The Methane Sea (an excerpt)

I have basically finished my novella The Methane Sea. I am exploring my options with it and shopping it around. In the mean time, here is an excerpt of it that will give you a glimpse into the mind of the commander, Dr. Drake at a time when things are not going altogether well.

So it has come to this, Drake thought. Mutiny is what they call it on a ship. What was it called on a research mission? She had heard the comment about breaking the door down. They had tried to talk quietly, but there was no hiding from her. Dr. Drake had put on her most formal outfit. The powers that be at Central had chosen her to command this mission. No one was going to take that away from her. Try as you might, I will thwart you. I will thwart all of you. The disgrace of having her mission fail was unacceptable. She would see this through to the end no matter how many lives it cost. Their lives weren’t important anyway. They were mutineers. Scum.

Break the door down? They probably could, but she would be ready for them. She opened a secret passage on one of her personal bags and retrieved her father’s prized possession. An old style pistol from the 20th Century. It was a beautiful piece of workmanship. Heavy in her hand and cold. She rubbed the cool metal of the gun against her flushed face. It felt good. It was a physical distraction from this bloody headache that would not go away. She loaded the gun with ammunition. There was no guarantee that it would work after all these years, but she had a knife too. Mutiny is (or was) a capital offense after all.

Perhaps when the regularly scheduled evac ship came, they would find only her still manning her post. Everyone else . . . failed. They would find that she had successfully completed her mission. She alone had manned her post. There would be honors and titles as a result.

She held the pistol in one hand, the knife in the other and faced the door.

Star Liner

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