The 13: Mission's End Book One Read online

  The 13

  Mission’s End Book One

  M.M. Perry

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

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  Acknowledgments

  Also by M.M. Perry

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2017 by M.M. Perry

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For Sir Pugsley, and all the brave pets who remain our friends, even when we forget to comb our hair, or put our shirt on backwards and inside out, or when we just don’t feel our best. And especially when we make a mess at dinner. Forever our best friends.

  Prologue

  Naomi laughed a little too loudly at her workstation in Port Engineering.

  “Stop, Carrie, I’m going to get a demerit. I can’t do that. I’ve been saving up. I’m going to the Gardens in a couple weeks. I’ve got to keep the credits piling up.”

  “Alright, alright, I won’t tell anymore jokes, I promise,” the dark-haired woman in the fuzzy transmission said, her voice tinny. “To business, so the chief doesn’t come over here and question why I’ve called you up for the third time this week.”

  Naomi could just make out Carrie’s wink through the static of the screen.

  “Yes. Business. I don’t want to risk losing my privileges if they find out all we’ve been doing the last couple calls was talking about our leisure day plans.”

  “Alright then,” Carrie said, becoming faux serious. “Gossip is, our two Commands have finally finished negotiations. Since they moved the part to Port Engineering storage yesterday, I’d say the gossip is accurate. The spare regulator is going to be yours. You won’t believe the tension about all this in the last few days as the news got out. I won’t lie, there is a faction, a small one, teensy, tiny,” Carrie said in a squeaky voice, putting two fingers close together, “that thinks we should let you fly right by Macha while we land on our nice new home and collect the spoils of the fourteenth ship. But, better minds prevailed.”

  “Thank goodness. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life cannibalizing to survive in this tin can,” Naomi said.

  “Oh, with hydroponics you wouldn’t have to start cannibalizing until you were eighty, ninety maybe, running around the ship, beating people to death with your cane.”

  Naomi laughed again.

  “Hey, you promised!”

  “Did I? I guess that makes me pretty naughty, doesn’t it?”

  “The naughtiest.”

  “Awww, you say the sweetest things. Right, so business out of the way,” Carrie said as she shooed away something imaginary on the tiny screen.

  “That was it?” Naomi chuckled.

  “For the Tereshkova, it’s a banner news day,” Carrie laughed.

  “Well, I don’t have anything to report because nothing exciting has happened lately.”

  “How is that possible? You have Jeremy over there,” Carrie said as she waggled her dark eyebrows expressively.

  Naomi smiled shyly.

  “Yeah, the greatest guy in the whole fleet lives on my ship. That is a plus for me, innit?”

  “Oooh,” Carrie said excitedly, “I can’t wait for all this to finally be over! Mission’s End! After almost seven centuries we’re finally arriving. No more turns. My two feet on solid ground. Two years, I can make it! I’ve lasted this long, haven’t I?”

  “We all have!”

  “When we land on Macha,” Carrie said, “I’m going to build a house right next to you. You’ll never get rid of me.”

  “I hope not,” Naomi said.

  “I feel so lucky it was you, and not some stuffy chief, that came on the screen all those months ago,” Carrie said seriously. “I didn’t think they’d let any of us talk to any of you at all. We didn’t even know Command was regularly keeping contact with you guys. Most of us still don’t. I think I’ve only told one person about you. It’s like you’d start a revolution or something just by talking to us.”

  Naomi looked furtively around her workstation, checking to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

  “Hey, Carrie, don’t get in trouble now. Not when we’re so close to being done.”

  “I can’t help it, Nomi. Once we transfer the part, I won’t have access to ship-to-ship communications anymore. I feel like I’m losing a sister.”

  “Chin up, Care. Tell you what, I’ll make audio logs. Then you can listen to them all when we land, and catch up on my life.”

  “Hey! That’s a great idea. I’ll do it, too!” Carrie said before turning somber again. “I don’t know what I did to get the chance to meet you. I don’t know why I was chosen. I haven’t done anything like you. I’ve been here in Port E my whole life. Still stuck at third engineer. And I’m not the best one to explain things, not by a long shot. But here I am. Thank you for being my friend, Nomi. I’m not the greatest at making friends.”

  Naomi blushed at Carrie’s sincerity.

  “Getting to meet you, it’s a pretty big bonus, too.”

  “I plan to give you the biggest hug when we meet in person,” Carrie said, her spirits lifting.

  “I look forward to it!”

  Carrie looked intently at Naomi through the little screen.

  “Every time I see you, I get this weird déjà vu. Like, we’ve already met in person.”

  Naomi felt a twinge in her mind echoing the same sentiment.

  “Yeah. I get it, too. What is that? Like, I knew you a long time ago or something.”

  “I’ve never been off the Tereshkova, so we must have met in a dream somewhere,” Carrie giggled.

  “Hopefully a good one!” Naomi replied.

  “Alright,” Carrie said, “my chief is giving me a scowl. And it’s almost time for me to head back to my unit anyway. I wouldn’t want to keep anyone here waiting there for me, if you know what I mean!”

  Naomi laughed again and waved goodbye to Carrie. She logged off her station and looked around to make sure everything was in order before she left Port Engineering. Things were looking up.

  One

  The Magellan

  672 years since launch

  Conformity level 96%

  Naomi stared out the small window across the space between her ship and its sister ship some half-mile away, flying roughly parallel to her own. Beyond the wide, flat looking ship loomed the dark side of the immense gas giant they would be passing for two more weeks. Soon they would be beyond the shadow of the planet and Naomi would be able to see all the colors swirling on its surface under the light of its two suns. Staring at the darkened surface, she felt a twinge of anxiety that echoed her feelings when she looked across at the silent Tereshkova. She placed her hand on the cool glass and tried to remain calm. She counted in her head, trying to sooth the worry that was gnawing at her. She glanced at her wrist. Her vitals glowed softly white on the readout. Everything was back to normal.

  She walked down the orange-tinted hallway. The color matched the detailed bands on her
standard-issue jumpsuit. From time to time, Naomi wished she had been born on the Nimoy. Green was her favorite color. She wasn’t as fond of orange. Growing up she’d been teased that her hair looked like the floors. As an adult, she knew it was an exaggeration of youth, but some of the old hurt still clung to her whenever she brushed her strawberry blond hair.

  The sleek, clean floors practically glowed with the wax the cleaners buffed onto it once a week.

  This morning must have been a waxing morning, she mused silently.

  She was quiet as she passed through the corridors heading back to her leisure unit. Her complex was scheduled for quiet time and she didn’t want to wake the sleeping occupants all around her. When she reached unit 303, the door slid open silently.

  Naomi stepped into the dim unit but instead of going to her sleeping pod she sat at the four-person table in the center of the room. She could see the glow coming from her own pod, the light there to help guide her to it should she arrive during quiet time. Two of the other pods were closed. Jeremy’s was open as well, causing Naomi to smile and glance briefly up at Maria’s pod. It was closed tight.

  She looked back down at the table where a game was laid out. Her unitmates must have been playing an ancestral Earth game when quiet time dimmed the lights automatically. She recognized the pieces.

  Todd loved old Earth games. She figured he must have been the one to print it out for the others to try. Naomi found she was too concerned about the Tereshkova to be sad about missing out on the game. She picked up a flat, plastic hexagon with a picture of a tree on it. She dropped it, surprised by Maria’s sleeping pod opening. A musky scent filled the space briefly before the air cleaners efficiently sucked it out.

  Jeremy hopped down from the darkened pod, his light brown body slick with sweat. He was tall, lean and fit. He grinned at Naomi, his hazel eyes lighting up as he quietly closed the pod. He moved to sit across from Naomi.

  “Put a towel down, Germ. I have cleaning duty this week.”

  Her voice was hushed. She didn’t want any demerits. She was still aiming for time in the Gardens.

  “Oh, shit, yeah, yeah. Sorry.”

  Jeremy was equally hushed as he walked over to the shower unit in the corner of the room and grabbed a towel off the rack. He draped the towel onto the chair before sitting on it.

  “You interested in a shower? I’ve got extra time this week. And I’m too jazzed to sleep, yeah.”

  Naomi looked down at the table. A shower would distract her from her fears, for a while anyway, but she shook her head. Jeremy looked a little disappointed, but quickly smiled when Naomi raised her head to look at him.

  “S’alright. Later maybe,” he smiled at her, watching her green eyes intently to sense her mood.

  “Yeah,” she nodded.

  He watched her for a bit, her eyes glancing frequently at her readouts. He peered down at them.

  “Why the agitation, Mi?”

  He got up and moved behind her, rubbing her shoulders and easing the tension out. Naomi felt her body loosen.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, closing her eyes.

  Jeremy had a pleasant scent of familiarity. More than anything, his closeness calmed her.

  “It’s… I haven’t heard from Carrie in a week now. No one will tell me anything else. The only one I’m supposed to talk about it with is the chief, and she scowls at me every time I bring it up.”

  “That’s probably pod talk, yeah?” Jeremy asked, his strong hands working through the knots in Naomi’s muscles.

  “You’re right.”

  “You ready to lie down then?” he asked, watching her readout slip back into normal numbers.

  “That would help actually.”

  “Alright, we’ll have a little chat up in your pod. Then maybe we’ll both be able to sleep, yeah?”

  Jeremy took Naomi’s hand. She followed him over to her sleeping pod under Todd’s. She stripped off her jumpsuit, her readout going black as it lost contact with her. She climbed in and Jeremy crawled in beside her and closed the door, sealing out the rest of the ship. Instantly all sounds from outside the pod, including the constant hum of the ship’s huge jets, was gone, replaced with peaceful silence. The air warmed up and then Naomi felt the soft rush of the circulator kick in. A gentle glow appeared on the ceiling of the pod. Two read-outs appeared there. Both were tinged in pink.

  “Oh no, now I’ve gone and worried you,” Naomi said, recognizing the signs of agitation in Jeremy’s readouts.

  “Nah, not too much,” Jeremy said as he curled around Naomi.

  He began stroking her arm in a soothing manner and smelled her hair. Both readouts began to fade from the ceiling.

  “See there,” he said softly, “all better for both of us. Do you need to unburden before we sleep?”

  “What if they’re all…” she began.

  She felt Jeremy’s movements halt for a half-second before he resumed stroking her arm gently, soothing her.

  “Don’t worry on that. It could be lots of things. You told me, they were real funny about how you were only allowed to talk to Carrie, yeah? How she could only talk to you, too. Maybe they just cut off her access. Negotiations were done. You know that’s how Command does things. They just decide. And it’s done.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Hey. Hey now. For tonight, let’s not think on it. It’s a problem for tomorrow, innit? For tonight, it’s just us, warm and cozy right here in this pod. Same as always.”

  Naomi sighed as she inched closer to Jeremy.

  “You’re a good unitmate.”

  Jeremy flushed with pleasure at the compliment.

  “You know, Mi, I think we might need a change. Help us make it through, yeah? I know, everything has been tough. We could put in for Family. Being around the kids, it would be different. You and I, we’re max compat.”

  Jeremy stopped talking, waiting to see if Naomi would respond.

  “If you’re looking for a change that is. I don’t know,” he said, realizing Naomi might not be on the same page as him. “It’d be something though, something to distract from, well, you know. We’ve been in General Leisure a long time. A different structure, maybe certain things would be less intense with everything else to do.”

  He trailed off, unsure of what else he could say. Without answering, Naomi reached out and touched a panel on the wall next to her. She tapped a few buttons and lists showed up. Jeremy reached out and touched one of the images scrolling by, realizing Naomi had agreed with him.

  “Oh yeah, Jamil. And Brian. I shared a unit with both a while back. Before I met you, so it’s been a while. But they’re good fellas, if I remember right. Nice, easy going. Pretty compat there,” he said reading the compatibility ratings next to each name. “Brian’s is a little lower than he should be. Seventy-two percent. Weird. The computer has never matched me with anyone lower than an eighty-four percent compatibility. Which means he’s dropped. I wonder if something has happened to him.”

  Both Naomi and Jeremy were quiet as the same thought entered their heads at once.

  “It would be weird to unit up with someone who’d been counseled,” Naomi said quietly.

  “Yeah. Yeah it would. Don’t think it would be that high though, if he had been. Computer wouldn’t have matched us with one of them. They all end up in F Port, probably because they’re incompatible with everyone else. I don’t think they’d put one in Family. The kids… I think it’s safe. Computer wouldn’t have matched us for a shared unit otherwise,” Jeremy said finally.

  Naomi considered what he’d said. Jeremy had much more experience sharing units. She’d mainly stayed with the same group, but he hopped around a lot, looking for, as he’d told her once, his perfect fit. A stray thought came to her as she stared up at the pictures of Jamil and Brian, the orange piping on their jumpsuits glowing brightly in the images.

  “You ever regret finding me, Germ?”

  “Uh…” Jeremy glanced at the ceiling.

  His readou
ts pulsed red for a few seconds before he started counting with each breath he took. Naomi realized what she had done and placed her hand on his chest, hoping to help calm him.

  “I’m sorry, that was stupid.”

  “Nah,” he said quietly. “It’s ok. It’s pod talk, innit? Remember, anything in the pod is ok. No, Mi. Not for a second. We got two years, give or take a few days. Two years. I can make it, yeah?”

  Naomi remembered Carrie’s last conversation with her. She used the same words. Then she was gone. Naomi began to panic, hoping the utterance wasn’t some weird jinx. She started counting.

  “Is it alright then? What I said? It’s not too much?” Jeremy asked, counting silently again to keep the panic from rising.

  “No, it’s… it’s fine. Yes. Let’s go to Family. Maybe that will help, something new to make everything else move quicker,” she said.

  “Right then, so, together?”

  Naomi nodded and they both put their fingers on the screen. It flashed a few instructions at them, then dimmed.

  Jeremy sighed contentedly and closed his eyes.

  “I think I’m ready to sleep now.”

  Naomi closed her eyes as well, the distraction of moving to a new unit pushing her other worries away.

  Lazily, her mind beginning to wander, she spoke up.

  “You said you were too jazzed to sleep. I should have asked.”

  “Oh yeah,” he replied sleepily. “I passed all my flight sims. Pilot pinning is tomorrow. Officially a third shuttle pilot. Between that and this, I’d say today is worthy of putting in the memory log.”

  Naomi smiled, contented.

  Naomi spent the morning eating breakfast with her unitmates in their assigned cafeteria. Both Maria and Todd were excited for Jeremy and Naomi, but they were more excited to meet new unitmates.

  “No offense to you two,” Maria said, “but we’ve been together for ages anyway. I’d like to have someone who doesn’t cheat to play games with.”