From Hope to Tragedy

The nehailed our ship, the James Cook, as Earth's greatest hope and triumph. Our mission was to explore Kesser167c; an exoplanet believed to be habitable. This exoplanet is only 14 lightyears away from Earth. Our ship would reach there in approximately 19 years with the Mercury Quantum engines.

Our crew consisted of the brightest and youngest minds Earth had to offer. Everyone on the ship was a genius; well, everyone but me.

My job was to be a guinea pig for a biotech firm's Adaptive Technology System (ATS). So why was I given this opportunity? As it was put to me, it was either be a guinea pig or spend the rest of my life in prison.

The ATS came as a red pill-looking object I ingested just like I would any pill. After months of testing on Earth, it was believed ready for testing in the field, and I became a non-voluntary member of the James Cook crew.

They confined me to an 8'X6' cell on the ship. I would strap in with the crew for take-off and during certain parts of the journey, but other than that, I was isolated. At least they gave me a bunch of movies to watch and books to read.

The crew mostly ignored me during the training, and there was no reason for them to mind me. I was the expendable science experiment. Maybe I would be helpful. It was tough not having anyone to talk with.

We launched on March 6th, 2057, from Florida. It was a lovely Tuesday afternoon. I was the only astronaut among the crew with an orange space suit. The rest were color-coded according to their job. They mostly looked like a bunch of Power Rangers.

They strapped me into my chair for take-off along with the other crew. Of course, my limbs were also restrained. The preflight went off without a hitch.

The entire mission went as smooth as silk. That is until we engaged our Mercury Engines because, at that exact moment, we grazed a meteor heading for Earth in what could only be described as an extinction-level event.

As the meteor struck the Earth, I lost consciousness.

A gentle breeze gently stroked my face as I woke up on cool grass. The smells that infiltrated my nose were vibrant. That's the best word I can think of to describe the experience. I struggled to my feet. And once my head cleared, I was mesmerized by the beautiful landscape. The elegant spiral mountains' beauty and the lush forests were gripping sights.

I was near a ledge and walked near it to see what was in the valley below. That was when I spied the wreckage of the James Cook. It lay mangled and broken at the bottom of the valley. Pieces of the ship were everywhere! It looked like it dug in and plowed the land before stopping.

It took me a good four hours to reach the James Cook. The evening was coming, and I needed shelter. However, it wasn't until I looked up at the sky to see a red and blue moon that I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore. Then, I looked around at my surroundings only to discover many strange plants. For some reason, I didn't realize I was somewhere not Earth!

The feeling of the sun setting on an alien world was creepy. I hurried to the James Cook and entered one of the holes in the ship. The first thing was to search for a room with a locking door. My cell was oddly untouched, so I locked myself into it for the night.

That night, I heard the sound of some beasts scavenging within the ship. I hate to admit it, but I was terrified. There was some animal life in this world, and it sounded big. I could hear crunching and tearing sounds all night; I couldn't imagine what the creatures were eating; I hoped they weren't getting into the ship's food supplies. It then occurred to me that I never checked for survivors. The thought of my ex-crewmates being devoured by alien beasts sent a shiver down my spine.

The following day I came out of my cell and found that whatever went into the ship the night before found and consumed the bodies of several crew members. To be honest, I felt pretty terrible. I'm not the kind of person who wishes harm to anyone. If I weren't so scared the night before, I would have helped. Instead, I pushed away my guilt to see if there was anything salvageable on the ship.

I began my search from Stem to Stern. My first discovery was that the doors were locked on the bridge. After a lot of effort, I managed to get the doors open. The bridge was dark initially, but I got some emergency lights on. The lights revealed several bodies on the ground. Whether they were alive or not, I didn't know.

I found Captain Jason Argonis lying on the ground. He was alive, but I knew he was severely injured from his breathing. There were three more crewmates on the ground, but they were dead. I used the bridge's emergency medical supplies to treat the Captain the best I could. After patching him up, I went to the medical bay to see if the equipment was useable.

The nice thing about ships is that everything is pretty secure, so things tend to stay in place unless it's been ripped from the ground. Even the medicine supplies were mostly undamaged. Sure, there were broken things everywhere, but if we could restore the power, we could mostly use the critical equipment.

Returning to the bridge, I carried the Captain back to the medical bay and placed him on a bed. As I was getting him covered with a blanket, I heard a noise behind me. The hairs on my neck stood up as I turned around to see what made the noise.

When I saw the figure of the chief science officer leaning heavily against the door frame, I started breathing again.

"Thank goodness; you freaked me out! At least announce yourself!"

"What are you doing?" The Chief Scientist looked at me with suspicion.

"Hey, I know I'm a criminal to you guys, but I'm still a human. I found the Captain unconscious on the bridge. I'm trying to help him. You're Bill Clark, the science officer, right?"

After another round of intense examination, the Science Officer pushed himself away from the door frame and limped over to the bed. He looked at the Captain and seemed satisfied.

He looked at me and extended his hand. "I'm Dr. William Clark, but you can call me Bill." I took his hand and shook it.

"Good to meet you, I'm Grayson Hawke, but you can call me Gray." After introducing ourselves, we turned our attention back to the Captain.

"Let's see if we can restore power to this place, and then I can examine the Captain."

I didn't know much about the ship or how it worked, so mostly, I did whatever Bill told me to do. Getting the emergency power on the bridge was easy, but the medical bay was much harder for some reason.

We finally managed to restore power after a couple of hours of work. It was the emergency power, but Bill said we shouldn't mess with the main power until we've checked the status of the generators. We didn't want to blow ourselves up to have a light. I agreed with him completely.

As Bill examined the Captain, I continued my search of the ship. As I found survivors, I brought them back to the medical bay. Some could walk without help; others had various injuries that needed assistance to get to the medical bay. The healthier crewmembers helped me with the injured, and we worked together to examine the ship.

Being in a life-or-death situation seemed to cause temporary amnesia about my status as a criminal. No one brought it up, and most were appreciative of my help. When everything was said and done, we found thirty-three living crewmates. With Bill and I there were thirty-five crewmembers. That's thirty-five out of the original one hundred and twenty-seven.

The Captain was still unconscious when we found the final survivors. It was getting close to nightfall. The able-bodied crew members secured the valuable equipment and brought provisions to the medical bay, including weapons. We locked the doors for the night, just in case the beasts returned.

The crew wanted to talk about what was happening, but Bill told them to rest, eat, and get some sleep. The tired team obeyed his orders as the person with the highest ranking, with most of the officers dead and the Captain unconscious. There were plenty of blankets and pillows but very few beds. Those with the most injuries were given priority for the beds, while the rest of us found a spot on the floor.

I leaned against a wall and quickly fell asleep.

The following day, people woke up a little at a time. My whole body was sore, there was a crick in my neck. I went from leaning against the wall to lying on the ground at some point during the night.

I left the medical bay to hit the head. The water was working now, so I could take a shower and wake up. Then, I headed for the cafeteria to see if there was any food. When I arrived, there were already a few people eating. Cooks were working the stove and serving people. That's the nice thing about being in the military. If you have a role, you can do that when you don't know what else to do with yourself.

Sitting at a table by myself, I chose a spot that allowed me to study the others. Unfortunately, I don't really fit in with the others. Everyone on board is a genius; I'm just an average guy. The only role I have on the ship is the guinea pig.

After I ate, I returned to the medical bay. I checked to see if the Captain woke up, but he was still unconscious. Bill sat in the primary physician's office. I saw him working with a tablet and making notes.

Everyone had a job, and when they weren't sure what to do, I noticed them conferring with Bill. Feeling pretty useless, I decided to ask Bill what I could do to help. I knocked on the door and heard, "Come in."

Entering the room, Bill didn't bother to look up from his tablet. "What can I help you with, Gray?"

"Is there something I can do to help? I don't really have a role on the ship. It's "all hands on deck" right now. I have two free hands. Bill laughed and put his tablet down, looking up at me.

"I suppose you don't have anything to do. How are you fitting in, considering everyone thinks you're a criminal?"

I was surprised by the question. I wasn't sure what to say to him for a few moments. Then, something occurred to me as he waited for my reply.

"From your question, I assume you know my actual situation and not what everyone is being told?"

"Correct, I know the charges against you are mostly trumped up. They used your lack of family and a minor incident to pressure you into becoming our test subject. I'm sorry about that, but we needed someone."

I was surprised by his admission, "we needed someone?" He was admitting that he was aware of the injustice perpetrated against me. Maybe he was involved in the false accusations.

"You were part of the people who framed me?" I asked him, trying to control the anger boiling within me. I'm a nice guy, but I'm not a floor mat.

"Regretfully, I helped choose you. I guess you could say I'm the chief sinner against you."

I nearly snapped but calmed myself.

"What kind of reaction are you expecting me to have? I want to rip your head off right now!"

"I expect you to have the exact reaction you are having now. You were chosen because I know you could easily rip my head off, but you won't because you're too kind. You don't like conflict; if you can, you'll always seek a peaceful solution. However, you're bound by law and moral conventions. You're like an elephant with a thin rope around your neck. You have the power to free yourself, but psychologically, freeing yourself is impossible."

Stunned, that's the only word to describe my feelings. First, I was on the verge of violence, but now I was too stunned. He completely dressed me down. I don't know if what he said was true, but this guy is the genius among the geniuses. He could be lying or telling me the truth; I didn't know. I closed my mouth, backed out of his office, and turned to leave.

"Did you still want to know how you can help?"

I heard him ask before I got out of earshot. I didn't bother to stop, but the arrogance he displayed by asking that question. It caused my anger to return. I knew I needed to get out of there. So I left the ship and headed back to where I originally woke up, and I don't know why. It took longer to get back up the hill than it did coming down.

Maybe I thought being up so high could give me some perspective. Perhaps I wanted to be alone and didn't think anyone would follow me to an inconvenient place like that.

Reaching the top, I found the place I initially woke up and plopped down on the ground. My mind was blank for quite a while. Numbed by the conversation and then confused. Why would he say those things to me? He could have never told me, weren't we getting along? I felt we were friends, but he went out of his way to tell me he was my enemy. Or maybe it wasn't that he was telling me we were enemies, but he wanted me to know my place.

Considering his arrogant last comment, it seemed that was the answer. He wanted me to know my place. He wanted me to feel helpless and alone, and maybe he enjoyed saying those things. My hatred for him increased.

"I'll show him. Why do I need to stick around and help them?" But then I thought about the other crewmates. They needed my help, didn't they? Was my ego worth more than human lives? And what if these were the only humans I ever encountered? Was I so willing to isolate myself just to show Bill up?

At that moment, I heard movement behind me, and I turned just as some kind of animal pounced at me!