Calan - The Immortality Paradox

Chapter One: Visitors of the Incubus, Part Four

Date: 348, OA19,653

Location: Orbit of Greenworld, Seven Suns System

Greenworld was an unsuitable and uninspiring name given to this gaseous planet. The last world in Calpurnia's gravitational system. Its atmosphere depicted swirls of jade and jungle-green clouds, sometimes punctuated with darker scars where the storms attracted and repelled one another. Weather fronts danced in rotational harmony. At the northern pole, these battlegrounds were less tumultuous and devastating. The Regal Family or whoever had entitled the planet were not in a creative mood. Giant Bogey would have been a more apt description in Lawrence's opinion.

Soldat Intergalactique was in upper orbit on a parabolic trajectory, acquiring a tiny part of the planet's rotational velocity. This would be their last dynamical assistance before arrival at the Incubus. For the first time in a while, everyone was in the cockpit at once. The ambience was restrained. There was uncertainty mixing with anticipation at what was to come. Their journey had been so long, and a mutual sense of finality had descended with slight variation. It was as if they had forgotten how to live. A year and a half of isolation in space had stripped away their sense of morality. Now, knocking on death's door, they had succumbed to their fate.

To Lawrence's relief, his fellow crew members had not questioned the fuel levels since the subject was first broached. Perhaps because they didn't want to know the truth. Or maybe they did know and had chosen not to care. They were dotted around the cabin in quiet contemplation, wearing their customised, Arkanstar thermalwear. Hamilton was playing with a dodecahedron box absent-mindedly, his fingers dancing as they rotated the twelve faces randomly. He claimed to have been trying to solve it for years. Slade and Simmons sat side by side like statues at the Cartograph. Where their hands were usually entwined, they were now a few inches apart - perhaps a superstitious way of avoiding fate. Granger had placed one of the crew's two short-range SC electromagnetic pulse rifles across her thighs and was methodically checking through each module.

'Where do the Aquilans get these names from?' Simmons had spied the neighbouring planet on the display too, on the edge of the Seven Suns cluster. He frowned. 'Either they've picked randomly from an old tome or said the first thing that popped into their heads.'

'They've never been ones for originality,' Lawrence added.

Hamilton sighed dramatically and put down the dodecahedron - still incomplete. 'I've been thinking. Is it still called suicide if it's done collectively?' He accompanied this with his sarcastic smile. The others chuckled.

'That depends,' Granger replied, reconnecting the cell after a brief inspection, 'Is it still mutiny if we all agree to eject you from the ship?'

Hamilton feigned insult. 'I see how it is. Even on the precipice of doom, you'd still be willing to betray me.'

'It's a mutual feeling.' Simmons piped up. Though he glanced wearily at Slade, who said nothing.

The Captain decided to explain. 'I think you'll find we still haven't quite got used to your dark sense of humour. We shouldn't be thinking about death at this point. We should be enjoying ourselves.'

'Enjoying ourselves?' He gave everyone a look of disbelief. 'I've watched a lot of holomovies in my time, including all the disasters and tragedies, and not one of them has shown characters having fun before death. There's usually a lot of crying and screaming.'

'Well,' Granger said, "You'd better start crying and screaming then....'

'No, that's not what I meant....'

'Fiction only has a minor basis in reality, Hamilton,' Lawrence stated, taking a more serious tone. He took a moment to check the system readings. 'More importantly, we should be revising our objectives. I calculate that we're less than an hour from the Incubus - we'll be seeing it sooner than that. Our first priority is to gather intelligence. The E'blanche government will surely be grateful for any information we can collect about its appearance, surface composition - the works. Any of the alliances would appreciate it, for that matter.