Hell on Earth

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But if you screamed on Earth, it showed a sign of weakness and you wouldn’t last long after that. 

It was daytime on this side of Earth, but that didn’t matter. Time was taken away once you were on the surface. The four large engines of the ‘Canterbury’ glowed from its rear with a giant blue flame as it came out of hyperspace. In front of the ship, the planet dominated the view. The spherical shape, perfect and round suspended in the vast openness of space.

Earth’s backdrop showed a different planet from what it looked like in the centuries prior. It was almost entirely covered in white, grey and black clouds. You could still see the occasional glimpse of the oceans, but the lush green landscapes of the old civilisations and yellow deserts around the equator region were replaced with a haunting shade of grey and brown. The polar ice caps that once displayed a bright white landscape had melted and been replaced with swirling hurricane-like clouds over icy waters.

The rumble and hum of the ship vibrated the hull inside as the crew in the cockpit were getting ready for entry into the atmosphere. After setting the coordinates into the computer, the co-pilot double checked to make sure they were at their destination. The pilot readied the controls and expected the signal from his colleague seated above and just behind his head. The two crew inside the claustrophobic space loved this job. It was easy money, an easy flight, and only had to do it once a month.

A green light blinked on the dashboard. The navigation systems had found their destination.

The co-pilot spoke into the internal mic of his helmet

"We're all set. MH15, Sector Seven. E.T. A to drop twenty mikes."

The pilot nodded in acknowledgement from his seat four feet below his partners knees.

"Copy that, turn on heading now."

A small white square began flashing in the pilot's heads up display. He moved his controls and the giant behemoth rotated its port side downwards, and the nose yawed to the left as it lined up with their destination. The cockpit framework vibrated as he push more power into the engines. Long, thin parallel trails of blue exhaust light extended out behind the ship as it dived towards the planet. The closer it got to Earth, the more it was consumed by comparison. The ship eventually disappeared towards the high atmosphere.

Tech Officer Garrick sat in his converted cockpit seat, suspended from the ceiling of the cargo hold. His five-point harness held him in place as he pressed his right foot on the pedal attached to the bottom of his seat. He’d been doing prisoner transfer for two years now and loved the thought of being merciless from a safe distance. He’d normally be assisting with some software for an office junkie back on Mars, but the extra pay was worth it. A full trip to Earth and back was an extra month's wage for a six-day trip.

The overhead track system of the cargo hold pulled Garrick's chair about a foot above the centre walkway. He pressed a button on the right arm of his chair for the holo-monitor. Two six-inch handles snapped up from inside the arms of his seat. A holographic screen materialised from the tiny LED lights that ran vertically up the stem, facing inwards towards each other. The transparent blue screen illuminated as the light beamed out and meshed together from either side.

Large white text showing the company logo appeared as the software loaded up the home screen. Two planets joined across each other in the middle with a pair of hands cupping them below.

‘UWI – Uniting Worlds for a better tomorrow’

He tapped on the home screen.

“Okay... let's see what we have today?”

He tapped ‘Assisted’ on his screen. His headset came to life with a short musical ringtone in his left ear, followed by a welcome message.

“Welcome to United World Industries. Uniting Worlds for a better tomorrow”

He’d heard the message a thousand times. Being a computer engineer, he’d be subjected to the cheesy cliche message every time he would upload an operating system, or fix some software ‌or another. The best part was listening to Ava.

“I am Ava! How may I assist you today?”

Ava was an acronym for Artificial Voice Assistant or A.V.A. Garrick loved listening to this voice. Although he knew it was artificial, someone, somewhere, had recorded the words with that tone. They made it sound so succinct and familiar to the English language that the algorithms of artificial speech in the software made you think you were talking to a real person in real time. It was a dream to want to meet the voice for real one day.

“Good Morning Ava or is it afternoon? What is the time and date on Earth, please?”

“Good Afternoon! It is currently thirteen hundred hours and fifty-three seconds on the surface of Earth. It is Wednesday, Fourteenth June, 2120.”

“Thankyou Ava.” answered Garrick. The thought of knowing the time and date on Earth was his little pleasure he had in knowing more about where the prisoners were going than what they did.

“What is the weather forecast on Earth at Sector seven, please?”

“My systems show strong southerly winds at gusts of seventy to eighty miles per hour. Cloud base is ten thousand feet. Ash storms are building from the South of France. It forecasts to be over sector seven in three hours' time. The temperature on the surface is currently five degrees celsius.”

Ava’s soft reply contented him. He felt comforted by the notion that he was not alone in the back of the ship. Although he had the crew upfront, they were never great at the art of conversation with him. Ava was his encyclopedia. Anything he wanted the answer for, she could return it in a manner of seconds. From small talk conversations to scientific answers and even sensing emotion. This was probably why he felt he had a such a soft spot for her. He shuffled to make himself comfortable in his seat.

“Looks like it’s gonna be a bit of a bumpy ride for our friends here. Time to wake the babies.”

He locked his fingers together and stretched out his arms and faced his palms outwards taking in a deep breath.

“Ava! Activate Pods”

His virtual companion confirmed the request and the electric systems for the pods came to life. A blue light flickered inside the first two pods opposite each other, then remained on. Then the second two, third two, and so on as it passed along the electrical network. The cargo area of the ship was home to the drop pods standing floor to ceiling high. These were generic escape capsules, except used for a different purpose. He'd always wondered what it must be like to be strapped inside one of those pods. There was never much real estate inside the capsule. They were not designed for comfort. They were not designed for comfort. They were adapted for prisoner transfer. Although the thought of spending some time in them crossed his mind, he never much liked the thought of being dropped from the sky and plummet towards a planet's.

“Activate Biometrics”

The small multi-function display screen in the front blinked and came to life. The LED screens lit up and beeped simultaneously on all the pods. Garrick pressed the pedal with his right foot and his chair moved forward. This was one of his pleasures in the job. The two hundred and fifty feet up and down the hold was not something he had to walk. He enjoyed the lazy comfort of his tech seat. He glided over the walkway beneath him and stopped at pod sixty-eight. The red light above the occupants head flashed repeatedly. The same was happening to two other pods.

“Diagnostics on Section C, POD Sixty Eight!”

Ava immediately transferred the information she had found onto his screen.

“Showing diagnostics for Section C, POD 68. Prisoner number five, one, two, zero, three, four - Name: Harry Fredrickson - Age: 58- Deceased - Crime: Murder of the First degree”.

These people meant nothing to Garrick, but he liked to read about them in a semi-pseudo way to see how the cargo ended up strapped inside their vertical capsules. It also passed the time on the journeys. Reading the profiles of the prisoners was like reading a book. It kept him entertained from the boredom he would endure monitoring the life support systems of the passengers.

Garrick tapped at the name on the holo-screen. It changed to a more detailed report on the crime and punishment of the prisoner. Fredrickson was sentenced to life on Earth for murdering a co worker and his family. All prisoners were. There was no parole. No chance of escape. Once there, you had no chance of living a life elsewhere. That’s if you survived long enough to do so.

"Ava, what is the cause of the faulty pods?"

"My analysis of the systems supporting the life pods shows, three faulty oxygen valves. The occupants are deceased. They have been starved of oxygen. My logs show a malfunction in the oxygen regulator valves for pod Sixty eight, Forty Two and Twenty Eight. Error code Three, Five, Nine, Zero,Zero, Zero dash Four.”

Her monotone voice was still warm and inviting for Garrick, and he knew he could count on her to find a solution to any issues he may encounter. But, he was confused and wondered how it happened? All the systems were fine after leaving Mars? He had spent the first portion of the trip in Cryo sleep once they left Mars' Orbit. As did the pilots. Garrick would be the one to set the auto sequence in place for them all to sleep at the same time. They were the only physical beings moving around the ship. If they were awake. Ava was a highly intelligent voice and the rest were all locked away under sedation.

“We have three failed to light back here! Three prisoners are dead. All three pods have faulty valve seals in the oxygen regulators.”

“Roger that. Go ahead as planned.” Garrick expected nothing else as a reply from the co-pilot. He knew whatever they did, they couldn't return to Mars with any pods.

Garrick closed the pages he’d been looking through and then scrolled through the list to see who had the worst crime. He scanned through the list and saw crimes like murder, theft, embezzlement, assault, sexual assault, paedophilia. He noticed some ages, too. They varied from early teens to twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. The youngest on the list was fourteen. Earth was a harsh place to be at such a young age. Garrick read further down the list and noticed something particularly rare. He paused and focused his eyes on the details.

“What have we got here?”

He tapped at the thumbnail and the profile came up on the prisoner he was looking for.

‘POD 41 - Prisoner #512007 - Name: General H.Viez - Age:45 - Crime: Assault, Gross misconduct and insubordination. Sentenced to life on Earth for assaulting a member of the council, disobeying direct orders from UFM command. Destruction of UFM property.’

Garrick had heard of General H.Viez before. There were stories of him leading the Andromeda Armada and defeating the Krenelli at the Battle of Dessian ridge on Triathis. Garrick felt privileged to be in his presence. Although he certainly didn’t want Viez to find out who the last person responsible for sending him to Earth.

The pilot struggled to maintain the course and heading as the ‘Canterbury’ violently buffeted in the atmosphere as it flew closer to its destination. Its angle of attack caused the atmospheric friction on the hull to set fire. The red, yellow and white flames licked at the hull and over the cockpit canopy. The pilot was blinded momentarily as he flew fast into the high atmosphere. He had to make sure his angle of attack was correct all the way through so that he could keep his ship from overheating. All he had to try and do was keep his ship pointed at the marker on his HUD and keep himself from losing control of the ship as it rocked violently from side to side.

Garrick’s seat was locked into clamps that came out of the floor to hold him in place for the transitional period from orbit to atmosphere. Classic rock blasted Garricks ears through his headset was ritualistic for him. He loved the old twentieth century rock ballads. He would often wonder what it would be like to experience an old rock concert from that time. He could feel the ship rocking from side to side and buffeting up and down as the pilot battled the re-entry part of the flight. This was never an enjoyable part of the journey, but he’d find solace listening to his favourite hits. His eyes closed and knuckles bare white as the ‘high g’ roller coaster ride went on. He couldn’t wait to get back to orbit and have a more pleasant experience.

Ten minutes had passed, and the fire had gone out. The flight was now heading towards Earth’s stratosphere. His waypoint was 30 kilometres above the surface and over London. The pilot now needed to level out the ship as they flew closer to his target area. He spoke into his mic to give Garrick the update.

“Ten klicks out! Prep for deployment”

“Roger that!” Garrick turned his music off. “Ava, prep for pod deployment”

“Affirmative! Opening Outer Cargo Bay Doors”

The floor vibrated under his seat. The heavy metal doors on the belly of the hull opened and rotated ninety degrees down, then locked into place.

“Initialising atmospheric shields.” Ava said.

Garrick hated the sight of the atmosphere shield. It made him nervous because it offered no protection from falling through it. It was just to keep the outside and inside pressures separated.

“Opening Inner Cargo Bay Doors”

The floor along the length of the hold moved inwards towards the walkway that was marked with the safety line. Garrick saw the green laser shield beam across the gap. It sat just inches underneath the inner doors. Growing larger, the more it was exposed.

Watching the clouds under the ship swirling in the atmosphere's vastness. His mind began to wonder. He hated heights and didn’t fancy having to make the trip down the walkway to inspect a faulty clamp holding a pod in place. He did occasionally wonder what would happen if he fell through the shield. Being at the mercy of a planet's gravitational force, pulling you towards its surface, tumbling through the sky and not being able to stop. Feeling the wind rushing past you. The noise? Would it be deafening? Would it be silent? He’d never want to find out whatever the scenario.

Garrick was back in the room.

“Cargo Area ready for deployment. We are green and go for launch.”

“Roger that! Five Klicks out.”

Garrick's casual tone was a common trait after doing the job for so long. He could do this job with his eyes shut. As he sat there waiting for the next order to come through on his headset, he could hear a muffled voice from somewhere. One of his prisoners had woken from the sedative he had been given before the flight. He was screaming at the portal window of his pod.

Garrick looked over to where the sound was coming from. The pods were split, even numbers on the port side and odd numbers on the starboard side. He unlocked the clamps and moved his chair towards the pod along the walkway. He stopped and turned. The prisoner was hysterical. He stared, wide eyed at Garrick.

“Let me out you motherfucker! Get me out of here, you son of a bitch!”

“Ava! Prisoner profile pod five, please!

“Prisoner Number Five, One, One, Nine, Seven, One - Joseph Alderman. Age - 42. Male. Height, five foot eleven inches. Weight, One hundred and Eighty pounds. No known medical conditions. Sentenced to life on Earth for tax evasion and fraud.”

“Looks like you should have paid your taxes there, my friend. Sucks to be you right now,” giving a small sarcastic grin. “I’m sure you’ll have fun down there on Earth, with all the other folk and your friends here as well. I bet it’s like one enormous family down there?”

“FUCK YOU ASSHOLE! GET ME THE FUCK OUTTA HERE, NOOOW!”

Garrick raised his right index finger and waved it back and forth at the prisoner. He began tutting as if telling off a young child for being cheeky.

“You speak to your mother with that tongue? I’m sure you will be well at home on Earth with a mouth like that!”

Garrick's headset came to life. The pilot’s voice was immediate.

“One minute!”

Garrick looked at the prisoner and smiled.

“You’re gonna have the ride of your life now, buddy,” he said. He switched tabs on his holo screen. He opened up the page to the pod's telemetry and release button. The prisoner tried to move his head forward to see if he could see anything below him. The restraint above his eyebrows held his head in place. All he could do was glance past the walkway in the centre and over to the gap behind Garrick. Garrick tapped the release button on his screen to activate the countdown timer.

Each of the pods had a holographic clock appear in the portal. The prisoner whimpered and cried as the countdown appeared on the glass in front of him. He could see the large white numbers racing in reverse as it counted down from one minute. The holographic clock was synchronised with the timer Garrick had started.

“Don’t send me down there. I beg you! Take me back! I’ll pay whatever it takes to get me out of this.”

“Too late for that, pal!”

Garrick watched the clock countdown through the tens. His music was still on in his headset, and the crescendo of Bohemian Rhapsody was about to start. Garrick would time the song with the release of the pods and synchronise it with the guitar solo. He looked at the prisoner and smiled.

“YOU MOTHER FUCKEEEEERR!” screamed Alderman.

ZERO! Garrick raised his middle finger and silently mouthed the same insult back at him.

The large clamps holding the pods simultaneously released their grip and all the pods dropped through the atmosphere shield in synchronisation. The pilot felt the immediate effects on his ship as the pods left the cargo hold. The Canterbury lifted up into the air from its stationary position. The jolt was instantaneous as the sudden change in weight was felt in the controls. The Canterbury was lighter now and more agile to fly. It was still a heavy ship, but flying in atmospheric conditions was now a little easier to handle. He gripped the controls and pitched the ship the upwards and pushed forward on the throttle. The co-pilot began setting the home destination of Mars back into the navigation systems. They would be home in three days' time.