In the grand scheme of things, breaking into a restricted cargo hold on a starship wasn’t the best idea. Then again, anything worth doing rarely ever is.
The SS Hawthorne, or just The Thorn, to the locals, had been our home for as long as any of us could remember. Being the children of the top interstellar scientists on Earth had its benefits, but it also had its limitations in that a lot was hidden from those of us missing multiple letters after our surnames. So, like any band of miscreants, our quest was simple: discover what they kept locked away in cargo hold twelve.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. We could get caught,” Sawyer said as the five of us squeezed through another maintenance passageway. Her freshly dyed hair reflected the muted lighting above, creating a pink glow around her frazzled face.
“Sawyer, it’s alright,” I said, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder in what I hoped was comforting. “Stop overthinking.”
“Easy for you to say,” she shot back, shaking off my hand. “Your record is spotless, Wells.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say, ‘spotless’.”
“I would,” grumbled Julien who led the group with Andi. I then heard him clear his throat, producing a noise that oddly sounded a lot like the word: nepotism. I glared at the back of his head.
“You do know all of our parents work on this ship, right?” Vance offered as he took up the rear of our group. Even in the dim hallway, I could see Julien’s famous eye roll aimed at the boy behind me.
“Keep moving,” our fearless leader ordered, pulling Andi and Sawyer with him. Vance merely nudged me with his shoulder and sent me a wink which I couldn’t resist in returning. In the nineteen years we had been on the Thorn, Vance Mayer had been by my side, and clearly, some things never changed. Just as security protocols it seemed. It had been drilled into our heads since we were born, stay out of the way and don’t go into the restricted sections.
Personally, I never understood the amount of caution. The Thorn wasn’t a military vessel. Any weapons were deterrents at best and were on the exterior of the hull or locked away with security. The closest thing to danger within the ship was Vance dropping a beaker on his foot. None of us had ever felt as if we belonged and the obscure security measures didn’t particularly help.
“Sawyer, you’re up,” Andi said as we reached a junction in the hallway. Sawyer, being the resident electrical engineer prodigy moved to open one of the maintenance access panels that was wired into the mainframe of the ship.
“Level?” she asked.
“Make it a seven,” I said, peering over at her, “nothing too dangerous like a breached hull, but something urgent enough to clear decks ten through fifteen.” With a quick nod, Sawyer began swiping across the illuminated screen. I could still see her hesitancy with each move. It only took a few seconds, and with one final swipe of her index finger, a shrilling sound echoed throughout the ship as red light flashed above and the alert of an escaped subject rang out across all channels.
“Nicely done,” Andi told Sawyer who hid a smile behind her hand which was steadier than it had been earlier.
“Move,” Julien said, taking Sawyer by the hand again. Vance and I shared a knowing look and followed after the trio. The distraction proved to be very useful as when we filed out of the tunnels, deck twelve was completely empty. Moving to the exterior door of cargo twelve, it was my turn to play infiltrator. Sawyer was good with hacking into security but when it came to locks, well, there was a reason I was no longer allowed on the bridge unsupervised. As I worked, the others kept watch. Vance, being Vance leaned lazily next to me against the wall. “Hurry it up, big man,” he said, “I don’t fancy having to charm my way out of another argument with Commander Simon.” I noticed his South London accent became thicker when he was nervous.
“Right, because it’s such an inconvenience,” I said to him, and from the look in his eyes, I could tell he had no problem facing the Commander considering how much he loved to push the man’s buttons. In more ways than one. It didn’t take long for the familiar access message to appear on the terminal and soon the hiss of the door greeted us and cargo twelve was revealed…almost.
“Is that supposed to be there?” Vance asked as we slipped through the door only to find another one, this one, biometrically sealed with two words printed on the front.
“What the hell is, ‘Project Gemini’?” Vance asked, but we were all just as confused as he was.
“Decontamination?” Julian asked, gesturing to the nozzles and light panels above us.
“I don’t see the big deal,” said Andi. “It’s just a cargo hold.”
“A cargo hold that is prohibited?” Vance interjected, peering at the bio-lock. “Tell me, Andromeda, why would a bunch of scientists lock up something meant to hold outdated med tech or extra tubing for EVAC suits?” Andi, scowling at her full name, ignored him.
“Ideas?” Julien asked, turning his attention to me before gesturing to the lock.
“Luck?” I said as I stepped forward and pressed my hand against the scanner. What was the worst that could happen? Another alarm? We were all surprised then when the scanner lit up green and the locks slid open.
“Did you mean to do that?” Sawyer whispered.
“Do I ever?” I said, grabbing the handle and pushing into the hold. As we stepped into the room, the overhead lights flickered on, casting us into harsh, white light. Blinking, it took me a second to recover. That was when Julien and Vance both swore.
“What in the…” Julien began, but even I had no words for what we saw in that room. It was massive, clearly, the size of what I assumed was an old hangar that had been removed from any public schematics. Five main terminals of what looked like oversized test tubes were placed at equal distances from one another. Ice crystals covered the surface of each one. Five main terminals with three tubes each, fifteen in all.
“Cryo-tubes?” Andi asked as she moved forward, almost on instinct. I found myself moving toward the nearest terminal as well. The technology was familiar enough that I was able to reverse the cryogenics so that the outer layer of ice began to thaw. We were each drawn to a station like magnets.
What happened next would haunt me for years as with every tube that thawed, a face was revealed. Three of the exact same at each terminal and every three mirrored one of our own. As I stared up at my own trio of replicas, something thicker than fear flooded my system. Other thoughts and feelings raged there as well, hurt, betrayal, confusion, anger. A hand clutched mine, my eyes meeting Sawyer’s who looked as frightened as I felt.
“Mystery solved,” Vance said, his voice having lost its playful edge. Julien and Andi both slowly backed away from their stations.
“Project Gemini”, it was us. Reaching out, I pressed my hand against the glass of one of the Wells, the ice-cold condensation running through my fingers.
His eyes opened.
-HMF
Copyright 2023
Haley M. Forté 
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