The Bridge: A Science Fiction Survival Story

Chapter 48 and 49

Hey everyone! I am currently backpacking Europe, which is why I am not very responsive and why chapters don't have names! I really don't want to lose momentum on vacation so please help by voting and commenting! I'll get back to you soon!

Chapter 48

"Airomem, hold up!" Prometh called, his breath coming in gasps as he rushed down the hallway. The accumulation of his age and the sleepless night had taken its toll, and he grimaced with the knowledge that rest was still far away.

"I heard what you said," She hissed, whipping around to face him and still walking backwards, "And you won't talk sense into me."

"Not if you kill me first with this pace," He responded, and then pointed at her with one of his remaining fingers, "But at bare minimum you owe me a discussion Airomem, a discussion of the other side, and of the survival of this ship as a whole! Time is short and we cannot afford for it to be wasted by your temper!"

She stopped, blood rushing to her face. Prometh was right, just as he had been countless times through the years. Her storming away solved nothing, and she had no plans developed for what to do when her anger subsided. She paused, then spoke as he caught up to her.

"What do you want to know?"

"These people you found, you said they were like the Lear?"

"Yes."

"And that they may prove critical to our own survival?" He inquired.

"Absolutely."

"And, when they turned upon you," He held a hand up as she started to protest, "Was it violence and greed that drove them? Or was it fear and ignorance."

"Ignorance," She answered, and Prometh smiled, "Ignorance for what was for their own good."

"That's fortunate," He answered, his voice soft, "For that can be fixed. Oh yes it can- knowledge can be given, and the stupid can be lead, but character is far harder to change. Now, we must discuss the Lear departure of the ship. Stop trying to speak over me. We'll come back to the issue of the Nectians in just a moment."

From his pocket he pulled out a folded paper and began to open it, gently prying the creases apart and setting it on the ground. And Airomem recognized it as the schematics of the ship that had hung in the classroom during her studies, as Prometh had taught her the methods of bottleneck defense.

"It is critical that you remember, Airomem, the path to the bridge," He said, smoothing the map with his palm, "This map is old. In the years since it was created there could be blocked corridors or there could be malfunctions in the ship that block our progress. Do you remember any of these?"

"No," She answered with a frown as Prometh handed her a pen. And she traced the route she had taken on the paper, her face wrinkled in concentration as she fought to remember if it was correct."

Prometh shook his head as she traced a particularly long line through the farming fields, and shook his head.

"No that won't do," He whispered, shaking his head, "It's too much distance."

"Why does that matter?" She asked, "If anything, it's the quickest way as a straight line and it points nearly directly at the bridge."

"You forget, Airomem, that we will be weightless." He answered, "We will not have the privilege of running along the ground. Our speed will come from kicking off the walls, and in a stretch as long as this, the air itself will slow us down! And should we get stuck near the center, we are as good as dead. Easy targets from the sides.

He took the pen from her and traced around the inner edge of the fields, squinting as the tip raced through the narrow lines, and speaking once he finished the alternate path.