Outcasts of Gideon

The Aion : Part 1

Dewey sat at the controls of the Aion. The ship had just emerged from the empty in Sol system, a place he'd never been before. They were around 2.5 million kilometers from Saturn's southern pole. He fired correcting thrusters to orient the ship toward the massive planet. Precision wasn't necessary yet. They hadn't picked a destination.

He hoped pointing them in the general direction of the gas giant would ease his mind. It didn't. They had an unwinnable scenario. Being the pilot, he felt some responsibility for that. At the same time, he felt everything was out of his control. Try as he might, he often felt that way.

They were in the region of space known as the Saturn Terminus. He typed a command into the computer. The nearest objects appeared on his monitor. In total, seven Saturn moons had active fueling facilities. At this distance, they weren't going to reach any of them. No planets. No moons. No refueling stations.

"We're too far away," he shouted. He remembered the intercom was still active. This time he didn't shout. "We're too far away." He typed in a command. The computer calculated burn rates and travel time for each potential destination. He added a fuel parameter and most of the data blanked out.

His boss's voice came over the intercom. "We expected that. We had to land in the middle of nowhere. It's a long way to jump."

"Too far." Dewey killed the maneuvering thrusters.

"Were we followed?"

Dewey searched the readout for nearby ships, but found none. "They wouldn't come through right away. Too easy to land on top of us. Besides, they were comin' from Phaethon. We had time."

"That's true."

They would have at least an hour before the Damasos ship reached the interstellar. It would be closer to two hours if they were following protocol. "Without fuel, it really doesn't matter."

"Take us toward Rhea. They probably won't expect that. Titan's more likely."

"But there's nothin' on Rhea."

"There's something on Rhea. Not much, but a small outpost. And fuel. At least there used to be. They aren't likely to look for us there."

"Well, even if we could make it, Titan is closer. Much closer. It would still take more than two weeks to get there with the fuel we have. Rhea would add another day or two."

Dewey waited for a response. When none came, he ran the calculations again, this time specific to Titan. He ran them another time for the closest four moons. As he waited, he heard shouting. Flipping on the vid, he saw both Dawn and Bobby seated in the front row. Bobby looked like he was sleeping, his arms floating before him. Beside him, Dawn sat motionless. Her arms were floating too, though Mister Lackey had grabbed them from behind. He was shaking her.

Dewey unstrapped and launched himself down. Holding tight to the bottom of the ladder, he looked to see what was happening. Dawn's eyes were open, but they stared straight ahead, vacant. "What's wrong?"

Mister Lackey reached for Dawn's face. Holding onto the seat, he leaned over and put his ear near her mouth. Leaning back, he grabbed one of her shoulders and shook her again. His hand slipped off the back of the seat, sending him floating away. Dawn remained motionless.

"What's wrong with her?" Dewey could feel his face flush again.

Mister Lackey looked at him, flailing his arms as he floated up. His mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out. When sound finally emerged, Dewey couldn't understand what he was saying. A few curses started to collect followed by what sounded like "dis" and some other sounds. None of it made sense.

Dewey started to panic. It looked like whatever happened to Bobby was spreading. He wondered if it was going to get him next.

Mister Lackey finally composed himself enough to get out the word "dissociated." Dissociated? What did that mean? Dewey's mind raced. He'd heard it before. It's what happened when...

Mister Lackey pushed himself off the bulkhead toward Dawn. "She can't dissociate. She doesn't have the gene."

The meaning came to Dewey. It was what some people did when they went through the empty. There's no way that was Dawn, was there?

Mister Lackey wedged one foot beneath Dawn's seat. He held her shoulder and shook. Her gaze remained fixed to some distant horizon. The tilt of her head gave the impression that she was listening for something. Dewey could tell she wasn't.

He pushed himself toward them. Did I do that? he wondered to himself, tears welling up in his eyes. Grabbing Bobby's arm, he stopped himself. There he floated, speechless. He let out a whimper.

Mister Lackey, hearing him, turned his head. "What options do we have?"

"How should I know? I've never seen anyone do that."

"No, I mean flight options, Dewey. Focus!"

Dewey wiped his eyes. Some of his tears had escaped to float before him. He pushed them aside. "I told you, we're closest to Titan. It will take about twelve days float with the fuel we have. Is she gone?"

"I think so."

"How could that happen?"

"I don't know."

"But she never said she couldn't..."

"She was fine. I would know if she had the gene. Look, we have to move. We have to clear this space before any other ships emerge."

Dewey squeezed his eyes closed, forcing out more tears. Opening his eyes, he reached for Dawn's shoulder. Almost at his touch, Dawn's eyes and face lit up.

"What the hell happened?" she shouted to no one in particular.

Dewey pushed away, floating upward and toward the bulkhead.

Mister Lackey let go of her shoulder. "We thought we lost you."

"How long was I..."

"A few minutes at most."

"That can't be true. It was hours at least."

"No one has ever come back from that." Grant touched the back of his hand to her cheek.

"Where are we?"

"We're on the Sol side of the bubble trying to figure out how we're going to make it to refuel. Dewey was going to engage engines for Titan. Weren't you, Dewey?"

"The artifact," said Dawn. It sounded more like a question. "I wasn't touching it, was I?"

"Not as far as I could tell." Mister Lackey tapped the messenger pouch floating in front of Bobby. It moved toward the sleeping man. He turned to Dewey. "Aim us for Titan. Let's get a good run going. Save enough for a braking burn. We'll figure out what to do next."