A SHORT STORY BY
FLEMMING BJØRN JESSEN “Tears of a thousand angels fell below the suns. Our hearts shook at the mighty tremble of the heavens, while everlasting flames of the sea of torment consumed the guardians of the gate.”
Another shake made everything in the ship rattle and Bannon woke from his deep stasis sleep. Confused he fumbled for the inner control panel and unlocked the capsule. Slightly confused and unable to support the weight of his body, he fell to his knees. After a few minutes he stood up slowly looking around the claustrophobic stasis chamber, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. Bannon slowly regained consciousness, returning to realty while the unreal world of his dreams slowly disappeared. For six weeks this small capsule had kept him alive and it was never comfortable getting out of stasis. Bannon stepped out into the chamber and pulled a stained jumper up to his waist, where he tied the sleeves around his stomach. He reached out for his newly printed dog tags, only eighteen weeks old and shiny enough to reveal that he was a recent graduate from the military academy. Bannon had barely graduated from the Comant Military Academy at East Dengvar and his application to the navy had been rejected. Even though he had shown remarkable skills in navigation, Bannon was given the worst assignment any cadet could think of; security guard on a soon-to-fall-apart, piece-of-junk maintenance transporter. Bannon pulled the dog tags over his head and with a couple of heavy off-balanced steps he walked towards the chamber door, which slid aside with a loud “hish”. The corridor outside the chamber was dimly lit in a green light and a sign on the opposite wall pointed out the direction to the bridge in the front end of the ship, and the maintenance, engine compartment and crew quarters at the rear. Bannon could hear voices in the direction of the crew quarters and with an uncomfortable feel in the stomach he slowly walked towards the rear end of the ship. Most of what Bannon figured out to be the crew was situated in the crew quarters, clearly arguing about something. The discussion stopped abruptly when Bannon stepped through the doorway and everyone looked at him. A thin, frowning, dark-haired guy stood up from his seat besides the table, pointed at Bannon and said.
‘What about the new fella? Why is it we need cannons on this one?’
‘Shut up!’ Roared a big man that Bannon recognized as Captain Harden. Harden was the only crewmember Bannon had spoken to before the departure. He was a big man with wide shoulders and a thick red mustache, a natural leader in Bannon’s eyes.
The dark-haired guy fell back into his seat, silently muttering. Besides Captain Harden and the dark-haired guy, two other crewmembers were present. An older, bearded guy, leaning on the storage compartments at the end of the room and a young woman sitting at the table, both staring at Bannon.
Captain Harden walked towards Bannon, turned to the others.
‘This is Private Bannon. I suggest that you guys treat him nicely,’ he said.
Captain Harden turned to Bannon and put a hand on his shoulder, pointing out the crew.
‘The rude twat at the table is our pilot, Mr. Davy. The gentleman at the back is our Medical Officer Dr. Saburo and the lovely lady is our Chief Engineer and tech specialist Corporal Gilmore. We have two additional passengers, but I won’t introduce you to them before we arrive at our destination.’
The captain grabbed a tray from the food compartment, with some orange mash and headed for the corridor. Before he went through the doorway, he turned his head and said.
‘I wan’t you all prepped and ready for a briefing in six hours, so I suggest you get some food up in you and some shuteye if you need it. I’ll be on the bridge.’
Bannon poured a cup of water and took one of the trays from the food compartment. He sat down at the table and ate his mashed carrots and drank his water. The woman on the other side of the table reached across, offering her hand.
‘Welcome Bannon. You can call me Jenny. I’m not really a big fan of fancy titles, so. If you need anything around here, just let me know.’
She smiled, what Bannon thought to be a motherly smile and then she left the room, followed by Mr. Davy. Dr. Saburo walked around the table and sat down on the seat Jenny had left. He had also opened a tray of mash and was almost done. He looked up at Bannon and said.
‘You will have to excuse Mr. Davy. He is a real knucklehead, but a fine pilot. As the captain said I am Dr. Saburo. Pleased to meat you Mr. Bannon.’
‘Pleased to meet you too Dr.,’ Said Bannon.
Dr. Saburo finished his mash and threw the tray in the cleaner. He returned to the seat and leaned back. ‘Do you know where we are going Mr. Bannon?’ asked Dr. Saburo.
Bannon swallowed a mouthful of mash. ‘No,’ said Bannon.
Dr. Saburo nodded and stood up. ‘I see. Well Mr. Bannon. I’ll leave you to it. Bon appetit’ he said and slowly he left the room.
