Laura leans back and stares into space, a dreamy expression on her face. That holovid was a bummer. Her index hovers over the touch field in her chair's armrest while she fights the temptation to press repeat. With a sigh, she curls her fingers into a fist and stands up. No time to waste on old recordings, there are filters to be cleaned, readouts to be checked.
Determined to turn up on time, she cleans the entertainment station's memory and zips her working coveralls. A last glance into her cabin—nothing suspicious visible. Laura engages the lock and follows the curved corridor towards the nearest core access. Lights brighten at her approach and dim after she passes, a ship routine she took for granted since she was a toddler.
For the first time in her life, Laura stops and looks up at the panelled ceiling. How would it feel to stand beneath a wide open sky? She imagines drifting clouds, bright sunlight filtering through rustling leaves. What a wonderful species earth's trees must have been. And to even think of buzzing insects and squirrels leaping through the branches...
An unexplainable chill runs down her spine. Shaking her head, Laura picks up her pace, running to make up for the time lost. Blasted vids make her daydreaming and fill her head with nonsense.
~
Halfway through her shift, while bent over the main air recycling unit, Bob nudges her. She looks up into his always cheerful face with a frown.
"Why so thoughtful, Lo? You look as if you're heading to your funeral."
"Nah, simply thinking. Do you believe we will find a home on a planet, one day?"
Bob's expression remains blank for a moment, eyes widening in shock seconds later.
"What would we need a planet for? We have the Ark. It's self-sustaining, we don't need planets. They are dirty and poisonous, the climate uncontrollable. Who would want to live with germs and storms by choice? Where do you get these stupid ideas, Lo?"
She shrugs, fearful to share the content of those ancient, banned vids.
"Didn't sleep well, a dream perhaps."
Now, Bob seems genuinely worried, a fold forming on his forehead. He rubs his clean-shaven, boyish chin and puckers his lips.
"Go see the medbot. Take sleep pills."
"Don't worry, Bob, I will."
But Laura knows she won't. Since she accidentally found access to the Ark's forbidden library, she can't keep herself from diving into the forgotten and forbidden treasures of human origin.
~
In the command centre of the Ark, counsellor Martin greets the captain.
"We found another promising subject. Perhaps we can raise the sense of adventure in the younger generation. If we play this right, she might volunteer to explore the target planet."
The captain sighs.
"To think our forebears did everything to quench this spirit. And now, when the ship is about to fail, no one wants to return planet-side. Alright, prepare another batch of vids and release it to the girl."
YOU ARE READING
SmackDown: Back to Our Roots
Science FictionOur previous two SmackDowns were both massive successes, and it's high time for another. You might remember the last one was heavy on the "game" elements, maybe even too heavy. This time we're going back to the basics and keeping it simple. It's jus...
