Different Vessels

A Story by Jonathan Lee

A work in progress.

He awoke to the faint sound of a distant alarm. A low brash tone repeated incessantly like a nagging buzz saw urging him to get up. He didn't know where he was, yet it seemed familiar. There were times in the past where he had awoken in a strange place, only to quickly recall he was on vacation or he was staying over at someone else's place. Of course, now, he suddenly realized he couldn't actually remember any of those times. He couldn't remember much at all...
The man felt the fog of time around him--not unlike this dark smoky interior in which he now found himself. His life had faded away like a dream, it would seem, and now all he was left with was the present. A black space of indeterminate size, filled with little lights. Whites and reds and greens, twinkling like Christmas lights in the darkness.
When that irritating alarm would sound, the deep black of his surroundings was interrupted by a dull red from some distant light source. Whenever that faint red would flash, he could make out rolling clouds of thin smoke billowing through the inky interior. Farther away, he could make out a whole shaft of light, like the crack in the ceiling of a cave.
Suddenly his senses were assaulted by some sharp smell. Plastic. He didn't know the first time he had learned that association, but he knew it well now. The fire must have been eating away at the plastic sheaths of the electric wires inside the panels of the ship--if not the panels themselves.
Ship? Yes, a space ship. He still didn't know where he was or what turn of events had led to the current predicament, but he understood now the nature of the situation. The ship was on fire, and he had to get out.
He clumsily arose to his feet and struggled to regain his balance after rising gave him a sudden woozy feeling. He instinctively put his hand to the side of his head, which was now throbbing with a dull pain. As he did, he felt a warm wetness. Blood.
He stumbled through the dark, and made his way toward the light. As he stepped forth into that glowing column of luminescence, he was suddenly blinded. His eyelids reacted immediately and clenched tight. Even then, it was still too much, and he instinctively raised his hands to his eyes for more shielding.
After a moment, he lowered his hands. He then slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the burning brightness. As he did, he saw before him a ladder. That ladder looked to reached up from his present gloom into the heavens, for as he cast his eyes above he could see now the bright blue sky. It was a long way up.

Left step. Grab. Lift. Right step. Grab. Lift. Breathe. He ascended this way up the metal rungs, making his slow escape from the dark smoky inferno below towards that patch of bright blue heaven above. His ascension was filled with struggle and pain. His head pounded with every beat of his heart, and his weary limbs ached and burned with every climb.
About halfway up he suddenly was struck by sudden doubt. Was he even going the right way? How would he get down from the top of the ship? He didn't even know the ship's shape. Only the vague awareness of a giant wedge-like shape with rounded wings. The thought was like a half-remembered dream. He didn't know if it could be trusted.
He shook his head and carried on. There was only one way out he could see when he was down in the gloom, so what other choice did he have? Once he got to the top, he could always go back down... assuming there was still time.
As he ascended, he passed by floors of devastation. Hanging wires. Scattered debris. Whirring and crackling sounds in the dark. The distant moan of creaking metal. And every ruined floor was bathed in that oscillating red light and the grating sound of alert that accompanied it.
In the midst of that regular nagging noise, he heard something different. A faint organic sound like a murmur. A voice? He stopped and waited. His lungs insisted he catch his breath, but he tried to use his nose alone, tried to tuck his lower lip and direct his breath away from his ears, anything he could to listen. And he listened for some time, before he finally heard it again.
It was definitely a voice.
“Hello...?” he called out into the dark.
A moment passed and no reply, as he gazed into the void.
“Tyler?” the voice returned.
The reply shook him like thunder, and lightning traveled up his spine in turn. So he was not alone. It only made sense. Yet for some strange reason he wasn't expecting it.
Tyler? Was that his name? He couldn't mistake the tone in that voice. That subtle lilt upward that told him that single word was a question. How would he answer it? The only honest reply would be “I don't know,” and that suddenly struck him with embarrassment. An adult man should at least know his own name. Yet another one of those little facts he managed to recall.
Before he could respond, the voice continued: “I guess it makes sense that you would survive, you son of a b***h. Only the good die young...”
The gruff man out there in the shadows certainly seemed to be certain he had the right man. Tyler guessed “Tyler” was as good a name as any. Although apparently the same could not be said about the man attached to that name.
Was the gruff voice teasing him? Was this an old friend? No... the bitterness and outright malice in the voice was unmistakably there.
Tyler's eyes darted back and forth as he quickly processed the present situation. He didn't know who this disembodied voice was. He didn't even know who he was--apart from a name and an unfavorable opinion. Nevertheless, he could hear pain in that voice. Its coughs and groans echoed in the murk. Whoever this man was, he likely needed help. But was there enough time...?
“Do you know how much time we have to get out of here?” Tyler called out.
“We...?” the man replied. The bitterness from before was replaced with genuine confusion.
“Yes. I mean to come get you...” Tyler replied. He immediately gulped, attempting to swallow down his fear.
What came next filled Tyler with confusion of his own.
Out of the black, in between the buzz of the alarm, came laughter. Uproarious laughter. The gruff man was cackling with genuine delight. Tyler smirked nervously, feeling like he had missed out on the joke. The deep roaring cackles were cut short by a cough. Violent coughing that betrayed the man's perilous condition.
“Where are you?” Tyler asked with concern as he stepped forward into the inky interior.
“Looking to play hero now, eh?” the man called out. And there was the bitterness again.
Tyler couldn't help but get a little irritated at the man's remark. “Would you please just tell me where you are?”
“Heh...” the voice snorted with amusement. After a few beats, it continued “Alright, johnny boy. Not sure what game you're playing this time, but I've got nothing better to--” His condescending remarks were cut short by a series of coughs.
Tyler picked up his pace, moving in the voice's direction. He tread carefully, using what little illumination the red flash offered to make his way across the debris-laden floor. Tyler started to question why he was doing this. The man offered nothing to him but disdain. He wasn't sure what “johnny boy” was supposed to mean, but he took it as an insult. Did he really deserve this kind of treatment? Of course, maybe he did. And Tyler was disturbed at the thought.

After a slow tedious trek through a landscape of destruction, and a bit of awkward conversation, Tyler caught a glimpse of the grizzled man's shadow. There was a faint whirring hum, interrupted by occasional sizzles and pops as sparks flashed in the dark. In those brief bright flashes, Tyler could see more hanging wires, and a mess of debris covering the man from the waist down.
“Do you know what has you trapped?” Tyler asked.
“Probably an engineering panel. Pretty sure it crushed my whole damn leg. Good thing I found this...” the man replied and tapped something. It was a box or case of something Tyler could dimly make out in the gloom between the little flashes of electrical sparks.
“If I lift it up enough, do you think you'll be able to pull your leg out from under it?”
“It's worth a try...”
The tone in the man's voice had progressively changed. The sharp edge had disappeared, along with the bitterness, and he had become more congenial. He was still puzzled more than ever, but at this point it was obvious that--for whatever reason--Tyler genuinely meant to help.
Tyler felt along the smooth surface in the dark, finally finding the bottom and gripping it tightly. The old stranger fiddled with something in his hand, before a broad bright beam flashed forth from the old man's fist. Tyler paused at the shock of the flash before letting his eyes adjust to the new light.
He wasted no time to survey his surroundings, but instead immediately continued with the task at hand. And it was not a small one. The panel was as tall and wide as a man, and it weighed at least as much as well. Tyler strained with all his strength to push the panel away.
With a great thud, it came crashing down. And Tyler soon after collapsed to the floor, panting from the exertion. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he let his eyes glide over to the lighted space extending away from the old man.

Tyler blinked a bit and gulped at the sight. Blood and bone like scattered debris littered two badly mangled legs. His eyes drifted up to the face of the grizzled old man, who sat still and slightly slack jawed with wide eyes in the dark.

“S**t...” the old man finally remarked.

“Are you… I mean… are we… what do we do?” Tyler replied.

“We?”

“Well… how are we getting out here if you can’t… I mean… you can’t walk.”

“Ya think?” the old man replied with the bitterest of sarcasm, as he rolled his eyes and let out a sigh and a groan.

Tyler decided it best to keep his mouth shut. And so he ran his fingers through his hair, let out a sigh of his own, rubbed his eyes a bit, and all the other little things men do when they’re overwhelmed and lost. And so Tyler and the old man sat together in the dark a bit, quietly. He stared listlessly into the field of light beyond, while the old man chewed on his lower lip and rubbed his neck in uneasy contemplation.

After a moment the old man spoke. “We need to get a good idea of where we’re at with the ship. Our communications are down as is the on-board diagnostics network. So if you can get out and use the polyscan and show me the readings, I can...”

A sudden creak and rumble distracted Tyler’s attention. He peered off into the dark with concern. The shudder of the floor sent a shiver down his spine.

“Hey, are you listening, a*****e?” the cranky codger asked with obvious irritation.

“What? Uh, yes, yes. Wha-what do you need me to do exactly?”

The old man replied with a sigh and an eye roll and reached for a nearby box of some kind. In response to the quick tap of the man’s finger, the box lit up. It was a device of some sort which painted the old man’s face blue with a faint light dimly shining from its face. Tyler came around to peer down at the device, which he now saw had a screen.

Over the course of a quarter hour or so, the grizzled crank showed Tyler how to operate the polyscan, like an impatient young grandfather showing a teenager how to make a pot of coffee. Although his instructor was condescending and rude, Tyler nodded along and listened closely as the old man pointed to configuration settings, operational modes, and on-screen graphs of various kinds.

Just as they discussed, Tyler made his way back through the wreckage to the ladder. The trek back was substantially easier with the old man shining a light to guide the way.

As he approached the metal rung of steps, Tyler draped the strap of the polyscan over his head and around his shoulder, letting the device itself rest against his back as he mounted the ladder. He then looked back in the direction of the light, smiled and gave a nod and a wave.

“Get going!”

Tyler, replied with a quick nervous nod and started his ascent.

Once he reached the top of the ladder, his eyes were assaulted with the painfully bright light of day. The omnipresent light pierced right through his lids and burned the inside of his head with a fleshy orange fire. He slowly opened the curtains to that cranial cave, gradually letting more of the day gently into his vision.

The world was a blazing fog of blue and green and grey, but before long the contours of forms and shadows took shape. He was standing atop a massive metal surface extending out for hundreds of meters and flanked by what looked to be trees. A clear blue sky was above in the middle of which was the burning beams of a sun too bright to behold.

A not-so-distant roar of some rushing sound clammored about him. He initially suspected some kind of engine or reactor--perhaps the ship's thrusters. But judging by the trees and his own interior sensations, the ship was at rest--aside from the occasional rumble in his feet. The rushing roar seemed outside of the ship itself, but it was hard to tell.