20.

Being on such a mission as the one The Pathfinder so happens to be on, it can be an extremely difficult thing to estimate just exactly how long it may take to achieve its goal or even to know if it will get to its desired goal at all. So, it is a logical thing to train others on board in ships operations especially with having so many people aboard who do not have specific tasks to perform and with there being as many children on the vessel as there is. Who knows what may lie ahead? Better to have something and not need it as opposed to needing it and not having it.

Simon being the chief pilot and knowing the ship as well as he does, would teach a course in piloting, a course for those willing to participate in which would involve three one-hour long classes a week that begins with a lot of theory and would ultimately lead to training in the on-board simulators and even to taking out a shuttle, under guidance of course, for those who ultimately show potential and promise.

If timing and situation would allow it, and if students indeed showed enough drive and determination, then the time may just come where practical classes might actually take place. If these practical classes were to take place, Simon hoped that they would happen more out of for learning purposes rather than having it being something which may be happening out of necessity. At all this and at the very least it would be quite some time before any student would get to take a shuttle out and away for the mother ship.

Cindy has a serious interest in all ship's operations with a particular interest in piloting so she was among the first few people to register for the class. It would be in this class where she was destined to meet David Anderson. David, being one year older than Cindy, was born in New York, not that it mattered as he had no memory of what life had been like in the city of his birth due to it being evacuated twelve years previous for Mother Nature had taken an opportunity to have New York completely frozen over.

He had been just five years old when his family began to travel in an attempt to make a life for themselves elsewhere, and New York would become a place that David would refer to as hell due to the saying 'when hell freezes over'.

It was early morning, close to nine o'clock on Thursday November twenty second when Cindy took her seat for her first class in piloting. David moved to sit next to her, and he introduced himself. Cindy acted shyly; she had seen David around and had wanted to get to know him for a while by this moment in time.

'You are Miss Flores's daughter, right? I take her science class. It can be quite difficult at times, but I am managing to keep up.'

'Yes, I am and good for you.'

Cindy does not want to seem too eager to get to know David; still she hoped that getting to know him would happen one way or another.

'If you are not too busy later on there will be a few of us getting together for a couple of hours down in the main mess hall if you would like to join us.'

Simon arrives into the classroom before Cindy could answer.

'Good morning, everyone' Simon greets the class to which he got a group return of 'good morning.'

The response to his greeting comes as a nice surprise for her certainly did not expect one to be so ... enthusiastic, let alone come at all. David looks right into Cindy's eyes before beginning to make his way back to his original seat but not before Cindy gave him a response ... if you could call it that.

'We will see. I will let you know later.'

Cindy smiles while looking down at her desk and biting her lower lip. How she feels in this moment is something surprisingly nice.

'She likes me ...' David tells his companion upon taking his own seat.

Like David, Cindy was born in a state badly hit by climate change and Maria had no choice but to move them both more inland. Cindy was born in Miami, Florida. Her mum had managed to keep them both safe when a major storm hit, decimating their home and many other homes, and the two ended up moving to Atlanta, Georgia where they remained during the few years prior to boarding The Pathfinder.

Cindy never knew her father. Maria was six months pregnant when her husband, Mark Flores, had been killed. He had been aiding with the evacuation and transportation of the inhabitants of the islands from the Florida gulf coast over to the mainland.

One man in particular was refusing to leave his home. Mark confronted him informing the man that he surely would die if he stayed behind on the island. The man continued to refuse to leave, and Mark received a bullet to his upper torso for his efforts in attempting to change the man's mind and he had died before any opportunity to receive treatment could come. Needless to say, the man who shot Mark was indeed left behind.

By the end of the first Piloting class David had a more distinct answer. Cindy agreed to meet up with him and a few others close to her own age. It would be a pleasant change for her. For the whole time she was aboard The Pathfinder up to the day of her first piloting class Cindy had yet to mingle with anyone her own age. David would have liked to have passed a told ya she liked me remark but prevent himself from such a thing for it might come across as a class-less remark.

21.

The Pathfinder, by such a moment in time it has come to arrive in, may no longer be anywhere near Earth's solar system never even mind Earth itself but no one saw any reason at this stage to change the way time is used. There is no longer any day or night, no living on a planet which revolves around a twenty-four-hour day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Though if a new method of time is to be kept, what could it possibly be based upon? It could be something set for debate at such a time a new home could be found for mankind if indeed one was to be found at all.

Speed of light travel has also altered time somewhat though not so much in a direct manner. It may feel like mid to late November 2097 on The Pathfinder which essentially it is though for the rest of mankind time could have moved into 2098 and well into 2098 at that too, perhaps even somewhere further along than that such is the nature of relativity.

When the booster system is in operation time inside the bubble, on the ship essentially, time moves forward as it always does, feeling as normal as ever though outside the bubble time is quickened relatively. Thirty seconds at the speed of light within a bubble could very well be thirty days outside that bubble. Time, as it is and was, for the time being continues to be measured in an unchanged manner.

Monday twenty sixth of November 2097, as it is aboard The Pathfinder, late in the evening and Carlos the ships chief cook or head chef was alone in the ships main kitchen preparing meat for part of the next day's menu. Both of his parents had been born and raised in Spain and had moved to Mexico to live as far inland as they could get, and this is where Carlos was born. He had little English and at fifty-three years of age Carlos had little interest in learning another language, so it was just as well he had Rory to work closely with.

Scotland born, Rory loved to cook and had no problem getting stuck into things in The Pathfinder's kitchens, if anything he relished a challenge. He may be junior in years though in a kitchen he could handle himself just as well as the man he worked under. As well as English, Rory could also speak both Spanish and French fluently.

Carlos may be working away alone but Rory had been the last of all other kitchen staff to leave. Rory had asked in Spanish of course, if it were alright with Carlos that he could head off and Carlos responded with a 'si, si, you go' while bringing down his meat cleaver with force and through the loin of pork resting on his wooden prep table.

Even though by a certain point it had been quite some time since Carlos had watched Rory leave, he felt that he was no longer alone in the kitchen. He knew that he should be alone at this particular moment, but he could just not shake that feeling, that sense that he was being watched.

Without being able to see anyone Carlos called out a 'hola' and did not receive a response. For a split second he was sure he could see some movement out of the corner of his right eye. Carlos moved his head slightly and he called out again and even called Rory by name a couple of times without receiving any response.

The instinct Carlos had was right in one way while being wrong in another. He was right in the fact that he was no longer on his own within the confines of his kitchen but wrong in the fact that he thought that Rory had returned, however without actually knowing any of this for sure, Carlos kept on working. His stock pot was simmering away; the potatoes were on in the steamer being partly cooked so they could be roasted quickly and easily the next day and the pork loins had all been cut into chops except for the loin that Carlos was working on.

Yeah, for Carlos, his main kitchen was just as impressive when he first entered it as how the medical bay looked and felt for Stanley.

Anyhow, lifting his cleaver once more it happened. Someone came right up behind Carlos and did so quite quickly, hitting the chef over the back of the head as soon as he is reached. Carlos fell to his knees and his cleaver fell to the ground. His workstation had prevented him from falling forward. From over his left shoulder a hand reached through, grabbed, and brought back his forehead but not so far that Carlos could see whoever it may be behind him.

A knife came over the right shoulder. An uncontrollable panic would only last a moment and Carlos would be able to do nothing other than watch the long blade quickly move, slitting his throat from the left side to the right.

The sickening sounds of Carlos gasping for air filled the kitchen with only Carlos himself and his attacker being able to hear any such noise that Carlos could make. His hands soon soaked in a crimson red, becoming drenched in his own blood being unable to stop the flow as they pressed against his neck; there was nothing he could do to save himself. Carlos fell to one side and died on the floor of the kitchen he ran for such a short period of time.

Rory arrived, his return to the kitchen early the next morning is met with oddness, though how much of a morning can a morning actually be if there is no sun rise or even a sun for there to be a sun rise? The first thing Rory noticed was the sheer amount of blood by the prep table where Carlos would so often be working. There was a loin of pork still out on the table, and it had not been completely cut into chops. It shouldn't be bloody whether or not it had be left out accidentally.

The sight of the blood quietened the usually boisterous man who had been ready to verbally get on Carlos's nerves upon his entry to the kitchen. Even though he had left the kitchen before Carlos the previous day, Rory fully expected Carlos to be there before him ready for a new day of banter to begin.

The blood trailed off and away from the prep table. Rory followed it towards the door of the fairly large walk-in freezer. He did not want to open the freezer door. Rory knew in his heart that something was very wrong, something which could and would be proven by opening that freezer door. He knew he could just go alert someone to what he already knew but he also felt compelled to stay and open the freezer door and as he did open that door, out fell the frozen body of Carlos. As well as being frozen solid, Carlos had been wrapped head to toe in cling film.

Rory had become incoherent; his clasped hands were shaking, and his feet were tapping as he sat toward the far end of the mess hall not all so long after having made a horrible discovery. Maria was unable to get any information from him. News spreads fast on a confined space like The Pathfinder no matter how big a ship or how populated it is and quite the gathering had come down to the mess hall and main ship's kitchen. The Owens brothers had their work cut out for them and were attending to it like seasoned pros.

When things ease off somewhat, Stanley would have Rory brought to the medical facility and when the gathered crowd scatters Carlos too is brought to the medical facility but not before Rory is released. The main kitchen would remain a crime scene and would be closed for the remainder of the day. There were and are still plenty of smaller kitchens of course scattered around the ship to cater for the ship's population, as there are indeed areas to eat in.

Hours passed and Maria visited the medical bay for an update. The body of the deceased had yet to fully thaw out. Stanley informed Maria to the fact that he would be unable to perform a full autopsy on the ship's former head chef as the belly had been cut open with the stomach, intestines, liver, and heart having all been removed. As to the location of these missing parts, well that would remain unknown. Rory indeed had been sent to his quarters and Stanley made the request that someone should go check on him.

There is a murderer on board The Pathfinder and unfortunately for Rory, despite his disposition, he was to be the first and only suspect, at least for the time being anyway. In order to prevent widespread panic, an attempt to keep things relatively quiet would be put in place but people talk, and it would only be a matter of time before the news of murder would spread especially a crowd needed to be dispersed.

The Owens brothers now too had their first major problem to deal with. Holding back and dispersing a crowd was only a beginning. Are the team they have assembled up for the task that now lies ahead? As is so often said, only time will tell ...