( Read the previous episodes of Journey to Centauri.) |
Journey to Centauri : Episode 22 Morgan dropped his hands and let the security escort unlock the organic restraints from his wrists. The restraints fell to the ground, already hardening into a complicated braided husk. Morgan rubbed his massive wrists and looked around the command center with an amused detachment. "Thank you, Captain. I assure you I will not take my freedom lightly." "Your assurances mean something, Director Morgan, but the psych screen we gave you also helps. However, we will have to confine you to quarters for the time being." "Very well," Morgan said shortly. "This upsets you?" Garland turned to look at him. "I am difficult to upset, Captain. One cannot succeed in business being driven by the emotions. But, I am used to superior treatment." He shook his head, cutting off the thought. "Never mind. It is a different world here." "Yes. You entered this different world when you boarded this ship without permission." Morgan took a breath as if to argue the point, then abruptly smiled and lifted one massive hand. "Very well." "Dismissed." Captain Garland turned away and scanned his touchpanel for a moment. He dialed up an exterior camera on his touchscreen and adjusted the view to his liking, then stared for a moment at the result, tracing the shape of it with his eyes. Behind him Morgan lingered, trying to catch a glimpse as his escort motioned him to the exit hatch. "Planet," Captain Garland said, quietly. On the screen the promised land burned in a gold and blue and orange sphere, with clouds swirling in an atmosphere somewhat resembling Earth but with a different mixture of gasses. And, of course, with stranger life forms hidden beneath the veil of clouds. He addressed Saratov without looking away from the image. "Prokhor, are you ready to re-activate the fusion drive?" "Yes, Captain," said Prokhor, sounding somewhat subdued. "We have little choice regardless. There is no time." Garland looked up. "But you are confident of success? You are prepared?" "Like the United States Boy Scouts, Captain," muttered Saratov. "We can never be 100% confident, but I have no wish to die in space. My people are confident we are ready." "Very well. I'll alert the crew." "Perhaps, Captain…probes first?" Lal interjected quietly. "We could send off the first grouping, for initial scans of the surface." "Yes, we could, although we are still moving almost as quickly as the probes would be. What purpose would it serve?" He looked at Pravin Lal and saw the gravity in his friend's face. He's not sure if we'll make it. This could be our only chance to send the probes... The Captain nodded. "I see." "We must, Captain," said Saratov bluntly. "If the ship does not make it, we can at least leave a record, some kind of valuable data, for any future survivors." "I know. I concur. Launch them, now. Quickly. Then prepare to reactivate the drive." Saratov turned away and began to tap codes into his touchscreen. "I will require your authorization to finalize launch, Captain," said Saratov, and Garland knew the Russian hated clearing scientific procedures through him. Garland tapped in an authorization code and watched a series of red lights turn yellow one by one. The initial set of planetary probes, prepping for launch. "I will alert Deirdre Skye. She will want to know," said Garland. "Yes," said Saratov, his voice acidic. "We begin the pollution of her virgin world." "Her concerns are legitimate, if overstated," said the Captain. "Quite overstated. Don’t you believe so, Director Morgan?" Saratov shot the last question to Morgan, who stood framed in the exit hatch with the security escort behind him. Morgan smiled and spoke. "Virgin territory. We only know of this planet's beauty because we have taken metals from the earth and sustenance from Earth's creatures and injected chemicals into Earth's air, raping the world we left behind, as some would have us believe. But without this process of science and industry, we would not be aware of this lovely planet at all. "There are a billion worlds out there in the cosmos, some probably a thousand times lovelier than this one. Let our environmentalist friends meditate on those unclaimed worlds to soothe their spirits. But for this world in front of us...let us explore and enjoy it. We can not perceive beauty without altering it." "I’m sure Officer Skye would have a different view," said Garland. "But that's for another time." "Captain," cut in Lal, his voice tinged with urgency. "Security matrix...the Greenhouse!" Garland quickly punched up the D7 video matrix for key security points. A flashing alert on camera 117B. Five figures, creeping through the shadows outside the Greenhouse. "Seal the hatch!" ordered the Captain. Continue on to Part 2... |
