CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Despite having a sleepless night, John got up early and made a public announcement to the crew. He told them of the conspiracy on the ship and what happened in the maintenance corridor last night. PHOENIX was en route to the planet Kevin found in the Onixin star charts and was scheduled to arrive there in four hours. At 1500 hours, anyone who wanted to leave the ship was to report to the hangar bay with their belongings. It was going to be a long day. John wondered how many people would choose to disembark. He hoped it would be only a handful on top of conspirators they had in custody. He’d be disappointed with himself if more people chose to leave. To John, it would be a reflection on his command ability.

Julie also had a restless night. The name she found on the list of detainees profoundly shook her. She thought she had a good read on people. But when she spotted that name on the list of conspirators, she began questioning her own judgment. She felt like she had been played for a fool.

At 0700, the executive officer headed to the detention center on deck forty. The area consisted of holding cells located on each side as one walked in. Prison bars were the primary means for holding prisoners; however, each entryway had emitters to deploy a force field in the event the bars were insufficient to contain detainees. The use of bars was done for energy conservation.

When Julie walked in she found two security guards at the desk in the center of the detention center.

“I need to speak to Professor Nimix,” requested Julie.

“He’s in cell B-1, commander,” replied the guard. “But he’s with two others.”

“That’s ok, it doesn’t need to be a private conversation.” Professor Nimix was a man Julie considered a friend. No, she was lying to herself. She wanted to be more than friends. She developed feelings for him and wanted to pursue a relationship. But she could never bring herself to broach the subject when they went out. How could she had fallen for a man who had aligned himself with the conspirators? Was she that blind?

Julie approached the cell and found Nimix sitting on the bed. “Hello, professor.”

Nimix scrambled to his feet when he saw her. His two cell mates remained in the back and gave hateful glares to the commander. “Julie. I’m…, I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m not here for a social call,” as Julie tried to hide the anger and hurt welling up inside of her. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how his choices had affected her. “When I saw your name on the detainee list I had to come down. I want to hear from you why you joined them.”

“You have to understand, I spent ten years of my life devoted to this ship,” explained Nimix. “When I saw the captain making one mistake after another, I couldn’t stand by. Don’t you realize he wants to keep us out here forever. He doesn’t want to find the Screen.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong,” insisted Julie. “The captain has every intention of completing our mission.”

“Are you sure? It’s no secret that you two were enemies at the Academy. Why back him now?”

“Because he’s proven himself to me,” said Julie confidently. “I know him better than anyone else.”

Nimix couldn’t accept her endorsement of the captain. “How can you be so blind? Why would he want to go back home? All he has to look forward to is a life in prison. Out here he can do whatever he wants. None of you are willing to stand up to him.”

Julie shook her head. “You know, a year ago I would have believed him capable of such self-serving behavior but not anymore. He’s put the welfare of this crew above all else. He’s trying his best to complete our mission.”

Nimix realized he wasn’t going to sway Julie to his point of view. “I’m sorry but that’s not how I see it.”

“You should have come to me,” said Julie. “I was your friend. I trusted you. If you had misgivings about the captain, you could’ve confided in me.”

“I’m…, I’m sorry,” stammered Nimix. “I had no other choice.”

Julie resisted the urge to shout. She so wanted to lay into him but kept herself composed. “You did have a choice. Now you have to suffer the consequences. In a few hours we’ll be arriving at your new home.”

Nimix and the other prisoners had heard they were being put off the ship but not many of them believed it. “You’re not serious about kicking us off the ship?”

“You can’t be trusted to remain on board. Besides, you’re getting what you want. You don’t have to worry about the captain’s mistakes ever again.”

“Julie…” but she didn’t give Nimix a chance to respond as she quickly left the detention area. She was mad at herself for not seeing him for his true self but she’d get over it. She was glad she confronted him. If nothing else, he now knew he would have never roped her to his side.

********

At 1500 hundred hours everyone who was leaving the ship was assembled in the hangar bay. John was disappointed when he saw the number of people in the hangar. There were others besides the twenty-eight conspirators who had elected to leave the ship.

“Final tally is one hundred fifty-two,” reported Chief Davers. John had promoted him to head of security this morning. That, and reinstating Professor Donavin as head of engineering, was the only bright spots in this whole ugly affair.

John only nodded as he looked at the group standing by the transport shuttles. That many people were unhappy with him? Their departure, as necessary as it was, didn’t hurt any less. What could he have done different?

“Hey,” as Alex’sis nudged him. She she saw the disappointed look on his face. “Don’t forget, there’s still close to 5,000 people on board who support you.”

“She’s right, sweetie,” added Chris Anne, who was wearing a very bright yellow dress with an equally bright yellow wig. It was the singer’s way of telling the departing group that their actions hadn’t dampened the mood on the ship. “Don’t let a few bad apples discourage you.”

They were right. John couldn’t let a few misguided individuals get to him. It was their choice to leave and they only represented a fraction of the crew.

“The controls on the transports are locked and are programmed to take you down to the planet’s surface,” John explained to the departing crew. “We’ll be sending additional shuttles down with all the supplies you’ll need. When we complete our mission, we’ll notify TERRA to make arrangements to pick you up and return you to the solar system.” John nodded to Davers, who motioned his men to begin ushering the people onto the transports.

“I won’t be sorry to see him go,” as Chris spotted Jeremy Hakins.

Larry Cleveland was walking next to his friend. When he saw the captain he broke from the group and ran towards John but was quickly stopped by a security officer.

“Please, I need to speak to the captain!” pleaded Larry.

John raised his hand to the security office. “It’s all right. Let him through.”

The guard allowed Larry to pass but Davers stood behind the miner, his pulse gun armed.

“Captain, please! I don’t belong with these people,” insisted Larry. “Jeremy convinced me to go along with all of this. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Then why didn’t you alert somebody?” asked John. “If you didn’t like what they were planning, why not say something?”

“I…I don’t know,” stammered Larry. “Jeremy was my friend. I felt obligated to him. But you need to believe me. I never wanted this.”

“What’s worse than conspiring to kill me is standing by and doing nothing about it,” said John. “You claim that you were manipulated but your actions say otherwise. No, you belong with your friends.”

John was doing listening to Larry’s plea. He motioned to Davers, who grabbed Larry and pulled him back to the group. As he was pushed back into the crowd, Jeremy looked over at the captain with a hateful glare. Chris winked and blew a kiss at the miner.

“I can’t believe he had the audacity to try and justify his actions,” as Alex’sis shook her head.

“What a shame,” said Chris. “He was kind of cute. So was Jeremy but he fought like a girl.” It was his way of trying to lighten the mood. It worked. John had to lower his head and hide his smile.

Soon the transport doors closed and they watched shuttles lift off and fly out of the hangar. Several more shuttles loaded with supplies followed the transports out and down to the planet.

“Roberts to command deck.”

“Go ahead,” said Julie.

“We’re done here. Get us out of this system.”