Nothing to say today except here's the next excerpt from my sexy sci-fi novel, Inversion 1.
Story so far:
The last humans have escaped Earth and travelled through space, frozen in time in stasis pods, for seven thousand years. The captain, Alex5 wakes to find that half the crew - almost all the men - are dead. In its lengthy isolation, the computer has apparently gone mad, is probably responsible for the deaths and has ejected the reactor core. The survivors are therefore stuck in an inhospitable system with little chance of landing safely and little chance of future survival even if they do. After a brief sleep, Alex heads for the refectory and decides to tell the crew exactly how things stand.
Inversion 1
Beginnings
Excerpt #12
'Here are the facts. We have been travelling for over seven thousand years.' The room filled with gasps of disbelief. 'It's true. Trust me. If there's anyone left on Earth, their records will show we left around six million years ago.' I waited till the figures sank in then softened my voice. 'The deaths onboard this ship were due to computer error. The computer has also ejected the main reactor core. This system is now our home, whether we like it or not.
'The computer has... malfunctioned. Some might even say "evolved".' There were angry growls of disbelief. 'Please, hear me out. No one imagined such a journey - no one considered the effect such a time span would have on her. The loneliness. The isolation. She has developed a parallel personality called Maxi, and it is Maxi who caused the deaths. Not purposefully, I hasten to add, but now she fears being switched off. The fear may cause her to lash out in self-defence. I won't lie to you: our lives are in the balance.
'The computer - as we knew her - and Maxi seem to take turns - while one operates the ship, the other sleeps. We have to land now while Maxi is sleeping. The computer says planet three in the system looks most likely, but I think we'll head for the fourth.'
Erica's rich voice resonated through the hard space.
'Why, Captain?'
I shrugged.
'Because it was Maxi's choice. I have a gut feeling that if Maxi wakes, it might be the key that gets us down alive and keeps us alive.'
'How's that?'
It was Jane who spoke. Her green eyes pierced me, unnerved me - they reminded me of Emma. Emma's intelligent eyes had always sparkled, but Jane's seemed to shine even more.
'If she knows I trust her then she may trust me too. She is the key to our survival. I'll try anything, everything I can.'
Jane swept her long red hair over her shoulder and spoke again.
'Are the women in stasis safe? How do we know Maxi won't kill them? Won't kill all of us?'
The room fell silent. I looked from one worried face to the next.
'She won't. I'm sure of it. She is confused, child-like, forgetful, but not hostile. Either way, we have no choice. We have to land before repairs can be made to her. Meanwhile, the safest place in an emergency landing is a stasis pod. Statistics prove it overwhelmingly. So we will leave the rest of the crew where they are. Any more questions?' There were blank faces. Hollow, staring eyes. Shaking heads. 'Please continue eating. Relax while you can. There'll be precious little time for it in the foreseeable future.'
Out of silence, ripples of discontent quickly swelled and grew till the room was awash with anger. Its power overwhelmed me. Gazing around, I registered the scale of dissent, realised it would be magnified ten times when the rest of the crew were woken, and knew I had made a terrible error of judgment. Rightly or wrongly, I had to relent, ignore my head and follow my heart.
'Listen, everyone! You are right. So right. I'm sorry. We will find the time to say goodbye to those we lost, to pay our respects. We can't wake the rest of the crew - such a delay would put us all at risk - but we can say goodbye on their behalf. We have to. Meet me on Shuttle Deck in... one hour precisely. There is much to do.'
I strode between the tables, left them to ponder. They needed more than an hour. Much more. But it was all I dared give them.
*
Inversion 1, a sexy sci-fi novel, will be published soon.
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