What Lies Forever Elsewhere

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say...

If only they had been right.

Screams were what had woken me up from my dreamless sleep.

Now, I was running.

Running as fast as I possibly could along the corridor towards the engine room. Of all the times for something to go wrong it just had to be when I was fast asleep. Everything had been fine when I left the mess hall after dinner. What could have happened in the last three hours? I was pushing my legs as fast as they could go as the emergency sirens blared around me. The power had gone out sometime before I had woken up, my way was lit only by the faint glow of the emergency lights and the flashing red sirens. The polished white halls were completely empty apart from myself. That must mean that everyone else was already fixing whatever had gone wrong. After all, it did seem that the power was the only thing not in working condition. The thrusters were off, but that didn't necessarily mean the engines were damaged, we were probably only stopped to fix the power and we'd be on our way. Clearly, I thought to myself, the oxygen conversion system was still working, the artificial gravity was intact, that was good. My trail of thought was interrupted when the entire ship shuddered and the emergency power flickered. Did something just hit us? My 'nothing is wrong ' mentality was gone now, and I sped up. I was almost to the elevators. My boots shrieked against the flooring as I turned sharply around the next bend only to skid to a stop as an explosion rocked the ship. I had no idea what had exploded or where, I only knew that the next explosion was about ten feet in front of me. My body was sent soaring through the air alongside heaps of shrapnel. I winced as I landed hard, about twenty feet away from the new burning hole in the side of the ship, where I quickly lost consciousness in a pile of shattered glass and debris.

"Mom!" I shouted. "C'mon Mom, you're gonna miss it!"

My eyes shot back to the living room television, hugging my stuffed monkey tight to my chest.

"This is it, Orion." I whispered to him.

The broadcast flickered just as President Gray strode up onto the stage and took his place behind the podium. The 'INDEED' headquarter building was in full view behind the stage. So cool, I thought to myself.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the world," Grey began. "today marks our first step towards a better tomorrow. As you all know, this wonderful planet of ours has offered us all it can manage. For years, we have struggled with the facts. Natural resources run scarce, and as the population skyrockets, we lose more and more of our once bountiful wildlife."

The president pauses, no doubt for dramatic effect.

"We all agreed that drastic measures must be taken, which is why for the past three years, much of the government's funds have been utilized and given to the I.N.D.E.E.D." The crowd audibly gasps before Grey continues. "This was not without careful consideration, nor without accomplishment. I am pleased to inform you that the International Department of Extraterrestrial Exploration and Discovery has been successful in their project. They have discovered and located not one, but seven planets, each one completely different than the one before, with the exception of one very important similarity."

I could almost feel the crowd holding their breath, I know I was.

"Every one of these new planets are completely and undoubtedly capable of sustaining life. Human life."

No freaking way. No way.

"That being said, much about these planets is still a mystery to us. We need to be able to study each one up close, so that we may determine which one will be, our new home."

Cheers went up in the crowd.

"This is a new start for us."

More cheering.

"As of right now, the I.N.D.E.E.D. is launching a new project. This project will fund the construction of advanced spacecrafts that will be used for seven synchronous sister expeditions to each one of these planets, using only the safest means and only the most talented field specialists as crewmen. Today, we launch the Navigational Expedition for What Lies Forever Elsewhere, or as it will come to be known, Project NEWLIFE.

My vision was blurred when I finally came around, I laid there on the ground, blinking slowly, trying to regain focus. It took me a few moments to finally sit upright, and doing so nearly sent me sprawling again. Apart from the violent trembling of the ship not helping whatsoever, my ears were still ringing from the explosion and my head was screaming. The corridor was still on fire, I should probably do something about that, I thought vaguely to myself. Everything was in slow motion as I shifted onto my knees and leaned my side up against the wall. I brought my sluggish hands up to my face. I cursed internally when my fingers brushed up to touch my cheek. Pain flared across my forehead and down to my jaw. I wasn't at all surprised when my fingers were met with something hot and slick. I could feel it now, dripping from my chin and running all the way down my neck. I brought my hand away and my fingers came into view sticky and glossy crimson, my vision went hazy again. Blood was flowing down the side of my face, I dropped down to my hands, breath shaky. I was going to be sick. Curse my weak stomach. Whatever dinner was left in my stomach was slowly clawing its way back up. I was still dizzy and resisting my gag reflex right now was a losing battle. I was disgusted with myself as I emptied my stomach right there in the middle of the hallway until there was nothing left.

No way would I ever live it down if I was found here quivering like a child and being sick to my stomach. Breath, I thought, just breath. I straightened myself and took a deep breath. The blast doors, I remembered suddenly, after I had stopped worrying that I would pass out again. I have to close the blast doors. I cursed again, this time at my own stupidity. The ship's atmosphere would be seeping out through the explosion site. Already my breathing felt labored, the air was thinning. How had I not noticed already? I felt as though my mind was swimming, though I couldn't be sure if that was due to the drop in cabin pressure or from the nasty gash at my temple. I reached my hands up slowly to grasp a pipe for support. My limbs wobbled feverishly as I pulled myself up. I wasn't all that concerned about the flames at this point, even as they continued to climb higher on the walls of the ship, the lack of oxygen would put the fire out no problem once the doors were sealed. I stumbled over to the panel on the far wall and pulled the red levers for sections two, three and four.

Immediately, sliding doors came down on both sides of the explosion site and not one second later I was back on the floor. I have no idea how long I sat there, with my head hung between my knees, trying desperately to keep a firm grasp on consciousness. All I know is that when I finally struggled back to my feet, I was back to breathing normally, well, normal enough, and the emergency sirens had finally stopped. Instead, it was the captain's stern voice on the loudspeaker, on what I assumed was a loop, calling for an immediate evacuation of all crew members.

I was running again. I had managed to put aside my pain for the time being because at this point, the only thing I cared about more than the ache in my head or the stabbing pain in my side was getting to the Launch Bay. There were a total of one-hundred and sixty-two crew members on this ship, and eighteen individual Transport Cruisers. While their main purpose was to transport landing teams down to Salvation 6 once we had reached the planet, they were also equipped to be the Starship's escape vessels in case of emergency as well as our smaller mission ships. Each one had enough supplies on board to support nine individuals, though I highly doubt that anyone would be above leaving a few crew members short if the situation was bad enough. That fact was enough to keep me sprinting towards the nearest stairwell. Being left to die stranded in space was not at the top of my bucket list thank you very much. Reaching the stairwell, I flung the door open and started down swiftly. I was on level seven, the Launch Bay was all the way on level one. It wouldn't take me too long to get down the stairs, but the evacuation had been ordered nearly an hour ago, for all I knew, I was already the last one on board the starship. It took me almost face planting into the wall at the bottom of the first flight to realize that despite my rush, I may want to slow down. The ship was still being jolted aggressively every few seconds and the last thing I needed was to break my neck running down a flight of stairs.

My heart leaped as I passed the level four stairwell exit. Halfway there I thought excitedly. That's when I heard it. In-between all the shrieking and moaning coming from the ship's innards, there was a steady and intense pounding coming from somewhere below me. I pressed on cautiously, reaching into my tool belt for a weapon of some kind, the best I could come up with was my trusty bolt ratchet. My knuckles turned white around the tool as I approached the source of the drumming. Someone was attempting to break down the door from the level three corridor. It was then that my mind started wandering to what might have gone wrong with the ship. Maybe it hadn't been an accident. Maybe someone was behind it, or, something? I held up my makeshift weapon, preparing to be the first person to ever beat the life out of an alien. The idea became ridiculous as quickly as it had seemed plausible, and as the door burst open I almost laughed at my own imagination. I was blinded by a steady beam of light. A flashlight. I released the breath I had been holding. In an incredible stroke of luck, I had run straight into another crew member.

"Mercer?" the voice said from behind the flashlight.

"Dilban?" I guessed.

Not that I really needed to guess. I would've known that voice anywhere. In fact, I had spent the last three months aboard this ship training myself to tune that voice out. It was the only way I could ever get any work done while we were down in the pipeline ducts. Dilban lowered his flashlight away from my face so that I could see him clearly in all his filthy glory, the ash on his face made his already dark skin even darker. The spots in my vision were subsiding and he shot me a crooked smile.

"What the hell Dilban!" I breathed "You scared me half to death!"

Dilban ignored my protest and studied me, his smile fading into a somewhat shocked expression that was almost humorous.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked.

It took me a moment to fully comprehend his question. What did he think had happened to me? The ship was practically falling to pieces. Then I realized what I must look like. My clothes were covered in soot and grime, no different from his. Unlike him however, my eyes were probably bloodshot from the smoke of fire, my hands were cut up and scraped from broken glass, my jumpsuit was legitimately shredded in some places. Not to mention the smell of vomit and smoke that clung to my clothes and hair, and I was no doubt heavily coated in dark scarlet, both wet and dry, all coming from the cut in my forehead that was still sending a trickle of blood dripping down the side of my face.

"Long story." was my only response and I gave a little half smile. "I'm just glad you found me."

"Actually," another voice cut in. "I'd say you found us." Clarke? Was that Clarke?

"How many of you guys are still on board?" I asked, smiling as I spotted a grey faced and sweaty Clark only to glance past her, searching for others. "You did hear the evacuation order right?"

There was at least one other, I could only make out their shadow thanks to the dim lighting.

"Of course we heard the order" Clarke huffed.

I had no doubt she was rolling her eyes at my unnecessary line of questioning.

"We ran into some trouble on level four," Dilban clarified. "The second stairwell completely caved in, we couldn't get past. We've been on our way to the Launch Bay for what feels like hours."

"What was with all the banging?" I asked, finally dropping my wrench back onto my toolbelt.

I glanced down at the door, now hanging slightly crooked across the frame.

"Hey, no judgment." Dilban shrugged. He looked exhausted, his dark hair standing on end. "Door was jammed, must've happened during one of the collisions."

He swiped at the layer of sweat on his brow with his free hand. Collisions? Before I could ask anymore questions, a voice behind Clarke finally spoke up. It was not one that I recognized. It sounded like a woman.

"If you don't mind," she complained, "I would really prefer it if we could escape the sinking ship first and share war stories second."

"Right, sorry Commander." said Dilban, looking like he wished he would have realized that himself. "Welcome to the Crew Mercer, keep up and we'll talk later, Commander's orders." He winked at me before pushing through the doorway and leading the way down the dim staircase towards level two.

There were four of them in total, five if you included me. Dilban and Clarke I knew, the three of us often worked together, we were all ship engineers. Dilban and I knew each other better as we were both mechanical engineers and therefore worked mainly on the same systems, we also shared sleeping quarters with the other M.E. technicians. Clarke was electrical, therefore we didn't work with her as much but we still knew her, we engineers tend to stick together. It was the other two that I didn't know, I don't remember ever seeing them on the ship before, they must be from the Bridge. The one that Dilban had called Commander did look somewhat familiar, I probably would've seen her photo on the wall of officers in the mess hall next to the captain's portrait. I had no doubt that she was in a position of power. She had a look of severity about her. Maybe it was the fact that her navy blue suit was more or less clean, despite all the chaos around us or that not one of her blonde-grey hairs seemed to be out of place in its tight bun. The badge on her lapel told me that her name was Commander E.M. Orson. The name sounded familiar too. It took every ounce of strength I had not to start laughing when I realized that this absolute no nonsense Commander's initials spelled out EMO.

The second unknown member of our rag tag collective was a tall and slender young man, he looked to be about my age, no older than twenty-six or so. Dirt and ash covered his once pale skin, his thick brown hair, which looked as though it had once been combed back neatly was now messy and he kept having to run his hands up through it to keep it out of his eyes. Just by looking at him, I had absolutely no idea where he could've worked on the ship. He wasn't dressed in a suit like Commander Emo but he wasn't wearing the telltale overalls of a technician either. He wore a plain black shirt over navy blue slacks and a pair of generic brown leather boots with laces. His jacket was what stood out, it was an olive green bomber flight jacket like the kind that jet pilots used to wear. I was pretty damn sure that a jacket like that had never been and never would be a part of any 'INDEED' sanctioned uniform ever, but that didn't stop this guy from having his badge pinned to its lapel. A.W. Reis, that name didn't sound familiar. He seemed to be the most nervous one of us. His eyes kept darting back and forth behind his wide silver glasses, he was glancing around like he was half expecting someone to jump out from behind one of the many silent doors we passed and scare him.

Just as we reached the Launch Bay corridor the ship lurched with such ferocity that it sent us all tumbling to the ground and crumpling into each other. The whole room was shaking, but that wasn't what concerned me. When I fell, I had slammed down near the windows and as I stood up, I could see exactly what had happened, and what Dilban had meant by 'collisions'. We were smack dab in the middle of an asteroid field. One such asteroid, the largest one I could see, had just crashed headlong into the ship's central generator. It'll be fine, I thought, it's not that bad.

Actually. It was worse. Two seconds after the asteroid had hit, alarms were blaring and being an engineer, I knew exactly what they meant.

"We lost the main reactor." I whispered in shock.

The words had slipped out before I fully realized what this would mean for us. Dilban spun his head my way, finally seeing what I saw from the window.

"We have to go." He breathed, eyes wide. "NOW! Everyone come on!"

Dilban knew exactly what I did, the central generator was in charge of more than fifty percent of the systems on board the ship, with the reactor gone, there was no way for it to produce any power and the ship would redirect power to the most vital systems. We would lose everything else. Based on what I knew, the systems that would remain operational would be the oxygen conversion system, the pressure regulators, and the life support system. We swung around into the final corridor just as the dim emergency lights blinked off and we were left to navigate by only the light of Dilban's flashlight. The ship was shutting down. Next we would lose power to the engines (not that we were planning on going anywhere in this ship anyway), then the hydro, and lastly, the simulated gravity system. If I knew anything right now, it was that floating around would make it a hell of a lot harder for us to get to a transport. I'd say we had no more than five minutes, maybe.

Luckily, we made it to the Launch Bay faster than I thought we would. I squinted, ready to find the green light that signaled an unlaunched ship that we could take. Maybe it had just been me, I would have confidently wagered every penny to my name, that when we finally got to the Launch Bay there would be one ship left, maybe two. There were twelve. I stopped dead in my tracks, despite not having the time for the luxury that was ten seconds . Six ships. Six ships had been released. Maybe the lights were malfunctioning, maybe there weren't really twelve ships still docked, there couldn't be. Clarke and Ries seemed to have the same thought, they ran from door to door, looking through windows at what might be beyond each of the hatches.

"Twelve." Ries muttered, absolutely stunned.

Everyone seemed to be doing the same math that I was. Six ships could hold a maximum of fifty-four passengers. and that's if they were full. Fifty-four passengers out of one-hundred and sixty-two. Where was everyone else? We hadn't passed anyone else on our trip here, living or otherwise. I glanced over at the Commander, she was important, she would know, she would tell us they were safe, but one look at her expression and I knew I was wrong.

She wore an expression I knew all too well. Commander Orson was in mourning.

The truth of the matter was that we were wasting time. Our only hope was to escape, before we ended up like the others. The five of us had to leave, now.

"We can worry about this after we're safely off this ship." I spoke flatly.

I needed to make sure they couldn't hear the panic in my voice.

"The longer we stay in this asteroid field, the more we risk our safety, not to mention the working condition of the Cruisers." I finished

The others were looking somber, but not defeated. They all seemed to hear the truth in my words and once the entry hatch to Cruiser seven was open, we were all on a mission. Orson rushed forward into the cockpit and went into preflight checks while Clarke, Dilban and I all grabbed flight suits from the closet and began to shimmy into our second skins. Ries however, had yet to move from where he was positioned at the hatch, he held the door frame and peered into the hallway we had just come down, straining his neck to see as far as he could manage, a look of concern spread plainly across his face.

"Ries!" I shouted. 'What are you doing? We have to go!"

That seemed to shake him out of whatever trance he was in, but he still made no attempt to move.

"We have to wait!" he shouted. "Bailey's not here yet!"

"Who?" I asked

"Damn." Clarke swore. "I had almost forgotten."

"Who's Bailey?" I questioned again.

"She was with us when all the panic first started," Clarke explained "A doctor. After we heard the first explosion, she went to go see if anyone was injured and might need her help. She sent us down towards the Launch Bay and said she'd meet us here, we haven't seen her since."

Clarke glanced at Ries with a look of pure apology before turning to go and strap into a seat.

"We don't have time," said Dilban.

Ries stayed exactly where he was.

"Damn it Ries! Come On!" Dilban shouted.

"He's right, Ries!" Orson called from the cockpit. "Besides, we parted with Dr. Bailey nearly two hours ago, if she's not here now, it's not likely she'll ever be here at all!"

"I won't leave her." Ries protested.

"Then you won't be leaving at all." Dilban shot back. "You may be a navigation expert, Ries, but that in no way means you know how to fly."

"We can go looking for her." Ries begged, looking closer to tears than panic at this point.

" No. We can't." Dilban insisted. "I'm not getting everyone killed to go out and find one person."

Just then, one long screaming alarm sounded. It was our final warning before the three of us left standing drifted from the ground into the air. No more gravity. Dilban and I held each other stable so as not to start drifting, Ries still held the frame of the door.

"There’s no time, Ries." I chimed in and he looked at me for the first time since we'd met. "Face it, this ship is coming apart at the seams. If we don't leave now, we'll all die."

I could tell he didn't care, he turned his attention back towards the corridor. This Bailey was clearly important to him. I could also tell that Dilban was about five seconds away from ditching him so that the rest of us could make it out safe.

I took one last shot.

"What would Bailey want you to do?" I asked him

Ries swung his head back around to me, I could see in his eyes the pain this was causing him. He took one more long look down the corridor.

"Okay." he caved, and turned to grab the suit that hung towards him in my outstretched grasp.

Dilban sealed the hatch behind us as I helped Ries into his flight suit and helmet.

The three of us pulled ourselves into the spacious cockpit and took the remaining seats that were available. I had always found it curious that the transports were shaped almost like flying saucers, the frisbee kind, not the ones with a little glass bubble at the top that an alien sits in when he drives. It had something to do with aerodynamics and speed, but I still thought it was funny.

Orson was strapped into the seat behind the flight controls. Dilban took the second seat at the ship's diagnostics monitor beside Clarke. That left Ries and I to monitor the mapping system and the collision tracking. We helped each other strap and signaled to Orson we were ready to go.

"Hey," I whispered to Ries. "Maybe Bailey got away with another ship."

He glanced back at me with a sad smile on his face that I could tell was forced.

"Yeah," he said. "maybe."

I turned my attention towards Commander Orson.

"You're all clear on asteroids and debris, no chance of impact if we launch in the next thirty second window." I said.

"Copy that Mercer." Orson responded. "Initiating launch."

The launch was smoother than I ever thought possible in the middle of a field of asteroids. Through the curved windows all around us, and the skylight above us, we all watched as we turned to face our once magnificent starship.

From out here, the damage was so much worse.

The ship was practically split in two. I had no words. How did this happen? The entire Pioneer Starfleet was indestructible, 'INDEED' did hundreds of tests, and yet, here was the S.S. Pioneer 6, completely demolished, by a field of asteroids?

Orson steered us away from the asteroids, as we changed direction we saw it. Salvation 6. We had been this close to the planet, to our destination? I thought we had still been months away. That's what they said.

Just as we were close enough to the planet that the first of its three moons had become visible, the thrusters cut out. I looked up to Orson in confusion.

"Commander? Why are you stopping?" Clarke asked, clearly as confused as the rest of us.

"I... I'm not." She responded.

Orson glanced back towards us, the same confusion visible in her furrowed brow. She began to desperately pump the thrusters.

Two things happened then at the exact same time.

First, the small ship lurched drastically to the left, sending us all reaching to secure our harnesses.

Second, the power flickered once, twice and then went out all together.

All I could hear in the darkness was the panicked breathing of five terrified space travelers.

All of whom had just realized that they were in way over their heads, in an unknown and unfamiliar galaxy, drifting aimlessly through the endless expanse of space.