Black Star

Chapter Five

A couple of days into the voyage and the professor's internal organs were becoming accustomed to the new environment. The motion sickness was almost completely gone and the illusion of walking on a flat surface was complete. His brain had adapted well, and it had become natural to avoid sudden movements in any direction. 

His plan had been to continue lectures via Augmented Reality back at the institute in the early part of the voyage. As the distance between Earth and the Lazarus grew, the time delay would make that impractical. Nonetheless, he was grateful he had built in a break before returning to the floor. As the distance from Earth grew, he would hand over his teaching duties to subordinates.

The professor was aware what lay ahead of him when they reached Mars itself. The drop would make the shuttle docking from yesterday feel like a morning mag ride. Knowing full-well what lay ahead he was in no hurry to go through the whole thing at the briefing. Just like the shuttle ride, he had made the drop in V-World a number of times, if the shuttle was like having your insides on your knee; the drop was like putting them back in again, upside down.

He'd agreed to the briefing this afternoon and everyone else appeared to be keen to get it behind them. The drop crew would have no real obligations or duties once that formality was taken care of until they were in orbit. Three months was plenty of time to enjoy most pleasures the Lazarus offered. His Augmented display directed him through a myriad of corridors he paid little attention to. Mostly seeming to be cabins and residential areas, lots were eerie and quiet. Fifty meters from his destination, he found himself in one of the many unexplored areas of the ship. He approached a door that was clearly marked crew only, seeing as it opened for him, he assumed that he fit that criterion, at least for the moment. He was guided through and as it slid silently closed, it revealed yet another long, illuminated corridor. A matter of metres beyond that point he passed a room with a glass wall on the left with the blinds down. He heard voices from inside and once at the door Maxtor broke off his conversation and beckoned him inside.

The door slid open and Touchreik entered, tapping his forehead in greeting.

"Touchreik," he said firmly.

"We're going to start the briefing soon. I've just finished a meeting with my crew, but we'll push right on." He turned to the group in the room, two of which were clearly members of the Lazarus crew, they each nodded to him in acknowledgement as they left.

Watching them go, the commander gathered everyone with a clap of his hands. "Thanks to everyone for their attention and I know you have a lot to discuss, but if you'd take your seats once more, we will run through the actual mission briefing."

Captain Voodoo was already lounging across a swivel chair at the far end of the table next to one of her officers. The other three immediately broke up their conversation and sat down; the professor took up one of the spare seats. The commander sat at the head opposite Captain Bernsteen at the opposite end of the table and addressed everyone.

"As you can see, the professor has joined us for the second part of the briefing. You know Captain Bernsteen and Navigation Officer Blunt."

He knew the captain but had never met Blunt. However, the two acknowledged each other with a courteous nod.

"Great, it's been a long morning so let's get on?"

The table acknowledged him and Leroy pinched the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked pale.

"Commander Blunt, perhaps you could begin by outlining our voyage just to give some perspective."

Blunt nodded to his superior and looked down at the desk in front of him, making hand gestures as he spoke. "I've prepared a short presentation to bring us all in line with the mission objectives," he said.