UNIVERSE 69

By: Crystal Child

 

Chapter One:  Segments

 

“The magic that is the universe rushes to greet us as we fall into the dreaded bliss of never-ending.  It is here that we can see all truths, that we can see all lies.  That we can see each other.”

-Secret Captain’s Log of Sarah Dellerz

First Official Captain of Universe 69

 

The planet rushes past us, trying to pull us into its gravitational path around its ancient sun.  The mess hall shakes beneath us.

 

“Too damn close.”  The girl to my left mutters as she picks up her aluminum glass, to prevent it from spilling its contents onto her food, “Before you know it, we’ll be ramming INTO planets.”

 

“Not possible.”  The teenaged boy states from across the table, “And you well know it, Shade.”  The guy doesn’t look up from his computer, which rests on the table in front of him, but pauses from his typing to push the glasses on his nose up higher, then brushes a clump-full of red hair away from his eyes.

 

“Yeah,” I smile slightly and lean back in my chair, “The Captain knows what she’s doing.  Let her do her job.  You worry about yours.”

 

Shade glares at me with her dark green eyes.  I smile and look right back.  She gives a huff that sends her dark hair up from her forehead for a few seconds, then rises from her chair, taking her tray of food to the disposal.

 

I glance at the clock hanging over the exit before turning back to the guy with the laptop, “You on next shift, Tranq?”  I ask.  He glances up at me and shakes his head.

 

“Nope.  I’m doing double starting the shift after that, however.”

 

“Oh?”  I raise an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah.”  He closes his computer, “You know I was sick for three of my shifts.  I have to make them up.”  He puts his elbows on the table and stares at me, “What about you, Rage?  You working?”

 

I nod, “I’ve got training.”

 

“Didn’t you finish that 3 months ago?”

 

“Well…” I smile again, “since there was that little ‘accident’ down in Sick Bay while I was on duty…”  I let my sentence hang.

 

Tranq shakes his head, “You really ARE an idiot, aren’t you.”

 

My grin grows and I stretch my arms above my head, “Damn right I am.  And I’m proud of it too, Brain Boy.”  My lazy smile disappears, “Well, I’d better go.  Don’t want to be late.”

 

“Sure you don’t.”  Tranq mutters as he stands up with me, “C’mon.  I’ll walk with you to training.”

 

~~@~~

 

Universe 69, the pride of the last people to live on Earth.  Well, I guess that isn’t TOTALLY true.  There are probably still people living there…who knows?  Maybe they’re so evolved that if and when the Universe 69 reaches Earth again, they won’t accept us back.  Maybe we’ll be looked on as the aliens.

 

Universe 69 started out as 4 smaller ships.  Originally, the ships were all military, which circled lazily around the Earth, not really doing much.  But then something happened…

 

It’s not recorded on our computers what.  But what ever it was, it caused almost the entire human race to flee.  Only 5 ships survived.  Only 1 billion people.  Not exactly a whole lot, considering the Earth had been home to over 9 billion when we fled.  At least, that’s what the computers DO say.

 

I don’t know.  But, anyways…only 5 survived.  Not long after we left Earth, four of the ships decided that they needed to stay together.  To ensure that we never lost one another, we connected.  By tubes, originally, which were built onto and became living quarters for the nearly 2 billion people that live on board today.

 

Where’s the fifth ship?  No one knows.  Originally, when Universe 69 was completed, it was a scout ship.  It never traveled more than two light years ahead of us…not very far.  But one day, we came out of jump, and they weren’t there to greet us.  It took nearly three years for the generation that lived onboard at the time to realize that the fifth ship wasn’t coming back.

That was nearly 200 generations ago.  Quite a while in human standards.  A blink of an eye in the universe’s point of view.  But we’ve adjusted.  We’ve come to realize that there may actually be no life out there besides us.  It’s a pretty scary thought, actually.  That we’re the last of a race.  The only race in the entire universe.  It’s terrifying.

 

I don’t think much about it though.  It’s too much for my brain to handle.

 

Too much for many people’s brains to handle.

 

~~@~~

 

I slide into my seat as the instructor glares at me.  I give one of my lazy smiles back.

 

“Now that everyone is here,” A hard glare in my direction, “Let us proceed to pull up your personal file using the HandMouse.”

There are only six of us in the room, sitting in a circle, our backs to the center.  The guy next to me casts me only a casual glance, his name is Rygal.   Next to him is a pretty blonde named Macy.  Next to her is her brother, I think his name is Lu, or something like that.  Then there’s Stako.  He and I don’t get along to well.  And last (besides myself), there’s Jay.  He’s one of my best buddies.  He and I both got in trouble for the ‘accident’ down at Sick Bay.  He grins at me now.

 

He and I easily pull up the data the instructor wants.  We’ve been in this class, what?  Three times now?  Yeah, that’s it.  Three times.

 

While the instructor assists Macy, I scan through my profile:

 

 

Name:  Carl Staton-Berg

Code Name: Rage

Access Number:  336670-22-689

Birth:  June 22, Generation 233, Year 6

Gender:  M

Maternal Line:  Staton, code 290368-06-432

Paternal Line:  Berg, code 290426-92-836

Current Rank:  Pilot (under suspended license)

Maximum Rank According to Testing:

                                                                                        -Unspecified at current time.

Current Charges:

4 marks for disorderly conduct

2 charges of brawls in hallways

1 mark for using motorized

    vehicles with suspended license

 

And the charge that got me under suspension of Pilot License:

 

1 mark of disorderly conduct while in simulation

 

 

Not that it really mattered anyways, it wasn’t like I was ever actually going to fly anything.  Although those two brawls HAD caused me some pain.  I smirk as I think about what happened to the OTHER guys in the fight.  They hadn’t come out as unharmed as I had.

 

“Mr. Berg.”  The instructor leans over my chair.  He makes a clicking noise as he reads off my Charges, “I see why you’ve been placed back into my care.”

 

Beside me, Jay snickers.  The instructor moves to see his screen, “I see we aren’t doing any better than Mr. Berg, Mr. Mason.  Luckily I’ve only got two more weeks of you two.”

 

“Yeah, then we’ll be cleared-” Jay begins.

 

“No, not totally cleared, we won’t get our licenses back for another cycle.”  I correct him.

 

“Ah, but we’ll have…how many?  Oh yes, 6 marks before we wind up in here again.”  As Jay grins, the instructor groans and walks away.

 

“And now, close the window and bring up…”

 

~~@~~

 

It’s suddenly quiet in the hallways.  Sleep period.  Three hours for us to ‘recover our senses’, or whatever it was we were told when we were younger.  Then we’d get up, and get back to work.  Not a thrill I was looking forward to.

 

I am a little late getting to my bunk.  Luckily, I have a pass and the patrol just seems to look through me.  I type in the code for my bunk room.

 

“Uh.”  Comes a groan as the light from the hallway fills the dark room, “Close the door already.”

 

Tranq is sprawled across his bunk, the one on the wall away from the window, rubbing his eyes.  I step in and let the door slide shut behind me, “Aren’t we in a bad mood?”

 

“Yes, WE are.  Now shut up, I want to get as much sleep as possible before next shift.  I’m supposed to go do some storage stuff next shift.”

 

I nod and sink onto my bunk, the one looking out the thick glass.  The darkness outside is lit only by the stars and nebulas as we pass by at speeds past the speed of light.  But to us humans, we move so slow.  It could take years before a certain star falls out of sight of my window.

 

Ever since I was brought to Training, I’ve lived in this small room.  Tranq came a year after I did.  He’s another one of my awesome friends, and the genius of the group.  I’m glad he was assigned to be my roomy, or I never would have thought him to be the kind of guy I’d hang around.

 

I lean back, peeling off my black boots, feeling my back touch the wall.  I stare outside. I’m not tired.  I usually fall asleep every three sleep periods or so.  I’ll be out like a light next time.

 

This is usually the time I sit and think about the big questions in life.  But not right now.  I don’t feel like it.  Instead, I sit quietly and watch Space outside.  There is no sign that we are moving.  For the hundredth time since the last two shifts, I wonder if I was right in saying the Captain knew what she was doing.

 

But then, I tell myself, what do I know?  I’m no Captain.  I can’t think like she does.  But still…

 

I still can’t believe that after 233 generations, we’re going home.  HOME.

 

The word is almost foreign to me.  I sigh and doze off into a light nap.