Excerpt: Infinity's Rose

When she woke up, it was quiet. Only the gentle sound of trickling water cut through the silence. It took her a moment to open her eyes. When she did, she saw emptiness, stretching until forever. She glanced to the side, her head unmoving and heavy. She saw pink and red and green: the rose garden. Why was she in the rose garden? Why was she lying on the ground in the garden, was the better question, but one she had no answer to. She didn't even particularly like the rose garden. It reminded her too much of home and all that she had needed to leave behind.

Finally, she sat up, her limbs feeling both heavy and absent. She was alone. That, too, was unusual. The rose garden was popular, one of the only public places on the ship that wasn't metal and stark and white. At all hours of the day, the place was a bustling center for relaxation and gossip; necessary for the long trip to Uze Tau.

"Hello." She called out softly. She heard only the gentle fall of the waterfall into the pond. "Hello!" A little louder, but still no one answered. Slowly, ever so slowly, she pulled herself up and stood, looking around. Her body felt like a sack of grain, heavy and unwieldy, wanting to fall over and just sink back into the ground. Still, her curiosity was stronger than her exhaustion and she began to move forward, through the twisting paths and under the shelter of the rose vines. Still no one. Maybe there was a lockdown and everyone was in their quarters? But then, why was she asleep in the rose garden? She shook her head, hoping to clear some of the blurriness of her mind, but it only made her dizzy.

Sooner than she thought, she had reached the edge of the garden. The doors leading to the people-movers were open, the lights above them glowing their typical blue. All is well, they declared. But the movers themselves were empty of people, moving nothing forward or down or anywhere. She hesitated before the doors. Despite the unusual emptiness of the garden, there was something infinitely creepier about the empty corridors and the slow, never-ending motion of the movers. Instead, she turned and began to circle the garden, traveling around the viewing dome. There was something comforting about being near something living, even if it was something that couldn't talk.

She kept her eyes mostly in front of her, occasionally glancing at the rich green of the garden. She tried to avoid looking out of the viewing dome, to the vastness of hyperspace. It was even more colorful than the garden, but it was an unnatural color. The colors of stars and nebulas speeding past, almost faster than the human eye could see. Some found the view fascinating, but she just found it dizzying.

Eventually, she made a complete circuit around the room. Nothing. No other sign of movement or sound or life, except the carefully cultivated rose garden in the center of the room. It was about then that her stomach made itself known. It didn't know how long since it had had a meal, but it wasn’t that recently. Again, she peeked out of the doors into the corridor, to the slow, steady motion of the movers. She had a few snacks in her room, she remembered. Nothing spectacular, but it felt safer than the mess level. Her stomach twisted insistantly, shoring up her courage.

With her breathe caught in her throat, she inched out of the garden area and into the twisting corridors of the ship, all the way to the people-movers. Gratefully, she stepped on and spoke, “Pod 11”, and allowed the people-mover to guide her to her room.

///
Laetitia Finwall was among the last group to board, lugging her single allowed chest of clothes and personal items behind her. She followed the Omicron group along the long, blank corridor, all the way to the people movers, that, once told the destination, would deliver them to the appropriate living quarters. It might take them fifteen minutes, but at least they wouldn’t get lost.

It was easy to get lost on the COL-213A, newest colony ship available from the Alriver Institute. She had visited once before, during her fourth interview with Warren Faustinio Gossler, the Head of Personnel on the Uze Tau mission. On the way to his office, she had gotten hopelessly lost, and had to beg assistance from one of the scientists who was already on board. He had been perfectly nice, and even understanding, but she was still sort of mortified that it had happened at all. She hadn't yet known about the people movers, which directed individuals to their destination with gentle lights along the wall, even as it moved you down the corridor. The person's only job was to get off at the correct junctions, as indicated by the lights.

Her light began blinking as she approached Pod 11 and her room. Each Pod consisted of four to six rooms, each shared by at least two people. She had never met her roommate, but had been told that they were selected carefully and with full appreciation of individual personalities. The last time she had been told that had been in uni, and it was a load of bollocks. She’d ended up with a pot-addicted ballerina, while she studiously wiled her way in business classes. She hadn’t even lasted a full year.

But, while she was only a lowly Records Administrator, she was an RA in space. Aiming high while aiming low had always been a speciality of hers. Maybe her roommate could sympathize. She took a deep breath as she walked to her home for the next year. The door opened when she stood in front, revealing a simple, square room. It was painted a shade of green that was almost white in its paleness, calming and bland. A sofa curved around the corner to her left and a small table and chairs sat in a nook in the far right-hand corner. To the left of that was a pair of bunkbeds. In between the beds and the sofa was a low chest of drawers. Along the right hand wall was nothing but shelving. She didn’t know what for, as they weren’t allowed much in the way of personal items, not with as many people as were going on the mission.

Aside from the bare furnishings, the room was empty. She must have arrived before her roommate. Laetitia decided to take advantage of her luck and stake her bed. She preferred the privacy of the top, although both had a screen that you could pull around to block the bed from view of the room. There was just something more away on the top.

Opening her chest, she pulled out her pillow and blankets and tossed them on the bed. Then, she transferred her clothes to the drawers, trying to keep things as tightly together as she could. There really wasn’t much room. After that, she pulled out a few books and photos, the only personal things she had decided to bring along. Mostly, she had wanted things that would remind her of home and her parents. Books they had cherished and photos of the three of them together.

The door swished open as she was placing the last of her photos on the shelf. In the doorway stood a tall man. His face was serious, but not unfriendly. He had only a bag over his shoulder and a faint look of disappointment as he looked over the room.
///

Maybe he would be waiting in their room. She didn’t know him well--they had only left a month ago. Both were busy with their duties, usually barely having the chance to say “good morning” before they both rushed out the door.

As she traveled the slow path down the corridors, she began to grow cold. Not because life support had failed. It was just the overwhelming lack of life. The echoing silence. Even the movers were silent. Soon, it began to hurt her ears, the emptiness pressing on her eardrums, choking her. Making her shake. She gasped in relief when she realized that her Pod and her room were just around the corner. She jogged the last few meters, not bothering to wait for the mover to drop her off near the Pod’s door.

Soon she was in her room, alone as before. He wasn’t here, just like no one else was here. Exhausted and hungry she grabbed some food from the fresher and collapsed on the sofa. Maybe he would show up, with some esoteric excuse for the sudden lack of people, and his own absence. After she finished the last of her snack, she curled up in the corner of the sofa and fell asleep.