Star Side

Chapter 7

Back several months previously

Stellar date (Earth Time): 01-19-2914

Despite our best efforts to avoid him, Joshua wore us down with the idea of using A.I. to help launch a manned mission to the surface.

"I'm only agreeing to this because if you die, I'll get some peace and quiet," said Levi from his chair.

We'd all taken our turns on the bridge, or control station, to check the overall status of the space station, though technically it was only Levi's job. We all had the same access level to the systems, which was only to the extent needed to run and maintain the station. Anything drastic like self-destructing or floating away somewhere else was out of our authority. Only codes from Earth, twenty years of travel away, could do that.

Which meant we technically didn't have full authority to launch a manned mission to the planet. Got to make sure their station babysitters didn't commit suicide by dropping out of space.

But, having been here for a few decades, and with nothing better to do, Levi had learned away around this using the life pods, though he hadn't deemed to share it with anyone else until now. Once disconnected, only vital signs and basic radio would work. The pod would have to be piloted by Joshua.

I'll remind you that Joshua is a botanist, not an astronaut.

"I've done the flight simulators, I'll be fine," he said. "I know the books in an out."

Naomi, from her place in third seat before navigation and alerts, gave a low snort. Being his wife I'd thought she'd be a little more apprehensive about agreeing to shoot her husband into space, but maybe all those jokes about divorce papers taking too long to process hadn't been jokes.

I didn't have much room to think about it, however, as it was my job to plot the timing and trajectory of the launch, being the physics and math guru. The life pod didn't have the power to fly around against the planet's gravity and atmosphere forever while Joshua found his burial site. I had to be the one who knew just when to push the button, shoot him out, and get him at his coordinates on the first try. The rest of the fuel, which, according to the rules was suppose to never be accessed manually as they needed power the life-support systems for as long as possible, would be used to launch out of the atmosphere. There, Joshua would have enough oxygen to hang around until we picked him up on our next revolution. Which meant I also had to time when he'd have to leave the planet to be in grabbing time.

No stress. Just one of my only three companion's life on the line. No pressure. And the math wasn't complicated at all. I did several times more complicated on a daily basis for fun.

Still...

"Expedited shipping," I told Joshua when he dropped over to see how I was doing.

He blanched. "You're getting your special soap, why does it have to be expedited?"

"I decided this stress wasn't worth a three month wait," I lifted my finger above the delete button.

"But that's twice as much!"

"What are you even spending your money on?!"

He groaned, pulled at his mass of white beard. He needed a trim just as much as Levi's toenails did. We all could use a trim. My hair had never been so long.

"Fine. Expedited."

So I triple checked my calculations and swiped them over to Naomi's and Levi's stations once I was done. It had to fly over two more flat-screen displays before reaching them on the other side of the bridge. Two more people were suppose to be watching those flat-screens, but instead two stiff white boxes on wheels did through a single lens. A flap was open on each side of both boxes which a single fingered arm bent out to keep my mail going till it reached navigation. They'd be there to push buttons, alert us of numbers outside of the parameters, and answer questions that the main computer had answers to. Still, it would have been more reassuring if they'd designed the A.I.'s to look more human, but when these came out they'd been the first of their kind. Weird to think that, back on Earth, these were sixty years behind the times and we were putting Joshua's life in their fingerless pokers.

My chest cramped again at the thought and I sighed.

"This is a really bad idea."

"Let him," said Naomi. "He'll find some other way to relieve his cabin fever if we don't. Man's gonna die sooner or later."

Levi let out a low whistle. "That's heartless, sis, even for you."

"He's the heartless one."

"You can always just head back to Earth," said Joshua. "Get another husband. Start over—"

"I don't WANT another husband! I want you! But instead of being grateful you're throwing it away for a dead rock!"

"I'm not going to die! Do you think I want to die? I don't!"

"You're not a genius!"

"I'm not stupid either!"

"Oh no, I think I might be leaving," I said in a dead panned voice, getting up from my chair.

"This chair is tipping, oh no, I'm falling" Levi eased a leg around to make a show of sliding out and up from his chair.

Joshua grabbed the back of his shirt. "Hold on, we still haven't got the station in position."

"I gave you more than one time to launch," I said, because I had pity on Levi. "No need to rush."

"Erosion. Animals. Geological shifting. Plenty could change."

I tipped my head back, wishing I'd reconsidered giving him the earliest launch time—which was for tonight.

Levi sighed. "I'm too old for this."

And the worst part was, Joshua WASN'T too old to not use the emergency com to annoy us until we did what he wanted. If I had known he had this side of him, I wouldn't have come here. I'd gone to the other god-forsaken space station with the convicted child molester.

Hmm...maybe Joshua dying wouldn't be such a bad thing. Couldn't say we didn't try to stop him.