The Scapegoat: a Capricorn Adventure

Space Part 1

Image by NASA on UNSPLASH

Peyton presented her identification to the purser of the space-cruiser headed for Earth-Prime. The official checked her appearance against her space passport photograph, and immediately focused upon her star sign.

"You are a Pisces?" the Purser inquired.

"Yes," Peyton agreed.

Her paperwork said Pisces, although that was more of an adopted star sign. Her her natural one was the bold and controversial Capricorn. However, being Pisces for safety had become second nature to her now.

The Purser stamped her space passport. "You are free to board now."

"Have you had any trouble with the Capricorns?" inquired the next person in line somewhat tentatively. 

Hearing the word "Capricorn" made Peyton turn around to look. The Eurasian Beauty's passport said that she was 'Ariana Aristos' and her sign was 'Aries'. Peyton noticed that Ariana also sported a baby bump. She appeared to be several months pregnant.

The Purser, a decisive Scorpio, shrugged. "The Capricorn matter is an isolated Mars Colony issue," she said firmly. 

"Really?"

"It does not affect us on the ship."

Peyton was relieved to learn that the earthbound crew did not hate Capricorns. She eyed the purser with respect.

"That's cool!"

Over time, Peyton was to discover the majority of the space crew considered the Martian prejudice quite unreasonable, and the death of all the goats transported to Mars an accident of nature. It made life more pleasant, but did not change her decision to masquerade as Pisces. Being a Capricorn was too dangerous in some regions.

After stowing her bags in the overhead locker, Peyton made her way towards the bridge to report for duty. 

"Hello everyone."

"Welcome aboard." 

"What are my duties?"

Peyton was a pilot, and had been hired as navigator on the ship. The responsibilities of navigator were not onerous, as the automated system did most of the work, however, most captains preferred to have a qualified person on duty in case of emergencies, when their skills would be required to navigate the ship manually.

"Start with date and time."

Peyton logged their departure from Mars as the twentieth of August, UTC. From the time of take-off, the crew would be running dual time systems, the standard agreed with earth for reference purposes was Universal Coordinated Time, but the spacecraft event time (SCET) was more serviceable for all intents and practical purposes. 

"Prepare for launch."  

The alarm sounded for blast-off and Peyton strapped herself into her seat as the craft accelerated away from Mars.

Looking out of the viewing window towards Mars, Peyton observed a blue sunset for the last time. Mars' two moons Phobos and Deimos dropped out of view even before the planet had shrunk to the size of a ball, and then the cruiser passed a few fragments of one of the Mars Trojans, S261 Eureka. 

"Will you miss Mars?"

"No - I'm looking forward to some place new."

Their destination, Earth-Prime was a mere pinpoint of light from this distance, but was growing in size with every astronomical unit covered. Its moon, where they would be landing to avoid entering the Earth's gravity and therefore save fuel, was not even visible yet.