Blended

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Staring at their faces, I would from this day forward, fill in the blank looks myself. Mark, and the beautiful Senela, their eyes bulging, mouths frozen in that horrible rictus. How long before I joined them? These gauges always erred on the conservative side. An hour and a half? Maybe two? Fifteen minutes ago the three of us had been having lunch, laughing at a joke I had made. Even Mark, who didn't laugh much at all these days. Think I know why now. Relief. Senela as well, giving me that coquettish smile I would never see again. That smile that was supposed to become mine, ours. A smile the universe would never see again.

The rest of the crew had no doubt suffered the same fate. The entire vessel had been ruptured, ending the lives of over two hundred of us. Floating in the capsule, it's side rent open by something large. Something I hadn't seen coming. The only undamaged space suit, protecting me from the deadly outer space that was now inside mine. The three of us drifted in a macabre silent dance. Occasionally the spinning capsule would give me a glance of what I thought might be our sun. We were so far from home now it was truly hard to tell. The freshly made cavity giving me the best view of space I had seen in a long time. I was trying to engage the thrusters to stabilize the ship. My training kicking in, even though it was pointless. Two hours oxygen at the most, help at best, four days away. Finally my efforts caused the ship to slow and eventually stop it's uncontrolled rotation. My two deceased team members at least now gaining a little dignity.

The stasis brought my coms to life, a crackle and then, “...Jon...Mark?”

“Copy it’s Jon here. Do you copy?” I replied a little flatly.

“Jon! Thank God! What's happened over there? You lost coms and was spinning like a top. Everything ok?” asked my fellow commander.

He and everyone on his team would be devastated by the news I was about to impart. No time like the present. “An object I didn't see coming...meteor...something, it impacted the side of the capsule. Caused a large rupture which only got bigger.” Recounting the incident got my heart racing again and so I paused, giving the others time to process.

“Jon, I’m so sorry...” The commander knew what this meant, “the others? Senela?” He also knew what she meant to me, to us.

“Senela is dead along with all the others. I managed to get into the only available suit. Got maybe two hours of oxygen left. The tanks are all blown and empty. ”

There was silence on the other end, as there should have been.“Sincerest condolences Jon. Just a minute...Okana says the space walk tank is ok. Can you confirm?” asked the commander hopefully.

I looked at the panel again, the spacewalk tank blinking red. It was different to all the other display lights, showing a static red. “It is blinking red...,” I said hopefully.

Okana cut in on his commander, “So sorry about Senela Jon, we all here know what she meant to you and what the future might have held. It is an unfathomable loss. But I think your indicator might be faulty. Mine is showing all your main reserves empty, but the space walk tank is full. Green light here!”

The commander continued in an urgent voice, “Jon, you literally have nothing to lose. I want you to prepare for an EVA immediately!”

“No arguments here sir, won't even have to go through the hatch. Just straight out the very large hole.” Normally the protocols for an EVA would take an hour or more. With space suit already on, all I had to do was push gently off the wall and float through the gaping tear that had ruined everything. Keeping my minimum two points of contact I pulled myself up and around to the outside of the capsule. Mindful of not grabbing any sharp edges, I looked down the length of the craft to where the EVA oxygen conduit was stowed. In the narrow end of the gash in our side, something was stuck. A remnant of whatever had impacted us. It looked artificial.

“Are you getting this?” I asked the team.

“Yes Jon, remarkable...amazing. Could you take a closer look?” asked the Commander.

My feelings conflicting I pulled my way down the side of our ruined ship via the multitude of hand holds. Ignoring for the moment the strange artifact, I made my way to the EVA lifeline. I pulled the small hatch, attached the lanyard and connected the conduit. A simple press of a button would tell me if I had a chance at life or an hour left to live.

Fresh air! My indicator climbing first steadily then rapidly upwards. More than enough to last until help arrived. My instinct to survive had got me into the space suit which had saved my life. Then seeing Senela, my grief had threatened to overwhelm me. It was all I could do not to tear the suit open and join her. It was Mark floating into view that changed my mind. A poignant reminder of how not to handle torment. And now with fresh air coursing through my body and the visage of an alien artifact in front of me, a small glimmer of hope. A grain of drive and ambition. We had been travelling for so long without either. So very long.

I carefully moved up to inspect the offending item. It was pockmarked with a slew of interstellar granular collisions. Comparing my own vessel from the outside, it wasn't much different. Although clearly some form of scientific instrument, it was not of a design I recognised. To coin a phrase that seemed wholly appropriate I said, “This thing is entirely alien to me. It appears to be part of some sort of probe. I'd go so far as to say this was not manufactured by us.”

I resisted the urge to get closer and touch it. I already had enough questions to answer. Let the boffins sort this out and see what they can make of it.

I had soiled my suit three times before they arrived. The upside from constantly smelling your own waste was that it dampened my hunger. A shower and a fresh uniform later saw me devouring a hearty meal and imbibing some much-needed liquid. As one would expect the impeccably timed commander made his appearance on my last mouthfull. “Commander,” he announced officiously. His golden aura filling the room.

As usual, I felt honored and humbled to be greeted as an equal. His frame filling the doorway, a little intimidating, but mostly reassuring. “Commander,” I replied standing to attention. I had to look up a good two feet to meet his gaze.

“The chances of a spacecraft colliding with anything in interstellar space are infinitesimal.” To business then. There was no accusation, merely a beginning to a conversation that had to be had.

“Yes Commander of course,” I conceded. I had rehearsed this debrief many times while I had been waiting for rescue. It played out the same no matter which way I answered. The unabashed facts then. “I had become tired and was leaving Mark in charge more often. I can only assume he detected the alien vessel. He did not tell us anything. He most likely thought it was a meteor, comet or some such. He had shown signs of despondency.”

A slight dimming of the Commander’s aura, disappointment. “You can think of no other explanation?”

“No,” saying it out loud reaffirmed my thinking, “the area of impact was designed for maximum damage. It could not have hit a worse place on our vessel if it had tried,” I paused again, then added, “Prior to impact, Mark appeared at ease and almost happy. The first time he had shown any positive emotion since his failed Blending.”

The Commander’s golden eyes closed for a second and then opened again, “The strains of our exodus caused Commander Jon to delegate responsibilities to Sub-Commander Mark. This, despite the fact that Sub-Commander Mark had been displaying evidence of despondency following the passing of his mate from a failed Blending. It is believed Sub-Commander Mark as a result of his despondency put his vessel on a suicidal collision course with what he perceived as a meteor in order to end his anguish. Taking over two hundred souls with him in the process.”

I gave a nod of concurrance and awaited his adjudication.

“How are you Jon?” he asked in that deep timbre that all the Blends share. Whilst it was always preferred to have a Blended in command, their scarcity meant that an unBlended such as myself were needed to fulfill the role.

I took a breath and confessed all, “Mark lost his half in attempting the Blending. Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn’t. The survivor often suicides and at worst goes on a psychotic bender. I lost my potential half to one of these episodes, not as a result of a failed Blending. Not the same thing. I am not well, but the ensuing drama following Senela’s death illustrated to me at least, my will to live. I am here to stay Commander. And can I say the discovery of the artifact, the instrument of my Senela’s demise, ironically has given me cause for hope. Something I previously did not have much of.”

This time it was my fellow Commander’s time to nod in agreeance. “Thank you Jon. You will resume the Journey on my ship. You shall continue to have the rank of Commander, and you shall only answer to me.”

A relief more profound than I could have imagined washed through me. The adjudication finalised, I could now address him informally, “Thank you Sinessa,” was all I could muster.

In response the giant pulled the guests chair out from under the desk I had been dining on. He sat and our eyes now met at a level until he signalled for me to resume my seat. “I have news to share. News of the ironic hope you mentioned.”

My excitement grew while I took my seat.

“As you had suggested, the instrument was part a type of scientific probe. Primitive, but obviously from a species self aware enough to look and reach to the stars. We managed to track the trajectory of the rest of the artifact. There wasn't much left to salvage, but what there was has told us a great deal.” Sinessa’s excited glow filled the room. “There were universally understood mathematical formulae. An attempt at communication.”

I was fixated, “Was there anything else?” I asked because I could tell there was.

“There was a disc! A golden disc. A primitive recording of sorts. Our chief scientists are still unravelling its contents. There are some cacophonous sounds that seem to hold no relevance. Some form of cultural affectation I assume. But there are images as well. Their flora and fauna are different but the same! They are different but the same! Their world is different but the same!”

The Blended were not renowned for their exuberance. To see Sinessa as animated as this had me equally so. My travails for the moment forgotten. “May I see them?”

“Of course Jon.” Reaching across, presenting his palm, the images of animals and plants, emerging from it, scrolling in front of me. Then pictures of bipedal sentient beings. Similar to us but with pink, brown and black skin instead of our shades of blue. And fur. A variety of hair on top of their heads, “Fascinating!” And then their world. Encouragingly, with vast swathes of blue water, but with large tracts of dry outcrop as well. “Do we know where this is?!” I asked hopefully.

“Our people are working on it. The aliens provided an astronomical map, but it is difficult. The method they used was poor, or deliberately obscure.” Sinessa withdrew his hand and with it the images, relaxing back into a seat that was way too small for him. “Most importantly we have found evidence of a habitable world. If there is two, then there is more.”

His optimism brought to mind the world we had left behind. Our home. An ocean world that had turned deadly. Forcing us into an exile with no destination. Sinessa rose to leave, receiving a communication, making him pause. His aura once again visibly enhancing with each passing moment. When it was clear that the message had finished, the Commander again stood, mute, eyes closed. Contemplating, his glow regressed to it's normal background sheen. “ATTENTION FLOTILLA!” his booming voice reverberating through the room.

Our species is long lived, Blended even more so. It had been many decades since I had heard a Fleet wide address. All twenty three thousand ships would be hearing what I was witnessing live. Sinessa continued his announcement, staring directly at me. “We have found the location of a habitable planet! We have a destination within reach. The inhabitants of this world have caused the destruction of Commander Jon’s vessel and all his crew. We have a right to redress. We will seek to share this world. IF THEY WILL NOT SHARE, WE WILL TAKE!”

The Blended are the best of us. The combination of two that are matched randomly by fate. The weaknesses and strengths of the individuals complimenting one another, interlocking and enmeshing to form a greater whole. An individual superior to the sum of it’s parts. A Blended is larger, stronger, smarter, better in every way. Which was why I was shocked to hear Sinessa’s duplicitous statement. Blended are rare. Most attempts ending in death for one participant at least. I would never know if Sinela and I would have achieved our Blend. In all my interactions with the Blended, which were few, I had never known them to lie. Their integrity, as with their other characteristics, had been until now without question.

Sinessa finished his address, continuing his attention to me, “We will always know the truth Jon. The inhabitants of this world need not. The stakes cannot get any higher. This is for the survival of our people. We must engage every lever we can grasp, no matter the stain on our honour.”

“Of course Sinessa. Let us hope no levers are required, and that they welcome us,” I said.

“Indeed!” he replied with an optimistic glow.