3

3

Spencer woke up before his two friends and got up to get ready for the day.  He put some fresh clothes on, fixed his hair and walked back towards his bunk.  As he came back he saw Jansen and Colby getting ready for the day too.  He waited for them to finish and then together they walked down to the mess hall.

  When Spencer got to the mess hall he and his friends got in line to get food.  A man this time handed them each one bowl of cereal with half a banana.

“Guess this is our morning ration” said Colby as they walked away from the kitchen.  The three saw Lily and Grace at the end of one of the tables and went over to join them.  

“Hey” Spencer said as he sat down next to Grace.

“Hey” she replied smiling

“How’d you sleep” Colby asked the girls.

“Good” Said Grace

Lily remained silent, she had a frown on her face.

Jensen seemed to notice something was wrong and went over to her.  “You okay?” he asked.

“Fine” said Lily although not very convincingly.

“Hey” said Jensen “I get that maybe you don’t trust me because you just met me but I know something's wrong and I just want to help.”

“Okay” she said.  “I just had a bad dream that’s all.” she waited a moment to make sure Jensen was still listening and then continued “I had a flashback to when my parents died.  Our house was on fire and, well they didn’t get out in time.”

Her eyes were teary and Jensen felt bad for her and wanted to comfort her.  He patted her on the shoulder and told her “it’s okay, it’s just a dream.  I also lost my parents, I understand.”

“Thank you” Lily said as she threw her arms around Jensen which really surprised everyone.  She noticed people staring and quickly let go.  Her face was red with embarrassment.

“Okay then” said Grace in a surprised/awkward kind of tone.

Colby went to say something when an announcement came from the PA system,  “Meeting in launch room for jobs right now.” Arthur’s voice boomed through the cafeteria.

“Let’s go” Colby said.

He led the five of them out of the cafeteria to the launch room.  The launch room was like an auditorium.  It was where they had taken off and was lined with chairs and a small stage at the front.  Most of the people were already in there when they arrived.

“Glad you can join us.” Arthur said to Spencer “I see you’ve made some new friends.”

Spencer just smiled as he walked with his friends past Arthur to some empty chairs in the center by an aisle where they sat.  

“Hello!” said Arthur to the audience through a microphone.  “Today as I am sure you are aware we are here to assign jobs. But first a little background to this project.  Most of you are orphans who lived their lives alone and were able to survive.  These skills let us know that each and every one of you would be the perfect people we needed to survive on this journey and start a new civilization.  You have been monitored and watched by the Alpha One officials for this day and will now be assigned jobs.”

Arthur began to read off names and assign jobs, “Jensen, You will begin work in the engine room.” How did they know how much he likes machines, thought spencer to himself.  How long have they been watching us?  WHy?  Did they know this was going to happen?

Spencer's thoughts were cut short as Arthur resumed speaking, "Lily, you will work in the kitchen.”  Lily smiled, she must have enjoyed cooking.

Arthur began to read off names and jobs until Spencer and Grace were the only people left in the room.

“You two come with me” Arthur said

As Spencer and Grace followed Arthur Spencer got a sick feeling in his stomach Have we done something wrong Spencer wondered.

He followed Arthur down a long hallway into a small room on the side.  In the room was a table with three chairs.  Spencer, Grace and Arthur sat in the chairs around the table.  After a moment of silence Arthur began to speak

“The committee of the Alpha One has chosen you two as the best of the people analyzed to take part in this mission.” he paused for a second to look at the two of them before continuing “Our team has been watching you two for a very long time and has seen your skills in intellect and problem solving.  Spencer, Grace, you will be the leaders and pioneers of our people as we start a new somewhere far from here.  Leading us will not be easy, there will be lots of work and everyone will be looking up to you.”  He handed each of them a large piece of paper.

“These are things you may have to uphold as leaders.  It entices duties such as negotiating with other species if we encounter them.  You probably wish to get back to your friends now so I will let you leave.”

Arthur led them back to the entrance of the hallway and bid them farewell.  Spencer and Grace began to walk back to the main area of the ship in silence when Grace turned towards him and asked “What do you think this means?  The paper and leading and stuff? Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Yeah” said Spencer “But they wouldn’t have chosen us if they didn’t think they could do it.”

Grace nodded as they turned the corner to the cafeteria where they saw the rest of their friends and went over to a table to meet them

“What happened with you two” Colby asked Spencer and Grace.  Spencer sat down next to grace and began to tell them the whole story about what Arthur told them although Grace remained silent throughout most of the story.

“Wow” said Jensen  “Sounds like you guys have quite the job”

“No kidding” replied Spencer.  They began to laugh when a large noise almost like thunder but more like a metallic ring shook the ship.  Spencer and Jensen were knocked off their feet.  An alarm rang which told everyone to get to the sleeping quarters and get down.  They were about to leave when Spencer remembered that as a leader they should report to the cockpit.  He told this to Grace and bid the others farewell as he and Grace started to head in the opposite direction towards the cockpit.

Another boom shook the ship on the way to the cockpit and they saw part of one of the walls come off completely.  Spencer and Grace ran into the cockpit and sealed the door.  Inside stood Arthur with the two captains.

“Ah” said Arthur “Come take a look at this.” he sounded surprisingly calm for someone on a spaceship which was about to blow up.

Outside the window Spencer could see that about three kilometers from the Alpha 1.  Three ships formed into triangular shapes by three rings.

One of the rings went straight down the center.  It was golden in color but seemed to glow. It had some sort of weapon on it that was firing green lasers which rocked the ship.  These ships were of great craftsmanship that no human could hope to accomplish.  This meant one thing… whatever was on the ships was not human.  Luckily for them though the Alpha One had prepared for such encounters and was armed with heavy hitting machine guns.

A girl’s voice with a strong british accent came over the PA system  “We’ve taken one down but we have a hull breach that's sucked several people out into the void!”

Before Spence could question Arthur about the voice, Arthur began giving SPencer and Grace orders.  "Anyway I need you two to go to the engine room and get the engineers to start repairs on the breaches.”

“Alright” said Spencer, he grabbed Grace’s arm and they ran out of the cockpit.

It wasn’t exactly a long journey to the engine room but the air was so thick with smoke it was hard to breathe.  It reminded him of when his house burnt down.  The ship continued to rock back and forth due to the alien spacecrafts but eventually they reached the engine room.

Spencer pulled open the door and walked inside.

“Hey” said Jensen

“Sorry but no time to talk” said Spencer “You need to get the engineers to begin working on repairs at the hull.”

“We can’t until the shields are up.” said Jensen.  “You need to get back to the cockpit and activate them at the controls.  Then we can begin.”

Spencer didn’t even say goodbye, he grabbed Grace and began to start running back to the cockpit.

In the halls the smoke was even thicker than Spencer remembered but he and Grace kept running, there was no time to waste.  About halfway to the cockpit Grace collapsed.  Spencer was also weak from the smoke but he couldn’t leave her there.  He leaned over and lifted her up and began to carry her the rest of the way.  

After what felt like an eternity he finally reached the cockpit and pulled the door open. Inside everyone was shouting but he set down Grace and went over to Arthur to tell him the problem

“Too late” Said Arthur, the smoke was thickening in the cockpit as well.  “Too much damage.  Luckily there is a nearby planet we will land on, but we don’t know if it can support life.  It's a risk, but it's the only choice we've got."

Everyone was breathing heavily from the smoke.  All they could do was wait as the smoke thickened.  Spencer’s vision was leaving him and eventually he blacked out.