Redshirts

Abernathy said. “From Xenobiology.”
    “Dahl, sir,” Dahl said. “That was my former posting, yes.”
    “First day on the bridge, then,” Abernathy said.
    “It is,” Dahl said.
    “Well, don’t worry, it’s not always like this,” Abernathy said. “Sometimes it’s worse.”
    “Yes, sir,” Dahl said.
    “Okay,” Abernathy said, and then nodded at the prone figure of Jacobs, who was now moaning softly. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and take Jackson here to sick bay. He looks like he could use it.”
    “Right away, sir,” Dahl said, and moved to help Jacobs.
    “How is he?” Abernathy asked, as Dahl lifted him.
    “Banged up,” Dahl said. “But I think he’ll live.”
    “Well, good,” Abernathy said. “That’s more than I can say for the last weapons specialist. Or the one before that. Sometimes, Dill, I wonder what the hell is going on with this ship. It’s like it has a goddamned curse.”
    *   *   *
    “It doesn’t prove anything,” Finn said, after Dahl recounted the events of the attack. The five of them were huddled around a table in the crew lounge, with their drinks.
    “How much more proof do you want?” Dahl asked. “It was like going down a checklist. Wonky inertial dampeners? Check. Exploding bridge stations? Check. Damage to decks six through twelve? Check. Meaningful pause before dropping to commercial? Check.”
    “No one died,” Hanson pointed out.
    “Nobody had to die,” Dahl said. “I think this battle is just an opener. It’s what you have before the first commercial break. It’s the setup for whatever’s supposed to happen next.”
    “Like what?” Duvall asked.
    “I don’t know,” Dahl said. “ I’m not writing this thing.”
    “Jenkins would know,” Hester said. “He’s got that collection of ‘episodes.’”
    Dahl nodded. Jenkins had splayed out a timeline of the Intrepid that featured glowing hash marks at near regular intervals. Those are where the Narrative intrudes, he said, zooming into one of the hash marks, which in detail branched out like a root structure. It comes and goes, you can see. Each of these smaller events is a scene. They all tie into a narrative arc. Jenkins zoomed out. Six years. Twenty-four major events a year, on average. Plus a couple minor ones. I think those are tie-in novels .
    “Not you, now,” Finn complained to Hester, breaking Dahl’s reverie. “It’s bad enough Andy is all wrapped up in this. Now you’re going over to the crazy side, too.”
    “Finn, if the shoe fits, I’m going to call it a shoe, all right?” Hester said. “I don’t believe his conclusions, but his knowledge of the details is pretty damn impressive. This last engagement went down like Jenkins said it would. He called the thing right down to the exploding bridge station. Now, maybe we’re not actually being written, and maybe Jenkins is off his medication. But I bet he’s got a good guess where this adventure with that rebel ship takes us.”
    “So you’re going to go running to him every time something happens to find out what you should do next?” Finn asked. “If you really want to follow a cult leader, there are better ones than a guy who hasn’t eaten anything but away rations for four years and shits in a portable potty.”
    “How do you explain it, then?” Hester asked Finn.
    “I don’t, ” Finn said. “Look. This is a weird damn ship. We all agree on that. But what you’re trying to do is impose causality on random events, just like everyone else here has been doing.”
    “The suspension of the laws of physics isn’t a random event, Finn,” Hester said.
    “And you’re a physicist now?” Finn countered, and looked around. “People, we’re on a goddamned spaceship . Can any of us really explain how the thing works? We encounter all types of alien life on planets we’ve just discovered. Should we be surprised we don’t understand it? We’re part of a civilization that spans light-years. That’s inherently weird if you give it any thought. It’s all inherently unlikely.”
    “You didn’t say any of this when we met with Jenkins,” Dahl said.
    “I was going to,” Finn said. “But then you were all ‘let’s hear what he has to say,’ and there was no point .”
    Dahl frowned, irritated.
    “Look, I’m not disagreeing there’s something off here,” Finn said. “There is. We all know it. But maybe that’s because this whole ship is on some sort of insanity feedback loop. It’s