Dawn Children

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

Wren stopped and looked to see who was talking to her. An old woman sat on the ground leaning against the sandstone wall between two fruit vendors. Her sunburned eyes fixed on Wren in a way that unnerved her.

"What?"

"No one will hear you scream in the vacuum of space!" She clamped a weathered hand over her mouth to demonstrate her point.

Wren took in the homeless woman sitting before her. She was a jumble of mismatched clothes and blankets topped off with a tangle of sun-bleached hair that could not be contained by the tattered shaw she was using to shade herself. Under all of that Wren thought she saw a glimpse of a dark blue navy jumpsuit. It wasn't unusual to find old pilgrims asking for money in the market. It was a pretty unusual way to ask for it though. Wren nodded with a half smile as she dug in her pocket for some change. She tossed a chit into the tin mug at the woman's feet and continued on her way before the interruption made her late.

Pilgrims: that's what they called the older generation, the ones who made the voyage from Earth to New Dawn. "A generation of heroes", or so the media liked to call them. They were certainly brave, whatever else they were. Unfortunately an overwhelming percentage of those still alive were also completely mad. No one knew exactly why. It mostly started a decade or so after the founding of the new colony, something to do with being in cryo-sleep for too long. It was sad really. They had saved humanity but at the cost of their own minds.

The pilgrims called the colony, and eventually the whole planet, "New Dawn". Mostly because it was supposed to be a fresh start, which now seemed a bit ironic to Wren given their fate, but also because on a tidal locked planet the only inhabitable area is in a perpetual state of dawn; or dusk depending on your outlook on things. A tidal locked planet or moon spins on its axis at the same rate that it orbits a larger body. The result is that one side of the planet always faces the sun. On that side you get eternal daylight, blistering desserts, hurricanes of fire and apparently an entire ocean of lava, at least that's what it looked like on the satellite images. No one had ever actually seen it in person since you'd definitely be a pile of ash long before you got there. The other side was the complete opposite, darkness, cold, blizzards, but also some of the most beautiful mountain ranges on the planet. Nightside was more well explored since the EVA suits the colonists wore were designed to protect against the cold of space and worked quite well to protect against the elements of nightside. They were not, however, rated for the kind of blistering temps they got dayside. Between the extremes sat about a thousand miles of perfectly balanced and inhabitable area ringing the prime meridian. It was here that the pilgrims landed thousands of drop ships and began to build the city that, two generations later, encircled the planet.

Infinity City was the home of the rich and powerful of New Dawn. In the seventy or so years since the landing it had gone from a collection of drop ships and temporary shelters to a bustling metropolis and even boasted the planet's first sky scrapers. Palatial gardens with trees brought from earth and man made lakes with fountains decorated the beautiful central line of the city, all bathed in the light of a perpetual golden hour. Wren had only been there once just a few months ago for her graduation from the naval academy. She had attended a satellite school rather than the main campus within the city but had gone for the full school graduation ceremony. She was very impressed with the beauty of the city, the gardens and the fountains and all, but she couldn't help thinking that there would be room for more people in the beautiful city if the gardens were a bit smaller. As it was, the majority of people on New Dawn lived on the outskirts of the inhabitable zone, crowded into the various outposts.

Wren grew up in outpost 17 on dayside. Her parents had died in a mining accident when she was young. They were both geologists studying the uses for all the new minerals on New Dawn. Getting the acceptance to the naval academy was probably the only thing that had kept her from being on the street right next to that old pilgrim.

Wren's walk through the market brought her to the gates of outpost 9's naval communications building. It wasn't a very glamorous posting but given she was only six months out of the academy it was about what she expected. She didn't have any relatives higher up anymore that were looking out for her so she would take what she was given and do her best with it. She walked up to the guard house and pulled out her ID.

"Morning Haps." Wren greeted the aging guard.

"Wren you're cutting it close again, shift starts in five." Haps scanned the barcode and pressed the button to unlock the pedestrian gate.

"I know, I know. Gotta keep things exciting somehow, right?" The gate buzzed and Wren pushed her way through. "Thanks haps!" She called over her shoulder. Wren walked quickly into the listening station, trying to not look like she was in too much of a rush. She opened the airlock door and braced herself.

"Seaman Cosay!"

Wren froze at attention and saluted, "Sir."

Lieutenant Grant strode over to wren and returned her salute. "Cutting it close again aren't we?"

"Sorry sir. It won't happen again sir."

"See that it doesn't. Take your post Sailor."

"Yes sir." Wren smiled to herself for the thousandth time at the fact that she was technically a sailor and her posting was in the middle of the dessert. The irony got her every time. She moved in between the rows of desks all lined with long range sensor screens and listening gear. At her station sat Seaman Jones, her night time counterpart. Night time really just meant the other twelve hours of the day since the sun never actually set here.

"Morning Jones." Wren hung her backpack on the hook under the station.

Jones took off his headset and rubbed his face, "Morning Wren." He breathed in deeply trying to wake himself up and started gathering his things.

"Anything interesting?" Wren got her tablet and a battered green thermos out of her bag.

"Not unless you consider the mind numbing silence of space interesting." Jones grabbed his own backpack and slung it on his shoulders as he got up. "Hey, a couple of academy mates are grabbing beers down at the Water Hole later. You want to join?"

Wren picked up the headset and hung it around her neck, "Yeah, that sounds like fun."

Jones gave a tired smile, "Alright, I'll see you then. Night Wren."

"Night Jones." Wren pulled on the headset onto her ears and settled in for what must be the least exciting job in the Navy. She typed a quick note into the log and switched the screen to the long range sensor monitor.

Two hours later Wren's coffee was gone and she was hitting that first wave of boredom induced narcolepsy when the long range sensor beeped. The hit of adrenaline yanked her right out of her daze and she quickly refocused on the monitor. Nothing showed on the screen and for a moment she thought she must have dozed off and dreamt the alert. It beeped again though and for just a moment a small signal showed up on the sensor before disappearing again. That was weird. She made a note in the log and adjusted a setting to try and get a better read. Again the thing flashed onto the screen, flickered a few times and disappeared.

"Sir," Wren called for Lieutenant Grant, "I think you should see this sir."

Grant walked over and stood behind Wren. "What is it Cosay?"

"Something keeps flashing up on the long range sensor but I can't get a solid read on it." The object blinked onto the sensor again, this time for a second longer.

"It's small whatever it is." Grant leaned in closer, "Too small to be a ship. Focus the sensor as narrow as it'll go and see if we can get a stronger signal."

Wren touched an icon on the screen and the sensor field narrowed. The object reappeared and stayed. "Sir, it's definitely not a ship, just under two meters, person sized."

"See if we have any audio."

Wren pressed another icon on her screen and cocked her head. "There's something." She pressed the earpiece to try and hear better, "It sounds almost like breathing sir."

"Breathing?"

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"It's... it's someone screaming sir."