Jealousy & Oblivion

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. However, you can see a scream and imagine the fear, the terror and then the worst part is the fixed form on their face as they float off into the starry abis of the galaxy, where their loved ones will never go to pay their respects. Do you know what they get? They get a letter, usually between three to six months later that explains that their loved one broke the rules and was found guilty of treason and therefore, put to death in the middle of space billions of lightyears away from them.

My Captain can't abide that form of punishment, but he isn't soft and he isn't a pushover. In the five years that I have worked with him, he has only ever put a crewmember to that fate by his own choice, but that was due to me.

We were all celebrating Christmas when it happened, I declined a dance with one of the officers, he grabbed me and I had no choice I let him have one dance and tried to go back to being a wall-flower or in my case a bar stool, but even then he wouldn't leave me alone and it got to the point that I had to defend myself by pushing a table between us, but he was stronger, but not as strong as the Captain, Captain Lucius Davenport, who came to my rescue physically and medically as I had been pushed to the ground and strangled until Lucius dragged him off me, hit him hard and ordered his immediate release into deep space without any safety equipment. Darren Clayton was put to death on Christmas Eve, where as I spent it on the medical deck being looked after by the Captain, because most of the medical crew were too drunk to take charge of me.

It was then after he had checked that there was no lasting damage to my windpipe, he confessed how much he hated the capital punishment that he had just ordered. After all, certain crimes meant forfeits of trials and vouching and unprovoked attacking of a junior crew member (catering, engineer or medical assistants) was one of them, but that didn't make it any easier for him. He was overcome with guilt.

"I'm not a cruel man, assistant Jones. I'm actually really against the Oblivion as a form of leathal punishment. To me it is no better than hanging him from a light-fitting with a wire and to have my hand forced during this usual time of good-will, I'm not sure anyone is going to have a good Christmas, not now Clayton has just gone floating into the night. It will be summer by the time his wife finds out, especially with no one in communications until after the new year at the space port by Mars." He explained, shaking his head and sighing.

I felt as though I had ruined his Christmas and his self-esteem. He had to know that he didn't have to carry that burden on his own.

"Captain, I don't think anyone on this ship thinks you are cruel and you're right about the Oblivion law, I wish there was a more humane way to treat prisoners, but it was a difficult decision to make and I think for what it is worth, you made the right one. The federation would have only ordered you to carry it out next week, you'd have just given him time to dwell on what was going to happen to him. The way you did it, at least it was decisive and quick." I argued.

Lucius always said he fell in love with me that night. He said he wanted to sleep with me there and then, but he didn't dare risk rejection or worse an official complaint.

As for me, it took me weeks to realize that he was being more than a concerned employer and wonder why he was spending more time in the areas that I worked in.

We saw each other in secret for months, then he decided to have his meals with me to make a statement and the following Christmas he went out on a major limb and proposed to me in front of the entire crew and his officers and I accepted and became the Captain's wife, right hand and personal advisor in most matters.

Lucius was a good husband, caring, affectionate, attentive, but he was over-protective to a fault, because when I became his wife, even a basic compliment about my hair or figure was equal to treason in his eyes and despite what he told me, when we first met properly, he started to use Oblivion more and more to deal with any potential love-rival.

"Let me see how medical assistant John Marshall admires my wife's glowing complexion from the other side of the ship's window!" Ordered Lucius.

John was grabbed by guards, but Doctor Kennedy stepped in and tried to have his assistant released.

"Captain I beg you! Marshall didn't say that to flirt with your wife, he said that as part of her condition! Captain Davenport, you're going to be a father!" Explained the doctor.

Lucius had Marshall released with an impatient flick of his hand, becoming a husband and a father-to-be had certainly changed him. He wasn't the man he was, but there was nothing that I could do. I was his and there would be no escaping him, as we wouldn't return to Earth for another three years. I was going to have my first child onboard the SS-Equalizer with my jealous husband the Captain and I couldn't help but wonder: How many would not survive my pregnancy or birth?