Starship Revenant by Tripp Ellis

Author:Tripp Ellis [Ellis, Tripp]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: military, SF
Publisher: self-published
Published: 2016-08-19T06:00:00+00:00

24

Zoey

“You saw who?” Declan asked, incredulous. He sat in the cockpit of the Zephyr with Brody.

“Sara. It was her, man. I swear.” He was three sheets to the wind. He was clinging to a bottle of whiskey that was well below the label. It sloshed in his hand as he gestured wildly.

“I don’t have time for this nonsense,” Declan said.

“I heard her voice, plain as day.”

“What are you on?”

“Nothing.”

Declan stared him down.

“Don’t look at me like that. You’re no better than me. I didn’t start drinking ‘till I got back on the ship.”

Declan grimaced. The two were brothers. Less than two years apart. And both suffered from the same affliction—only Declan had managed to stay sober longer, and more consistently, than Brody. The slightest little bump in the road was enough to send him on a bender for a few weeks. Holidays were particularly bad. He’d fall off the wagon, and Declan would always be there to pick him up.

“I need you back on the Revenant. I need the reactors online, and I need you to make sure those drives are fully operational. We are a long, long way from home. I’ve got no idea what condition the slide-space drive is in, and without a quantum drive, this thing is just a hunk of junk.”

“I can’t go back there.” Brody was almost in tears.

“I’m sorry. I really am. It was a helluva thing you went through last year. I can’t imagine losing my wife like that. But you’ve gotta pick yourself up and keep moving forward. I think your mind is just fucking with you.”

Brody was quiet for a long moment. “It’s my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s my fault.” He said it firm and angry. Guilt ridden.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was drunk. We got into a fight about it. Said some pretty harsh things. She stormed out. Next thing I know, the police are calling, telling me there’s been an accident.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault.”

“But it is. Had I not been drinking, we wouldn’t have gotten into a fight. She wouldn’t have left.” Brody grimaced. “Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I could change things. Take back my last words.”

Declan watched Brody break down.

“I’m telling you, I saw her on that ship. She was rotten and decomposing. I don’t want to see her like that.”

“Have you listened to what you’re saying? It sounds crazy.”

“I can’t explain it. I’ve been all over the galaxy and I’ve seen a lot of weird shit. But I ain’t never seen nothing like this. That ship’s fucked up—it plays with your mind, and I ain’t going back on it.”

Declan sighed, resigned to the fact that Brody wan’t going back on the Revenant. “Why don’t you go back to your cabin and sleep it off? You’re no good to anybody in this condition.”

Brody was an emotional wreck. Tears were streaming from his eyes. He pushed up from the chair and listed back toward his cabin, bouncing off the bulkheads.

Mitch’s voice crackled over the comm system.

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