Alice2015
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"Unexpected"
A New Earth Adventure
A New Earth Adventure
Carmen Briggs was one of only four Crew who'd been reanimated from stasis for the first phase of deceleration as the transport ship Rykon II began its day's long approach of New Earth. In truth, it didn't even take that many people to slow the ship from FTLS, but protocol dictated that in addition to an Electronics Tech, a Mechanics Tech, and a Science Officer -- Carmen -- there had to be a Command Officer up and about overseeing it all.
She'd always despised the thinking that the real workers couldn't possibly do their job without someone from Command looking over their shoulders. Of course, Carmen's real problem was with who the Command Officer was, not really what he was doing or wasn't doing while the other three who were up and around were working hard.
Carmen had been in line for the First Officer's position for this, the first colonization trek to New Earth. And she'd thought she had the job locked up, for a number of reasons. Despite being just 26 actual years of age, not including the 600+ years of cryostasis she'd just endured during the flight, she had 6 advanced degrees in Space Science related fields. She was the most highly educated person, male or female, aboard Rykon II, having received her first Bachelor's degree at the age of 13.
Second, she'd practically singlehandedly designed the Mark III Energy Conservation Module, now (or at least 600 years ago) being installed in every FTLS spacecraft under construction either in orbit of Earth or Titan. Without the M3ECM, the Rykon Series ships could never have achieved the speed-to-fuel ratios necessary to reach New Earth.
Carmen was herself responsible for Humans reaching a distant planet on which their species likely could survive and thrive. Well, okay, others had built the ship that surrounded her refrigerator sized component, so, maybe they deserved some credit, too.
But even more than all of that, Carmen had had an in that she didn't think anyone else had. She was sleeping with the Commander of Rykon II, Valerie Kim, if you could call it sleeping. The two of them had been involved in a steamy relationship for nearly three years prior to the transport's launch, and Carmen had thought that what she did for Valerie in the bedroom, along with all that she did in other parts of the ship, would most certainly land her the highly prestigious position of First Officer of the first trek of human beings to a distant, habitable planet.
But oh no...
The position ended up going to an officer with a cock! Oh, sure, the man had qualifications that rivaled Carmen's, true. And he had participated in a total of four FTLS test flights of this vessel and its predecessor, Rykon I. But what pissed Carmen off the most was that Valerie had ceased sleeping with her a few months before the selection of Officer Positions, and the rumor was that she'd begun sleeping with a cock that was going to be in the Command staff above Carmen.
She didn't know for certain that the current First Officer was that man, but it all seemed to fall into place. Carmen didn't have a problem with me, fuck no. She liked cock as much as she liked pussy. It was just that, honestly, she'd never really liked having sex with the Commander. Other women, sure, but Valerie had been, oh, how would one put it, not sexually attractive to Carmen. Valerie had, indeed, been trying to eat her way into the Number Two spot.
Oh well, life is life and shit happens. What was important to remember was that Carmen was a key member of the first mission to colonize a distant planet. Oh sure, everyone back in Sol One who'd ever known here was long dead, so it wasn't like her family and friends would be whoop, whoop whoopin' it up when they got the news of Rykon II's successful arrival at New Earth.
And, as luck would have it, there wouldn't be anything to celebrate anyway...
As she was walking aft toward BioScience Lab 4, there was a shutter in the deck just barely enough for Carmen to feel. She stopped in place, using ears, eyes, and feet as well in an effort to sense whether or not there was an issue. And then the alarm went off.
She turned and raced for the bow of the vessel as the AI began announcing an array of warning alerts, all directly or indirectly connected to the ship having just struck something in space. There was a violent shaking, and Carmen crashed into a bulkhead as she was taking a corner.
"Abandon ship, abandon ship," the AI announced, shocking Carmen.
The ship's automated systems were capable of dictating that order, which meant that the First Officer, who she knew was on the bridge, had been the one to give that order and have the AI spread the word through the ship.
There were only 4 reanimated Crew up and about now, but the abandon ship order would begin the process of bringing all of the crew, 84 souls, back to life. The colonial settlers, though...
As she leaned against the bulkhead, panicking as the AI continued to bark out warnings and orders, Carmen realized that more than 1,000 people were likely to die in the minutes or possibly hours to come, without ever knowing what had happened to them.
She forced herself to move again, heading quickly for the Forward Escape Pod Bay. She arrived in time to find the Mechanics Tech already getting into his Zero-G suit. Carmen asked in panic, "Where're the others?"
"Yanni's dead!" the man said. "There was a hull breach on Six-Forward! I saw it. I saw him! Sucked right out before my eyes! Fuck!"
As he was explaining that the First Officer was on his way here now, Carmen stripped quickly out of her casual working clothes until she was wearing nothing but a tube top style bra and a pair of what had once been called boy shorts. She stepped into the Zero-G Suit Applicator, reaching her arms out to her sides and parting her feet to shoulder width.
"Apply suit," she commanded, knowing that the ship's AI heard all.
The machine that looked like something out of a 21st century horror movie moved forward and envelope her body from the neck down. There was a dizzying array of sounds and movements, and Carmen cried out because of the inherent but unavoidable pain caused as metal, composite, and biological parts and pieces were almost glue to her form.
When the machine released its grip on her and withdrew, and Carmen took a minute to fight through the lingering pain, she turned for the wall rack that was essentially a small armory and picked out a handheld pulse weapon.
"What're you taking that for?" the Mech Tech asked after completing his suit procedure, too.
"We don't know anything about this planet," she told him, checking the weapon for charge. "And we don't know why out ship is being ripped apart. Sorry, but I'm a better safe than sor--"
There was another jolt of the ship, and Carmen was barely able to hold her stance. The First Officer shot into the room and saw the other two donning their pressure helmets, in case this compartment suffered a breach as well. He proceeded to be fitted for his suit and, with obvious professional and personal emotion in his voice, told them that the Crew Quarters had suffered a massive hull breach and pressure loss.
"We might be all that's left," he told them. Once he was in his suit, they headed for an Emergency escape pot in the adjacent compartment. "We'll all board one so that we--"
That was all the farther the First Officer got before the inside of the Mech Tech's helmet went red and a fraction of a second later the blood now pulsing from his opened carotid began spraying out into the compartment's now lowering pressure.
As third man fell to the deck, Carmen pointed to the bulkhead, saying, "Micro breach! Maybe a meteorite, or a piece of debris from the ship itself."
They hurried into an escape pod, and the First Officer activated it. With an explosion of disengaging ports, the vessel that had been made for 6 but carried only the two of them shot away from the dying ship...
<<<<< +++ >>>>>
Carmen didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, but when she came back to life, she found the hatch to the escape pod open and, Oh God...! It's New Earth. She unbuckled from her seat and very unsteadily crawled out of the pod to stand on a planet that wasn't the one on which she been borned.
I'm here, she thought, amazed. Un-fucking-believable, I'm here.
Looking around, Carmen would have sworn they were in the rain forests of New Guyana, where she'd done her Ground Survival Training: tall trees, thick undergrowth, a ground mist caused by high humidity; after she activated her external speakers, she smiled at the sound of bugs, birds, and other creatures.
The theorists back on Earth had been right, she thought, tearing up with excitement and relief. There IS life here. There had been a great deal of conflict between those who'd been studying New Earth as to whether the readings they'd been getting from the planet indicated biological life or some natural non-biological process that only mimicked life. Now, they knew. Or, at least, Carmen knew.
Oh, and so did her First Officer. She looked around herself, searching for the man who'd come down with her and, presumably, opened the pod's door. She found him, with his helmet off as he took in their surroundings. Carmen approached, caught his eye, and smile from behind her helmet's shield.
"Well, you're not dead yet, so," she quipped before reaching to her own helmet and clicking it loose. She removed it, holding her breath, then released the air in her lungs and tentatively refilled them again. She smiled after a moment, then said with a smile, "Amazing."