Alpha Centauri: The Story Episode 12, part 2

Journey to Centauri : Episode 12, part 2

Santiago's eyes snapped down to the panel on her wrist as some incoming data signaled for her attention. Yang, bound and held between two of her people, felt a flicker of admiration at the rattlesnake quickness of her movements.

"Pravin Lal has sent a message to the Captain on an unencrypted channel. They have the Weapons Bay secured, and Eckert has died as a result of the attack." Shadows moved in the curve of her jaw as she absorbed the news. "Unfortunate. I did not expect them to move on the Weapons Bay with so few crewmembers."

She looked around. All of her people stood at attention, no one wasting time or breath until she had determined their next course of action.

"Jerek, do we know how many of their crew are awake?"

A strong man with heavy features stepped forward. "We can not tell from here, Colonel. Until our emissary reaches the command mod we will not know, but we do know that the ship has been damaged. They may have awakened any number of emergency personnel to deal with the problem."

Santiago nodded. "Our situation is more unstable than I thought, but instability favors the strong. Let's set up a perimeter in this bay. Ten of you sweep the ship...carefully. Do not interfere with any engineering personnel unless threatened. We are looking for their point of greatest weakness."

A series of rigid nods, and warriors began fanning out.

"We need information. We have more firepower; I should not feel this helpless." Her eyes flickered to Yang, who watched her coldly. "Take him into that storage chamber. Bind him well, but do not speak to him. He is not one of us."

Log Entry Received,
Deirdre Skye, Chief Botanist.

The plants in Hydroponics Module One appear relatively healthy, all things considered. About two-thirds of them made the journey successfully, living out their life cycles as they always have, even millions of miles from home.

Indeed, with all of us in cryosleep it must have resembled Eden in here, a rich and bountiful garden awaiting the coming of the slumbering humans.

I spend almost all of my time here, breathing the richly scented air, testing the consistency of the earth. I picked and cut a lemon today...the tangy smell of it wafting up as I cut the skin made my head swim with memories of home.

Next episode will be posted on Monday, August 17th.

Here is a Word doc of Episodes 1 to 11.