Free 2084 The End of Days by Derek Beaugarde

the presses ready to roll, so to speak. When you are ready we release the info to three or four of the political leak websites. You know, like WikiLeaks, WWWLeaks, GoogLeaks and so on. When they put Schenkler’s stuff online you hit the iTabs the same day with breaking news. You get the fuckin’ scoop before the rest of the Bloids. Do we have a plan, Jill?”
    “It could work. Okay, let’s run with it. But seriously, I really have got to shoot –“
    Jill hurriedly packed up her things and made to rush off out the iCafé. She managed a parting shot to Gary.
    “I thought that NASA’s systems had been made impregnable since the hacking incursions decades ago?”
    “Jill, nothin’s fuckin’ impregnable!”

Chapter 5
    Earthdate: 20:12 Thursday February 6, 2081 CST
    J ack Crossan lay uncomfortably on his bunk in his cabin reading a trashy well-thumbed sci-fi novel from the ship’s library that had certainly done the rounds with the numerous crews on Oceanus. The vessel had made its departure launch 26 hours ago from MGal3 without a hitch. Mars was now just a small red ball in the vast blackness of space and Earth remained a tiny flickering blue dot way ahead of her. Science fiction was not really his bag and the book was failing to hold Jack’s attention. He yawned widely and laid his head back on the bolster behind him. He succumbed to the creeping tiredness and grab some shut-eye as his shift as Watch Commander was not due to start for another two hours. None of the returning astronauts who had been working on the stations on or above Mars were exempt from duty on the Oceanus. Basically they were all replenishing the crew from Oceanus who were now detailed to work on or above the Red Planet. Jack had his planned rotas scheduled all the way back to Alpha Base, the main space station orbiting planet Earth. The ‘good ole 3R’, thought Jack. The only passengers going home on Oceanus were the ice-miners and the engineering and maintenance staff from the various Mars bases. Mars, mainly due to its hostile environment, as yet was still some way off being truly colonised by humans just for the sake of living and working there. In some ways the astronauts had it easier because the four month journey between Mars and Earth was slow time. At least the astronauts had work to perform to help make time pass quicker. The miners, engineers and maintenance staff tended to spend their time boozing, gambling and invariably fighting. Some astronauts were detailed to act part-time as space marshals to ensure that civil order was maintained on board, although Jack was glad that was not part of his rota.
    Jack’s mind’s eye drifted back to his Virginian dairy farm near Lexington. Peggy Sue would be getting Milner and Jack Junior settled for going to bed soon. Milner was ten and young Jack was almost seven. Jack would miss his youngest son’s birthday, which was a long-standing occupational hazard for any astronaut. Peggy Sue would also be in bed early tonight as she had to get up at 5.30am to organise the milking of their prize Jerseys. Jack looked forward to those more mundane farming duties ahead of him, but he was gratified that it would be a good deal warmer than Peggy Sue’s shift tomorrow. A great wave of emotion washed over Jack as he lay with his eyes closed. His love for his second wife Peggy Sue had become so deep-rooted lately, particularly on this last four months’ tour of duty on MGal3. It had not always been so.
    Jack had been born John Alexander Crossan in one of the large ‘trailer trash’ parks just outside Lexington, Virginia in 2029 on what was deemed the wrong side of the tracks, although, in reality, there was no longer a railroad track in the immediate vicinity. Jack’s upbringing was fairly erratic. Both his parents squandered what little spare welfare they received on drugs and alcohol. They spent little quality time bringing up Jack, who in turn, spent a great deal of his formative years cleaning up