Welcome back to the blog! I’m Timothy Scott Purvis and this is Story Time With Tim! An ongoing series where I share my old writings and writings that don’t seem to be doing anything more than gathering dust! I have some new offerings that should cover much of this year and am working on new material as well. Maybe this will be the year I get an official publication beyond self-publishing! Or, not. You never know. Gotta keep trying though.
Anyhow, this story is a novella I wrote back in 2019-2020. It’s all about a ship being propelled through space to the nearest star system of Alpha Centauri… I think. I based the plot off of a plan scientists currently have utilizing lasers to push small swarm satellites to one fifth the speed of light in the hopes of reaching Alpha Centauri within twenty years. I thought the concept was fun and came up with a sort of deep space mutiny involving solar sails and stupid people. Just like all great stories do!
Since I have so much going on, I am just going to copy paste these intros and outros. Sure, it’s a little lazy, I suppose. But, I will add some extra thoughts here and there. So, stay tuned and thanks for dropping by, folks!
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Check out Part One here –> The Day The Laser Died Part One
Check out Part Two here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Two
Check out Part Three here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Three
Check out Part Four here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Four
Check out Part Five here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Five
Check out Part Six here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Six
Check out Part Seven here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Seven
Check out Part Eight here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Eight
Check out Part Nine here –> The Day The Laser Died Part Nine
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THE DAY THE LASER DIED PART TEN
#
DOUG WAS ON the bridge when it happened. All was peaceful enough in the beginning, he supposed. Nothing of any consequence asides from trying to figure out how he was going to set the remaining solar sails onto the arms without Colleena. He thought maybe Guile could fill in the position well enough, but the man’s spacewalk history was fairly lacking for the task required. Though, it wasn’t there were a whole lot of options available to him.
Out pacing the outer observation corridors of the top level, he saw Amiko and Fredrick walking slowly just staring out into the void saying hardly a word. Not that there was a lot to say at the moment, he figured. In the science bay, Derrick, Powell, and Nuru were deep in some sort of discussion as they sat around the long meeting table in the center of the room. Doug found himself walking around the inner circumference of the bridge.
He ran a hand across his chin thinking. I should probably inform Fredrick and Amiko that they’re violating our little rule of threes. However… with Colleena’s death, I guess it really doesn’t—
Screams from down in the mess hall. Gunfire echoed up the stairwell. Then an unearthly silence permeated the upper level. Doug hurried out of the bridge and through science towards the stairwell to the second level.
“What the hell was that?” Derrick asked.
“I don’t know,” Doug said moving quickly.
He marched down the stairwell not hearing anything else other than the footsteps of those following him down. He heard Fredrick mumbling something as he and Amiko joined them but Doug wasn’t paying attention to what it was. They arrived down the main stairwell and walked towards the mess hall where they slowed to a cautious pace. In the center of the hall, they saw Guile, Sela, and Ignacio on their knees, hands locked behind their heads. With weapons aimed at their prisoners’ heads, Doug took note of Charles and In-Sum threatening them with slight smiles on their faces. Just behind them were Shura, Zia, Natalie, and Dreki.
Lying dead near the mess hall table was Prentice. Doug swallowed hard hearing muttering gasps from those behind him taking it all in. Derrick let loose a ‘goddamn these assholes.’ But before Doug could say anything, Charles spoke up.
“All of you, just stay where you are or we’ll kill who’s left here and just open fire.”
Doug looked around the group across from them. They were all armed. Some holding large energy pistols. Others rifles. Although there was trepidation in a few of their eyes, all seemed determined to carry out what sordid mission they had in mind.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“Come on, captain. You knew this was inevitable. We’re in the middle of nowhere and you want to put us back into stasis for a ride into certain death. For what? A hope at reaching Therseus? For how long? Five thousand years? Ten? Fifteen? We can’t take that chance!”
Doug held his hands up in a surrender gesture. He was hoping to defuse the situation before it got any worse. “We’re all in this together and you know it. Whatever the plan was for killing Burnes and Wan Qiān—”
Charles laughed and his features contorted into what Doug could only consider madness. “Killed them? You think it was any of us?”
Charles glanced at each of them standing guard over their prisoners. He shook his head as he glared back at Doug. Doug could only frown.
“You’re saying you’re not the killer? Any of you? You killed Ms. Soler over there. I’m sure she’d take umbrage at the suggestion you’re innocent.”
“We’re not killers,” In-Sum said. “However, Prentice gave us no choice. She tried to run and warn you. Don’t you understand? We’re not going to survive for long!”
“You’re right, we’re not,” Doug said to some gasping. “That’s why we have to work together to increase our chances. Look, you were never supposed to come out of stasis. The laser should have still been there when we awoke. However, the situation we’re contending with is what it is. I have no intention of letting us die out here. But we cannot be fighting one another. That’ll only make our chances that much more uncertain.”
“Always the idealist, Mr. Holland,” Charles quipped. “If we do it your way, none of us will survive to see another day. No, I’m afraid we’re going to have to seize control of this vessel and forge our own way in this new age we find ourselves living through.”
“There’s nowhere to go, Emmett!”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Holland. We have a destination in mind,” Charles smiled brightly. “Leave that to us, though. Now, my associates here want to take you back up to the observation bay. Unless any of you would like to join us in our new course, of course.”
Doug cautiously looked around him. Nobody seemed to be taking the offer seriously, though Nuru and Powell were both staring at the floor at each other’s feet, their lips trembling uncontrollably. He looked back to Charles who sighed and nodded sympathetically.
“Very well. Natalie. Dreki. Please head up the stairwell to secure the passage for our guests. Wouldn’t want them getting lost on their way up to heaven.”
Dreki laughed. “You said it all, Mr. Emmett.”
“Please, Dreki, just called me Charles.”
Doug frowned as they were escorted back up the stairwell and towards the science and engineering bay.
#
“ON YOUR FEET, Holland,” Charles Emmett motioned his rifle towards the captain. Dreki couldn’t help but feel a little proud of the situation. Only a little prodding and he’d managed to start an insurrection and put events into motion that would inevitably pit the crew against one another. And he’d have the perfect excuse to put down those still standing in the end as well.
“What do you want, Emmett?”
Captain Holland sat at the head of the table in the science bay, back straight and arms crossed daring Mr. Emmett to shoot him if he thought he was up to it. The sad fact was, the man was most definitely up to the task.
I suppose this is how it should end. How could the Ministry have misjudged so many people so thoroughly? I thought their vetting methods were the best in the world? Yet, already, I’ve determined six of the crew suffer from some sort of mental handicap making them unfit for this mission. I should not have been able to stir the pot so well so soon…
“Would you like me just to start shooting some of your colleagues here?”
To his credit, Holland laughed and kept his eyes locked on Emmett’s. “My colleagues? I believe they’re yours too, Emmett. Also, without them, how do you expect to survive the elements of whatever strange new world you might discover? Of course, you might also want to consider that the solar sail extenders have yet to be completely installed meaning this ship is little more than a paperweight and isn’t going anywhere fast.”
Dreki tilted his head as Emmett raised the butt of his rifle and drove it into Holland’s skull causing the captain to fall out of his chair and into a sprawl across the floor. Audible gasps filled the room as even Emmett’s own allies were shocked by the brutality of the display. Emmett didn’t seem to notice as he walked the few steps it took to put him hovering over the prostrate Holland. He glared down at the captain with a menace even Dreki found unnerving.
“You’re going to want to watch that tongue of yours with me, Captain. After all, we control the ship now and if you hope to survive anything going forward, you’re going to want to cooperate. Now, get to your feet and come with me.”
“Fine, bastard. Have it your way.” Holland stood on wobbly feet as Emmett pushed him forward towards the bridge. Emmett looked to his associates gathered around the table.
“Utkin. Siggurdsson. You two are with me,” Emmett said cocking his head towards the husband of Shura Utkin as well as Dreki. “The rest of you, watch the rest. We’ll be back momentarily.”
Emmett pushed Holland forward and Dreki followed, his eyes running over those still sitting around the table. They all had their own look of rebellion about their faces and he had to fight hard to suppress the urge to grin.
#
EMMETT PUSHED HIM forward with the barrel of the rifle right between the shoulder blades. Doug had to restrain the urge to twist around and grab the weapon. However, there was still Dreki and Zia to contend with and he wasn’t sure if his martial training had been that efficient to take on three heavily armed alpha males trying to commandeer a starship for whatever nefarious means they had in mind. Still, if the opportunity presented itself, he wouldn’t hesitate to disarm Emmett and end this little mutiny before it went any further. Clearly, Charles was the mastermind and, if he could be brought down quickly, maybe the others could be reasoned with.
“Stop dawdling, captain,” Charles spat. “The day is already long enough as it is.”
“What’s the endgame, Emmett? We’re in the middle of space with nowhere to go. We have to work together if we hope to survive this nightmare.”
“On that, we agree, mon capitaine. The problem is we don’t agree on the means. Get into the main terminal and bring up the override systems.”
Doug stepped through the doorway and into navigation. It was just large enough for the both of them though Charles remained in the doorway so that his weapon was firmly pointed at Doug. It was then Doug realized he wouldn’t have much maneuvering room if he hoped to overpower the man. This thought put knots in his stomach but he figured if that was what it came to, then that was what he was going to do.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Input your code, captain. Clearly, I don’t have access to the main systems.”
Doug turned to the panel before him and input a series of codes. A screen popped up with various operational functions ready to be accessed.
“So, what’s your destination then, Charles?” Doug smiled and looked to the man. He wasn’t smiling back.
“I much rather prefer your just referring to me as Emmett. But, since you ask, there is no destination. Set the ship’s self-destruct code.”
“What!” Doug looked at him aghast, his hands falling away from the console.
“You heard me. We’re blowing up this ship. As you said, we’re out in the middle of nowhere. The likelihood of reaching Therseus now is miniscule. A one in a billion chance. We’re dead in the water. If we go back into stasis you sign our death warrants. If we stay awake, we run out of resources in less than two months. The woman responsible for hydroponics and food production, is dead. Drowned by her own suicidal urges to escape this hellhole oblivion. Jamala couldn’t face the music and saw what was happening. Even your number two saw the futility in this endeavor and put an end to it all.”
“Be that as it may, you know that I can’t do that. I have a responsibility to those still alive. You included. And, as you pointed out, Colleena’s dead. And I would need her to second such a command.”
“Bullshit. I know the Ministry gave you an override authorization in the most extreme of emergencies. You can do it. So, do it.”
Doug looked over Charles’ shoulders and saw both Dreki and Zia peeking inside from where they stood at both sides of the outside doorway.
“I won’t.”
“You will. If you don’t, I’ll just exterminate the crew my way. One at a time. And in the most painful manner possible,” Charles grinned more broadly. “Did you know I’m ex-military? Once served in a squad that infiltrated Bertrode Ganny’s compound over in Tunisia. Got pretty proficient at getting people to beg for their lives. With the crew, maybe I’ll start at their navels. Slowly dig the blade deep into their bellies, slice my way up to the sternum. You’ll be surprised how effective that is in getting them to scream. You’ll hear it anywhere on the ship.”
“Jesus, Charles… are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
“There’s no way you’ll get those who support your insurrection to agree to standby while you do such a thing.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Fear is a powerful weapon, captain. They won’t want it done to them. And they’ll stand back because they’ll believe it the right thing to do. Plus, they’ll be too hesitant to do anything about it themselves. Worried that those around them will capture them so that they can receive the same treatment. Seen it dozens of times.”
“Alright. Alright. Damnit… I’ll do it…” Doug input his code and then took a step away from the console. “However, you’ll have to be the one to trigger it yourself. I’m not interested in being responsible for so many deaths.”
“So weak, captain,” Charles said stepping inside and pushing Holland towards the doorway. “You two, keep him under your watchful gaze. This had better not be a trick, Holland.”
“But of course not, Emmett,” Doug said being grabbed by both arms from each of the sentries beyond the doorway and pulled out of the room backwards. They pushed him forward and pointed their own weapons at him while casting glances at what Charles was doing. “You hold all the cards after all, don’t you?”
#
THE HOSTAGE TAKERS, those mutinous cretins, stood nearly still but were looking around in great agitation. Guile figured they could be taken rather easily if he could convince the others around the table (and subtly, no doubt) to take action. There were just the three of them, after all. He wasn’t sure how to do that yet, of course, but he knew that time was more limited than ever if they were going to make a move. Whatever Emmett had in mind it wasn’t good. And wouldn’t get them out of the already tense situation they were in to begin with.
Sela sat next to him and watched him intently. She knew he wanted to move on them, she could tell. Fredrick was at the one side at the center with Ignacio beside him, Amiko and Derrick towards the head where Holland had been sitting. Powell and Derrick were huddled close together on the other side of the table across from Fredrick and Ignacio. There were eight of them versus three. The odds were in their favor. However, the three surrounding them were armed. And none of them trained in weapons usage making a volatile situation even more volatile.
“I don’t like this, Shura,” Kingston said looking pale.
“Are we really going to let them blow up the ship?”
Shura shushed her, quickly shaking her head in the process. “Nobody said anything about that, Natalie! Charles knows what he’s doing.”
Guile’s eyes went wide. All those gathered around the table looked to one another knowingly. If true, they were trying to set the self-destruct, then only Holland knew what the code was and Guile was pretty sure he wouldn’t give it up easily. Which meant threats of torture and other means of destruction were being lobbied. They were out of time for sure.
He looked to his wife and she sighed slightly giving a nod. He cast his glance at Fredrick who swallowed visibly. The others seemed to know instinctively what the next action was going to be. The tension was thick. However, none of their captors seemed to have noticed this quiet exchange as they busied themselves arguing with one another. Natalie Kingston was behind Fredrick and Ignacio. In-Sum Gim was behind Amiko and Derrick. Which left Shura Utkin next to himself, Sela, and Powell. Nuru and Derrick looked ready to divide their attentions toward In-Sum and Shura respectably.
At a nod, they all sprung out of their seats simultaneously. Guile and Sela struck out at Shura with Guile wrestling for control of the gun. Kingston screamed and pulled the trigger on her weapon riddling Ignacio in his chest. He fell across the tabletop and then slipped off onto the floor as Fredrick grabbed the weapon Natalie wielded, twisted it out of her grip, and turned it towards her in a split second pulling the trigger and sending her flailing across the floor several feet. Her spasming corpse continuing to writhe as Fredrick turned towards In-Sum Gim whom had clocked Derrick in the head and trained his rifle on Amiko. Guile had enough awareness to see Fredrick growling in rage and letting loose a battle cry as he pointed his newly acquired weapon at In-Sum Gim.
Utkin flung the butt of her rifle into Sela’s stomach causing her to howl out and drop to the ground. Guile turned his full attention on Shura then. There were just the two of the assailants left and he was confident they’d soon be dealt with.
#
GUNFIRE RANG OUT from the science conference room. Both Dreki and Zia were momentarily distracted as they brought their weapons up to look into the next room. It was easy to see. All of the hostages had decided to attack their captors and several people fell dead as a result.
“Hey!” Zia tried to say as he witnessed Shura trying to hold off Guile and Sela while Kingston got blasted in the chest.
Nobody heard him, though, as Doug grabbed Dreki’s weapon and twisted it out of his grip and shot Zia in the back. Dreki jumped back several feet then turned to run out of the hallway. Doug didn’t pay him any attention as he saw Emmett trying to initiate the self-destruct and howling his rage as a result. He’d just discovered the faux control panel that Doug had triggered and reached for his own weapon to bring to bear. Doug decided not to shoot him and instead headed towards the overlook. Shooting wildly into the control room would not be a good idea, he figured. After all, if all of them survived this, there would still be a ship in need of controlling.
“Holland! You son of a bitch! I told you no tricks!”
Emmett rushed out of the control room as Doug ducked behind the right side of the entrance leading out onto the surrounding deck and flushed his backside up against the wall there. It only took a moment for Charles to come racing out after him howling his fury and not paying any real particular attention to his surroundings. Doug grabbed his weapon, but Emmett had a death grip on it.
“You refuse to accept the inevitable!”
Doug ignored his screaming irrationality and kicked him in between his legs. Emmett dropped to his knees as Doug threw both of their rifles to the floor and grabbed him by the throat hoping to render him unconscious by any means necessary. However, Charles thrust himself upwards and threw his arms around Doug’s chest. Then the two of them went careening towards the railed divider separating transparent wall from open space and they fell over the edge of the overlook and down towards the observation deck one floor below.
Emmett howled his rage as Doug punched at his chest trying to maintain a grip on his collar as they careened downwards. Doug managed to maneuver Charles until he was just below him right as they crashed onto a couch, smashing its backside off and collapsing the main seat itself. They rolled off of it, still hammering away at one another though Doug felt that he might not be able to put up a fight much longer. He never trained for duration combat but Emmett clearly had.
Charles gripped his throat with both hands and managed to flip over on top of Doug. He beat at Emmett’s forearms yet the man’s grip was like a vice. Emmett’s face grimaced and turned beat red as he applied all of the force that he had within to choke Doug to his inevitable death. The world took on white hues as his breath ceased to exist and his struggles weakened.
Then two shots rang out and slowly Charles Emmett’s grip slackened, and then his body fell onto Doug limply. It took a long moment for Doug’s breath to return and, in that time, he heard a woman’s voice gasping as she struggled to push Emmett’s corpse off of him. When his sight cleared, he found her kneeling beside him rubbing his chest and stroking his cheeks asking if he was okay and if there was anything she could do.
“…I don’t know what to do, captain! Please, tell me!”
Doug stared up into the brown eyes of one Meredith Bower. He paused gasping for his own breath and winced. “Bower… You weren’t up in the conference room…”
She shook her head quickly. “I’m sorry… I, I was just too afraid to come up. I thought someone would come searching for me after you told us to stay in groups of three. I was with Freddy and Amiko for a time… then I just panicked thinking one of them had to be a murderer. I hid in Hydroponics thinking whoever it was wouldn’t possibly think to come back to the scene of the crime. At least, that was the hope. But then I heard this great crash and sounds of fighting and came out to find you and Emmett rolling around on the floor… I, I thought he was going to kill you. That’s why I shot him with this gun that was on the floor over there.”
Doug shook his head. “Yeah, he was indeed going to kill me. I owe you a debt of gratitude. Right now, we need to get back to sciences and engineering. The others are fighting back against some mutineers. All of whom seem to want to blow up the ship. At least, that’s what Charles told me.”
“Wait, what? That’s insane!”
“Tell me about it,” he struggled to get to his knees and reached a hand out to Meredith. “Can you help me to my feet?”
“Of course,” she placed his arm over her shoulders and together they rose.
Once standing, she handed Doug the pistol. “I think you’ll get more out of this than me. I’m supposed to be the medic not the—”
She pointed at Emmett’s body and Doug shook his head. “You did what you had to do. Right now, it’s plain old survival. Here’s to hoping most of us make it through this nonsense.”
#
WHEN THEY ARRIVED back up in sciences and engineering, they found a chaotic mess. Guile was covered in blood and leaning against the base of a wall, his head drooped towards his lap. Sela stood near him, a gun loosely gripped in a hand hanging limply at her side. At the opposite end of the room, near the entrance to the bridge, stood Amiko, Fredrick, and Nuru. All three staring at the bodies around the table and on the floor. Crippled as they’d fallen during the struggle for survival.
At the head furthest from the bridge, and to the left of where Doug and Meredith had just entered from the side of the room, were strewn the corpses of Shura and Powell. Nuru knelt beside her husband, her head in her hands and a gentle sobbing wracking her body. At the other end of the table, In-Su Gim and Derrick Mills lay in a death lock where both had fallen together, pistols in each of their right hands having dealt the final blows into one another’s chests.
“Jesus,” Doug said walking slowly into the room, his own pistol dangling by his side.
The others in the room looked up and over to him. They looked like fresh faces sent into combat without having ever known what horrors awaited them. And Doug thought maybe that was the best way to think of it. They were supposed to be on a mission of colonization. To set up a staging base for human habitation beyond the confines of the Sol system. Instead, it had become a ship of the dead. He counted seven people still left inside. Well below the acceptable level for a limited breeding program on the isolated world so far from home.
“Oh my god,” Meredith said from beside him. “What do we do now, captain?”
She looked at him expectantly. He wasn’t sure that he had any answer to offer. His eyes could only concentrate on the bodies on the floor, their blood spreading outwards from them like dark little ponds that reflected the overhead lighting in a nauseating display of suffering. Guile stood up, pushing his back up along the wall in the process. His wife placed a hand on his right shoulder in the process. All the while he kept his eyes on Doug.
“We stopped the insurrectionists, captain. However, we lost some good people in the process. Look around, is this what we were trying to accomplish?”
Doug quirked a brow. “Are you trying to place the blame on me? Fine. I’m the captain, I bear the responsibility overall. However, my orders were clear, we fix the solar sails and keep the course towards our target destination. Somehow, though, in the process of moving towards those mission objectives, someone took it upon themselves to wake everybody up and put us into this position,” he looked to both Guile and Fredrick. Both dropped their gazes to the floor. “Even so, we’re in this mess now. So, we have to do the best that we can. We perform the funeral rites… again… and then finish fixing those solar sails.”
“We’re, we’re still going ahead with the mission?”
He looked down to Nuru. “Should we not? We’re still stranded in the middle of space. Would you rather continue their mission? Blow the ship to smithereens? Take us all out in a blaze of glory and forget that we came this far only to give up for nothing?”
After a moment, she shook her head, the tears flowing down her cheeks harder. She leaned down to her husband Powell and laid across his chest. Doug took in a deep breath and looked around the room.
“We came out here for the promise of a new life. None of us chose this venture, despite some of us ‘volunteering’,” he exhaled sharply. “We have to live. Yes, it would seem we’re quick to give in to the pressures of our instincts, the urge to fear and panic. I don’t know if that’s a hallmark of our species or not, but I know this, I don’t want to die here without fighting for my survival. Do you? Are any of you going to try to pick up where they left off? Or are we going to finish those sails and go back into those pods?”
“It’s just so long of a journey…” Amiko mumbled not looking directly at him.
Doug cast a glance at her and offered a wane smile. “Yes, it is. Yet, we’ve already traveled sixteen years in slumber. I’d rather have my dreams than face the promise of certain death at the hands of my fellow humans. But, that’s just me.”
Everyone slowly cleared their throats and one by one nodded in agreement. Slight murmurings of positive acknowledgements echoed out. Though, the sight of their dead colleagues left most of them pale and weak of voice.
“Good. I know this is bleak,” Doug sighed and continued. “Let this be a reminder though of what happens when we’re at our worst.”
Doug cast his gaze around once more, stepped a few feet further into the room to look down the narrow hall into the bridge, saw the body of Zia, and grimaced. “Has anybody seen Dreki Siggurdsson?”
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Thanks for dropping by and reading! Hope you enjoyed! Read to you again next week! Until then, take it easy!
~Timothy S Purvis
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Since you’re here, why not check out the whole work available on Amazon right now? Just click the link below to be taken straight away to The Day The Laser Died novella! It’s cheap and a fun read if you enjoyed what you’ve read already! Please, support the cause:
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