42

The mental health crisis humankind had suffered at the onset of space travel had nearly done them in. Almost more so than the danger of the travel itself. 

The adjustment of living on a rotating planet with a sun and an atmosphere and all manner of things meant to bring joy and health to the creatures that lived on it.

Moving onto metal ships with recycled air, non-stop activity, and artificial daylight had completely destroyed the hormone balance humans had developed on Earth. Massive changes in physical and mental health had resulted in a skyrocketing suicide rate during the first few decades. 

The sudden increase in death rates and the resulting threat to the species' survival had triggered an increase in birth rates that had managed to prevent extinction. There had been an age gap issue for a couple of decades, when they'd lacked a middle-aged adult population and had to lower all the age requirements for work, but it had straightened itself out by the time the century came to an end.

Watching the glittering rings, Finley recalled one of the first classes she'd had at the academy. They'd just called it Resilience, but the class was every week, first thing on Monday morning, from the first week of enrollment to graduation week. Most cadets didn't start to understand its value until after graduation. 

It was the only class that had been taught nonstop for the last five hundred years of the academy's existence.

She turned to Winter. "Do you remember the Resilience class in the Academy?"

"Of course. It's taught by the medical corps."

"I still remember the way the instructor introduced that course. She brought in a mollusk. Showed us the inner lining. Nacre. The most resilient substance on Earth and one of the hardest. The thinnest layers of aragonite and protein. Self-repairing, it can contain a crack in a single layer and stop it from spreading to the rest. Its resilience doesn't weaken under repeated impacts. Scientists have been trying to replicate it since it was discovered, but to this day, they still haven't been able to." 

"Nature is the supreme doctor." Winters nodded. 

"And the supreme scientist." Finley agreed. "Humans evolved to survive on Earth, and we haven't yet been in space long enough to evolve to survive it. But we continue on anyway. Humankind has never stopped because of something as simple as survival. I think that's the story of the human race: it didn't make much sense, and we definitely weren't ready, but we did it anyway."

A smile broke across Winters face. "That's…accurate. It sounds like you're aware of the situation."

"Painfully." Finley shrugged some of the tenseness out of her shoulders. "It wouldn't be any different if either government had maintained control. The war went on too long and the people are too angry."

"I agree. Things were very similar after the war with the Parasites. It occurs after every major conflict in human history. A period always follows in which the population is tired with conflict and its costs and governments over correct to stay in power. And then they have to scramble when the next conflict happens. Humans are terrible at learning from the past."

Finley snorted. "People don't learn from the mistakes of others. They only learn from their own."

"Sometimes they can learn from others." Winters disagreed. "Our security forces can take anyone you need to hand off into custody."

"I appreciate it, but there's no one to hand off at the moment."

"You're going to keep all of them onboard?"

"The situation is too complicated to write someone off for a momentary lapse of judgement. I am going to offer amnesty for anyone who wants to backout. May or may not have to put up a good chunk of people for a bit."

"I'll find some use for them until a transport can be arranged." Winters paused, debating with herself. "I do have several soldiers that have expressed interest in possibly replacing anyone removed from the crew."

"Never hurts to have more medical personnel aboard." And it wouldn't hurt to have someone like Brigadier General Winters somewhat on her side when the Loss came home. "A mission like this, there's sure to be a need for them."

Winters frowned. "We can load you up with extra supplies as well."

The quartermasters would love that, Finley thought. Even more supplies to sort through. But it would be useful and probably worth the headache in an emergency. They were already managing twice the normal amount of supplies. No one was certain how much a mission like this needed, there were simply too many unknowns at this point.

And that was exactly why Finley wasn't going to turn down anything.

"I'll let the Senior NCO know they're coming."

Winters nodded. "When are you making the offer to your crew?"

"As soon we've refueled, and the ships locked down. We're here for five days. I'm going to put them all on leave for two."

"That's generous."

"It's the last leave they're going to get for a while."

"Fair point."

Finley turned to her. "Did Betchley volunteer?"

Winters smirked. "He did. However, he's not mine to reassign."

"Oh?"

"He still belongs to Abernathy."

"Then why is he here?"

Winters shrugged. "According to him, he's supposed to be an impartial observer during your stopover."

"Right. They could have come up with a better cover than that."

"I doubt they thought it would be necessary."

"Do you have any experience with him?"

"Betchley? No. He says he was here during the war, but it was nothing I remembered. Hundreds of ships come through Walker Hospital every month and I see very few of them unless they need to meet with me for a specific reason. My schedule is not open for personal consults."

"But Betchley got one?"

"No. He joined me for lunch the day he arrived." The tone of her voice made it clear he hadn't had an invitation. "Gave me a note from Abernathy that he'd carried at the old man's request."

It was unlikely Winters would tell her the contents of the note. Or that Finley could even trust her if she did. But it was bold of Abernathy to put something to paper.

Very bold. 

So, Finley might as well be bold in response. 

"Anything interesting?"

~ tbc