Talking Man

CHAPTER THREE - ATEN

Captain Louisa Fletcher was to pilot the Aten to AMA-712. An upstanding member of the Pilot's Cooperative and a veteran long-distance specialist, she had contracted with Aurora only twice before, on longer missions. This was to be among the shorter flights of her career. A two-year job was an easy paycheck.

Her first officer was Nelson Akachi, an acolyte to the Cooperative trying to log as many travel months as possible in hopes of earning his own captainhood.

Aurora's presence onboard was to be purely scientific. Dr. Abrahim Misleh was the primary researcher, having the greatest passion for the project given his decades of devotion to study of AMA. His staff would be made up of seven other scientists, with a dedicated onboard lab in the ship's aft.

Traver's medical staff was also under Aurora's umbrella, consisting of Dr. Shurovksy's own protégé Dr. Philip Marin and his two assistants. They had a small medical bay set aside near the lab, specialized for the bone injection treatments.

Traver had been allowed one personal assistant and one technician (both thoroughly vetted by the Corporation and the Cooperative). His longtime driver and maybe-even friend, Karl, was approved to accompany his boss and attend to his personal needs. As for a tech, Traver requested Weston Hillquist, his show's producer in New York. Weston however was unable to pass the physical requirements for space travel and instead recommended Lance, a young technician who worked behind the scenes of the SASH broadcasts, silently saving the show day after day. Lance had double-majored at the Aurora Technical Institute, making him both overqualified for his SASH position and a perfect pick for a deep space broadcast.

The total crew count was to be sixteen souls.

The Aten was not a research vessel, technically speaking. It had been manufactured for long distance transportation of personnel under S.T.A.R.S. Corporation in the early days of deep space flight. As was proper under the Codes written in the wake of the 2148 Pilots' Strike, the ship was the private property of its Captain, having been signed over to her by the Pilot's Cooperative upon her ascension to the post. As Fletcher's ship, the Aten was contracted along with her on whatever journeys she made but refitted according to the mission's purpose.

Traver was familiar with Lance and of course Karl, while Dr. Shurovsky introduced him to the doctors who would be continuing her work. The scientists, however, Traver would not be able to meet until all were onboard. The captain and first officer he might never meet at all if they chose to keep themselves isolated. He read the complete manifest and studied all the documentation he could find on the ship and crew, trying to maintain disinterest in those aspects who were not directly connected with himself or his well-being. The disinterest was alarmingly feigned. In spite of himself, he was eager to meet the crew and see the ship, and wished he could do so sooner.

The final month of waiting was long and Traver's patience wore thin, but the time finally came.

It was with tears in his eyes that Weston wished Traver "good luck," as the celebrity show host removed the last of his things from his office at SASH.

"I'll be glued to the screen every week. I won't miss a word."

"I would hope not. It's going to be transmitting through these servers, same as always. Someone's got to be here monitoring my levels."

"You bet I will, boss. Our next regular show's in two years, yeah? Just walk on into your studio and I'll make sure it'll be like you never left!"

Traver saw the unyielding devotion in the fat man's quivering face and felt powerful. He felt envy, too; how fortunate were his followers who, like Weston, hung on his every word and looked up at him as their teacher – those people had something to believe in, to depend on. Traver didn't have those things. He only had himself.