To Die Alone

this story was inspired by th C.S Lewis quote, paraphasing, 'freindship like art and philosopy are not needed by survival, but suvival can be greatly enhanced by it.'

To die alone
By D.S. Ferguson aka Ironworker156

The young commander, A. Mettalis, steps carefully from an elevator onto the command deck of The Aida. The Aida, a now crippled, but once powerful multi-generational starship, makes its way to the remote new world “Davist-C” which circles the nameless star CN4 twenty-seven sixty-one which lay just outside the Stellar Nursery known as The Crab Nebula.

Exhausted he took a seat at the helm and sat for a while alone in the huge control room. Silently he observed the sounds of the remaining working consoles that spoke alerts and conditions quietly and continuously to an absent crew. Windows all tall and wide smoothly curved around from one side to the other revealing a universe awash in a soft amber glow of stars. He could have stared at its beauty for days, but there was little time left and important tasks to do. So he ordered his actions an had come here to get some rest. Reality set in and his head dropped and his heart sank, taking a deep breath accepting the fact he was the last of the active crew alive and if their repairs did not hold none will have survived the journey. The Active crew, those not in hibernation had the task of maintaining the Aida on her journey. Mettalis was part of that crew. He thought on the events and actions of his crew in the last five hours. With eyes beginning to water he covered them with his hand and in a reflective moment, he blurted out. I've been trained better than this, Adam pull yourself together, its not over yet."

"Computer." The Commander speaks to an unseen console and provides necessary identification to establish command of what's left of the ship.

"I'm ready Commander"

"Good, Brief me. What's the ships status?"

"On course, Main engines 3 and 5 shut down, Life support stable in all contained areas. Structural integrity Fair, Energy generation at 25 percent, Cargo holds L17 to K61 destroyed. Water loss,43 percent. hibernation compartments, degrading."

"Stop, Detail hibernation degradation."

Cascade failure is in progress at the rate of 1 chamber every 3.5 minutes. There are...."

"Stop"
He jumped up and hobbled over to a panel a few steps to his side. His heart began to race with the realization that people were dieing as they spoke. Manipulating a wand like device over it, it made a glowing translucent cube form over an adjacent console.

"Computer, on that console, pointing to the cube, model last events causing current conditions and identify critical fault." A large three dimensional map was displayed showing the locations of the remaining hibernation chamber through-out the ship. The Aida was a behemoth nearly a half mile long and eight hundred feet wide and near as tall. Of the twenty-five hundred place din hibernation green blips floating in the map indicated there numbers were under two hundred.

"Commander, analysis complete."

"Results."
“When the ship was damaged, Coolant began to vent from primary conduits N 7 one-four. Seal and many can be saved.”

“Computer, can't we just wake them, were only a month out.”

“Negative, direct control of those systems was lost when damaged.”

“Is there a repair crawler nearby?”

“Two available, but both are in engineering. They have stabilized main engine and await new orders."

"Move them and seal that vent." he shouted.

"Orders given and in force."

He knew the crawlers were slow and knew many were going to die, he asked "How long will it take?"

"E.T.A. 5.2 hours commander." Task completion in 6.1 hours"
More than a hundred will die.
But, it was all he could do so he watched the progress and wait as green dots became red. As the hours past it was clear the crawler wasn't going to make it. Then he thought, “Computer, could I guarantee at least one bay if I manually regulate coolant regeneration?”

“Yes, but this is not advisable as continuous monitoring would be required.”

“Give me the maximum interval length.”

“Approximately 3.8 hours”

The Commander smiled, saying to himself “Cat naps.” Computer, how long to destination?

E.T.A. 39 point 5 days.
With a couple of button presses on his console a portable console slides up, he takes it and leaves the control room to begin his plan.

A couple of hours later the commander having completed the intervention which stabilized the last chambers in the line the commander then moved supplies into the area with sleeping gear laid, sat leaned up against the last chamber. The short corridor was a bit dim but quiet. Pulling out the small console he told the computer, “Wake me every 3.8 hours.”

“Understood commander”

Now he thought who are these people? “Computer, Archives, Name and Profile for this chamber.”
And he began to read.
Female, Eve, Biologist, 25, single,....
in 10 days, he reads her Mission service records.
In 20 day's he reads her Important papers and articles
in 30 day's he reads her Poetry.....

“Commander wake-up.”
“OK I got it, I got it.”

“No commander,”

“What?”

“They awake commander,”

And as he scooted back, the last chamber opens as misty atmosphere falls gently away. Eve's eyes open and smiles down on him.

“Your not what I expected. Is everything OK?, she says.

He smiles back. “It is now.”

Getting up he helps her and the other ten out. “We're nearing the end of our journey so, come I'll fill you in on our current situation.”

Eve turns to him and asks, “So what do we call you commander.”

“My name is Adam Mettalis. But, just call me Adam.”

“Come on everyone, We've got a world to build and stars to study.”

Eve then notices as she's leaving the hall the hand valves regulating the chambers an asks. “Were you manually adjusting our hibernation?”

He smiled at her and said, “It was either that, or die alone.”




Word count 982 This is the first draft. I would like some general opinions on story, delivery and dialog, if you please.