Gaia's Blessed Children

Panic swept through the ship as all power shut down, leaving the ship stranded in darkness surrounded by a sea of stars glittering like jewels… Space as much as a dream it was to explore, it was a terror to live each day, not knowing when you will die… “Aaahhh!” A loud cry echoed on the viewing deck. “Breathe!” An elderly lady said with authority laced in her voice, a man holding back any complaints about his hand creaking in his wife’s tight grip as her other hand shakily went to rub her swollen stomach. “Ah…” The woman’s breathing hitched when another cramp shot through her body, the time between her contractions getting shorter and shorter. Her matted hair clinging to her forehead, every breath from the elderly lady or her husband left a slight chill where it touched on her sweat stained skin, but the heat she felt as her body was tuned into the pain left her numb to it. The doors were all shut, people all over the ship was left stranded, it’s been thirteen hours since the power went out, the air was getting think, there was at most only another sixteen to nineteen hours’ air left if the power isn’t turned back on… “Aaaahhhh!!!” She cried out again more in frustration that her child might never get the chance to live for more than a few hours… “The baby’s crowning!” The elderly lady said, she used to be doctor, but with her shaky hands and her memory not as it used to be she had long since stepped down, and as per tradition soon she would enter Eternity’s embrace – because resources were scarce those that reached a certain age, if their health becomes a problem and they can no longer be of ‘service’ they are put to cryo-sleep and drifted into space. A few more minutes passed and just as the man looked up at the elderly lady he saw lights dance in the deep dark space outside, like flowing rivers… but as if there was an end to the river of light it curled and bloomed like flowers before bursting like fire… A soft cry sounded, the screaming long ago silenced… “Aurora… her name…” The woman whispered before breathing her last breath. The man’s tears flowing down his cheeks as he took the baby girl and laid her crying form on his wife’s chest… The light continued its dance, passing through the ship’s walls, in full display throughout the hallways... people collapsing whenever the light touched them and new terror set in their hearts and minds. But this horror did not seem to affect the elderly lady who no longer feared death, nor the man who was weeping over his wife’s lifeless body. They hadn’t noticed that even the baby girl had been touched by the light, that the light seemed to love her as it swept through her and continued to twirl around her playfully. The mystical display of power and awe though was over in just a few minutes and eight hours later the back-up power was on. The air was cooling down and the stifling pressure of the looming death was lifting, but the people were still filled with fright. Three-hundred-and-ninety-two people were touched by the light, only a hundred-and-twenty-seven survived… Of the dead, their bodies turned to dust upon a single touch… “We need to check on all survivors, I want blood tests, x-rays, the works; whether they were touched by that strange light or not!” The captain of the ship ordered, he was not part of the Council who took care of the citizens’ well being personally, and rather cared for the ship’s maintenance and the crew that was in charge of looking over the ship’s systems – that did not mean he had no say in regards to the ‘citizens’ on the ship, he was in the end still responsible for their safety and despite the Council trying to ease him to leave the citizens in their care completely, this was one time they did not object. After a few days, the station was finally in sight and all the check-ups’ results were in. “Those not touched by the light… the Star Fire as it is being called by others, show no abnormalities.” A doctor reported, the Council as well as the Captain and a few of the top ranked crew members were having a meeting; and the doctor was a Council member herself. “And what of the ones that were?” The Captain asked. “There are signs of their cells constantly breaking down before healing again. It’s a miracle they are still alive, most of them are suffering extreme pain.” “There was one child born during all this mess, how is she?” A man asked, he started at the tablet in front of him, the infant’s registered name and her family’s records all opened as he went through it. “She’s doing fine, she’s strong and healthy. The incident doesn’t seem to have affected her, most likely untouched by the light…” The doctor hesitated. “But…?” “Part of the test we did was to check for anything within the DNA structure… the genes… Her DNA doesn’t match her father’s or her mother’s…” “But we know she is their daughter, how can this happen?” “This is the only thing that’s irregularity regarding the girl. I can only guess that because her immune system is at its weakest as a newborn, the lights were able to alter her DNA without causing any harm to her as her body has no means of fighting it off.” “So you are saying that she might show other signs later on?” “Yes… but for now, she’s perfectly normal.” “I see… Thank you Olivia, we’ll keep twenty-four hour surveillance on her, and she must get check-ups quarterly.” “Yes, Chancellor Darius!” The Doctor nodded, even though she was part of the Council, she rarely interfered with what the others decided on so long as it didn’t interfere with the health of the people on the ship they could completely strip the ship and reassemble it however they wanted. “What about the others, did the other ships get hit? Is the station safe?” Came another query from one of the Council members. “We were able to confirm that the others got hit as well, Atlas and Vega was hit first, they were drifting near the black hole checking its stability… they were pulled in, we’ve made contact with Vega, the signal is very weak but we confirmed that they have survivors and that they are currently orbiting a planet. We’ll have more details about it and hopefully their position by the time we dock at the station.” The Captain confirmed. “What about the survivors of the Star Fire on the other ships and on the station?” The same man that had first asked about the other ships asked again. “Councilman Jason… The casualties for the other ships are worse, not necessarily in regards to the Star Fire, but due to suffocation. Regarding to how many we lost specifically from being touched by the light on the station, more than half the people is reported dead from the Star Fire's effects while a little over four-hundred survived being touched by this strange light. The others all have fewer casualties than us in regards to the Star Fire itself, Creed has the least dead, their ship is in a far better state than ours and the others, but the recorded number of being touched and surviving is twice that of ours.” “I’d like to have blood works compared of the deceased to the survivors from before the incident. Perhaps there is something that can explain why some survived and others’ didn’t.” “The other doctors at the station are already on it, you can jump in on it once we dock.” Darius agreed to the doctor’s request. “Then for our last item, the black hole, seeing as Vega made it through, the others have decided that should it remain stable as it is now, we will send Nova and Hydra through next.” “We’re risking lives!” The Captain objected, even Olivia seemed to doubt this course of action. “What else can we do? Our ships won’t last for much longer, air & water filtration systems are constantly failing and we are barely keeping it from being known by the citizens. Our farms can’t produce the food we need anymore, more crops are dying than we are harvesting! Taking these risks… is a necessity if we want to find a way to live!” Darius explained. “Alright for now, there’s not much else we know, so we can end this meeting here and get ready to dock.” Darius dismissed them all without waiting for anyone else to object.