That Day We Saved The Universe With Coffee

Lottie stirred from an uneasy sleep, her head heavy and numb. The lights around the floor of her cabin illuminated in response to her movement, as she shifted her legs off the bunk, and perched herself on the edge, curled over her knees. She rubbed at her eyes, stretching with a yawn. The computer's automated broadcast only mocked her discomfort.

"GOOD MORNING, OFFICER MCMAHON!"

"What's so good about it, DATA?" She sneered.

"ALL SYSTEMS ARE OPERATIONAL. SCANS SHOW THE PALADIN'S ROUTE IS CLEAR, AND YOUR LIFESCAN RESULTS DEMONSTRATE A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN YOUR PHYSICAL WELLBEING."

"DATA, lower your volume, please." She wrapped her hands around her temples, fighting to silence the thumping in her ears.

The ship's AI quietened itself. "Apologies Officer McMahon. Captain Sheppard and Deputy Sierra are on deck."

"Fine. Tell them I'll be there soon." She gathered her uniform and headed off to the showers to get ready for the day ahead.

Lottie always had trouble with take-offs. Each new venture out into the great expanse of the void resulted in a visit to the med-bay and an early night. A great coincidence considering the fact that Lottie was the medical officer. It never used to be a problem when she worked on the Trinity's cargo ships, but the smaller pathfinder-type vessels like the Paladin approached optimum velocity for breaking atmosphere a lot quicker.

Among the rest of her crew, it had become something of a joke. She smiled and laughed along with their jesting, after all, the job meant too much to her to be bothered by a bit of teasing. She'd adored the idea of space travel since childhood, wishing to follow in her father's footsteps. Serving as a medic on ships like the CS Templar was fine and all, but each of their trips were so linear, so regimented. She wanted something new, something exciting. The company had announced a vacancy on the Paladin, and she snapped it up without a second thought. It was her chance to see the wider universe, to explore the unmapped, the uncolonised - the true wilderness of the galaxy. A little g-force sickness was a small price to pay for such freedom.

She showered, dressed, and took herself up to the canteen to grab some breakfast before heading to the deck. The day's menu included peanut butter bars, coffee, and potatoes and microgreens from the ship's hydroponics unit. She loved coffee, though the others hated it with a vengeance. A good meal always helped her feel more like herself, and she carried on with her head held high.

"OFFICER MCMAHON ON DECK!" DATA announced.

The eyes of her crewmates immediately fell on her. It was a little surreal - being the only neohuman on a Trinity vessel. The CS Templar had over a hundred employees, so a large proportion of them was guaranteed to be neohuman. In contrast, such a small crew was more commonly composed of Ovok and Vix'har - species most likely to get onto the Trinity's physics and engineering programs. Captain Yakob Sheppard was a Vix'har - tall and lean with additional hands that were useful for a busy console. Deputy Pharha Sierra was an Enkru, the plant-folk that were often invited on longer missions because they had fewer requirements, needing only water, mulch, and UV to thrive. There was the three of them and Engineer Agi Luel, who was an Ovok, the insectoid people who could innately tolerate high levels of radiation and fluctuating temperatures. Luel rarely left the engine room or life support, so it was just the three of them on deck most of the time.

They made a joke, as they usually did. "Aaaaaand legends and germs, that's a new record for Officer McMahon! A grand total of ten hours of unconsciousness!" Pharha shook her fronds in applause.

"Isn't that called sleep?" Yakob cocked their head.

"One day I'll get used to it, I'm sure." Lottie abruptly took her seat. "What's our status?"

"We've just crossed into Stratus-Narilia. We're in new territory now..."

As they said that, Lottie's head filled with a thunderous roar, and she slouched forward, her teeth grit together. Several sounds overlapped, drowning out her crewmates' speech, before piecing together into a clear voice, one resembling a child's.

"... Help me."

"Huh?" She rubbed her eyes again, glancing between the others. "Sorry, did you say something?"

Pharha framed her chin with her fronds. "I said, what do you think my best angle would be? You know, when they immortalise us as the founders of an untouched star system. Or better yet, if we find something utterly revolutionary."

"That would be nice." Yakob nodded. "But keep in mind, we're only here to take general readings, we're not colonizers."

"Boo." She crossed her legs and arms, spinning around in her seat.

"Alright DATA, what have we got?"

The AI made a few deliberate computer-like sounds. "BOOP-BEEP, PROCESSING. LOCATION, STRATUS-NARILIA. BLUE SUPERGIANT SYSTEM. NINE MAJOR CELESTIAL BODIES. FOURTY-TWO MINOR CELESTIAL BODIES. ONE UNCATEGORISED."

"Uncategorised? That can't be right." Yakob gulped. "Scan again."

"REPEATING SCAN. BEEP-BOOP. ONE UNCATEGORISED."

 "There's no such thing as uncategorised." Pharha scoffed. "WHAT-IS-IT-MADE-OF?"

"MATERIAL UNKNOWN."

A chill crept over Lottie's shoulders. "Is it organic? Mineral? Alloy?"

It repeated. "MATERIAL UNKNOWN."

"DATA, do you have any updates pending? Maybe your memory banks are corrupted?" Yakob inched back in their seat, gazing around out the window to try and find the mysterious object.

"ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL. NO UPDATES PENDING. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SEND A REPORT?"

"Go ahead. Maybe someone back at headquarters will have a better idea what it is."

The computer remained quiet for a moment, before a bright red 'X' flashed onto the screen. "ERROR. CANNOT CONNECT TO NETWORK."

"Fantastic." They tapped away on the console, patching through to Luel in the engine room. "Hey, Agi? We're having a few connection issues up here, how's everything on your end?"

"Well, looks like the internal systems aren't being interrupted, thank goodness. We should still be in range, so the supergiant must be interfering with the signal."

Yet another deafening headache rang through Lottie's skull, the voice just as persistent as it was before.

"... Help me."

"Did anyone else hear that?" She asked, her heart racing. They each looked at her with blank stares. "Someone's asking for help."

"There's no one else out here, Lottie. DATA would've told us if there were any lifeforms in this system." Pharha shrugged. "You're probably still a bit woozy from the G-LOC."

"DATA said my lifesign scan was fine. I'm not imagining it, I've heard it twice now."

Yakob nodded to Engineer Luel. "Agi, have you heard any voices asking for help?"

"No, although the engines are pretty loud-"

The feed cut off, followed by the lights and the engines powering down. The console went dead in Yakob's hands. They mashed away at the keys for a second. "Great. Alright, nobody panic. The backup generator should come on soon."

A loud 'bang' shook the side of the ship.

"What was that?" Pharha stood sharply, backing away from the impact site.

"Probably an asteroid. The shields are down, anything could come at us. Stay calm, we'll be fine. The hull is strong enough to take a hit from a class-two battleship."

The lights flickered back on, though were red and dull, and accompanied by a hushed alarm. Another 'bang' rocked the ship.

"Is it strong enough to take two hits?" She wailed.

"DATA, status report, now!"

"BACKUP POWER ONLINE. COMPUTER SYSTEM ONLINE. LIFE SUPPORT ONLINE. ENGINES ONLINE. GRAVITY ONLINE. SHIELDS OFFLINE. WARNING, HULL INTEGRITY AT 90%."

"We need to land. Find us somewhere safe."

Pharha howled. "We're a million miles from the nearest planet!"

Lottie jumped out of her seat, grabbed Yakob's arm, and pointed out the window. "There, look!" A strange, cubic object drifted in the nothingness.

"DATA, is that a station?"

"TARGET UNCATEGORISED."

They hurried their gaze between Lottie, Pharha, and the mysterious building in the distance. "Agh, screw it. DATA, take us there!"

The engines roared, and the ship sped up again, closing in on what appeared to be a space station covered in purple growths.

"What is that stuff? Looks like... Mould." Deputy Sierra shared an uneasy look with Yakob as they approached an opening to the station.

Yakob took over the ship's controls, driving them in and through a shield. They landed softly upon a bed of the mould, the ship's headlights illuminating the abandoned docking bay.

They regarded the console screen. "Scans show we have a neutral atmosphere, temperature's good, and we have gravity." They switched off the ship's artificial gravity - the slight difference making the crew briefly lose their balance.

"So what do we do?"

"DATA, run a few external scans, please. We need to make sure that stuff isn't toxic or radioactive before heading out."

The AI beeped and buzzed again. "SCAN COMPLETE. SUBSTANCE IS SEMI-ORGANIC. READINGS SHOW NO RADIATION OR AIRBORNE CONTAMINATION. PROCEED WITH CAUTION."

"Good. I'll go get Agi and start these repairs. Lottie, Pharha, are you two alright staying behind?" Yakob leaned over politely.

Pharha nodded, saluting her captain.

"As always. Keep an eye on your lifesign scans. We'll keep you updated if anything changes in here." Lottie promised.

A few minutes passed as Yakob went looking for Agi, and Lottie and Pharha waited on deck. Pharha checked herself over, noticing that she'd wilted a little.

"Can you keep an eye on everything here for a minute? I need to grab a drink and hit the UV."

"Sure. Go ahead."

She scurried out, leaving Lottie on her own. The door closed behind her... Then opened again.

"Did you forget something?" Lottie swivelled her seat, her heart sinking and her eyes bulging as she saw herself standing there. It was a much younger version of herself, a child. They shared the wild auburn curls of her childhood, her alabaster freckled skin, her blue eyes and button nose.

"How... How are you... Why do you look like me?"

The child stepped further towards her, compelling her to back up.

"Stay away! I'm warning you!"

They froze in their tracks.

"Okay, start talking. Who are you, what are you doing here, and why do you look like that?" She felt sick.

"I'm..." She immediately recognised it as the voice that had asked for help. Still, it was as if they weren't completely certain how to answer. "I'm the Curator."

"Curator of what?"

Again, they hesitated, thinking on it for a time. They gestured a demonstrating shrug, looking around the deck. "I'm THE Curator."

As the sight of them sank in, Lottie relaxed a little. "You're the one who asked for help, aren't you?"

They nodded, taking another tentative step forward.

"Why do you need help? What's happened?"

"The Beacon has been breached. The Parasite has invaded."

"You mean that purple stuff?" Lottie edged closer to them. "What is it, and how can we get rid of it?"

"It's the Parasite. You must find its weakness and destroy it."

"What happens if we don't?"

Their lips tightened, their chin wavering as if trying not to cry. "The Beacon will fall."

"How do I know I can trust you? And you still haven't explained why you look like me..."

"Charlotte McMahon, neohuman of Earth-4, Medical Officer of the Paladin, daughter of Vance and Thatcher McMahon."

She backed away, wrapping her hand over her mouth. "How do you know my dads' names?"

"Please, help me. You must destroy the Parasite. Save the Beacon."

Lottie said nothing for a while, finally tightening her hands into fists with a nod. She leapt into the captain's chair, taking the console. "DATA, I need you to take and analyse a sample of the purple stuff. We need to know what it's made of so we can figure out its weakness."

"ANALYSING NOW." Outside, the ship extended a grabbing arm to tear a sample and catch it in a tube.

"And don't let the others outside just yet, we don't know what it is or what it can do."

"CAPTAIN SHEPPARD AND ENGINEER LUEL ARE ALREADY OUTSIDE THE AIRLOCK."

"No, no, no!" She barrelled out the door, barely giving it chance to open all the way. She tapped at the screen on her arm, activating the communicator. "Yakob, Agi, get back inside now!" The child followed after her as she ran up to the airlock, rapping her fist against the glass. Yakob and Agi were on the side of the ship, making repairs, apparently ignorant to her call. "Get inside, it isn't safe!"

"Scans are all normal. Just give us a minute, we're almost done!" Yakob assured, going back to work.

"No, get in now! That stuff is a parasite!"

"We're wearing our suits, stop worrying."

Lottie watched in horror as the purple growths extended their reach around their feet, clawing up their suits and tearing them as it went. They jumped into the airlock, smacking the button to close the doors as they yelled.

"DATA! What's its weakness? I need to know now!"

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE. STRUCTURE SUGGESTS SUCCEPTIBILITY TO ALKALOIDS SUCH AS 1,3,7-TRIMETHYLXANTHINE."

"What the heck is that?"

As the interior airlock door opened, Pharha ran up from behind, a bucket in her hands, and she threw the brown contents over Yakob and Agi's legs. The Parasite shrivelled and decayed before their eyes, leaving the two heaving - terrified, but alive.

Pharha gasped - "It's caffeine. It doesn't like coffee." She shrugged. "Like the majority of us here." It took a few seconds for her to catch her breath. "You forgot to unhook the pipe from the coffee dispenser and back onto the water, and you left comms open. You really need to see someone about that G-LOC, your mind's like a sieve afterwards."

The four of them slumped to the floor, laughing as they recovered from it all.

Yakob narrowed their eyes in Lottie's direction. "Who's the kid?"

Lottie looked at the child briefly, then turned back to the others. "They call themselves 'the Curator.' And this place, it's the Beacon. I think they live here."

"They kind of look like you. Is there something you haven't been telling us?" Agi asked.

"It's like they can read my mind. They even knew my dads' names."

They shared uneasy glances to one another, standing and turning their attention to the airlock.

"So it seems like we'll have to kill all that purple stuff before we can finish our repairs. How much coffee have we got in the canteen?"

"Two-hundred pounds dried." Pharha smirked, and Lottie shrank into herself.

"What? I really like it, okay?!"

"Well, frankly your addiction might be what helps us get out of here, so I'm not complaining." Yakob patted her shoulder.

"Let's get to exterminating this parasite then." Agi smiled.

They took a hose and hooked it up to the coffee dispenser, which automatically mixed the dried coffee with hot water. After filling some of the spray bottles from the hydroponics unit, they put their suits on once more, and headed out, soaking the parasite and clearing the docking bay a little at a time. It took a full Earth-4 day to get rid of it all, although the outside of the Beacon remained covered in it.

The Curator assured them. "I can synthesize more of this 'coffee' to get rid of the rest. The gateway is holding now, it shouldn't get in again."

"Oh yeah..." Lottie began, sat in the airlock with the child as the others finished scrubbing off their suits and fixing the ship. "How did it get inside anyway? You have shields." She looked to the field they had passed through on their way in.

"The Beacon travels. We came here, and the star disrupted its systems. The Parasite spread."

"It messed up our network too! It even knocked off the power at one point." She furrowed her brow. "So is that like your thing? You travel a lot?"

"I am the Curator. It is my job."

"I'm still not sure what you mean by that... This structure is so unusual our scanners didn't know how to classify it. And you... You look neohuman now, but I bet that's a disguise, isn't it?"

They nodded.

"So why'd you change yourself to look like me?"

They patted their fingers together for a moment. "I thought you'd be more likely to respond to me if I looked familiar to you... I read your mind. I did think about choosing your father's image, but when I found it, I saw it was shrouded in sadness, and the face of a little girl."

Lottie sniffled, staring down at her hands. "He was an engineer for a colony ship, called Thunderbird. They were making their landing on a new outpost planet, but they didn't know about the gravity storms... The cooling system malfunctioned. My dad tried to fix it. They managed to land the ship, but they couldn't save him... I was seven." She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "After that, the Trinity was set up, and now no colonisation takes place until one of our fleet does a thorough analysis of potential outposts..." She chuckled. "I bet you already knew all that, huh?"

"I know that if he were alive today, your father would be very proud of you."

"Hah." She gasped. "Well... Thanks."

Yakob and Agi nodded to say that repairs were complete, and the shields were back online.

"Looks like we're good to go."

"You could stay here." They took her hand. "You want to see the universe? The Beacon can go anywhere."

She bit her lip, regarding her crew, and politely turned them down. "I have a job to do too. These people need a medical officer, and back home, the Trinity are still looking for colony planets. But maybe stop by our system sometime? Say hi?"

"I'd love to."

They parted ways, as the crew of the Paladin boarded their ship and prepared to head back out into the great unknown.