HOMECOMING

BY
LORI TITUS

“Kayla, I am glad you were able to make it in today. Are you comfortable? Is there anything I can get for you?” Sean Broader’s office was on the top floor of the massive National Space Exploration Organization. Behind the glass windows that closed the room in on all sides, the training and research buildings were visible below. The gray blue monoliths were gathered in a semi-circle around this building, which recruits jokingly referred to as the Tower. Kayla had been inside and around the buildings of the NSEO long enough that she had long ago ceased to be impressed with their stature. Viewing it from the Tower was different. She could still spot the barracks where she’d slept as a recruit, see the conference halls where she’d taken her classes. From this height, she could see the beauty of it again. Kayla had spent seven years of her life training for a position in the space program. That’s all behind me, she thought bitterly. In the end, she’d been passed over for Chief Officer on the one mission that every lieutenant in the NSEO would gladly give an arm for. That was the first mission the crew of the Orion ever went on, but it was only a stepping stone to bigger things for Lucian. She’d known that her relationship with Lucian could risk her a spot on the mission. It was a childish, foolish assumption to think that he would be punished at all for their indiscretion, fraternization policy or not. Kayla was sidelined, while Lucian moved forward in his career, without as much as blemish on the official record. When it came down to it, Kayla wondered. What would live have been like if she’d have even tried not to get close to Lucian? Not that she regretted it. Lucian was known to chase women, but Kayla was the only woman he ever settled with. After they married she quit the NSEO and returned to the University to teach physics and bioethics. She was happy with her students and her writing, along with a few trips a year to give lectures. It was a comfortable life. When she wanted stories about exploration, she still had Lucian . Sometimes they’d lay awake, talking about it, his words pouring out of him. “I have the one benefit none of these men in my crew have,” he’d tease. “My wife knows what I’m talking about when we talk space, and she can tell me a thing or two about it when I’m wrong.” Talk about work, that easy camaraderie, all went away after his last mission. *** Lucian and the crew of his ship, The Orion, had returned from a mission nine months before. There was controversy about the mission from day one, not only in the NSEO but in the general public. Scientists at the command center had spotted a new planet near the edge of the solar system. A green world, able to support life, or so they believed. This caused an uproar. The boundaries of our solar system had been well established back in the twentieth century. How could there be a planet where none had been spotted before? Could the entire scientific community, including those in our neighboring countries, have all failed to spot it? Amongst the public, this caused a surge of ridicule. Maybe the hotshot geeks at NSEO didn’t really know what the hell they were talking about. Kayla read as much as she could on the subject. It was a foregone conclusion that Lucian and his people would be sent to explore this planet. It was only a matter of time. There was the possibility that this “new” planet was never visible on Earth before because it had been located behind something else: a large asteroid, or a moon that had somehow been destroyed, setting the new planet on a different orbit. One theory, which appealed to Kayla, was that the planet was actually located on the edge of a wormhole; visible now, but not for much longer, and that possibly it would disappear again. How long was not long, in such theory? Days? Eons? Light years? That was a question no one even tried to answer. As intriguing as this was to her clinical mind, it was also the one theory that sent shivers through her flesh. *** Broader’s voice snapped Kayla back to the present, and the fact that she had no idea why he’d requested to meet with her. He was Lucian’s ranking officer. “Does this have something to do with the last mission?” Broader nodded. “Yes, it does. Before we start… are you sure that there’s nothing I can do for you?” Kayla smiled, realizing how dreadfully uncomfortable she probably looked to him. She had not seen Broader in months. Even her face was rounded now. “Unless you can somehow speed up these last few weeks of my pregnancy, Sir, I don’t believe so.” He smiled at that. “I am going to be very frank with you. This has everything to do with The Orion and their last mission. I will need to ask you some very personal questions, and I need you to answer me truthfully.” “Of course, Sir.” Kayla felt panic rising in her chest. Instinctively, she knew that this had something to do with the communications blackout that occurred during the third week of their mission. Seven whole days of no response to messages sent from Command. She remembered that pit of fear, the darkness she’d lived in. From some small space inside, it came up to greet her again. *** The blackout began at 3:45 A.M., EST. Kayla was asleep in bed at the time, as were most of the loved ones of the Orion’s fifty five crew members. It was etched into Kayla’s memory that she woke up at 3:47 A.M that very morning, to see a figure standing at the edge of her bed. Lucian, hands in pockets, with his blond hair sticking up in clumps, the way it did when he took off his motorcycle helmet. He smiled at her. And she knew the words that he’d say if he could speak to her. It’s alright, baby, go on back to sleep. The image slowly faded, until nothing was there. She got up and turned on the television. There was nothing on the news. She checked he phone for messages. Nothing. Finally, around 5:00, she called Command. Winthrop answered, a specialist that she had known all the way back to her early days at NSEO. He was a good friend to Lucian, the best man at their wedding. “Is something wrong?” she said, before he could hardly get ‘good morning’ out of his mouth. “Kayla,” he sighed. She heard something, a catch in his throat. She knew that sound. She’d heard it on the rare occasions she’d ever seen him show real emotion. “Win, what the fuck is going on?” she demanded. “You tell me now.” “Kay, I was just thinking about calling you. Look, something has happened. I suggest that you get in your car and get down here right now. I’ll tell security to expect you. But you gotta do me a favor. Don’t tell anyone that you’re coming. Something heavy is going on down here.” “It happened a couple hours ago, about?” “Yeah. Kayla, just get here. Drive safe.” He hung up, and for a stunned moment she just looked at the phone. *** For the first three days of the Blackout, NSEO kept the status of the crew of the Orion a secret. It was a near miracle, but they managed it. One by one, they sent officers out to quietly collect the next of kin. Once inside Headquarters their phones and other devices were taken from them. No one was allowed to leave, or to call other family members. We were told a little, but enough. Transmissions with the Orion abruptly ended at 15:45 hours, and had not been regained, despite the fact that messages were being sent every thirty seconds. The lines were open, but no one was answering. There was no background noise that anyone could detect. Just emptiness. Emily Hill and I shared a room at Headquarters during our imposed stay. She was a young girl, only nineteen. Her Mother had died years back, and her Father was onboard. I sort of stuck by her, trying to calm her. Be the Mom that she didn’t have. It made me feel a little better. Emily was generally calm; but she’d get upset every now and again, go into something like a panic attack. I felt helpless then. She’d look at me with her wide brown eyes, pleading. I’d hold her hand. Just breathe, I’d tell her. It’s the most important thing you can do for him. During those days, Broader was as calm and mostly silent. He gave the families a daily briefing; more of the same useless information, spun a slightly different way. It was during this time that he took me aside and started to speak with me about the situation. It wasn’t anything that he said that made hopelessness gnaw deeper in her gut. It was more the things that he left out. “We’re going to have to release a statement soon, and it needs to be handled carefully. I’ve been thinking about it. A family member would be just the thing. They will keep the questions somewhat respectful, trying not to look like an ass by hounding an officer’s wife. You’d be perfect for it. What do you think, Troydon?” “I’ll do whatever you want me to do,” she said. “You just worry about bringing our people home.” *** Kayla faced the crush of reporters with icy calm. She went through the motions. Broader had made her the poster girl for the NSEO for all the wrong reasons, but she handled the job brilliantly. She knew military protocol, and was not put off by speaking to large crowds. The reporters asked her questions that she wished she had answers to. Did the NSEO have any reason to believe that this mission would be more dangerous than any other? Why had mission control opted to keep the Blackout a secret for three whole days before they went public? How were the families coping with the news? Had the crew given any hint that they were in distress before communications were lost? *** “Once The Orion returned home,” Broader said, leaning back comfortably in his chair, “we did extensive medical testing on each of the crew members.” “Lucian did complain about that,” Kayla said. *** “Three days of being poked and prodded, baby. I guess I’m still kind of jumpy.” Lucian was sitting with his back to me on the edge of their bed. She traced her fingers against his bare skin. This time he didn’t flinch or move away. “What happened to your scar?” she asked. “Oh,” he paused. “You mean the one from the dirt bike?” “You mean, the ones,” she teased. He had a large scar that ran along the small of his back. He used to. But she couldn’t find it. In fact, she couldn’t find any of his scars. It alarmed her. It couldn’t be that the light in their bedroom was that dim. He took her hand and kissed it. She wrapped her arms around him, and soon he was pulling her into his arms. They were quiet for a long time. Kayla put her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Strong and steady. He ran his finger through her hair absently. His mind was miles away. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. “You’ve been home a week now. I was waiting for you to bring it up, when you’re ready. But now it doesn’t feel like you will be.” She raised up on her elbow so she could look at his face. He shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you, babe. I was on the ship. Everyone at their stations. And then, nothing. The next thing I remember was Winthrop’s voice over the line. And then everyone at Command was cheering.” “You don’t remember anything?” He looked at her, with something in his expression she’d never seen before. Fear. “No, I don’t.” *** “We ran probably ten times the amount of tests that we usually do,” Broader continued in monotone. “All of the preliminary results came back fine. In fact, our men and women appeared to be remarkably healthy.” “What did further testing show?” “We didn’t get the results of the very last tests back until this week. We found some disturbing anomalies.” “Anomalies?” “Have you noticed anything odd about Lucian since he returned? Anything that stands out in your mind?” “Sir, what exactly is wrong with my husband?” He smiled then. A pleasant expression on any other person’s face. But on Broader’s the expression was predatory. “Interesting that you jump ahead to that conclusion, that something must be wrong with Lucian.” Kayla gripped the arms of her chair. “We ran DNA testing,” he continued. “DNA?” “Yes, that’s what has taken so long. The results were not what we were expecting. The genetic markers of the crew did not match the ones we had on file before they left.” “How is that possible?” “We don’t yet know, which is part of our dilemma.” “Were the tests run a second time.” “Yes. Then a third. And then, a fourth. There was no mistake. We don’t know how this happened, or why. Only that no one on the Orion came back the same.” The enormity of it hit me then. Not only Lucian but… none of them were normal? “We’re not sure what these genetic changes mean, and we don’t know what this will mean for them in the long term.” “Well what happens to Lucian and the others now?” Broader raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t concern myself with that right now. The NSEO is prepared to handle the situation in whichever way we feel is necessary. Your concern should be the unique position that this has placed you in.” “Excuse me?” “Amongst the wives, you are the only woman who conceived after The Orion returned. So we don’t really know, what effect this may have had on the fetus.” “What…?” “We’re going to keep you here at Headquarters, while we monitor the situation,” he said. “You do understand, don’t you Kayla? We need to keep you, at least until the baby comes. And then, we can decide what to do with the two of you.” Lori Titus is the author of The Marradith Ryder Series, which appears weekly on Flashes in the Dark. Her first horror anthology, Tales for the Dark, is scheduled to be released in 2010. She is also the short story editor for Sonar 4 Ezine, and continues to work on numerous writing projects in her spare time.

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