Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) by Barry Knox

aloud.
    “ Got something for me, Captain?” Admiral Corbin asked.
    “ Yes, sir, several,” Captain Neubauer said as he showed the admiral his Anna display on his forearm. The display listed the classics Gideon had read.
    The admiral scanned the list and pointed at one. “Captain, have the lieutenant read the first paragraph of the second chapter of this classic; and Captain, have your Anna display the paragraph for us while the lieutenant recites it from memory.”
    “ Anna, please display the first paragraph of the second chapter of A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, published in 1920,” Neubauer said, then looked at Gideon and continued. “Lieutenant, whenever you’re ready.”
    Gideon closed his eyes and recalled the year, date, month, and time that he ’d read the novel. A few seconds later, an image of the page appeared in his mind, and he read from that image. “The three men gathered in the street outside the house. The night was slightly frosty, but particularly clear, with an east wind blowing. The multitude of blazing stars caused the sky to appear like a vast scroll of hieroglyphic symbols. Maskull felt oddly excited; he had a sense that something extraordinary was about to happen ‘What brought you to this house tonight, Krag, and what made you do what you did? How are we to understand that apparition?’”
    Admiral Corbin and Captain Neubauer followed along on Captain Neubauer’s Anna display as Gideon read.
    “ That’s remarkable!” Admiral Corbin said when Gideon finished.
    The demonstration awed e veryone sitting around the table. Two individuals, Dr. Harper and Dr. Jones, were envious.
     
    Petty Officer Joseph Sipes’s Quarters, SRS Stephen Hawking
    0000 —February 18, 2372
    Joseph entered a small building through double doors. Inside the doors was a single room with a podium. Instead of chairs, long wooden benches lined a center aisle-the benches facing the podium. People he’d never seen before sat on the benches and turned his direction as he walked to the podium. He looked at the people seated and saw them smiling at him and their heads slowly nodding approval. Joseph looked at the podium again, and there stood his great- grandmother looking down at him from behind the wooden structure.
    He stopped and just stood there , looking at her.
    She also had a smile on her face , and, using her right hand, she motioned him to continue walking toward her. He started walking, and before he got to his great-grandmother, she motioned for him to sit on the front bench. Joseph sat there, looking at her. He thought it strange that his great-grandmother didn’t look as old as he remembered. As a matter of fact, she looked a lot younger.
    “ Joseph,” she said, “I have a job for you.”
    “ Yes, Grandma.”
    “ You’re going on a long journey, and the people you’re with need your help.”
    “ Yes, Grandma, you know I’ll help them with anything they need.”
    “ You’ll help save them from death.”
    “ Yes, Grandma, I’ll do my best.”
    “ I know you will, Joseph,” she said with a smile and then motioned for everyone in the room to stand. They all stood and began singing. The song was familiar to Joseph, yet one he couldn’t remember the words to. He did remember his great-grandmother had hummed the tune all the time as she worked.
    He star ted humming the tune, since he didn’t remember the words, as everyone in the building starting singing louder and louder. What a wonderful sound, he thought. It eventually got so loud in the little one-room building that it awoke him.
    He lay in his bunk aboard the Stephen Hawking. It had been a dream, a very beautiful dream.
     

Part Four: Marine Operations
     
    Bridge, SRS Stephen Hawking
    0645 —February 18, 2372
    Mary sat in the bridge command chair. The triangular-shaped bridge had several critical command and control stations now manned by the bridge officers who worked to prepare for departure from Phobos. A single marine,