Loss

  It was a sunny day with a light breeze. The air had a sweet smell filled with the scent of daisies irises, and magic lilies. Of course, most days were like that on the orbital habitats which have become a refuge for mankind as the human race over populated the Earth. There was famine and disease, and in most places the environment had collapsed making the earth uninhabitable. It was too late to save the environment as big corporations sought to fill their pockets, and world governments played their political games ignoring the Earth and her people until it was too late. Twenty years after the collapse a scientist from one of the last places of learning and his colleagues had invented a perpetual motion engine which was thought to have been out of reach and had opened a new door to the survival of the human race. Expeditions where lead from the underground domes to the surface to raid the seed vaults and genetic banks as the last remaining pockets of civilization came together and began building the first colony ships that lead to the building and launch of colony prime. Soon humans took to space colonizing the solar system One habitat however was home to Danny and his lovely wife Cathrin, who was spending their time today at the natural Earth history museum.

  Danny stared at the holovid reminiscing. Catherine noticed his vacant expression and frowned. If anyone knew him it was her, and he seemed saddened seeing their colleagues on the holovid. Not all of them made it off the planet, and to the couple, this was their friends memorial... their proof that they were alive. The air on earth had become so acidic that breathing it would liquefy your lungs, and while the human race would live on, their friends would not. She knew when he got like this, the best thing she could do for him was give him space. So she gave him an affectionate peck on the cheek and departed.

  Danny was left standing there watching the rest of the holovid as his wife left to go back home. She offered to do the shopping today which worked out, because he had a class to teach at the university for quantum theory and its ractical uses. No doubt it would be the same shit. He would show up, teach the class, and without fail someone would ask him what it was like living underground. He always answered the same, and some days wondered why he just didn't quit. I mean he was rich thanks to his rights to the perpetual motion engine. It's funny really. After total collapse, trademarks and royalties were still a thing, but the Unified Colony Federation required him to finish this last month of teaching, so they could finish the other habitats' academies, and supply them with competent individuals. He made mental air quotes at that last thought. Truth was, he was the only living person who understood how applied quantum mechanics worked and it was important that others understood the basic principles behind it. It wasn't easy starting from square 1, even if square 1 was actually square 100. He managed to make a copy of the holotape that contained the plans. He had to make several dives back to the toxic and now extremely acidic planet to retrieve the hardware needed. The federation argued heavily against the idea, but being the only person alive with the knowledge of, and were to find a pristine and working version the tech gave Danny some leverage.

  As he headed to the academy at this orbital habitat He couldn't help but reminisce about an old dream of his. It was his first ambition as a child, and it led to his current station in life. He chucked to himself, “Station in life.” startling an unsuspecting squirrel. It chattered at him angrily as it raced up the tree. As a child he dreamed of being an explorer of the unknown. Leading an expedition into the unknown reaches of space. He would arrange the furniture to that of a bridge in a star ship, and with his imagination he was traveling through the expanse of space meeting new alien races, and discovering new planets. Of course, his pour mother would always trip on the bed corner. He chuckled again. Most people wouldn't trade anything to be a kid again, but he would. Sure, most of his childhood and part of his adult life was spent underground, but it was a time of magic.

  CLUNK He felt face hit door as a sharp pain fill the front of his face, bringing him out of his deep thought. He walked in a little embarrassed. He sheepishly walked up to the front, and waited patiently for the class to settle down. He surveyed the room looking at all the young and talented faces filling the chairs. Danny smiled pulling out a holotape, placed it into the center console on his desk. The class watched with interest as he prepped the TTD (test transmitting device) to dispense the final test. “So, what

  are you going to do once we graduate?”, a student by the name of Arnold who unlike the 20th century actor, was quite skinny asked with great interest plastered across his face. This caught the interest of the others with an almost unison “yeah”. He studied them for a moment, taking in the question. He mulled it over, debating whether or not to answer, and finally settling on “why the hell not”. At the end of the month, they would staff the academy on the last orbital station at habitat Echo. “While most kids my age escaped into mindless VR, I dreamed of being a star ship captain like James T. Kirk” Danny said expecting the reference to be lost on them. Jennifer twirling her brown hair in her fingers was the only one to get close. “You mean like Star Wars?” Danny felt the nerd within rage at this. Sighing and with passion “NO! Star Trek, and Star Wars are completely different, and not to mention Star Wars is totally unrealistic. I mean come on?” When he came to his senses, he noticed the class was laughing, and Danny realized with a harrumph that Jennifer just trolled him. After a moment he continued, “I think I'll explore the solar system with my wife now that the asteroid mining industry has taken off, and set up an observatory at the edge of the Oort cloud.” Danny continued not giving his class a chance for any more questions, but he could tell they had more. “No more questions. You are by far my best class, and I do not say this lightly. Now pass this test, so we can start moving you to your futures.”

  Truth was, they were truly gifted, and testing them out 1 month early was the best thing he could do for them. He taught 100 classes to benefit humanity in its new struggles, and whenever he had a brilliant class, he would test them out early like this. It would give him a chance to ensure their futures were even brighter, even if Jennifer was an incorrigible troll. Really! Star Wars, and he fell for it hook line and sinker. Regardless once this month was over, they would be sent to habitat Echo. What they didn't know, was that Habitat Echo was for research and development, and out of the 100 classes only 50% had passed. It was at his discretion as to which of his passing classes got positions at the coveted Habitat Echo.

  DING! Groans could be heard from one end of the room to the other as Danny's' students heard the noise indicating test tools down. Curses could be heard while the holotape was ejected. Danny smiled at them “That's revenge for the Star Wars comment”. Jennifer gave a mock scowl and laughed as Danny sat back down at his desk, and inserted the holotape into his terminal. Grading this class wasn't needed at this point, but he felt that not grading them would be doing them a disservice, and as he thought... they all passed. Danny beamed with pride as his gaze fell upon his students.

  Danny got home late that night. Usually, they got home within an hour of one another. Cathrin would normally beat him home. She would cook a wonderful meal, and they would share in each other's company. Tonight was different. She wasn't home yet. Lately Cathrin had been coming home later and later and looking tireder and more bed ridden each time. Danny had suggested that she go see a doctor and get a med scan, but Cathrin was bull headed, and would tell him it was work stress. Come to think about it, she wasn't looking all that great earlier. That settled it. He'd take her for a med scan. He made some dinner, put her half in the fridge, and went to bed.

  That night, Danny's dreams were turbulent. It was the same dream he had been having for the past 3 nights. It would always start with him at his wife's bed side as she lay dying. Danny's eyes filled with tears and his heart welled with sorrow. “Cat! You got to hang in their honey” Danny said squeezing her hand lovingly as a figure wreathed in a greenish light reached out holding her other hand. She was beautiful. Her clothes appeared to be made of the finest of silks. Her hair smelled of wildflowers as flowers looked to have been woven into her flowing locks, and every time he had this dream she was always there waiting and watching over his wife. A man who was wearing a lab coat walked over and began to talk, but no sound could be heard. Danny begged the doctor to repeat himself, but again there was no sound. Then, like the other nights his wife and the doctor vanished in wisps of smoke. Danny cried out in anguish “NOOOOOO! Don't leave me.” Sobbing as a searing pain pierced his entire being. He ran to the door trying to force his way out, and escape this reality, but the door wouldn't budge. He did not want to live in a world without Cathrin. The pain intensified as the room began to get bigger. But this time the beautiful women did not vanish. Before everything went black, he would always hear her say “Come home Danny.” He was home. Home was where Cathrin was.

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  Danny woke up the next morning with tears in his eyes. It made him want to hold on to her and never let go. He reached out to wrap his arm around her to reassure himself that she was there only to feel a still warm spot on the bed where she was. As sleep rolled away from him like a receding tide, Danny could smell the beacon and eggs as it drifted into the bedroom. He walked into the dining room expecting to see Cathrin, but instead was greeted with a note on the table that read “Sorry honey, I know we usually eat together but yesterday was a bit of an emergency. I'll make it up to you. How about lunch at the sky-high café at noon? See you there.” The note was followed with a heart and some X's and O's.

  Feeling better and running on a full stomach Danny left the dwelling. He still felt uneasy for some reason. Perhaps it was the dream he kept having. Maybe he was just stressed, but a date at the Sky-high café' would be nice. Danny suddenly remembered his inner conflict from the day before, but decided it could wait. She obviously felt well enough to go to work, and on top of that, she even purposed a date. “Maybe I'M overthinking it, but I'll still mention it.” he thought out loud. He made his way over to the academy office and delivered the test results. Ron's secretary Lean issued a greeting as Danny walked in. He gave a non-committal nod and dropped off the results. “Brilliant bunch this lot” Lean said reading the results. “Yes, they are. I'm thinking about recommending them for habitat echo” Danny said looking over to Ron's office noticing that the lights were off. “Where is Ron?” Lean Shrugged with a slightly defeated look. “He's just running late. He does that now and then, but it's been happening more often. He looks overworked” Danny couldn't help but think of Cathrin, and felt a little worried. Lean misinterpreted the look of concern and began to reassure him “He will be fine. He has been pulling late nights, and has had very little time to rest.”. He could see why she might think that. I mean, Ron was an acquaintance, but Danny already knew that Ron was pulling late nights. He just didn't know the man had taken to working all-nighters. “Its fine. Could you see he gets that and my recommendations. I guess I'll give him a pass this time.” Danny smiled, and said in mock arrogance.

  After he scheduled the classes meeting with Echo's liaisons, he headed to the class room where his class was waiting. He got to the door, and could hear them talking. “Why are you here? Didn't we pass?” “Technically not until he announces it to us and hands in the results.” “What if we did not pass?” “Then we will find out soon enough.” The door opened as Danny walked through. He thought he would mess with them a little. He walked to the desk with a stern look on his face. “I can't believe this.” The class leader as well as their other classmates looked confused. “Believe what Mr. Anderson?” He mock ignored them hiding a grin pulling some digipads out of his desk. “That my class would cheat.” The class had horrified looks on their faces and some looked like they were about to have words. They began to protest, but when he reached Jennifer's desk, he gave her a discreet wink. Jennifer caught on as she read the digipad and gasped. “What is it Jennifer? Are we being failed?” Kyle exclaimed horrified. She sighed in defeat playing along, and began passing them out. Danny smiled at them “You all have passed.” Most sighed with relief, and others laughed with him. He began to speak again after the pads were handed out. “As you are all aware, this is a NDA which stands for non-disclosure agreement. Yes, you passed, but this class as I have mentioned beforehand is exceptional. Before I tell you what your hard-earned work wins you,you must sign those pads.” People began signing away. “Good! I have recommended you to be a part of Habitat Echo” This got gasps, and even cheers. Everyone knew of Habitat Echo, they just didn't know the whole story. He waited for the rest of the pads to be passed back to him, and the class must have picked up on this because the stragglers hurriedly signed and passed theirs to the front for him to collect. He collected the rest of the pads, and looked them over satisfied. He continued “Some of you were old enough to remember the collapse, but others of you were too young. As you know, the collapse is the reason we live in space, and it is the reason we are now a space fairing species. Not that these matter now, but bonus points to whomever can tell me were these habitats were built?” Arnold hazarded the guess “underground, but logistically that could not have been possible.” Arnold stopped talking as he saw disappointment role across Danny's face. “Arnold, you have listened to too many conspiracies. Next thing you will tell me is that the rumors of a wizard tower in space is true. All information in the Natural earth history museum is true. I should know after all. It was my team that discovered the equations to deep space travel.” This earned Danny a room of shocked people. “But Mr. Anderson, if this is true shouldn't we be among the stars by now? I mean I'M not calling you out, but you a have to admit this does sound a little to fantastic.” Heather was skeptical. He understood this, and it was this quality that helped her get to this point. It still enraged him at the same time. Calling him a lair was spitting on the memory of his long-perished friends who died making this a reality, and to this day Danny believed that it should have been him on the ground with them, but he was forced into prepping the habitat against his will. He had not met his wife then, but thank God he had. Danny stuffed his anger down and continued. “Think back to your education in quantum mechanics. The Perpetual Motion Engine or PME for short is only half of the equation. It requires very little energy, and that is what powers our asteroid mining ships, and is also responsible for moving the habitats. It was O-ring tech that brought our habitats into instant orbit. As Arnold had said earlier, it should not have been possible. Back in those days antimatter was hard to process due to the collapse, and we had to get it right, or the acidic air would have made the habitats unlivable in minutes.” The class was hanging on to his every-word. O-ring technically was new information to them, and this was what they didn't know. This was what they would be working on. “We miscalculated when building the FTL ring. You ever hear the math joke were the mathmatition forgot to carry the 1? Well Terry forgot to carry the 1, and a slight imperfection caused a malfunction during the jump into orbit and the FTL rings disintegrated.” Heather raised her hand. Danny acknowledged her. “Shouldn't there have been tests before launching?”. “We couldn't.” To her dismay he continued. “This was do or die, and the research is lost to us. My lab / bunker was the last place that was structurally intact. I manage to save my holotapes, and a holotape recorder and burner from my lab. Though just barely. The ship I took down there was the latest model of acid diver, and we almost didn't make it back. So, it will be up to you and your colleagues to take the torch I... no… we pass on to you to finish the work we started, and seed the stars.” He finished leaving the class slack jawed. He finished by giving them instructions to meet their liaisons. Danny left for the afternoon having completed his responsibilities, he left the class to digest what he told them, and get ready for a date with his one and only.

  As he turned off on I-10 north, he received a call on his cars holovid phone. He placed his car into auto drive and noticed the incoming call was encrypted. He found it odd. Only official government communications were encrypted. The cars AI asked “Incoming call from Habitat Echo. Do you accept?” Danny acknowledged the call. A familiar person appeared on the holopad on the center console. “Nice to see you, Colonel.” He was in his Dress blues, and his blue eyes holding back tears betraying a somber expression for one of deep sadness. “Mr. Anderson there was an accident.” Danny slammed the breaks overriding the auto drive function, fear flooding his entire being. He immediately thought back to the dream. Tears began to well up in his eyes, He knew Cathrin worked in that habitat, and he pulled the car over to brace for the emotional impact. Almost pleading “Colonel please tell me she is ok.” The Colonels expression darkened. “Your wife is dead.”