Harlan Band
By SilvyrWing
Man, this so totally sucked. The odds were stacked against us… I mean, we were lost inside the ship in which we were lost in space. How much worse could it get than that?
Of course, I like it this way… It really gives me a chance to shine as the leader of this group of cadets. They don't know that being a leader is a lot more than just fun and games. It's about adventure and glory, too.
And self-sacrifice, and selflessness, and all that, I guess.
And pain… talk about ouch. Running into that barrier wasn't exactly my idea of that "fun and games" part that went along with being a leader, but at least we knew that we weren't going that way! And that's what I'd meant to do anyway… You know. Just test it. See if there was some way we could get through.
Catalina laughed at me.
"Real mature, Rainbow Head," I said, standing again. She of everyone would be terrible at Helm… I mean, she daydreamed all the time, if she wasn't busy talking to Suzee. If she was in charge, we'd have crashed into a planet a long time ago. And yes, I'm choosing to forget that time we crashed into a planet. That wasn't my fault.
They went on talking, but my head was still reeling from my previous contact with the sound-barrier-thing preventing us from getting out. Theoretically, it would let us out when the danger of the solar flare had passed. Some supernova flares could get pretty bad, and depending on how far away from the star we were, we could be here a while. It really depended on a lot of factors, but those were all things I really never learned. I suppose it really would have been a good idea to pay attention in class once in a while… But then, seriously, when would I catch up on my sleep? Jeez, you couldn't do everything, after all! And I'd rather meet up with a dozen Spung with both hands tied behind my back than attempt to learn while I was sleeping; one thing I didn't want was to wake up with my head nineteen times its normal size. Not only would my head be really heavy, but I guess all my hair would fall out…
Hm.
"Hey, guys. Is it getting cold in here?" I wondered.
"…What do you think we've been talking about for the last ten minutes?" Bova returned.
"I believe it is a malfunction in the controls," Thelma supplied helpfully, smiling.
"So we need to get to the control room to fix things, I guess. Right? Thelma, do you have any ideas?"
I don't know why Commander Goddard rolled his eyes at me. It wasn't like all this had already been said.
"Yes," Thelma replied.
"Well, I think we should go exploring." Finally calming down the ringing in my ears, I approached the commander and Miss Davenport. "You know… Maybe there's some way to get around to the Control Room from here!"
Catalina rolled her eyes at me, too. "Forget it, Harlan. Suzee says this dome could be huge. And I think it's a bad idea. We should stay close to the door… That way, if it cools off in here, we can still get the heat from out in the corridor."
I shook my head. "Tch. We're on a Starship. How big could this dome be?"
"It could be exactly the size of one entire deck, plus part of another," Thelma supplied cheerfully.
"…So, how big is it?" I ventured. Thelma's smile grew.
"It is exactly the size of one entire deck, plus part of another." She pointed up toward the grey-blue veined wall. There was a red seam that ran through it a few hundred feet up, signaling the end of one deck and the beginning of another. My eyes followed it around, noting for the first time that eventually the wall disappeared into mists generated by the internal systems of the dome… It was so big, I couldn't see all the way around.
"Well, what if we just stayed here until the Christa lets us out?" Rosie asked.
Bova shrugged. "We could. But it could also take twenty-four hours for the radiation from the solar flare to diminish to what the Christa considers a safe level. By then, we could be frozen to death. Or—"
"…That's enough, Mister Bova," Commander Goddared sighed, exasperated.
Shaking my head, and once more tuning out the conversation, I tried squinting my eyes in an attempt to see the other side. If I looked hard enough, I could see something… "Hey, Thelma." I pointed up at a narrow steel ledge just above the split between decks. "What's that?"
"Oh, that is a walkway, Harlan. It leads out into Deck KD. It is an observation walkway for the crew, wishing to look down into this beautiful dome. Mm. The… jumptube leading into it is mainly for maintenance within the dome itself. Most of the Lumanians would stand up there."
"…So they didn't come down here?" Miss Davenport asked. "I thought you said this was for the crew's recreation!"
"I did!" Thelma said. "Zoos are recreational parks, are they not?"
For a long time, no one spoke.
"…We are trapped like animals," Catalina said again.
"Are you telling me that there are dangerous animals in here?" Miss Davenport asked. I could hear the edge of panic growing in her voice.
Thelma's head tilted, her blue eyes shallowly watching the instructor. "No," she answered.
"Oh, thank the heavens," Miss Davenport sighed. I thought she was going to faint from sheer relief. Thelma, however, was not finished…
"…I was telling you that the walkway was an observation deck for The Christa's former crew. Now I am telling you that there are dangerous animals in here. Miss Davenport, there are dangerous animals in here."
She sat down very quickly, but to her credit, she did not faint.
"…Or, we could get eaten by dangerous animals!" Bova finished his previous statement, almost triumphantly.
"We have to get up to that observation deck," Radu said. Blinking, I turned to him. It had been the first time I'd heard him really speak since we'd gotten ourselves into this mess. I swear, sometimes he was so quiet, I didn't even know he was around. It was kinda weird… At one time, I was afraid of him. I mean, I really, really hated him. Now… Well, I'd say we were friends, but not to his face. There really wasn't anyone I'd rather have at my back in a fight, though. Or if I was lost… Because that boy seriously knew directions.
"It is impossible to reach the deck from here," Thelma said, her voice flat and merely informative. "The Lumanians designed it that way so that the animals kept here would not escape."
"Lucky us," I muttered, turning to Catalina. "Any bright ideas? What does Suzee think?"
Cat shrugged. "Going exploring might be beneficial, but Suzee thinks that…"
I waved her off. "Alright, then! Let's go!"
Catalina pressed on, even though I thought I'd made it clear that I'd already heard the part of her statement that I wanted to hear. "But Suzee thinks that you should take someone with you to collect some samples. I mean, this is a treasure trove of… of…"
"…What?" I asked. "Cat got your tongue?"
It was funny. I don't know why they didn't laugh.
"Take Rosie with you," Commander Goddard finally said. He must have seen my surprise… It probably wasn't hard not to, since my jaw practically dropped to the grassy floor. Therefore, he offered a rather vague explanation for his choice. "She likes this kind of stuff. I'm sure she'll find something interesting."
"Or get eaten by a Montrelizian Bugbear," Bova mused.
"Oh, don't worry about me. We'll have fun, won't we Harlan? Radu?" Rosie excitedly wrapped her arm around mine, before reaching over to grab Radu's.
Radu looked just about as uncomfortable with this as I was. How could we look for a way out of the dome and babysit Rosie at the same time? I mean, the kid had potential, sure! But she was so young! Radu was technically younger than she and Bova, but at least he looked like he was older. These two looked like they still shopped in the kids' section of the department store.
"We'd better get going before it gets too cold," Radu finally said. I suppose I had to agree with him… taking a last look back at the blocked doorway, I shrugged, heading off into the forest with an Andromedan and a Mercurian in tow.
"This is insane," I muttered almost silently.
Radu turned to me. "You're telling me…"
I'd forgotten how good Andromedan hearing was.
***
A half hour later, we were sitting near the bank of the dome's artificial river, watching really weird fish swim by in the water below us. It was definitely getting colder… Radu and I had taken off our uniform jackets and offered them to Rosie as a buffer against the chill… She pretty much now resembled a pink-faced teddy bear. So far, though, she'd collected some pretty neat-looking flora… And we were still working on catching one of those fish in the water below. I don't know why she wanted a fish… Perhaps it was the luminescent scales. Maybe Rosie thought they were pretty.
That's why I was training my hand through the rapidly cooling water, attempting to catch a fish without any sort of line. As the water got colder, the fish got slower, but they were still just a little to fast to catch. With my skills, I should have been able to get one easily, but every time I struck, it was almost as if the fish teleported out of the way.
Maybe they did.
Rosie was sitting on a rock, rubbing her arms and glowing a faintly pink color – conserving energy, likely. Or attempting to raise her own body heat. The air directly around her was slightly warm, so I did my best not to brush up against her… Burning my hand wasn't on my list of things to do today.
Then again, neither was fishing, or getting lost in a dome.
"…Hey. Look at that…" Radu was looking at a point somewhere in the stream, his eyes narrowed. Following his gaze, I could see exactly what he was concerned about… There was a heavy white steam being belched forth from the river. My first thought was that it was poison.
"Rosie…! Get down!" I leapt at her, pinning her to the ground by the bank of the river. It seemed like the right thing to do. Pinning someone to the ground was always the answer! It covered such topics as explosions, flying shrapnel, evil agents searching for you through an abandoned warehouse, visiting relatives…
…Not poison, though.
"Harlan, get off." Rosie's tone carried a slight chuckle to it, but I could tell she was a little annoyed. I rolled off, nearly landing myself in the river. Except that I should have been in the river… Looking down, I could see that I was sitting on ice.
"Wow. That was fast," I observed.
"Look," Rosie said, nodding toward the white steam. It was floating upwards toward the dome's curved ceiling.
"Clouds," I said. Their release had also frozen the river. "…Did you want a fish? I think I can get one now.
"…That's alright. We haven't found a way out of the dome yet, and it's getting colder." She shivered again. The jackets weren't really providing any shielding from the chill.
"I think we should get back to the others," Radu said.
Shaking my head, I returned, "We haven't discovered anything yet. Why would we go back?"
"Readjustment of my internal atmosphere. It's about to snow. And it's about to snow a lot." He looked up into the artificial sky. The white clouds that had been released from the vents in the river were turning a rather threatening shade of grey.
"…Alright. But we're gonna go out again. We're gonna have to. To get to that walkway."
"Well, maybe Suzee and Cat have figured something out," Rosie said helpfully.
Radu and I kept her between us as we walked, hopefully to try to keep some of her heat in. It seemed to work a little, though when the first snowflakes started falling, Rosie began to shiver all over again. It was amazing… The temperature in here had decreased at least twenty degrees within the hour we'd been here. Maybe we'd get lucky and it would rise again, though knowing our luck, it would continue to fall. That was okay, though. More opportunities for me to shine.
Why was I so worried, then?
"Oh, look!" Rosie suddenly darted out from between Radu and I, and kneeled next to what appeared to be an small, unconscious bird-like creature. It had two legs – one of which was folded under it at a very odd angle – and two scaled arms. There were feathered wings on its back, too… It looked like it had spread them around itself just before it passed out to try to warm itself… And by the looks of things, it hadn't worked very well. The thing looked like a really small Gryffon from earth mythology… And it also had teeth.
"…Remember what Thelma said about dangerous animals," Radu said as the Mercurian scooped the creature into her arms. The fact was, she looked warmer when she was worried about something other than the cold.
"It's so cold, though! And look… He's hurt!"
"And the commander did say he wanted her to collect samples for study." This was a bad idea, my mind said. But Rosie was so happy. Caring for the creature might save her. History couldn't repeat itself a third time, could it? I mean, after all the trouble we'd had with Rhomby, and Eaty… This thing couldn't possibly be that bad.
It chittered in its slumber, tucking a sharp beak under Rosie's chin to seek out her warmth.
"…Alright," Radu said. Puh. As if he had the final say.
"So. Back to camp?" What camp? Well, they'd have probably set up something by now. Tents. A campfire. Didn't matter that we didn't have any of those things at hand. I mean, who travels down a jumptube with a tent in tow? None of us expected to get stuck in Lumanian Nature Land. But hey, as Thelma said, almost anything was possible.
I looked at the creature nestled close to Rosie… It was possible that history would repeat itself.
"Let's go," Radu said. "I hear 'em. We're not too far now."
Everything would be fine. And if something went wrong, well, Harlan Band was there to get them out of trouble.
Now. If only trouble would stop finding me.