REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 28
Honor the Fallen
 

Sofiya ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth, wincing at the flavor that her sluggish brain compared to old socks, burnt plastic and other unsavory things while chewing on aluminum foil. It was a wretched enough taste that it caused her to curl up in a coughing fit while gagging. Before she could roll off the cryo-bed, strong, sure hands held her down while someone spoke to her.

“Relax, Sofiya. Give it a few minutes and it will pass,” someone told her in English.

“Ohydnyy!” the red fox finally murmured. “My mouth tastes like it has been filled with goat layno.”

“It will pass,” the voice said again after another chuckle. “And yes. I went through the same thing. I thought that someone had used my tongue to clean the latrines.”

The blond haired vixen winced when her eyelids were peeled back one at a time and a penlight was aimed into them. Sofiya was able to sit up with help, aware that her bladder felt exceedingly full and hoped fervently that she didn’t have an accident before being able to make it to the facilities. It took some moments before she was able to formulate her thoughts, and then translate them from her native Ukrainian to English. “What…what has happened? Where am I?”

A thermometer was placed in her ear and beeped after a moment then her wrist was taken in a firm grip so that the red fox’s pulse could be timed. “All of us are still on the James Cook, and according to Captain Tananga we’re just outside of the point where Bastien can be seen by the naked eye,” Riva informed her friend.

From behind her, Sofiya heard a low moan and sluggish Spanish that was spoken with a low growl. Prying her eyes open by sheer force of will, she turned to see the ship’s surgeon helping Hector wake up, though she squinted at the overly bright seeming lights from the recessed LED clusters. “Bastien? We are here?”

“We are,” Riva replied with a smile. “The Captain ordered Philippe to wake me, then you and Hector. Fortunately, you didn’t have as difficult a time as I did. I couldn’t stop vomiting for the first hour.”

Trying to muster sympathy for the bat eared fox, Sofiya found it difficult as she was far too focused on her own misery and needs at the moment. “Riva…I need to go to the toilet,” she informed the other Fur, incapable of stating her requirements more politely. “Please. I need to be hurrying!”

“Okay,” the other vixen said, slipping an arm under the other and helping Sofiya get her feet under her.

The first few steps were more than a little awkward, and the red fox was happy that she didn’t have much further to go than a few feet. As it was, she almost didn’t make it and once relieved opened the sliding partition enough to stick her head out. “I…I am needing new clothing…” she told the medical Fur with some embarrassment.

Riva gave her a wink as she passed a still sealed packet of fresh Furman garments to the red fox. “It happens. Remember, I was wearing lavender when we went under,” the bat eared fox said quietly as she indicated her now yellow vest top and shorts. “It’ll be our secret.”

Cleaned and changed, Sofiya dropped the soiled clothing into a disposal slot for refuse and exited in time for Hector to bolt into the lavatory. His sigh of relief was clearly audible, but instead of amusement, Sofiya could only feel a pang of sympathy for her first officer.

The more she moved around, the better the red fox felt, and before long she discovered that the next order of business was food as she felt absolutely ravenous. She and Hector let Riva and Doctor Duval lead them from the medical section to the center access tube. Unlike the rotational rings that moved in opposite directions to keep the slipship from gyrating and slewing off course through centripetal force, the access tube had no gravity, and the Vulps were suddenly glad of the time that had been spent on Space Station Sebra and re-familiarizing themselves with Z-G maneuvering. It was a different story as they reached the section with the ship’s mess and made their way to the ‘bottom’ where gravity again asserted itself.

“That will take a little bit to get used to,” Hector commented as he shook his head to clear a moment of vertigo.

“Would you believe that that’s where most slipship candidates flunk out?” Philippe Duval asked as he gestured to the food storage dispensers. “Apparently three out of four people can’t cope with the transition while moving from zero gravity to the point eight five that the rings simulate. At least not on the regular basis that is needed for slipship crew members.”

Sofiya only half listened to the discussion as she stood before the dispenser and read the selection of its offerings, finally settling on something that her Richard had introduced her to and the red fox had become most fond of; meat loaf and mashed potatoes. As she sat down, peeling the top off the tray, she had to admit that the contents looked nothing like the same dishes on Earth had, but the smell was the same and Sofiya smiled as she began to tuck into the meal with gusto.

The Doctor waited for Sofiya to finish eating, a good appetite one of the indicators that there were no lingering effects from the Fur’s period of cryo-sleep, before smiling at her and speaking. “The Captain wanted to see you once you were recovered sufficiently. If you need a little longer, that’ll be fine.”

“No. I am being quite happy, now,” Sofiya replied with an answering grin. “I am, however, thinking that I should apologize for my manners!”

Duval laughed and waved away any need for an apology. “You are no worse than many of the passengers and crew, and far better than most, myself included. The only time I act even more barbaric is when I’m home on leave in Nova Scotia. My mother makes the best baked lobster and it seems I can never get enough!” He waited for the vixen to deposit her tray in the proper receptacle and led her back to the access tube.

They reached the hatch that led onto the flight deck and the Doctor tripped the call button. Seconds later the hatch swung open and the man led Sofiya onto the flight deck.

“Ah. Miss Talova. Please join us,” the captain said with a wide smile.

Sofiya had met Beley Tananga briefly before their departure, and found the man confident and capable. She had tried to pronounce his actual first name, but couldn’t manage the preceding click of her tongue and decided to simply call him be rank or surname. He wore a dark blue jumpsuit that complimented his dark skin and hair, though it gave his smile and eyes a sort of luminous brilliance. The man was quite charming and charismatic with an air of confidence, precisely the thing one thought a ship’s captain should be. His deep voice was filled with an almost tangible quality, and while his English was clear and precise, it was accentuated with the flavors of his native Swahili.

“Thank you, Captain,” the Fur replied, unable to refrain from looking past the large man to the field of stars and brighter disk of Epsilon Eridani on the large forward vidscreen of the bridge.

Beley laughed a deep, booming sound and shook his head. “I am sorry. We’re still too far out to see Bastien with the naked eye, though at this angle of approach, even if you could see her, she would only be a small sliver of illumination.” The man gestured the Fur forward, Sofiya utilizing the handrails on his seatback to steady herself as the Captain brought up an image at his station. He magnified the picture on the touch screen and traced a faint line of deep blue and followed a darker region that blotted out the stars. “And there she is. We are still days away, but when we begin our descent, it will be done so on the dark side of the world.”

The red fox couldn’t help but smile. After so much that had happened, all the training, they were within sight of their new home, their better world. “This is all so…indescribable!”

The man put his hand on the vixen’s shoulder. “And now you know the reason I am Captain of a ship. I feel what you are experiencing right now with every world I see.” Beley chuckled again at the bright, wide eyes of the Fur. “You would also be interested in this, I think. This is what your people will be going to bed under half of the year.”

Sofiya’s eyes grew so wide the human thought that they might fall out of the anthrofox’s head as the hull cameras showed what the night sky for this part of the planet’s yearly revolution would look like if the weather was clear on the planet they sped towards. Smeared cross the dark of space were the tattered streamers of spatial gasses and cometary debris lit by Epsilon Eridani, the light passing through suspended ice crystals to color it like a gigantic celestial rainbow.

“This is one of those moments that make our jobs worthy beyond measure,” Captain Tananga said with almost reverent tones. “Right now you are only seeing a very small portion of the cloud, and from the surface of Bastien it will almost stretch from horizon to horizon.”

“You have been to Bastien before?” Sofiya asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene.

Tananga laughed. “Never before this, but we have been talking to the two remaining colonists. That is one of the reasons that I asked for you here on the bridge. We will be in contact with them again on the next duty rotation and I thought that maybe you would like to speak with them. Needless to say Doctors de Chevalier are more than a little anxious to make your acquaintance.”

Sofiya nodded. “I am not imagining how difficult this time has been for them. To have seen so many friends…” She trailed off while shaking her head sadly.

“So very difficult,” Beley agreed. “They did wish for me to pass on the information that they wish to stay with your colony and not return to Earth, even though it is well within their right to do so.” The man switched his station screen back to the information that indicated the status of his vessel. “As I am sure that you have already been made aware of, you, out of all your people, will be the only one allowed access to the bridge at any given time. This is not because of any great secrets, but too many bodies would make already tight quarters even worse, and with the lack of gravity, floating bodies and random limbs might bump something important, and I truly wish to avoid any accidents.”

Sofiya nodded and gave the dark man a warm smile. “A wise decision,” she agreed before yawning. “Please be pardoning me. I am not meaning to be rude.”

The laugh that Tananga gave was friendly and disarming. “Do not apologize. I know that it will be several hours still before you are fully awake from the cryogenic process. As such, Doctor Duval has set aside quarters for you and your first officer to utilize. We still have four ship’s rotations to go before we start bringing your companions out of cold sleep. We will do that a little under a full Earth day prior to landing so that everyone will be ready to assist disembarking. Until then, feel free to use the onboard facilities as you need.”

The Captain’s words were meant to sound friendly, but still a dismissal and Sofiya took it as such, turning and heading for the hatch that led to the access tunnel. It was easy to make her way back to the mess facilities where Hector was still slumped over a packet of coffee and rubbing the bridge of his long nose. When the grey fox wordlessly slid a coffee packet to Sofiya, the red fox pulled the integrated straw out, breaking the seal in the process while Hector put his head down on his crossed forearms.

“I think I might have freezer burn,” the Argentine commented jokingly, though his tone indicated he was half serious.

“Believe me when I tell you a little light exercise will make all of the difference,” Riva commented with a smile. “The stimulation netting does what it’s supposed to, but it isn’t as good as actually moving and stretching.” The bat eared fox regarded their leader and quirked a grin at the other vixen. “And you have a look of amazement that hasn’t diminished in the slightest. Did you see Bastien?”

“Ne…no. Just a tiny sliver that was lit by our new sun. You’ll understand when you see the night sky for the first time.” Sofiya tried to describe the luminous cloud, but wound up shaking her head, still in complete awe and wondering if she would ever get used to seeing something so spectacular. “It was unlike anything I have ever witnessed.”

“Then I have something more to look forward to,” Riva replied with a grin. The vixen smiled at the red fox’s description. “Anyway, when the two of you are ready, I can show you the quarters that you’ll use until we wake the others. We still have a few days yet. Personally I’m going to recommend hitting the exercise stations and turning in. You really will feel better after a workout and then a little actual sleep.”

Hector lifted his head and fixed the Israeli Fur with bleary eyes. “What happens if you did not remove all of the anti-freeze you put in us?”

Riva shook her head. “Nothing. It is readily broken down and disposed of by your own body. It’s mostly enzymes and proteins, but blood causes it to get absorbed and passed out the normal way wastes would, that’s why there is the sudden but urgent need to urinate after coming out of cold sleep. Well, that and internal muscles begin to function again, and the ones around the bladder tend to contract as you come out of suspended animation and the body warms up. But the solution is harmless. It has to be otherwise we couldn’t use it.”

“Ah,” Hector intoned and put his head back down. “I still think I have freezer burn.”

***

There were enough stores on board the James Cook for all of the Furs to have a decent snack once they were pulled out of cryo-sleep and Sofiya was more than elated to be reunited with Richard and the other two vixens. She’d known that they were safe, tucked away in their cold sleep capsules within the ship, but she hadn’t realized how much she missed them, especially the silver fox, until all of them had rejoined the land of the living.

Spirits were high as the thirty-six Furs were finally given orders to make their way to the troop compartment to strap in for atmospheric entry after cleaning the ship, something that was standard procedure prior to any planetary insertion. The truly wonderful thing was that due to the nature of the James Cook seating arrangements were inconsequential. All of them took their seats in a section that looked not too dissimilar from one of the many coaches they’d been on, the major difference being that there were no windows.

The seats we set in pairs with two rows running down both sides of the compartment. Unlike earlier models of slipship, the seats of the James Cook had nooks at the meeting of the seatbacks and cushion for beings with tails, though the pockets weren’t actually deep enough and required a little creativity on behalf of the Furs to be comfortable. Sofiya sat next to the bulkhead while Richard had the aisle seat. He stretched his arm out so that Amanda could take his paw-like hand in hers, much as the red fox had a hold of the other, her fingers gripping tightly, mute testimony to how nervous she was.

There were many that gave vent to minute sounds of nervous distress as the first buffets rocked the vessel as it skipped along the upper atmosphere of Bastien. Then with a mighty lurch that had several of the Furs believing that they’d left their stomachs in orbit, the huge ship dropped further into the atmosphere. The wild ride seemed as if it would go on forever, despite Richard chuckling at the bumps, shakes and sudden plummets that had many of the Vulps convinced they were going to make their landing on Bastien in a spectacular explosion resulting in a large crater.

When the ride smoothed out, there was a collective sigh of relief and no few sobs until the landing motors kicked in. Finally, after one of the longest seeming periods of their lives, the James Cook settled on the ground. The sudden silence was eerie, though that was broken by the cheering when Captain Tananga’s voice sounded over the intercom to tell them that they were down, safe, and that in less than an hour the hatches would be open for the Furs to disembark and finally set foot on their new home.

***

When the other Vulps had gathered before the first cargo door they found Sofiya in quiet conversation with Captain Beley Tananga. He smiled and nodded before turning to the assembled Furs. “As the tradition goes, the colony leader is always the first to step foot on any planet, to say a few words if he or she is so inclined, followed by the official posting to station,” the man informed the others in his deep voice. “Once the general formalities have been taken care of, the rest of you will be permitted to disembark. He then turned to his First Officer. “Mister Henderson, you may open the hatch,” Tananga ordered.

With a grin, Julie Henderson activated the controls of the complex hatch mechanism, the hydraulic actuators pulling the huge door inward then up. Sunlight streamed in through the opened cargo hatch, though it was noticeably different than what the Furs were used to on Earth, the ambient glow having the slightly orange-white cast from Epsilon Eridani to it instead of the yellow-white of Sol.

Riva slipped through the throng, the spritely bat eared fox having little trouble worming through the other Vulps to slip something into Sofiya’s paw-like hand. As the red fox glanced at her fellow colonists, she saw that many of them had lifted their heads, closed their eyes and were sampling the rush of air that flooded the cargo hold.

With a slight smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, the vixen stepped out of the ship and down the ramp, hesitating only a moment before her sandaled foot touched the odd, springy turf of the moss-like roots of what she automatically thought of as grass, the thin stems topped with a cluster of tendrils that looked like feathers almost four inches in length that stirred and swayed in the light breeze. Sofiya also sniffed at the air as her other foot came off the ram, finding the layered scents intriguing. The faintest one was the mineral scent of the ground that had been scorched clear by the James Cooks’ landing motors mingled with charred vegetation. Another waft of the breeze brought a mélange that was reminiscent of cinnamon and citrus, sharp and tangy, and mingled with that the salty brine of the ocean that was a few miles away.

Sofiya only walked a few yards away from the edge of the ramp before she turned and looked at the Furs and humans that watched her intently. Taking a deep, centering breath with her head lowered, Sofiya let out her breath and looked up.

“There is a small part of me that is wishing this planet was not Bastien,” the vixen began, her voice gaining volume as she spoke. “If this were another world, it would mean that the colony before us would still be alive. They would most likely be celebrating their five-year mark, knowing that they had done a good job in carving out a life here.

“While the ones before us were being Felis, save two, they were like us, people who believed that a better world could be made than the one we have traveled so far from. They were having hopes, dreams, and worked hard, giving their lives to be making something better than the home we have left behind. Honor their memory, my friends. Remember the sacrifices that have been made.”

Sofiya lifted the object that she’d been handed, lifting it up so that all of the individuals that looked at her could see that it was a vial of her own blood. They watched as the vixen pulled the stopper out and slowly poured the contents out, the crimson liquid appearing as black spots on the dark grass.

“I offer myself to our new home, not only in honor of our predecessors, but as a promise to all of you that I will do everything I am capable of to keep you safe, to watch you grow, to turn this into a world that we have only ever dared to dream of.” Sofiya replaced the stopper and put the now empty tube in her vest pocket then held her arms wide. “Welcome to Bastien, my friends. May she embrace us with the same enthusiasm that we embrace her!”

As if that were their cue, Richard, Elena and Amanda stepped out of the ship to join the red fox vixen in the light of their new sun.

As the Furs disembarked from the slipship, Captain Tananga stepped forward, unable to keep the smile off of his strong featured face at the way she and the other three Vulps held on to one another. “Shall we make this official, Miss Talova?” the man asked in an amused tone, though his words were heard by everyone and soon the two were facing each other with the only sounds the breeze and the creaks and clicks from the slipship while everyone else formed a circle without really thinking about it.

Sofiya nodded and assumed a serious expression while the dark skinned man withdrew a variant of PBJ made for use by slipship personnel in a bright red clamshell with his name and rank in silver lettering and the name of the vessel he was posted to on the outer casing.

“By the authority granted me by the Terran Colonization Coalition and the Anthro Human Colonization Program, I, Keo Beley Tananga, Commander of the TCC Slipship James Cook do confer the title and rank of Captain to Sofiya Yana Talova as Commander of the colony hereby named Abeona of the planet Bastien.

“Captain Talova, you have been briefed on the laws regarding your position as a colonial director and leader of the Abeona mission. Do you accept these duties placed upon you and the authority granted by the TCC and AHCP, to do your utmost to see the success of the colony endeavor known as Abeona, to safeguard those that have been placed under your command and solemnly swear to carry out your orders in accordance to the laws regarding interstellar regulations?”

“I do,” the vixen answered clearly.

Tananga opened his PBJ and used the incorporated print reader to confirm that he was passing command of the Bastien colony to the red fox, Sofiya following suit. As soon as both prints were recorded, the device linking remotely with the computers onboard the James Cook, Beley smiled and returned the case to its normal pocket on his jumpsuit. “Congratulations, Captain Talova, and God bless you and your people here.”

“Thank you, Captain Tananga,” the vixen said with a smile. Before she could turn and give the orders to begin unloading the cargo bays of the enormous ship, a muttered oath from behind her caused all of them to turn and look.

Two strange Vulps regarded the group, one with a disbelieving expression, the other with relief, both had tears streaming down their cheek fur. Both were red fox Furs and the smaller vixen had a strange creature on her shoulder that looked as if someone had taken a parrot, a toucan and combined them with a ringtail lemur.

“Mon dieu!” the vixen exclaimed in a ragged whisper. “You have finally come!”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.