Tainted Rainbow

26 Years After the Launch of the starship Salient

In her dreams, the grey cold mist always ruled. It ate the sunlight and turned shade into shadows. As it rolled and boiled into the forest among the ancient oak trees, an eerie silence followed. What before were the gentle hands of branches swaying in the evening wind, became the fingers of beasts and horrors unknown reaching out. The smell became damp and musty. Even the day seemed to retreat into eternal twilight and all color- the browns, the greens, the blues just faded away. Then the rain came, starting slowly, and then beating against her world until it began to shatter and fragment apart in jagged pieces like a broken portrait.

"But it was a dream," she always whispered that to herself. In the end it was just a dream.

The whistle of the shift change woke her from deep sleep, and her long slender fingers pulled her pillow tightly over her shaven head to drown it out. Truly angry now she sat up in bed gritting her teeth. It was difficult to even say why she was angry, but she was. Carefully, she looked towards the hallway hoping that no one walking by had seen. Facing disciplinary action for displaying violent emotions would ruin her morning more than the dream already had. Especially considering... but she stopped that thought refusing to even think about it.

Quickly stepping into one of the shower-closets along the outside edge of the circular dormitory, she closed her eyes and pressed the start cycle button. The door closed behind her and water blasted itself across her body as it automatically mixed with biodegradable soup. It was over in 30 seconds, but she hated it with a passion. Showers should be slow affairs with time to relax, not a hyper-compressed guaranteed hygienic and claustrophobic moment without sight, sound, or the ability to breathe! She hated the shower with a passion as it sucked the moisture away leaving her perfectly dry.

Exiting quickly, she slipped into her dark purple jump suit with its two gold stripes on the left shoulder. Each crewmember had two uniforms, one for work and one for away missions. That was it, starships were not big on vanity. For a moment, she admired herself in the reflecting pool at the base of her dormitory bed. Even at an aging 50, the guys- or maybe some of them anyways- still watched her. Sighing, she listened for a moment to the still snoring Fazzle, her only companion in the lower decks dormitory.

The cold stark beauty of the dormitory was awe-inspiring. The crystalline deck changed colors with the soft lighting from the reflecting pool. Ten bunks, each with three granite looking black beds, stood in a semi-circle surrounded a reflecting pool. The ceiling towered out of sight. The granite look of the beds was illusionary as instead of being hard, they adjusted to one's contour nicely. Arranged around the outside wall of the chamber were various shower closets, hygiene closets, uniform closets, and a small pull out chest for personal items. Exits to a circular hallway around the outside of the dormitory existed on opposites sides of the room.

Across from her, Fazzle suddenly stopped snoring but didn’t move. Clearly, he was ignoring the change of shift alarm. Smiling wickedly to herself, she left the dormitory quickly. It would break the monotony if he got chewed out again. The two of them were the only ones in this dormitory that worked third shift and thus depended on each other for companionship. Unfortunetly, Fazzle had difficulty managing to speak more than ten words a day and then only when he felt talkative. Deep down she knew she was holding a grudge against him. She wanted more from him then he was ready to deliver.

As she rode up the glass expressway to the bridge, the floors and command centers flew by. When she had first arrived it had been an incredible feeling… moving up through hundreds of meters of open space on a sliver of glass propelled by whatever technology made this whole thing work. Now she hardly even noticed, except for what was missing. Twenty-Six years ago, the hustle and bustle of people working and moving filled the interior transit spaces. Now there were barely enough to man the ship and keep it running.

Stopping for a moment just outside the bridge, Zeffa picked up her supply rations and water from the bridge quartermaster. A gruff fellow, he didn’t even notice her. She doubted he knew her name or anyone’s name for that matter. There had been a time when supplies and food had been plentiful, but now food rations were controlled very carefully. Only those going on duty were given food at all.

Pausing for a moment at the bridge doors, she waited for the ships AI to recognize her. A moment later the gleaming white doors opened and she walked onto the ship's bridge.

Saluting the Bridge Officer- Garrett it looked like; she held the salute and waited for him to acknowledge her.

“At ease crewman” he finally recognized her “Take your post, specialist.”

“Yes sir!” She responded, walking over to one of the six pods that surrounded the raised dais on which the Bridge Officer stood. Most shifts only two were occupied, though vaguely she remembered a time when all the pods had been filled. As she sat down the one-sixth of the wall over her pod become a holographic representation of a nearby star system.

“Morning Zeffa” the ships AI thoughts intruded into her own.

“Morning Salient” Zeffa replied using the telepathic link that had been embedded into her “Fazzle’s going to be late again”. Too late she realized what was going to happen as the hologram above her head shifted to show a harried looking Fazzle stepping out of a shower closet. Despite the years, his firm body and well defined muscles reflected the time he spent excercising and staying fit. Blushing (and feeling more then a little guilty) she looked back and up towards the Bridge Officer, who fortunately was looking the other way.

“What was that star system?” Zeffa asked and took a bite of her morning rations. The Salient obediently replaced the holographic image of Fazzle with the star system that had been there when she first sat down.

“Our original destination, though…” The Salient stopped in mid thought, but she could feel how worried the ship was. AI specialists were not supposed to become too attached or to embedded in the thoughts of the ships AI. Her job required her to keep her emotional distance. Emotions were supposed to remain confined, but with Zeffa and the Salient, they didn’t. If the circumstances had been more normal, and the ship's officers found out… well anyways that wouldn’t happen, not now. Long ago the Salient had crossed the line, Zeffa knew, that line between merely being a machine to that of being alive. Oddly though, she didn’t think anyone else on board even knew that was the case.

“Why are you worried?” Zeffa was curious.

“The fleet was meant to meet here…” the Salient paused and Zeffa could feel her grief “A re-supply point which we could use as a base of operations to begin colonizing inhabitable worlds”

Well in a way she knew that already. Back when she signed on, the fleet’s mission had been incredibly grand- a massive push into the unknown. Little had they known, but that was history, unchangeable, unalterable. The world that sent them, the earth itself was gone. She blinked back tears. After all these years, she still grieved. Though she really didn't know why she cared, but somehow she did. At the end of every stormy journey such as this surely there had to be a rainbow at the end. A song she had found in the ships library ran through her mind.

“But this rainbow is tainted” The Salient read her thoughts “There is no gold at the end. The fleet cannot make it unless they cannibalize me and move on with the smaller ships.”

Behind her she heard the Bridge Officer chewing out Fazzle, but for the moment it didn’t matter, suddenly didn’t seem so entertaining, “They wont.. they can’t” Zeffa swallowed hard, “You mean to much to them.. the flagship..”

“Tell them to park me around the gas giant I have identified.. I have transmitted it to the other ships in the fleet” the Salient’s thoughts seemed gentle reassuring, “I am going to shut down now… they will have no choice. I choose to tell you, because we have been friends.” A long pause followed “Good night…. I will power back on only when the time is right.”

The telepathic link went dead and all across the massive ship the lights went out. Frightened, Zeffa rose from her seat and made her way in the darkness to where Fazzle stood. Her universe, everything they had both known for a long time now, was about to go away. It felt like they were the only beings left in the universe and in that loneliness Zeffa's anger faded away. Taking him in her arms, they embraced in the darkness and waited for help.

********* TO BE CONTINUED IN THE STORY CRANBERRY SAUCE *************

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