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  “I'm going to stay here and watch the monitor for a while,” Rik said, and Mack noticed his face had paled.

  “There's no need,” he assured him, “The tracker would warn us well before we hit the red zone. The alert system would soon go off. Now let's go back and enjoy the rest of dinner and make sure the crew understand there's no threat.”

  Jinx got up and turned away from the radar.

  “Good point – that alert did shake them up.”

  As Mack walked away from the flight area, Jinx walked beside him.

  “I don't feel safe leaving her on auto cruise after hearing about that,” he admitted.

  “What's the alternative?” Mack replied, ”Sitting there watching an auto control system with all its safety features working just fine, for the hell of it?”

  “I know you're right,” Jinx replied, “I guess I should have more faith.”

  “Too right you should, I've been flying for thirty years!” Mack reminded him, and then they headed back to the dining area, where their crew were in need of an explanation.

  After a discussion regarding the monitoring of space debris and planning for deep space incidents, a subject which Zeke was able to add to with reassurance as he reeled off facts about the monitoring capabilities of the old but well established Pharaoh 2's safety features, the crew began to relax once more.

  Jinx headed off after dinner with Tina, Jules announced he was having an early night, and as Mack rose from his seat and invited Jody to see the gardens, Zeke and Cora, who had been standing by a viewing port watching as the stars seemed to speed by, both turned around.

  “That's a great idea,” Zeke said, “We'd love to see the gardens too, Mack!”

  And Mack and Jody exchanged a glance and as she smiled and he caught the look in her eyes, his disappointment at their unexpected company soon faded away - clearly, Jody had been hoping for some private time with him, too, and as they walked out of the dining area and away from B Deck, she took hold of his arm as he chatted about the plants and the waterfall in the artificial environment, as Cora and Zeke listened, not noticing that their arms were linked as they strolled towards the garden on board the Pharaoh 2.

  When the door opened and they stepped inside to a lush green lawn that led up to a bridge were a waterfall at the far end of the area ran into a circulating river, his guests marvelled at the beauty of the place. Overhead, the artificial sky lighting was retracted, showing a transparent dome high above, where the view of velvet space pricked by stars was astonishing. The area was wide and the lush green lawn was bordered by hedgerows.

  “We have sunshine thanks to the sky layer,” Mack explained as they went up the short hillside, where they stopped next to the slow running stream of clear water, “But no animals here. One feature this kind of ship has is the ability to build a small but perfect natural environment thanks to the irrigation system and the artificial sun lighting. But earth regulations forbid any kind of wild life due to the risk of alien virus -”

  “Actually no,” Zeke added.

  “No?” Mack looked at him in surprise, “Since when?”

  “Since around three years ago,” the young man replied, and then as he sat down by the river bank, so did Cora. As Jody glanced to him and then also sat down, Mack did too, and the four of them sat there in a group, listening to the sound of the waterfall and the gently flowing river as it circulated around the artificial system.

  “I didn't know about that,” Mack said.

  “Fish and small birds are permitted now,” Zeke told him, “I think we've explored the flight routes sufficiently to know the minimal threat of viruses. And of course the threat posed by possible alien life - we've yet to find any...”

  Zeke paused, looking from Cora's wide eyed, innocent expression to the level gaze of Jody, before looking to Mack's world weary expression.

  “Ever heard of the Shyra-K1 mission?”

  His gaze registered mild surprise at their blank expressions.

  “Never heard of it,” said Mack.

  “You've never heard the story?” Zeke asked in surprise.

  Mack shook his head.

  “What's it about?”

  “It happened many years ago.....around 2100. A group of space pioneers, a small crew a bit like this one...the ship was called Amaryllis 4... they were sent on an exploration mission to a planet called Shyra-K1. Their ship was caught in some kind of incident on the way...some say asteroids, others say the vessel developed a major fault...anyway, they made it to the planet but they had to crash land...” he paused.

  The others were silent.

  “None of you know about this?” Zeke said again in surprise.

  Mack shook his head.

  “In all my years of space flight I've never heard about it. What happened next?”

  Zeke looked to the rest of the group, gathering his thoughts, and then he explained:

  “The crew survived the crash landing. They set about trying to make some repairs, enough to send a distress signal back to earth. But they never got the chance. They were captured by a savage indigenous population - actual humanoid aliens who were able learn a crude version of their language to communicate. It was a species lead by vicious female warriors who treated the males as slaves. They tortured the crew and selected one of them to become the mate to the leader of the settlement -”

  “How do you know all this?” Mack exclaimed.

  “I'm coming to that part...anyway, he was forced to prove his worth and his right to survive by having sex with another crew member - the youngest woman on board, she was a virgin. He had to have sex with her while the rest of the crew watched, while these disgusting alien savages watched too. And it gets worse. The other male members of the crew were also assaulted by the rulers of the settlement. Then they tried to escape, but they were caught and one of the crew was killed, and they drank his blood, and then forced the rest of the crew to drink it too. They say in the end, what they suffered was so terrible they all welcomed death. They were all murdered and six months later, when a search party came out, after firing on hostile natives, they found the bodies of the missing crew members.”

  Mack looked at him with a mix of shock and disbelief.

  “How the hell would they have known what happened to them if there had been no survivors?”

  “Think back into history,” Zeke replied, “In the early days of space pioneering crew members wore a 24/7 recording device. One of the devices was found to be intact and the recording was taken back to earth. It's said that what was found on it was so shocking that only these details of the story are known. The recording was destroyed, they bombed the hell out of the planet and then Shyra-K1 was renamed on every star map in existence. That's the scariest part. Any planet currently open to exploration or colonisation could be Shyra-K1. No one alive knows its true location.”

  Jody blinked.

  “That has to be the creepiest story I've ever heard! How the heck do you know all this, Zeke?” she asked.

  “Yes, I'd like to know that too,” said Mack, and Zeke noticed he looked visibly shocked.

  “I trained for off world security, I have contacts...surprisingly few incidents have been hushed up regarding space pioneer history, but trust me, those in the know, know about the Shyra-K1 mission.”

  Cora's face had paled.

  “She was a virgin? And they made one of her own crew have sex with her?”

  “Are you okay?” Zeke asked, noticing how shaken she suddenly looked.

  “I...was just thinking, I don't want that to happen to me...”

  Zeke's eyes widened as he realised just how scared she had sounded.

  “I really don't want that to happen,” she said again, and looked to Mack.

  The fear he saw in her eyes gave him a jolt, dashing aside his own sense of shock at the brutal tale as he realised that young, innocent Cora was looking to him for reassurance, and he felt a rush of protectiveness towards the young woman who was alone and so far from home.
..Obviously to be so upset by that single detail, and her own fears, it had to mean that she was a virgin.

  “In all my years of space travel I've never met an alien species,” he told her, “But you can be sure if we did some up against hostility - which is extremely unlikely - you'd be quite safe. I'm ex army. I fought in the global conflict as a young man. I have medals for valour. Please don't worry about something that happened so long ago. They were probably the only alien race out there, and I don't doubt earth protection forces wiped them out. You're quite safe.”

  She still looked scared. He smiled reassuringly and she nodded.

  “I guess it happened so long ago there's nothing out there to worry about now.”

  “I think you're right,” Mack agreed.

  Then Cora got up from the grass.

  “I'm having an early night. See you all in the morning.”

  And as she turned and hurried off towards the edge of the lawn where the sealed door opened for her, Zeke called her name but she left quickly without looking back.

  “Sorry guys...I've got to go!” he said, and hurried off after Cora.

  Jody exchanged a glance with Mack.

  “Did they just fall out?”

  “Maybe,” Mack replied, then he fell silent, watching the flow of the water as his thoughts stayed on a disturbing tale of lost pioneers.

  As Zeke caught up with Cora she was heading for the stairs, she caught her shoe in the metal walkway, stopped to free her spiked heel and then looked back at him with an expression that was bordering on tearful.

  “Are you okay?”

  She paused to inspect her shoe for damage and then straightened up and glared at Zeke.

  “Why did you tell me about those pioneers? That was the scariest thing I've ever heard and I didn't need to hear it on my first space flight to a colony planet!”

  His eyes widened as he realised something, and then he smiled, but the look of amusement was gone as he saw again that she was upset and not about to lighten up any time soon.

  “Look, you want the truth? It's not real, okay?”

  “Yeah right, tell me that because you know you just scared the shit out of me!”

  “No,” Zeke insisted, “It's just an urban legend. It's bullshit, it's just a story that came out of the old days of early space exploration - the first urban myth about space travel! It's an old one too - I heard it at college many years ago. There never was a ship called the Amaryllis 4, that's the name of an old satellite system! And built in cameras to record missions were not introduced for another forty years! We couldn't have had the know how to travel as far as unknown planets back then! Think about the history, Cora! It's just a story.”

  Her face was less pale now as she looked at him in surprise.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really!”

  “But Mack believed it.”

  “I know, so did Jody...some people have never heard the story before. I was amazed a man with Mack's experience would fall for that! He flies a Pharaoh -2, he's had this ship for thirty years. Okay, a lot of the security systems are out of date, but this ship has some great old vintage features - including a massive star map that goes way back, starting in 2080. These maps were taken from the earth main science archive and kind of sits there like the history of every planet and star every discovered. That map was a master copy that was copied from to act as a kind of library...it was added to many vessels over the years, it's never been tampered with and there is no Shyra-K1 listed, if it had existed it would have remained on that map! And planets don't get renamed...Why would a planet with such a deadly secret be hidden? What a dumb thing to do...anyone could come across it and meet the same fate. It would have been bombed out, had an exclusion zone thrown around it for centuries! Think about it, Cora!”

  She did, and then she started to smile.

  “You completely had the Captain and Jody fooled! You should tell them it was just a story!”

  “And have him sling my arse off the ship?”

  “He wouldn't do that!”Cora said in surprise.

  “But he could exclude me from the mission, he could make my life difficult.”

  “You should still tell him,” she replied, “It was really sweet of him, the way he said he'd protect me.”

  Zeke shook his head and laughed softly.

  “I just can't believe a guy like Mack would fall for it! That story is one of the oldest urban legends ever told about space exploration. And he's never heard it before?”

  “You should still tell him,” she said, and again his amusement swiftly left him. Cora was deadly serious once more.

  “Tell him,” she said again, “He looked really freaked out by it. I don't blame him. Jody was shivering too. It's not funny, Zeke.”

  Then she turned and headed for the stairway.

  “Cora...wait up -”

  “Goodnight, Zeke,” was all she said, and then she was out of sight, and Zeke was left alone in the corridor. He thought about going back and owning up about the urban legend, but then decided perhaps it would be best to keep his mouth shut, after all, it was just some dumb camp fire story and he really didn't want to be excluded from the rest of the mission because of it...

  Mack and Jody were still sitting beside the river in the artificial environment.

  Jody looked at Mack, his head was turned, his eyes fixed somewhere between the water and where it met the river bank.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Mack's gaze was still on the river, but this thoughts back in a bloody battlefield where android battle machines stretched out hands that became whirring, slashing blades that cut through the soldiers around him and sliced off their faces. The ground became a sea of body parts and his uniform was drenched in crimson. He could feel the pain of the battle droid slicing him open, a single slash that ripped his chest in three places as he turned, fired the shot that saved his life, then with his hand to the deepest of the wounds to hold his guts inside his body, he staggered for the nearest jet still capable of flight...

  “Mack?”

  He blinked, the running water cut through the cries of the dying on the battle field and the scene of hell died out in his haunted mind as he turned his head and looked at Jody.

  “Sorry...I was far away.”

  “Me too,” she replied, “That story Zeke just told us... It sounds strange but the name Amaryllis 4 rings a bell. I'm not sure where, but I know I've heard of that ship... It must have been horrible...those poor crew members....”

  “I'm not at all surprised it was hushed up,” Mack replied, “All these years travelling the stars and no alien life has been found....if they were the only aliens I'm glad we wiped them out. At least we know it's a lot safer out there now.”

  “Cora looked shaken up.”

  “Yes she did,” he agreed, falling silent as he recalled the look in her eyes, and felt moved by the protective urge that had swept over him as he vowed to protect that girl from all harm.

  “But you did reassure her,” Jody added, then she smiled, “Don't be too reassuring...she's had a fright, you're the older, experienced man of the world...last thing you need is a teenager with a crush following you about the ship!”

  Mack laughed.

  “As if she'd get a crush on me! I don't think I'm forgiven yet for making her leave the hair dryer behind!”

  “I could,” Jody stated, suddenly aware of their closeness as she looked into his eyes. She caught a flicker of hesitation in his blue gaze, and she smiled warmly.

  “Could what?” Mack asked, his eyes darting to the river and then back to her, and in that moment as she thought of the man who had fought so long ago and showed such remarkable courage, she felt sure she adored him instantly for being able to summon such valour in the line of duty, yet shied away from an incoming kiss...

  “I could...Get a crush on you.”

  “You? Crush on me?” he laughed and his eyes sparkled as his face flushed.

  “I'm a bit too old fo
r all that nonsense...don't you think?”

  “No,” she replied honestly, and as she leant in and their lips touched, her kiss was like a wave of warmth flooding a heart that had long hoped for something like this to happen, and now the wait was over he felt relieved that it had been Jody, because as soon as they had met for the first time, he had instantly warmed to her, she had felt so right, he had had felt so comfortable...

  He returned her kisses as they sat there together, he shifted closer to her, embraced her and their kiss deepened but as he felt stirrings of arousal, he pulled back.

  “This is unexpected!” he said, “Welcome, but unexpected...”

  “Has it been a while?” she asked.

  “I was divorced five years ago...my second failed marriage. Not every woman can stay in love with a space vessel pilot, long separations... it doesn't always work out. What about you?”

  “One broken engagement a couple of years back,” she told him, “After a seven year relationship...He didn't want me to leave earth. And I wanted to fly.”

  “I'm looking for a permanent on board medic for this ship...the job will still be there when I upgrade to a new vessel. Job's yours if you want it.”

  As he spoke he had looked to the river, hoping to avoid seeing her refusal as she smiled and shook her head. But that didn't happen. Instead, her hand closed over his and she gave it a squeeze.

  “I accept.”

  He looked at her in surprise and she smiled. She had already come to understand that Mack was a man who did not rush into anything, and of course, there was always the possibility that he had a certain need for taking his time before intimacy became involved. She had seen the way he had tensed when exposing his scars, but she guessed the worst of his scars were the ones forever etched into his mind, no war hero came out of battle unscathed and time did nothing to diminish the emotional damage.

  “I think you need to take this slowly, am I right?”

  “Are you okay with that?” Mack asked her.

  She answered with another kiss, and then they sat together for a while longer, watching the river flowing by.