she said with uncommon lack of remorse. I concluded she must reside in the upper levels by the Ward, not in the lower levels where most people shy away from interaction with patrols.
“You are kind of young. Did somebody else send you? Usually there are committee decisions where to invest energy in our cloning plans. And it’s usually approved by…” I hesitated. The Commander usually approved under counsel from the Chief Medical Officer, but he has known about me for a very long time. A study of me was never previously suggested. Maybe Leonidas relented knowing that my secret was out.
“Nobody, I just really think you could help our work,” she said. Either she was lying, or she was an ambitious scientist doing an investigation on her own. I did not discount either possibility and decided to play along, although it was an unorthodox conversation to have with a stranger. It was an even more unusual time and place. I was on-duty. She was in a restricted area tethered to the interior of the weightless space.
I drifted around her controlling my movements with my wings, but I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, at least not immediately. I was curious and tried to put her at ease.
“Tell me, what is your name?”
“Erika.”
“Erika, why would anyone want to create another person like me? I am not well-suited for space travel.”
“Umm, you seem pretty well-adapted to me. But, I don’t want to recreate you with an exact clone. I’m more interested in the composition of your bones. I hear they are flexible.” Erika was no longer stuttering, and the volume in her words had increased a little bit. I was impressed by her confidence.
“How do you know about my bones?” I asked.
“I heard people talking about you.”
“Interesting, what did they say?” I questioned with a smile.
“I heard some doctors talking about a Bauvat. They said you were genetically engineered back on Earth at a place called Bishop Islands.”
“It is true. And some of my bones are very flexible. Why would you come here yourself, directly to me? Why not go through the chain of command?”
“Everyone is scared of you. And nobody wants to go to the Commander,” she admitted bluntly.
There it was. Just when I think I might be making a young friend, the truth comes out. Yet, she was not scared of me, and if she was, she was driven to speak with me nonetheless.
“Leonidas knew about me from the start. If either of us thought my genes would be useful in space, we would have suggested it long ago,” I argued.
“I think your bones would be very useful. Better resilience to weightlessness over long periods of time. It would be a good personal accomplishment for me to work on this. Besides, I wanted to get a sample before it’s too late.”
“Yes, an unauthorized… wait, what do you mean too late?” I asked wondering if the slip was intentional.
“Some of the originals are being taken for extermination, right?” Erika asked. Her light treatment of the subject was bizarre to me.
“You think I will be put to death?”
“That’s what I heard.”
I was not very often scared. Something about the sharp words coming from a seemingly sincere and innocent messenger gave me a sudden chill. Her matter-of-fact perception of extermination suggested she thought the targeted persons knew of their fate in advance. The notion was very revealing, highly unlikely something she would make up.
“That’s quite a rumor,” I said.
The conversation went downhill from there. Would I extract information from her under threat of punishment? And seek out each person that had spread the rumor one by one? No. The only source of an accurate statement on that subject was Leonidas himself. And if it did not come from him, then it was only silly conjecture. I escorted the young lady back to the perimeter. She did not get her sample.
Chapter 15
March 19, 2830
Isla begged me for a way to get out of the lower levels. I’m sure I could get her out by any one of a number of means, but there would be nowhere to place her. She would not be able to fall into a permanent position very easily, at least not without a conspiracy involving others. I am unsure what level of deceit I am willing to invoke to get her what she needs.
I still have loyalty to Leonidas, and to disobey or deliberately go against orders would tear me from my identity as his soldier. Despite my doubts, it was still important to me, but I wondered if my conviction was a result of childhood brainwashing. I have reported to him on numerous occasions in the last few weeks, and there is no indication that our relationship has changed. There is certainly no indication that I would be on the extermination list, but I watch my back closely. I have been spending a lot of time down here close to Isla, which might be viewed as a shift in allegiance by some.
In theory, finding some official role for Eon would be easier since he is young. He is remarkably smart, but no level of intelligence is enough to budge the policies in the Ward. I asked, and they are unwilling to accept the burden of training someone who was not there from childhood. I am resigned to do something to at least let them explore outside the areas of detention below level nine where commoners reside.
I started my day knowing what I was planning was dishonest, at minimum, and in my heart I knew it was worthy of punishment, which around here does not come in any variety other than severe. I tried to alter my plan in a way that would make it defendable, but I would not be able to reconcile my actions with all I had been taught. There was no justification consistent with loyalty to the Commander.
I was going to proceed anyway with what I was called to do, not by the authorities that presided over me, but by some inner voice that drew me to a sense of right and wrong. The oppression imposed on Isla, Eon, and all of the commoners was wrong. To give Isla at least a temporary escape was nothing short of right.
I approached the patrol monitoring the perimeter longitudinal corridor that led to their room. “You’re relieved,” I said quickly.
“Captain Salazar,” he gave me his full attention. “My patrol leader told me I was here for a full shift.”
I took a deep breath because I secretly knew he was right and I was out of line, but I continued, “Yes, my orders came from Leonidas. You may go.”
I knew he would undoubtedly report back to his leader, which would be no problem unless it got back to Leonidas and surfaced my lie. Misrepresenting orders, however minor, would not be taken lightly. I will worry about that hypothetical event if it happens. I can deny mentioning the Commander and just tell them that I was trying to be helpful.
When the patrol was gone, I summoned Isla and Eon to come with me. I led them down the passageway from where I came, which was now unoccupied by any of the patrols. It did not take long to reach the greenhouse levels.
At the point where we entered up from the ladder tubes, a collection of trees reached inward in an open space I had seldom seen. The soil stretched deep under our feet to accommodate the transplanted trees, too big to have grown only during the years in space. The radial layered ceilings had not been placed in this section. I was unsure of all the species that may have been engineered abundant with nuts and fruits stretching up to a hundred feet in the air. We were mesmerized by the ecosystem within our strange world, full of life, which much like us was completely nonindigenous to the void in which we were launched.
The oasis gave us a pleasant taste of our old home, but it also begged a question of who was harvesting the rich amount of produce growing from those trees. This forest was so abundant there was rotten fruit on the ground. It didn’t make sense. With so many able-bodied individuals in need of work, this seemed disturbingly incongruous with the food shortage in the commoner wing.
I stood in the forest looking straight up to gauge the volume of the open air above the tops of the trees. There wasn’t much space, but there was enough for me to spread my wings. For a few moments, Isla and I forgot where we were. I removed my shirt and let the upper portion of my wings unfold.
Isla, embarrassed for me like a little sister, had helped me overcome the problem of flexing my wings and rendering myself unclothed. She had helped design a pair of pants, like the ones I had long ago back home, held together with thin straps between the segments so I could flex the lower part of my wings also.
We looked at each other with a smile. She knew what I was thinking and nodded her head. I stood behind her, wrapped my arms under her shoulders, and hooked my legs around hers. I took off up through a gap in the branches. The space was tight and the ride was not smooth, but Isla held her arms out as if gliding like one of the seagulls we had flown amongst so many years ago.
I returned her to the ground, and she turned to thank me with a hug. I missed my old home and imagined she was homesick as well. I held her with a tight embrace while Eon stood with his hand on her shoulder.
I felt a drop of water on my shoulder. I thought it might have been tears, but then I felt another. The drops were cold. Was this…rain? It
was
. The rain was filtered and recycled water, gravity fed from above, recreating a habitat for the plant life to thrive.
Partially sheltered by the canopy of leaves over our heads, we walked at least a mile through the brush out to the multilayered section of vegetation where more fruit grew. I hoped, perhaps in vain, we could integrate Isla and Eon into the workforce that labored that area and avoid the death sentence that would surely take effect again after the genetic studies were complete.
“This place is beautiful,” Isla said. “I never saw it before.”
I looked at her eyes, bright green, almost glowing. They did that sometimes. I don’t know if had anything to do with her ability to see in the dark. Somewhere on the ship there were two babies growing with the same ability.
At least I got her out of the lower levels for a few hours and provided a much-needed break from the oppressive and monotonous setting imposed on her for more than half her life. Eon knew no better. Born into the abnormal, his happiness was governed by the attitude of his mother, which for his sake she disguised for many years.