Posted: 09 Sep 2006, 07:29
If you stop reading, I kill Mankowski!
Ha...try to stop reading now!
The cargo hold was starting to look less like a massive mash of humanity and more like a city. People were eating their rations with more gusto, surrounded by what little they had managed to drag out the Homesystem. Everyone had lost so much that even a slight improvement in rations, such as a bit of leafy green's every day was like a god send. The 'houses' were finished, for the most part. They barely deserved the names, but as people said...home was were the heat was.
Eve lay down in her bed, her body creaking as she did so. Five days without sleep was trying, even to a half human, half alien, telekinetic, shape shifting hybrid. Eve realized just how strange she was and curled up on the bed, trying to shut out the pain she had seen on the Prometheus. Then she heard someone walk into her rooms. Hicks shuffled off his shirt, sighing as he did so. Eve sat up ├óÔé¼┼ôHicks?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked. Hicks looked at her ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're...here?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked, his voice as tired as Eve's.
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said, falling back into the bed, closing her eyes, ├óÔé¼┼ôI think a week without sleep is my...limit├óÔé¼┬Ø. She heard falling clothes and Hicks slipped into bed next to her.
She backed into him and felt his arm slip around her waist. He buried his face in her hair, smelling her. ├óÔé¼┼ôI missed you├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI missed you so much├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Eve rolled over and kissed him on the nose. Her tiredness seemed to melt away as if it had never been. Hicks, however, was only human. He closed his eyes and was asleep. Eve stayed awake a few more minuets, just watching him. Then she fell asleep too.
├óÔé¼┼ôSome honeymoon├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve murmured, fixing herself breakfast. Or more accurately, fixing Hicks breakfast. Ever sense rationing started she had stopped eating. It was...annoying, but...she did it for the starving people on the Prometheus. Hicks woke up a few minuets later, smelling the rations. Not that there was much to smell, as half the rations were nutrient supplements and the rest were...space caviar. Eve wrinkled her nose, looking at the weird foodstuffs. The Prometheus hauled 'Exotic food stuffs' and by that it was meant that they hauled foods that were extraordinarily expensive, small, and could be packed into the massive cargo hold and then shipped cheaply.
Hicks walked behind Eve, hugging her, ├óÔé¼┼ôI love my wife├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, smiling. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're wife?├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve asked, smiling. Somehow this felt far more real then the horrors just a few kilometers from the room. ├óÔé¼┼ôI thought you were my husband├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Hicks turned her around, kissing her. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe food will burn├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said.
Hicks reached around her hips and turned off the burner. The food steamed. ├óÔé¼┼ôIt'll get cold├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve pointed out. ├óÔé¼┼ôThey├óÔé¼┬Ø Hicks kissed her, ├óÔé¼┼ôIt├óÔé¼┬Ø kissed her again, undoing the top button on her shirt, ├óÔé¼┼ôwill get cold├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôI don't have to eat it├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve murmured as he pushed her up and over the counter top, spreading her legs as he did so. Eve pressed her head against the wall, almost banging it on the narrow roof. Her shirt fell away, almost on top of the still hot burner. She pressed her hand down on the burner and hissed as Hicks' lips locked around her nipple. Her hand didn't burn, but she still jerked it off the burner.
Hicks gaped at her hand. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm fine├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said, clenching the fist, trying to repair the damage as best she could. Hicks forced her hand open, looking at the burn. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo you're not├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI'll get some bandages├óÔé¼┬Ø. Eve shook her head, focusing on the hand. The skin and flesh healed itself, knitting together again. Hicks stared at it, blinking. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm fine├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said, smiling at him. There was something strange in his eyes. It wasn't something she liked. She sighed, buttoning up her shirt. Hicks stopped her, placing his hands on hers. He smiled ├óÔé¼┼ôYou are fine├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
Lizzy had had quite enough experience with bureaucracy to last a life time. For a good fifteen years of her life she had either been a Capitan of a star ship (A stolen one at that), or the security chief of a colony (a rebel one at that). In those years she had done enough paper work that when she had left Darkside with nothing more then a small light hugger and more then enough emotional baggage she felt as if several tones had been lifted off her shoulder. Now the tones were back.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo we have a huge ration problem├óÔé¼┬Ø Miller said, looking better then he had in weeks, ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd, more worryingly, a huge crime problem. The nutrient supplements are keeping us off starvation, and we don't have to worry about the climate...but we do have to worry about keeping people occupied. Not enough jobs, no economy, no revenue...no goods. Nothing but sixty thousand people crammed into a cargo bay├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy looked out the window the Prometheus's bridge over the cargo bay. She could see the massive balloon shape stretch outwards, almost covering the window. She still found it hard to fathom just how big the Prometheus was. Bulk freighters were really bulk when you were dealing with interstellar distances.
├óÔé¼┼ôWe're thinking about moving people into the second cargo hull, maybe onto the Hannibal, but...we'd need to eat at least half our food stuffs. We've been eating this for two months now and we've barely scratched our stocks├óÔé¼┬Ø Miller said, sounding more tired with every word. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd to make it worse-├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy waved her hand ├óÔé¼┼ôWe're getting side tracked├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI said I'd help with security. Keller can help you with the food rationing, but I can't. Lets get back to the crime├óÔé¼┬Ø
Miller nodded, ├óÔé¼┼ôRight...right. The crime. It started with rape, muggings, thefts, murder. People would just do these things to other people and we couldn't do a thing. But we've gotten fifty odd people who wanted to...well...do their bit for community├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Lizzy nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôSounds good├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, ├óÔé¼┼ôhow many of them have prior policing experience├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôNone of them├óÔé¼┬Ø Miller said, ├óÔé¼┼ôPolice officers were killed faster then marines. Tried to be hero's too many times├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy closed her eyes and banged her head against the wall.
The fifty odd people were a collection of unwashed, completely exhausted men. No women in the group that Lizzy could see. No wait...strike that. Lizzy spotted a single woman, who looked as surly and as grumpy as any man she had known. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, walking into the room they had been gathered in. They had been brought to the Hannibal, and were looking around the clean rooms and hallways with something approaching amazement.
The men and single woman all looked at her. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou may have heard of me├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI am Elizabeth Montoya, and I am also you're new boss that means no talking while I'm talking├óÔé¼┬Ø she pointed at two men who were whispering to one another, ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd that if you don't do what I say I will shoot you before the criminals get to├óÔé¼┬Ø. The men and single woman looked stunned by what she was saying. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, ├óÔé¼┼ôIf anyone, anyone at all, thinks about committing crimes while in my police force...then I will make sure you take ten days to die├óÔé¼┬Ø.
The hydroponics garden had forced the surrounding homes back, making the entire cargo area even more crowded. But no one complained. It was a beautiful thing, to the refugee's. A single plot of green in a massive maze of metal. The greenery was growing quickly, and the fruits, vegetables and other foodstuffs were pouring out. Well...pouring was a extreme word. The next couple gardens were being set up, and several work teams were placing sun lamps on the roof of the cargo hold. Until then the placed had been lit by a multitude of flashlights, lamps and even some torches. After two days of hard work on the roof of the cargo bay, the sun lights came on, fed by solar panels on the sides of the cargo bay.
It was as if day had broke on a infinite night. A week after the sun lamps were placed, little miniature gardens had been set up everywhere. Lizzy looked over the cargo bay, standing on the railing that the merchants had used to survey their haul. It was starting to look more colorful. The marines had made every single facet of life on the Prometheus better, even if better was just slightly above very poor. Water rationing was not as fierce, as the marines had put up several water recycling stations to supplement the horribly overworked one the Prometheus had stolen from a ruined star ship.
The more Lizzy looked at it the more she admired Miller. He had been smart, that was for sure. He hadn't just grabbed everyone he could and run. Instead he had actually guttered several derelicts, grabbing an extra tokamak and recycling systems, shackled several shuttles to the sides of his ship to provide extra push for maneuvering, and then buggered out of SOL. He had also not only thought up a rationing plan, but enforced it with just a hundred man crew and some others who had decided to help. Jason walked up behind her. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo how is the city, police chief?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked, leaning on the rail next to her.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo far├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said ├óÔé¼┼ôSo good. We've managed to get the crime rate down about three percent. Pretty good for our first week. People were going crazy, seeing people in uniforms again. Not just the military, but the police. Lots of them miss law and order├óÔé¼┬Ø. Jason sighed, ├óÔé¼┼ôIts nice to see this train wreck get slightly back on course├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, ├óÔé¼┼ôIts not without price. We lost three men...two men and woman, actually, in our first week├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôThats what I wanted to talk to you about├óÔé¼┬Ø Jason said, grinning, ├óÔé¼┼ôI've managed to talk Keller into giving you're police force exoskeletons├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy smiled broadly ├óÔé¼┼ôThank you!├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pulling him closer to you ├óÔé¼┼ôI knew there was a reason to marry you├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell├óÔé¼┬Ø Jason said, ├óÔé¼┼ôThere's also my other attributes├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy grinned, ├óÔé¼┼ôThat is that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Jason ran his hand over her belly. Lizzy glowered ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm not bulging yet├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're going to have to wait an extra six or so months for that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Jason slid her shirt up, working his fingers under the bottom ├óÔé¼┼ôI wasn't thinking about that├óÔé¼┬Ø Jason murmured. Lizzy sighed, looking over her shoulder ├óÔé¼┼ôLets get back to my rooms first├óÔé¼┬Ø. Jason nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôI can go with that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
As the two of them walked down the 'streets' of the city, people went about their daily lives. People, being people, coped as best they could. Tending gardens, talking, making things from what they could scrounge and working on the basic sanitation systems that ran around the place. Lizzy leaned over to whisper something in Jason's ear. Then.
She was falling backwards, wondering why the world was suddenly slower then it normally was. She hit the ground. Then everything sped up again and she heard the gun shot. Lizzy blinked, looking at her chest. The bullet had torn a huge, ragged hole through her. There was screaming. Lizzy leaned her head back, looking straight at the sun lights. ├óÔé¼┼ôHuh├óÔé¼┬Ø she murmured. Jason was dashing past her peripheral vision, his face a mask of rage. Everything went gray, then faded to black.
Ha...try to stop reading now!
The cargo hold was starting to look less like a massive mash of humanity and more like a city. People were eating their rations with more gusto, surrounded by what little they had managed to drag out the Homesystem. Everyone had lost so much that even a slight improvement in rations, such as a bit of leafy green's every day was like a god send. The 'houses' were finished, for the most part. They barely deserved the names, but as people said...home was were the heat was.
Eve lay down in her bed, her body creaking as she did so. Five days without sleep was trying, even to a half human, half alien, telekinetic, shape shifting hybrid. Eve realized just how strange she was and curled up on the bed, trying to shut out the pain she had seen on the Prometheus. Then she heard someone walk into her rooms. Hicks shuffled off his shirt, sighing as he did so. Eve sat up ├óÔé¼┼ôHicks?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked. Hicks looked at her ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're...here?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked, his voice as tired as Eve's.
├óÔé¼┼ôYeah├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said, falling back into the bed, closing her eyes, ├óÔé¼┼ôI think a week without sleep is my...limit├óÔé¼┬Ø. She heard falling clothes and Hicks slipped into bed next to her.
She backed into him and felt his arm slip around her waist. He buried his face in her hair, smelling her. ├óÔé¼┼ôI missed you├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI missed you so much├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Eve rolled over and kissed him on the nose. Her tiredness seemed to melt away as if it had never been. Hicks, however, was only human. He closed his eyes and was asleep. Eve stayed awake a few more minuets, just watching him. Then she fell asleep too.
├óÔé¼┼ôSome honeymoon├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve murmured, fixing herself breakfast. Or more accurately, fixing Hicks breakfast. Ever sense rationing started she had stopped eating. It was...annoying, but...she did it for the starving people on the Prometheus. Hicks woke up a few minuets later, smelling the rations. Not that there was much to smell, as half the rations were nutrient supplements and the rest were...space caviar. Eve wrinkled her nose, looking at the weird foodstuffs. The Prometheus hauled 'Exotic food stuffs' and by that it was meant that they hauled foods that were extraordinarily expensive, small, and could be packed into the massive cargo hold and then shipped cheaply.
Hicks walked behind Eve, hugging her, ├óÔé¼┼ôI love my wife├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, smiling. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're wife?├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve asked, smiling. Somehow this felt far more real then the horrors just a few kilometers from the room. ├óÔé¼┼ôI thought you were my husband├óÔé¼┬Ø she said. Hicks turned her around, kissing her. ├óÔé¼┼ôThe food will burn├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said.
Hicks reached around her hips and turned off the burner. The food steamed. ├óÔé¼┼ôIt'll get cold├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve pointed out. ├óÔé¼┼ôThey├óÔé¼┬Ø Hicks kissed her, ├óÔé¼┼ôIt├óÔé¼┬Ø kissed her again, undoing the top button on her shirt, ├óÔé¼┼ôwill get cold├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôI don't have to eat it├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve murmured as he pushed her up and over the counter top, spreading her legs as he did so. Eve pressed her head against the wall, almost banging it on the narrow roof. Her shirt fell away, almost on top of the still hot burner. She pressed her hand down on the burner and hissed as Hicks' lips locked around her nipple. Her hand didn't burn, but she still jerked it off the burner.
Hicks gaped at her hand. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm fine├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said, clenching the fist, trying to repair the damage as best she could. Hicks forced her hand open, looking at the burn. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo you're not├óÔé¼┬Ø he said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI'll get some bandages├óÔé¼┬Ø. Eve shook her head, focusing on the hand. The skin and flesh healed itself, knitting together again. Hicks stared at it, blinking. ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm fine├óÔé¼┬Ø Eve said, smiling at him. There was something strange in his eyes. It wasn't something she liked. She sighed, buttoning up her shirt. Hicks stopped her, placing his hands on hers. He smiled ├óÔé¼┼ôYou are fine├óÔé¼┬Ø he said.
Lizzy had had quite enough experience with bureaucracy to last a life time. For a good fifteen years of her life she had either been a Capitan of a star ship (A stolen one at that), or the security chief of a colony (a rebel one at that). In those years she had done enough paper work that when she had left Darkside with nothing more then a small light hugger and more then enough emotional baggage she felt as if several tones had been lifted off her shoulder. Now the tones were back.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo we have a huge ration problem├óÔé¼┬Ø Miller said, looking better then he had in weeks, ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd, more worryingly, a huge crime problem. The nutrient supplements are keeping us off starvation, and we don't have to worry about the climate...but we do have to worry about keeping people occupied. Not enough jobs, no economy, no revenue...no goods. Nothing but sixty thousand people crammed into a cargo bay├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy looked out the window the Prometheus's bridge over the cargo bay. She could see the massive balloon shape stretch outwards, almost covering the window. She still found it hard to fathom just how big the Prometheus was. Bulk freighters were really bulk when you were dealing with interstellar distances.
├óÔé¼┼ôWe're thinking about moving people into the second cargo hull, maybe onto the Hannibal, but...we'd need to eat at least half our food stuffs. We've been eating this for two months now and we've barely scratched our stocks├óÔé¼┬Ø Miller said, sounding more tired with every word. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd to make it worse-├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy waved her hand ├óÔé¼┼ôWe're getting side tracked├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI said I'd help with security. Keller can help you with the food rationing, but I can't. Lets get back to the crime├óÔé¼┬Ø
Miller nodded, ├óÔé¼┼ôRight...right. The crime. It started with rape, muggings, thefts, murder. People would just do these things to other people and we couldn't do a thing. But we've gotten fifty odd people who wanted to...well...do their bit for community├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Lizzy nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôSounds good├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, ├óÔé¼┼ôhow many of them have prior policing experience├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôNone of them├óÔé¼┬Ø Miller said, ├óÔé¼┼ôPolice officers were killed faster then marines. Tried to be hero's too many times├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy closed her eyes and banged her head against the wall.
The fifty odd people were a collection of unwashed, completely exhausted men. No women in the group that Lizzy could see. No wait...strike that. Lizzy spotted a single woman, who looked as surly and as grumpy as any man she had known. ├óÔé¼┼ôRight├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, walking into the room they had been gathered in. They had been brought to the Hannibal, and were looking around the clean rooms and hallways with something approaching amazement.
The men and single woman all looked at her. ├óÔé¼┼ôYou may have heard of me├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, ├óÔé¼┼ôI am Elizabeth Montoya, and I am also you're new boss that means no talking while I'm talking├óÔé¼┬Ø she pointed at two men who were whispering to one another, ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd that if you don't do what I say I will shoot you before the criminals get to├óÔé¼┬Ø. The men and single woman looked stunned by what she was saying. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, ├óÔé¼┼ôIf anyone, anyone at all, thinks about committing crimes while in my police force...then I will make sure you take ten days to die├óÔé¼┬Ø.
The hydroponics garden had forced the surrounding homes back, making the entire cargo area even more crowded. But no one complained. It was a beautiful thing, to the refugee's. A single plot of green in a massive maze of metal. The greenery was growing quickly, and the fruits, vegetables and other foodstuffs were pouring out. Well...pouring was a extreme word. The next couple gardens were being set up, and several work teams were placing sun lamps on the roof of the cargo hold. Until then the placed had been lit by a multitude of flashlights, lamps and even some torches. After two days of hard work on the roof of the cargo bay, the sun lights came on, fed by solar panels on the sides of the cargo bay.
It was as if day had broke on a infinite night. A week after the sun lamps were placed, little miniature gardens had been set up everywhere. Lizzy looked over the cargo bay, standing on the railing that the merchants had used to survey their haul. It was starting to look more colorful. The marines had made every single facet of life on the Prometheus better, even if better was just slightly above very poor. Water rationing was not as fierce, as the marines had put up several water recycling stations to supplement the horribly overworked one the Prometheus had stolen from a ruined star ship.
The more Lizzy looked at it the more she admired Miller. He had been smart, that was for sure. He hadn't just grabbed everyone he could and run. Instead he had actually guttered several derelicts, grabbing an extra tokamak and recycling systems, shackled several shuttles to the sides of his ship to provide extra push for maneuvering, and then buggered out of SOL. He had also not only thought up a rationing plan, but enforced it with just a hundred man crew and some others who had decided to help. Jason walked up behind her. ├óÔé¼┼ôSo how is the city, police chief?├óÔé¼┬Ø he asked, leaning on the rail next to her.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo far├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said ├óÔé¼┼ôSo good. We've managed to get the crime rate down about three percent. Pretty good for our first week. People were going crazy, seeing people in uniforms again. Not just the military, but the police. Lots of them miss law and order├óÔé¼┬Ø. Jason sighed, ├óÔé¼┼ôIts nice to see this train wreck get slightly back on course├óÔé¼┬Ø. ├óÔé¼┼ôWell├óÔé¼┬Ø Lizzy said, ├óÔé¼┼ôIts not without price. We lost three men...two men and woman, actually, in our first week├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôThats what I wanted to talk to you about├óÔé¼┬Ø Jason said, grinning, ├óÔé¼┼ôI've managed to talk Keller into giving you're police force exoskeletons├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy smiled broadly ├óÔé¼┼ôThank you!├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, pulling him closer to you ├óÔé¼┼ôI knew there was a reason to marry you├óÔé¼┬Ø.
├óÔé¼┼ôWell├óÔé¼┬Ø Jason said, ├óÔé¼┼ôThere's also my other attributes├óÔé¼┬Ø. Lizzy grinned, ├óÔé¼┼ôThat is that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Jason ran his hand over her belly. Lizzy glowered ├óÔé¼┼ôI'm not bulging yet├óÔé¼┬Ø she said, ├óÔé¼┼ôYou're going to have to wait an extra six or so months for that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
Jason slid her shirt up, working his fingers under the bottom ├óÔé¼┼ôI wasn't thinking about that├óÔé¼┬Ø Jason murmured. Lizzy sighed, looking over her shoulder ├óÔé¼┼ôLets get back to my rooms first├óÔé¼┬Ø. Jason nodded ├óÔé¼┼ôI can go with that├óÔé¼┬Ø.
As the two of them walked down the 'streets' of the city, people went about their daily lives. People, being people, coped as best they could. Tending gardens, talking, making things from what they could scrounge and working on the basic sanitation systems that ran around the place. Lizzy leaned over to whisper something in Jason's ear. Then.
She was falling backwards, wondering why the world was suddenly slower then it normally was. She hit the ground. Then everything sped up again and she heard the gun shot. Lizzy blinked, looking at her chest. The bullet had torn a huge, ragged hole through her. There was screaming. Lizzy leaned her head back, looking straight at the sun lights. ├óÔé¼┼ôHuh├óÔé¼┬Ø she murmured. Jason was dashing past her peripheral vision, his face a mask of rage. Everything went gray, then faded to black.
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