Aphelion

2.5 - SS Atalaya

Leo nodded, and with a tight lipped smile noted something down on the paper.

"My ship-

"It didn't make it. I'm sorry."

"My crew?"

Leo dropped the pen, and gripped his hands together on the table. "We had sustained significant damage, you only just managed to come aboard before we had to exit the planet's atmosphere and head to the nearest station to fix the damage. We only just made it back to space in one piece."

Klyma waited, still hopeful.

"I'm sorry we couldn't wait to see if there were any survivors, I'm sorry but our scanners picked up no signs of life on the planet or communication signals."

Klyma dropped her head to her hands.

"That does not mean none survived-"

"If the Voyager is gone there is no hope, they will be stuck on one side of the planet and will die before help can arrive," Klyma said bluntly, her anger rising.

"I am very sorry for your loss; I wish we could have done more."

You crashed into us.

Klyma wanted to say something back but was cut off by Leo asking further questions.

"You know nothing about where I am from, and I have no idea what has become of your planet," Leo said softly, his voice sincere.

"Now, if I am to help you I need to know what your planet has become – how it is run, how many survived. You live in Messene, correct?"

Klyma could feel a  throbbing building in her head, at the top of her forehead, making her eyes flutter closed.

"I-" she began.

Leo waited. For the Captain of a ship Klyma wondered why he was wasting his time questioning – interrogating – her.

"Uh, yes. I do, it is the only city left."

"Who runs the system, the government?" Leo asks, slowly, enunciating every syllable.

"We have a democratic system? Is that what you mean? It was set up after the city began rebuilding – before I was alive-"

"But who runs it?"

"I don't know what you mean!" Klyma raised her eyes, but not her chin. Her forehead creased and her palms balled into fist under the table in her lap.

Leo frowned and relaxed back into his seat. "Okay," he nodded. "Okay."

"Population?"

"Almost three million."

"How do you survive? The air?" Leo now leaned over his notepad, jotting down far more than what Klyma was saying.

"Our city is surrounded in a glass wall, with some people living underground in concrete tunnels that have been insulated."

"What were you doing in Ctesiphion?"

"Uh." Klyma didn't know where to begin. How could explain the importance of their mission, the pride it filled her with to know she was a part of the first crew. The swelling she felt in her chest to know she had seen the lost city. And the numbing pain that radiated from her head down when she thought of the crew that she had lost.

"The ship I was aboard was the first one we had managed to create that could handle the poisonous atmosphere, it has taken us years to find the resources in the scrap remains of the old cities surrounding Messene." Klyma swallowed, trying to clear the lump in her throat that would not budge.

"W-we had only been there for a day before..." Klyma trailed off, casting her eyes back up to Leo, awaiting further questions.

Leo nodded. "I think that is enough for today."

He stood, collecting his notepad and stepped towards the door that opened once he was close. He waved his hand motioning for her to follow. "A tour of the ship, I will explain more to you as we go."

"Alright."

They walked down the passage way to a lift, it was a clean white design with soft blue buttons and a keypad. Everything on this ship operated with a soft hum, and moved smoothly. They exited out into another corridor, this time more people swarmed up and down the passage way. Dressed in grey, blue and red uniforms, they walked with determination – none of the crew watched her as she followed Leo, two steps behind him. But she watched them. They all had an air of cleanliness about them, hair pulled tightly back and skin radiant and soft. Leo turned once to check if she was still behind him, his face gave nothing away.

Leo opened the door to another lift, waiting for Klyma to step in. When he spoke it startled her, causing her to be pulled from her meditating attempt to calm herself.

"This is the SS Atalaya, the first of its kind. Designed to make the journey to the surface of Nebhala."

Klyma turned violently towards him, looking up at the man who was only slightly taller than herself. Leo continued looking forward, ignoring her shocked response.

"As I said, I am Captain of this ship. And whilst you had spent your life training for your position, I was chosen for this death mission." 

Leo looked down at her, a tight and sarcastic smile across his lips. "Yet here I am."

The lift door opened to what looked like a control room. "The bridge," Leo confirmed, stepping onto the raised platform and heading toward the large window across the front of the room. Outside the sky was dark, in the distance a hub of stars swarmed in a spiral pattern.

"Sir," the crew acknowledged. They sat idly at their desks on a lower level platform, after speaking they went back to their screens ignoring myself and the captain.

"We are on course for our home planet, only another days travel at most. You were asleep for a while."

"Which is?"

"Kopiana."