"Everyone," the captain said. "My name is Damian Mansell, but you can just call me Captain or Captain Mansell. Whatever you're comfortable with. I know this is a very emotional time right now. Most of you have lost someone you loved. We all have lost our home. Our course is set for Earth. Our... Spatial Fragmentation engine was damaged during the explosion. It needs to be repaired, so we're going to be here for a while."
"In the meantime, I would like to make a record of everyone on board and assign dormitories. There is a limited amount of rooms, most of them with small rooms and single beds. Families of three or more will be assigned a larger room. Ration cards will be handed out to distribute food evenly. If you're feeling lonely... talk to someone. This is hard on everyone, especially to those who have lost someone during this terrible time. We'll get through this. We always do."
"Larger families, please come forward," a female officer said.
Sara stood and watched as a few larger families formed a line. The ship's database copied all of the population's information into the server on the ship. When presented with a name, a recent image with their information would pop up on the officer's tablet. Each family was assigned a larger room until it was down to just pairs. A larger man with a tall woman with blonde hair was one of the last ones to be assigned a room.
"All of our doubles are only for single parents with single children. Adults must have separate compartments."
"N-no," the woman said. "I can't be alone."
"I'm sorry. Policy dictates—"
"No. No no no!"
She started hitting her head with her hand. The man with the bushy mustache rubbed her back.
"Please. She can't be by herself. She needs me there."
"I'm sorry," the officer said. "I can't make exceptions. There are other small families that need those rooms."
Sara could tell immediately what was going on. The woman was getting louder and started hitting her head with both of her hands.
"Don't do that!" The captain intervened.
He tried to grab her hands, but she slapped him in the face. She kept talking to herself and pressing her hands to her head. She got down on the floor and formed a fetal position. She rocked back and forth.
"She's being insubordinate," Mansell said. "Detain her."
Two other officers tried to pick her up. Other people were starting to complain. The woman was squeezing her eyes shut. Sara knew she was trying to block out all of the noise. She had to do something.
"Quiet!" She shouted. "Everyone be quiet!"
People settled down. The officers were still trying to pick her up. She pushed them off.
"Get off of her! She doesn't like to be touched!"
"Stand down," he told them. "What are you talking about?"
Sara started to sing.
"Lavender blue, dilly-dilly, lavender green."
The woman stopped rocking.
"When I am King, dilly-dilly, you'll be my queen."
She put her hands down and looked at Sara.
"Who told you so, dilly-dilly, who told you so?"
The man helped the woman back up slowly.
"'Twas mine own heart, dilly-dilly, that told me so."
The woman was back on her feet, totally calm. The man looked at her in amazement.
"Thank you," he said softly.
"You-you have a... beautiful voice," the woman said.
Sara looked down in embarrassment. She wasn't used to singing in front of other people.
"What just happened?" The captain asked.
"My daughter is autistic," he said. "If you read her file, it would show at the very top that she has a mental deficit in communication."
"I... can see that now," the officer said. "Still, she has to have a room by herself."
"She can stay with me!" Sara said abruptly.
They all just looked at her. She wanted to look back down but didn't.
"You said so yourself, Captain," she continued. "I'm part of security now, and there is an odd number of officers. They are assigned bunks based on gender. We can share a room."
Before he could say anything, she interjected.
"No. I want to stay with my father."
"Maria," he said smoothly. "Why not stay with her. She seems like a nice girl. You could be friends."
"I don't have any friends."
"There's a first time for everything," Sara said. "Come on. It'll be fun. Like a sleepover."
"That does sound like fun," the captain said. "If I were you, I would stay with her. It's not fun sleeping alone, is it?"
Her gaze wandered around the room for a few seconds.
"Okay. We will have a sleepover."
"Neat," Sara said. "Come on, I'll show you our room. Your name is Maria? That's a nice name."
The bunk room was small, but it was bearable. At least, Sara thought it would be. It looked a lot like their home was. Mechanical. The bunk beds were inside the far wall from the door. A desk sat to the left of the door, blocked by a thin wall of metal by the door. The other side had two lockers. The bathroom was on the left wall with a privacy door. It had a shower, toilet, and sink with some basic supplies. The beds had a ladder going up, and next to the ladder was a small closet.
Sara checked and saw two backpacks hanging on the rack at the top. Spare Silver Suits also hung next to them, both of them with a security insignia on them. The security uniforms were a darker shade of gray compared to hers.
"Hey, you want a new outfit?" She asked Maria. "I'm going to change into the other uniform. You can have this one if you want."
She nodded. Sara took off her suit and handed it to Maria. They were made to fit just about any figure comfortably. They were close to the same size, so it didn't adjust much to her contour. Sara put on the new uniform. She paired her old comm with the new one. The digital badge on the front changed from "New User" to "Sara Whitfield." She felt official with the new uniform, and the comm would give her security clearance. If the circumstances were different, she wouldn't have been so lucky with getting an upgrade.
"How does it fit?" Sara asked Maria.
"It's good," she said simply. "It's nice and comfortable."
"Good. Now, we have a problem. We need to decide who gets the top bunk."
"I would like to have the top bunk."
"Okay. Go on and try it out."
She climbed up to the top. The ceiling was just tall enough for her to sit comfortably.
"This bed is very soft. I like it."
"It's memory foam," Sara said. "It's much better than the spring mattresses."
"Memory foam. That's a funny name."
"Well, it's because it shapes your body. Press your hand on it and watch what happens."
She did and laughed.
"It's still there. Wait, it's going away now."
"That's why they call it memory foam. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Are... are we going to have a fun sleepover? With candy and movies?"
"Not sure if we have any candy, but I'm sure the ship has a selection of movies available like the colony used to."
"I like Glamour Girls."
"Cool. We can start watching those."
There was a knock on the door.
"Enter," Sara said.
The door rose. It was the man with the bushy mustache.
"Hey, sweetie," he said. "You like your room."
"It's nice. It has a memory foam mattress."
"That sounds expensive."
He looked at Sara.
"Sara, is it? I never introduced myself. My name is Timothy, but most just call me Tim."
They shook hands.
"Thank you again for helping me back there."
"It's no problem."
"How did you know?"
"My sister has... had autism," she said. "I learned to recognize the signs of distress."
"I'm sorry about your family," he said. "You must be devastated."
"I'm... pushing through it the best I can."
"Maria's mother, my wife, died from childbirth. She's all I have. Take good care of her."
"We're about to watch Glamour Girls!" She said excitedly.
"Sounds like fun," he said. "Can we exchange contacts?"
"Sure."
They exchanged numbers.
"If you need help with anything, let me know. She's probably going to stay with me most of the day, anyways."
"You look really tired," Sara said. "You should probably get some sleep."
"Aye, I will. Don't stay up much longer, Maria. Sara needs to get some sleep tonight."
"Just one episode," she said. "Then we can go to bed."
"Alright. Goodnight, then."
He left. Sara lied down on the bed in her uniform. The black screen on the right wall lit up.
"VAL, play Glamour Girls," Maria said.
The episode played, but she didn't pay much attention to it. It even rolled over into the next episode. Maria was already asleep above her. She let the videos play. She needed a distraction from the sadness that she was feeling. They never found any other ships still alive. She wanted to cry, but she held the pain inside. There was one ship that had escaped. The chances were slim, but she had to hope that her friends and family were on that ship. If they weren't, she didn't know what she was going to do. There were so many problems going on at the same time, but the feeling of loneliness was most present in her mind.
Mansell was right. Isolation was their greatest enemy.