The Ship of the Unforgotten

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Biome Bay 6 - Rain Forest

UTS Rose Dawn

Jun. 5, 2565 A.C.E.

The water was a beautiful turquoise surrounded by white sand beach that crept up to the jungle’s tree line. Out beyond the entrance to the next biome, blue ocean spread from wall to wall, with the walls colored a matching blue. It was a breath-taking sight, spoiled only by the persistently artificial sky, and the other biome sections curving away “above.”

Dan felt much of the tension leave his body just seeing it. He slumped against the rocks and just stared. After a few moments he noticed it even sounded good; the artificial currents in the sea next door caused small, shallow waves to crest into the bay. It wasn’t 100% like the oceans back home, but it was close enough, and they basked in it.

Rose looked around at them and gave another rare smile. “This is as good a time and place for lunch I guess. Sorry, sometimes I forget.” She passed around water and some of the varied fruits and vegetables they’d harvested during their trek across the jungle.

They sat and ate, Jackson and Rose both keeping an eye on the jungle around them just in case something should appear. Dann found his eye wandering around the bay, following the great semi-circle of sand surrounding the waters right up to where they’d settled themselves. There was a doorway set into the rock cliff next to the main entrance to the sea biome. It wasn’t disguised, but the dark metal was similar enough to the dark rock around it that it didn’t particularly stand out.

“Is that where we’re headed?” he asked, nodding toward the door.

“Yes, that’s the service entrance. From here we can gain access to the maintenance tunnels, and from there to the ventilation shaft and the cryo-bay. There is a storage room where several tram cars were stored for travel nearby. Once we’ve revived Pvt. Pixton, we should check on the tram and make sure we can use it to travel to the ship’s central core sections. From there it will be a lot faster and easier to revive any more crew we need to complete our diagnostics and investigation.”

“Rose, speaking of additional crew, there was another survivor in the cryo-bay that Jackson and I stayed in while you were assisting the lieutenant …” He shifted uncomfortably.

“It’s just as well you didn’t start the revival process. We will go back for everyone who’s left once we know more about what’s happened.” Rose’s voice was firm, maybe even a little sympathetic.

“You bet we will,” Dann said, feeling better at the words. Jackson gave him a look that was hard to read.

Cobb was a little more direct. “You could’ve rescued someone and didn’t?” He shivered visibly, eyes closing involuntarily and going a bit pale. “How could you just leave them? You know what it’s like to wake up in that place, so cold, so alone, surrounded by—”

“Sir, we’re going back for them as soon as we can. And they’re not alone. Rose is with them. She can let them know we’re out here, and summon Rose here to help if they’re having trouble disengaging from the pods. For now they’re safe where they are. Maybe safer than with us, given what we’ve seen, sir.” The formal chain of command felt a little weird under the circumstances, but Dann figured it couldn’t hurt to fall back on it now.

The lieutenant snapped his mouth shut on the rest of what he’d been about to say. He closed his eyes again, took several deep, calming breaths. “You’re right, of course, you’re right.”

Rose let them rest for several more minutes, then called them to the cliff face and the door leading in. It was much like the cryo-bay doors; heavy, with a large latch to release it, but there was no interface to provide an access code of any sort.