I woke to the sound of the alarm, as always. The difference today was, for the first time in my life, I woke up alone. Yesterday, after one last shift my parents had gone into cryo along with the rest of generation 2. Today would be the first day Generation 3 had complete control of the ship, and tonight would see the votes.

I'd made peace with the fact that I wasn't going to make captain, Roger was already leading our generation in all but name. I still couldn't get why I wasn't trusted with it, but I couldn't deny the reality anymore. I was going to be the engineer. No one else wanted the job, and I was smart enough.

Well I could make first officer, but I considered that unlikely. That honor would likely go to Siegfried, a jack of all trades sort who could fill in as needed for just about anyone, if not quite as well as a specialist. I was better at that, but also a much better engineer. I wouldn't trust Seig to tweak the engines at all.

Showered and dressed I headed to my post, taking note of the red lit doors in the habitation ring...the sign of those still sick with whatever I'd caught. There weren't many thankfully enough. As predicted the wave of sickness had passed through, hitting about half of us in total. most were only sick with a mild flu, gone in a day like mine. A few, like Roger and William, had
been hit much harder, the flu causing a fever that went so high we almost lost them both.

I still felt guilty; both had pulled through pretty easily, though in Roger's case, the fever was briefly high enough to cause hallucinations. It also apparently caused some memory loss. Apparently A fever high enough could short circuit short term memory, who knew? He didn't even remember visiting me that day. Luckily, it wasn't anything worse.

I made it to the engineer's station, unable to stop a sigh as I noticed Cargie's tools. Tools were too valuable to pack up, so someone would end up using them. Maybe even myself, but I couldn't help but feel the loss. He had so much more he could have taught me, I was sure.

While today was a slated day off for everyone, officially one of our few holidays, an engineers' work was never done. That and work was a good way of taking my mind off how alone I felt without my parents. I'm sure everyone else was feeling the same. I set the station up to monitor all the processes I could and set the alarms to route to my pad. Then I headed off to do the real job I wouldn't miss a day of, saving death or disaster. Especially now.

I went to check the sleepers.

Sure it was a bit early in the day to do it, but it was really my only duty today, so why not? Our parents were really hardly frozen yet. They had gone into cryo just last night. But still, the check was supposed to be performed daily, and the others had been frozen longer. Then I guessed I could try and convince the EVA crews (Seth and Joe in this case) to check the solar cell mounts to make sure they were intact.

I had wanted to get all that squared earlier, but between the various illnesses of other people and the last minute head cramming sponsored by Cargie I had been busy. It didn't help that The EVA crews were getting the same treatment and were cracking an ice cube as well. Sure it was finally done, and with some nice bonuses gained, but I couldn't get any attention for over a
week! So annoying.

Each cryo tube checked (hours later...it took awhile to personally check each one) I sat in the commissary with the rest of my shift, many of us looking as vaguely shell shocked as I felt. Yesterday as a last goodbye, Cargie had showed me something we all knew he had, but didn't know the location of...his still. He had even handed me his booze recipes. Today the booze that
had been stored in that room was being freely distributed in the commissary; I had brought it all down in a cart and gave it to Marion for today.

It had taken two trips.

"Hey Marion, can I get some of that vodka?"

"Oh is that what that stuff is? Sure."

She passed it over and I took a sip. It was decent, tasting faintly of apple. A cut above the regular stuff Cargie made, which you could clean a ship's hull with.

"Take it easy though mouse, it's still a bit early, don't want to pass out before the votes."

I pointedly took another sip and watched her face harden.

"I'm fine, this is the only one I want for the next couple hours. I'll be stuck playing songs soon enough anyway."

"True. Even the other shift will be here, sleep schedule be damned. Don't think you'll have any choice in the matter."

I watched her hang up various party decorations. they were made of cloth and old, faded and tired looking. They had been packed along with other rare supplies of esoteric nature...when the Magellan first flew out of earth orbit. they had been used for every party situation in one form or another ever since. Many of us had seen at least a few of them every birthday.

"Want help?"

"Nah, my job. Well, pretty sure I'll get tapped for it in any case."

"Well you have my vote in any case."

"Thanks. Can't hurt. Pretty sure no one else really wants the job though."

Hmm, something we shared.

"So, nothing much going on...want to play some pool before the table gets camped by the EVA bunch?"

"Sure."

---

I woke to the first day of the rest of my life, still having no clue what to do about one of the worst decisions I'd ever face. I certainly had trouble imagining worse. The flu had laid me up for several days, a terrible case that cause me to see plaid bears rampaging through the ship, gumming all before them with cotton teeth. Plus There were two days I couldn't remember.

Ever have that nagging feeling you were forgetting something really important?

I had it on stimulants. The old security footage I saw didn't give me a clue at to what it was either. I'd backtracked all available footage from those days and found nothing. I even asked mouse, and he could find nothing odd either. This morning, like the last several, I shoved it out of my mind. Some morning tea and a roll grabbed on the go, and I was on my way to the bridge.

It may be a day off, an official holiday even, but I wouldn't really be able to celebrate well without knowing how the ship was. If I could celebrate at all in any case. The bridge was empty of course, being run completely on automatic pilot. I routed the various alarms through my pad and sat there, nibbling and thinking. Staring at the slowly revolving star scape was strangely
soothing.

We were on course and our ETA till we hit our target system was still over a year. None of us had ever seen a planet with a naked eye. We'd seen plenty of images of planets, but I doubted it would be the same. It was rather humbling in a way how much and how little humans were needed to run this ship; neither could really run without either, but one side clearly had far less pull than the other. Or was that even true?

Didn't humanity decide the rules by which the colony ships operated in the first place? Oddball didn't decide the population disposition... the people who sent the Magellan into space did. Oddball was only deciding the means by which it happened, and making the crew complicit in it. The solution was well and truly the rock and the hard place.

I couldn't stop the sigh as I left the empty bridge. I knew where everyone would be...misery loves company, and where else to go but the mess hall? I filtered in to find the tired looking decorations already up and most of the new official crew already here... and drinking. How in the hell were they drinking, the stores of booze weren't supposed to be big enough for that anymore. Alcoholic beverages were few and far between anymore.

Certainly not as big as having say, the entire back end of the old bar filled with bottles. All old liquor bottles of various types but with printed labels on them. Written in a sloppy hand I recognized.

"Mouse, what the hell?!?"

"Oh hey Rog. How you doing?"

"I'm a little confused. Cargie made booze?"

His reply was mystifying. He shrugged and slid a small glass my way.

"It's a time honored tradition for the chief engineer to run a still, so I'm told."

I knew there was a still somewhere, we'd have run out of alcohol otherwise. But this amount spoke of a large operation, using ingredients from our food supply.

"Says who?"

"Cargie of course."

"And he showed you where it was? You got all this from his hiding spot?"

Mouse made a show of looking insulted.

"Of course; gave me his recipes and everything."

I loomed over him as best I could.

"Show me."

"No can do Rog. The captain is never to know where the still is. It's one of the rules. And you are front runner to be captain."

Sigh, didn't he understand stills were dangerous? Or was he just a bit angry I was getting the job he wanted?

"Don't get all stuffy on us, just enjoy. It's good stuff, right Marion?"

Marion nodded as I picked up the glass and took a sniff. It was vodka, with a hint of apple, and it went down smoothly.

"Good stuff, Cargie knew what he was doing."

Mouse nodded.

"But you don't I bet and I don't want you blowing yourself up."

A rude snort was my only response.

"Sorry, my dad let Cargie do it, the first captain let their engineers do it. you'll just have to suffer through. However, I can promise you that I'm taking no chances. I won't get blown up, nor will the ship."

I tried to stare a hole in him, but he just downed his own drink with a shrug. Sometimes I wished I was at least a little intimidating. He clapped me on the back.

"Relax, relax! Eat drink and be merry, or something. This is supposed to be a party."

He frowned a bit when Marion sunk the eight ball, winning that round of pool.

"Up 2 to 1 mouse, you're going to get embarrassed today."

"Looks like it. Just can't seem to line a shot like I used to. Too much football maybe."

He racked them up (loser always sets up the next game...an old tradition) and Marion broke.

I shook myself, clearing the image of two young ladies playing pool. Miss mouse was still with me in my head and going strong.

"I've got next game."

"Sure, you get the winner."

Marion grinned.

"That will be me."

It was, so Mouse went back to run the bar for the new arrivals still streaming in while Marion did a pretty credible job of kicking my butt. I turned from Marion sinking the eight ball on me to find Seth already reaching for my cue.

"Tough luck on the 5 man, you almost had her."

"Yeah, maybe. Good luck yourself."

He gave a grin as I moved past.

"Hah, I don't need luck, I run this table."

I vaguely heard Marion give some snide reply, but I was focusing in on a source of trouble. Eric was at the bar, gesticulating wildly with his voice beginning to rise.

"Problem?"

Mouse answered me as Eric quieted, his face a nice purple shade.

"Just manning the bar here. Eric wanted a full bottle of the sour mash, I told him he could have it a glass at a time, like everyone else."

An understandable attitude. Most people here had only a passing familiarity with liquor in any case, never having such a glut of the substance. Seeing this amount of alcohol would certainly encourage someone's worst instincts to binge drink, and Eric was a known troublemaker. Part of the reason I wanted the still, while I couldn't every well take back this booze delivery, I
could prevent future ones.

The other reason is of course, it would be all too easy to use a still once the inevitable happened.

"Just let me have the bottle, it's not like you don't have several."

"Magellan's charter is pretty clear Eric. No hoarding of any resources. Why do you think I brought all this down in the first place?"

A clue, the still is up somewhere, the higher decks. Eric took his glass with poor grace, spilling some liquid across the bar as his face turned apoplectic.

"You fucking bitch. You'll get yours."

Uh oh.

Mouse was across the bar almost before I could grab him, and was twisting in my grip like a live current wire.

"The fuck did you call me?!?"

"No mouse, not today. Kill him tomorrow."

Eric retreated with a mocking laugh. Though he did move rather fast, perhaps not wanting another beating like the last one a few months ago.

"That's it you're cut off you shitbag! Enjoy that last drink!"

Next I knew Marion was at the bar, whispering into Mouse's ear.

"I don't care Marion, hes an asshole."

"Yes he's a cut off asshole, more whiskey will just make him worse. Why he wants to cause trouble now of all times is beyond me."

"He's an animal, and now that the adults are gone he's trying to make himself look big."

I cleared my throat, and they both looked.

"I can let you go now, right?"

"Sure. I won't hospitalize him yet. Going to go get my gear."

"Need help?"

Marion asked beating me to the punch.

"Well I won't turn it down. Rog you got the bar?"

Marion skid behind mouse, pointed to the stash, and winked.

"Sure, I can tend bar. Just be back soon, the natives look restless."

So Marion had more faith in my ability to stop potential issues involving this booze than in hers. Interesting.

---

Marion walked with me while I cooled off, shooting concerned glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking.

"You're going to have to get over that mouse."

"Oh? not going to let some jackass call me anything he wants without challenge."

"Maybe not, but he's much bigger than you are, and getting bigger all the time. Next time he may beat you."

hmm, possibly but I wouldn't lay odds on it.

"Win or lose, I'll make him bleed."

"Probably, but if he wins what will he do to you?"

I shrugged.

"Likely just beat me up. Not even Eric would likely do worse to someone who services the ship directly."

She said nothing else but her face spoke volumes for her. She really thought the worst of Eric. This would bear some investigation; normally such feelings didn't occur in a vacuum.

"OK here we are."

I let her in and grabbed the heavy deck and computer, letting her take the guitar. Who says chivalry is dead? I snorted; it was only through fairy tales mom read me that I knew what chivalry was.

"you drop that guitar I own your commissary."

"Hah! You want it you can have it."

We made it back and I plugged the deck in in silence, Marion as always watching with interest as I turned the deck on and made sure of the controls and connections. All was set so I fired it up, and launched right into Marion's favorite song, a variation of an ancient piece by a composer named Heidyl.

She danced away rather quickly, a large smile on her face. I caught sight of Roger tending bar; he gave an exaggerated sigh which of course no one could hear. then I promptly got mobbed with requests, and very busy.

It was hours later before I got a break, caused by the old half forgotten screen hidden in the far wall sliding out and securing itself to the wall diagonal to it. Securing itself and monopolizing that corner. With a burst of static (which we could now hear since as soon as I saw the screen I cut the music) the 'face' of Oddball jumped to life upon it. The synthesized voice
burst from the speakers almost painfully before it toned itself down.

"Greetings crew of the Magellan. Tonight in accordance with law and charter, we will now vote for positions on the crew roster. Please vote for those you think best suited for each job."

A bunch of small desks popped out from the far wall, with old dusty curtains dropping down from the ceiling. Pads built into the desks lit up...you could see the faint glow through the curtains.

"Please no electioneering at the polls. Please no demonstrations at the polls. Any attempt to write in an invalid candidate will be uncounted. Please vote as your names are called. Order is random. Thank you."

The first 10 names were called, but none were mine. I pondered how many people knew what electioneering actually was out of my generation while I waited. somehow I doubted it was all that many. I was called in the next wave, and had to thread the crowd. I got into the last booth occupied, and settled in with my body blocking the pad. Some niceties had to be observed.

the vote itself was a series of 50 questions like: 'who is your choice for captain?', one question at a time. I suppressed a sigh as my name didn't come up for captain, instead choosing Roger (I really didn't think Marion would make a good captain, though her name on there was a surprise). I chose Seig for first officer, and abstained for engineer. It was just mine and
Brun's name for that list after all, and it was considered bad form to vote for yourself.

There were few other surprises; Lissa was in charge of hydroponics (a slight surprise), Leif had managed to secure an engineering slot (mechanical, very much a surprise). Other than that the vote was pretty much what I expected. Guido was the only name up for security, Claire was the only real choice for quartermaster (I refused to count Milla, that harpy brown noser friend of Lissa) and Dirk was the obvious choice for medic. It took me less than 10 minutes to breeze through the entire 50 people. After tonight we would all have official positions and ranks.

Of course with the vote done we could now either party or leave. I intended to stay for the results but nothing else. With the ease of long practice, I had everything packed up and ready to go by the time the voters were finished and the results posted. There I was, 3rd down, the new chief engineer with 44 votes. Kind of troubling, I knew I didn't vote for me, but that meant there
were 5 other people with no confidence in my abilities. Roger's vote was unanimous. Of course that meant I could tease him some for voting for himself, but it was still a bit disheartening.

Only other person to get 50 votes for anything was Marion. Lissa by contrast, only got 38 votes to be chief botanist. that was kind of laughable, and the look on her face was priceless. I knew I'd be pulling it up from the security feed later. Well my work was done....

"Warning, emergency vote required. Please report to the cafeteria."

Or maybe not, I and a few others of like temperament stopped filing out, and waited.

"Emergency vote G3N1 concerns a violation of population controls. Please vote for the choice you prefer. Please vote as your names are called. That is all."

Population controls? what? we were at the limit population wise, 50. Unless someone had died or had unlicensed children hidden somewhere, there shouldn't be a vote on population yet.

"Anyone know what's going on?"

lots of murmurs and shaking heads assured me most didn't. Some seemed to have an inkling though. I picked out a likely target and repeated my question to Roger's sister Jennifer.

"Hey Jen, what's going on?"

"I think it has to do with the population disposition mouse. Too many guys."

"What difference would that make exactly? I mean couldn't we just have a few families with a few more children?"

She leveled a mild glare at me for a moment.

"I'm going to assume you're not trying to anger me. To answer your question, I have no idea; but something here smells foul."

Not sure what I said to piss her off I just nodded. I waited with her, and the first ten came out. My name wasn't called yet but I advanced anyway. Lief was in that first ten so I approached him first.

"Hey man, what was the vote about?"

His eyes slid away and I was reminded of the time when he was 8 and ate an entire batch of cookies meant for the all of us by himself.

"Sorry mouse, can't say. You'll be in there soon enough."

Odd. Very odd. I looked at the rest of those who'd just voted.

"Anyone here want to explain to me what is going on?"

They all just stared and fidgeted. What was worse, the ones coming out were doing it too, those that weren't looking guilty as Leif did. They weren't staring at anyone else either that I could see. So somehow this was about me. An emergency population vote about me specifically in some way. Weird, I hadn't killed anyone or anything.

With each successive person called my anxiety ratcheted up another notch. None of them would look at me; at least not the ones who were friends or neutral towards me. Eric was downright insufferably ecstatic when he came out, his large smile almost obscene in context. I was about to pay him a visit when the last 3 people were called all at once. Chen, William, and myself.

I'd long since noticed that when Oddball had a vote that affected someone in particular, the random calls to vote always seemed to include them last. My father had admitted he had noticed as much before, and claimed the reason was to prevent a riot. Hard for the people involved to start trouble if they didn't know what was going on, and afterwards with the situation resolved it was easier to deal with them.

Not sure how that helped here, since I really had nothing in common with either Chen or William as far as I could remember. I shrugged as the crowd parted for me, murmurs blending together to form an unidentifiable white noise, even after I went into the voting booth. I read:

'Emergency vote: population control.

In accordance with Directive 7, all populations of males and females per generation must be equal. To provide stability, happiness, and proper maximized breeding potential in accordance to Magellan's colony charter. For a complete list of Directive 7 and all amendments pertaining to it, please click the link provided.

This vote is necessary to decide a proper course of action in light of Directive 7, as pertains to generation 3. Please vote for one of the choices provided. This vote is anonymous.'

Oh, shit. We had 4 more men than women. I quickly tapped the link. There was an amendment in place for both death by natural causes and accidents...so at least we didn't have to kill our own to make things even if we lost people. Hmm, both were voted on and passed by the previous generation. This seemed like a rather large oversight.

I really didn't want to vote on who had to die. Wait had my own friends voted on my death? That didn't make sense, this had to be a planned vote, why nominate me engineer then space me? Why nominate William our ship's pilot then space him? They may not be the most important jobs on the ship, but ships pilot and chief engineer were important enough not to waste a vote on.
Oddball wouldn't be that inefficient, our names wouldn't even show up. I navigated back to the vote itself, looking for my name.

'Choice 1: liquidation of non-essential crew.
Seth Castillo
Brian Moore
Guido Patrucci
Ronald Simmons'

And there it was, euphemism and all. the death of 4 men, two of which were friends of mine. My name wasn't here, but I could see why people who would vote for this choice wouldn't meet my eyes. A quick bit of mental calculation found those losses to be unacceptable. Just losing Seth alone from a logical standpoint crippled us, and forced one of us to take on double duty in
many situations. I really didn't trust Joe to be able to hang the solar cells on the outside of the ship without Seth for example. and quality of life would suffer greatly without Brian.

'Choice 2: Cryogenic stasis of non-essential crew.
Seth Castillo
Brian Moore
Guido Patrucci
Ronald Simmons'

Well that was a bit better, still left us drastically short, but it at least didn't advocate murder. Pretty much would be the same thing though. While we could afford the loss ('on paper' as the old saying goes) it would be a tough few years. We were already taking over a bit early, not all of us were as cross trained as we should be. Add to that that at least two of those on
the list were some of our cross trained personnel it would set us all back further.

'Choice 3: Conversion of 2 males to females.
Mo'ar Zamir
William Spets
Reginald Crawford'

...Whatthefuck?
I mean really, whatthefuck?

Oddball was talking about making two guys girls? How the hell would that even work? And MY NAME was on this list? A memory hit me from left field, of a saying my mother had when she wanted to get out of a situation she didn't like.

Check, please.

There was always a fourth choice to any vote, added due to something mom called a 'hippie'; a conscientious objection. I clicked it and walked out into stares that seemed to form a physical wall. All of them with passive faces and hard eyes, people I'd known my entire life...and I knew.

"Oh you fucking bastards!"

Will and Reggie closed ranks with me, we had been the last to vote. I headed through the crowd, staring them down or shoving them out of the way if they wouldn't move, the other 2 possible condemned in my wake. I spotted Eric again and my hair thin composure almost snapped...The ass was grinning ear to ear now, so wide I thought the top of his head would fall backwards. I went back to my deck and inhaled the rest of my drink.

To hell with packing up, I was out of here.

The screen flashed with the results before my third step, and the entire rapt audience saw:

-Results-
Choice 3 - 42 votes
Choice 2 - 6 votes
Choice 4 - 2 votes
Choice 1 - 0 votes

-Personnel chosen for choice 3 procedure-
Mo'ar Zamir
William Spets

Thank you for voting!

Then the nice bright white freshly cleaned security droids that Oddball maintained showed up.

The large door cycled, and four of them stepped through, two immediately headed for me and two for Will. There were two standing at attention in the hall. They were designed for riot control, and couldn't be given orders without the captain or security chief unless there were special circumstances. A vote like this was not a special circumstance, emergency or not.

"Please come with us Mo'ar Zamir."

I looked over to see Will was already walking with his new escorts.

"Go to hell, tin can."

They grabbed me by the arms of course, in a perfectly co-ordinated movement that I couldn't quite dodge. My kicks bounced off of course, though I was leaving some nice dents.

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES, I'LL REMEMBER THIS! FUCK ALL OF YOU!"

Took me a bit to realize I was the one that was raving, most of my focus going towards trying to kick the neck joint of the bots while they held me up. They were weak there, and a good shot could rupture the coolant tubing, cause them to momentarily shut down before the back ups kicked in. I'd have about 3 seconds before they rebooted if I hit them right.

Unfortunately, I realized they were authorized for debilitating force too late...I heard a tazer crackle to life.

(tbc)