The Asteroid

Elton was one of the lucky ones.

They could only evacuate so many people. Of course, all the elite, the aristocrats, those with power and influence, were guaranteed seats. The more generous minded of those agreed that the other classes should be represented among the survivors. They couldn’t take them all, so they did a sort of lottery. Elton got a seat.

He would have given his ticket to his mother, or his younger brother, but the rules were strict. Only those named on the ticket were allowed. That way no one could manipulate those with weaker minds to get in, and no one would feel guilty about not giving up their seat for their betters. And they told him it was his duty to survive and be the part of Andronica that would live on in the rest of the galaxy. Thus, after losing everything else, his duty was his reason to live.

His only reason. Not a strong reason, as far as he was concerned. He would have stayed, but his mother wouldn’t let him. He wouldn’t have been welcome in the family huddle as they waited together for their fate. Not if he had the chance to live. He owed it to them to go.

His mother felt an intuition that Elton would meet someone important on his trip, and they would be a part of something that would save the human race.

So, Elton had packed the allowable essentials, had said his goodbyes, and made it to New Cork Spaceport just in time. He was the last in the queue.

They were hurrying everyone up. Apparently time was getting short. At least it meant the line was moving faster.

Just as he got to the gate, someone said, ‘Filled up already.’

Elton held his ticket out.

The man looked at him, then said, ‘Okay, this way then.’

Elton followed him to a different part of the space port. There was another ship ready for boarding, a smaller one. The man whispered something in the ear of the one guarding the gangway.

He heard the guard say, ‘Might as well then. They’re taking their time in getting here.’

Someone else said, ‘They had better be here soon. It’s really getting on for time.’

So, Elton walked up the gangway into an empty ship.

The ship was shaped like a fat disk, or like two dishes inverted. Inside, the seats were in concentric circles facing the middle, where there were screens and digital read-outs and a door into a round section at the centre.

Elton took a seat in the front row, near the centre of the craft, next to where the stairs came up from the hatch.

So he sat.

He remembered that time was getting tight. Here they were, waiting.

He imagined the asteroid making its direct hit before the ship took off.

Oh well - what did he have to live for anyway?

Then, a richly dressed woman walked up the stairs next to him, followed by a maid carrying a baby’s carry cot.

‘Who are you?’ the woman demanded.

‘I’m - er - Elton Murphy,’ Elton replied.

Turning to the maid, she said, ‘For goodness sake, go tell them to hurry! That star’s to hit any moment now!’

The maid set the baby’s cot on a seat near Elton, and went down to do as she was told.

Turning back to Elton, the lady said, ‘I don’t think you’re supposed to be here,’

‘Well - um - they brought me here coz the other ship filled up and I got a ticket.’

Elton could hear someone arguing out in the gangway. The lady glanced down at the hatch.

‘Oh! For goodness sake!’ Then she turned to Elton, ‘Well, make yourself useful and mind the baby!’

She stomped down the stairs.

There was more commotion. Elton looked over the railing down the stairs and saw a large number of well dressed people standing on the gangway, all arguing.

He could hear the lady say, ‘Of course we’re bringing it. And I told you not to bring him!’

More unintelligible arguing.

‘Well, you said we could bring it. Tell them we’re taking on board - I don’t care if…’

The alarm sounded, the lights around the hatch flashed, and it began to slide shut.

There was screaming outside, and then it was cut off.

The air inside pressurised just slightly, and there was a low hum.

The readout on the screens at the front said, ‘Please fasten yourselves in.’

He was in the ship all by himself, with a baby, and the ship was taking off.

He fastened himself in. Then he noticed the baby wasn’t fastened in. He unfastened himself, and moved over next to the baby, fastened the seatbelts over the cot, and then fastened himself in.

The craft began to lift off.

Elton wondered if the people on the gangway were even able to get clear of the ship before it lifted off. Probably wouldn’t matter anyway, as they’d soon be killed by the asteroid.

They were all probably cursing that lady right now.

The G-force began to crush him. The baby cried.

Elton patted the baby on the tummy.

‘She told me to mind you.’

That helped a little bit.

‘Who else is on this ship anyway?’

As they continued away from the gravitational pull of the planet, he felt less G-force -- probably just right for walking about now.

He unbuckled himself and the baby, and began to walk about, the baby in his arms, just like he used to, Tommy. Not quite -- he was a bit smaller himself when he carried Tommy.

It looked very much like it was only himself and the baby on board.

The passage that led to the hatch was now level, and went to what he realised was a door to another section. The rotating room. He walked towards that.

Next to the door, he found a control panel, probably for switching it on. The rotating room consisted of a ring around the outside of the ship - a circular corridor that rotated and produced centrifugal force in place of gravity. That was to save people's muscles from deteriorating during long flights. Even though they didn't need the centrifugal gravity just yet, he went in anyway.

There were small round windows in that section facing either side. Right now, they were on the ceiling and the floor, but Elton knew that once this section began rotating, the far wall would become the floor, and the windows would be on the walls on either side.

Sitting on what was right now, the floor, next to one of the windows holding the baby, he could look down and see their old home, Andronica. It almost took up the whole view, but it was getting steadily smaller.

The asteroid had hit. A whole portion of the surface covering Continent Mugrich was smouldering, and a wall of fire was slowly making its way outward in every direction. How long would it take to reach Continent Lir, where his home used to be? Had the shock waves reached there yet? He was sure the family were now huddled together, saying prayers for him, and speaking last words to each other.

‘Why should I live?’ Elton wished he were there with them.

The baby was cooing, reaching for the glass port, probably thinking it was a pool of water.

Elton held her so she could begin slapping the thick glass. ‘You’ve lost your family too.’

What were they doing now? Probably still cursing this baby’s mother. Maybe beating her to death. Just the brief glimpses he got told him they weren’t a happy family, not like his own.

Whatever they were, they were family to this baby.

‘Now I’m your family, I guess.’

He could just detect movement in the wall of fire over the surface of Andronica. Quite possibly, parts of the far side of the planet would stay intact, though the air quality would make it impossible for life to survive. The earthquake would have toppled any buildings.

There were what looked like ripples on the ocean moving outward from the section already engulfed by fire. At least from here they looked like ripples. He knew they were really tidal waves. He saw one island actually disappear before the moving ripples.

It was all disappearing: the culture, the traditions, the language, the stories, the fashions, the sports competitions; who would win the Andronica Cup was suddenly pointless.

Every single person he knew would be gone.

Another island disappeared. This one, Elton realised, was Aloha, the tropical resort island, where so many films were shot, where so many went for their holiday. Heck, the family that just missed their flight probably owned a villa there. It was no more. The line of water and fire kept moving relentlessly.

The planet was also getting smaller and smaller as they moved further and further from it.

Elton felt compelled to stay sitting there, watching until it was totally burnt up, or until the view got too small to see. It was his home, his life, going, going …

He wished he were there with his family. He’d give his life for a hug from mum right now, and to hug Tommy. What did he have to live for?

Yeah, some concept of being a piece of Andronica to the rest of the universe. So what? Andronica would soon be no more.

He was left with nothing.

This baby had nothing.

Well - they had each other…

 

They finally reached cruising speed, so they lost their acceleration induced gravity. The low ceiling in the seating area was designed for pulling oneself during weightlessness.

The baby began crying, like it wasn’t feeling well. Elton knew, because he had taken care of his brother Tommy as a baby.

Now Tommy was dead along with the planet.

After holding the baby for a while and patting it on the back, it began settling down.

Elton found the galley well stocked with food, enough for a full ship for a few months. There was also baby food. With the baby's basket, there was a nappy bag full of nappies.

He quickly realised that changing a baby’s nappies shouldn’t be done in a weightless environment. There’s nothing worse than baby poo and wee floating about in the air. He had to search the whole ship before he found the vacuum cleaner while the baby floated about like a putto. He washed the nappies later in the wash-room.

He observed during the first nappy change that this was a little girl. He searched the whole nappy bag for anything with her name on it. There was nothing.

So, he named her himself. ‘You’re Becky,’ he whispered in her ear. That was his mother’s name.

Becky cooed.

 

Elton switched on the rotating room, and set up camp there. Entering that section by the hatch, one came to a couple of panels with hand holds that rotated at slower speeds. Elton realised these were for gradually increasing ones body momentum so as to land gently on the floor, which rotated at full speed. It worked for leaving the section as well. There were toilets and wash rooms also located in the rotating room.

Elton and Becky soon discovered that they weren’t the only survivors of Andronica onboard.

There was a rat.

Elton’s first instinct was to try to kill it, but Becky cooed when she saw it.

Elton decided to let it live. It was the only other survivor from their own planet.

The rat seemed to have the understanding that they were fellow survivors, and wasn’t as timid as rats would normally be.

 

Between changings and feedings, there was lots of time to think. Simply thinking about anything brought back the painful fact. There simply wasn't anything to think about that actually still existed.

His own family was gone. All his friends - gone. No one he knew had won a ticket. Otherwise they would have travelled to the spaceport together.

The old outdoor market he used to walk through with his friends - gone. His dad used to take him there, and bought him treats before he had his accident. He went on before, so he missed all this horrible ordeal. Elton had taken Tommy there a few times, and bought him a few treats. The last time was only a month ago, on his last break from Uni, before the the news broke about the asteroid.

The school, his teachers, his schoolmates - gone. The library where he spent hours reading - gone. All those books? Gone. Anyone to discuss those books with? His English Lit professor? His creative writing teacher?

They had closed the university and sent them all home as soon as the news broke.

And what about his dream of being a writer? Who would read his stories? Who would be proud of him for getting a story published?

All the usual candidates were gone. What's a story if there isn't anyone around to hear it?

So, who had departed this world for the next, him or his family? Or the whole population of the planet? Elton wasn't sure. He had seen his world shrink into the distance, even as it burned. Now, it was as unreachable to him as it was to them. But they were now together in their next world. He hadn't even reached his next world yet. The only thing Elton missed out on was the final shock wave and the wall of fire. But that would have all happened quickly enough.

Were they now in heaven mourning the loss of Elton? If Elton was the bereaved, there was no one around to comfort him.

He wondered that, yet again, as he stood at the window in the rotating room, gaping into the vast empty universe that was now the only home he had, devoid of any other person, save the child at his bosom - a child he had only just come to know, oblivious to the passing of a world, and who seemed to be making the adjustment, as babies do, to her new parent. The vastness of space outside only highlighted the emptiness of his personal world. However there was just the tiny spark of hope to cling to, and he was clinging to her, rocking her to sleep.

 

Elton wondered if the ship was supposed to go into hyperspace anytime soon. He knew they were already going so fast as to dilate time, so months would have now passed on Andronica.

He found the control room, but had no idea how things worked. He thought he’d better leave it alone.

 

Elton was on Andronica. The family was over for a meal and an evening of just being together; Aunt Sue was in from Lower Pensfield, Grandad was there, and of course, Mum and Tommy. There really wasn’t much left of their family, but they were family, and they got together whenever they could.

Elton was talking about his trip. They were asking him questions.

‘What’s it like to be weightless?’ Tommy asked.

‘Did you see the asteroid?’ asked Aunt Sue.

Becky began crying.

‘Oh, she wants her bottle,’ said Mum.

Elton woke up. Becky was crying for her bottle.

Elton had one ready, and sat holding her as she drank, thinking about his mother, and Tommy, and Grandad, and Aunt Sue.

This wasn’t the first dream he had, nor was it the last.

 

Elton fine-tuned the rotating room to the right speed to simulate Andronica’s gravity. He thought it best for Becky to be used to developing her muscles with the right amount of gravity. He knew that getting used to too little gravity would have an irreversible effect on body strength.

The rat had long ago found its way to the rotating room. It had warmed up to Becky, and Elton. Lone animals tend to do that. There was also the fact that it didn’t have to hide and steal food, because Elten fed it.

Becky was crawling now, and playing with the rat.

Elton named the rat Whiskers.

Being in mourning for his family and his planet had the effect of bonding him to Becky, and even Whiskers, his fellow survivors. He wondered if Whiskers felt it too. Becky was too young to understand, but she was bonding to them both just by virtue of being a baby with no one else in her life.

 

Elton often went to sit in the control room when Becky was asleep. There was a viewing screen that was exactly like a windscreen, though he knew it was in the middle of the ship. There, he’d watch the stars go by, and then look at the controls, wondering how much of their journey was programmed into the shipboard computer, and how much required human control. He knew they probably should have gone into hyperspace long ago. Even if he knew which controls to use, navigating hyperspace was a job for a professional.

He was sure there were supposed to be crew members on board, but they’d been prevented from boarding because of that row Becky’s family got into.

That, in itself, probably meant they were lost in space. If a course were plotted to anywhere, that destination would be constantly moving through the galaxy, and by not going into hyperspace when they should have, they would arrive at that location long after that solar system had moved on.

Even that would not be in his and Becky’s lifetimes.

There was only so much food on board, albeit enough for about fifty passengers for a few months. It would last him and Becky several years, and after that, they would have to live off the waste recycler. He didn’t look forward to that.

Another thought was, even if they did reach their destination, how would he stop this thing?

 

His mother was looking around the place, and putting things away, arranging the cups and Becky’s milk bottle, and the meal packets in a neat order against the wall.

‘You really need to get more furniture for this place. And curtains would do for that hatch.’

‘But Mum, this is a space ship.’

‘Nonsense! It’s your home. You’re raising a child in this place. And get rid of that rat!’

It occurred to Elton that his mother’s presence was a sort of anomaly.

‘Mum, are you really - you know - I mean how long can you...’

He woke up. Becky was sound asleep beside him.

He put his arm around her, held her close like a teddy-bear, and wept silently.

 

Elton had found a couple of suits of clothes in Becky’s nappy bag, and besides changing her nappies, he’d been changing her clothes.

He’d fill her bottle with a mixture of instant milk he found in the gally, and mash some of the other food for her. And he’d sing to her, and tell stories.

He enjoyed being a daddy.

 

Elton had kept track of the star he used to call the sun as long as he could, until it became a small speck. Now it was hopelessly lost in the mass of stars in that part of the galaxy.

He wondered if he’d ever feel sunlight again. What hope was there of ever living on another planet? Would the sunlight of that planet be the same temperature? Would the composition of the sun require staying under a roof? Would it be a hot planet where they had to live underground, or a winter planet covered in ice? Would it have oceans with waves he could jump and surf in? Forests to take walks in?

It wouldn’t have Mum, or Tommy, or Grandad, or Aunt Sue.

He would make new memories for Becky, and Whiskers.

He vaguely remembered that the planetary government of Donegal had indicated they would welcome refugees from Andronica. Friendly planets were getting harder to find, and many non-human populations thought humanity wasn’t a good thing.

One conspiracy theory even had it that the asteroid was purposely aimed at Andronica by some hostile civilisation with super-advanced technology.

 

Becky had grown into something approximating a one-year-old, and had taken her first steps.

It was next to impossible to keep track of time, as there was no day-night schedule to measure it by, and it was too easy to lose count when simply counting sleeps, and trying to decide what constituted a night’s sleep and what was a long nap. Also, he suspected that, as he was a late riser, the sleeping times may have slipped, making the day-night span longer than it should be.

He only realised too late that there was an electronic calender in the control room, but it had to be set first, which hadn’t been done automatically at take-off. So, he measured the time they’d been in space by Becky’s size. And the length of his own hair and beard.

Becky had long outgrown her clothes, but the temperature control inside the ship made it just fine for going around in her nappies, or in nothing at all.

What would she do for clothes when she got bigger? The nappies were now getting small on her. He wondered about sewing a few nappies to each other, but what to do for thread? Maybe tie them together somehow? She could wear some of Elton’s shirts like dresses.

 

For long periods he stopped looking out at the universe, as it did things to his mind. It gave him a funny sort of claustrophobia.

It was all open space, but nothing life-sustaining. The only thing life sustaining was this small ship. The planet was no more. They weren't on their way to any other planet.

They were on their way to nowhere. There were to be no more planets in his life.

This was his permanent home. Looking at the emptiness of space only reminded him of that.

If it weren't for Becky, he would have gone crazy. He knew he had to hold on for her sake, for as long as she needed him - probably all her life.

So, he'd stop visiting the cockpit or gazing out the windows for long periods, until the other sort of claustrophobia began to set in, and then he'd go back again and look at the stars more objectively.

 

It looked very much like Elton now had the lifetime career of a full time parent. He didn’t do too badly at it, he thought. He kept her clean, changed, fed, and told her stories, which she enjoyed, though she couldn’t understand a word.

Toilet training seemed to be easier than for most kids he knew, as she was naked as often as not.

He couldn’t foresee growing up being too difficult. No teenage boys to protect her from, no fashions to keep up with, no dangerous places to avoid.

Right now her best friend was a rat.

She was running now. They’d run the full circumference of the rotating room, squeaking as they went.

Obviously she could hear rat squeaks that Elton couldn’t, as Whiskers understood her when she squeaked them at a lower pitch that Elton could hear. She seemed to be learning rat squeaks faster than human language. She knew which tone of squeak meant, ‘Come here,’ which meant, ‘Let’s run,’ and a few others.

The only thing she said in human was ‘Dada’.

 

Whiskers noticed it before the other two, and started becoming restless. The ship was slowing down.

The readouts in various parts of the ship began flashing, ‘Passengers please return to your seats.’

There was then some disorientation, as the whole ship began to turn the other way around, all the while the G-force was setting in. By the time it was turned around, there was enough gravity for walking without the rotation room. It was tricky moving to the other section while the rotation was still on, but they managed after he switched off the rotation.

Elton grabbed Becky, who grabbed whiskers, and they made their way into the seating section. All the while, the G-force was increasing.

Elton decided to sit in the control room where they could look out via the screen. He strapped the three of them into one seat. Whiskers wasn’t strapped, but they held him firmly.

There, he noticed that a larger ship was flying alongside. It seemed that their speed and direction were being manipulated from outside, probably from that ship.

They sat and waited as they continued to feel the force of the deceleration. It still looked like they were looking frontward, though Elton was sure they were now facing a different direction.

Becky cried some from the pressure, and at one point, threw up over the side of the seat. Whiskers also appeared quite uncomfortable, but he seemed to have the sense that they were better off staying together where they were.

After more of this, they got used to it enough so that Becky fell asleep. So did Whiskers.

After some time, Elton could see that one point of light ahead of them wasn’t one of the stars. It had been growing in size,

Was it a planet? There was no sun nearby.

It began to take the shape of a disk. Later, he saw it was rotating, and there were flashing lights along the circumference. Later still, he realised it was big. It was very big. It was gigantic. It was…

A voice spoke through the speaker on the dashboard. It didn’t sound human, but it was speaking Galactic Human.

Elton had learned Galactic Human in school.

‘Please guide your craft through the port where the beacon is flashing.’

Elton faltered. ‘Er - I don’t know how to pilot the craft.’

‘Is your pilot on board?’

‘There is no one on board except me, a small child and a - er -’

Will a rat be allowed in there? Do they have a quarantine for animals?

After a pause, the voice spoke again. ‘Please sit still. We will control your craft as we can.’

The ship began moving towards an opening in the very middle of the disk.

By now, Becky was awake and watching, and so was Whiskers.

The disk became yet bigger, so that the side of it filled the whole screen, and now the opening was getting bigger and bigger.

Finally they were entering the side of the monstrosity. There were flashing lights inside of various colours that seemed to be guidance beacons, indicating downward. The ship was following in that direction, as though descending to the landing pad which was somewhere closer to the perimeter of the disk. Because they were moving with the rotation of the great disk, the centrifugal force was doing its work, just as it did in the rotating room on their own ship.

Then, they landed.

The hatch automatically opened. Elton got up, put Becky on the floor, which now had gravity, and stepped out of the control room, and passed the empty seats, down the stairs towards the door.

Outside, was a bare spaceport where a number of other odd looking ships sat.

Whiskers jumped out of Becky’s arms and scampered off and disappeared on the other side of one of the ships.

Becky went running after him squeaking.

‘Becky! Come back here!’

Just then, two figures appeared from the opposite direction, with thin bodies, triangular shaped heads and very large eyes. They each took him by either arm, and they went in the direction they had come, while a few more appeared and went into the ship.

‘BECKY!’