ganymede rising
by Jonathan Shepherd
EPISODE 2
He sat behind the fence and looked out over the granite mountain.
The thin young man stared upward and laced his fingers in the chain link, cool breezes
scattering his shoulder length brown hair about his face. Shuttles soared by, glistening
silver once in a while overhead. The sounds of people talking and laughing as they
explored the mountain behind him played on the wind. He was numb to all of it. The moon
shone full overhead and the great lunar ring station shined like a silver line across it.
As he stared up at it, fresh tears streaked down his cheeks and tasted salty at the
corners of his mouth.
His mother had taken him here as a child to see how awesome and withstanding
nature could be.
"Stone Mountain," she had said, "is really a giant piece of
granite that stretches far out even under part of Atlanta. It has been here for thousands
of years, and I honestly believe that just standing here on top of it, we are allowing
ourselves to become one with its strength. Can't you feel it?"
He could. Only now it just felt like cold stone under him. He tried to relax
his mind, and feel some of the spiritual significance this place had held for a small boy
with his mother, but now it only made him feel empty and alone. He would go home, and
drink himself into a stupor again and grieve his mother's death.
"Men your age aren't supposed to be going through this." The voice
came from behind him. It was steady and deep, thoughtful and charming. But right now it
only instilled surprise and then anger.
"Who are you?" Alex stood up and turned. There was very little
light here, but the full moon illuminated the stranger so that Alex could see he was a
towering figure with hair almost as long as his own.
"Alexander Sinclair, right? They call me Chaplain. Sorry if I startled
you, but I had a feeling I would find you up here."
"If you are a reporter, I have no comment and I want to be left alone.
This whole thing has been treated like a circus already, and I have no patience for
it."
"You have your mother's attitude. She was a wonderful woman, and the
world is worse off without her. I am so sorry for you. When the whole world mourns for
someone, we often forget that there are those that were so close that they feel it in a
way we could never comprehend." The man
moved a little closer. He was still hard to see since every stitch of clothing he wore was
black leather, but his face glowed slightly in the moonlight. Native American features,
but his skin was lighter, contrasted by hair as black as his garb.
"Yeah, well I'm not too interested right now in discussing it. I know
you are just trying to be nice, and I don't really want to be rude, but please leave me
alone." Alex was biting each word off in an attempt to fight fresh tears.
"I don't want to bother you, Alex. I don't even expect you to believe
what I am going to say, but I knew your mother. Somewhat indirectly; I only met her a
couple of times." Chaplain took a breath and steadied himself, "I have
information regarding her death that I think you have a right to know."
"Fuck you," Alex said. "You know how many people have come to
me with that crap? Then they use my response to fuel some political fire or some garbage
media coverage… I don't wanna know what you have to say mister. I don't wanna know
you, and I don't wanna hear about my mother's…"
By now the boy was sobbing again. He wanted to take off running, but his
energy was gone. Instead he crumpled to the ground and let his weeping escalate into moans
of sorrow that filled the air around them.
"I'm terribly sorry. I have been looking for you for a week now, and I
promise you I am an honest person. Please… give me a chance to explain it all to you
before you pass judgement. It is so much more important than you know right now."
Alex just let his weeping quiet down into short gulps of air and said
nothing. If the man wouldn't shut up, Alex would let him say what he had too, but he'd
better not expect any response. Seeing his chance, the man called Chaplain knelt down next
to Alex and began speaking in a hushed voice.
"Your mother was a supporter of a private group of individuals who are
trying to investigate something that some very powerful people are trying to hide. Her
help to us was invaluable, and apparently someone found out about it. I know that you may
not believe me right now, but I am
telling you the truth. We believe that she was killed primarily because of her ties to us,
and I think not only that you should know about it, but that you might be able to help
us."
Something about the man's voice was reassuring. Alex was through with the
attitude, he was too tired. The quiet solidarity of the mountain underneath him must have
given him some kind of resolve. He looked the man square in the eyes.
"Tell me more," he said.
***
Jenna aimed her laser welder with precision, completing delicate circuit
paths and rerouting power to the robot's arm. She had been working on it for hours, and
the spider-like worker was still not fit for use. Well, maybe if I weren't so hung over,
she thought to herself, I would get some work done efficiently.
There wasn't much of a nightlife on Ganymede 2, but as always, where there
was partying there was Jenna. Other than her work, it was her only way to escape. Not to
think about the cold realities that she discovered surrounded her day by day. The world
could be hanging by a thread,
there could be dangerous conspirators waiting around every corner, her family could hate
every choice she made, but did she have to be alone too?
Feeling sorry for yourself again girl, she chided, get back on track. Even if
you found someone, or they found you, would you really have time? You can't let anybody in
Jenna… they would only get hurt. (Or is it really your own ass you're trying to
save?)
Having a hangover is bad enough without the cheap-shot internal dialogue.
Instead of tearing herself up, she looked back into the panel where she was
working. Everything looked right. But looks are deceiving when it comes to robotics. All
you could do sometimes is try and try again, so she closed the panel and gathered her
tools, stood up, brushed off her sturdy
overalls, and pulled her protective goggles down to hang around her neck.
She was inside of one of the worker-nests that surrounded the surface-mines
of the Ganymede 2 project. Jenna usually preferred working on the stations that surrounded
Jupiter's largest moon, but she trusted the environmental protection here enough to take
an occasional assignment in the ice-mines. The area she was in was hexagonal, and only
about ten feet across. It was only a
holding unit for this one worker, and there were hundreds like it all around the complex.
She stepped around the sunken area where the robot rested, her feet clanging against the
metal lattice work floor, and climbed the small ladder into the control pod above. From
here she could oversee her handiwork through protective shielding, just in case.
"Alright bug-boy, let's see if you're all better." Jenna passed her
hands over the tiny control console,
and lights on the worker robot came to life. The machine's five legs pushed and the
egg-shaped middle section lifted. The three arms that sprouted from its top swiveled
around to face the control pod.
"Ok, now salute me soldier," she said, pressing another series of
commands. The robot obeyed, its arms pointing upward and testing their tools: pincers,
laser torch, and drill all worked.
"Great. Good boy. Now go lie down." She entered the command for the
worker to shut down, and it gracefully lowered itself back into its charging unit. Jenna's
job was to make sure that the mechanics were all good, later on someone would reconnect
the brains to get this sucker back to work.
There was a gentle electronic chime, and Jenna looked at her wrist. There was
a call coming in from another commercial area of the base.
"Accept call," Jenna said, and the screen on her communicator
changed and became a picture of Edward Johns. A smile crept across her face. "Hey
you! Where the hell have you been?"
"Got tied up for an extra day on Earth. The assassination was a real
shocker, and it caused everything to be a bit behind. How's work for you?"
"Fine if I can get rid of this splitting hangover. Just routine stuff.
Are you here on the moon, or up on one of the stations?"
"I'm on station 1. Are you sure it's a hangover and not that hair
implant stuff bothering you?"
"Whatever Eddie… this stuff doesn't hurt, it just makes me look
fabulous." Jenna had fiber-optic hair. It was the latest craze since it could be any
color you wanted, and could
even glow. So it was permanent-but people had done crazier things in the name of fashion.
She was even thinking of doing her nails. If it was technology, it belonged to Jenna.
"Well, I don't really have to start work for another day, and I was
wondering if you had any time off? I would like to catch up with you and let you know
what's going on back home. Plus with some of the things Tanya's been seeing, you might
want to get your work done on the surface and get the
hell up here as soon as you can."
"Um… when you put it that way, I can't resist. Actually, this is
the last bug I have to work on, and I'm coming back up there in a few hours. You want to
get together and have a drink maybe later? It might help my hangover."
"Perfect. Call me when you are ready. I've got some code I can work on
in the meantime. But let's not drink too much, Jenna… we have a lot to discuss."
With that they ended the transmission. Jenna stared at her handiwork. Tanya
having visions…. She suddenly felt like she needed to get back on a station right
away.
