( Read the previous episodes of Journey to Centauri.) |
Journey to Centauri : Episode 18 "What does Santiago want?" The Captain faced Santiago’s Emissary in a small, sparse room located off of the command center. She sat at a small white table with her hands visible but not bound. The engineer who had captured her, a wiry man named Guillaume, stood behind her, shredder pistol leveled, staring at her back with a steady gaze that seemed almost personal in its anathema. The Emissary straightened her shoulders. "I should not be here under guard. I came as a peaceful representative." Garland shook his head. "Peace? You people have disrupted the ship, murdered other crewmembers..." "Not murder. Combat." She flexed her fingers. "We want only to secure our position. Nothing more, nothing less." Garland shook his head slightly. "I do not understand. What position? What justifies spilling the blood of your fellow crewmembers and reprogramming the ship’s computer?" "It is justified by our code of conduct. Your people tried to interfere with actions we considered vital to our survival. We had to meet force with force." "Had to?" A woman’s voice, low and compelling in its rhythms, cut into the conversation. Garland turned. There, in the doorway, stood Miriam, her bright blue uniform catching all the light in the room. She stood with her hand pressed into her side, where Captain Garland imagined layers of pseudoflesh were knitting her flesh back together, but her bearing remained open, alight with confidence. "Miriam!" He smiled and turned to her, then moved forward and gripped her forearm. "Good to see you again." "I couldn't stay in sickbay forever, Captain. I needed to lift my spirits a bit, and Pravin told me you might need my assistance." "By all means." He gestured to the Emissary. "I have to tend to the ship in a moment, anyway. It seems Santiago wants to bargain with us." "Indeed." Miriam moved forward, holding the Emissary’s gaze, her lips curled in a slight smile. "Your commander must trust you greatly, to send you here. Do you speak for her?" The Emissary nodded tersely. "I speak for myself, but my needs are also the Colonel’s needs. Otherwise, I am here to deliver a message." "What message?" Miriam sat down in a small curved plastic chair. The Captain waited by the door to the command centers, arms folded across his chest. "First, that the Colonel means you no harm. We seek only to pursue our destiny on Planet’s surface, alone." "You speak of ‘we.’ Who are you, that you are all so tightly knit into a single pronoun?" "We are warriors, the last and best, from a group of warriors formed on Earth." "And who are you fighting? Us?" "Anyone." Her lips curled in a smile. "Not you specifically. Anyone… weak. Anyone who threatens humanity’s survival." Garland spoke up: "We seek to assure humanity’s survival. It is you who threaten it." She looked at him but did not answer. Miriam spoke again. "So Santiago seeks a peaceful resolution? She would swear to this on her honor?" The Emissary nodded. "And when will she contact us?" "When she feels the time is right. Soon." "What exactly does she want?" cut in Garland again. "Here." She extended her forearm, startling Garland until he realized that she was quicklinking to him from her portable computer. He looked to his own console and tapped the Receive button, where a detailed list began to appear. He scanned the first few items. "An entire landing pod? Food and supplies meant for a thousand crew, for your small group?" "We are not so small." Garland and Miriam both looked at her, struck by her confidence. Captain Garland shook off a chill. "I would guess only fifty or one hundred. Regardless…" he stopped short, seeing the shadows in her eyes. "There is no sense discussing this now. I will review your demands and wait for Santiago. We wish a peaceful resolution, but we can not be held hostage in our own ship." Miriam stretched out one hand toward the Emissary. "Where is she now? Where is Santiago?" The Emissary watched her coolly, her eyes growing wide and dark. "Anywhere she wants to be." The door to the command center swung open and Pravin’s face appeared in the doorway, lined with urgency. "Captain, we have detected unauthorized movement near the far end of the Cryobays. Near the Greenhouse."
Next episode will be posted Monday, September 28. |
