James Scotson - Planets Falling

Fromer ordered the Raven’s HM to shut down the quantum drives while he checked Melat’s heart. Her bleeding had stopped. She was alive but absent — not quite unconscious but certainly unaware. Something deep within her mind was still traveling in the ship. Until they could reconnect the ship with her central nervous system, they were going to be stranded in deep space.

Fromer stepped back into the passenger hold. “We have a problem.” He explained that he had stabilized Melat’s condition but that she was in two different places. “We have to figure out how to reconnect her.”

Grey coughed. Verat’s annoying virus had invaded his chest. “Do we have any idea where we are?”

Gorian was already on her tablet conversing with the Raven. “The ship says that we’re only about a thousand kilometers from the buoy network. This is charted space.” Relief flooded the compartment. “The bad news is that the Raven’s ion drives are disconnected from the command. Whatever part of Mel that’s still in the circuits appears to have shut them down. The ship and I are trying to route around her.”

“Why would Melat do that?” Fen asked.

Fromer responded. “The part of Mel that is still interfaced with the computer has no sense of self or purpose. She just happens to be floating aimlessly in those systems. She could have just as easily been in the plumbing circuits. Then we would not be able to flush the commode.”

Gorian turned to them. “There’s always a fix. We just need a little time.”

“Could we take the shuttle to the buoy?” Verat asked.

Gorian tugged on her locks. “We could. But the shuttle’s not equipped to communicate with the network. The only option would be to wait for a ship to drop through. That could be days or years depending on our location. Even if a ship appeared, the pilot or computer would have to notice us. If we get really desperate, we should use the shuttle. But not right now.”

Rhodes, one of the security detail groaned. He had a thick mustache, sunken eyes, and a thick build. He looked at Gorian quizzically. “Why aren’t we sitting by the buoy? Shouldn’t we be there if we were following it to Nine?”

“In quantam mechanics, a thousand kilometers is close enough.” She went back to tapping and swiping at her pad.

“If we have time, might as well enjoy ourselves.” Verat scratched his bum and walked into the cargo hold. The shuttle was clamped down, mountainous plastic containers hulked around it. “Whadda we have here?”

Fromer jumped. He assumed that Verat was questioning the unmarked container with rifles, ammo, and some grenades.

“This one is marked potables. Let’s have a look.” Verat pushed a button and the container opened.

Fromer relaxed. Had anyone noticed his reaction?

Verat pulled out a small box labeled chicken dinner. He pulled on a tab and dropped the lump on a plate. It slowly expanded to a sizable meal of a chicken slice, mashed potatoes, and some green stuff that looked nauron in origin. Steam began to rise from the meal. “I love compressed food.” Verat began eating. Soon the others were following suit. Iggy slurped greenish slime from a tube, Fromer munched on a zenat version of beef, and the others picked at various versions of pot roast with vegetables.

Excerpt from book entitled “A History of the Terra Institute”:

Although there are likely many undiscovered sentient species in the galaxy, only four are recognized by the Institute. There are morphological and physiological differences among the species, of course. But surprisingly many similarities in form and function exist. Marquads’ (link to: Marquad, Founding Family) Theorem states that sentient (self aware) beings must have a large central ganglion (link to: brain), opposable digits, upright posture, and forward-looking eyes. The ability to walk, manipulate the environment with hands, see with three dimensional vision, and to process all this information in a complex environment are the primary commonalities among the four species. Communication also is key, which can occur through sound (link to: humans, zenats), telepathy (link to: naurons) or physical gestures and coloration (link to: xyn). The Marquad Family was not denying that there are millions of intelligent species in the galaxy. But those emerging with the ability to ask “why”, become self aware, and seek out new opportunities with technology require these very specific biological traits.

Of course, culturally, the four known sentient species are very different. One of the most telling diffences is food preference. All sentients are omnivores, capable of eating varied diets of plant and animal matter. However, how food is perceived and valued is species specific. Humans have the most varied diets, typically preferring a mix of plant and animal matter in their meals. Obesity is common because food can be considered a psychological as well as physical source of nutrition. When naurons first came into contact with humans, food preference was a topic of much discussion. Narons, being semi-aquatic, prefer to consume marine food, largely of planktonic origin. Their meals are typically uniform. Lacking taste buds, they still puzzle over humanity’s need for varied meals. Naurons do have a heightened sensitivity to simple sugars and enjoy eating candy. Zenats are capable of digesting plant matter, but prefer animal tissue. Like humans, they have a well developed sense of taste and enjoy different preparations. Zenats and humans have exchanged food for centuries, leading to exciting new options in cuisinary development. The xyn rarely eat. They have developed a form of photosynthetic structures (link to: xenochloroplasts) in their skin and are capable of synthesizing complex sugars from sunlight. To travel beyond their home world, they don “sunlight suits” that produce light of the necessary wavelength to nourish them. When other elements are needed, the xyn will consume various dietary items indigenous to their homeworld — typically a variety of roots and tubers. They have no taste for non-indigenous food.

After the crewmates finished their meals, they sat back and waited for Gorian to provide them with news. The Raven wasn’t designed for prolonged occupancy — all on board, with the exception of Iggy — were beginning to fray. The nauron retired to a corner of the cargo hold, sat down, and occasionally sprayed his-her skin with a bottle of brine. When not spritzing, Iggy was so still that it was difficult to tell whether sheit was still respiring. Verat had produced a bottle of brandy and was rapidly losing coherence. Grey tried sleeping but was too warm and uncomfortable to succeed. Fromer remained in the command room tending to Melat, who was not responding but seemed stable.

Ten hours passed; Gorian continually conversed with the Raven’s HM and was looking worn. Grey occasionally brought her drink and food, but she rarely took the offer. The remainder of the crew including Fen was in some stage of unconciousness given that Verat had produced additional bottles of libation. Grey was characteristically disgusted with the general state of things. Gorian’s vision was blurring when a soft beeping emanated from the control panel. “Oh no,” she whispered.

The screen announced that the starboard aft thruster fired for a millisecond. Whether it was caused by a slight power fluctuation or the movement of Melat’s consciousness didn’t matter, what mattered was that the Raven’s orbit had begun to decay. In about two hours, they’d enter the outer atmosphere of the giant ball of gas and burn to cinders.

Grey approached her with a tray of cookies. She whispered in his ear. “Grey, we have a problem.”