Lost in Space. Joaquim Augusto Ferreira Barbosa de Melo
At a young age, she occasionally complained to her mother that her sister was «an irresponsible person» to which she invariably got the answer: «Do not worry! Happiness can be found in many ways».
Most of the time, Florbela did not understand what her mother meant by all that, so she simply shrugged and moved on to next concern.
When the Commander ceased to have a response in the airplane’s commands, he went through increasingly disturbing findings, until the aircraft hatches closed without him activating this command. Since then, the plane has been behaving in a truly autonomous way. It appeared as something or someone had taken over the plane and flew it to his pleasure! The most terrible moments experienced by the Commander and Immediate were when the gauges on the device turned off and the engines began to slow down until they were completely stopped. Incredible as it seemed to them, the ventilation and lighting kept in operation. By this time the Commander, by confirming what was going on in the passenger area, verified, to his amazement, that the cockpit access door could be triggered manually and, to his greatest surprise, noticed that the other side, life was proceeding in apparent normalcy. In the face of that surreal picture he thought, «I can only be living a nightmare». Astonished, he wanted to make sure of reality. He walked a few dozen metres along the central space, and as everything seemed normal to him, before anyone noticed his livid face, he returned to the cockpit. He closed the door again and, without being able to utter a single word, leaned against the bulkhead (briefly immobilized and almost petrified), clinging to his thoughts «How is all this possible? » - in the cockpit he couldn’t see anything outside the plane, the engines had been stopped for several minutes, all the manometers were off and without feeling any loss of altitude!
Some time later, without anyone noticing, through the air vents all over the unit, an odourless and colourless gas began to come out, leading to the drowsiness of the crew and passengers. They went into a deep sleep and so remained until after a long time, they woke up. The Commander and the Immediate were the first to come out of that state of drowsiness and, to their astonishment, they noticed a message recorded on one of the monitors: «Welcome to Beta 2 Station. You are going to stay with us for a while. We’ll do anything to make you feel comfortable. Follow our instructions; have a nice stay! ».This message, which appeared in the cockpit, was also reproduced on all monitors on the back of passenger seats. The Commander had not yet finished reading the strange message when the hatches opened up and he could see on the other side an enormous space in front of them. At some distance there were strange shapes of construction, some sort of buildings, which circumvented what appeared to be an airport. In the passenger zone the surprise has also reached the most attentive and already awaken passengers. The message on the monitors and the scenario visible through the hatches left everyone speechless and in deep silence, while their thoughts were traversed by many and varied questions. Even among the most travelled passengers, no one remembered ever seeing images like those. The flight attendants, caught by surprise, as much as the passengers, looked at each other in astonishment. Anabela, in an unreflective impulse, went to the cockpit, in an accelerated step, in an attempt to warn the Commander to what was going on, but when she opened the door, she realized an even more cruel and terrifying reality. And in a suffocated voice she didn’t contain the expression:
-My God, what is this!
The Commander turned towards Anabela and not yet recovered of the last emotions, stared flight attendant’s face, remaining silent.
Moments later...
New messages appeared on the monitors: «You are our guests from this moment on. We’re finalising the reception conditions. Stand by quietly in your seats. We’ll be brief ».
The messages reproduced on the screens induced shivers in most passengers, either because they were not accustomed to the unexpected, or because they were walking on unknown and possibly dangerous terrain. The heavy silence has settled for a long time...
Space Station
For the 666 passengers and crew of flight 367 the arrival at Beta 2 Station was just the beginning of an odyssey that would mark their lives for long time. From then on, nothing else would be the same. The surprises felt at the beginning were just a tiny drop of the immense ocean of emotions that awaited them. Shortly after the initial messages, new ones began to appear on the monitors, with instructions and tasks that they would have to perform at the facilities where they were to be transferred. Of all the instructions received, one awakened particular strangeness: « Special bracelets will be distributed that everyone must wear on a permanent basis, that is, throughout the time of stay on the Space Station. All the communications will be made through the clamps to be distributed: consultations; information; replacement and correction of the vital signs of each one. Any withdrawal, even accidental, must be immediately restored by qualified personnel since the holder is then at high risk of a sudden death. The equipment to be distributed is able to withstand all demands of everyday life, so it is not necessary to have special care with it».
The first reactions of the passengers to that message were of violent emotional shock! No one understood its scope and meaning. The Commander, who was assembled with the crew in the cockpit, was waiting for the end of the meeting to clarify the passengers. Meanwhile, outside, the manifestations of displeasure of the passengers were evident. No one was indifferent to the situation. The comments that were heard all over the airplane were the most diverse: «what is this?! »; « who is be behind these diversions? »; «where are the flight attendants? »; «all this must be clarified as a matter of urgency»; «we pay for our tickets, we have the right to know what is going on! »; «I’ve never seen anything like this! »; «you have to explain the situation! »; «this is unacceptable! ».
The Commander, who was meeting with his team to tell them what each one would have to do. Since he had no audio means to speak to the passengers, he decided to go personally and expose the situation to the members of the Government to bring them up to date. Finished the meeting with his staff and when moving to the top floor was confronted with all sorts of questions to which he invariably replied: « I apologise for the inconvenience; the stewardesses will speak with you all! ». If for the Commander the situation was embarrassing, for the flight attendants it was no less difficult. These, when they came out of the cockpit, were bombarded with all sorts of questions, amidst a sea of emotions! Although they had been trained by the Airline Company to know how to cope with a lot of risky situations, none of them were set up with the parameters of this one. They therefore had to improvise personal resources to deal primarily with the passengers’ emotions. The first moments were particularly difficult for all of them, but especially for Florbela who, embraced by the children, couldn’t contain the tears running down her face. After a greater effort, she managed to dominate her emotions and improvised a brief speech:
-I ask you, on behalf of the Commander, the best understanding for the difficult times we are experiencing. We do not know who is at the origin of these acts, as well as what their intentions are. We regret we’re not able to advance much more information at the moment. Wait in your seats patiently. As soon as possible we will give information on the progress of the situation.
Those words came to the attention of those present as evidence of the crew’s total inability to manage events. As the various groups formed around the flight attendants dispersed, throughout the airplane, expressions of dismay, concern and even despair were visible on the faces of the passengers.
With the members of the Government the Commander had an even more thorny mission, because he had no choice but to report on the drama he and his Immediate experienced since the beginning of events. And as a man of science, technician and Commander, to add that he did not know where they were and who was at the origin of those acts was unbearable. But the hardest thing for him was to acknowledge that he felt helpless to solve that serious problem. After the Commander’s exposure, no one of those present had the courage to make any interpellation, since they knew from experience how difficult it is to manage complex situations. The natural reaction was silence and utter perplexity. Then the members of the Government gathered to confer with each other, in order to identify variables that would allow them to equate the problem. The Commander was fully aware that the situation could at any times become explosive so he quickly returned to the cockpit and, had barely arrived, when he noticed the monitors