A FEAR OF GOD

CHAPTER 1: The GOD VOICE

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. I would disagree. Does a tree make a sound if it falls, especially if no one is around to hear it? Or is it so far out in the wilderness – so far from civilization, so far removed from our conscious awareness… That does it even matter? I think you’d have bigger problems if you find yourself knowing the answer to this.

April 4th, 1989. Venera 23. Somewhere out beyond the scope of our known Solar System. Things have not been going well back home. Things have not been going well here. To make a very long story short – we’ve made a very erroneous decision in the road of our future as species. A reprehensible mistake.

The Venera 23 could possibly be the last remnants of Earth. On this space freighter, we have roughly around 360 bodies from below deck. Cryogenically frozen, of course. The Consulate of Earthly Affairs in coordination with our Union of Soviet Socialist Republics worked on a fail-safe program to ensure the survival of humanity. It was supposed to be a back plan, a last option that would likely never be used. Now, we’re the only option left.

The crew of the Venera 23 is a Cosmonaut-led joint coalition of 23 different countries. The Operators – eight crew members and I are the ones in charge of the day to day. I believe we’ve been active for about 4 or 5 months. Who is really to say anymore?

“Caspian.” Mara, one of my fellow Cosmonauts and one of the other Operators, walked into to my cabin. She was a dark-haired woman with the face reminiscent of a fox – sharp and watchful eyes and elongated square nose.

“Have you been at your desk this whole time?”

“I was resting my eyes for a bit. What is going on?” I responded.

She walks from the doorway and makes her way cautiously over to me. She leans in.

“The American is on the floor. She became unconscious again.”

“What? What transpired?”

“Not sure. Markus found her on the floor in the Communications room. Her nose was bleeding – according to him, at least.”

“Bleeding?”

“I believe that is what he said, yes.” She looked visibly concerned. I removed my reading glasses and stood up from my desk.

“I suppose we should take a look. The others?”

“Markus is with the American. Gruber and Takashi have also joined in the spectacle.”

“Boris and Lana?” I ask. Mara shrugs her shoulders and rolls her eyes. Figures.

I shake my head and continue my way out of my quarters. I follow the long and narrow corridor within our little freighter. Wires, pipes, and cold metal walls. The poorly dimmed ambient lights are the only thing helping me see what is in front of me. Mara follows closely behind.

I enter the Communications room. Immediately, I noticed that Markus is trying his best to awaken the blonde hair American woman on the floor. Markus’s hands are covered with her blood, and her face is smeared with dried blood.

“Wake up! It is not time for sleep, American!” Markus attempts to shake her to see if she will suddenly jump awake. What a fool.

“Markus! You’re going to snap her neck from head that way, you idiot!” Gruber slaps Markus on the back of his head. Markus grunts and drops the unconscious woman back to the floor.

“Touch me again like that… And I will snap you like the pencil you are.” Markus grabs Gruber by his collar. Gruber is unphased.

“You are crowding me.” Gruber grunts out between teeth.

“Enough.” I interrupt. I don’t have time for these men to act like enclosed gorillas.

“Markus, what happened?” I command an answer.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Gruber and Takashi scoff. Mara slides behind me and makes her way to the unconscious American still on the ground.

“Markus, I hope you don’t take me for a fool.” I warn him. He shakes his head and crosses his arms in frustration.

“Nothing as in, I came in here and she was already on the ground.”

“You think it may have been a seizure?” Mara asks, as props up the head of the American. She checks her pulse.

“She’s still alive.” Mara breathes a sigh of relief.

“Where is Boris?” Takashi finally opens his mouth to speak. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve heard him vocalize a single sound – Let alone speak. Everyone turned to face him, surprised.

“He is the ship’s doctor, no?” Takashi follows up. He becomes visibly uncomfortable with the number of eyes on him.

“Good question… Has anyone seen Boris? Or Lana?” Mara asks the rest of the group.

“I’m still taking in the fact that Takashi made a complete sentence.” Gruber scoffs at his own joke.

Mara rolls her eyes. I feel her agony.

“I think it might be a good idea to- “

“Ooh...” Before Mara could even finish her sentence, the American let out a groan. Everyone in the room jumps up, startled.

“Olivia… Oliva, can you hear me?” Mara calls out to her. Olivia… That was her name.

“Where… What happened?” Olivia bends up, holding her head. She looks unsettled, and groans at the sight of the lights.

“I’m not sure. I was hoping you may fill us in.” Mara offers a smile of reassurance. She helps her up slowly.

“I don’t know. I was working on fixing some of the static we were getting through the radios… I was looking to see if we could get a clearer single from back home…”

“What were you expecting to hear? More static?” Gruber interrupts.

“I was wanting to see if anyone was still left…” Olivia frustratingly clarifies.

“I figured if there was still someone or some remnants of the Coalition was still there… They might still be broadcasting…”

“And then?” Mara asks, gently.

“Well… I don’t know. I just remember being propped up at the desk over there and working through the different signals… And then… Poof.”

“Poof?” Markus confusingly asks.

“Yeah. Like I don’t remember. I blacked out. The next thing I see is y’all standing around me like if I had lobsters coming out of my jumpsuit.”

“Lobsters?” Markus interjects.

“Figure of speech, Socrates.” Grubers scoffs.

I look around the room and I notice that the chair had fallen back. Where she laid lying, though, was quite a way away from the communications desk. The Communication equipment looked mangled, if not outright damaged.

“Markus. Was she already there when you found her? Or did you move her?” I ask. All eyes are on me now.

“She was in that exact spot. Blood running from her nose.”

“What the hell?” Olivia, distraught, quickly touches her nose. She notices the blood remnants that had dried over her upper lip.

I remain silent. I shoot a look over to Mara and nod my head.

“Gruber and Markus, can you please go find Doctor Belinsky?”

They look at each other, grunt and then make their exit accordingly.

“Takashi, could you escort Olivia to the infirmary, please?” Takashi nods his head, and with the help of Mara, gets Olivia to her feet. Takashi walks with her out of the room. Mara rubs her hands on her pants and walks towards me.

“What do you think?” She whispers.

“I don’t like it.”

“You think it was some type of medical issue?”

“Unlikely.”

“Well… Do you think Markus had something to do with it?”

I look around. I look over to the desk and the chair. The headset was launched across the room as well. Several cables were unplugged.

“No. I think he was telling the truth.”

I walk over to the desk and look over the communication equipment. It looked like there was an issue of an overcharge of electricity running to the equipment. Everything seemed damaged or charred.

“What do you think?” Mara asks as she walks over to me.

“I’m not sure. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“How do you figure? That she was a noticeable distance from where she supposedly had fallen to where she had mentioned she was working at?”

“A considerable distance, yes.”

“Or was it the fact the blood over her lip had already dried by the time we got here, yet it was all over Markus’s hands?” Mara adds, as she looks around the room.

“I see you’re putting your KGB skills to good use.” I scoff. Mara seems slightly amused.

“I’m a bit rusty. This seems like a good enough reason to put on my detective hat on again, though. Additionally, it’ll give me something to do. I’ve been bored anyways.” She smiles as she looks over at me.

I smirk at her. She’s an interesting one, that is for sure.

“I don’t believe Markus had a good motive to do this nor do I think he is smart enough to make for a good liar.”

“I don’t either.” Mara agrees.

As we look around, a silence grows between us.

“You think it was aliens?” She smirks. We both laugh, maybe a little uncomfortably.

“I think it is fair to say nothing is completely off the table at this point. Not until Boris comes back from skulking around the Venera.”

“I’ll let you know what I find out. I’m going to see if Olivia made it to the Infirmary in one piece. Maybe she’ll remember something else her in a little bit more time.” Mara walks out of the room and into the dark shadows of the corridor.

I give the room one more looks over to see if anything else jumps out at me. As I look under the desk to see if the cables are also charred underneath the desk, I notice a handwritten note with a few drops of blood on the corner. The note looks like it was written sporadically:

R13

What could it mean? Was it some type of coordinate? A code, perhaps? Maybe the American is a spy setting us up for failure…

I laugh, because I realize very quickly, the absurdity of that thought. What would even be the point? God only knows what that means. I’m sure he is having quite the jest at our expense. We even amuse ourselves before God laughs.

I tuck away the note. I figure it might be worth sharing with Mara once we reconvene after she squeezes anymore information out of the American. It would be good to know sooner rather than later if there is someone, we need to concern ourselves with. We’ve spoken amongst ourselves already and if concerns arise – there is always a freezer available for those who find themselves to be “problematic.”