Pre * De * Cede: Chapter 8

The early hours of the day were dreary and silent. Those who chose to eat did so out of the dining area. There was still reddish sand tracked in from the airlock to the center of the structure. I somehow convinced myself to walk around the traces, leaving them where they had been deposited.

Zeta and Epsilon took to examining samples of what they assumed could have been Gamma’s downfall. “This is from another packet of that Mac and Cheese he likely ate up.” Epsilon passed a glass slide to Zeta. She shoved it in the clips just above the glowing bulb of the microscope before squinting her eye to the lens. Her lips moved back and forth in concentration as she shifted around the sample of yellow-orange powder.

“Just as I thought.” She concluded finally, stretching back up. “No live cultures, or dead ones for that matter. I doubt this even started as cheese in the first place.”

Epsilon crossed his arms and slumped against the wall. “Funny.” He sighed. “How much longer do we have for the centrifuge to separate out those samples of inoculation charges?”

“Could be an hour or more.” Zeta patted the machine sitting at the back of the dark speckled acrylic counter. “I don’t know all the component weights to it.”

“And if there is something funny about it?”

Zeta’s glance traveled to the door, where I was standing quietly, awaiting the answer. The look I received gave off a faintly threatening vibe, and I pulled myself away. “Well, if there is something off… we all received it.” Were the last words I heard as I made my way off.

Delta had been fiddling with the transmitter for some time. When I returned to him, he had taken the back panel from it and disarranged some of the wires sitting inside. I rounded the corner to find that one of the panels of the wall had been removed, with wool-like insulation and more wires dangling from it.

“Don’t touch anything in there.” I heard Delta call out before rounding the corner to meet me.

“-I… wasn’t.” I glanced into the slim space full of various workings.

“One of those lines runs up to the dish on the roof.” He explained, tugging on some of the rubber sheaths. “Gotta find just the right one with the voltmeter. Hopefully I can also splice in some extra power.”

“That should help us send off a proper message, should it not?” I looked to him hopefully.
“It will, or it might possibly fry the system. But I don’t see any other way.” Delta glared. “But seriously, I wish I knew more about these systems. If only I still had Gamma…”

“We don’t.” I growled back. “If we did, this wouldn’t need to happen.”

Delta grit his teeth and slumped away. “I may just end up heading to the roof again to run a trace wire, or something with a higher gauge down into wiring junction.”
“If you go outside, bring someone else.” I paused. “To be safe.”

“Are you volunteering?” Delta grumbled back. “Actually, Beta would be better help.”

I let a slow breath out my nose before looking up and down the hall again. “I’ll see where he is.”

Beta was not at the airlock looking to the outside, nor next door with Zeta and Epsilon. I passed back by Delta and to the back room. I first noticed the hump of blanket encasing the still body within. I almost turned back out when I saw Beta sitting inside his old compartment, the door partially shielding him from view. His knees were up to his chest, with his face buried within.

“Beta.” I called out warily, hoping to grab his attention. He gave no intention of wanting to respond. I hunched down before him and gently placed my hand on his shoulder. “Beta, sulking will get you nowhere.” I increased the urgency in my voice. “I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I didn’t know what I’m doing. We’re only human, here.”

Beta remained in place. I felt my thighs aching from sitting in place. I shifted down to my knees before Beta, coming even closer. “Beta, there are five of us now. We need everyone to pull their weight.”

With another non-response from Beta, I felt my teeth grinding together. I grabbed at the side of his face and pushed it up. Beta’s eyes were held open, and his face expressionless. I jumped back, landing on my butt and allowing his head to fall back in place. My hands ran into a set of boots behind me. As I returned to my feet, I caught sight of Delta standing frozen at the doorway. “How… long have you been there?”

Delta stood shaking his head. “When you said… that we were only human.”

I pursed my lips and shook my head before taking a deep enough breath to steady myself. “Zeta!” I called out. She came marching down the hall, and I pushed past her.

“Alpha?” She glanced back to me.

“We’ve lost Beta now.” I continued back out.

Epsilon joined shortly after. Along with Delta, they remained in the room for a long duration. I sat at the dining table, my hands propping up my chin. I studied the tiny specks embedded in the beige laminated material. Delta was the first one to return, sitting across from me where he had laid the communications device.

“Alpha…”

“I’ll head out with you and help with any task you need.” I said, avoiding the impulse to look up at him in the eye.

Continue reading “The Eighth Day”

Pre * De * Cede: Chapter 7

Some of the items among the retrieved supplies were:

A selection of scientific tools for the laboratory, including inside one of the heaviest boxes, a tool that Zeta referred to as a centrifuge. She said it was for separating a sample of something into the various elements based on their weight. She gave me the notion that she planned to check on the water reserves of the station, including a sample she had taken the days before when our water was seemingly contaminated.

Gamma was happy to find electrical tools, specifically a drill and several robust bits, able to be powered by battery from anywhere. There were also other larger crates of building materials, such as packed insulation and panels of the light-weight plastic used on many of the fixtures. He said they could be used on a vacuum former, in the likely case that there were parts for one to be built.

I came across Epsilon also working with the tributes he had found. He was hanging the compact planter on the clear window of the auxiliary room by use of a pair of suction cups. “So, they did send up soil, did they?” I joked at him.

The dirt inside the individual cups had been disturbed and slightly dampened. “Those seeds I talked about…” Epsilon described. “They have a place to grow now. We can have even the slightest amount of fresh greens in our diet now.”

“That could be just the start, Epsilon.”

I found Gamma working with Delta, talking over the communications system. “The suits don’t have enough power to broadcast long distances.” Gamma explained sternly.

“Wherever that… command signal is coming from… it has to be from some high-powered source.” Delta huffed. “The dish outside can pick that up just fine, but nothing else.”
I sat down with the two of them at the dining table. “We have to assume that there is nothing else out there.” I suggested.

Delta crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. “Gamma here says he wanted to make a few more trips out to that supply pod to finish getting the crates, and to see what he can salvage off it.”

Gamma nodded in accord. “They obviously must intend for us to use it, right?” He nodded emphatically. “And then, there’s likely going to be another one in the future, and who knows where that will end up?”

I ground my teeth in silent reflection. “There is plenty of power to spare now.” I finally announced. “Could a signal be… sent faster if it has more power?”

Delta shifted up to attention. “Well, yes. Not faster though- with more intensity. You’re talking about a signal booster. If the suits can’t produce a stronger signal, the station may be able to hone in them better- in essence, listen better.”

“You wouldn’t need a full signal from the suits anyways.” Gamma patted his hand on the tabletop. “They can be modified pretty easily for continuous wave, so we could send… Morse.”

“Morse is ancient.” Delta rolled his eyes.

“But all it takes is a single electrical contact to be added to the suit’s controls. I could test it as soon as… an hour.” Gamma shrugged hopefully

“You know Morse?” Delta shook his head.

“Of course.”

“Same here…” I answered sheepishly, the dots and dashes returning from somewhere deep in my memory. “I mean, it’s worth a try. This is all in the name of progress, isn’t it?”

---

Some time later, Gamma was stepping into the modified suit, complete with a simple electrical switch under the layers of fabric upon his chest. He depressed it several times, allowing the obnoxious beep to play through the speaker. The same tone played from the station’s receiver in the next room. O-K- the message said.

“There’s nothing stopping you, Gamma.” Delta’s voice came through the suit’s speaker.

“Keep in a straight line, and we can see just how far away the regular radio line cuts out.”

“You sure you don’t want someone to come with?” I asked.

Gamma ignored me and shoved the helmet onto his head, locking it in place. “This shouldn’t be long at all, Alpha. For now, its just a test.” His voice was muffled behind the mask of clear material. He shuffled into the airlock, leaving me behind.

I joined Delta in the dining room, where Beta had also come to examine the experiment. “Testing.” Gamma’s voice crackled through the speaker. Dash dash dot dash dash dash.

“Go.” I mumbled under my breath, listening to the beeps coming through the speaker.

“If only they were able to drop the supply pod closer…” Delta hummed to himself, the transmit button pressed down purposefully.

“Well…” Gamma’s voice came back at us. “Maybe they didn’t wanted to drop it on us directly.”

“I wish they would give us some sort of timetable for the long run.” Delta returned, glancing at me.

“It’s true that everything seems kind of short-sighted.” I shrugged. “There’s no way to tell that command signal that we’ve got to the pod? Or maybe they just assumed that we would have already.”

Delta leaned back, his hands on his lap. “Gamma seemed amped to do this first. One step at a time, I guess.” He finished, returning to the ‘transmit’ button. “How far now, Gamma?”

“Just lost sight of the station.” There was a slight crack in the transmission.

Delta confirmed. “Copy.”

I stood and paced a bit, glancing out the window through the doorway of the adjacent room. Epsilon was going through more of the boxes on the floor, spreading out his pertinent supplies around his legs splayed out before him.

“Do you still copy, Gamma? Give us some of the continuous wave. Keep an eye to see how much power your suit is using, as well.”

I stood behind Delta as he awaited the reply. Thirty seconds of more passed before Delta repeated. “Copy, Gamma?”

Continue reading “The Seventh Day”