Prisoners of Kepler (Gravity Rider) - Version 0 © 2016 Neal williams
Started 3/22/2012 Finished 2/5/2016 (2,545 words)
“Sir? Can you take a look at this docking request we just received.” The young ensign’s screen flashed in front of him signifying a transport needed the necessary permissions before it could dock. He sat in a small, dark room lighted by screens monitoring the traffic patterns of hundreds of in and outbound spacecraft.
The station master put down his set and walked behind the young ensign. “What’ve you got?” The master spoke with the confidence of someone who had the experience of seeing it all. As station master of Sure Point, the space end of Earth’s elevator, he indeed had seen it all. He was in charge of the busiest hub of ship activity in the inner solar system.
"The request is in an ancient format. I’m surprised the computer even recognizes the protocol.”
The master adjusted his glasses, the ensign looked up from his screen and smiled, wondering why his boss still wore those antique eyepieces. Looking at the request, he pursed his lips, and nodded. “Please transfer the request over to my station. I’ll bring her in.”
“Yes sir, can I ask where did it come from?”
“It’s a prisoner transport, probably the last of them, she’s been running the Mars-Aldrin Cycler for the past thirty or so years. The ship is the prisoner’s cell. The Law of Kepler, his punishment. She’s fulfilling her last mission, bringing home Prisoner 710114.” The station master took his glasses off, rubbed his eyes, and let out a sigh. “Please contact the medical station and have them meet me at Hub 64.”
“Yes sir, what should I tell them?”
“Just tell them it's a prisoner ship, they’ll understand.” The station master returned to his seat, began sequencing the final docking. Under his breath the ensign could hear him whisper, “I hate days like this.”
#
“Which hub did he say?” Doctor Niche looked frazzled. His smock was buttoned askew, he couldn’t find his handheld, and Sharon noticed one shoe untied.
“Sixty-four, it’s the only one with the right docking mechanism.”
“Oh right, do we have any information on Prisoner 710114?”
“His name is Haruki Yuuto. From the records I could find, he was imprisoned almost thirty years ago.”
“Any next of kin?”
“Just one. A daughter, we think, she lives on the Moon at Armstrong Base. Supposedly she is on her way. On the next shuttle arriving sometime tomorrow.”
“I guess we’re going have to do our best to keep him alive. Any prognosis?”
“The computer provided preliminary data. It doesn’t look good.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Looks like leukemia, although those older transports medical capabilities are pretty archaic.” Sharon’s disgust was barely contained in her response. She threw the paperwork on the bed along with the doctor’s medical bag. She looked around at their small medical center. They were an emergency response crew, close to the docking transports. She mentally went through a checklist ensuring she had grabbed everything necessary.
“Cancer? I haven’t seen an advanced staged case since med school. What the hell were they doing? Better grab the sim rig while you’re at it.”
“Disgusting if you ask me. Barbaric putting those men into those transports without any regard for their well-being. No shielding and improper medical care.”
“Any indication of what our Mr. Yuuto did to deserve a life sentence?”
“The report is vague but it appears he was caught stealing.”
“Harsh punishment but I guess it was a different Earth back then. Let’s go, I want to be there as soon as it docks.”
Sharon grabbed the bed rig and pushed it into the hallway. Small port windows showed Earth below them. At 23,000 miles away, she simply saw the blue oceans, white clouds, and tan landmasses. From afar it was hard to believe the cruelty men would exact on others when threatened.
She considered that they hadn’t seen a prisoner in quite a while. Five years if she recalled. She didn’t understand why they bothered bringing them back. By the time they reached them they were barely breathing. She had heard that it was part of their contract.
#
His racking cough awakened him from his dream and back into his nightmare. The computer pinged. The synthesized notes broke the silence. He gazed down at his handkerchief, it was splattered with blood. The cough receded, but he knew his time was short. Just hang on he thought, the transport had to be close. He had a promise to keep.
The computer flashed an indication that they had received docking protocols. Aware of the significance, the computer’s monotone voice, drowned out by the racket of a failing environmental system, spoke to him in a voice neither male nor female. He had, long ago, changed it as it reminded him too much of his lack of human companionship.
"Good evening, Mr. Yuuto. How are you feeling?"
"How much time until we reach Sure Point?" he asked.
"We have received docking confirmation, our course tracking indicates we will arrive at the space elevator in approximately thirty minutes," the computer's lack of empathy still bugged him after all of these years.
"I don’t have much time." He doubled over. The pain medication, synthesized with whatever remaining monomers existed on the onboard pharmacy, wasn’t enough.
As he drifted back into unconsciousness, delirium led him back to the time of his sentencing. Sarah, his wife, pregnant, screamed out; she sobbed when he was torn from her grasp. Officers led him away to the space elevator. The salt from her tears lingered on his lips. Their last kiss, just another bitter reminder of a lost future. He remembered his promise to her. He would find his way back someday and introduce himself to his unborn daughter.
Sometime later, the chattering of his own teeth woke him. Death, it seemed, wanted him to keep his appointment. He just needed to hang on for a few more hours. The promise to bring him home became his beacon of hope. A proximity alarm rung; his transport must be nearing the docking ring.
“Mr. Yuuto, we have received docking permissions. Is there anything you need?”
His journey almost complete. His body trembled. “Computer, can you increase my pain medication, increase the adrenaline drip...”
#
“Let’s get this air lock opened.” The station chief, Commander Aidees barked to the technicians. The commander was a short, stout, fully bearded man. Sharon knew him, everyone did.
Doctor Niche was going through his bag laying out what he thought he might need. “Sharon? Everything powered and ready to go?” She nodded, the bed, once activated would work miracles although she wasn’t completely sure it would work in this case.
“Step back everyone and put your breathing masks on.”
The air lock reluctantly opened. Sharon didn’t quite have her air mask completely on when announced and staggered back by the smell. Oh lord, she thought.
“Hurry let’s get him stabilized now that he’s been reintroduced to Earth gravity.”
Sharon and the doctor swarmed over him. Years of weightless, bad food, and constant radiation had destroyed what was left of his humanity. The man’s last thirty years was contained in this one transport thought Sharon. She looked around and saw entropy at work. Equipment patched, switches rewired, personal effects strewn about, and sadness in a quivering hologram barely able to reproduce the original image. What she could see was a young woman next to a sign reading, Armstrong Base Welcomes You.
She returned to the man before her. His clothes were soaked through with sweat. He was still breathing. His arm reached out to her. His touch was like a slight breeze in the wind.
“Doctor? I think he’s trying to say something.” Sharon noticed his darting eyes and his lips moving. She put her ear down to his mouth.
“Promises. I have a...,” his eyes rolled back, his breath sucked in, but he continued, “Promises to keep. Earth.”
“Hold on Mr. Yuuto. You are going to be okay. Let’s get you hooked up and into the stabilizer.”
Sharon and Dr. Niche scrambled to get him more comfortable. Sharon was amazed he had made it this far. Readouts suggested will alone was keeping him alive.
“Get him zipped up, let’s go.” She grabbed his hand. She could see a slight smile. The stabilizer was doing its job. Commander Aidees was whispering to the Doctor. Sharon could not hear what they were saying.
“He wants to return to Earth.” She stated.
The two men turned to her. Commander Aidees responded, “What did you say?”
“Mr. Yuuto needs to return to Earth. He whispered to me, he wants to go home. He doesn’t have much time left. I suggest we get a move on.”
#
"You owe me this one last thing," he pleaded. It was the one thing he had held onto all those years of imprisonment. One last chance to breathe Earth’s air and to meet his daughter.
He tried to see around him. He could only make out the doctor, the nurse, and a man of some importance, he was in uniform. That man unzipped the protective covering over his head. He separated the lining, leaned in. “I’m Commander Aidees, I represent the Corporation. We understand our promise Mr. Yuuto, and we’ll get you on the first available lift down to the surface. Can you open your mouth for a moment? The doctor has asked me to attach this disk on the roof of your mouth to help with pain.”
The pain subsided, he fell asleep.
With a jolt, he awoke. He looked about. He had been moved. He felt much better although he was still weak. Next to him was the kind nurse who had been with him earlier. She smiled.
“It’s okay Mr. Yuuto, we are on the space elevator down to the surface. The Acheron’s engineers inform me we will reach Earth’s surface in approximately an hour. You okay?
"Feeling much better, thank you."
"Hang on Mr. Yuuto. If you need anything squeeze my hand. My name is Sharon, I will be here with you all the way."
"Am I going to make it?" his voice trailed off. He was failing, but in a moment of clarity he saw his wife's face and the promise he made all those years ago.
"Easy there Mr. Yuuto. Stay with me," Sharon pleaded. “We’ve been in contact with your daughter. She is already on the surface. She’s excited to finally get to meet you.”
“I’m afraid I’m not much to look at this point.”
“You look great, the fresh Earth air will do you wonders.”
"Is that what I smell?" The elevator lift car must be close to the surface. Long forgotten memories returned like a de-orbiting shuttle. The smell of death and rebirth; a strange dichotomy he thought as his end nears. It had been thirty years since he last smelled Earth's reek. As the elevator descended, gravity began to slow his breath. His chest tightened as if weight balances were placed there. He trembled, his arms flailed, and his mouth was dry. Fear slipped into his consciousness.
"Mr. Yuuto? Hang tight, I'll be wheeling you out of the lift car. You made it." The nurse took a cloth and wiped the sweat off of his brow. She tried to make him presentable.
"It's so bright. The glare, it hurts my eyes." The nurse wheeled him into the shadows.
"Is it good to be home? It's been a long time for you."
"Everything is so big. Push me back inside. Please I beg you." The moment, he thought about for years, swallowed him whole. The vast sky above him made his heart pound. He missed the close confines of his transport like a lost security blanket.
"It's okay. Relax Mr. Yuuto. Take some deep breaths. The moist ocean air will do you wonders." She placed her hand on his shoulders. He felt better with the human contact that he lost for so many years.
The nurse pushed him around in the wheelchair. She pointed him in the direction of a solitary figure. The figure waved. Was he seeing things? Was that his wife? She's still alive? The figure came forward. His voice was hesitant, “Sarah?”
“No Daddy, it's me, you daughter”
“Molly." His voice cracked. Her tears flowed as he heard his baby’s voice. He had never met her, "you look so much like your mother.”
“I know, Daddy, I know.”
She was remarkably strong. He imagined that he must look hideous. He struggled to find words, struggled to reach out to hold her hand but he couldn't, “I promised your mother that I would see you, I am so happy.”
“I got the call last week and caught the first shuttle to Earth." Her voice choked up. "I wanted to be here for you, I know Mom would have been glad that you fulfilled your promise to her. She loved you so much."
“Earth is so beautiful today. I can't believe it has been so long. It has an aroma all its own. It smells like home.”
“It is a beautiful place, isn't it?" He saw her look around her. The space elevator anchor was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Big blue skies enveloped them, ocean mist sprayed them.
He knew he didn't have much time left. Molly knelt next to him, reached out, and placed her arms around him. He thought of all the hugs he missed while she was growing up. All those hugs wrapped into one at this one moment of time. A single tear slowly trickled down his cheek.
His eyes closed, he heard her sob, "Don't go Daddy, don't..."
The lump in his throat prevented him from speaking. Molly turned her head and he whispered, “Don’t be sad. This is my time. My promise kept. Of all the things I have done and seen, knowing you are out there, a part of me…I know I did one thing right. I love you.”
Her tears were the last thing he felt as he slowly drifted away. His ears caught her final words, “I love you too, Daddy.”
He thought back to when he was last here. He remembered his wife saying goodbye, her tears washed over him with their last hug. His heart broken. His eyelids grew heavy and his breath became shallow. His eyes closed, he could see Sarah. She smiled and threw her arms wide. He had returned. He was home.
#
"Name?"
“Molly Wright."
"Relation to the deceased?"
"Daughter."
"Thanks for coming, Ms. Wright, we are sorry for your loss. Your father was in pretty bad shape when his tug came in. He was already delirious, so we did what we could to make him comfortable."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he was incoherent, babbling about a promise to keep...We understood him to mean our promise that we would bring him home."
"You mean he's still here?"
"His body, yes, he would never have survived the transition to Earth's gravity. We neurally simulated his final hour, it was the best we could do. Again I'm sorry, he passed away quietly and he seemed content, he mentioned you in his final words...and he left you with these recordings."
