Life on Mark II

Recording Suspects

Chapter 13

Recording Suspects

A few days later, Commander Halin was sitting alone, pondering their purpose for being there. It was a very heavy and philosophical moment. It was the middle of the night and she was running some gel electrophoresis. She jolted back to reality when she heard the machine beep. Pulling the gel out of the current and placing them in the dye, she went back to thinking. She was mapping the DNA of the screechers and the camoswirls. 

"The other Commanders probably think I'm a hothead. I did give them a pretty good reason to think that though." She sighed and watched the dye seeping into the gel, revealing lines almost invisible without it. The compound she had created actually dyed in a shorter time and lasted longer. 

Watching the dye darkening into the small tick marks along the ladder Halin had a sudden epiphany. They needed someone to document their lives on Mark II for future history reference. As she thought of this she decided that she would be the one to start this record. 

Quickly she grabbed the pencil and paper that was lying on the worktable. What should she title it? She would work on the title later. For now she wrote History of the New Earth. She was now deciding how to separate the parts. Chapters didn't seem right. Her whole life she was reading history books and was always annoyed when chapters skipped around and didn't go in chronological order. Leaving out entire eras and millennia of useful information. She would not be the same. Halin vowed to start writing every detail of how they got there, why they were sent, the Commander meetings, the discoveries, research, illnesses and cures. Every encounter with people and animals down to the last conversation. 

By the time she was at the present she had left no detail brushed over. Eager to show her accomplishment off to the other Commanders, she quickly put up her gels on the light-noting with satisfaction the clearly visible allele lines. She ran all the way to the common area where the commanders were gathering for their morning meeting. Commander Halin sprinted up to the podium where the Commanders had their notepads and reports. She dumped the sheaf of papers onto the platform and beamed. The others looked at her, to the paper, and back to her. Translation: explain.

"I was thinking that even though our accomplishments will be known on Mark I and will no doubt be in history books, we should have our own history written so that future generations on Mark II will know their origins. Thus I elected to be the one to document the progression of our expedition starting from day one." Halin finally took a breath and looked around to see the reactions of the leaders.

The first to speak was Commander Fiona: "As you know this account will have to be completely unbiased. If it was then it would be against the laws of history recording." 

Halin was ready for this. "I have written many history and experimental reports. Those must be unbiased and unprejudiced to be accurate. I have practice and skills that I have applied here in every way. I wanted to know if you could take the time to read through it and add any other details as you see fit." 

Commander Raven spoke up without hesitation. "We will take you up on your offer if we are allowed to change things if we think that they are not accurate." There was a look in her eyes. 

Suspicion.

This had been the common look she had gotten ever since her big scene at the shuttle. It was as though they thought she was to blame. Halin went through the various thought processes that could have been going on in their heads ever since the incident. 

Actually "went through" was not the right phrase. "Vigorously analyzed every possibility from every angle" was more the phrase she would use. This was her most frequent conclusion: The others thought it was her that caused the system shutdown and the fact that she was so vigorously "passing" the blame on someone else while the others just thought it a minor setback was solid proof of this. Halin was known for over-analyzing things sometimes. 

This actually was the correct analysis of the situation that the others took. They saw her reaction as "covering her tracks" so to speak. This was not the only suspicion they held of her. As of three minutes ago they were suspecting that she had inserted herself into the "history" but knew that as a scientist she was morally against prejudice of a subject and therefore was most likely against inserting her opinion, or herself for that matter, into a historical document. 

After the usual scheduling the first one to take and analyze the history report was Commander Kamal. Taking the nearly fifteen page document with the rest of his report papers. He would read through them and put them into a database where all of the commanders could see and edit if they saw necessary. "That will be much easier than papers that could get lost and marked up." He thought.

As he walked he saw Commander Meena in the distance. It looked as though she and Commander Halin were talking. "Strange" he thought. He had assumed that Halin was convinced that the other expedition was responsible for their current position. He went closer to hear. 

"I really hope that we can put this behind us and make amends." Commander Meena was saying. "That would be best for progress, don't you think?" 

"I agree, I hope you understand that I was riled up and I have a short temper sometimes. This was meant to be an era of cooperation between our groups and I intend to honor that from now on." Commander Halin responded. 

With that they parted ways and Kamal began to walk towards the archives. He was happy that the Commanders had managed to make amends so that they could get on with life. As he set down the pile of papers and got to a TypeUp Archiver he thought:"Usually Commander Halin is proud of her opinions, bordering on arrogant. Why would she be out by my section of the base speaking loud enough for anyone to hear her apologize? It would be against her usual personality. Maybe I should put this in the history." 

Kamal began a new file and started typing up the file under Mark II Expedition II. By the time the file was typed up and editable by all the Commanders on their corresponding TypeUps The Sun was high in the sky and blazing. He grabbed a bottle of water they had collected from the river and decided it looked clean enough to drink. It tasted normal but sweeter and with a fresh, almost minty, aftertaste. The word "clean" came to his mind as he realized that the water was not polluted by human endeavors of production. The crystal clear testament to the world that used to be on Mark I and what they needed on Mark II. The water felt like it could be it's own sustenance since it was so flavorful and filling. He made a mental note to record this once he got back from his expedition for some real food sources. 

Commander Kamal went into the backroom and began to pack a satchel. With the supplies finally out they were living on the berries that the boy in his group had found near the beginning of their mission. These were being studied and cultivated but they needed something more to survive on. 

His satchel packed and his protective hand and foot ware firmly in place, Commander Kamal set off to the forest.