Beneath Falin (On Hold)

Chapter 1

This story is currently on hold, though I would like to continue at some point. Some of these beginning chapters may be rewritten, so keep an eye on it!

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"What is going on in here?" the supervisor demanded, barging into the control room. Lights pulsed, computer screens flashed error messages, and alarms screeched so loudly that Terra Beck had to shout to be heard over the racket.

"There seems to be a problem with one of the oxygen pipes, sir," she answered, fingers flying deftly over the touch screen panels in an attempt to shut the alarms off.

"Then shut off those blasted alarms and get the damn thing fixed," he shouted back and slammed the door shut again, mumbling that eighteen year olds shouldn't be left alone in the control room.

Terra grinned to herself when he was gone. Lucky for her, the supervisor didn't know much about the warning system or he would have known it was more than just an oxygen pipe malfunction. Just about every single alarm had been triggered, and Terra knew it was because Quinn Sole was up in capsule A74-LS3 trying to feed a wire through one of the pipes that brought them oxygen from the surface.

Why? Well, for science, of course. Attached to the wire was a device that would measure radiation levels on the surface of planet Falin. With a few more touches, Terra was able to silence the alarms, but most of the computers were all still flashing error messages. If she didn't eliminate the source of the error and reset them, she knew the Commander would come to investigate such a large breach.

"Quinn, you either need to hurry up or abort. You've got thirty seconds before I need to reset the computers. Unless you want to explain to Thompson," she said into her comm, a communication device about the size of a pen.

A few moments later, Quinn's voice came through, distorted a bit by static. "I'm sorry, sir. The pipe was so beautiful; it was beckoning me. I just had to get inside it."

Terra snorted a laugh, but responded more seriously: "Save it for a time when my job is not on the line."

"We both know you laughed. It's fine, I just got it in position. Go ahead and reset."

Terra jabbed the system reboot button and for a moment, the whole room went black. With the rest of the lights out, the bluish-black view out the window almost looked bright. Terra stared out the window into the never ending water, illuminated only by the faint exterior lights of the capsule she was in. Most of the time she didn't think about the fact that their whole civilization was under water. It was all she'd ever known, so it didn't really seem strange.

The screens all lit up again and jolted Terra from her thoughts. With everything back to normal, Terra released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Wow, Terra, you should see the data this thing is getting!" came Quinn's voice again. "I can't believe these numbers!"

Just then, the door opened and Commander Thompson entered followed by a few others. Quickly muting the comm, Terra stood and greeted them.

The commander was a tall, thin man of about thirty, and right now, he did not look to be in a particularly pleasant mood. "Beck," he addressed Terra tersely. "You are not authorized to perform a full system reboot," he finished, fixing Terra with an icy look.

"I apologize, sir. There was a warning alarm on one of the oxygen pipes, but it wouldn't shut off even once the problem was fixed," she lied, only feeling a little bit guilty for doing so. It's not like rebooting the warning system would cause any damage, she thought to herself but didn't dare say. Thompson already watched Terra more closely than she liked.

Thompson stared at her for a moment longer but appeared to be satisfied. With a nod, the others began to file out the door. He moved to follow them but paused and turned to face her once more. "Which oxygen pipe did you say it was?" he asked, almost seeming if he were testing Terra.

"The one in capsule A74 – LS3," Terra told him immediately, figuring she should at least tell that much of the truth. The worst he could do was check to see that it was indeed still working.

"Make sure you log it. And next time, call the supervisor." Thompson said and then left.

"Yeah, and he'll know exactly how to shut the alarms off," Terra muttered, rolling her eyes and picking up the comm and unmuting it. "You're lucky I can think on my feet," she said to him as she pulled up the log of all the errors and malfunctions on one of the glass screens.

"Thompson? Too bad I wasn't there. I could have seduced him or something."

"Oh my God, Quinn, that's gross. Why do I even talk to you?"

"You know you love me."
"If by love you mean wanting to smash your face into a wall, then yes."
Quinn tsked from the other end. "Such violence. Your brother wouldn't thank you for that though."

"Yeah, well, he'd find someone else to worship."

"I don't know about that, I'm pretty hard to repla – oh wow!"

Terra chuckled quietly, knowing Quinn was looking at his device again. "Tell me about all that later, okay? I've got to at least try to work some today." With that she muted the comm and went back to scanning the screens of data for any disturbances.

For the past several months, Terra had been working in the control room monitoring the life support systems as well as some of the security monitors. Falin was not exactly an easy place for humans to live, so lots of systems were required to keep them alive.

Oxygen supply was the primary system of concern. Terra had to learn all about the composition of Falin in order to learn how the system worked. The surface of Falin was a land of snow and ice, completely uninhabitable for humans. The ice on the surface measured nearly 15 kilometers or 9 miles thick. Above the ice was an atmosphere full of oxygen as well as other trace gases. Below the ice, however, in a liquid water ocean, humans have created a way to survive.

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Thanks for reading! I hope to be able to update it often and include drawings, but unfortunately I must make school a priority, so try to bear with me! This is technically for #JustWriteIt #EarthLove, but if I don't finish by the end of April, I still plan to continue writing.

This is mostly just for fun, so try to forgive any grammar mistakes I make. I do a quick proofread before I post, but sometimes I miss something.

I hope you enjoy the story! Let me know what you think, I'd love to get to know some of you!