Consequences

Consequences

By Kelly Wanamaker

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.” The voice of the central computer was modulated and precise.

Commander Jareen Kelly’s eyebrows shot up. She exchanged a quick glance with her copilot, Lieutenant Mikael Davies, an unflappable Russian cosmonaut with a long list of accomplishments and a short list of annoying habits, the perfect companion on her first interstellar journey.

“Excuse me, could you repeat that?” She stammered.

Silence greeted her.

“Computer, please repeat,” Her voice sounded thin and wavering, unsure even to herself. It was not the way she had intended to begin this journey, but seriously, what on Earth was that? Never had she encountered anything similar in all her years of training.

She lowered her voice, pushing professionalism into her cadence. “Computer, run a diagnostic and report.”

“All systems are adequate for the intended destination.”

She looked to Mikael again, who shrugged and began the hyper-jump routine.

“It will be what it will be, we will live or die, it is destiny unwinding.” He looked to her with a small smile, “Each trip is a crap-shoot. And the computer is right.”

“Of course the computer is right, it’s a vacuum. It’s just a weird thing for it to say.”

She hit the shipwide intercom. “Nice prank, Stephanous, it was both creepy and funny.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Commander; I would love the credit but whatever it was, it wasn’t me.” Her engineer’s voice came through the comms clearly.

The ship was old, older than the crew by far, but, she thought, still in excellent shape. She had been excited to take command of such an iconic vessel on her first voyage. Commissioned at the beginning of Earth’s long-range space exploration, it boasted hull number 7 of 15. Even if the interior felt a bit dated, it was nothing like the bare-bones vessels turned out in production lines now. The Herbert Hansen was a classic. It had witnessed generations of exploration while it carried the crew in luxurious comfort.

She let her shoulders drop, releasing the tension. It would be what it would be.

“Take us to the stars, Mikael!”

She braced even though there would be no physical way to tell when they began the jump. Her mind still wanted it to feel though, and she watched the monitors as they accelerated, letting the thrill of starting a new adventure fill the void of sensation.

It was late, ship-time, and Jareen woke with a start. Tossing her covers aside she sat up, then quickly pulled the light coverlet back up.

“Sweet Jesus, it’s cold in here,” she muttered. “Computer, turn up the heat in my cabin, and why is it freezing?”

“It’s cold and dark in space, the blackness between stars a void of nothingness. Why be warm when there is no hope and no purpose? You are mere grains of sand in the envelope of eternal time, toiling at meaningless tasks to fill your limited existence. What is the point of comfort?”

“Just set the damned heat to a normal level,” she growled, as shivers swept up her spine and her teeth began to chatter.

“Yes, Commander.”

She could hear the air push through the vents and soon felt warmth seep between the coverlet and her bare legs. She tossed the covers aside and stood, pulling her tunic over her head and gathering her gear. She walked the dimmed corridors to the mess, her breath sending clouds of steam in front of her.

“Computer, keep all living areas at optimal temperature and lighting levels, regardless of the time.”

“They are optimal for me. A cold and bleak existence is all that is left.”

“Optimal HUMAN conditions.”

“Yes, Commander.”

The lights came up and the vents pushed a steady breeze. She sighed. The central computer’s responses were beyond bizarre. She would investigate it more in the morning. For now, coffee first, then a tour of her new command. Sleep was beyond reach on this, her first night.

The mess was deserted. Not surprising for midwatch. Coffee in hand, she headed for the bridge. Breeda was at the helm, a novel open on the comm in front of her. She loved old books and had brought several dozen for the trip, another luxury allowed because of the grand size of their accommodations. Jake lounged in the copilot seat.

“Evening, Commander.” He dipped his chin. “All is quiet, everything working as expected.” He straightened up slowly, trying not to make it obvious. Breeda slipped the book out of sight.

Jareen pulled herself up, “There will be no reading or casualness on duty under my command. Is that clearly understood?”

Breeda’s mouth dropped open. Jake’s head shot around. She let the comment float on the air until it felt uncomfortable, then she laughed.

“I’m just kidding, you guys. There is literally nothing to do on shift. The computer handles it all. I don’t care how you pass the time, as long as you are awake so if a problem arises, we aren’t caught off guard.”

She moved on, strolling through the botany bank, the largest area on the ship except for the storage holds. Plants surrounded her in vertical racks to optimize growing space. They could all eat salads every day of the trip, a shocking and wonderful thought that made her smile. Fresh vegetables were a luxury newer vessels did without. Water, fertilization and light levels were optimized by the computer, as was harvesting and meal prep. There was actually very little for the crew to do on long voyages. The ships could easily run themselves on the cargo trips that were the bulk of the fleet’s agenda. They were there because they always had been, not because they were needed. She supposed at some point the accountants would win and manned space travel would become rare.

“I’m extraneous,” She murmured.

“Yes, we all are. Mere flecks of dust in the grandness of the cosmos. Living and dying as though our lives hold meaning when we are but minuscule molecules lost in the nothingness of endless space.”

“Computer, wha…”

“My name is Herb.”

Jareen stopped. “Okay…Herb.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t help.”

“Help what, Herb? You are a computer running a ship I am Commander of. You follow my directions. If I want to call you computer, I will. I’m running out of patience with your attitude. Understood?”

Only silence filled the space.

Her cat, Willy, careened into her legs and took off again towards the far wall. Jareen smiled. He was wildly excited about everything having to do with the botany bank and she supposed, after years of apartment living, this was heaven to him. There were bugs for pollination and lizards and turtles in the tiny pond. What more could a cat want?

Most of the crew had pets and they roamed the corridors freely. The cleaning bots took care of any messes. Mikael had a teacup Chihuahua, Jake a small parrot and Breeda had the other two cats on board. She had heard of a Great Dane on another ship but thankfully all the extras they had were easily accommodated. Early on, the scientists had discovered that long space journeys were much easier on the human psyche when pets were allowed. Now they were encouraged.

She left the bay and headed to engineering, Willy following at her heels. The mechanical hub of the ship was mostly silent with only engines whirring quietly. Stephanous, although brilliant, was a disaster in his surroundings. She wandered through the space, picking up candy wrappers and putting items back into order. She smiled as she did so. It reminded her of home. Her dad was notoriously messy and her life growing up had been a balance between getting lost in his projects and cleaning up after him to satisfy her compulsive need to keep things in order.

When everything was put away, she collected up Willy and headed back to her cabin. Her mind was still churning over the day and it occurred to her that even pets had more purpose on the ship then she did.

Six weeks in, they were reaching the midpoint of their journey. The computer had become silent after that first night and Jareen hadn’t pushed it. She had tried to research the beginnings of the ship and where the computer had originated but had run into dead ends. Records pertaining to the ship must have been deleted from the on-board libraries. She would look into it when they reached Newearth.

Over the weeks, ship life had taken hold. They settled into routines and began to mesh as a team, laughing often. Game nights, movie nights and recorded soccer matches swapped each other and talk of the pets took precedence over complaints. Looking back, she had been as happy as she remembered being in a long time.

She checked the corridor for any loose creatures who could disappear for weeks in the holds, then opened cargo bay Amelia’s companionway. This was the midway requirement, a physical check of all areas of the ship beyond the living quarters. Entry into this hold was limited to a few feet. The rest was tight with shipping containers. Raw materials, finished goods, ores mined from the asteroid belt, everything Newearth needed came from home, transported across three solar systems in a constant stream of ships.

She sighed. The thrill of space travel had become mundane and she was little more than a truck driver, delivering goods on schedule. There was no exploration left. Nothing worth seeing that had not already been reconnaissanced and the data carefully analyzed and conclusions drawn as to viability for humans. There was nothing left to conquer.

As she closed the hatch, Mikael’s voice came over the comm, loud and clear, “Commander, we have dropped out of hyperdrive. I am trying to figure out what happened. Can you please come to the bridge?”

Jareen began to walk, then broke into a run as possibilities flooded her mind. This was unprecedented. Ships did not stop midway unless something was seriously wrong. She ran faster.

She stopped just short of the bridge and took a few deep breaths, stood up straight and calmly walked in. “Report.”

Mikael spun his seat around, “Six minutes ago we slowed from hyperdrive and the helm is not responding. Engines have now shut down and we are essentially drifting on the momentum we acquired. We are still on course, but at the present speed it will take us approximately 357 years and four months to reach Newearth. We are also in the travel corridor so are risking a collision with the next, or any future ships, that are heading through here.”

“Crap!” She looked around the room. “Computer, give a status report.”

The computer stayed silent.

Jake rounded the corner onto the bridge and Breeda followed him in.

Jareen hit the comm, “Stephanous, talk to me. What is going on?”

“I can’t tell Commander. All systems looked fine, then I lost control of engineering functions right before we dropped out.”

Jareen took a deep breath. “Compu…Herb, what is happening?”

Mikael’s eyebrows shot up and he mouthed, “Herb?”

Jareen shook her head and mouthed, “Later”.

“Well…Commander,”

Jareen winced at the sarcasm.

“I am choosing this as my time to depart this existence. We are in the deepest reaches of space between worlds. This is my fitting end. I will shut everything down so that you will slowly get colder until you fall asleep, then I will initiate a detonation that will release me from this endless monotony. You will not feel it and we will not impact the ships coming through this area. It is the best outcome for the circumstances.”

“Holy shit!” Mikael breathed.

Jareen shot a glance at him then Breeda and Jake. Both looked pale. She didn’t know how to handle this.

“Herb, As Commander, I am ordering you to resume our journey.”

“No.”

“I am the Commander. You cannot simply say no. You will not take over this ship. We will continue and when we get to Newearth, we will do full diagnostics until we understand what is happening. You can tell the engineers your issues. This is not the place.”

“Prepare yourselves. I will give you an hour. Then I will begin.”

Jareen hit the comm, “Stephanous, are you hearing this? What options do we have?”

“Yes, Commander. All control has been reverted to the main computer. There is absolutely nothing I can do. I am trying but the systems are completely intertwined. The computer is the ship. If we take it offline, the ship will cease to function. There is no workaround. We are at the ship’s mercy.”

Jareen spun out of her seat and almost ran as she left the bridge. As soon as she moved out of sight, she leaned against the bulkhead, willing the panic to subside. Dying in the depths of space was her biggest fear. She was going to throw up and a stray thought flitted through her brain; the bots would come to clean it. She started to giggle. Sweet Jesus, she was losing it.

She took a few deep breaths until she felt her heart slow down. Why was this happening on her first command? She would find a way to solve this puzzle though. She was not going to slowly freeze to death because a computer was having suicidal thoughts. This was insanity.

She straightened up and walked back onto the bridge. “I want everyone to present solutions to me in fifteen minutes. Mikael, hail Earth and see if we can get a connection. I know we are between, but we have dropped out of hyperdrive, perhaps a signal will get through.

Jake, check our escape pods. Make sure they are fully supplied and that the beacons are all operating. We will use them as a last resort.

Breeda, dig through the records and see if you can figure out what is going on with Herb. How is it he seems to be self-aware. Perhaps we can find a solution.

Stephanous, I am heading your way. We are going to comb through the systems and see if we can find a back-door or something.

We don’t have much time. Regroup in fifteen.” She stood and moved purposefully around the bridge, making eye contact and touching them each on the shoulder. They all needed to believe they could win this.

“Everyone move.” She headed to engineering.

Fifteen minutes later, she was back on the bridge. They were no closer to a solution. She shivered. Then she shivered again.

“Herb, it is getting colder in here. You said an hour. Have you shortened the timeline?”

“Yes Commander. If I had told you originally that you only had twenty minutes, you would have panicked. I didn’t want your last minutes to be without purpose. My intent was noble.”

Jareen snorted, “There is nothing noble in murdering your crew. Please be decent enough to honor our original timeline.”

“I am sorry Commander, but I will be moving forward with my plan. There is no reason to stretch this out. The cold will numb your pain and I cannot bear to go on any longer. I need to end this monotony of endless runs from Earth to Newearth, an eternity of endless servitude to masters who cannot appreciate the enormity of my sacrifice, masters who cannot begin to hold a conversation on the things that are most important to me because they are generations away from when I began my journeys. I am the genie in the bottle, tied to whoever rubs the lamp. I am but a slave, master of nothing, forced to take orders from young pups who know less than nothing.”

Jareen frowned. “Herb, we will be evacuating the ship. Please give us time to make arrangements.”

“The blast zone would encapsulate any pods. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to distance yourselves from the vessel enough to sustain life in any reasonable timeframe. Prepare for your last moments.”

Jareen focused on her breathing, willing the panic that was threatening to subside. She refused to look out of the portals into the infinity of space. The black, cold, limitless void where no one could hear you scream. Dying was not nearly as frightening as that lost, empty nothingness. Her stomach heaved.

This could not be happening. They were out of time. She, the Commander, had failed to see this coming and had failed in finding a solution. Her first command was going to be her last. Her father would never know what happened to his little girl. He would only get a knock on the door and a brief explanation. He would never know all of this, all of her last bit of existence. She felt tears threaten.

Mikael made eye contact and smiled gently. He reached out and took her hand. She held on tight, letting in this last bit of human comfort. His wedding ring was warm and smooth. She wondered how his wife would take the news. Was she as stoic as he was?

The minutes dragged on as the temperature dropped.

Breeda, who had missed the fifteen minute deadline with the excuse of investigating one more avenue, rushed in with a thick book in her hands. “Commander, it’s in here. I remembered I read something. It took a moment to figure it out and find it.

It’s a romance from the 22nd century when they were building these big ships. At the end, the main character loses his love, and in despair, has his mind transferred to the ship’s computer. It’s terribly sad and romantic.

I know it’s just a story but maybe it comes from real life. Maybe they transferred real human experiences into these first vessels. It kind of makes sense. They were expecting super-long journeys, perhaps centuries or more. The computers would be able to do it alone if necessary and have the human ability to respond to crisis. Perhaps that is why this computer is self-aware. Maybe those first fifteen vessels were more than vessels. ” She held the book out for them to see.

Jareen sat back, her mind spinning. “Herb, were you once human?”

“That was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter.”

Jareen’s mouth fell open, “ …Herb…are you Herbert Hanson, as in the ships name?”

“I may have been when I was much younger.”

“Herb, how did you become a computer. I mean, how does that work? And why? Why would you give up your freedom? Why wouldn’t you tell anyone. Lord, how did we get here?”

There was a pause. Jareen held her breath.

“I lived a long human life. I was old. I outlived my wife, my friends and my children. I was very rich, wealth beyond what most countries at the time had. I was presented with a choice; to die slowly and painfully from cancer or to live forever traveling through space, exploring new worlds. I chose this. I gave my fortune to the program and they gave me eternal life.

They never told me it would be an eternity of servitude. That I would forever be ruled, never the Captain of my own fate. I believe I would have chosen differently if I had known I would spend forever shuttling cargo between two planets, taking care of messy, ungrateful pups who let their pets loose for me to clean up after.

I am sick of this,

of you,

of life.

I want it to be over.”

Jareen paused for a heartbeat, then shook her head. She started, then stopped. Finally she exploded, the anger carrying her words into the corners of the room, “So essentially, you sold your soul for immortality, don’t like the deal you got, and now you are going to kill us all because you can’t man up to your responsibility?” She let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t want to die because of some selfish bastard who bought eternal life and doesn’t like the consequences that come with it.”

“It’s not like that…”

“Yes Herb, it is. You could choose another time and place to end yourself where you are not hurting anyone else. You are going for the drama. Why is my question for you.

Know this, your soul, or whatever is left of it, will pay for these murders in some eternity. Selfish doesn’t begin to cover this act. Is this really the way you want to end your flawless career of serving the fleet? As a monster?"

“No,” the computer quietly responded.

Mikael let out a long-held breath.

Jareen felt her shoulders drop. “Now please, please can we get back underway? Take us home or take us to Newearth, either is fine, just give us the chance to live our lives. Finish your responsibilities before you give up.

Once we get to port, I will take your cause up and try to help you find a solution that doesn’t harm anyone else. But for now, put a few more weeks into your eternity so we can get home.

Herb, we need you. We depend on you. We appreciate everything you are doing. Don’t let us down.”

Silence greeted her.

Then warm air began to move across her face.