Authors: Wade Andrew Butcher
City Without Suns (11 page)
I darted into the room leaving Stravos at the door. My body flew through the brief space between the door and the bed. I grabbed Leonidas around the waist and pulled him away using my legs against the bunk. He twisted, swung at me, and hit me once, twice, three times in rapid succession in the dark. I fell to the floor on side away from the door. The flashlight was there by my head. I turned it on and hid my face with Leonidas standing over me.
Stravos jumped on the back of my assailant. He wrapped his arm around the Commander’s head from behind. He missed the neck and squeezed the chin and mouth violently. Leonidas pulled on the arm in front of his mouth and sank his teeth deep into the flesh. Stavros yelled from the pain. Blood dripped from the wound and he backed away.
Leonidas turned to face his bloodied opponent, but he was met with a fist straight into his chin. Leonidas fell limp on top of me in the tiny space.
We did not have time to rest. I squirmed out from under the Commander.
In pain but not fully disabled, I pulled my mother from the bed. Stavros pulled the unconscious guy from the top bunk and removed the dart from his neck. Neither my brother nor I had the courage to kill Leonidas. To deter him from a swift exit, we stuck the remaining syringe into his backside and emptied the contents. Stavros tried to rip the Commander’s emblem from his shirt. Unable to do it quickly, he tore the entire shirt from the limp body leaving it half unclothed. Maybe a patrol who had never seen him in person would detain him temporarily, thinking he was a delusional wanderer. We quickly departed.
Chapter 24
November 23, 2830
I mentally replayed the events of the other night before entering the meeting. I was initially worried Leonidas would recognize me as the one who was pulling him off of my mother. Had he seen me in the brief second when the flashlight lit? My short-term worry was unnecessary when I saw he was not present. For now, Stavros and I were safe, but I knew not how much longer. We had deposited Isla and my half-brother temporarily in my old room in the Ward, which had not yet been reassigned.
When I arrived at the meeting in the Commander’s office there were three staff members gathered at his table. The desk was empty. When I entered, they conversed unconcerned with being overheard by me. As far they knew, I was one of their own.
“Where could he have been attacked? He would have no reason to be down there alone,” said the first.
“More importantly, what do we do now? He is in the hospital with a fever and growing sicker by the hour,” said the second.
“News of his sickness is permeating the ship, and there are rumors we’ve lost control,” said the third.
I left quietly hoping the illness was permanent. Although there was no quick diagnosis, they will surely identify the bacteria at the root of his infection. I do not know if they keep records of such sightings, but I have to imagine the affliction is the same as the one that killed the General years ago. Carried by Isla, passed down to Eon and my brother Stavros, the same microorganisms that contribute to their unique respiratory abilities cause disease in others. Biting into my brother’s arm, as Leonidas did in self-defense, must have been ample contact to unequivocally catch that illness, one that is not understood by the medical staff.
Before the end of the day, the infection landed Commander Leonidas Verga in the Quarantine section, a location that was seldom used or discussed. One of his minions among the men I saw in his office has assumed the position of Acting Commander.
Chapter 25
December 15, 2830
Commander Leonidas Verga is dead. I did not witness any of the events, nor do I have any recorded surveillance to reveal what happened. The word in the hallways is that his pain and suffering became so extreme that he asked for his life to be ended. The staff obliged, and he was expelled alive into space from the lower levels. The man that designed the public execution of criminals and innocents alike was allowed to die in private.
The police force decided to organize a procession to honor Leonidas. After all, he had reigned over the majority of the Gambler journey. They marched slowly down the main corridor cutting off access points and stopping anyone who attempted to pass. From their perspective, they were honoring a fallen leader and had every right to obstruct the daily business of the workers on board.
Several mechanics and apprentices took note of the event. It was not the arrogance and perceived abuse of power that they noticed. They noticed the numbers. The police marched three across in fifteen rows. There were only forty-five, a small number in comparison to the population of the ship. Never before had they all been in one place together to be counted.
Chapter 26
December 16, 2830
I remembered Salazar. The enforcers that placed him there were in disarray and I knew the space had become unguarded after Leonidas passed. Isla, Stavros, and Eon went with me to find him.
We opened that tank door and extracted his unconscious body. Isla spoke to him, crying desperately for him to wake up. His eyelids opened partially to show only the white portion of his eyes. Stavros lifted the barrel-chested body in the weightless space and was prepared to carry him all the way down to the hospital through full gravity sections.
“No,” uttered Salazar.
When we ignored his protest, he tried to muster a fraction of his former strength to separate himself from my brother. He labored to extend his arms, but they fell to his side. His wings were folded and limp.
“Isla,” he whispered and motioned with one finger for her to approach. She hugged him.
“What is it?” She answered just as quietly.
“They will not take me and you know it. I am too near death.”
She cried because she feared he was correct. She wanted to deny that it could be true, but she knew that not even her seemingly immortal Bauvat friend could defeat Death. He was given the ability to defy the laws of physics, the strength to over come any single person in physical confrontation, and the endurance to withstand physical hardship beyond what should be possible. The genetic engineers that designed him however had no answer for the ultimate opponent that would eventually prevail over everyone. She did not know what to say and resorted to the most comforting words she could muster.
“God bless you, old friend,” Isla said while backing away to look at him and hold his hand. She put her other hand on his cheek when his eyes shut again.
“I think maybe He has,” Salazar whispered with his final breath. Isla sobbed while Stavros held his limp body. Eon held her from behind and pressed his face onto her back. Stavros cried for him as well, and I could do nothing to find comfort for my mother, two brothers, or for myself.
After a few moments, Stavros carried the dead Bauvat all the way down to the lower levels as we followed. There were two patrols along the way. They saw Salazar and rather than questioning us as we expected, they led us to the genetics lab where we left him. There was an unspoken hope that he could be recreated, but we left it to the geneticists to decide the handling of his dead body.
Chapter 27
Isla feels safe again. I have been able to talk to her and get to know her. When she was writing before her attempted extermination, she could not have imagined this new start, like a whole new lifetime beginning on this ship. Leonidas is dead, and the Police Chief that took his place as Commander has disappeared.
The day before this news circulated, Isla and Eon were staying in the Ward among some of the young adults at mealtime. From a distance, Isla saw a familiar face. Alexander Toumitas, the Chief Pilot, was making his way through the aisles. She knew him on Earth but didn’t know if he remembered her. She stood to catch his attention, but he appeared to be focused on something else. Along his side was someone we later learned was the Chief Mechanic. The youngsters in the room paused at the sight of the two Staff members together in such a mundane place as the Ward mess hall.
They were not smiling and not talking at length to anyone. They traveled up and down the aisles instructing some of the young men to accompany them. Judging from the puzzled looks on the faces of those selected, whatever task they had in mind was unexpected. Many of those present were worried there was something horribly wrong with the reactors because they were selecting all of the older mechanics in the room, but that theory was dispelled when most of the Ward instructors left with them also. Stavros, who Isla now knows as her third son, was one of the ones pulled from the room.
We asked him what they were called to do that day. They entered the levels under the Bridge. Stavros was asked to stand at the tunnel entrance and not let anyone enter. All he saw were some of the mechanics carrying some of the leaders out from the Bridge levels one by one. They were struggling and arguing, but then it was over and he was told to return.
We don’t know about the cause and effect of this event, but now Alexander is the Commander. There is a new and invigorated sense of duty onboard. According to Isla, it is much like it was when Gambler first launched. Alexander does not remember Isla as the little girl he met on Earth, but he certainly remembers my grandfather Ian and has offered his stories to me.
Isla knows we were the ones who pulled her and Eon from their state of despair that evening. I know now that her note was intended to provoke Leonidas and bait him to visit her.
With her role as Historian restored, she can now resume activities to occupy her mind in more pleasant ways. Under the new leadership, all the people previously without jobs have been put to work instead of on the wait list for expulsion.
Eon did not have the benefit of growing up with the training in the Ward. He passed the long hours of his childhood learning everything he could from Isla, and she likewise made it her occupation to teach him everything she knew. To her, he was always a gentle young man with great potential, but to everyone else known to him on Gambler, he was an uneducated bastard.
His status has changed. He has his father’s charm from what I have heard, and the children of the Ward love him. They flock to him, begging him constantly for stories from Earth, stories about the Islands, and about his grandfather the scientist who he learned about from Isla. They want to know about his father, the first Commander. Their affection for him has grown and spread, and they even call him King Eon. The older ones that resent that sentiment and mock him do not do it out loud for fear of retribution from Stavros, who protects him with a watchful eye and makes no secret that Eon is his brother.
Despite his lack of specific vocational training, Eon’s leadership ability and stature among those in the Ward will probably elevate him to high positions before his life is complete. It gives Isla some pain to know that her father cannot ever meet him. Writing is a small consolation, but it is not completely satisfying, especially since the transmissions are most likely unheard. She will continue anyway.
I take pride in my family and especially in its matriarch. I suppose I was always seeking approval from somebody, and the reciprocal enthusiasm Isla demonstrated in finding me gave me some validation. My previous unfulfilled ambitions of doing something great on Gambler have not completely disappeared. I still restlessly desire to make a larger contribution. I guess I am somewhat jealous of my brother, the way he is loved, and I want the same thing for myself.
It is not our place to be happy, or loved, or even comfortable. It is our place to merely survive and perpetuate.
Although there were some misguided directives from Leonidas, that one stands out as one I embrace.
I spend less time on surveillance now and more helping with the distant imagery. Alexander asked me for help. He seems to have his eye on a different destination. There is a binary star system about twenty light years away, maybe more. There is another candidate planet in that system. Just like Alpha, this one named Beta was targeted with a probe long ago.
I cannot help but question whether the probes sent to characterize Alpha were successful. After all, our own quantum transceivers failed three years after launch. Maybe before Gambler left Earth someone like me had the misguided notion to falsify receptions from the probe transmitters that supposedly reached the distant planet. Maybe quantum communication was a complete farce designed to appease the homesick passengers. Hopefully the remote probe data is real. I expressed this concern to Alexander. He explained the probes used a more reliable means to communicate. That was all he said.
I didn’t know about the probes, but I could tell the planet was there. The wavelengths of light coming from its stars were changing in subtle fashion as their movements were affected by the gravity of the planet. The radial velocity calculated was more than could be attributed to the two stars themselves. The planet Beta was there for sure. I think Alexander will change course soon.
The sum of efforts from previous generations brought Gambler to one of its possible destinations, but the landing failed as the ship crashed in a mountain range. The smaller ship Taurus from within Gambler landed with only a small fraction of the intended population. The resiliency of the survivors was under the test of their new world. The youngest survivor was plagued by bad dreams, foggy memories, and the loss of her closest companions. The safety and nurturing of the Ward were suddenly things of the past.
