Recycling humanity serie.., p.62
Recycling Humanity Series Boxset, page 62
part #1 of Recycling Humanity Series
"What is Dru doing?" I whisper.
"I think he's trying to find someplace to sit."
"The common tables not good enough for him?" I smile, imagining Dru trying to find a clean spot in this grease and fuel-filled bay.
"Your captain is doing his best to appease Dru, but Reyes' face is quite red."
I snort. "He hates politics more than anyone here. He's only being pleasant because this is his ship."
"So how are you going to do this, Talia?" Destry asks, suddenly right in front of me. His tone isn't accusatory, but it startles me, and I involuntarily take a step back.
Zayn places his hand on my lower back, the warmth and pressure calming me. I take a deep breath and remind myself that they're both on my side.
"I need to go get my suit on. I want to see their faces as I explain my idea."
"Human lie detector, huh?" Zayn teases.
"Actually, that part works better without my sight. My hearing, scent, and touch can sense emotions and nervous ticks better when focused. But in this case, I need to see their surface emotions and understanding of what I'm saying. I do this when I train new fuelies. I use my sight to see where they might be confused, bored, or don't agree with me. Then I can adjust my tact accordingly."
I hear the lift doors open. "I'll be right back." I head to the locker room and quickly change into my suit. I leave the boxes in my locker.
The bay fills with voices as I make my helmet connection. I blink a few times as my bay comes into glorious focus through the locker room door. I see the well-dressed Council members walking around looking awkward and uncomfortable. Although some truly look interested at the inner workings of the gas cat surrounding them. Oh, the irony of these people being on my ship years after they accused me of destroying my parent's ship. I smirk. But as I step into the crowd, I feel like a sheep walking among wolves. I have to remind myself that this time I'm not that scared little girl who couldn't speak for herself. I have a voice now. And a mission to accomplish.
I make my way back to my computer. I hear tinny cries and voices in anguish playing over the speakers. Reyes must've pulled up the news vids. I see up on the monitors people from the different habitats are being interviewed about the revelations concerning New Earth. I stop next to Zayn and watch. I have eight vid monitors and Reyes has a different channel on each one. I catch sight of Queen Amira from the Mozambique on one of the vids. I point to her, and he isolates the audio. It looks like she was interviewed here on the Gryphon, which makes me smile.
"We have every confidence that we'll find an alternative. We have endured far worse over the last several generations. Our young leaders are well trained and have the intelligence and flexibility to think outside the box on this problem. I have no doubt they'll be able to advise our Council in the direction we should go." Her intense brown eyes seem to burrow into me. Although her face is a mask of serious kick-ass, I remember her warm greetings and words spoken to me. I know she's talking about Destry and his friends, but I now feel a part of that. She's telling me to be confident. Step up.
I hear angry grumblings behind me from the Council members. My heart races and my hands get clammy as I realize I need to do this before they get too worked up. I reach forward and turn off the vids. The bay goes silent.
I turn around and face the crowd. Many of the Council members look skeptical. Some, like Captain Dru, look truly put out. I wonder how many of them remember who I am. Then I notice throughout the crowd that many of Destry's group have joined us as well, discreetly spacing themselves throughout the bay. It helps calm my nerves knowing I have so much support here.
"Council members. I know you weren't expecting to fly all the way out here to listen to a young fuelie." I look over at Zayn. He steps closer to me, smiling that million-dollar smile seen on all the scout pilot vids. I force my gaze back to the crowd. "And that what you really came out for was to discipline me for releasing those vids." Murmurs spread across the bay.
"But that's not our biggest problem right now. I'm not your biggest problem right now. In fact it looks like from the vids that the Migration is handling the horrible new discoveries fairly well. Leaders like Queen Amira are doing an excellent job of keeping their citizens calm and hopeful."
"But they shouldn't have had to do that." Dru's nasally voice echoes from the back of the bay. "You should've let the adults bring this news to the Council."
"I had no choice at the time. And from what I hear, Councilman Dru, Commander Mise did try to bring this data to you years ago." I put my hands on my hips and stare at Dru. "Where were you and all the Council 'adults' when Zayn and I needed you? What are you doing right now to Captain Kae for hunting us down and holding us hostage?"
Dru pulls his lips in a tight line.
"Yeah, I thought so. You once again let her go. Didn't you?"
I hear Destry clear his throat.
"I know, we'll deal with that issue later." I look over past Zayn to his father. "My point is, that sometimes ordinary citizens, even young people like Zayn and I, can contribute to our society if we're allowed the opportunity. The secrets you've held in the past have hurt our people instead of helped them. By keeping us ignorant these past few years—" I look at Destry, whose face pales. "— caused us to lose precious time in working together to find a solution."
"Are you saying you have a solution?" A tall Councilwoman steps forward.
I nod at her. "I do have an idea that I'm pretty sure will work. It'll take a lot of teamwork and experts in many specialties, but I think it'll give us the best chance of finding a home before our resources run out."
A large man standing next to Captain Dru speaks up. "But you're just a kid. And a fuelie at that. Why should we even listen to you?" His voice is deep and gravely, and his suit barely stretches across his massive chest. I shiver. I'm glad there are a lot of people between him and me.
I force myself to keep eye contact with him, despite my shaking knees. "Just a fuelie? You don't remember me, do you?" I look around the room. I see recognition finally dawn on many of the faces. "I'm the little girl that was burned, blinded, lost both of her parents, and then sentenced by a majority Council vote as guilty of the destruction of the only gas cat we've lost in the Migration." My breathing is shallow, and I clench my fists.
I glance at Captain Reyes, who looks like he's going to launch himself into the crowd. I step forward and Reyes returns his focus to me. "But throughout all of that I've learned not only how to deal with the loss of my parents and my blindness, but thanks to Captain Reyes and an amazing crew of fuelies, I've learned to not only become the best fuelie in the fleet, but I can take apart any kind of ship and put it back together again. With or without my special suit that gives me sight." I tap on my helmet.
I can tell that I'm getting to most of the Council members. I see in their eyes the understanding of why I'm in my space suit now. The ones who had gathered around Dru and the gruff man are looking less cynical. I take the relative calm to turn to the computer and pull up the images I had before.
"I'm sure you're familiar with all these ships." The Resurrection, the Gryphon 7, the Blue Ridge, and the Tepic, each take up a giant screen over our head.
"My idea has three phases. The first project is to make a new hybrid ship. We take the prison ship—" Gasps across the crowd stop me. "Just hear me out. The prison ship is mostly empty now. Most of those serving time have either died due to exposure from the conditions on Starlight Max, or have been rehabilitated and transferred to a habitat ship."
"Right?" I look at Destry for confirmation.
"That's true. It's a huge ship with fewer than a thousand people on it. Kind of a waste of resources at the moment." Both his eyebrows furrow, not understanding where I'm going with this. I can see where Zayn gets his facial expressions.
"Yes, so I propose we use that ship to search this area." I pull up the new star system that the sensors at Midpoint found. "It has several excellent possibilities for livable planets. Including this one." I focus in on the closest M class planet.
"Then why haven't we researched it yet?" A blond woman asks, her hand fluttering in Destry's direction.
I smile. "Because the group that knew about the possibility that New Earth was broken only searched the path between here and New Earth." I look at Zayn. "When Zayn and I saw the wider sensor readings that Midpoint took, we saw a new possibility."
"We extended our scout's capabilities as far as we could," Destry says defensively.
"I understand that. I was the one who rescued your scout," I say with a chuckle. "But what we need is to turn our focus on this new possibility. This new planet that the increased sensors at Midpoint Station have shown us."
"How effective can we be if we split the scout group in two different directions? And which direction does the Migration follow?" An older Councilman stands next to the blonde and studies the vids overhead.
"That's why we need to retrofit the prison ship. That way we have a compromise. Destry's team can still search in the New Earth direction, while we take another team in the other direction, deeper into the new galaxy." I place another map up on one of the vids. This one is an overall map of where all the ships are in the Migration and shows our current position at Midpoint Station. "We have plenty of time before the Migration needs to change course. The last habitat ship won't reach Midpoint for several months yet." I start getting a headache thinking how far behind our fueling team must be right now. The ships are getting farther apart, which means longer times for us fuelies.
"And how is the prison ship supposed to help us do that much exploration in such a short time?" The gruff guy is making his way forward.
I swallow as I watch the crowd part for him. He stops beside the blond woman and I feel faint.
That's when I realize that he's actually taking me seriously. I straighten up and point back to the vids of the different ships. "What we do is turn the prison ship into a hybrid long distance scout ship. We build a bio star fuel plant on it—" I stop mid-sentence as the expected objections are shouted at me.
I hold up my gloved hands. "I know all the safety issues with bio star fuel production on a habitat ship. But we have better technology now, and I'm confident we can make it safe."
"She's right, we do have better shielding and energy technology now." A small man with bright red hair steps forward. "I was one of the first engineers on the bio star fuel barges. I think it's possible. You would then also need an upgraded fueling system too, right?" He smiles at me and I wonder if he worked with my parents.
I smile back. "Exactly. We'd make a similar system to our gas cats." I point to the vid of the Gryphon. "The Resurrection would go with a scout team and could manufacture and fuel the scout ships. No back and forth from a distant star fuel barge. The scout ships, with the Resurrection's help, could double, maybe triple their distances every day." I look at Zayn.
He grabs my hand and nods, smiling. "If we didn't have to keep waiting for our fuel ships, we could keep scouting."
"All right. A third bio star fuel ship with a scout team is phase one. What are your other ideas?" Gruff voice has his arms crossed and is staring me down. But listening.
My stomach growls, reminding me I didn't eat enough when I had the chance. I continue quickly, hoping no one else heard it. "We'll need to fix Midpoint Station." I flash pictures of the outside damage and listen to the exclamations all across the bay. "This is why we didn't have good data on New Earth until recently. It looks like a good size asteroid hit the station. Apparently the auto thrusters couldn't, or didn't, compensate for it."
"Why don't we just scrap it and use it for extra parts on the other ships?" Captain Dru asks. I feel nauseous with him so close.
"We need it as a repeater for all of our data and communications in the Migration. In fact, we'll need to build smaller repeaters that the scouts can drop along the way. That way if we have a problem again like we did with Midpoint, our communications won't be completely cut off. And anyway, the scouts won't actually have to go to this new planet, just close enough to see if it's livable."
"It takes our young people to teach us to learn from our history, when we as the guiding Council have not," she says with a smile.
I like this woman. I guess there are some members with guts on the Council. I make a mental note to track her down after this meeting.
"What's next?" The gruff guy gives the blonde a dirty look then turns back to me.
He just doesn't seem to like anyone.
"Lastly, it's important to start looking for raw materials. We don't know how far those planets are." I point to the new star system. "The supplies and materials we harvested for the Migration were calculated to last for the distance to New Earth. Now that area might not an option, we'll need to prepare for a little while longer."
"Most of our habitats won't stay together much longer. Several have fallen far behind because of mechanical issues," Dru spits out, his beady eyes drilling into me.
I hold up both hands again. "You're not telling me anything new, Captain. I'm the one that visits those ships once a week to fuel them. There are four that are falling behind, and the engineers who built those ships didn't use the universal design. Their mechanical and electrical parts don't interchange like the rest of the habitats, so we've had to be creative and manufacture them. They've been using 3D tech to build new parts, but they're running out of the raw materials to do so." I turn and pull up the four ships on another vid screen. "I've helped their engineers as much as possible, but the problem is with their bio star drives, not the fueling system itself. They need upgrades."
The next screen pulls up detailed images of one of the asteroid belts near Midpoint. "The problems with those ships are what inspired my ideas. We can harvest raw materials in these asteroids as the Blue Ridge passes by. While the Blue Ridge scouts the New Earth system, recyclers can mine materials we need. I assure you, our ships will make it a few more years, if needed."
"How did you know we might need to prepare for such a possibility?" This question comes from right next to me. Zayn.
"I'm curious about that, too," the blonde says.
I shrug. "I've known we were running out of raw materials for a while. I didn't know New Earth would be uninhabitable though." I look at Destry. "But I have learned not to get too comfortable with the current state of things, it can change in an instant. Just like my life was turned upside down when my parents died, something could always happen to the Migration along the path to our new home." I point to Reyes. "Captain Reyes can tell you I always try to anticipate the worst and figure out a way to be prepared."
Captain Reyes grunts and nods to the room.
"I was reluctant about hearing your ideas at first, but I must admit they do sound plausible." This comes from Destry, who is still staring up at the images on the vids.
"There are obviously a lot of details still needed to be put into motion. If the Council agrees to the plans, of course," I say.
The blonde steps forward. "Are you prepared to help get these plans going?"
I look over at Reyes. He meets my gaze and gives me a slight nod. "Yes. I'll of course need to make sure our fueling schedule gets back on track. And I'm sure between Captain Reyes and Commander Mise, they know many experts who will help."
The blonde nods, but before she can say anything further, a chilling voice from the back of the room cuts through the bay. "I wonder why the Council is listening to you. Why would they give you the time of day? You're just a troubled juvenile. Reyes and Destry are just trying to get the business contract for this." All heads turn to see Captain Kae enter the room, her personal guards on each side.
24
Captain Kae’s True Face
Captain Kae cuts through the crowd as panic runs through me like lightning. I look at Zayn, who steps forward at the same time as Reyes and Destry.
The crowd, confused, watches as Kae stomps, her voice loud and inky. "Why should any of you benefit from this? Even if it were a decent idea, what right do you have to create another bio star fuel plant?" She stops in front of me, Zayn, Destry, and Reyes.
Captain Dru sidles up next to Kae with an ugly smirk on his face. "She's right. If the Council decides your plan has merit, why should you benefit from this?"
My mouth gapes. My mind is working overtime trying to figure out how Kae got onto the Gryphon. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Reyes, and I shiver at the anger in his face. I've never seen him so angry.
Before anyone else can do anything, I step forward.
"Kae, we've had our differences in the past, and the not-so-long ago past. But right now, we're trying to save the human race. Any business concerns, contracts, or ownership issues should take a back seat to deciding on the best course of action to save the Migration. Don't you agree?" My voice is loud enough to project to the back of the bay and I put in as much sickening sweetness as I can muster. I channel my inner politician and smile politely.
Kae's jaw falls slack. She looks at Dru and then at the gruff guy. I'm guessing she holds something over their heads.
"Over the last decade, I think we've all forgotten how we got here. And why we're here." I reach over and put a graphic of old Earth on the last vid screen. "Because at one time we were more concerned about money and business and power. We destroyed our home." I look around at all the Council members gathered in my greasy bay. "I know it'll eventually come down to business and contracts, but can't we just figure out a course of action first? The people of the Migration are waiting for us to show them a new hope, a new direction to work toward."
Zayn slips a hand into mine and squeezes. I stare out above everyone's heads and try to blink away the emotions that have risen inside me. If I look at anyone right now the tears might overflow.
The crowd starts talking among themselves and I can feel Kae back away. She has always been a palpable evil force that I could feel whenever she was near me.
I take a deep breath and look back down. Kae and Dru are dragging the gruff old councilman toward the back. I look over at Destry, and he nods to several guards along the wall. I watch with satisfaction as they intercept Kae and restrain her before she gets to the corridor.
