Look Through My Eye

Johnathan still wasn’t sure what he was seeing was real or a bizarre hallucination being projected into his brain by this magical space orb. Perhaps if he removed it from his normally empty eye socket all these peculiar visions of Earth being consumed by a cataclysmic war and their destination world, Terminus, fighting off unknown alien invaders would vanish as quickly as they had appeared. This was truly an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.

If what the orb was showing him was true, everyone on this ship and several others streaking across the galaxy toward Terminus needed to be warned. Whether they chose to continue on to their new home, hoping the invaders were repelled, or return to a planet ravaged by war and glowing in radiation was not a decision he would be allowed to make. However, it was his choice to keep this information to himself or share it with his fellow travelers. This was a bigger decision than you might imagine.

It wasn’t that many years ago that Johnathan was treated as an outcast, someone to be made fun of by his peers for having only one eye. He needed to prove his worthiness before being allowed to perform all but the most menial of jobs. Now he held the very existence of everyone on his ship, as well as several other ships, literally in his eye. Coupled with his troubled background was the fact that Johnathan had disregarded one of the ships cardinal rules. He brought an unknown, untested, piece of space rubble inside the ship without passing through quarantine first. That violation alone could send him to the brig for months.

There was one more issue Johnathan had to contend with, getting the leaders to see and understand that what the orb is showing him is what’s happening at both locations in real time. If he were to remove the orb and give it to Captain Clark, would it show the Captain the same views as he saw, or would it stay as black as space. How could Johnathan be sure everyone was seeing through his special eye?

A loud knock on his cabin door snapped Johnathan back into the here and now.

“The captain wants all inspection crewmembers on the bridge in ten minutes. That includes you eyepatch.”

Johnathan knew immediately that the person on the other side of the door was his childhood antagonist, Damien. The reason he was missing an eye was due to a mock sword fight that the bully took too far. Instead of apologizing, Damien took it as an opportunity to harass and belittle Johnathan at every opportunity. This time his wisecrack gave Johnathan an idea. He had stopped wearing a patch two years ago since most of the crew and passengers had gotten used to seeing his missing eye socket. He would be wearing one to this meeting.

The inspection crew formed two lines with Johnathan taking his usual spot at the end of the second line. The Captain walked out and everyone snapped to attention. He was a man of few words and came right to the point.

“I received a communication from Terminus shortly after we went through the meteor shower. Based on our location from the colony, I believe the message is approximately a year old. They’re transmission is describing an encounter with a new and apparently unfriendly life force. I’m telling you this because I need a detailed report on the battle worthiness of the ship. You men have walked the surface of this craft, is it battle worthy?”

Every man except for one answered in unison with a resounding, “Yes sir!”

The Captain scanned the crew, his gaze stopping Johnathan.

“You didn’t answer, soldier, do you have something to say?”

“No Captain, I have something to show you. I can only hope that after you look through my eye you make the right choices.”

Johnathan raised his eyepatch.