Alpha 1472 (27 page)

“David will never see his child. We had such plans. Everything would have been perfect, but now, it’s all gone. All ruined
.” She broke down and wept. Anne held her tightly and asked “Do you know what you are having?” Mary said that she and David had decided that it should be a surprise, they didn’t want to know. But now all of that had changed she would like David to know before it was too late. Anne flipped on the screen to the scanning device she had used during here examination and replayed the results. As they watched Anne paused the playback, and pointed to the screen. Mary starred in disbelief. There it was her unborn baby. It was a boy.

Jason called his crew to the cockpit for one final meeting. He had made an important decision that affected all of them. When they were assembled he started to address them.

“What I am about to say, I would like to say without interruption so if you could wait until I have finished to ask any questions I would be grateful. This has been an eventful mission with an unexpected end. But we now have an even bigger mission to accomplish. And we are going to need each other for much longer than any of us thought. What the future will bring is unknown, but I would like to think that whatever it throws at us we would be there for each other. Whatever our lives were in the past is now irrelevant. I know that I will miss my wife and my sons but I have a choice and I would not like them to think that I had given up. I intend to go on and make the most of the situation. I would like to think that all of you feel the same and assuming that you do, I want you to know that we need each other now. Travis, all of us are going to need guidance to come to terms with what has happened we will all be looking to you for that, and when you need help, because there will be times when you will need someone, we will all be there for you. Marius you are the most logical thinking person I have ever met your intelligence and problem solving skills are going to be invaluable to us all. Matthew, your knowledge of weather systems will help us to understand our environment and assist with growing food to feed us all. JD, your understanding of the soil and the terrain is going to help us to survive in this alien environment. Anne we need you to service our medical needs. And Mary, you already possess one of the most important elements of our survival here. You and your baby are the hope for our future. So, you see we all have a role to play we are all as important as each other and we need each other to survive. From this point on there will be no order of command. For us there will be no rank no superiority we should start as we mean to go on, as equals. Therefore I am no longer your captain; I am nothing more than your friend. From now onwards please call me Jason for that is who I am”

The stark truth of their situation had just hit them, and individually they realised that from now on the people in this room were all that they could rely on for their safety, their sanity and their future.

Anne was the first. She stood up and approached Jason and placed her arms around him. JD followed suit, then Mary. One by one they all joined in the embrace and for a few minutes there they all stood, huddled into one group. Each of them with their eyes closed soaking in the support of the others. For the first time since they had been stranded they had found solace in each other. And were glad of the unity they all shared.

Harrison was more abrupt than normal. He was on a personal mission to get all of the relatives of 1472 to the command centre as soon as was possible. He knew that this would be the last chance for them to say goodbye. He had dispatched units to the homes of relatives and he had spared none of the resources at his disposal. Those that were close, he had sent fast response units to with top level clearance and military escorts to get them through any traffic with minimum fuss. The ones who were further afield would be transported using helicopters and fast response personnel. Luckily none of the relatives were abroad all were easily within transportable distances, but time was of the essence.

David sat at his desk and looked out of the window this was going to be the last day he would sit here for a while. He had taken a vacation from work to spend with his wife when she returned. He was oblivious to the situation that was unfolding on Epsilon Omega. He had plan
ned a romantic vacation for her, some quality time before the birth of their first baby. His mind was not on his work, he was preoccupied with the arrangements for the trip. He had already packed suitcases and left them in the hallway of the house. He knew that if she got comfortable at home then their trip would be delayed. He looked at the photograph of her that he had on his desk and smiled. The intercom on his desk spoke, it was his secretary. “Sir, there are some gentlemen here to see you.” Before she had finished the sentence they burst through his door. He demanded to know the meaning of this intrusion. They confirmed that he was David Emmanuel and escorted him to the waiting car. This was like something off the television. He demanded to know what was happening. All that they would tell him is that they were from the space centre and it was to do with his wife. He was suitably panic stricken, and he complied with their instructions without hesitation. The journey was high speed, it was faster than he had ever travelled before, apart from flying, and he found it quite nauseating. Before long the speeding car pulled into a small supermarket car park that had been cleared of all cars. Standing in the middle was a helicopter; its rotors were running at full speed ready for take off. He was rushed into his seat and almost before they had fastened his safety belt they were in the air and on their way to the space centre. All around the city, approaching from different directions, by road and by air, they came. Sirens were blaringly and lights flashing. Eventually they converged onto a field within the centre from were they were all rushed to a conference room where they waited for Harrison. He estimated that he was standing in a room of about a hundred or so people. Most of them looked confused some were upset. The reality was that there was only about twenty relatives present the rest were company personnel trained in various skills associated with trauma and shock. When they were all assembled Lyle Harrison entered the room. They all braced themselves for what he had to say.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Over Commander Lyle Harrison and I am in command of mission Alpha 1472. We are undergoing an unprecedented situation on the planet where your families are. During the take off procedure their space ship was damaged. They are all safe, but,” He braced himself before he continued with his next sentence. “There is no possibility of their return”

At this, the entire room exploded with the sound of terror, panic, despair and people shouting questions, demanding answers. In an instant David’s world collapsed. He fell to his knees unable to grasp the fact that he would never see her again. Although everything around him was a scene of panic and turmoil, his world had stopped. He could hear nothing, he was aware, but he had gone into a complete state of shock. He found himself being escorted, half carried, by two men towards a private room where they sat him down with a councillor who tried to prepare him to speak with his wife. He heard every word that she said but none of it made any sense. The only thing he could think about was her, his wife and the more he thought about her the further he slipped into himself. The councillor could see that she was making no headway and called for a medic to administer him with a sedative. Gradually, as the drug took effect, he became more lucid, more able to talk to her. She explained the situation fully and told him that very soon he could talk to his wife. The gravity of the situation began to dawn on him. Then, slowly at first he began to weep. Not for himself and not for her but for them both. Soon he was openly crying. He cried for about an hour, non stop. His face was puffed and his eyes were red. He could not let her see him like this; he had to be strong for her. He asked his councillor if there was somewhere he could use to tidy himself for the meeting. She said that there was and took him to a shower room where she left him to clean up. Outside the door she posted a guard…just in case. He took about half an hour in the shower room. All the time he tried to prepare himself. What would he say? How will he react when he sees her? No matter how many times he asked himself the questions, the answers evaded him. All that he knew was that right now she needed him and he was not going to let her down. He left the shower room and was met by the guard, who escorted him back to the room where his councillor was waiting for him. She was a pleasant young lady who seemed full of compassion for him. He knew that she had been trained for this type of event and that she was just doing her job, but, it was comforting to have her here, someone to talk to in this dark hour. He was somewhat calmer now the initial shock had subsided and they were able to strike up a superfluous conversation. “Are you married” he asked her she said that she was and he nodded. It was a strained conversation but he needed to talk. “How long?” he asked. Three years she replied. They talked along the same lines until it was time for him to go to the communications room where he would see his wife’s face for the last time. As they walked along the corridor it felt like he was the condemned man taking his last walk to the execution chamber. Maybe that would have been easier. They paused at the door and he gathered himself, mustering all of his composure…he hoped that it would be enough. He turned to his councillor who held him by his arms; she leaned towards him and kissed him gently on the cheek. “I will be here when you have finished” she said to him. He nodded and closed his eyes for a moment not wanting to speak. She knew that this was more than a thank you. She let her arms drop and he went through the door. He sat down in the darkness opposite a TV screen and waited for her face to appear. It was an anxious time, and although he didn’t want to be there. There was no other place in the world he wanted to be more. Not knowing what he was going to say, he waited for the connection to be made. The few moments that he had waited had seemed an eternity. And then…her face appeared.

The only difference between Alpha 106 and themselves was that, 106 never intended to make the return journey. Whereas they, had been forced, by circumstance, into staying. The crew of 106 had no family to bid farewell to, but if they did at least they would have had the chance to hold their loved ones one last time. This situation had precluded them from this tender luxury. Everyone was finding this particular aspect difficult to come to terms with. Now that everyone was equals Travis took the initiative to try to help his fellow travellers. He asked them all to join him in the cockpit.

“Right, I have sent the signals to Alpha Prime for the location of our individual terminals. I hope you don’t mind but I have tried to give all of us privacy for these calls so here is where I have put you all. Captain, sorry…Jason, you and Marius will be in your own quarters Anne you will be in your quarters and Mary you will be in here JD you will be in your room I will go the departure area and Matthew I have put you in the multipurpose section. I have made sure that we are all comfortable and private during this time. Now, this is going to be probably one of the emotional moments of our lives and although
, strictly speaking, I am no longer your psychologist, I would like to think that when this is all over you would think that you can turn to me if you need to. I will be there for you.” His voice became calm and steady as he continued. “We know from experience that situations like this have a profoundly strange effect on our bodies. During your time with your loved ones you will experience a multitude of emotions. Sorrow, longing, fear, distress, unhappiness, misery and grief.  But there will also be times when you will experience the opposite, love, happy memories you have together that you will share with each other. All of these emotions are important. But if you concentrate on the positive emotions together they will help you to cope much easier. After you have finished, you will all be drained. And this is when all of your pent up feelings will rise to the surface. Anger, pain, sorrow. You will want to vent all of this aggression out on anything or anyone who upsets you. And this is when we need to be strong for each other. We will all need to help each other to grieve and to move on.”

Jason stood up from his seat and went over to Travis. He hugged him and thanked him for his advice
and compassion before retiring to his room to wait for his family. One by one they all did the same then found their respective places within the ship to wait.

Mary had been left in the cockpit and she was alone with her thoughts. She felt strangely calm and serene. She knew that this would pass as soon as the connection was made. She took the time to compose herself.
Trying to keep all of her emotions in check, she was determined that she was going to be strong and not break down. The wait was agonisingly long. The anticipation of seeing her husband was almost too much to bear. And then…his face appeared.

For both of them the initial sight of each other bought about an intense rush of emotions. Together their hands instinctively reached out for each other and they touched each others faces on the screens. A tear emerged from the corner of Mary’s eye it quickly rolled down over her cheek and came to rest at the corner of her mouth he could see it glistening, illuminated by the light of the monitor. She felt her top lip tighten and her bottom one quiver slightly as she tried desperately not to cry. His lips were tightly clenched as he tried to smile at her beautiful face, summoning all that he could find to retain his composure. Neither of them spoke. For now they were just content to be in each others company. Mary was the first to break the silence. Her head tilted slightly to one side and she took a deep breath in through her nose, it was not a smooth continuous intake, it was laboured and it happened in stages. She let out her breath and as she did so she spoke his name in a whisper. “David.” She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. She took a deep breath and looked at him. “Oh David…what are we going to do.” She could feel the heaviness in her eyes, as she waited for him to speak. He just sat there starring into her face. He started to shake his head, almost imperceptibly at first and then more pronounced. And then his face seemed to collapse as he began to weep. He held his forehead in his hand and his shoulders jerked up and down in perfect rhythm with his sobs. She just sat and watched him with pity and compassion. Her only instinct at that moment was to take him in her arms and comfort him. But this was not to be. He was trying desperately to fight every instinct he had to cry. He needed to compose himself…for her. Eventually he managed to bring his emotions into check and reached for a tissue to dry his tears. Having regained a modicum of stability he spoke to her for the first time. “Mary…Oh Mary, why us? Why not someone else? We were supposed to be together forever.” As he spoke he could hear himself speaking and crying at the same time. Mary reached for the screen and placed her index finger over the image of his lips and shushed him “I know” she said “I know, but we are here now, together, lets not waste a second.” He said nothing, just nodded in agreement. “That first day you walked into the centre I knew that we would be together. Do you remember you asked me my name and I asked who wanted to know? Then you said that if I played my cards right you may be the man who was taking me out that night. You were so sure of yourself back then.” He smiled and nodded. “I knew too, when you insisted on a really pricy restaurant.”  For a brief while all of the pain and hurt was forgotten and they sat intently starring into each others eyes and reminiscing about their past. Recalling all of the times they had spent together, the places they had seen and people they had known. There had even been times when they laughed together and at times it felt like the most natural conversation they had ever had. The weightiness of the situation had, for a while, been lost to them. They were totally engaged in being together for this one last time. There were no awkward pauses, when there was nothing to say they just studied the image in front of them, lovingly examining every contour of the others appearance. Occasionally she would stroke his hair on the screen or he would run his fingers down the side of her face. They continued in this manner until they had discussed their lives together up until now. Then David asked about the accident. The instant the question was asked, the mood changed. It went from one of loving attention to one of a defensive, unwillingness to discuss the very thing that would keep them apart. She found it hard to explain the accident to him. It was like reliving recent history. It was surreal and unbelievable, cruel and unjustified. It was a freak accident that no one could have predicted or avoided. He asked her who was to blame; He felt that he needed to use someone or something to vent his inner anger towards. She assured him that no one was to blame it was just one of those things that could not have been prevented. He could tell from her reaction and the look in her eyes that it was what it was, an accident, pure and simple. She then described the accident she suffered when the impact occurred, and the fact that the medic had to give her an examination. Then she spoke about their baby. When she did she could immediately see the hurt in his face. “David, I am so sorry.” From the unfortunate way in which the sentence was constructed he had instantly jumped to the conclusion that she had lost the baby. Thankfully he had misconstrued what was being said to him and she was quick to rectify the mistake. “No…no don’t panic there is nothing wrong everything is still fine. There is one thing that I have to tell you though. When I was being examined, I had to find out the sex. Under the circumstances I think you should know.” He did not how to feel. Of course he was relieved that they were both OK, but, he felt cheated and despondent that he would never see his child grow. He would never know the joy of holding his own baby. In the blink of an eye he had already imagined what it would have been like to be a dad. And in the same blink reality had cruelly snatched it from him. His emotions took over once more and he could feel himself starting to cry once again. He looked at her hardly able to control his facial quiverings, trying desperately to hold it all together. She looked back at him fully understanding the turmoil he was going through. She spoke quietly and lovingly “I am going to send you a copy of the scan that was taken earlier so you can see for yourself” Reaching over to the console she located the image and sent it to his computer. A separate smaller screen appeared on his monitor displaying the image for him to see. He leaned forward and touched the screen tenderly. Then he broke down into a deep sob. His whole body began to spasm as he fell into a state of complete distress. “Jeremy…oh…Jeremy my boy.” She left him for a while with his grief then she tried to pull him back to reality. “David…David, listen to me. David, I need to ask you something.” Having regained his attention she put her proposal to him. “I know we have discussed a name for our baby, and we agreed that if it were a boy we would call him Jeremy. But we also said that if it was a girl we would call her Susan. Do you remember?” David agreed that he did, but he didn’t understand her point. “Well, I’ve been thinking that I would like to name him for both of us.” Through his tears she could see that he was a little confused. They had agreed upon his name and felt a little wounded that she wanted to change the only legacy he could give his son. “What do you think about this for a name? If we take both names and amalgamate them into one then we can both be remembered through him.” She had his full attention, and he asked what she was suggesting. “I would like to call him…Jesus David Emmanuel.” As soon as she had said the name there was silence while he considered the proposal. He could see the logic of what she was saying, and indeed he liked the name. He looked at her and smiled that smile. It was the smile that she was so familiar with when she had won. And although this was not an argument or a competition, for her it was so comforting to see it on his face once more. “Jesus David Emmanuel, I love it.” Their faces had hid nothing, every emotion they had felt, had been displayed over the last four hours. Now, they both shared the same emotion. It was the realisation of the reality that was now theirs, a reality which they could not escape. They would both have given anything not to have been in this position. But here they were and they were both aware that very soon they would be saying goodbye to each other for the last time. They were calm and content in each others company when the door behind David quietly opened. The head of his councillor peered
around the edge of the door and in a quiet almost apologetic tone she said that their time was nearly at an end. David thanked her and she left silently closing the door behind her. “Oh well,” he said to Mary, “it seems that our time is up.” As he said it he wished that this moment would last forever. And he knew in his heart that she felt the same. She touched the screen as if to caress his face “David, I have always loved you and until the day I die I will always love you. I promise that I will take care of our baby, and I promise that he will know who you are and never forget you. Be safe my darling and think of me often and all that we could have shared.” He swallowed hard, he too touched the screen, “Mary you have always been my world. You know, I thought that our lives would have lasted forever. I never thought that fate would do this to us. Mary I love you with all of my heart, I always have, and I always will. I know we will be together again someday. Maybe not in this life, but somehow we will be together.” The door opened again to signify that it was time. He looked at his wife, touched the screen as if to dry her tears. He could not have known, but at the same time she was doing the same. They lovingly looked at each other and together almost under their breath the said to each other “Goodbye my darling…I love you.” Their screens slowly faded to black. They both lowered their heads and wept.