Last Flight of the Ark by D. L. Jackson

“Barometric pressure?”

“Stable,” Jessica’s voice crackled back through the com.

“Radiation?”

“Within normal parameters.”

“Surface temperature in sector three?”

“A balmy eighty-seven. Terra II is primed and ready. We should arrive within twelve hours. All the readings from the meteorological remote say it’s stable. No surprises.”

There should be no surprises; they’d been through the numbers four times. “Good, that should do it. Why don’t you call it a night?” Melissa would relieve him soon, until then... Colonel Kaleb Titan stretched and reclined back. He threw his feet up on the instrument panel and yawned. Melissa would have a fit if she saw them on her baby’s console, but he really didn’t care. He wouldn’t be on this bucket of rust much longer.

All he wanted to do was sit back and take it all in from the best seat in the house. They were close enough he should be able to see Terra II with the naked eye and he’d been waiting all night for the chance. She’d look more like a star from the distance, but that didn’t matter. Novae, the equivalent of Earth’s sun, would be illuminating the sector of the planet that contained their home--right about now. He had to see it. To date, he’d only seen pictures of Terra II, sent by a satellite that monitored the planet.

Eight months. He’d worked so hard for this moment and all his dreams were about to materialize. It couldn’t get any better than this. Well maybe. He could use a cold beer and a slice of pizza. He flipped a switch and opened the visor, ready to marinate in the view of his new home.

Kaleb’s eyes widened. “Ah shit.” His feet hit the deck with a thump. He’d been too busy going over the damned reports from the surface of Terra II to notice. He punched his com and paged Jessica, hoping she hadn’t left the lab yet.

“Sir?” No, she’d lingered. Perhaps feeling as restless and unable to sleep as he did.

“What the fuck is that?” He leaned forward. A purple cloud spread before them. Electrical sparks danced like fireflies through the mass. “You got a reading on that?”

“A reading on what, sir?” Jessica said.

“Open your visuals and look out the fucking glass.”

Seconds ticked by and the com jumped back to life. “Whatever that is, we should probably go around. But I’m not the best one to define that. Why don’t you ask Captain Deluzio? She’s the nav.” The com went dead and then crackled again. “I’d appreciate if you’d keep the cursing to a minimum.”

“No reminder needed, Jessica. I’ll keep it to a fucking minimum.” Eight months of this shit, he’d earned the right to cuss and if he wanted to, he’d fucking cuss, females present or not. They could deal with it.

They’d played every card and board game known to man at least a million times. He’d swilled his last beer a month ago and frankly, he was sick and tired of being cooped up. Whatever that mass was, it looked like it might keep him stuck on the damned ship a bit longer.

“Goddammit.”

“Relax, sir. No reason to get ugly. Wait to see what Captain Deluzio has to say.”

He didn’t need Jessica’s lecture on etiquette. He didn’t need to be told to relax and he sure as hell didn’t need the complication he knew that cloud would bring. Yeah, it made him grumpy. So what? Kaleb studied the mass. The thing looked like it stretched for light-years.

Another delay?

Twelve hours out?

This wasn’t happening.

“How far off course and schedule is it going to throw us?” The sooner they got to Terra II, the better.

“I’m a biologist. Again, that’s the nav’s call--sir.”

“We’ve been on this mission for eight months. I thought we established I didn’t want to go all military out here. Keep it like family. It’s only the three of us.” She’d been fine with calling him Kaleb yesterday. What the hell was her problem now?

“I’m still a lieutenant, sir. You’re not my daddy or my brother.”

And did he know it. Oh God, did he know it. Kaleb growled and punched the nav-com. Forget it. There was no sense in trying to decipher her mood swings. Women were an enigma best left unsolved. He threw himself back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “Melissa, report.”

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s Captain Deluzio...sir.”

Christ. Not Melissa too? They ought to award him some kind of medal for dealing with this shit. They knew he hated that title. They were intentionally provoking. “Would you two stop with the sir? I’m a scientist.”

“Do I need to remind you, sir, you took the commission and the title that went with it? We are military and just because we’re out here in the middle of nowhere, doesn’t mean we need to go AWOL on the regs.” Her com died and the doors slid open behind him. He could pull rank if that’s what she wanted, but the next twelve hours of his life would be unlivable.

“Never mind, Captain. Can you tell me anything good about that cloud?” He pointed.

Melissa walked past him to the glass. “Technically it’s not a cloud, sir.”

“Then what would you call it?”

“I’d call it some kind of space dust.” She pointed to a gauge above and pushed a button. Something was here once upon a time. Now all that’s left is debris.” She narrowed her eyes and leaned in. “That’s not good. It’s not just space dust, it’s irradiated. Look at the readings.”

“What?” Kaleb moved closer and studied the dial. He reached out and gave it a tap. “Not good isn’t exactly what I’d call that. That’s gamma radiation.”

“Yeah, and it gets better. The radiation coming from it is off the charts, but that’s not the worst of it. I suspect...” She pulled data up on the screen and dragged her finger from one side to the other, getting a digital read on the mass of the debris field. She moved to another control panel and began type at a furious pace, pulling up stats on the fuel and life support supply. “You want the bad news?”

“I thought that was the bad news.”

“It’s also too big to go around. We don’t have enough fuel to detour that far out and we don’t have enough to go back to Earth. We could wait for our sister ship and hope she’s got fuel to spare, but that’s unlikely. She’s as limited on her resources as we are and a week behind us. If we wait, we might not have enough fuel to reach the planet on a straight shot. It’s too close to call.”

Melissa glanced down at the instrument panel and back at him. The look on her face told him she knew. How the hell she knew he’d had his feet up there was beyond him, but she seemed to have a sixth sense about when he abused her baby. “Did you have your feet up on my control panel?”

“Does it matter?”

She stared him down. “Since we don’t have time to argue about why you shouldn’t use my billion dollar panel as a foot stool, I’m going to let it go. We need a command decision, sir.”

“Aren’t you full of sunshine?”

“Bite me.”

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. So much for military regulations--even Melissa had a breaking point. “Regs, Captain, regs.”

“Bite me...sir,” Captain Deluzio said and crossed her arms over her chest.

She was right. Not the biting part, the command decision part. Kaleb snorted. He’d told them he didn’t want the command of this vessel, but they insisted he was the man for the job. A scientific mission. No tactics or enemy to worry about, pure science and exploration, what he did already. Not complicated. Fly the ship to Terra II, offload the cargo and study the animals for a couple of years.

When they put it that way, he couldn’t help but take what they offered. After all, who wouldn’t want to be part of something this big? It came with a price, one that bugged him constantly. Rank. Hell, he really wasn’t military. It was a token command. They’d said he couldn’t be in charge of the mission without the promotion. He hadn’t served a day in the military before that, but their damned regulations said he had to be an officer to be in charge of his own damned project. If not him, they’d send a real officer to fuck up all his work from the last ten years and he hadn’t been about to let that happen. So, he let them “promote” him.

Now look what they’d gotten him into. The lives of his crew and the mission were at stake. He wasn’t a great military strategist and knew little about command decisions. But then again, it didn’t take an admiral to figure it out. Pretty simple really. Go through and expose the crew and cargo to the radiation and deal with the side-effects or go around and die. Someone needed to give the order and because he’d accepted job, he had the lucky designation of being the one. “Let me secure the cargo and we’re going to shoot through it like a bullet. The faster the better.”

“I agree. Minimize the exposure. You do know radiation sickness is a bitch, sir.”

Yeah, he knew that, but the alternatives were worse. “So is cabin fever and suffocation, if we don’t freeze to death first.”

“I’ll plot a course and prep the ship to jump.”

The hairs on his neck stood at attention as he stared at the debris. This was supposed to be a simple, boring trip. Nobody expected a cloud of radiation would complicate the mission.

Terra II was ready to be stocked with wildlife. She’d spent the last ten years being cultivated and groomed for it. They’d created Eden and he was one of the first people who’d bring life to it.

Eight hundred various animals were on the Genesis I, a.k.a. the Ark. All had been vaccinated and acclimatized for the conditions on the new world. If the animals thrived, Earth planned to settle the world.

The Ark carried herds of white tail deer, antelope and a handful of predators: bears, wolves, and puma. Everything had been precisely timed and balanced like the keystone at the top of an arch. If one thing fell out of place, their hundred year project would crumble into ruin. The most delicate part of the mission, the introduction, would start with the Ark, but it was only the beginning.

They’d scheduled it in waves. More ships would arrive soon. In four months two ships carrying colonists of all job skills. Builders, medical, teachers, the list went on and on. Any skill found on Earth would soon be found on Terra II. Then, every eight months more animals would arrive, each ship carrying different species for different climates, everything from birds to insects. One ship would carry whales, dolphin and various tropical fish and sharks to stock the seas and oceans. Within a matter of years the world would be complete, utopia created.

The cities on Terra II would be solar and geo-thermal powered. All the designs for the installations were drawn up and supplies and building materials had been sent remotely over a year before, waiting for the researchers and colonists. A station that orbited the planet relayed data and ensured the city was powered up for their arrival. Their quarters were prebuilt and need only to be set onto a foundation once they arrived. Every vehicle, every tool was solar powered.

The vegetation was mature and lush and the climate, unbelievable. No serious storms or seismic activity. Mild everything. The world was a hell of a lot more stable than Earth. Terra II was a thing of beauty and he’d be one of the first men to live on her. Well, one of the first men with two bitchy team members. But that would all change once they set their feet on soil.

Kaleb made his way to the bay and the various cages of his cargo.

His com beeped. “Sir,” Jessica said.

“Yeah.”

“Sheba’s having a fit. She’s already taken a bite out of Lobo. I can’t get to him. Every time I try to open the door, she rushes me.”

“Sedate her.”

“Can’t. She’s just come out of sedation. There’s a good chance we’ll kill her if we dose her again.”

“Super. Try to keep her off him and I’ll be right there.” Here they go again. That damned alpine wolf. She’d been nothing but a pain in his ass since they’d pulled her out of cryo a week ago. If not for the sector two malfunction, she and her mate would still be in the deep freeze and not a problem.

But as he was beginning to learn, nothing about this mission was easy. Sedating her had become a daily requirement. He’d no doubt she’d survive the planet, it was the next couple of days and Lobo he was concerned about. She didn’t like the trip and had been taking it out on her mate. Poor bastard.

Kaleb never understood why the alpha let her get away with it. Perhaps space induced bitchiness in all females and Lobo knew he wouldn’t win the round by fighting back. Kaleb had to agree with him. If there was one thing he’d learned from his experience, don’t argue with the females. They’d make your life hell. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

“Sir?” Jessica inquired.

“Nothing, talking to myself.” He pressed his hand into the gel lock and popped the hatch to the bay. Kaleb stepped onto the lift and activated it. It lurched and began to drop, descending into the belly of the ship.

He could understand Lobo’s tension. He’d felt a little tense himself lately. He was a healthy male and had gone without sex for eight months. His hand helped, but that went only so far.

To make the situation worse, Jessica had taken to going around the ship with her jumpsuit unzipped and nothing but a white tank underneath. No bra. Often when he saw her, the top of her jumpsuit was peeled down and hung around her waist. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was trying to get him to look.

He’d kept his mouth shut. All he needed to do was open it and misery would be visited on him tenfold. He was tense, not stupid and knew a trap when he saw one.

Then there was Melissa, with a body that belonged in a magazine, not a cockpit. Double D cups at least, and legs that stretched to the stars. When she ran around the ship for exercise, she wore these little gray shorts that showed a little bit of cheek on the backside. He made sure to avoid the corridors when Melissa ran. Every time he’d caught her exercising, he had to go to his cabin to exercise his hand.

And her lips... Better not think about them; he had a wolf to attend to, a freaky purple cloud blocking their route and no time for a cabin visit.

The lift clanged to a stop and the door slid open. Kaleb stepped into the bay and headed for the quarters that housed the predators and his nemesis, Sheba. Soon he could turn her over to the planet’s care and she’d no longer be his problem. It couldn’t be soon enough.

He walked up on Jessica, peering over her shoulder into the cage at a snarling Sheba. The bitch caught sight of Kaleb and backed up with a whine, sinking to her belly.

“I’ll be,” Jessica muttered. “She’s submitting to you.” Her ponytail smacked him in the face as she turned. He flinched and knocked it out of his eyes.

“She’s not stupid.” He glared at Sheba, whose tail thumped against the floor. Her golden eyes studied him. “She knows I mean business.”

Jessica grinned. “I don’t think that’s it. I think she’s got a crush on you. She likes you.”

“Wha--?”

“Sheba’s the alpha female, she doesn’t submit to anyone but the alpha male. Hence the reason she bit Lobo. He’s not alpha enough.” Jessica eyed Kaleb. “Apparently you are, sir.”

“Will she let me in the cage?”

Jessica shrugged. “She’s not growling. I’d take that catch-pole over there with the loop in the end, in case she changes her mind.”

Kaleb nodded and snagged the pole. One way or another someone had to go in there. If Sheba liked him, it might as well be him. “Open the door when I say and get the tranq-gun in case she gets ugly. First sign of aggression put her out.”

Jessica loaded a cartridge into the gun. “Ready?”

Kaleb nodded and Jessica opened the door. He stepped inside and it clanged shut behind him. “Hey, girl.”

With a growl that sounded more like a roar, Sheba launched from the corner. Her paws landed in his chest, knocking him to the floor. Kaleb only had seconds to register her open jaws and large teeth. He threw his forearm over his throat. Sheba latched on, sinking into flesh. A crunch and then sharp pain shot up his arm. Oh, God. Her teeth pierced bone.

“Shoot her!”

The tranq popped and was followed by a yelp from Sheba, who released his arm and staggered back. Blood dripped from her muzzle and stained her white fur. She swayed from side to side and dropped to the floor with a snort. Her front paw dug at air as she fought the drug.

“Omigod.” Jessica threw the door open and rushed to his side. “You okay?”

Kaleb glanced at his blood-soaked sleeve. “She likes me, huh?” He cringed as pain radiated from his fingers to his shoulder. Last time he’d trust a smiling female. They were all trouble.

Jessica helped him to sit up and ripped his sleeve open, staring at the bite. Blood pumped from the wound and formed a puddle on the floor. “Can you walk to the med-bay?”

~*~     ~*~      ~*~

Word count:  59,000

Flavor:  Science Fiction Erotica (M/F/F) with Horror elements 

Status:  Soon to be released by Liquid Silver Publishing.  March 8, 2010 Release Date!
Author:  D. L. Jackson is published with Liquid Silver Books.  See the Author page for her bio.

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