Free This Long Vigil (A Short Story) by Rhett Bruno Page A

My
smile vanished in an instant when I recognized who it was. An old man floated
upright in the liquid-filled Life-Chamber. A dozen different tubes and needles
were affixed to his sagging flesh, each of them performing some crucial task in
order to sustain his life. His time had run out.
    “I thought I recognized the number,” I said. “Poor Fish
finally ending his sleep, huh?”
    “Fish?” Dan questioned.
    “Yeah, I ...” I considering explaining, but decided against
it. Dan called him by his numerical distinction. I knew him as Fish. It was a
name I’d given him because his wrinkled face looked remarkably similar to a
certain type of fish from Earth which Dan had once shown me.
    “Nevermind,” I said. I didn’t want Dan to think I was being
foolish. He didn’t inquire further. “Are you sure his time is up?”
    “Yes. He is seventy Earth-years old as of 1404 UTC today.”
    I sighed. “Go ahead and initiate then.”
    The point where Fish’s chamber met the ceiling fanned open,
and the greenish liquid inside began to drain through it. All of the tubes and
needles in his loose skin popped out. Then he was then sucked up through a dark
hole and into the innards of  Hermes .
    “Evacuation complete,” Dan announced.
    The glass face of the vacant chamber peeled open so that I
could do the routine checkup following an evacuation. I stepped in and began
analyzing all of the circuits and other apparatus within. Everything looked to
be in fine order, even after having remained relatively untouched for the
seventy years since Fish’s birth.
    I opened my mouth to let Dan know it was clear, but all that
came out was air. Even after helping with more than one hundred of them, the
recycling of an Inhabitant always got to me. I swallowed the lump in my dry
throat and forced the words out. “All looks good.”
    “Thank you, Orion. Please proceed to Inhabitant 2678’s
chamber. She has been prepped for birthing.”
    I stepped out of Fish’s chamber and when it resealed behind
me I released a mouthful of air. “Bye, Fish,” I whispered.
     
    <><><> 
     
    It was a short stroll around the Living Ring in order to
reach the Life-Chamber of Inhabitant 2678. This time I couldn’t help but stare
at the bodies of various ages and sizes floating beside me along the route.
Every one of them was unique, down to the tiniest strands of hair on their
bodies. It was important to  Hermes’  builders to make sure that
the ages of those on board remained staggered. Apparently, variety was going to
be crucial for the development of a new society at  Hermes’  destination.
That was why the builders didn’t just send frozen embryos.
    When I reached the pregnant inhabitant, I turned my back to
her chamber. It never seemed right to me to watch them give birth. The tubes
attached to her would lift her legs and spread them so that a spindly apparatus
descending from the ceiling could draw out her offspring. When I finally turned
around, that metallic arm was lifting a bloody infant up through the opened
ceiling. I made sure her readings were satisfactory while I waited for it to
disappear. Everything went perfectly, as usual. The red-stained fluid in the
chamber was flushed and replaced straightaway, clean as ever.
    “A male,” Dan announced.
    I nodded before traveling back to Fish’s vacated tube. By
the time I got there it was refilled and the unclothed newborn had already been
lowered in. The infant’s tiny arms flailed and the face on his oversized head
was scrunched as if he was in pain. He cried silently behind a mask of bubbles
until a respirator tube entered his mouth. Then he quickly fell into an
unconscious state, allowing the chamber’s many needles and tubes to painlessly
fasten themselves to his flesh. I checked the chambers readings twice to be
sure. Again, everything was fine.
    “Inhabitant 3287 has successfully been planted. Thank you,
Orion,” Dan said.
    “You’re quite welcome, Dan. Always happy to help,”