Kyla's Diary - Chapter 9: Outside
"I will look for you."
I do not remember most of the walk to the Council chamber.
I remember Julian beside me. Neither of us had said much since we left the cabin. He walked with his hands folded behind his back, the way he does when he is thinking about something.
I remember the corridor lights reflecting off the polished floor. I remember people stepping aside for us, not because we were important, but because everyone knew where we were going.
Julian was going because of the Data and Information Office. He had been assigned as an assistant to Director Prescott, who oversaw the ship’s public logs, secure archives, and the Data Integrity Unit. The record we were about to hear was public, but public did not mean unprotected.
Nothing on Helios really belonged to one person. Not the air. Not the water. Not even the memories.
I was there because of the Civic Arc. I had been working as Council Member Silva’s assistant for the past two years.
The area outside the Council chamber was very quiet. Not the quiet of an empty space. The quiet of people who had decided not to speak.
Two attendants stood at the chamber doors.
Taro was waiting for us in one of the rooms beside the chamber entrance.
“He should be in room C-3,” Julian said as we entered the hallway connecting the waiting rooms.
Civic Arc staff walked along the hallway, their Whisperzends flashing. Everyone was busy but somber.
When I saw Taro, I hugged him.
He froze at first. Then his arms came around me, tight and sudden, like he had been holding himself together and had run out of strength.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He did not answer.
“Have you seen Layna?” I asked.
“This morning.” His voice was careful. “She’s with her family.”
I wanted to ask if she was all right. What I meant was something else, something I did not have the words for yet. I also wanted to ask about her pregnancy, but I let the question sit where it was.
“It happened so fast,” Taro said before I could ask anything else. “I couldn’t reach him. There was nothing I could do.”
Then he lowered his voice.
“They had another unit,” he said. “They could have sent it. They said they couldn’t risk it. That the recovery window was gone.”
He looked at the floor, but I could see the tears gathering in his eyes.
“He was still out there, Kyla. He was still with us.”
An attendant stepped into the room and called our names.
We followed him into the Council chamber.
The chamber was arranged so that no one sat above anyone else. The President of the Council occupied the speaker’s chair. The Captain and First Officer sat together. The Director of the Horizon Arc was there because the EVA Division fell under his authority. He looked like a person waiting for the session to confirm what he already knew.
The Director of the Data and Information Office sat with Julian beside him.
Council Member Silva was seated to the President’s left. I took the place beside her. Taro sat across from us.
The President did not perform any sorrow.
That was the right choice.
“This session is exploratory,” she said. “Its purpose is to establish an initial factual record of the extravehicular operation conducted for magnetic sail deployment, and of the death of the crew member assigned to it. A formal investigation has already been opened.”
She paused for questions. No one spoke.
She continued, “This session does not replace the investigation. We are here to retrieve and review the relevant mission record in the presence of command, operations, data integrity, and civic personnel.”
She looked toward the Director of the Data and Information Office.
Director Prescott adjusted the microphone in front of him.
“Logminter, retrieve the mission record,” he said.
The panels throughout the chamber began displaying text.
LOG ENTRY
Action type: Log retrieval.
Integrity check: Validated. Public mission archive.
Access status: Authorized. Created at: 2786.093.1035.
I had heard recordings before. Drills, ceremonies, the Captain’s annual address. I had never been afraid of one.
I kept my eyes fixed straight ahead. Taro had gone very still. He had been there when it happened, and now he would have to hear it happen again.
I thought about how I could not remember the walk from the cabin. Logminter would remember every second of what we were about to hear. It would carry Darius more faithfully than any of us could.
Then Logminter’s voice, one I had heard hundreds of times before, broke the silence of the Council chamber. It emerged from every speaker at once.
> Mission type: Extravehicular operation.
Mission objective: Magnetic sail deployment and anchor stabilization for deceleration phase.
Location: Exterior stern assembly.
Starting playback.
Subscribe to receive new posts.
###
Darius: Confirming tether lock.
Taro: Confirmed this side.
Darius: Confirming tool kit.
Taro: Confirmed.
Darius: Confirming that EVA gloves remain a personal insult to the human hand.
Flight Ops: Noted, Mr. Quinn. For the record.
Darius: For the record.
Flight Ops: Begin deployment sequence. Cables one through four on my mark.
Flight Ops: Mark.
Taro: One away. Two away. Alignment good on my side.
Darius: Three away. Holding on four.
Darius: Four is not releasing. Jam at the anchor ring.
Flight Ops: Confirm visual.
Darius: Confirmed. The coupling hasn’t cleared. I can see where it’s caught.
Flight Ops: Stand by for support unit. SD-2 is yours.
Darius: Copy. Moving in with SD-2. Taro, stay on your alignment. I have this.
Taro: I’m tethered on the far side. Repositioning. Give me a minute.
Darius: We don’t have a minute. Hold your station.
Darius: SD-2, take the load above the coupling. I’ll clear the catch.
Darius: Almost. It’s going to go all at once when it goes.
Flight Ops: Mr. Quinn, back your margin off the line before it releases.
Darius: Backing off.
Darius: It’s releasing.
> Cable four release event logged.
Darius: Going hard. SD-2 is in the path.
> Impact event detected.
Flight Ops: Mr. Quinn. The cable hit the unit.
Darius: SD-2 is tumbling. It’s coming back toward me.
> Crew suit telemetry irregular.
Darius: I’m clear of the cable. The unit caught my mount.
Taro: Say again.
Darius: The unit took my tether mount. The coupling’s gone. I’m off the ship.
Flight Ops: Confirm tether status.
Darius: Tether’s gone, not loose, gone. I’m drifting aft.
Taro: Flight Ops, launch SD-3. Send another unit, now.
Flight Ops: Stand by.
Taro: He’s off the ship and moving. Launch SD-3, now.
First Officer: Flight Ops, hold launch. Give me the recovery numbers.
Flight Ops: Drift vector is aft, away from the stern. Separation is increasing. SD-2 is lost. Probability of intercept and capture with SD-3 is low and falling.
First Officer: One unit is already tumbling through the deployment field. I’m not sending a second across four live cables with the intercept probability this low.
Taro: He’s right there. A low probability is still a probability.
First Officer: A second collision could compromise the sail. Mr. Ishida, hold your position and your tether.
Taro: He is right there.
Darius: Taro, it’s all right. We can’t risk the mission for one person.
Taro: I’m going there. I won’t let you go.
Darius: Don’t unclip. Do not unclip, that’s an order.
Darius: Logminter, begin family log.
Layna. I love you.
If it’s a boy, Alex. After Grandpa.
If it’s a girl, Alyka.
I love you all.
Tell my father I checked the tether twice.
I will look for you.
Logminter, end entry.
Darius: Computer, disconnect.
> Audio transmission ended.
The chamber went quiet.
> Mission log playback complete.
Thanks for reading Kyla’s Diary, a novel from the Theogenic Universe. New chapters will be published weekly. Subscribe to continue the journey aboard Helios.