Odyssey Rising by Michael T. Best Read Free Book Online

majority of the crew safe and healthy.
    Over the shuttles loud speakers, Theo and the entire crew heard Captain Barton.
    “There are many arguments that could be made that would encourage me to send this shuttle down to the planet. But if we stay right where we are, we all die. So, I’d like to put the kibosh on the rumors I’ve heard. Odyssey is going home, as scheduled.”
    Even with such positive and hopeful news, Theo was stuck in his sleeping quarters. He was sick of exercising and so he sat and watched the lab experiments on Channel 4, a video-feed from the lab that he learned about from Sam who was also watching. Technically, they weren’t authorized to be watching – it was for the captain’s and Command Council’s eyes only.
    Even though the video feed on Channel 4 was taboo, Theo usually found it fairly boring. It was usually reserved for communication between the Command Control back at the Ark and the Flight Navigation crew here on Odyssey. Watching even now, the experiments were just a series of slow and methodical pokes and prods on a microscopic level with an occasional introduction of water or saline or acid. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at.
    Theo had his Communication Device set to voice to voice and he was speaking occasionally to Sam.
    “Thrilling stuff,” Sam said.
    “Seriously?” Theo asked.
    “No, man, I’d rather watch the rings of Saturn spin and spin,” Sam answered.
    “Yeah, but it’s kind of like watching paint dry,” Theo said.
    Ellie’s voice chimed in, “Your father is totally in his element.”
    “Hey, how’d you get on this channel?” Sam asked.
    “Oh, I didn’t know this was a private club,” Ellie said.
    “I gave her the code,” Ravi chimed in.
    “You’re on too? This is a real convention of freaks and geeks,” Sam said.
    “I’m repelling your negativity,” Ravi said.
    “You’re loony tunes,” Sam said.
    “Theo, you’re going to be totally famous now,” Ellie said.
    “I don’t care about fame,” Theo said.
    “He cares about the bootylicious babes,” Sam said.
    “I care about getting back home,” Theo said in defense.
    On the computer screen, in several small microscopic events, the hundreds of pulsing alien microbes exploded into something new.
    The Yin-Yang dots were no longer amorphous blobs. They were still tiny, but now had taken a different shape. They were tiny cellular creatures, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of them, maybe even more. Further examination would put them at nearly one-millionth the size of a typical human body.
    The explosions Theo saw looked much like a tiny atomic bomb. He remembered from history class back on the Ark the mushroom plumes of destruction that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the mushroom clouds of microscopic dots settled, Theo saw a multi-celled, seven-legged crab like creature that was shaped much like an ocean horseshoe crab.
    On screen from the Ark Doctor Starling said, “We really are watching something amazing.”
    “What’s happening?” Ed Lorre asked.
    “A change,” Doctor Starling said.
    “What kind?”
    “Have patience Ed,” Doctor Starling said.
    “I’m trying but this is...well...it’s not exactly covered in the textbooks.”
    “It’s mitosis,” Doctor Starling said. “At least, that’s what we’d call it on earth.”
    “Kind of sick looking things, aren’t they?” Ed Lorre said.
    “And beautiful,” Doctor Starling said.
    The explosions continued for nearly thirty seconds. Ravi was no longer the youngest aboard Odyssey. The little Yin-Yang dots, whatever they were, took that prize.
    Sam got excited, grabbed his ancient camera. “Now this is some crazy microscopic stuff.”
    “They’re like seven-legged crab sponge things,” Theo said.
    “Maybe, but they’re pretty cool,” Sam added.
    “For something microscopic,” Theo said.
    “Hey, is there any difference between a lobster and a crab?” Sam asked.
    Ravi chimed in, “Yes, both are invertebrate