glenn84
08-04-2013, 08:10 PM
Decision
by Glenn R.
Jack Harper leaned his head against the porthole window in his quarters, watching the streaks of light pass by, as ARK traveled through space faster than the speed of light. It was all that he knew. Tucked away safely in his mother’s belly, while the Fish Heads brought hell down on Earth, he would never be able to see the trees with branches covered in green leaves flapping in the wind, listen to birds chirping when he woke up in the morning, or smell the sweet scent of a barbecue cookout under the warm summer sun. He had to rely on words to paint the pictures in his head, and even that wasn’t enough to quell his yearning. Only the humming sound of the ship’s engine vibrating through the wall could calm him in these moments, just as it had calmed him for the past twenty years.
Setting aside the battle transcript he held in his hand, he hopped off the bed and walked over to the kitchen. He grabbed the water pitcher from the table and thrashed around what was left of his ration, then poured himself enough for a few sips. When he walked back to the bed, a shriek from outside his room startled him.
He placed the cup down on the night table and hurried outside. A middle-aged man, fist raised in the air, stood over a younger man, about Jack’s age. Jack went over and grabbed his arm. “What’s going on here?” said Jack.
Both of the man’s hands were clenched tight, eyes wide, as he kept his gaze on the man slumped on the ground. “This sonofa***** stole my water ration!”
Jack peered down at the man as he removed his hands from his face. “I...was…I was thirsty. Please…please forgive me.”
“If you had rationed your water like everyone else,” the man angrily replied, “you wouldn’t be in this situation now, now would you?” Jack knew this day would eventually come. When ARK and ARK I launched from Earth, traveling in opposite directions, NASA made sure to load enough water to last twenty years. They could have loaded more, but with the Fish Heads moving on the North American and South American east coasts, NASA only had so much time before the Fish Heads figured out their plan. The ship had a water recycling system, but it could only recycle so much dirty water at any given time, not nearly enough for fifty thousand people a day. Food, however, wasn’t much of an issue yet, since they were able to grow their own crops in the ship’s garden. But without water those same crops would eventually die, leaving them with no water and no food in the process. Jack hoped ARK I was faring a bit better in the water department, wherever they may be.
Jack had to do something before the situation escalated. He turned to the man whose arm he still had cuffed with his. “How much did he take?”
He seemed to ease off a bit. “About half a gallon, I guess.”
Jack released his arm. “Wait here, I’ll be right back. Try not to kill him while I’m gone.” He went back to his quarters and grabbed the pitcher from the kitchen table. He held it up to the light, it wasn’t quite half a gallon. He glanced over to where his bed was and grabbed the cup from his night table, pouring the contents back into the pitcher. When he was back outside he shoved the pitcher into the man’s chest. “Now get out of here.”
The man looked at Jack like he was crazy. “What about him? You’re not just going to let him go, are you?”
“I said get out of here!”
“Fine. Word of advice kid: You let him go and how long you figure before he does the same thing to someone else?” The man gave one last look to the guy on the floor and scoffed, then turned around and left.
Jack turned to look at all the faces gazing at him. He didn’t notice them standing there until now. “Nothing to see here folks, go back to your rooms.” One by one they each went back into their rooms. They still had respect for authority. But he knew authority could only last so long if they didn’t find a colony to repopulate soon.
Once inside his quarters, Jack switched on the vidcomm and searched for his mother in the ship’s directory. When he found her, he tapped on her photo and waited.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hello, son, is everything all right?”
Jack shook his head. “Can I come see you?”
“Of course, you know you don’t have to ask.”
He put on his uniform and took the long walk to her quarters. He pressed the buzzer outside her door. After a moment the door slid open. Seated on the sofa, cradling a cup of tea in her hands, the hot steam rising to the ceiling like some supernatural thing, his mother watched as he entered the room; gray streaks along her long brown hair made her seem older than she really was. Jack saluted. She chuckled. “Oh, stop it Jack, I’m your mother. Plus, I’m in my pajamas.” She got up and poured him some tea. “So what’s the matter?”
Jack took the cup from her and sat down. “I just got finished breaking up a fight outside my room.”
“Well, that’s nothing new,” she said as she took a seat next to him. “Fights break out all the time, especially in the bar.”
“One of them stole the other's water ration.”
She slowly nodded and sighed. “How'd you stop it?”
“I gave him mine.”
“You what?”
“What was I supposed to do? People came out of their rooms to watch. I wasn’t about to let him beat that guy to a pulp.”
She leaned forward and patted his hand. “No, I suppose not. Your father would have been proud.” She got up and walked over to the kitchen. When she came back, she held out her pitcher for him to take. “Here, take mine.”
“Mom, I can’t. That’s your ration. It was my decision to give him my water, not yours.”
“Whatever decision my son makes affects me just the same, maybe even more.” She grabbed a cup and filled it to the top, then placed the pitcher on the coffee table next to his leg.
He smiled. “Thanks, mom.”
“Don’t mention it kiddo. So what have you been doing to pass the time?”
Jack took a sip of the tea. “Reading over the transcripts from the war.”
“Those boring things? You know, Charlene came to see me the other day. She asked about you. Why don’t you take a break and spend some time with her? There’s no telling how much time we have left.”
“I might just do that.”
The bar in ARK's fore section was one of the few places one could unwind. Whenever he wasn’t training or studying, Jack could usually be found there. It wasn’t a five-star establishment like some of the ones he’d read about in his books, and they only served one type of drink, but it was better than nothing.
Jack was staring out into space from atop his usual stool when Charlene entered the bar; her shiny black hair sparkling under the light. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata played over the speakers, giving the place a serene vibe. She pulled up a stool and sat next to him. “I can’t believe it,” she said with a big smile, “it’s actually you. I thought I was dreaming when I heard that voice message you left on my comm the other day.”
He grinned as he gestured the bartender over. “How do you know it’s really me? What if I’m just a hologram and the real Jack is really still in his room?”
Suddenly, she grabbed the back of his head with both hands and kissed him. After a moment they slowly pulled away from each other, looking into each other’s eyes. “…Nope,” she said, “not a hologram.”
“What can I get you?” asked the bartender.
Jack cleared his throat and turned to him. “Two gins—“
Charlene corrected him. “Just one gin."
The bartender nodded. “Coming right up.”
Jack turned to Charlene, she was biting her bottom lip. He knew that meant she was nervous. It was a bad habit that stayed with her since childhood. “Since when do you pass on gin?”
“Since…now.”
Jack turned on his stool to face her when his drink came. He took a few sips and popped some peanuts in his mouth. “Tell me, what’s wrong?”
She grabbed his leg as if holding on to it for dear life. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone if I do?”
By the way she was clawing at his leg, Jack wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know anymore. “I promise. Should I be worried?”
“Depends, if me being pregnant worries you?”
Upon hearing the news, Jack’s glass slipped from his hand, luckily he grabbed it before it dropped to the floor. Wasting alcohol was not wise on a nonstop flight through space, especially when you just found out your girlfriend was pregnant, when it wasn't supposed to be possible. “How? You’re on birth…!” Everyone in the room turned to look at him, he leaned towards her and lowered his voice. “…you’re on birth control.”
“I know I am. But I’ve been having all the symptoms, and I missed my period. I tried telling your mom the other day, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What are we going to do?”
Jack downed the gin in one excruciating shot and signaled for another. “Give me a second to think. Oh, God, I don’t know. Who else knows about this?”
“Just you.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way.”
A woman’s voice came over the speakers. “Lieutenant Jack Harper, please report to the command room. Jack Harper, to the command room.”
“What’s that all about?” said Charlene.
“I have no idea. But she sounded a little too happy.” When the bartender came back, he downed the gin and got up from the stool. “Let’s talk about this when I get back, OK? I’ll come visit you in your room once I’m done.” She nodded, and he turned to leave, then he stopped. The idea of him being a father had not fully registered. What did he know about being a parent? And did he really want a child growing up in this world, a world full of constant fear and uncertainty? He looked back to Charlene who was still seated on the stool. If anyone deserved to have something to live for, it was her. He hurried back and kissed her for a long moment. “I love you. We’ll make it work, you’ll see.”
ARK’s officers were waiting for him in the command room when he arrived. Seated at the head of the table was Commander Harper, his mother. He saluted, she saluted right back. “Have a seat Lieutenant,” she said. He took a seat at the middle of the table. “As you may already know,” she continued, “we are running low on water.” She turned off the lights when the hologram of a small planet appeared over the table. “Our scanners have picked up a planetoid that may have what we’re looking for. High pressure density and very, very cold.” She pressed a button and the image zoomed in. Jack could make out the outline of an ice lake on the surface. “As far as we know there’s no Fish Heads in the area. But we can’t tell for sure. Everyone in here knows what those things are capable of.”
“So what are we looking at here?” asked Jack. "Team or solo?”
Commander Harper turned the lights back on when she said, “Solo, of course. We can’t risk losing an entire team. We send one ship with a tank and they scout the area. If the coast is clear, we’ll send down one ship after another to retrieve as much water as we can. But we have to move quickly. It wasn’t even two years ago when we got ambushed by two of their mother ships because of carelessness. And we all know the price that was paid.” She paused to look into Jack’s eyes. “So, who’s it going to be?”
The room was quiet. Jack looked at all the nervous faces seated around the table. He raised his hand up. “I’ll go.”
Commander Harper glared at him. “I was hoping you could assist me on the bridge, Lieutenant.”
“If it’s OK with you Commander, I would like to go down to the rock.”
“Lieutenant, can I have a word with you in private?” She got up and Jack followed her outside. “What are you doing?”
“My job. I’m the most qualified in that room and you know it.”
“That’s exactly why I need you by my side.”
“Is that really it, mom? Or is it because I’m your son?”
“No, it’s because you have a kid on the way!”
Jack looked around to see if anyone heard her. “How did you know that?”
“Please, you don’t think I know when someone’s pregnant? I had you, didn’t I?”
He paced back and forth in the corridor. “So, are you going to report it?”
She looked at him like he had just punched her in the face. “What kind of mother do you think I am? No way am I letting those bastards take my grandchild away. I stopped them from taking you away, I can sure as hell do it again.”
“That’s good to know. I’m still going down to the rock, whether you like it or not.”
He left her there with her thoughts.
Since ARK was only meant to hold fifty thousand people, the ship’s scientists decided to lay down some rules. One of which was to keep the population under control until they found a suitable colony. His mother stopped them from aborting Jack when they first set out on this quest. She was able to keep his birth secret from the other inhabitants by keeping him inside her quarters until he got older. Having gone through what she went through to keep him alive, Jack wasn’t surprised that his mother would try to keep him from going down to the planetoid. When he passed the prerequisite exams with flying colors, it was his father who suggested he join the academy, not her. She scolded his father for even suggesting it. But in the end the decision was always Jack’s.
And he chose to become a pilot.
As he walked through the long winding corridor towards Charlene’s room, Jack noticed all the happy faces that passed him. When he was outside her door, he pressed the buzzer, and the door opened. He found Charlene on her bed, reading A Tale of Two Cities. He gave it to her once he’d finished reading it. She didn’t like the dark theme of the book that much, but admitted that it helped pass the time. She bookmarked her page and took her reading glasses off once he entered the room. Jack went to her and rested his head on her thigh.
She ran her fingers through his wavy hair. “I heard the good news. You’re going down there, aren’t you?” she said.
He nodded. “Nothing gets kept a secret on this ship for too long.”
She laughed. “No, no it doesn’t, especially if it involves the Fish Heads or water.”
Jack shifted his head and placed his ear over her stomach. “How come I don’t hear anything kicking around in there?”
She playfully smacked his head. ”It’s only been six weeks silly.”
“What are we going to name it?”
“I was thinking we can name her after your mother, if it’s a girl, Elizabeth.”
“And if it’s a boy, we can name him after your father, Frank,” said Jack.
Charlene shifted around on the bed and pulled out a silver pendant from under her pillow. She held it from a rope and dangled it in his face. “This was my father’s lucky charm.” She took Jack’s hand and placed it in his palm. “He gave it to me before he went off to fight the Fish Heads with your father two years ago. He said, ‘Baby girl, you hold on to this for me until I get back, OK?’ Of course, he never did. I always thought it was because I took his lucky charm away, so I kept it hidden away under my pillow until now.”
Jack held the pendant up to the light so he could see. It was a fighter jet, one of the ones from Earth. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. His father was in command at the time, and they had discovered a planet that shared similarities with Earth, only it was still developing. Some areas of the planet, however, were suitable to live on. There were some islands scattered here and there, and even streams to drink from. Everyone was so excited, Jack especially, he was finally going to see his first tree, but they never made it off ARK.
Two Fish Head mother ships appeared out of nowhere just as they were getting ready to land. ARK was taking heavy fire. His father, being the best pilot aboard ARK, decided to hold them off with a squadron of fighters, Charlene’s father included. He gave command to his mother and told her to jump as soon as he gave the word. Jack wanted to join them but his father convinced him to stay. He told him, “You have to help your mother on the bridge. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.” Then, just like that, he was gone. Jack watched as they detonated their nuclear payloads just before ARK jumped into hyperspace. He could still see the fierce flashes sometimes when he closed his eyes.
He unraveled the rope and put the pendant around his neck. “I’ll bring it back.”
"I know. If you don't, I'll come find you." They giggled like a couple of children. Jack moved up the bed and grazed her neck with his lips. Until they were both unclothed and under the sheets. When they finished, Charlene lay on top of him, her warm face pressed against his bare chest. Neither said a word until they called Jack over the speaker, announcing that his ship was ready.
Charlene was asleep. He made sure not to wake her as he got up and went into the bathroom. After cleaning up he went back to his room and got into his suit, then walked over to the hangar. His mother was waiting for him just outside the ship’s cockpit.
Jack Saluted. “Ma'am.”
She saluted back halfheartedly. “You ready?”
“Yes, Ma'am.”
“Get to it then, pilot.” She grabbed him by his suit just as he was getting ready to enter the ship. “First sign of trouble, you bail. You got that?” He nodded then hopped onto the ship.
His co-pilot, Tuna, was already seated inside. “Viper is in the building,” he said, imitating the sound of cheers.
“You already do a systems check?” said Jack.
Tuna nodded. “Just waiting for you to confirm.”
Once everything checked out, Jack fired on the ship’s engines. After a minute, he moved the ship onto the launch pad.
“Helmets on,” ordered Jack.
Tuna switched off the cockpit lights. “Launch pad is clear. Ready for takeoff.”
The landing bay lights illuminated the way out. Jack pushed forward on the throttle and the ship gradually picked up speed until they zoomed through the landing bay. He grabbed the yoke just as they shot out into space.
Maneuvering the ship manually for a simple landing was unnecessary with the ship’s advanced auto pilot feature. However, Jack never liked computers doing something he could do just as well, and in some cases, even better. He brought the ship around and pointed its nose at the blue planetoid, then fired on the thrusters.
When they were just outside the planetoid's atmosphere, Jack positioned the ship for atmospheric entry. The ice pelted the glass as they descended, some as big as grapefruits. Visibility was low, so he flipped on the ship's thermal imaging sensors. He let his instincts guide the ship to its target. All he needed was the coordinates and a map of the surface.
Finally clear of the clouds, Jack eased up on the throttle and switched the thrusters off. He spotted the frozen lake two thousand yards ahead as they settled into a nice glide.
Jack made sure to land a good distance away from the lake. He scanned for any heat signatures. After a few minutes of scanning, he switched off the ship’s engines and signaled Tuna to open the hatch with a twirl of his finger. Jack reached above and pressed the button to release the tank, it slid to the ground like a leaf thanks to the quantum levitation tech.
Jack got out of his seat and wrapped the utility belt around his waist, then exited the ship to meet Tuna, who was looking through a pair of binoculars; his rifle slung over his shoulder.
“You see anything?” asked Jack.
Tuna shook his head. “Nothing but hills of ice in every direction.” He brought the binoculars down and turned to Jack. “You ever think we might have just gotten on the wrong ship? I do. I sometimes dream that ARK I has already found a colony, while we’re stuck here playing hide-and-seek in space with the Fish Heads.”
Jack gazed out into the dark abyss when he said, “Let’s just get this over with so we can go home.” He crunched through the ice until he was in front of the tank, then switched on the quantum lock on his belt. As long as he stayed in front, the tank would follow ten feet behind at all times.
When they arrived at the lake, Jack removed the thawing pellets from his pouch and tossed them onto the ice. After a minute, the ice melted, revealing a pool of water.
Tuna threw his fists into the air. “Hell yeah!”
“Grab the hose,” said Jack.
Tuna went back and detached the hose from the side of the tank, then tossed the end into the water. The whole process took about twenty minutes to complete. The tank now held ten thousand gallons of water.
Jack switched on his comm. “Extraction complete. Heading back now.”
His mother’s voice crackled in his ear. “Good work. Any sign of the Fish Heads?”
“Negative. Nothing but ice down here.”
“Keep your eyes peeled.”
“Copy that.”
Jack switched off the quantum lock and went around to the other end of the tank. He switched it on again and they walked back towards the ship. The wind began to pick up, making it harder to see.
He switched on the helmet's thermal imaging when his heart just about gave out.
A Fish Head was blocking the path to the ship, its arm held up. Jack immediately grabbed his sidearm and pointed it straight at it. “Fish Head, twelve o’clock!”
Tuna turned on his thermal imaging and freaked out. It was the first time he’d ever seen one in person too. He brought his rifle up and began to fire wildly at it, bullets missing it completely.
“Tuna, stand down, stand down!”
He didn’t listen, he just kept moving towards it, firing every round in his clip. Fish Head released a golf ball-sized sphere from its arm. It moved at lightning speed until it crashed through Tuna’s helmet like it was made out of paper måché.
Tuna froze mid-stride and dropped the rifle. He turned around to look at Jack when the sphere blew a hole through his stomach. Then it went back in and came back out, back in and out, in and out, until there was nothing left of Tuna but a red smear against the white ice.
Jack looked away as his helmet’s comm began to blink. His eyes came back to Fish Head as it turned its attention on him. Holding the gun in one shaky hand, Jack placed his other hand in the pouch on his back.
His mother’s voice came up on the helmet’s comm. “Jack, what happened to Tuna? We’re getting a flat line on our end. Is everything OK?” He didn’t answer. “Jack, Jack! He won’t answer, I don’t know what’s wrong. JACK!”
Hundreds of Fish Heads rose up from the snow.
“Mom," he finally said, "it’s time to leave now.”
“The hell we are. We’re sending more ships down now.”
He shook his head. “No, you can’t risk the lives of everyone aboard the ship for one person. Remember, they’re telepathic. They could have sent word out to a nearby mother ship.”
She began to sob. “I’m not leaving you to die!”
“I’m sorry, I love you. Tell Charlene I love her too.”
“JACK—“
Jack switched the comm off and dropped the gun, pulling the knife from his pouch using the same hand. He slashed two big slits down his chest, making an X. The air immediately escaped, then he felt his eardrums pop. The helmet’s glass began to mist up instantly. He fell to his knees as he watched the army of Fish Heads start towards him.
He was on his back when the Fish Heads got to him. Before shifting his head to look into their black soulless eyes, he caught a glimpse of the flash in the sky from the corner of his eye.
At that moment, as his life slowly faded away, Jack imagined what his unborn child would look like, the great things he/she would do, and it made his next decision that much easier.
Jack wrenched his other arm free from behind to reveal the thermonuclear detonator in his hand. “Go to hell!” He pressed the button.
by Glenn R.
Jack Harper leaned his head against the porthole window in his quarters, watching the streaks of light pass by, as ARK traveled through space faster than the speed of light. It was all that he knew. Tucked away safely in his mother’s belly, while the Fish Heads brought hell down on Earth, he would never be able to see the trees with branches covered in green leaves flapping in the wind, listen to birds chirping when he woke up in the morning, or smell the sweet scent of a barbecue cookout under the warm summer sun. He had to rely on words to paint the pictures in his head, and even that wasn’t enough to quell his yearning. Only the humming sound of the ship’s engine vibrating through the wall could calm him in these moments, just as it had calmed him for the past twenty years.
Setting aside the battle transcript he held in his hand, he hopped off the bed and walked over to the kitchen. He grabbed the water pitcher from the table and thrashed around what was left of his ration, then poured himself enough for a few sips. When he walked back to the bed, a shriek from outside his room startled him.
He placed the cup down on the night table and hurried outside. A middle-aged man, fist raised in the air, stood over a younger man, about Jack’s age. Jack went over and grabbed his arm. “What’s going on here?” said Jack.
Both of the man’s hands were clenched tight, eyes wide, as he kept his gaze on the man slumped on the ground. “This sonofa***** stole my water ration!”
Jack peered down at the man as he removed his hands from his face. “I...was…I was thirsty. Please…please forgive me.”
“If you had rationed your water like everyone else,” the man angrily replied, “you wouldn’t be in this situation now, now would you?” Jack knew this day would eventually come. When ARK and ARK I launched from Earth, traveling in opposite directions, NASA made sure to load enough water to last twenty years. They could have loaded more, but with the Fish Heads moving on the North American and South American east coasts, NASA only had so much time before the Fish Heads figured out their plan. The ship had a water recycling system, but it could only recycle so much dirty water at any given time, not nearly enough for fifty thousand people a day. Food, however, wasn’t much of an issue yet, since they were able to grow their own crops in the ship’s garden. But without water those same crops would eventually die, leaving them with no water and no food in the process. Jack hoped ARK I was faring a bit better in the water department, wherever they may be.
Jack had to do something before the situation escalated. He turned to the man whose arm he still had cuffed with his. “How much did he take?”
He seemed to ease off a bit. “About half a gallon, I guess.”
Jack released his arm. “Wait here, I’ll be right back. Try not to kill him while I’m gone.” He went back to his quarters and grabbed the pitcher from the kitchen table. He held it up to the light, it wasn’t quite half a gallon. He glanced over to where his bed was and grabbed the cup from his night table, pouring the contents back into the pitcher. When he was back outside he shoved the pitcher into the man’s chest. “Now get out of here.”
The man looked at Jack like he was crazy. “What about him? You’re not just going to let him go, are you?”
“I said get out of here!”
“Fine. Word of advice kid: You let him go and how long you figure before he does the same thing to someone else?” The man gave one last look to the guy on the floor and scoffed, then turned around and left.
Jack turned to look at all the faces gazing at him. He didn’t notice them standing there until now. “Nothing to see here folks, go back to your rooms.” One by one they each went back into their rooms. They still had respect for authority. But he knew authority could only last so long if they didn’t find a colony to repopulate soon.
Once inside his quarters, Jack switched on the vidcomm and searched for his mother in the ship’s directory. When he found her, he tapped on her photo and waited.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hello, son, is everything all right?”
Jack shook his head. “Can I come see you?”
“Of course, you know you don’t have to ask.”
He put on his uniform and took the long walk to her quarters. He pressed the buzzer outside her door. After a moment the door slid open. Seated on the sofa, cradling a cup of tea in her hands, the hot steam rising to the ceiling like some supernatural thing, his mother watched as he entered the room; gray streaks along her long brown hair made her seem older than she really was. Jack saluted. She chuckled. “Oh, stop it Jack, I’m your mother. Plus, I’m in my pajamas.” She got up and poured him some tea. “So what’s the matter?”
Jack took the cup from her and sat down. “I just got finished breaking up a fight outside my room.”
“Well, that’s nothing new,” she said as she took a seat next to him. “Fights break out all the time, especially in the bar.”
“One of them stole the other's water ration.”
She slowly nodded and sighed. “How'd you stop it?”
“I gave him mine.”
“You what?”
“What was I supposed to do? People came out of their rooms to watch. I wasn’t about to let him beat that guy to a pulp.”
She leaned forward and patted his hand. “No, I suppose not. Your father would have been proud.” She got up and walked over to the kitchen. When she came back, she held out her pitcher for him to take. “Here, take mine.”
“Mom, I can’t. That’s your ration. It was my decision to give him my water, not yours.”
“Whatever decision my son makes affects me just the same, maybe even more.” She grabbed a cup and filled it to the top, then placed the pitcher on the coffee table next to his leg.
He smiled. “Thanks, mom.”
“Don’t mention it kiddo. So what have you been doing to pass the time?”
Jack took a sip of the tea. “Reading over the transcripts from the war.”
“Those boring things? You know, Charlene came to see me the other day. She asked about you. Why don’t you take a break and spend some time with her? There’s no telling how much time we have left.”
“I might just do that.”
The bar in ARK's fore section was one of the few places one could unwind. Whenever he wasn’t training or studying, Jack could usually be found there. It wasn’t a five-star establishment like some of the ones he’d read about in his books, and they only served one type of drink, but it was better than nothing.
Jack was staring out into space from atop his usual stool when Charlene entered the bar; her shiny black hair sparkling under the light. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata played over the speakers, giving the place a serene vibe. She pulled up a stool and sat next to him. “I can’t believe it,” she said with a big smile, “it’s actually you. I thought I was dreaming when I heard that voice message you left on my comm the other day.”
He grinned as he gestured the bartender over. “How do you know it’s really me? What if I’m just a hologram and the real Jack is really still in his room?”
Suddenly, she grabbed the back of his head with both hands and kissed him. After a moment they slowly pulled away from each other, looking into each other’s eyes. “…Nope,” she said, “not a hologram.”
“What can I get you?” asked the bartender.
Jack cleared his throat and turned to him. “Two gins—“
Charlene corrected him. “Just one gin."
The bartender nodded. “Coming right up.”
Jack turned to Charlene, she was biting her bottom lip. He knew that meant she was nervous. It was a bad habit that stayed with her since childhood. “Since when do you pass on gin?”
“Since…now.”
Jack turned on his stool to face her when his drink came. He took a few sips and popped some peanuts in his mouth. “Tell me, what’s wrong?”
She grabbed his leg as if holding on to it for dear life. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone if I do?”
By the way she was clawing at his leg, Jack wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know anymore. “I promise. Should I be worried?”
“Depends, if me being pregnant worries you?”
Upon hearing the news, Jack’s glass slipped from his hand, luckily he grabbed it before it dropped to the floor. Wasting alcohol was not wise on a nonstop flight through space, especially when you just found out your girlfriend was pregnant, when it wasn't supposed to be possible. “How? You’re on birth…!” Everyone in the room turned to look at him, he leaned towards her and lowered his voice. “…you’re on birth control.”
“I know I am. But I’ve been having all the symptoms, and I missed my period. I tried telling your mom the other day, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What are we going to do?”
Jack downed the gin in one excruciating shot and signaled for another. “Give me a second to think. Oh, God, I don’t know. Who else knows about this?”
“Just you.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way.”
A woman’s voice came over the speakers. “Lieutenant Jack Harper, please report to the command room. Jack Harper, to the command room.”
“What’s that all about?” said Charlene.
“I have no idea. But she sounded a little too happy.” When the bartender came back, he downed the gin and got up from the stool. “Let’s talk about this when I get back, OK? I’ll come visit you in your room once I’m done.” She nodded, and he turned to leave, then he stopped. The idea of him being a father had not fully registered. What did he know about being a parent? And did he really want a child growing up in this world, a world full of constant fear and uncertainty? He looked back to Charlene who was still seated on the stool. If anyone deserved to have something to live for, it was her. He hurried back and kissed her for a long moment. “I love you. We’ll make it work, you’ll see.”
ARK’s officers were waiting for him in the command room when he arrived. Seated at the head of the table was Commander Harper, his mother. He saluted, she saluted right back. “Have a seat Lieutenant,” she said. He took a seat at the middle of the table. “As you may already know,” she continued, “we are running low on water.” She turned off the lights when the hologram of a small planet appeared over the table. “Our scanners have picked up a planetoid that may have what we’re looking for. High pressure density and very, very cold.” She pressed a button and the image zoomed in. Jack could make out the outline of an ice lake on the surface. “As far as we know there’s no Fish Heads in the area. But we can’t tell for sure. Everyone in here knows what those things are capable of.”
“So what are we looking at here?” asked Jack. "Team or solo?”
Commander Harper turned the lights back on when she said, “Solo, of course. We can’t risk losing an entire team. We send one ship with a tank and they scout the area. If the coast is clear, we’ll send down one ship after another to retrieve as much water as we can. But we have to move quickly. It wasn’t even two years ago when we got ambushed by two of their mother ships because of carelessness. And we all know the price that was paid.” She paused to look into Jack’s eyes. “So, who’s it going to be?”
The room was quiet. Jack looked at all the nervous faces seated around the table. He raised his hand up. “I’ll go.”
Commander Harper glared at him. “I was hoping you could assist me on the bridge, Lieutenant.”
“If it’s OK with you Commander, I would like to go down to the rock.”
“Lieutenant, can I have a word with you in private?” She got up and Jack followed her outside. “What are you doing?”
“My job. I’m the most qualified in that room and you know it.”
“That’s exactly why I need you by my side.”
“Is that really it, mom? Or is it because I’m your son?”
“No, it’s because you have a kid on the way!”
Jack looked around to see if anyone heard her. “How did you know that?”
“Please, you don’t think I know when someone’s pregnant? I had you, didn’t I?”
He paced back and forth in the corridor. “So, are you going to report it?”
She looked at him like he had just punched her in the face. “What kind of mother do you think I am? No way am I letting those bastards take my grandchild away. I stopped them from taking you away, I can sure as hell do it again.”
“That’s good to know. I’m still going down to the rock, whether you like it or not.”
He left her there with her thoughts.
Since ARK was only meant to hold fifty thousand people, the ship’s scientists decided to lay down some rules. One of which was to keep the population under control until they found a suitable colony. His mother stopped them from aborting Jack when they first set out on this quest. She was able to keep his birth secret from the other inhabitants by keeping him inside her quarters until he got older. Having gone through what she went through to keep him alive, Jack wasn’t surprised that his mother would try to keep him from going down to the planetoid. When he passed the prerequisite exams with flying colors, it was his father who suggested he join the academy, not her. She scolded his father for even suggesting it. But in the end the decision was always Jack’s.
And he chose to become a pilot.
As he walked through the long winding corridor towards Charlene’s room, Jack noticed all the happy faces that passed him. When he was outside her door, he pressed the buzzer, and the door opened. He found Charlene on her bed, reading A Tale of Two Cities. He gave it to her once he’d finished reading it. She didn’t like the dark theme of the book that much, but admitted that it helped pass the time. She bookmarked her page and took her reading glasses off once he entered the room. Jack went to her and rested his head on her thigh.
She ran her fingers through his wavy hair. “I heard the good news. You’re going down there, aren’t you?” she said.
He nodded. “Nothing gets kept a secret on this ship for too long.”
She laughed. “No, no it doesn’t, especially if it involves the Fish Heads or water.”
Jack shifted his head and placed his ear over her stomach. “How come I don’t hear anything kicking around in there?”
She playfully smacked his head. ”It’s only been six weeks silly.”
“What are we going to name it?”
“I was thinking we can name her after your mother, if it’s a girl, Elizabeth.”
“And if it’s a boy, we can name him after your father, Frank,” said Jack.
Charlene shifted around on the bed and pulled out a silver pendant from under her pillow. She held it from a rope and dangled it in his face. “This was my father’s lucky charm.” She took Jack’s hand and placed it in his palm. “He gave it to me before he went off to fight the Fish Heads with your father two years ago. He said, ‘Baby girl, you hold on to this for me until I get back, OK?’ Of course, he never did. I always thought it was because I took his lucky charm away, so I kept it hidden away under my pillow until now.”
Jack held the pendant up to the light so he could see. It was a fighter jet, one of the ones from Earth. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. His father was in command at the time, and they had discovered a planet that shared similarities with Earth, only it was still developing. Some areas of the planet, however, were suitable to live on. There were some islands scattered here and there, and even streams to drink from. Everyone was so excited, Jack especially, he was finally going to see his first tree, but they never made it off ARK.
Two Fish Head mother ships appeared out of nowhere just as they were getting ready to land. ARK was taking heavy fire. His father, being the best pilot aboard ARK, decided to hold them off with a squadron of fighters, Charlene’s father included. He gave command to his mother and told her to jump as soon as he gave the word. Jack wanted to join them but his father convinced him to stay. He told him, “You have to help your mother on the bridge. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.” Then, just like that, he was gone. Jack watched as they detonated their nuclear payloads just before ARK jumped into hyperspace. He could still see the fierce flashes sometimes when he closed his eyes.
He unraveled the rope and put the pendant around his neck. “I’ll bring it back.”
"I know. If you don't, I'll come find you." They giggled like a couple of children. Jack moved up the bed and grazed her neck with his lips. Until they were both unclothed and under the sheets. When they finished, Charlene lay on top of him, her warm face pressed against his bare chest. Neither said a word until they called Jack over the speaker, announcing that his ship was ready.
Charlene was asleep. He made sure not to wake her as he got up and went into the bathroom. After cleaning up he went back to his room and got into his suit, then walked over to the hangar. His mother was waiting for him just outside the ship’s cockpit.
Jack Saluted. “Ma'am.”
She saluted back halfheartedly. “You ready?”
“Yes, Ma'am.”
“Get to it then, pilot.” She grabbed him by his suit just as he was getting ready to enter the ship. “First sign of trouble, you bail. You got that?” He nodded then hopped onto the ship.
His co-pilot, Tuna, was already seated inside. “Viper is in the building,” he said, imitating the sound of cheers.
“You already do a systems check?” said Jack.
Tuna nodded. “Just waiting for you to confirm.”
Once everything checked out, Jack fired on the ship’s engines. After a minute, he moved the ship onto the launch pad.
“Helmets on,” ordered Jack.
Tuna switched off the cockpit lights. “Launch pad is clear. Ready for takeoff.”
The landing bay lights illuminated the way out. Jack pushed forward on the throttle and the ship gradually picked up speed until they zoomed through the landing bay. He grabbed the yoke just as they shot out into space.
Maneuvering the ship manually for a simple landing was unnecessary with the ship’s advanced auto pilot feature. However, Jack never liked computers doing something he could do just as well, and in some cases, even better. He brought the ship around and pointed its nose at the blue planetoid, then fired on the thrusters.
When they were just outside the planetoid's atmosphere, Jack positioned the ship for atmospheric entry. The ice pelted the glass as they descended, some as big as grapefruits. Visibility was low, so he flipped on the ship's thermal imaging sensors. He let his instincts guide the ship to its target. All he needed was the coordinates and a map of the surface.
Finally clear of the clouds, Jack eased up on the throttle and switched the thrusters off. He spotted the frozen lake two thousand yards ahead as they settled into a nice glide.
Jack made sure to land a good distance away from the lake. He scanned for any heat signatures. After a few minutes of scanning, he switched off the ship’s engines and signaled Tuna to open the hatch with a twirl of his finger. Jack reached above and pressed the button to release the tank, it slid to the ground like a leaf thanks to the quantum levitation tech.
Jack got out of his seat and wrapped the utility belt around his waist, then exited the ship to meet Tuna, who was looking through a pair of binoculars; his rifle slung over his shoulder.
“You see anything?” asked Jack.
Tuna shook his head. “Nothing but hills of ice in every direction.” He brought the binoculars down and turned to Jack. “You ever think we might have just gotten on the wrong ship? I do. I sometimes dream that ARK I has already found a colony, while we’re stuck here playing hide-and-seek in space with the Fish Heads.”
Jack gazed out into the dark abyss when he said, “Let’s just get this over with so we can go home.” He crunched through the ice until he was in front of the tank, then switched on the quantum lock on his belt. As long as he stayed in front, the tank would follow ten feet behind at all times.
When they arrived at the lake, Jack removed the thawing pellets from his pouch and tossed them onto the ice. After a minute, the ice melted, revealing a pool of water.
Tuna threw his fists into the air. “Hell yeah!”
“Grab the hose,” said Jack.
Tuna went back and detached the hose from the side of the tank, then tossed the end into the water. The whole process took about twenty minutes to complete. The tank now held ten thousand gallons of water.
Jack switched on his comm. “Extraction complete. Heading back now.”
His mother’s voice crackled in his ear. “Good work. Any sign of the Fish Heads?”
“Negative. Nothing but ice down here.”
“Keep your eyes peeled.”
“Copy that.”
Jack switched off the quantum lock and went around to the other end of the tank. He switched it on again and they walked back towards the ship. The wind began to pick up, making it harder to see.
He switched on the helmet's thermal imaging when his heart just about gave out.
A Fish Head was blocking the path to the ship, its arm held up. Jack immediately grabbed his sidearm and pointed it straight at it. “Fish Head, twelve o’clock!”
Tuna turned on his thermal imaging and freaked out. It was the first time he’d ever seen one in person too. He brought his rifle up and began to fire wildly at it, bullets missing it completely.
“Tuna, stand down, stand down!”
He didn’t listen, he just kept moving towards it, firing every round in his clip. Fish Head released a golf ball-sized sphere from its arm. It moved at lightning speed until it crashed through Tuna’s helmet like it was made out of paper måché.
Tuna froze mid-stride and dropped the rifle. He turned around to look at Jack when the sphere blew a hole through his stomach. Then it went back in and came back out, back in and out, in and out, until there was nothing left of Tuna but a red smear against the white ice.
Jack looked away as his helmet’s comm began to blink. His eyes came back to Fish Head as it turned its attention on him. Holding the gun in one shaky hand, Jack placed his other hand in the pouch on his back.
His mother’s voice came up on the helmet’s comm. “Jack, what happened to Tuna? We’re getting a flat line on our end. Is everything OK?” He didn’t answer. “Jack, Jack! He won’t answer, I don’t know what’s wrong. JACK!”
Hundreds of Fish Heads rose up from the snow.
“Mom," he finally said, "it’s time to leave now.”
“The hell we are. We’re sending more ships down now.”
He shook his head. “No, you can’t risk the lives of everyone aboard the ship for one person. Remember, they’re telepathic. They could have sent word out to a nearby mother ship.”
She began to sob. “I’m not leaving you to die!”
“I’m sorry, I love you. Tell Charlene I love her too.”
“JACK—“
Jack switched the comm off and dropped the gun, pulling the knife from his pouch using the same hand. He slashed two big slits down his chest, making an X. The air immediately escaped, then he felt his eardrums pop. The helmet’s glass began to mist up instantly. He fell to his knees as he watched the army of Fish Heads start towards him.
He was on his back when the Fish Heads got to him. Before shifting his head to look into their black soulless eyes, he caught a glimpse of the flash in the sky from the corner of his eye.
At that moment, as his life slowly faded away, Jack imagined what his unborn child would look like, the great things he/she would do, and it made his next decision that much easier.
Jack wrenched his other arm free from behind to reveal the thermonuclear detonator in his hand. “Go to hell!” He pressed the button.