The Krill

Part 1

A light flashed on the console in front of Dominicus, calling for his attention.

This can't be good, he thought, sitting up from complacency. The trip had been long and uneventful. The small corporate shuttle had already begun its retrograde burn for intercept with Titan. Dominicus began a methodical check of the ship's systems, trying to locate the source of the problem prompting by the light.

A moment later he had detected a gravitational anomaly the ship's RCS were to compensating for. The anomaly appeared to be disrupting other ship systems as well, internal scans were scrambled. He was finally starting to feel concerned when, suddenly, the anomaly was gone.

The light stopped flashing and the ship's scans returned to normal. Dominicus stared at his console for a moment, waiting for the light to turn back on. His body had already released the endorphins, he had been primed.

Across the cabin, Sevron watched his vacuous companion's behavior. Seeing the concern was over his partner compelled him to ask,

"Anything wrong, Dom?"

Dominicus was startled by the question in the cabin. For months the only voice he had heard was the one inside his head. He thought for a moment and replied,

"I thought maybe, but not..." but before Dominicus could finish his sentence the light flashed back on.

But no sooner than he began to toggle the console— the indicator once again abruptly stopped. Dominicus thought it might be a malfunction.

It was certainly peculiar.

Sevron was not the type to excite easily, but he was certainly the curious type. In fact too often his curiosity got the best of him.

"So, what's with that light?" Sevron probed.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I can't seem to pinpoint what's causing the anomaly. It seemed gravitational, but it's there one minute and gone the next." Dominicus said sounding moderately concerned.

"Well, we're not hurdling to our demise quite yet, are we?" Sevron asked, trying to define the moment.

"No," chimed Ash, reminding the other two that he was still there.

"Well! That sounds incredibly reassuring. I'm so glad the Corporation saw fit to send you, dear Ash. To so valiantly protect and defend us on our most trepidatious journey," Sevron said jarringly.

Ash stared back with cold indifference.

"Well he's right though, the ship should be fine. Our descent-to-target burn is in another two hours. We're still on course." Dominicus said optimistically, trying to cheer himself up more than anything.

"So the light indicates... that there is nothing to worry about, then?" Sevron asked sarcastically.

"You're supposed to be the expert, you tell me!" Dominicus retorted defensively.

As the three of them approached Saturn's largest moon each wondered in their own way, how it was that they found themselves in such a precarious situation.

***

Part 2

The Earth they had left behind had become toxic, despite the Corporation's best efforts to clean up after the Venus Egg fell from Earth-dock.

The success of Elysium and Tharsis had been necessary victories for the current Roshi. As CEO of the Corporation, it was his duty to keep humanity in the light.