Chapter 5: Reminisce

Bower was staggered by a flood of memories entering his brain like a whirlpool, swirling and draining into his awareness. He suddenly remembered all the way back to his boyhood. He was around six years old when he first learned of the deep space probe touching down on Pandorum. He had been standing in front of the television, watching an excited anchorman who was reporting on the landing and giving a step by step narration of the probe's progress.

Behind him, his parent's watched too. They locked eyes and held hands and the monumental news of the probe's successful sending of the first reading on Pandorum which were supposed to arrive at any second.

The man on the television chirped, "Millions of people watched in awe as these breathtaking images of Pandorum arrived from the Popolous probe and were broadcast yesterday. These images were taken as the probe was entering the orbit of the only Earth-like planet known to exist. The entire nation is watching as the probe sent into space is transferring data exceeding even the most optimistic expectations. We knew to expect water on Pandorum. We knew to expect reasonable temperatures. The question remained: will this planet meet the extremely complex and unlikely combination of parameters to support life as we know it? The probe has touched down on the planet six days ago. It's sending off its first transmission that is expected to arrive any second now."

It showed lived footage of the probe's panoramic cameras showing its surroundings. The probe slowly made its way down a short embankment and it shifted slightly, the cameras and satellite dish sweeping back and forth constantly.

Another man's voice came on, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an unprecedented moment for all mankind." The probe's cameras zeroed in on a target in the distance and began to zoom in, "Are we seeing this? First detection as we had hoped. This needs to be verified, but it appears some form of plant life is present. My God, life on Pandorum. There is life detection. We have habitat detection. Verified, this is a monumental day for all of us. Its only a matter of time before we send people out there."

When Bower came out of his reminiscing episode, he was sitting with his back to the wall. He still felt the excitement and wonder that he had felt all the years ago as a child. It was strange how cryogenic sleep would bring back memories in an unexpected torrent like it just had.

"You still there, Corporal?" Payton's voice crackled over the small speaker of the unit clasped onto his collar.

"Processing and population," Bower said quietly. "We're a settler's vessel. This ship, the Elysium, was a one way ticket. Every nation donated and helped in its construction. We were sent to finally explore the expanse of space to spread humanity across the cosmos."

Payton said, "We have representative specialists from every nation as well. This was a worldwide decision, to explore another earth-like planet, colonize it and start humanity all over again as one people. It was like a dream coming true."

Bower's mind drifted to the memory of the lovely blonde lying on her side on his bed. She was smiling brightly at him. "How could I have left her? How could I have done that? I loved her."

Payton's voice over the com interrupted his retrospective thoughts, "We have to get to the bridge. We've got to get control of the ship before these guys rip it apart. This is too fucking important."

Bower was distracted and was only partially listening. "Payton, for some reason I remember you being married. Where's your wife?"

"What?"

"Do you remember the recruitment? The breeding tests, the husbands, the wives, we didn't leave all of them behind. Some of them are here on board with us aren't they? They have to be."

Bower stood up and peeked out into the main corridor. He could see the bright blue glow of his glow stick further down the passage. Apparently, the hunters didn't need light to see in the gloom and had cast it aside. He wasn't ready to begin searching the ship again but he had to. "I've got to find her before these fucking animals do. Try to think of where they would be. A sleeping compartment for non-service personnel or something?"

Payton's reaction was immediate, "Wait, hold on. Think for a sec."

"I remember there were thousands of passengers that weren't part of the development team—families."

"You listen to me! Do you know how big this ship is? You have no idea where your wife—where our wives might be. If you go off on some personnel mission, we're going to be no closer to getting ourselves out of this situation and we'll have even less time to regain control of the ship. Do you understand, Corporal?"

So he's pulling rank on me? Typical.

"Look," Payton's tone was softer now, "Once we've taken control of the systems, finding them will be a hell of a lot easier. Are you hearing me? We save the ship, we save them."

Bower's legs felt rubbery. When he had first entered this hall from the vent, the atmosphere had seemed a little eerie. Now, it was downright menacing. Sweat began to pour again; every step was awful. He was fighting the strong urge to run back into the shaft and hide.

Eventually, Bower made his way to the security wing where he found the weapons storage. Right before he went in, he just happen to see a dark thin wire right below eye level. It ran across the doorway. Ducking below the wire, he saw another rig that had been placed on the ceiling above the door.

Another booby trap.

If he had walked into it, the wire would have pulled tight round his neck and pull him off his feet like it had the other guy. Luckily, he noticed the death trap before falling victim to it. Bower imagined himself hanging, choking, clawing at his own throat while he slowly asphyxiated to death. He used a chem light to trigger the trap, rendering it safe.

The rifle and handgun locker did not accept the scan when he held the bar code, tattooed to his forearm, in front of the scanner. This made no sense. He was a member of the military and should have full access to any of the firearms. Something had bugged the weapons lockers.

He noticed another storage unit. Bower read the name off the side, "Security weapons locker."

"What?" Payton inquired. There was a slight static to his transmission.

He ignored the Lieutenant and opened the door. There was another access terminal here. "Non-lethal anti riot guns."

Payton told him, "Close up they'll do some damage."

Bower gave the emergency auxiliary power handle a few pumps to power up the security weapons storage unit. Then, he positioned the bar code on his arm before the scanner. A red light on the front of the unit turned green and with a click and a hiss the locker hummed open. A weapon appeared in a closed container which rotated towards him. As it turned, an opening in the Plexiglas appeared and he removed the weapon from its harness. It was sort of a long glove with a taser mounted on the wrist and forearm. A grip was built into the hand brace so that it could be pumped full of energy by rapidly squeezing his fist.

Bower switched the weapon on and pumped it to a full charge. Ten pumps. He wasn't familiar with this particular type of firearm so he was going to have to be careful not to shoot himself.

Lieutenant Payton had resumed the leadership tone, "Alright, I'm going to lay out a path for you and try to bypass the main security grids. Without power, we'll never get these doors opened."

Bower knew he was right. They had to get the power turned back on but the only way was to reset the reactor and get it back online. Bower detached an ear piece from the com unit and placed it inside his ear. Payton's voice wouldn't be so loud and would not so easily give him away. Bower whispered, "Listen, if you can get me to the reactor bay, I can reset the cycle manually."

There was a pause, then Payton asked, "You know how to do that?"

"Yeah."

Another pause, "Its a long way, Corporal."

"Its the only chance we have."

"I'm going to have to get you passed a few security bulkheads. With a little side-stepping and a few short cuts, we'll get you there."

Bower hustled through the halls towards the aft of the ship. There were forks in the corridors at this end as other branching passages intersected into the main corridor. He continued down what he thought was the main hall but, due to the darkness, he realized he had accidentally went down one of the crossing halls instead. Angry he managed to keep his voice low, "For Christ's sake. Where the hell am I?"

Lieutenant Payton was patient, "Okay, okay, hold on. I don't want you going too far."

"These hall all look the same."

"Just catch your breath. You see any bay or corridor numbers?"

Bower risked turning on his flashlight to scan the walls. "I can see Delta 81643 Lima."

"Okay, hold on."

"How can you tell where I am?"

"I'm using the schematics map and tracking your com unit."

"Ah."

Lieutenant Payton cursed, "Goddammit. The power died on the console again. I have to charge it manually and then reboot the computer and then ship's mapping system. Give me a few mikes."

Bower sighed impatiently, then he saw the woman from before. She dashed down one of the halls away from him. He remained where he was but he kept a trained eye in the direction she fled. As he waited, he realized he was still having trouble collecting his thoughts. The jitters were like thousands of small spiders crawling down the length of his arms. His mind was foggy, "Hey Lieutenant."

"Go ahead."

"Are there any other side-effects of extended cryogenic sleep besides memory loss?"

A long silence followed then Payton said, "Why are you asking about that?"

Bower waited.

Payton voice was somber even over the com, "Are you worrying about the Eden Mission? Don't. Nothing like that is going to happen on this vessel, trust me."

Bower whispered, "What happened to the Eden Mission?"

"Let me get back to locating your route."

"Look, I asked about cryogenic sleep. You're the one that brought up the Eden."

Payton said, "Don't worry about it, don't lose focus-"

"Didn't they have some type of mutiny?"

"I've almost got your position punched back into the computer."

Bower pressed the issue, "Just tell me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I need you focused."

"Tell me."

Lieutenant Payton sighed, "I really wish I hadn't brought it up. The Eden Mission was the biggest fucking catastrophe in modern space travel. In flight school, it was the cautionary tale from hell."

Bower was intrigued, "What happened?"

"Two years into their shift one of the officers suffered a massive psychological breakdown. I'm talking about a full on homicidal episode. The doctors call it Extensive Sleep Disorder because your brain is on hiatus too long and it has fails to recognize dream from reality. Anyway, it drove him insane. He became convinced that the flight and the crew was cursed."

Jesus!

Bower was almost afraid to ask, "What did he do?"

Lieutenant Payton sighed, "He evacuated the ship while in deep space. He launched himself and the rest of the crew to oblivion. Five thousand people sent to their death with one push of a button."

"Oh my God."

"Yeah."

Bower shrugged, "At least we didn't wake up floating out in deep space in a coffin."

Lieutenant Payton laughed bitterly, "Who says we didn't?"

He had a point. They were floating without power. They were heading to their deaths if the reactor couldn't be reset. Bower gathered his courage, "Which way?"

"You're going to go left at the third marker. Just two more levels up and you'll be on the main walkway. It should be a lot easier from there."