Generational Ship Blues, Page 3

rooms we'll never get away unnoticed,” Justin said as he pointed out a pile of cargo near a set of doorways with a motion of his head. “There, we'll slip away there.”

  Being among the first to board the shuttle had left us in the advantageous position of being near the end of the crowd headed towards the doorways. But we still had to be careful to avoid being noticed. As the group approached the interior doors, two of the crewmen opened them and walked inside, as the others took up position on either side of the doorway to prepare to watch the crowd as it filed in. At this moment we saw our chance and ducked to our left behind the pallets. Luckily, everyone else was too fixated on the doorway ahead to notice our absence from the group. We kept our heads down and a few moments later we heard the doors close ahead of us. Peeking out on either side of the pallets, we made sure the coast was clear. We decided to act casual, as though we belonged, and walked out and through the next entryway to the left.

  This doorway had led us inside a building of some sort, with a short hallway ahead branching off to either side.

  “Well... left or right?” I asked Justin.

  “I'm not sure," he responded nervously. "But the group was headed somewhere to our right so lets head that way and see whats really going on over there. Just be careful.”

  With that we turned right at the end of the hall, and passed a few offices staffed with clerical personnel of some kind. As we walked coolly past their office windows, we saw bright lights illuminating what appeared to be the lobby of the building ahead. It was then that we heard a troubling noise behind us... the crackle of a radio. I turned to look back and saw a uniformed man half outside his office door. He stared at us intently while whispering into his radio.

  “Justin!” I exclaimed.

  “I know!” he returned. “Run for it!”

  We broke into a sprint towards the lobby with the voice of the man close behind.

  “You two!" the man yelled. "Halt now! On the ground!”

  Several people in the lobby made desperate attempts to catch us as we jumped clear of their arms and burst through the lobby doors. It opened into what appeared to be a smaller version of the Habitation Section, yet different. It was as though large sections of the landscape had been carved out and replaced with huge windows. We noticed additional groups of pursuers had emerged from buildings on either side of us. Having no other place to go we sprinted desperately into the open grounds towards the nearest of the windows.

  “I don’t think we're going to... find the Control Deck,” I panted.

  “These windows... " Justin responded. "Look outside the ship... we have to find something!”

  In a few moments we arrived at the window, stopped at the edge and peered out. A few seconds later, we were met with a crash from behind, and fell to the deck having been tackled by our pursuers.

  “Did you see anything?” I managed.

  “No... its black...” Justin struggled as they subdued him. “Just... argh... blackness!”

  As the men rolled me onto my back to raise me from the deck, another window came into my view on the opposite side of the Command Section. Looking up, it appeared at first more like a radiant blue lake than a window, before a dark crescent slowly swept it away.

  “Wait! What was that?” I screamed to my captors. “What was that!”

  ###

  Thanks for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it!

  Doug Cosman