Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #21 December 2015 | Page 14

Lights in the Dark By Cody Lee Powell The furthest depths of space never felt further than during the holidays. Out here there were no lights or trees to cut down, no fires to warm your soul or carol singers going door to door. The closest you could come to music would be the rhythmic hum of the engines that chorused throughout the ship. morose. The very children we would be handing the operation over to were quite aware of the melancholy state of the passengers and crew. Unseen by older eyes they plotted in the bowels of the ship, urged on by vague and fleeting memories of tinsel and presents. They had not forgotten the magic of waiting up at night, hoping to catch a glimpse of a man dressed in red. They were not content to stand idly by while adults sighed and moped and sadly shuffled through the ship. Four years into our journey, we had all accepted this as commonplace. It was not in the rules that yuletide cheer was forbidden on our voyage, yet it was generally accepted as frowned upon by the Greater Alliance Military. Civilians such as myself, while not under the direct command of GAM, attempted to follow the guidelines that our staunch protectors had no choice but to follow. Under our very noses they quietly gathered strings of lights and ornaments, trinkets from a past that we could not quite forget. Raiding not only our cargo bay but also our galley, the children began their masterpiece in our now mostly abandoned observation deck. We had long closed ourselves in from the enormity of space, with the once majestic beauty of the stars now a sickening reminder of our solitude. As another Christmas approached, we had all settled in for another dull holiday season. While the many different faiths aboard our ship had their own customs and holidays to celebrate, our guardians and benefactors had long ago agreed on a standardised holiday calendar. To this end, everyone in GAM celebrated Christmas, regardless of their own beliefs. Given that no one was celebrating anything this year, it mattered very little. We were part of a large convoy launched from Earth in the year 2301. Several long range vessels, each the pinnacle of current generation technology, were travelling along in single file towards the promise of a new land, though none of us would likely live to see it. It would be our children that would first lay eyes upon the new world we were to inhabit, most likely showing their own children the gift that they would leave to them. At the beginning of the voyage we were filled with hope, but the many years in space had taken its toll, and we had grown sullen and We were all quite surprised on December 24th, when every passenger and crewman received a summons from the captain. We all gathered in the dimly lit wide room much as we had done in festive anticipation when we had first left the orbital station on our hopeful excursion. The great shutters were closed as we had left them over the massive viewports, keeping out the vastness and emptiness of space. Most of us were uneasy, not enjoying the break in our routine of seasonal sulking. Finally the captain took to a podium that stood at the far end of the great hall. A light turned on him, illuminating just enough for us to see who was speaking. Our disquiet murmur faded gently as 14