The Selectors

Chapter 1

A vast sea of pearl eyes gazed down upon a young man in a black and grey lab coat. His space black hair was in shambles, but it suited him well. His lonely hazel eyes were hidden behind silver wire frame glasses. The stars were bright, as always, on a space station there was no night or day. Just the lonely, oil black abyss of space.

Above his breast pocket was a name tag that read Luis Estrello, PhD. He didn’t take the shape of your run of the mill astrophysicist. The young dreamer had kept his football physique from college and his muscles bulged from beneath his lab coat. His skin was dark, like cinnamon and he was quite handsome. At the young age of 26, he was already the head of a research team on the Space Station G9 (SSG9). Luis was well known and regarded as the most promising astrophysicist of the 25th Century.

“Sir?” Luis was furiously scribbling equations on a napkin, unaware of the waitress standing next to him with her hands upon her hips.

“Excuse me,” she politely smiled as the wild haired scientist looked up in a daze of integers and Greek letters, “what would you like to drink?”

“Uh…coffee, not synthetic…real thing.”

The waitress made a face and rolled her eyes after the deranged caveman speaking “scholar” resumed his mad scribbling. His calculations were getting lengthy, so he flipped the napkin over and continued. Synthetic coffee was not going to cut it for him, never did. Especially when he was constantly functioning on two to three hours of sleep a night. With dreary eyes, Luis shook off the arms of sleep. Something had sparked his olfactory; sweet aroma of genuine Columbian brew quickly stimulated his senses.

“Thanks,” he said casually and looked up to give a smile of gratitude to the waitress. But instead, he came face to smiling face with his good friend, Professor Carter.

“Well hello.” He said, slightly disappointed as he eyed the steaming cup in her hands. Angelique Carter was an old friend from college and the most creative and intelligent theoretical physicists on SSG9. Luis was lucky to have her on his research team. Even though she worked under him, she was quite independent.

“So how is my fellow insomniac?” teased her sweet, yet assertive voice.

“Ha, you know me, always jotting insane equations on random napkins.”

“Yeah, you like to leave your mark.”

The laugh that escaped their lips had been the same for years. It was trapped in their memories and had become an intrinsic memory of its own.

“Your coffee, sir.” The waitress had reappeared.

“Thank you,” replied Luis, smiling at the waitress, this time for real.

“May I see?” Angelique asked, curiosity sparkling in her midnight eyes.

Luis handed over his hieroglyphic napkin.

“Hmmm…LT iAt -   T gK  K2 ….empirical formula…somewhat like M-Theory? But doesn’t it violate the cosmological constant within the Einsteinian Singularity?”

“Oh, leave me alone, this is all for fun.”

“Looks pretty serious to me. You astrophysicists sure are weird.” Angelique teased again.

“So why you up so late?” he asked, ignoring her tease.

“I could ask you the same thing.” She cunningly threw back the question.

Luis sipped his coffee and relinquished himself to her questioning.

“Well, I just finished up in the lab and decided to come down to the diner.”

“At 0200 UT?”

“Why not?”

Having a twenty-four hour diner on the station was the best. Luis would have preferred more of a café type place but he took what he could get. Even though the diner had the cheesiest name in the galaxy, “Astro-Diner”, it had damn good coffee and a transparent dome to look at the stars.

“Back to my question.”

“Oh…yeah…couldn’t sleep… I had a dream about my parents…They were calling for me…their arms spread, with warm and delightful smiles…but I couldn’t reach them…no matter how hard I tried!...I just didn’t make it…I remember how they used to tell me stories about Earth when I was a little girl…about what the first day of summer felt like…the smells of flowers…their descriptions would play in my mind…it was better than VR…I still can’t believe they’re gone…God I can’t believe it has been more than a year since they died in that accident.”

Angelique was looking at the gun metal table as if she were searching for something.

“Are you okay Angie?”

Angelique slowly lifted her melancholy eyes and peered into her companion’s serious and understanding face and found what she was looking for.

“Yeah…” she whispered, face troubled.

“At least you have memories to cherish about your parents. I have none. All I have is that ratty orphanage on SSO4.”

“I know, I'm sorry,” she pleated,”I won’t mope if you don’t.” she grinned.

“Always makin’ deals,” He grinned back and gently shook her outstretched hand. Her hands were cold and he suddenly remembered how cold and lonely space could be.

“You’re cold-“

“I’m fine.”

Angelique always believed she could take care of herself, but appreciated the concern and often secretly wished for someone to hold her close when she got lonely with sound of her derelict beating heart. Luis hadn’t let go and he gently slipped his other hand on top of hers. She couldn’t resist, she really was cold. She bit her tongue to fight the urge of blurting out ‘I love you Luis and I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

Instead she mumbled, “I need some sleep.”

“Huh?”

“I’m gonna’ get some rest, I feel better now, thanks.”

“Um…okay, goodnight.”

Angelique downed the rest of her coffee with a puzzled look on her face, and then walked to the counter to pay for her coffee. Luis hated to see her down like that. Her father was a good friend of his and Luis was considered a friend of the family.

“Damn…it has been more than a year since Biosphere III exploded on SSG3.” Luis pondered to himself.

Dr. Carter was a Chemist for Apex Corp. Space Foods and his wife was a Geneticist and Botany expert working at the same Research Station. Mrs. Carter had developed a new type of genetically engineered plant for the Biosphere III. She sold her project to Apex Corp. and soon after they contacted Dr. Carter to develop a fertilizer for the new plant. Apparently he was working with an extremely explosive nitrogen isotope that when mixed with a carbonate solution and sucrose created the ideal fertilizer for his wife’s new species. Station records concluded that there was a malfunction in the ventilation system when the chemist was running some tests on the nitrogen isotope. The isotope ignited and within seconds the entire Biosphere III was engulfed in flames. Casualty report showed 689 deaths on the station, no survivors. It was the most tragic accident in the space settlement era. The skeleton sphere was left to orbit Earth like a ghost, reminding everyone of the lives lost.

In the months after the accident Apex Corp. was forced to examine all of their Biospheres and redesign the future agricultural stations. They were also fined 6 billion A-dollars by the Sol Federation. The money was given to the family members of those who lost their lives. But money never covers people’s emotional losses.

Luis glanced at his wrist and realized it was only a few hours until the station would be bustling with life. It was this hour of the morning that he loved best. Only himself and the universe: the only home he ever knew. Luis finished his second cup and stuffed his napkin in his pocket. Good thing tomorrow was his day off.