7.
Muryah stumbled into the engineering station and took Calloway’s seat. She tried to dry her cheeks, but it was of little use. The tears were still flowing freely, much like they had that day long ago. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to erase that terrible memory.
It was then that she noticed the item on the computer screen. It was a likeness of her. She looked closer and gasped when she saw that it was her personnel profile. But, it was different than the one her captain on the Tomahawk had access to. This one showed everything, even her other name of…
“Penland.”
Muryah jumped and half-screamed, turning to look at the figure in the doorway.
It was Calloway!
He stepped inside, moving slowly. He seemed to be moving rather stiffly and Muryah could see the look of excruciating pain on his face as he made his way towards her. Finally, he stopped, then moved around her and collapsed into the alternate seat. Muryah turned to face him, as if she were watching a ghost.
“I was perusing…that file before you walked in…last time,” Calloway gasped. “The captain may have locked me out of most of the systems on this ship, but I’m...still the engineer. I have a few backdoors in the system, things even Captain Penski can’t get into. Like accessing your entire...personnel file.”
“You…you were dead,” Muryah murmured. “I saw you die.”
“No, no, you’re thinking of my sense of humor,” Calloway answered, with a pained grimace. “As for me, I’m wearing a protective vest. Flexible armor. I-I’ve worn it ever since your planet…tried to kill me with that lightning bolt. Lucky me, eh? Most…most people don’t get shot…by their captain unless they really…really deserve it.”
“So, you’re okay then?”
“No, I’ve been shot. Weren’t you paying attention?”
Muryah still looked confused, but Calloway couldn’t blame her. It would take more than a little parlor magic to solve her problem. He slouched a little more in his seat.
“So, what’s your story, Muryah?” he grunted, as he tried to find a more comfortable sitting position to ease the pain and make it easier to breathe. “Or should I say Miss Penland?”
Muryah had a wild look on her face. She started to stand, but the ship shook again violently and tossed her back into her seat. Calloway glanced up briefly at the sound of the thunder getting louder. The wind buffeted the ship even more, so much so that, with great difficulty, he had to strap himself into his seat. He leaned over and did the same for Muryah.
“You changed your name a few years…before joining ISEA, Muryah,” Calloway continued. “Why? You got the others to speak out about what was hurting them, but...we know nothing about you? What kind of pain were you in that would make you want to abandon Earth and...stay here? You have family back home? What about them?”
Muryah refused to answer; just kept shaking her head. She fumbled at the lock of the seatbelt, but couldn’t get it undone quickly. She stopped, then tried again, but stopped again when Calloway reached forward and put his hands over hers. She looked up, mouth agape and stared directly into his eyes.
And she let it all out.
“Oh, God, I am so sorry,” she sobbed.
The ship shook even more violently and Calloway heard something break in the cargo bay. He ignored it, knowing the AI and server robots would contain any damage. Instead, he leaned forward and lifted Muryah’s head with one hand. He might not have had the best personality, but he hadn’t made it this far in the ISEA without being able to mentor and counsel people. As he looked at Muryah, he could only wonder if this approach might have worked better in his dealings with the others instead of his being a hard case.
“I…I killed someone,” she whispered. “I…I was my father’s favorite. I used to…tease all the boys. Make them fight over me. I thought it gave me power over them. I liked the attention.
“But, I went too far. I teased some of them and then some other boys got into it and started a big fight. One of the boys fell and hit his head. He…he died. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I told my father that, but he…he couldn’t see. He only saw how I had hurt the family name and he blamed me. They all blamed me.”
“They…they disowned me,” she continued, her tears now flowing so freely that she didn’t even bother to try to wipe them away. “My own father. My own siblings. I had nothing. I had to leave. I…I ran and ran, but I couldn’t get away. I tried to make it up. I tried, but they wouldn’t let me forget. So…I tried helping other people. I thought maybe if I did, that God would forgive me, help me go back home. But, it never helped.
“That’s why I signed up for the mission. The training gave me a new purpose, something to focus on. Otherwise I could never have passed my psych evaluation. But, I did and volunteered for 505-D.”
Calloway made a mental note to remind ISEA to revamp its psychological testing methods. Provided he made it back to ISEA.
“I wanted to leave it all behind,” Muryah went on. “Then, when I found this paradise, I thought I could finally be free. Do what I wanted. Not have the nightmares anymore. But, the crew, they started fighting with each other. It was like with my family all over again. When the ship took off, I was glad.”
Calloway felt like an idiot. Had he been less confrontational, he might have found this out sooner. Instead, he’d treated Muryah’s visit as some kind of intrusion into his life, a threat to everything he believed in. Maybe that’s why ISEA had picked Penski over him to lead the mission. Truth be known, it wasn’t – or shouldn’t have been – news to him. Other senior officers had indicated his confrontational nature as a bad mark on previous evaluations.
“When your crewmates died,” Muryah continued after catching her breath, “I started believing I was causing it all over again. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t me. But, then when you got shot, it all came back. I had caused someone to die again. Oh, God, I am so sorry. It’s all my fault. All this wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for me.”
Calloway leaned forward again and released Muryah’s seatbelt. He drew her into his arms, held her and, despite his own discomfort, let her cry on his shoulder. She cried for a long time. When she finally stopped, Calloway let her go. Then, he told her it wasn’t her fault.
“Not my fault?” she questioned. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“Listen.”
Muryah stopped and listened. It was quiet. She realized the storm had stopped.
“It was you, Muryah,” Calloway said. “You were right about the planet. It does provide for its life forms. It takes care of its life forms and it responds to them as well. When you hurt, the planet hurts. When Martine and Harrigan died, it reacted with dark clouds, like remorse. When I killed the shark, the skies became angry.”
Calloway stopped to let a wave of pain pass.
“And when you began to question yourself during the confrontation in the cargo bay, the planet could no longer hold back,” he said when the discomfort subsided. “You let it all out and so did the planet. That’s why you and the captain and the others can’t lose control of your emotions. The planet is going to react and if the emotions are heated, so will the planet’s reactions be.”
Muryah sniffled and wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her uniform.
“Think about it, Muryah,” Calloway continued. “Martine and her love of the ocean. Harrigan and the mountains. Janice and the desire to have time by herself without being needed by everyone else. By Lee, who didn’t want to carry the weight of so many people. By even the captain, who had worked so hard to please her parents that she never had time for herself. It’s all a recipe for disaster.”
Calloway shifted in his seat and tried to take deeper breaths. Talking so much in his condition had taxed him. For Muryah, it was a needed respite, as she seemed lost in her thoughts.
“I-I don’t understand,” Muryah said. “Why…why is it a disaster?”
“Look, this is all guesswork,” Calloway answered. ??
?So far, you were the only intelligent…being on this world, at least by human standards. The planet attuned itself to you as that higher life form. Now, it has my crewmates’ emotions to react to. You’re all clashing as the planet tries to accommodate everyone at the same time, as well as helping the lower life forms. It can’t continue…like this.”
“Wh-what do we do now?” Muryah asked, innocently.
“I have to go,” he answered, matter-of-factly. “I have to warn the colonists not to come here. Can you imagine three thousand souls affected by this planet? It would be an absolute catastrophe. I have to get this ship off the ground and you have to help me.”
“How can I help?” Muryah queried. “What about your crewmates?”
“The planet reacts to your emotions most of all, Muryah,” Calloway replied. “As the original higher life form. If you accept that I need to leave, then the planet shouldn’t stop me from lifting off. I hope.”
Muryah stayed silent for a long time. To Calloway, it looked as if she was calculating the chances of him being right.
“I can circle around and pick up the others,” he added. “If they want me to.”
“Okay, I-I’ll help you,” Muryah agreed.
“Alright then,” he said. “Let’s take off. You weren’t involved in takeoff and landing procedures aboard Tomahawk, were you?”
Muryah shook her head.
“Figures,” he murmured. “Well, give me a moment to override the captain’s lockout. Looks like she bailed on me, too. The AI isn’t finding her anywhere onboard.”
Calloway had to dig deep into his various backdoor programs to override Penski’s lockout. Fortunately, this was a dire emergency, as more than a few of them could have gotten him court-martialed. Despite there being only Calloway to handle the ship, the Humboldt took off. The AI helped, but it was rough going because of the way the planet’s atmosphere ionized parts of the hull. Well, Calloway mused, ISEA regulations required that the ship’s engineer should be able to run the ship by himself in an emergency, but they had never promised him a smooth trip.
Fortunately, Muryah’s radio call had reached Boronova. She was waiting as the ship landed hard in a grassy field. She was dry and warm as she had been inside the ATV during the storm, but, she still wanted to be alone and nothing Calloway said could convince her otherwise. She still wanted to stay. He didn’t see Lee anywhere and he didn’t bother to ask. It was confusing, but so were human emotions.
Calloway never found Lee. The meteorologist had separated from Janice during the storm, setting out on foot when she had told him she didn’t want him around every waking moment. He had shouted that he was heading back to the ship, telling her that Penski would take him. Maybe he stopped to enjoy the rainstorm, Calloway hoped.
That just left Captain Penski and Calloway knew she would be the toughest case of all. She and Calloway had clashed fiercely and some things were more difficult to forgive than others were. Calloway eventually located her near the mouth of Muryah’s cave. He brought the ship down almost to the ground, but couldn’t land because of the rocky surface. He had to set the ship to hover, with the AI attempting to adjust for the tricky winds channeling through nearby crevices and gulches.
“It’s actually good to hear your voice,” Penski said through her lapel microphone.
Jeez, Calloway muttered, that was definitely a backhanded compliment. Maybe the wounds opened earlier were still too raw to deal with.
“Are you okay?” Penski queried.
“Well, I’ve been ostracized, electrocuted, relieved of duty and shot,” Calloway answered, curtly. “I don’t think they treated Magellan this badly. Other than that, I’m fine. Look, Captain, I’m going up to warn the colonists. I’d appreciate your expertise in handling this ship. It’s difficult with just me.”
“I’m sorry, Devin,” Penski declined, her voice sounding glad. “I can’t go back. Not now. Not after the way I’ve acted. It was definitely not conduct becoming an officer.”
“Hey, I can let bygones be bygones,” Calloway said, as a couple of hard coughs racked his body.
“Thank you, Commander, but I’d still know,” Penski replied. “I need time to work my issues out. I need to relive the time I’ve missed out on. I-I’m staying.”
In the cockpit, Calloway let his head hang heavily. Though he’d argued with Penski, he had to admire her. She stuck by her convictions, even if he thought those convictions to be not worth staying behind for.
“No, Marie, you can’t stay,” Muryah interjected, leaning over Calloway to get to the radio. “Devin’s more hurt than he’s letting on. He might get the ship into space but at what price?”
“You don’t understand, Muryah,” Penski objected.
“I understand that you’re captain of this ship,” Muryah countered. “And you’re ultimately responsible.”
Calloway’s eyes widened in surprise. He hadn’t expected Muryah to be an advocate for responsible behavior. Maybe she was beginning to learn.
“I’m going to have Devin lower the ramp, Marie,” Muryah continued. “I’ll come out and you come back aboard.”
She cut off the conversation and then made her way toward the cockpit door.
“It’ll be okay, Devin,” she said, turning to look back. “I think once she’s away from the planet and not under its influence, she’ll be okay. Oh and thank you.”
“For what?”
“For reminding me of my own responsibilities,” she said.
“What responsibilities?”
“I’m responsible for them now,” she replied, with a smile. “For Lee and Janice, maybe even the captain if she decides to come back one day. I have to show them how to live in harmony with the planet, how to survive like I did, so that they don’t upset the balance of life. Goodbye, Devin.”
Calloway looked up at the monitors and watched Muryah navigate the long corridors until she got to the cargo bay. He then pressed a button to lower the ramp. He watched her walk down the ramp and step across to the flat surface of the rock formation above her cave where Penski lent a hand to keep her steady. He watched the pair hug tightly before the captain disengaged and walked into the ship. He then closed the ramp and slowly moved the ship away.
Within a few minutes, the door to the cockpit slid open and Penski stepped inside. She couldn’t look at the engineer. Instinctively, he slid out of the captain’s chair and took the co-pilot’s seat. Penski started to object, but finally nodded her appreciation of the gesture and took her spot at the helm.
“Devin, I…”
“Save it for later, okay, Captain.” Calloway interrupted. “It feels like an elephant’s sitting on my chest.”
He stared up at the monitors that showed all views around the ship. He watched Muryah waving as the ship rose slowly above the rocky outcroppings and into free sky. Then, Penski activated the retro jets and finally, the afterburners, leaving a trail of vapor through the atmosphere.
“I know we had our differences of opinion, Captain,” Calloway said after the ship had escaped the planet’s atmosphere. “But, it’s good to have you back.”
Penski merely nodded, perhaps needing more time to find the words to properly apologize.
“You’d better report to the infirmary, Commander,” she suggested. “The AI’s not as good as Martine, but it will do in a pinch. At least until we rendezvous with the colonists and get you to their doctor. Oh, and don’t worry. I won’t send off a radio message from here and then land back planetside.”
“Are you sure you can handle it, ma’am?” Calloway asked. “I could stay and help, at least until we reach the first beacon.”
“That would be helpful, but you really have to report to sick bay,” Penski replied. “Regulations, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Calloway acknowledged, a thin smile playing across his lips at the inference. “Wake me when we get there, please.”
With that, he left the cockpit and made his way aft. His chest ached but he wasn’t sure
if it was from the bullet or maybe something else. At least, he thought, he’d have someone to dream about, with no regulations to get in the way.
Surprised he’d actually thought that, he made his way into the infirmary.
- 30 -
The following is an excerpt from Hunters, the new novel by Gregory Marshall Smith, available from Red Hot Publishing…