Sirena by Gideon Marcus

Author:Gideon Marcus [Marcus, Gideon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-951320-15-7
Publisher: Journey Press
Published: 2021-09-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Steam wafted off the cup of coffee in my left hand, the aroma registering with me off and on. The fingers of my other hand drummed an unconscious beat on the wardroom table. I stared at the flat white expanse of the table, not really thinking about anything in particular, not meeting the eyes of my friends. My mind was numb. A stray thought in the back of my head noted that my bright, newly-Made dress hadn’t given anyone luck at all.

Marta gave a little cough. “I said, what are we going to do?”

“I heard,” I snapped. I looked up. She didn’t seem stung or upset, just worried. “I’m sorry. It’s a lot to process,” I said more softly.

Fareedh and Pinky had completed their survey of the upper decks: at least 400 of the 10,000 colonists had passed away in failed beds. Worse still, everyone on the flight deck, all 89 of the crew, had died at their stations. It had to be what Peter had feared. The egress from Jump had caused the field surrounding the ship and shielding it from the weirdness of hyperspace to buckle. Probably not for more than an instant, but it had sent spears of destruction throughout the ship. It was a miracle that the vessel had retained power at all. We still weren’t sure why the damage had concentrated on the flight deck or what shape the lower decks were in.

About the only silver lining in all of this was that death must have been quick for the crew. I didn’t want to consider the fate of the sleepers whose beds had malfunctioned. There was no way to know how long it had taken for them to die, or if they had been aware of it happening.

I started at the hand on my wrist. It was Sirena.

“Why don’t we go back?” It was a suggestion, not a question.

Fareedh quirked a dark eyebrow. “Just leave them here?”

Sirena shook her head, crescent earrings chiming gently. “Of course not. I mean to get help.”

“Help could be weeks in coming,” Marta said. “The beds could fail while we’re gone.”

Peter rubbed at his chin. There was blonde stubble coming in. “That’s a definite possibility. I’ll see if I can set up some redundant power shunts to keep things from breaking down further.” He looked up at me with a worried look. “Or I could mess up the whole thing. It’s not like I’m rated to maintain systems this big.”

“Maybe we should thaw them all now and get them on the planet’s surface,” Fareedh offered. “Provided it’s safe down there.” He looked at Marta.

Her forehead wrinkled as she shrugged. “I have no idea. We’d have to get some samples. Even then, it’d just be a first order survey, finding out if anything’s toxic in the short term.”

Fareedh’s smile held no joy. “We know one thing already that’s toxic in the short term.”

I licked my lips. “I feel like we should ask them what they want to do.”

Pinky, sitting directly across from me, raised an overlong finger.

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