The Trials Of The Hearken (3)
The Beginning
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This is The Trials of the Hearken, a mini-series set in the Sandbox Earth Universe and a sequel of sorts to a previous story: “Out of the Black”. While you do not have to read that story to understand this one, it would provide some illuminating context. Similar to the previous story, this one was written under the influence of a song.
The Beginning
Captain Carlo Harker paced impatiently on the bridge. The viewscreens were displaying the panorama of stars directly in front of the ship. Captain Harker squinted, stared, turned his back—as if he would be able to see a path across space, through the stars.
These days had been…frustrating, to say the least. His every attention was focused on finding a new destination, while voices whispered in his ear to turn back. No, stop, go home! This is hard!
It was always going to be hard. And it’s harder when every living soul on the ship was reaching for the controls the second even the slightest difficulty cropped up. Everyone’s a back-seat captain when they are scared. Go this way, go that way—he wondered what a lesser man might do. Maybe turn back! And good for them. But not me, he thought. This will be the greatest triumph in history.
But finding a path—that was a challenge. Captain Harker was staring at a faint red star when one of the crew approached him cautiously, and cleared his throat.
“Ahem, uh, Captain Harker?”
“What do you want?” he grunted, his gaze fixed on the stars.
“I’ve got an update from the Navigation team regarding astronometry.”
Captain Harker turned, his curiosity piqued. “Talk to me.”
“Come with me, please, sir, so we can show you.”
“Go on.” Harker waved the man to proceed, and he followed him across the bridge to an adjoining room where the navigation team was waiting.
The crewman went to a central computer, and pushed a few buttons, putting something on the presentation display in the room. “Captain Harker, we found an old astronomy database in the ships computer—probably from around the time the ship was being built. It’s about two years old—not up to date but… enough. Based on the starfield, we think we’ve been able to identify our place in space.”
“How did you do this?” the Captain barked. “How confident are you?”
“Manually, sir. we know our intended trajectory, and drew an approximate cone around around it to represent probable deviation from our intended path. We’ve…essentially randomly picked locations within the cone and tried to match up the observed starfield with the calculated starfield from the astronomy data. All this to say, with such a manual process and so many possible errors, I can’t tell you we have more confidence than, say, 60%. This is a good guess. The astronomy data isn’t complete, and again we lined everything up manually.”
“So? What does this mean? Are you able to find our destination?”
“So if—and this is a big if, captain—we are correct, our intended destination, JUC-3383 should be here.” He adjusted the computer to show a side-by-side view of the astronomic projection, and a feed from the starfield outside the ship. “As you can see, we don’t see a star there—it could be the resolution, it could be the distance. However, the Surveyor Corps data on the old database shows two other systems with potentially habitable planets. One of them, JUC-3615, is here. You can see there is indeed a star there, though it looks like a red dwarf. The other…it’s our biggest gamble. The surveyor corps data is from remote observation only, so it doesn’t have a JUC designation. But it’s got a main sequence star, and the strongest indication of life, after JUC-3383. This system is here.”
The star he pointed to was bright and golden.
“What are the risks?”
“Well, captain…with only 60% confidence…even if we chart a course correctly in the model, if we are wrong in reality it could put us straight through a star. Even if we don’t go through a star, we could end up around a different star than we are aiming for. And with limited fuel and limited hyperspace ability…there are risks…”
“I’ll worry about that. I just want to know our options for destinations.”
“We’ve talked about it, as the Navigation team, and we wanted to present a recommendation to you, but we couldn’t come to a consensus.”
“I don’t want your consensus, I want the data. I’ll make the decision.”
There was an uncomfortable silence, before the crewmate continued. “JUC-3383, our original destination, is absolutely our best bet. We don’t understand why we don’t see it on the viewscreen, and so we consider that a risk. There are possible explanations, maybe a nebula, maybe something else—but with our limited observational equipment, we can only tell you what we know for sure. We know for sure that we can’t see it. JUC-3615 is a little closer than JUC-3383, and while the star isn’t ideal, it would give us the fastest destination. The unknown star—we’ve taken to calling it Hearken-1—has the best observed star, promising surveyor corps observations, but it’s 30% farther from us than JUC-3383. It would require, almost definitely, a third jump. The original mission only called for two.”
Captain Harker furrowed his brow, and stroked his chin. After a few silent moments, he said, “Work up a flight plan for all three. I want to see the flight plans before anyone goes to sleep tonight. We’re deciding on a destination today. Make optimistic assumptions with what data you have available. I’ll make the final decision.”
The Navigation team all stood a little straighter, and saluted crisply. Finally, Captain Harker thought, some good news.
The moments after discovering Omer was dead in the observation deck had been a blur. Matthew had grabbed the blood-stained letter from Omer’s lifeless hand, picked up Ariel and carried her on his shoulder out of the Observation deck. Someone called the emergency crew as he left, and he carried Ariel as far as he could towards Deck Five before putting her down. She sobbed into his shoulder, and he didn’t know what to do. He held her quietly, waiting patiently for her to collect herself.
What more could he do? What could he say? Omer was the first casualty on the ship—Matthew mentally ticked the manifest down by one: 499 remain.
Ariel’s sobs eventually subsided, and she began to sniffle and pull herself away from Matthews embrace. She leaned against the wall, and slid down to sit, clutching her knees. Matthew knelt down next to her. What do people even say?
He tried, “I’m sorry, Ariel.”
Ariel nodded, Matthew took it as a thank you. He let that hang on the air for a few minutes, and he sat down next to her.
“I’m not going to leave you alone, Ariel.” He said, after a while. “I understand, now, the gravity of this. It’s a shock. But I have to tell the captain. I have to tell him.”
Ariel nodded again. Matthew didn’t know what this one meant.
Teela and Roman appeared down the hallway. Teela recognized both Ariel and Matthew, and hurried down the hall towards them. “Oh my god, what happened? Is everything okay?”
Matthew shook his head, no. Teela sat down and wrapped Ariel in a hug. Matthew stood to talk to Roman. “Omer is dead,” he said quietly to Roman, his back to Ariel. Roman’s face fell immediately, understanding. An unspoken conversation happened between Teela and Roman.
Roman was shocked into silence. Matthew whispered, “I don’t want to leave her alone. I am the first mate of the ship, off-duty. I need to tell the Captain about this. I need him to understand his actions have consequences.”
“Wait.” Ariel said, weakly. “Wait. I want to talk to the Captain. I want him to know Omer’s name.”
“I…I don’t know Ariel, is that a good idea? Let me deal with the Captain. He’s…he’s very focused.”
“I want him to know,” Ariel said, staring at a point on the floor. “I want him to know what will happen to us.”
“I…not now, let’s figure this out later. I have to meet with the Captain before lights out. You rest. I’ll come back for you before I meet with the captain. Teela, Roman—can you stay with her? Or can she stay with you?”
“Of course,” Teela said. “Of course. Come with us, sweet thing.” Teela said.
“I have to go. If you need me—well, I’ll come find you. We will talk then. Okay?”
Roman extended his hand, and Matthew shook it. “We’ve got it from here. See you soon.”
Teela and Roman’s bunk was essentially identical to that of Ariel and Omer. It was a surreal feeling for Ariel to walk in—it felt like her own room, but was strange, and wrong. The room was ‘home’ to someone else, and she felt it. She couldn’t hold back the tears as Teela ushered her in, and offered her a place to lie down. She curled up on their bed, trying at once to both remember and forget what it felt like to lie down with Omer.
Teela and Roman exchanged looks, and said nothing.
Ariel looked at the letter Omer had written, his scratchy handwriting, his final thoughts. Shakily, she opened the letter, and read, quietly.
Dearest Ariel,
I love you. I will always love you. I’m sorry for this, I’m sorry to take the last word. There’s a lot that happened that I wish happened differently. There’s a lot I wanted that life conspired to not deliver. I’ve made my peace with it, I think. I carry no grudges with me.
This was my choice. It was my choice and no one could make it for me. All roads lead to death, eventually, for everyone. And, well—this is my stop. I always fought for a place in the world, and it’s not your fault that the Colony went sour. It’s not your fault that I didn’t think through the possible outcomes. I didn’t know failure was an option. I didn’t know there was a chance we wouldn’t make it, that our future would be cut short.
So, I’m making the only choice I can make. I’m making this choice for me. Whatever happens, wherever I am—I know I deserve to be here, finally. If I can selfishly make one request—please don’t suffer. I know you’re an idealist, but don’t let them kill you for it, don’t let them do to you what they did to your parents. Do your best to live your dream. And when it’s time, I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.
You were the light of my life. Keep that light.
See you soon. Love, -Omer T. Geddes.
Ariel could see stains on the page where Omer cried. Where Omer cried alone, in a dark room. Where Omer cried, his life draining from his wrists. Where she wasn’t there for him. Where he felt he wouldn’t be a burden. Where she failed.
Tears filled her eyes, again. She sobbed, and sobbed.
Teela sat on the end of the bed, and rubbed her leg helplessly.
Captain Harker reclined in the tiny office adjoining the bridge, where he considered the options. We are close…so close to making history. He wasn’t blind to the stress on the ship, he wasn’t unaware of the fear. But he couldn’t shake that such fear was cowardice. Are we stepping boldly into the unknown or not?
And now he had options to consider. Three stars. The original target which, for many good reasons, wasn’t visible to them. A close target, with a dim red star. A high-risk, high-reward gamble. Each choice, mutually exclusive. There would not be enough fuel to visit more than one. If he picked wrong, it spelled doom for the ship. So don’t pick wrong, Carlo, he admonished himself.
His thoughts returned to his meeting with Comrade Webber at the Karos Shipyard. Comrade Webber told him that Tsar-Comrade Kazanov had chosen him personally. That they had every confidence in Captain Carlo Harker. And now, the danger. When—or if— the Jovian Union found out that the very same Captain Harker had led his colonists through danger and uncertainty, and landed on a safe world—his name would become legend. Not only that, but the promise of the long tradition of captains getting to name their colonies: all of this adds up to immortality.
My name will be remembered forever. This minor blip in the journey would become mere context for his legend. Great men rise up in times of trial—who was stepping up more than Captain Harker?
He couldn’t help but smile. Why does no one understand what it costs to make history? Not to mention the cost of power. When they land, who better to lead them than the Captain who led them through every danger and trial? He was as good as a king the second they landed. A world, a whole colony of people, all his—and it would be years before any search party found them. By then, what could anyone do? This is the cost of survival. The beginning of something great.
All that was left was to choose a star, and make the plan.
There was a knock on the door.
“Captain Harker? We’ve got the flight plan proposals for you.”
Just in time…
Matthew knocked on the door of Teela and Roman’s room. He was dressed now in his crisp black uniform, red badge on his breast pocket. There was a muffled commotion inside.
“Who is it?”
“Matthew.” The door slid open immediately.
“You came back!” Teela sighed, relieved. Teela and Roman looked tired, Ariel was curled on their bed and her eyes were still glistening.
“It’s…well, it’s time. Captain Harker gave me an ultimatum. I need to meet him before lights out, and either tell him I am committed to his vision, whatever it is—or that I resign.”
“I’m coming with you.” Ariel muttered, weakly.
“Ariel, I can’t let you do that. The captain is—”
“I’m coming. No one tells me what to do. I’m going to look the Captain in the eyes and make sure he knows Omer’s name.” Ariel slowly sat up in the bed, for the first time since arriving.
“Well if you go we’re coming too,” Teela said. Roman nodded.
“But the petition—” Matthew began.
“We’ll know in this conversation if the Captain will listen to a petition,” Ariel said. “But it’s not my priority. Not after this.”
Matthew sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want to take more time?”
“What time do we have?” Ariel snapped. “I’m not arguing. This is our shot—let’s take it.”
“Okay,” Matthew held out his hands helplessly. “Come with me.”
Matthew pushed open the heavy steel door of the bridge. A bridge attendant appeared, and then pulled the door further as he recognized Matthew. Ariel, Teela, and Roman emerged from behind him. The bridge attendant paused, “I can’t let non-crew on the bridge.”
“They’re with me. I have an appointment with Captain Harker.”
“Come on in, but wait here please. I’ll get the Captain.”
The attendant pushed the door open all the way, and a dim blue light illuminated Matthew’s companions. They filed in and stood, looking around the bridge. A large viewscreen on the far wall made it look like a window into space, the rows of computers and busy members of the crew keeping the ship running.
The attendant hurried away as Captain Harker emerged from his office. “Ah, Matthew!” he held out his arms in a welcoming gesture, “and you brought friends! That gives me a hint about how this conversation is going to go.”
“Captain,” Matthew clicked his heels, and saluted, “you need to hear about the condition of the colonists. You need to hear their appeal. There’s…” Matthew hesitated, stopping himself from saying a number, “hundreds of lives at stake.”
“I don’t need to hear anything, Matthew. I asked you to tell me whether you were going to stay or go—I only needed one word from you. You brought more people and more words than I care for. But, since you have an audience, I’ll humor you. Go ahead. What’s the problem.”
Ariel stepped forward. “Omer T. Geddes.” She said.
Captain Harker looked at her with disdain. “Is that name supposed to mean something to me? Who the hell are you.”
“Omer Geddes committed suicide this morning. The uncertainty you have created—”
Captain Harker laughed, “Matthew what does this have to do with your job? What are we doing? I mean seriously!”
Matthew saw Ariel clench and release her fists. “Captain, I am Ariel Geddes. Omer was the first to die on this ship.” Matthew heard a sharp intake of breath from Teela at the change in name. Ariel continued, “If we press forward like you’ve said you plan to, more will die. You have to turn the ship around and try to make contact with the Union. If you don’t believe me, I am prepared to circulate a petition to illustrate that—”
“Don’t you dare tell me how to run my ship. Matthew tried to do that, and failed, and then decided to bring you to try to do the same thing. I am sorry your husband is dead. But it sounds like it’s something he did, not me. You can circulate all the petitions you want, but I alone will make the decisions for my ship, my crew, my colonists.”
“Captain…” Matthew interjected.
“Shut up, Matthew,” the Captain sneered. “You brought this girl to represent you, so I’m going to talk to her now. You’ve found someone else to hold your leash, congratulations. You are relieved. If I find you wearing that uniform after today, you already know what I’ll do.” Captain Harker turned to Ariel. “You—you don’t know how heavy it is to wear the crown. You think you can second guess me from the residential decks? You don’t have all the information I do. And I have found a path through the stars, I have found a home for us. As it happens I’ve just decided on a new system to seek out. And I will lead us there.”
“Captain, you don’t understand. This trip is only supposed to take thirty days—”
“No, you don’t understand,” he growled. He was scowling, his brow furrowed. There was a shift in his face—like his eyes changed color, or a spark left him. Matthew got the sense it wasn’t the same captain speaking anymore. “We were given a mission to find a home. The circumstances are different, regrettable even—but the mission is the same. I’ve made the decision.”
“Please turn around. I’m begging you, Captain. For the souls on this ship, for the success of the colony, for the better of everyone.”
The captain smiled. It was a twisted smile, something about it was wrong. Matthew glanced at the other crew, saw Teela and Roman exchange looks. The captain said, simply: “No.”
“Excuse me?” Ariel asked, incredulous.
“No. No, I will not turn around. No, I will not stop. The jump proceeds.”
“Captain, you don’t understand!”
“The answer—”
“What happens on this ship—”
“—is no.”
“—is on your head.”
“That will be all. You are dismissed.” The captain turned his back to them, and leaned over a control panel.
Bridge attendants stepped forward, confused and worried looks on their faces. They gestured to the door. “This way, please.” Matthews heart was pounding in his chest. He followed Teela, Roman, and Ariel out the door.
No.
As they walked silently through the halls…
No.
…the Captains final decree rang in his ears.
No.
One syllable, and 500 souls were outweighed in the balance.
No.
Ariel felt numb, walking through the hallways. Behind Matthew, slowly and sadly unbuttoning his uniform jacket, which he dropped on the floor of the hallway. In front of Teela and Roman, holding hands and worried.
“Now we know,” she said, quietly.
“Now we know.” Matthew echoed in front of her. “We know he’s crazy. We know he can’t be reasoned with.”
“What are we going to do? What can we do? Ariel—the petition was your idea, do we still do it?”
Ariel smiled, finding a bitter humor in the question. “No, no petition. I think I get it now. I get what Omer was worried about. I get what my parents maybe didn’t realize. There’s no…there’s nothing we can do to change the captain’s mind. But there are things we can do to help.”
“Like what?” Teela urged.
“No more deaths. No one else dies on this ship. That’s… that’s priority. So what do we need to do to make that happen? Everyone needs to know what’s coming. That everything will become scarce quickly. If we start rationing today, voluntarily—we can make it last. We can make it.”
“But how? How are we going to do this?”
“The captain will announce the jump. When the captain announces what’s coming, tell people to gather in the cafeteria. He’ll give us plenty of notice—because that’s standard procedure. He’ll act like it’s business as usual. So once everyone is gathered, we’ll have a meeting. And we’ll tell them. I’ll tell them.”
“How do we spread the word?”
“We go door to door.” Ariel’s heart burned. It looked like this would be the first democratic act after all.
Two Days Later
The announcement finally came just after lights-out. Ariel supposed the Captain thought everyone would be at their most relaxed, winding down. Maybe they would even miss it. But after two days of knocking on doors, the four of them were exhausted. Ariel’s stomach growled—she had eaten a half ration of chili the day before, but only because Teela forced her to.
The announcement began with that familiar, friendly chime over the intercom. The captains voice echoed in all the rooms, down all the halls, in every corner of the ship.
“Attention colonists, this is your captain speaking. I know there have been a lot of questions and concerns after my last announcement. I assure you—my crew have been hard at work on diagnostics and navigation. Our brilliant team of Navigators have found charts and data to help us find our way, and I am pleased to report we are back on track. However, due to the deviation from course after the first jump, we have had to select a new destination. This destination is slightly farther—it will require one more jump than we had scheduled. It will require some patience and ingenuity from you and the crew to stretch our resources. But I am assured that we have not just the resources but the grit to get there. The new system has been dubbed Hearken-1 after our ship. I couldn’t be more proud to lead you fine people through the stars to our new home. Tomorrow at lights out, we will make our second jump towards this new destination.
“I told you our mission has not changed, and it has not. We’ve found our path, and we are sticking to it. And all of your names will be remembered for all of history for your bravery and your sacrifices. The unknown has called to us—now, finally, we answer.”
The announcement ended with that same friendly chime, and an energetic silence fell over Ariel. She looked over at Teela and Roman, who were still keeping close watch on her, and she stood. “It’s time.”
Matthew watched Ariel climb a table in the cafeteria. He felt anxious for her—but she decided it should be her job to address everyone. It felt right. Their efforts to get the word out about the meeting had been successful. A large crowd had arrived, and the room was getting warm with all the bodies. People were standing on the stairs leading up to the balcony overlooking the cafeteria, and even more crowded the halls, trying to peer in and listen.
Ariel cleared her throat, and spoke as loudly as she could.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” she began. “I know this is all very unusual. But the Captain made an announcement just now, and I felt it was important to tell you what he did not. Thanks to Matthew Morris, formerly first mate to the Captain, and Teela and Roman who came with us, we were able to speak to him.
“We were all scared when the Captain made his first announcement that we were lost. It seemed to me that the obvious choice was to turn right around and try to make contact with civilization. The Captain decided otherwise. There’s a natural, a very real impulse to say that if he won’t do it we should make him, that we should mutiny, or revolt—but no. We can’t do that either. Everyone on the crew listens to the Captain. If the engines stop working—we will, all of us, die. If the life support stops working—we will, all of us, die. 100% of the crew needs to do 100% of their jobs to keep us all alive. If we fight the captain, even if most of the crew support us, any member of the crew refusing to do their job has dire consequences for the rest of us. So mutiny is off the table.”
Nervous whispers cascaded through the crowd of worried faces. Matthew barely registered—he was focused on Ariel.
“So the Captain has made his decision, and we are along for the ride. All we can control is ourselves. The Captain thinks he’s found a system, found a planet. If we aren’t quite sure where we are, it’s impossible to be quite sure where we are going. There are risks involved. This journey was only supposed to take thirty days and two jumps. Now we’re doing a third jump, and it could take much more than thirty days. Candidly—we don’t know how long it will take. We have to make what supplies we have last.
“Our most valuable resources are fairly simple. Food, water, air. Air will last as long as the fuel lasts and the engines are running and keeping the life support systems powered. Food and water—these will become scarce very quickly. We have to begin rationing immediately. Every meal we don’t eat, is another day one person can stay alive. If anyone eats more than their share, we will run out of food faster. Water can be recycled, but we have to be careful. If we run out of water before we run out of food, we die. If we run out of food before we run out of water, we die.
“I’m telling you all this so you know what we’re up against. The Captain has not made provision for these things—but we can. We aren’t just livestock in a pen. We are a colony. And civilization, order, it starts here and now, with us.”
The whispers grew to a murmur, the same worries on the tips of five hundred tongues.
“My husband, Omer Geddes, chose to end his life. I…I don’t want anyone else to die. No one needs to die for us to make it to the colony. In order to achieve that, it will require sacrifices from all of us. But every little sacrifice we make buys us all another day of life, another day closer to the colony.
“This is going to be hard. There’s no getting around that. But even if the whole sky is dark and black—we can find a single faint star of hope. As long as we have that star of hope, we have a future. Tomorrow, when we make this jump—there’s no going back. Prepare yourselves, everyone. This isn’t the end. This is the beginning.”
Matthew watched Ariel pause and take a deep breath.
“These…these are things I wanted to say. Any questions?”
The cafeteria erupted with noise. The hair on Matthew’s neck stood on end—not with fear, but excitement. We can do this.
Epilogue
Ariel waited to step out of the last landing craft. She wanted to be the last one off the Hearken. When the door lowered, and the fresh, wet air filled the ship, she could have cried, if she had any tears left. She rubbed her hand along her ribs, counting them absently. Her stomach had stopped growling two weeks ago.
She watched the skeletal frames of the other passengers walk on unsteady feet, in new gravity, onto the grassland. Some crawled. Many wept dry tears.
She looked at Matthew, across from her. He had grown a beard, and his face looked sunken. She pointed, he nodded, and began walking out in front of her. Some of the people began grabbing handfuls of grass and stuffing it desperately into their mouths.
Other colonists were sitting, some standing, some taking in the first pristine views of what would become their new home. Strange trees rose in a distant forest, mountains beyond them. The sea was distantly visible in the opposite direction. The Hearken loomed in orbit above them like a dark memory.
Matthew came up to her, and whispered something in her ear. He had a copy of the manifest, and had struck names from the list. Ariel nodded. She already knew the number. She had taken it upon herself to get the name of every soul who died during the journey. Every single one. Every single failure. And every day, every night, she recited every name, as more were added. A litany of victims of Captain Harker’s madness. A litany beginning with Omer T. Geddes.
Across the landing field, Captain Carlo Harker was yelling something to a crowd of colonists sitting placidly on the grass. Matthew stepped in front of her, blocking the view of Harker. Ariel realized the colonists around her were looking at her, too.
Matthew asked, “What do we do now?”
The first colonization effort undertaken by the Jovian Union was supposed to take five-hundred souls thirty days to cross the depths of space.
When the crew, supplies, and colonists finally landed on a habitable planet far from their original destination, there were only two-hundred six souls remaining.
They named the planet Hearken.
The journey took exactly one-hundred days.
The End
Thank you very much for reading! This is the third and final part of my first (complete) limited serial. This has truly been a labor of love, and a labor of learning. Laborious, because I started jotting down notes for this story in August of 2024. The first part took four months to write. The second part took one month to write. The third part came together by necessity in three days. This story has been work, and I have learned a great deal. Thanks are due to
who did a beta read of parts one and two, and helped get the story unstuck from it’s early draft form. Thanks to my sister, for being an early and enthusiastic reader. Thanks are due to you, subscribers and readers, for your enthusiasm for this story. I have struggled a lot to finish these limited serials, and I cannot express my joy and relief at having done so now. You all make it worth it!If you enjoyed reading The Trials of the Hearken, kindly consider reading other works in the Sandbox Earth Universe, or sharing this series with a friend.
Please consider leaving a like, telling me what you thought in the comments, or sharing this story on Notes. If you would like to read more, please check out my collection of longer fiction at The Volume.
God bless!
AJPM
Well that was brutal. And no doubt they'll lose many more people before a colony can be established. Is there going to be more?
(And what do you mean the captain wasn't infected by alien spores?! That was on my Hearken bingo card.)
Haunting scenario in all the best ways. This story actually made it to my real-life nightmares 😂😅😭