The Lost Star Chart - Chapter 3
Uncovering ancient secrets, evading certain death—welcome to Darla’s daily grind.
The Lost Star Chart, gritty, sometimes silly, stand alone space adventure novel, is out this month. To celebrate, we’re sharing the first five chapters for free (but, be warned, only the first five chapters). This book will be the March book of the month, which means all paid subscribers will get a free copy.
Chapter 3
Hakkun — 723 years ago
Hakkun couldn’t look away from the window. Less than twenty-four hours remained before Generation Ship 12’s departure, making this one of the last times he’d ever see Earth.
From his location in geostationary orbit, he could see the entire world. An angry orange glow raged around the equator from fires that burned out of control whenever the winds were right. An opaque band of yellow smoke smothered most of the midlatitudes. Only the poles showed any sign of life-giving greens.
“When will Mommy get here?”
Hakkun shifted his gaze to the little boy gripping his hand. Minjun was only seven, unlikely to remember the charred-smelling air they’d had to breathe on the planet. Unlikely to remember leaving the world that had been their family’s home.
Minjun’s dark eyes widened beneath his mass of spiky black hair. “She’s coming, right?”
“Of course she is.” Hakkun squeezed Minjun’s hand. “She’s scheduled to be on the 6:30 p.m. space elevator car.” He smiled. “Nothing will keep her away from us. Now, let’s find your new room.”
Minjun nodded, holding his prized possession tightly in his other hand. It was a lumpy backpack featuring Hank the Hippo’s smiling face. Inside he kept his analogue art supplies and a notebook featuring Hank’s over-the-top smile. Anything with the cartoon hippo on it was Minjun’s favourite.
“We’ve been assigned to cabin A-89.” Hakkun led Minjun away from the window. “The elevator to the bridge, where I’ll be working, is nearby.”
Minjun looked up at him. “Mom said you’ll be driving the ship.”
“That’s right. I’m one of the bridge officers. I’ll also be the one plotting our path through the stars.”
Minjun stopped and let go of Hakkun’s hand. He scrunched up his face as though contemplating something big. “But why do we have to go?”
Hakkun knelt to Minjun’s level. He didn’t want to tell his boy about the worsening air on Earth or how the ever-present fires threatened their former home. If crops failed again, there wouldn’t be enough food. Minjun had no future on Earth. Hakkun sighed.
“Let’s use the elevator to go back down to Mom. I don’t need to live in space.” The earnest look in Minjun’s liquid dark eyes melted Hakkun’s heart.
“We’re going on an adventure.” Hakkun stood and gestured to the surrounding ship. “We’re going somewhere new, somewhere safe and exciting.”
“My teacher said we’ll live our entire lives on this ship. We’ll never set foot on a planet again.”
“That’s true. But we get to go somewhere new. We’ll chart our own path through the stars.” Minjun didn’t look convinced, so Hakkun crouched again. He pointed to Hank the Hippo’s face. “Hank will be with us all the way.”
Minjun scrunched up his face again. After a moment he nodded as though Hank’s presence was enough to make their journey okay.
Hakkun stood again and took his son’s hand. The two of them started walking. “You should document our adventure in your notebook. You know your mom and I always love seeing your drawings.”
Minjun nodded, then pointed to the nearest door. “A-89.”
“Right, we’re here.” Hakkun pressed the door release, and it slid open.
A courtyard, circled with planters ready to be filled with plants, greeted them. Three adults at the farthest planter were moving seedlings from a cart. A pair of toddlers sat on the ground next to the adults. A little girl about Minjun’s age spotted them. She raced over, her mass of curls bouncing with each step. Her T-shirt featured the face of Hank the Hippo.
“Are you the last family for this pod?” she asked. “What are your names? And do you—”
“Fatima,” a woman at the planter said, cutting off the girl.
Fatima fell silent and bit her lip.
After wiping her hands on her pants, the woman came over. “I apologize. Fatima is very keen on making new friends.”
“It’s okay,” Hakkun said.
Fatima pointed to Minjun’s backpack. “Hey, you like Hank too?”
Minjun nodded and pressed closer to Hakkun.
“Welcome. I’m Iris. I’ve been designated this pod’s lead.” The woman held out her hand, and Hakkun shook it. “And you must be Lieutenant Lee. I was told there would be three of you.”
“My wife, Sonya, will arrive in a few hours.” Hakkun smiled to seem friendly. He hadn’t expected a shared living situation, but at least there were other children.
“Your rooms are over there.” Iris pointed to a door behind them. “And don’t worry, there’s a kitchen and a living room in addition to two bedrooms.”
Hakkun gave a sheepish grin. “Am I that obvious?”
Iris shrugged. “These are unusual times. On top of that, it seems you’ve just found out you’ll be living with three families you’ve never met.”
A uniformed woman stormed through the main door, interrupting Iris. “Lieutenant Lee?”
Hakkun turned toward the newcomer. “Yes, that’s me.”
“You’re needed on the bridge right away,” she said. “There’s been an incident.”
“I…” Hakkun’s words trailed off as he pointed to Minjun.
Iris came forward and looked down at the little boy. “Minjun, right?”
Minjun nodded, hugging his backpack to his chest.
“Why don’t you go with Fatima? She can show you your new home and maybe her Hank figures. She even has some of Hank’s friends.”
“Really? Which ones?” Minjun’s face brightened.
“I’ll show you.” Fatima grinned and took Minjun’s hand.
Minjun looked up at Hakkun, and he nodded at his boy. At least there was someone age appropriate and willing to be a friend, and everyone seemed friendly enough. Hakkun swallowed and told himself everything was going to work out just fine.
Iris smiled, obviously reading his anxiety. “He’ll be fine with us. Go and take care of this incident.” She gestured to the open door.
“Okay.” Reluctantly, Hakkun turned and left his son in the care of strangers.
The other officer remained silent during their elevator ride to the bridge. Hakkun straightened his brand-new uniform tunic as the door opened. The bridge was larger than he’d expected—and shiny. Every surface gleamed, from the workstation displays to the flooring—even the upholstery on the captain’s chair had a sheen to it.
“Is that him?” A bear of a man turned toward the elevator. He wore the insignia of a captain.
“Yes. Sir,” the lieutenant who had come for him said before she strode to a workstation and sat down.
“Hmmm.” The captain looked Hakkun up and down. “Is your family on board?”
“Not quite, sir.” Hakkun shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“Not quite?”
“My wife is scheduled to be on the 18:23 car coming up the elevator.”
The captain frowned. “That’s not good. Why didn’t she travel with you?”
Hakkun’s mouth went dry. “She had some final business to tie up before departure.”
The captain spoke to the lieutenant who’d come with Hakkun. “Gregor, how are we doing on passengers?”
“We are still waiting for 456 people to get up to the ship,” she said.
The captain turned back to him. “Lieutenant Lee, right?”
“Yes, sir.” Hakkun itched to ask why there was such concern, but he didn’t dare speak the words.
“You’re a navigation officer, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I need you to plot our options for departing Earth’s orbit. Start with one at 18:00 hours, then one every hour afterward.”
“Sir,” Lieutenant Gregor said. “We can’t leave without our full complement.”
“We’ll stay as long as we can, but I expect that, for the safety of the ship, we might be forced to leave well before our scheduled departure time. Now, get to work.” The captain strode off, leaving Hakkun in his wake.
Lieutenant Gregor gestured for Hakkun to take the workstation beside her. “My name is Julia. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. With all the mob actions, I’ve been so distracted.”
Hakkun settled into the seat and brought up the orbital positions of all celestial objects in the solar system. “What’s going on.”
“A protest has formed at the base of the space elevator, made up of people angry about being left behind.” Julia checked over her shoulder, then turned back to him, dropping her voice a little. “They’re also mad so many of Earth’s resources have been funnelled into the generational ships, leaving them with so little.”
The protestors weren’t wrong. The generation ship program had depleted the planet’s resources with only a fraction of the population eligible for departure. Those to be left behind were aware of the grim future ahead of them.
Hakkun licked his lips. Things were worse than he’d thought. “My wife is going to have to get past the protests.”
“Call her, see if she can get on an earlier car coming up,” Julia said.
“I gotta check these…” Hakkun scratched his head. Even though he knew they were correct, the orbital ellipses he’d just created seemed pointless compared to what Sonja was facing on the planet below. Why had he left her behind? Crowds made her anxious, and now she’d have to make her way through an angry mob on her own.
“Call her on your screen. No one will know. Multitask that with your calculations. I heard you’re a hotshot navigator. You’ll do fine.” Julia smiled, an expression that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll block everyone’s view.”
Hakkun nodded and sent a message to his wife.
Stay tuned for Chapter 4.