5. Frequencies
FIVE
FREQUENCIES
Elena
“Hel… Is any… re…” I hear a distant thudding outside my door, an almost hollow sound deeper in the ship. “…lo…”
I push the pillow off my head with a groan.
My hair covers my face and I sweep it away with another shorter groan.
Finally able to see, I take in the half-empty bottle next to my bed and reach for it, barely waking before grabbing hold of it.
Rising enough to drink, and then wincing through a couple of swigs, I accept the pain and burn as penance for being alive when so many others… aren’t.
“Hello!?” I hear the muffled shout. Then the thudding fills my ears again and I lower my bottle.
Placing it on the table next to me, I shift my legs over the bed and stand.
Nearly tripping on my feet as I walk to the door, I curse loudly as I catch myself against the wall.
With a sigh, I rest my head on the cold, white plastic.
For days, there have been no broadcasts from Jenna. I’ve moved on to listening to her music between long bouts of hoping for a message from her.
“I’m either hearing things or I left the radio on,” I murmur, rolling my forehead back and forth, rubbing some of the tension out with the wall.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
I frown. The noise doesn’t sound like the radio. It also doesn’t sound like my sister’s music. Pulling away from the wall, I walk to the door and duck my head out, immediately nervous about what I might see outside the window.
At first I don’t see anything except splotches of green and blurriness. Stepping into the hallway, I get a better view of the entire curved dome. Spotting two figures standing on the left, I freeze as I take in their hands pressed up to the glass.
Survivors.
Other people!
I freeze at the thought. Ducking back into my room to grab my sweater and throw it over my tank top, I curse the hangover I’m suffering currently. Straightening my tank under my sweater, I glance down and give my clothes a onceover.
I appear unassuming. Less rich.
I’m aware resources are going to be scarce and that there are other people on this small spot of Earth.
I’m not an idiot. I grew up on a ship with underprivileged people just floors below me.
Hiding one’s caste was smart when traveling to the lower sectors of The Dreadnaut, especially when shopping or meeting someone.
My parents’ ship might be targeted for supplies.
It’s bigger and fancier than most spaceships of its kind.
Eventually, and depending on exactly who has come here—because I saw many other ships head to Earth—supplies might run low.
Food, water, and medicine are going to be the most important things to have if help doesn’t get here fast enough.
I press my fingers into my temples and massage hard. Supply and demand. My tea shop…
I should make myself a cup right now. But I push the idea out.
Still, I’ve had so much time to ruminate between my bouts of drinking that I’m not sure if I’m surviving what’s happening to me or just thinking about surviving what’s happening.
Either way, I need to be careful.
I leave my room and speedwalk to the front, searching for the figures I spotted moments ago.
Seeing something move behind the control panel, I slow down but continue walking closer.
I spy two men, one dressed in a loose gray jacket and jeans and the other in a long-sleeved black shirt and blue pants, now traversing along the front and to the right.
They appear to be in their late thirties, early forties. Older than me.
“Hey!” I shout at the same time the man in the loose gray jacket notices me. The other finds me soon after and soon they’re both squinting in my direction.
“Hey! There is someone in there!” the one with the long-sleeved black shirt says.
“I told you there had to be.” The other man turns to his companion. “They just had to be in the back, like I said. This ship isn’t wrecked like the other one.” Their voices are low through the thick glass, but I’m able to make out most of what they’re saying.
Are they from the ship behind me?
I approach the window, stopping a short distance before the glass.
Being above them, I can only see from their hips up.
There is a small one-foot lip in the window that covers the bottom before it reaches the floor, obscuring their lower halves.
They appear unkempt. Their hair, similar in color, is shaggy around their heads.
The one in long sleeves is holding a gun over his shoulder.
It looks like a… rifle? I don’t know much about firearms.
As I eye the weapon resting in a holder, he shifts it behind him over his shoulder.
“It’s just for protection from anything that might be out here,” he reassures me, peering at me as warily as I’m peering at him.
“I hear there are all sorts of things living on Earth now over the radio and you can’t be too careful. ”
“Right. Got it.” I nod sharply, dragging my gaze away from the weapon with unease.
I wonder if he’s been listening to the radio too.
There’s been mentions of animals—large bears, packs of wolves, boar and pig to watch for.
But there’s also been mention of… nagas.
I search the trees behind them and up the hills and mountains to my left and the forest that eventually slopes downward to my right.
It’s morning but there’s no fog today. Seeing no nagas, I return my attention to the two men.
The one in the black shirt glances over his shoulder before facing me again.
“Look, lady. We’re from the ship directly behind yours.” I knew it. They are alive. I’d been wondering about them. “You might be able to see us from the side of your window, if you haven’t looked already.” The man without the rifle points to his right.
“I saw your ship. I remember smoke rising from it when I first touched down.”
“Yeah, that’s the other ship, the one just past ours that was smoking.
Me and Greg”—he waves his hand at the man with the rifle—“I’m Levy, by the way, went over there already.
It appears part of the bottom broke off upon landing…
We tried to get the attention of anyone inside but there was no answer. ”
I frown, trying not to wince from the headache behind my eyes. “Do you think they made it?”
Levy and Greg share a look before Levy flicks his gaze back to me. “I don’t think so,” he says loudly. “We couldn’t see anything from their windows that appeared like it was moving. There were bodies slumped in chairs so I’m thinking the worst.”
“Is that what you’re doing now? Checking out the other ships?
” I ask, suddenly curious about what they know.
I haven’t stepped outside my ship yet. I haven’t dared.
Not with the mention of nagas and predators on the radio.
Seeing how wary but calm Levy and Greg are, it might not be as dangerous as I’m making it out to be.
But I eye the trees once more. Especially the ones that keep randomly rustling.
“That’s what we thought we might do, but there’s no one else in our area but us three.”
“Just three ships landed here?”
Levy nods. “It seems so. Look, I’m glad someone else is alive, but we’re going to have to establish some sort of system to make sure we stay that way. Do you understand what I’m saying?” He tilts his head up at me.
My stomach churns, and I’m not sure if it has to do with the alcohol slogging within it or making future plans.
He’s not wrong. If we’re the only ones out here, and everyone has landed elsewhere, we might need each other.
But at the same time… they’re strangers and there’s no one around to stop them if they try something. “Okay. What do you suggest?”
Levy shifts back. Greg nods like he’s relieved by my reaction. For some reason it makes me feel a little better seeing them being uneasy around me too.
They’re risking their lives being outside talking to me… That’s saying something.
“I suggest we share information and make sure we stay in communication. Are you the only one in there?”
“No. My brother is in the back,” I lie. I almost feel bad about it, but I don’t want them to know I’m alone. If we’re here long enough, they’re going to figure it out eventually. But that’s a problem for another day.
Levy leans forward and looks behind me. “Can he come out?”
“No, he’s sick and sleeping at the moment. What’s happened has been rough on him.”
“Right,” he says with a nod.
Greg shifts his rifle forward as he takes a wider step away from my ship, turning to scan the landscape around them.
“What’s your name?” Levy suddenly asks, forcing my attention back to him.
I hug my middle. “Elena.”
“Well, Elena, we’re going to finish rooting around. You stay safe. If you want, one of us can check in with you and your brother tomorrow? Make sure you’re safe and let you know we’re okay too?”
“I—” I begin to say no but change my mind. “Okay. As long as you think it’s safe,” I agree, glancing at Greg who’s still searching the trees up the mountain.
“See you tomorrow then.” Levy nods, and with a cant of his head toward his companion, they both walk around the front of my ship and toward theirs.
I face the mountain, staring at the spiny trees rising up on the slopes above.
At the same time, I take in the blue skies, the wispy clouds, and the slight rustle of a breeze through the leaves and grasses.
The once-intimidating view is now one of the only things that comforts me.
Does despair have to be so beautiful? I guess it’s better than the alternative.
For a few minutes, I stand there, letting my nerves shake off me.
I unclench my hands, turning for the ship’s control panel to awaken the AI.
My parents are gone. And no matter how much I tell myself this, it’s only just beginning to sink in. I keep waking up after getting blackout drunk to the mess I’ve found myself in. Nothing changes except I have fewer resources than I did previously.
Less alcohol.
I turn on the radio and command the AI to shift through the stations.
The first several I catch are old distress signals from earlier nights that continue to be broadcasted.
As I settle in my chair, sinking into the ache of my hangover, I come across random callouts with coordinates—people announcing their names, their ship’s names, and where they’ve landed.
Those I pay more attention to, but there are fewer of them as the days have gone on.
Several frequencies have begun streaming music.
Then there are the missing persons broadcasts.
People, many, many people—like me—are searching for missing loved ones. Between the long streams of static, there are many lamenting about losing someone.
My own broadcast is still waiting to be answered.
“Searching for Jenna Viller. Please, if you are her or know any information about her, please respond to this broadcast at channel 003.1. This is her sister, Elena Viller. Jenna, if you are hearing this, I am at N 41.03 W -71.93 on Earth, in the forest where it is safe. Find me!”
Any minute it could be answered.
Yet the minutes tick by unchanged as the sound of static and strange voices continue. I release a long breath, already exhausted for the day ahead.
My gaze flicks upward when the branches of the trees shake. Getting up from my seat, I walk to the window to search for what caused it.
A deer jumps out and I startle, falling back. The animal dashes away and behind my ship. I squint after it, cursing under my breath before straightening and turning back around.
I freeze.
The trees in front of my ship are rustling. Again.
My heart thrums wildly as my gaze darts everywhere, inspecting the wild foliage. But the branches eventually go still without me ever finding the cause.
Cursing again, I stomp into the ship and retrieve a new bottle from the liquor cabinet and open it, only returning to the front after a long swig. Stumbling slightly, lightheaded and already in pain, I sit down and hug the bottle to me.
What else is there really to do? I take another long drink.
I’m ready to forget again.