Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) (26 page)

“
Enter,” she said and then straightened herself up in her chair.

Gideon walked in and stood at attention.

“At ease, Lieutenant,” Mary said.

“I have Captain
Neubauer
’s personal effects, sir,” Gideon said as he placed a small box on Mary’s desk.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. I’ll put it in the ship’s safe,” she said as she reached over and took the box.

“
How’s the arm?” Mary asked.

“
Just fine, sir,” Gideon answered as he subconsciously flexed his left hand and the muscles in his forearm. “Doc Pettway…sorry, sir…
Commander
Pettway did a great job. My arm will be completely healed by this time tomorrow.”

“
How are Gunny Xia and Gault?”

“
Gunny Xia is back on duty; his leg will be completely healed tomorrow.” Gideon paused and continued. “And, as you know, Captain, the laser wound that severed Corporal Gault’s spine has healed, but he won’t be able to walk until we can get him back to a medical facility with the equipment that can reconnect his spinal cord. I’ll find something to keep him busy until we get back.”

“
Good, keep his mind off his wound and keep telling him he won’t be this way forever,” Mary said. She paused and asked, “Anything else?”

“
Yes, sir. I’d like to recommend Petty Officer Sipes be awarded a commendation. He followed orders to the letter during the mission and probably saved Corporal Gault’s life.”

“
I already have, Lieutenant,” Mary said, paused, and continued with a slight smile. “I’ve requested Petty Officer Sipes, Lieutenant Klaxton, and Captain Neubauer, posthumously, all receive the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. I’ve also recommended Purple Hearts for everyone who was wounded.”

“
Thank you, Captain, but I don’t think I should be recommended; I was just doing my job,” Gideon said.

“I’ve also read Commander Steward’s report. The commander wrote how you not only got the envoy team out but also how you didn’t hesitate to take command when Captain Neubauer was killed. I will not withdraw your recommendation,” Mary said.

Hangar Bay, SRS
Stephen Hawking

1200
—
February 23, 2372

Captain Neubauer
’s body, wrapped and sewn in traditional white sailcloth, lay on top of a four-foot-by-eight-foot plastanium board fitted with a handle at each corner. Four marines, dressed in green-tinted marine pressure combat suits, carried the board. Those marines were Lieutenant Klaxton, Gunnery Sergeant Xia, Sergeant Manelly, and Sergeant Kindle. The United Sates flag covered the captain’s body, and a holographic display of a flag pole and a United States flag waving in the wind was projected in the center of the hangar bay.

The other
marines—Staff Sergeant Mucha, Sergeant Tidwell, and several sailors—formed the firing party. A single sailor with a bugle stood beside the firing party, and Corporal Gault sat in a wheelchair beside the rest of the crew, who stood at parade rest.

Mary
and Commander Steward stepped forward from the formation, and Mary commanded, “Attention! All hands bury the dead.”

Everyone stood at attention as the holographic flag was lowered to half
-mast.

“
Present arms!” Mary commanded. The firing party placed their weapons in firing positions on their shoulders and aimed over the body as the rest of the crew saluted. The firing party fired a three-volley salute of conductive, gel, magnetic projectiles that disintegrated when fired from their weapons. After the last volley, the bugler played taps. Mary and Commander Steward then marched over to the body, removed the flag covering the body, and folded it. When they had finished folding, Mary tucked the flag under her right arm, and she and Commander Steward marched back to the formation.

“
Right face,” Mary commanded.

The formation turned.
“Forward march.” The formation, firing party, and bugler marched out of the hangar bay, and the inner air lock doors closed behind them. Mary marched the formation to the hangar bay observation deck, and the crew watched as the outer hangar bay doors opened.

As the doors opened, a nearby nebula could be seen. The nebula backdrop spread across the open hang
ar bay doors and contained every color in the visual spectrum as stars shown through it in the background. Stephen had selected a spectacular cosmic panorama for the ceremony when he dropped the ship out of the time-speed dimension.

The crew watched as the four
marines began slowly carrying the body to the open hangar doors. When they reached the edge of the hangar bay floor, the four marines stopped in unison, pushed the plastanium board and Captain Neubauer’s body toward the nebula. As the body slowly began its voyage into infinity, the four marines stood at attention once more and saluted.

Mission Control Center, SRS
Stephen Hawking

0900
—
February 24, 2372

The d
octors—Harper, Jones, and Kastriva—sat at a small conference table and talked while waiting for Captain Bowser and Lieutenant Klaxton.

“
Doctor Kastriva, do you have everything you need?” Dr. Harper asked.

“
Yes, Doctor Harper. The facilities aboard the ship are better than what I had in my lab in Canton Mie.
I’m also very impressed with Stephen. The AI technology surpasses anything I’ve ever encountered,” Dr. Kastriva answered with excitement.

“
How about the mission itself? Is there anything you have questions about or any suggestions?” Dr. Jones asked.

“
I understand the theory, and I’ve asked Stephen to train me on the capabilities of the long-range sensors we’ll use and on how the sensors will be controlled. The amount of information that has to be processed and the distance from Earth that the sensors will probe are quite astounding,” Kastriva said again with excitement, paused to catch his breath, and then continued. “I’m pleased I was asked to be a part of this mission. It’ll be the most important scientific discovery in history!”

The door to the mission control center opened
. Mary and Gideon entered and took a seat at the conference table.

“
Before we begin, Captain, I want to thank you and Lieutenant Klaxton for helping me escape the tyranny of the CTU and also tell you I’m sorry for the death of Captain Neubauer. I’m committed to the mission and I’ll do everything I can to ensure its success in memory of the captain,” Kastriva said.

“
Thank you, Doctor,” Mary said. “Your expertise and your willingness to assist us are enough.”

“Yes, captain,” Kastriva nodded.
  

Gideon sat and said nothing. He knew the mission came first
, but he couldn’t help thinking that Captain Neubauer had died rescuing a doctor for a mission that was a total waste of time. Who cares where man came from, and how will knowing benefit anybody? Captain Neubauer should’ve died with honor, defending his country in battle.

Mary said,
“As you know, we’ll arrive at Corot tomorrow, and the lieutenant and I wanted to know a little more about Doctor Bailey so we can persuade her to assist us if she has any reservations. I understand each of you have actually spoken with her over the past few years—Doctor Harper and Doctor Jones, five years ago when
New
Kalgoorlie was friendly with the United States; and Doctor Kastriva, last year after the relationship with the United States was severed.”

“
As I mentioned during our initial briefing, she won’t hesitate to come with us,” Dr. Harper said. “She’s a scientist, and this is the most important scientific expedition in history.”

“
I agree,” Dr. Jones added excitedly. “The last time we spoke was at a panspermia hypothesis conference in Chicago. She was a keynote speaker at the conference and a powerful advocate of the panspermia hypothesis, which states that life exists throughout the universe and is distributed by meteoroids, asteroids, and planetoids. Panspermia proposes that life can survive the effects of space, such as super microbes, become trapped in debris that’s ejected into space after collisions between planets that harbor life. Bacteria may travel dormant for an extended amount of time before colliding randomly with other planets. If met with ideal conditions on a new planet’s surfaces, the bacteria become active, and the process of evolution begins. Panspermia is not meant to address how life began, just the method of how life arrived on Earth.”

“
Thanks for enlightening me, Doctor,” Mary said, looking as if she didn’t care anything about the details of the hypothesis. She then turned to Dr. Kastriva and asked, “Do you think she’ll be as happy to join us as much as you are, Doctor Kastriva?”

“
I met Doctor Bailey last year when she visited Gliese. The CTU allowed her to use the computers in my lab for two weeks, recalculating the statistical probability of life on a planet’s given position from a sun, atmosphere, etcetera,” Dr. Kastriva said, paused, and then frowned. “I agree with Doctor Harper and Doctor Jones that she’d like to come; however, I believe she’ll refuse. You see, she was six months’ pregnant when she was in my lab and was very excited about becoming a mother and caring for her son. She has a nine-month-old baby boy now, and I doubt she would want to leave him.”

Everyone in the room
looked stunned by the news. A few seconds later Gideon asked, “Do any of you recall her universal data communications identification address?”

“
Yes, but I’m sure she won’t receive your message if you’re planning on communicating with her and asking if she’d still like to come along,” Dr. Kastriva said. “You see, any messages she receives from you on her government-provided personal communications device will be filtered and most likely discarded
.
”

“
I know it will be, Doctor. That’s why I’m going to have Stephen attach a trace on the message I send her. Stephen will then be able to tell me her exact physical location in New Kalgoorlie,” Gideon said. He paused to rub his forehead and added, “Doctor, I don’t need to speak with her. I just need to know where she is in New Kalgoorlie so my team can extract her.”

“
You mean you’re going to abduct her, even though she won’t want to come with us?” Dr. Kastriva looked shocked.

“
Yes, Doctor, that’s what he means,” Mary answered before Gideon spoke again. “We have orders to take her with us, no matter the circumstances.”

“
You mean, if I had refused to come with you, you would have taken me anyway?” Kastriva asked.

“
Yes,” Mary answered bluntly.

D
r. Kastriva looked at Dr. Harper and Dr. Jones and asked, “Do you agree with this?”

“
Doctor, I don’t agree with it, and I don’t like it, especially in this situation. But we’ve been ordered to do it,” Dr. Harper answered.

D
r. Kastriva stood. “I’m sorry, but I won’t give you her universal com address. You’ll have to find her another way. As I’ve already stated, I’ll assist you all I can during the mission, but I won’t be part of a kidnapping.” Dr. Kastriva then walked out of the mission control center.

Gideon stood to follow Kastriva
and persuade him to tell him the universal com address.

“
No need, Lieutenant. I remember her com address,” Dr. Jones said reluctantly. Gideon sat down, and Dr. Jones gave him the information.

Petty Officer Joseph Sipes’s Quarters, SRS
Stephen Hawking

0145
—
February 25, 2372

Joseph sat in a wooden chair under a large oak tree. The sky was a cloudless blue
, and the temperature was perfect—neither cold nor hot. A table about chest high stretched thirty feet from the tree he was sitting under to the base of another large oak. The table was covered with white cloth, and on it all types of foods in various dishes covered the length and width of the table. Joseph looked behind him and saw the building where his grandma had told him he would help save the crew from death. The double doors to the building opened, and out walked his grandma, followed by the others he had seen before. His grandma looked very young and smiled as she approached him.

“
Joseph, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said as he stood, and she hugged him.

He could smell the perfume she always wore
, and she squeezed him as tightly as she always had.

“
Where am I, Grandma?”

His g
randma looked around and smiled. “This place does look a lot different than when you came here as a child. You’ve been here many times, Joseph; you don’t remember?”

“
No, Grandma. I’m sorry,” he answered.

“
That’s okay, honey,” she said.

Joseph looked around at the crowd of people
, who were looking back at him and the food on the table. “What’re we doing today, Grandma?”