How about a SciFi story for today?

FTL Dilemma

Aubrey sank to the floor of the engine room. He’d just put the last body in the maw of the main recycler. He leaned his head against the bulkhead and closed his eyes. Two hundred and three bodies. He ran a hand through his curly black, close cropped hair and groaned. Every muscle hurt. He struggled to his feet. It was time to check on the kids.

Patyn Polanski was the oldest of the three remaining children. At thirteen, she helped him get water and food to the other two but she was newly recovered herself. When he entered the cabin, she was asleep. The ten year old Hal Corliss was asleep too; arm thrown over his black-haired head and so was eight year old Bree Webber. Her long blonde hair a tangle spread across her pillow. The kids knew each other, but he didn’t really know them. Twenty-two years old, he didn’t hang with the kids anymore.

He left the cabin and went to the galley. He needed some broth and time to rest. Two days ago Aubrey managed to find the dehydrated stock, added it and water to a pot, and left it in the galley. Patyn could just get some, heat it and give it to the others. He scooped a mugful and heated it in the microwave then slipped into a chair to drink it. He jumped at her voice.

“Is it done?” Patyn leaned against the edge of the galley door. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her shoulder length, dark brown hair was nearly as tangled as Bree’s.

Aubrey motioned her to a chair. “Yeah. Just finished. Want some broth?”

She nodded as she slid into the chair opposite him. He levered himself up and got her a mugful and sat it on the table.

“Have you told the kids?” he asked.

She shook her head as she held her face in the steam from the cup. “They barely wake up. I gave them some broth and they went right back to sleep.” She looked up at him, concern on her face. “Can you fly the ship?”

“I think so.” He drained his mug and put it back down. “I’ve had my turn at the controls like everyone else.” He sighed. “That’s next; to go to the bridge and get us to the nearest station. I need to sleep first.”

“I’ll be with the kids till you get up.”

#

Aubrey sat in the Captain’s chair where very system on the bridge could be accessed. He pulled up the operations manual and reviewed the checklist for starting the engines. Patyn wandered in.

“Is it alright that I’m on the bridge?” she asked from just inside the doorway.

He turned to look at her. “Why not. All the rules are out the lock now anyway.” He went back to the manual.

She came in and sat in the Communications chair.

“Do you have any training on the bridge yet?” he asked her.

“No. I just started Ship Systems training, in the galley.”

“Too bad.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to start this baby up.” He punched a number of buttons on the board in front of him. He checked the manual to be sure he had the sequence right. “Here’s the last button.” Aubrey punched it and waited.

Patyn looked around. “Should we feel the engines working?”

Aubrey rubbed his face with both hands. “Yeah, something’s wrong.”

She paled, eyes wide.

“It’ll be alright. The Chief Engineer probably did something. I’ll call up the Engineering manual and look for it.”

She swallowed and nodded. “I’ll check on the kids.”

An hour later, Aubrey stumbled into the galley. He made a sandwich and dropped into the nearest chair to eat it. Patyn was watching from a nearby table, a sandwich in front of her too.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He chewed and swallowed. “I can’t find the problem. I was too hungry to think.” He took another bite. “How are the kids?”

“Awake. I put a vid on for them.”

He nodded and finished his sandwich. “Can you leave them for a few minutes?”

“Yeah. I’ll check on them then I’ll be ready.” She wiped the table in front of her with the napkin and shoved it into the kitchen recycler.

Aubrey got a glass of water and drank it down. She was back in four minutes. “They’re fine. I told them I had to help you.”

He turned his gaunt face to her. “You told them about the rest of the family?”

Patyn rubbed an eye. “Yeah, they said they knew.”

He wondered how they knew but the kids always seemed to know what was going on with the ship. He sighed. “Let’s go to Engineering.”

At the Chief Engineer’s console, Aubrey brought up the manual. “I was hoping the Chief would have left a note or something. Check his log, can ya?”

She slid into the second console chair and tapped out commands. “I see an Engineer Log,” she told him. “I can’t open it.”

Aubrey switched screens. “Let me try from here.” He tapped a few keys. “I see it but it won’t open.” He slumped back into the chair. “It’s password protected.”

“I was hoping it would open from that console,” she said.

They sat, shoulders drooping, staring at the screens. “How did you get into the Captain’s files?” she asked after a minute.

“The manual had an emergency code, you know,” he snorted, “in case of catastrophic emergency.”

“Will the same code work on the Engineer’s files?” she asked.

He brightened. “Let’s see.” He tapped the code into the log in. He whooped. “It’s open!”

Patyn grinned.

He punched several keys on the console. They felt the reassuring vibration of the huge engines starting up. “I didn’t realize I was missing that sound,” he said as he watched the monitor show engine performance steady into the green. “Tell the kids we’re going to be alright.”

997 Words

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