Linda was still in trance and there was nothing that they could do. Sarah, Edward and Michael were wondering about this ‘find the truth’ and what it meant. Sarah called Dr. Hill to the carrier.
Dr. Hill came rushing with the first aid kit and carefully applied some after burn lotion on Michael’s chest and his pain was finally under acceptable control. Linda regained consciousness and rushed towards the cockpit without saying a word to others. Rest of them followed her. She had an uncontrollable anger in her eyes.
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She went straight for Commander Anderson. Seeing the anger in her eyes, he asked, ” What happened Linda?”
“Did you kill him?”
“What!?”
“TELL ME THE TRUTH. DID YOU SABOTAGE HIS SUIT AND KILL HIM?”
There was a pin drop silence that crept through the entire cockpit. David’s eyes showed signs of guilt.
“TELL ME!!!” Linda demanded.
“Yes!!! Yes!! I killed him!!”
Everyone was shocked!
Devastated to find this out, Linda asked, “Why?” almost in tears.
“He was not marrying you because he loved you Linda! He was marrying you for your family fortune! You were not ready to listen to the voice of reason so I had to take matters into my own hands. I love you, little sister and I didn’t want you to ruin your life.”
“So, you killed him?” said Sarah, “You were an USAF colonel for christ’s sake! You have brought shame, not only to you, but to your country as well by killing a fellow Veteran. What were you thinking?”
“That’s the thing Sarah. I wasn’t thinking! All I could see was the happiness of my little girl. I wanted nothing to bring sadness to her. An uncontrollable rage took over and I took such drastic measures. I couldn’t forgive myself. That’s why I left NASA and became a professor at the University.”
He tried to reach Linda with his hands to hug her but she shrugged him away and said, “I loved him!! I LOVED HIM!! And you took him away from me. You had no right. YOU HAD NO RIGHT!! I can’t forgive you for this and I can’t even look at you right now. I don’t think you should captain our ship!”
“She’s right! As I am the next ranking officer, I am taking over and relieving you of your duty Commander Anderson. I think he should be locked in his room till we figure out what to do.”
Anthony and Kevin dragged David to his room and locked it from outside while Sarah informed Houston of the change in leadership. Deborah was consoling Linda who also stormed out of the cockpit to her room when this happened. Now that the truth was known, Michael’s burn mark mysteriously disappeared.
Sarah had to discuss all that was happening on the ship with everyone so she called an emergency meeting in the cockpit. Once everyone except David gathered in the cockpit, she began.
“I know all of us are scientists and we believe that only that which can be explained with facts is true but recent events on board this ship have made me reconsider my beliefs. Don’t get me wrong. I still believe that facts make a hypothesis true so we need to find facts on what is causing our hallucinations, sudden appearances and disappearances of a suit that was supposed to be lost for ages and are haunted carrier but before we do that, we have a mission to do.
I know a lot of shocking revelations have been made aboard this ship but we still have a job to do and we are going to that no matter what. We can’t turn back as we are not that far from our destination. So from now on, we don’t open that carrier till we land for everyone’s safety.
I’m cordoning off that sector for now. As we have to prepare for landing very soon. All of us should get back to our duties to make sure we land safely. We’ll be doing this one step at a time so for now let’s make sure we land without any troubles. You all are dismissed. Kindly get back to your posts except Linda. I need to talk to you for a minute.”
All of them left except Linda. Sarah took Linda to her room and asked, “What did you see in your hallucination?”
“I saw the docking day, when Daniel and David went out to dock the carrier to the Alpha Station. I saw how David ruptured Daniel suit using a sharp metal piece that he had fashioned in the ship. He was the one who deliberately closed the door.
He could have let him in but he didn’t. I also saw David showing Daniel a piece of paper. The paper had something written on it. I couldn’t make it out completely but I’m pretty sure it said, ‘Goodbye Daniel, I hope you rot in hell. David and Linda Anderson…’ “
“So Daniel thought you told David to kill him?”
“He must have thought we had planned it together.”
“But that’s not true right?”
“Of course Sarah! I loved him. But it doesn’t matter now. Maybe the hallucinations are not true at all. It is some kind of space sickness all of us are having.”
“I do hope you are right, Linda. I really do.”
Stay tuned for more crisp…
