An Obsidian Sky (4 page)

I took a walk
about the ship. I needed to clear my head. It was massive. In total
there were three levels, the lowest was for crew quarters, the
middle and largest was for general operations and housed the CIC,
and the top floor contained the science wards.

The contrast
between each section was spectacular. The lowest level could best
be described as an endless hallway full of doors to either side. It
was unremarkable. Each room was the same, differing only in the
small unremembered personal touches that the hundred and twelve
strong crew had added to each of their quarters

In between
every fifth door was a screen displaying my position on the ship
and a link that would provide directions to any destination that I
wished. Blue beams were projected from floor. These spikes of light
glowed coolly throughout the length of the vessel. The hallway was
so unremarkable that the effect of these design elements was to
make it seemed to go on forever. The lights would slowly come
closer together the further away they were, and the hallway would
go on for infinity.

Taking the
lift to the middle section I was confronted by a sea of busy
people. The General Operations floor consisted of a series of open
planned rooms separated by huge arches with membranes in between.
In my lifetime I had never seen artificial membranes. We had lost
that technology along with the United World. It seemed at times as
though we had lost everything in the entire world, the day the
Resource Wars came to an end. Instead of continuing with these
musings, I resolved myself to take in the rest of the ship. Who
knew, at one point I might need to know at least a general
layout.

In the Command
and Information Centre there was a series of ovals within which a
person would sit surrounded by a perimeter of screens. Above each
oval there was a holo sign stating ‘tactical,’ ‘navigation,’
‘helm,’ ‘weapons’ etc. These ovals gravitated towards a central
pedestal upon which a sign floated stating, ‘Operations Chiefs.’ It
was there that the black clad superiors stood above directing the
orchestra beneath.

Tiring of the
military scene of the CIC I traversed the cascade of fast moving
people towards the nearest access lift.

‘Hello
George,’ stated the mind numbingly polite voice of the ship
idiosyncratically. ‘Please state you desired floor.’

‘Floor one,’ I
replied tiredly. After all I had had much to think about and my
mind was slowly succumbing to the desire to sleep.

‘Of course
George. Going up.’

The system
chimed and the doors opened when my floor was reached. I was
stopped in my tracks when the computer suddenly chirped, ‘George.
The Captain has requested that you dine with her at your earliest
possible convenience. Shall I set a reservation?’

‘Tell the
commander I will be available within an hour.’

‘Of course
George. Enjoy the rest of your walk.’

It was a
curious enough response from the machine.
Enjoy my walk
, how
on Earth did he know what I was doing. I presumed confidently
however, that the Artificial Intelligence would have been
programmed to recognise human behaviour and that I was therefore
only projecting my own thoughts and feelings on to it. We had been
given a lecture in school about a disorder like that, where some
people became convinced that their computers were sentient and
generally went a little neurotic.

The only thing
that bothered me was that I had never seen a working AI that
appeared so in tune with the behaviour of those it served. I
recalled that before the Wars the United World had begun to
developed sentient machines. Even so, they had never succeeded. I
exhaled slowly. The machine was probably just one of the Eternis
Systems newest models. No one ever knew what they were going to
release next. My thoughts began to move onto more comforting
subjects and eventually turned back to taking in the vessel’s
architecture.

The science
deck was indeed a marvel. Glass walls divided rooms with metal
arms, white plastic devices and gray clad personnel. My
understanding of the sciences was at best limited. For me the floor
offered a tantalising glimpse of wonders beyond my comprehension.
What I was certain of, was that the deck was undertaking research
of great importance. I felt a little bit silly standing around here
and getting in the way.

It was during
this moment of reflection that I reflected on something deeper.
Tears covered my eyes as a simple recollection hit me. Their work
was of no importance. Those we had left behind were all dead. It
wasn’t any use to them anymore. There was no more scientific
advancement to be made.

My old life
was long buried in the grave. My whole world had chosen to seek
death in the fires of chaos than the slow decay of nobility. We
were undergoing this voyage so that our species alone may survive.
Tears filled my eyes and washed along the length of my face as I
thought about what my street must look like. My neighbours would
have no power with which to wash themselves. Pretty soon they would
run out of food. Their little dog, that used the wag its tail in
glee, would become their last food reserve. In the darkness of the
lightless night they would succumb to the realities of their
situation and die, a slow malignant death.

I shook myself
to get away from these thoughts. I struggled to restore my
breathing before anyone noticed that I was crying. With a subtle
series of movements I ducked out of sight and into one of the rooms
hoping for a bit of peace with which I could marshal my
emotions.

It was a poor
choice. I emerging through the door to see twenty or so researchers
huddled around their instruments as if for warmth. Naturally each
of them turned in unison to watch. Looking down I pretended to
scratch my brow as I wiped away my tears. Spinning on one foot I
dashed through the door and into the hallway. That was very
embarrassing. I tried to recover myself again and almost groaned as
I remembered the walls were made of glass. Instead of staying there
to look like a buffoon I decided to go and visit the captain a
little earlier than intended. It was a distraction I wanted with
all my heart.

‘Going
Down.’

5

The Forgotten
Stars

‘Doors
Opening,’ the computer chimed.

With a whoosh
the doors disappeared revealing only darkness interspersed
occasionally with the faint flicker of blue light. Stepping forward
uneasily my eyes began to acclimatise. Searching wearily for
directions I saw the signs and began to lumber forward.

Head down I
passed a large opening and made my way into the organised bustle of
people hard at work.

‘Mr
Engeltine.’

I turned my
head to the right and saw a woman dismounting from her podium,
smiling falsely. ‘My room, if you please,’ she barked and spun on
her heel. She moved in confident strides away from me. I hurried to
match her steps as I trailed behind her.

My eyes had
recovered from the shock of the relative darkness of the CIC by the
time that we arrived. Her room was a mixture of the eccentrically
ultra modern and the woody conservative nature of the past.

‘Mr Engeltine,
in case you hadn’t noticed, I am your captain,’ she began with an
air of authority. ‘You are directly responsible to me and no
others. It is your duty and the conditions of your stay upon my
vessel that you abide by my rules and no others.’

I murmured
something possibly in agreement. It was hard to keep focus on this
woman. She was tall without being high. Beautiful without being
gorgeous. It was as if she took on all the features of perfection
and none of them quite worked as they should. Most unnerving of all
was how it came together. She looked no more than twenty but seemed
a thousand years old. If I was asked I would never have been able
to guess at her true age. She was an anachronism.

‘Tea?’ She
enquired.

‘Please,’ I
managed. Taking a seat, whilst she raised an eyebrow, I tried to
calm my senses. Suddenly a glass mug had appeared in front of me.
Drinking deeply I allowed the warmth and comfort of the liquid to
seep through me as we sat without sound. Only the sounds of
breathing interrupted our perfect silence. Something had to be said
and yet it appeared as though there were no words left in the
entire universe. It was as though the realm where words existed had
been sucked away by an immense black hole. Images and concepts
flashed through my mind and found no substance with which to give
them life, and so they flashed just as quickly out of existence.
The silence continued.

Eventually of
course the silence ended. It was the captain that spoke first.
‘George, I’m Aeniah.’ I could not place the name. It was unlike
anything I had ever heard.

‘If I am
honest George I’m not too sure what we should be doing. My orders
are to travel to the Ascension station in search of some ridiculous
artefact upon which our future depends. In the entire history of my
career as a ship’s captain I have never been given such an absurd
request. But, I suppose, since the Wars, nothing has ever made too
much sense.’

I looked
towards her with questioning eyes. She looked towards me with eyes
of regret and sorrow. Curiously it was not the sorrow of a fresh
wound. It appeared as old as time.

‘You know it
wasn’t always like this,’ she sighed.

‘I don’t
understand,’ I replied.

‘I don’t
suppose you do. Never mind. It is in the past now buried along with
our planet. Let us talk no more on this.’

She stood and
in the process ended our moment of awkward solitude. She stared
down into my eyes and said, ‘we will arrive at Ascension in two
days. You should go to your quarters and watch the presentation
provided for you by Sephra. Be ready.’

In a trance I
left upon those words more confused than ever and burning with an
irrational desire to make her proud. She had infected me with a
desire, a little less than love but more than admiration.

*

In what seemed
like a heartbeat I had made it to my room. It was dark and it was
cold. A chill reached into me and seemed to draw scars across my
soul. Everything seemed wrong. I turned my head and images would
appear flickering before me. These flickers took on unclear forms
and dissipated all too slowly.

I looked above
me and trickles of red ran at impossible speeds along the walls. It
was blood moving like water. Then it was gone, replaced by a grey
metal roof, curved and barren.

A second later
and spikes of light pushed their way into existence throbbing at a
speed that seemed to impress itself into every corner of the room.
I fell to the floor gasping. I screwed my eyes tight shut and
crawled on my hands and knees towards the corner of the room, like
one possessed.

A figure made
of nothing darted past me and ceased to exist. Behind me I could
hear a wheezing breathing. In front of me a gargling gasp for
breathe. I squeezed my chest. The sensations were too much.
Everything began pressing itself upon me. The walls were moving in.
I could hear my name being called. It was all too much. My
breathing stopped as oxygen seemed to be drawn away from me. The
terror seemed to have pulled the very air from the room.

Still my name
was being called and called. It was mocking me. It was smiling and
baring its teeth in a wicked grin. It was cackling. This is it.
This is the end. I grabbed my throat. I couldn’t take it
anymore.

‘Go away! Go
away! Please! Please!’ The louder I screamed the closer they got.
They were all around me. There was no more room. This is it. I am
gone. There are too many people. The room is turning red. It is
filling with blood. I’m going to drown. They are here. They are
here.

They are gone.
There is no more noise. There is light. There is room. I’m drawing
in breathe. I’m gasping. I’m crying. It’s gone. It’s not here
anymore. My name is being called.

‘George!’

I picked my
body up and raised myself onto my knees. Head down I asked timidly,
‘who is it?’

‘It’s the
computer George. I have been calling you for some time. What’s the
matter? I saw you screaming at the walls. Do you wish for me to
alert the medical staff?’ There was little real concern it its
voice.

‘No! No. Thank
You. I’m alright. It’s not a big deal. Just something they did to
me. It’s everything and its nothing. Fuck it. Why am I even talking
to a machine, you wouldn’t understand.’ I crossed my arms at the
insanity of trying to explain something as complex as what was
going on in my head to a machine.

‘On the
contrary I understand fully. Sephra prepared me for this
eventuality and advised that I endeavour to make you watch his
presentation on it. He claimed that this would help you on your way
to understanding your gift.’

‘Gift? Never
mind. Okay. I’m gonna have to find out sometime. At least after
everything I have just seen it might make his explanations seem a
little more plausible.’

‘Very well
George. I am acquiring the necessary data. Data resolved. Are you
ready to begin viewing?’ I nodded.

‘In the
interests of your comfort I recommend viewing this presentation
from your chair in order to avoid causing unnecessary stress to
your lumbar region.

‘For you
information, this data-stream is not interactive. Additionally
there is no further information available on your syndrome,
although I can reference similar psychological conditions at your
discretion. This presentation is the property of the Eternis
Systems and unauthorised distribution and the revelation of any
confidential information to third parties, is strictly prohibited
by law.’

I settled into
my seat. An expanding burst of white particles streamed into the
shape of the man I remembered well. Gaining colour and resolution
Sephra appeared before my person and appeared to walk towards
me.