Free Lacuna: The Ashes of Humanity by David Adams

hands. "It's ironic, in that aside from the few instances of physical media that escaped, the only copies we have of everything our species ever produced are in the private collections of our crewmen and the computer systems on our ships. We even had a backup, of sorts, with the Telvan here on Velsharn… until Ben destroyed it."
    The girl looked at her. "What?"
    "Never mind," Liao said, moving to hand the book back and then stopping herself. "I tell you what. I'll sign the book, if you'll take it to Rowe to be scanned and a high resolution digital copy made and placed in our ship's archives."  
    "Um, sure."
    Liao walked over to her desk, searching for her fountain pen. It was in the top drawer, as it usually was, along with her sidearm. She withdrew it and, balancing the book in one hand, opened the cover and first page. "What's your name?"
    "Olivia, ma'am. Olivia Grant. Can you dedicate it to my dad? His name is Christian."
    The use of the present tense bothered her, but she signed it.

    To Olivia and Christian,

    You hold history in your hands.

    - Commander Melissa Liao

    Liao handed it back to its owner. "I'll let Miss Rowe know you're coming."
    Olivia's excitement was obvious. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll drop it by in a day or two. Bye." She smiled then left.
    Liao closed the door.
    "That was… odd," said James, raising an eyebrow at her. "'It belongs in a museum?' Really? It belongs in an incinerator."
    "I meant what I said. It's a terrible story, and I know that, but it's a cultural artefact now."
    "God help us."
    Liao couldn't help but smile, just a little. "You really read that book?"
    "I think it's charitable to call it a book, but yes." His relief was genuine. "It's good to see you smile."
    "It's the little things, I guess," she said, then made her way over to the shower.

    Liao genuinely felt better the moment the water turned warm and her bathroom started to fill up with steam. She washed with soap and water then shampooed her hair. This was the most important part of the process. It allowed her to feel clean and refreshed, and it was only after she stepped out of the stream of water into the steamy shower room that she realised just how tired she was.
    Sleep would come soon, but not right now.
    She towelled herself off and then went back outside to her quarters. James was asleep in her chair. One part of her wanted to continue talking with him, but he needed to sleep. Instead, she pulled on a fresh uniform from her wardrobe, tied her hair up in a tight bun, fished her radio from the pile of wet clothes and then left for Operations.
    The corridors of her ship were full of people. This no longer bothered her. As she drew closer to the core of the ship, to the more protected and restricted areas, the crowds thinned out. Soon it was just her crew. A single marine guarded the doors to Operations, the first time she had seen just one. Iraj or Cheung must have changed the shifts. It made sense, though, with the numbers of civilians they had onboard, that resources would be stretched. He saluted and opened the door for her, and she stepped inside.  
    Surprisingly, Operations was a hive of activity. She had expected it to be quiet, as it had been on previous days, but everything seemed abuzz.
    "Report," she said, moving up to Iraj's side.
    "We have a contact at the L2 Lagrange point. They're on the other side of the moon, but they're coming around soon. The Washington and the Madrid are moving to investigate."
    That surprised her. "An unidentified vessel? Why was I not informed?"
    "We tried, but your radio wasn't answering."
    She frowned, touching the small device at her hip. Water dripped out of it.
    Well.
    "Understood," she said. "Has it made any attempt to contact us?"
    "None so far, but it's still on the far side of Velsharn's moon. If it has, we wouldn't have received it."
    "How long until it's in the open?"
    "Twenty minutes, more or less."
    She nodded. "Thank you, Kamal," she said, softly, so only he could