The survivors - A NextColony based sci-fi story - chapter 1.1

"Kaya! Kaya! Where are you?"
The voice got nearer. Then he was at her place.
"Kaya. Are you ok?"
"I'm ok, but you need to get out of here, Keller", the woman replied with a broken voice.
He looked down on her. Her face was pale and cyanotic, she was breathing hardly.
"Kaya ..."
"Get out of here, Keller, as long as you can ..."
She closed her eyes in an attempt to get some rest and he realized she had never looked so frail all the time before.
Then she opened her eyes again.
"Keller, please ... I cannot get up myself and you have to save yourself and the others ..."
She took some breaths and closed her eyes again for some time before she continued to speak.
"... they need you. I need you to go there. Do it for me. Please. Keller."
Then she was drifting away. Her breathing got shallow before she stopped breathing at all.
He let go of her hand and searched her pockets for anything he could take with him, to keep her remembrance visible to all.
After that, he took his bags and ran off to the site of the ship.

* * *

Two hours later the ship had started off and he found himself knocking at the door of the captain's room. An old man opened.
"Keller! There you are."
The old man looked at him but Keller could not make out any emotion in his face.
"Yes, sir."
"You're not overly happy that we left Commander Kaya down there."
Keller remained silent. His thoughts were drifting away.
"Keller!" , the old man said aloud and continued a little more patient, "I need you here to help me. You are the only ecologist. You see, we do not only need you. We depend on you."
"Sir ..."
"I have lost beloved ones also. There will be time for grief later. I need you to set up the ecology systems before we go into hyperspace. There will be a general meeting at the bay in", the old man looked at his clock, a gift from his ancestors which he kept even though it was out of fashion, "in 4 hours time. All survivors are rquired to attend it."
"Yes, sir", replied Keller.
And he was leaving the room while the old man gazed at him walking away.

* * *

Keller dived into work with such dedication that he was much quicker than usual. Sally Greene, a woman who had been ordered to assist him, was bewildered - never any men in her tribe had been so focused and effective. She started to realize he was working to forget.
"By the way, I'm Sally", she said in a soft voice.
"Hi Sally", he said mechanically, not looking up.
"Don't you want to talk?"
"I think we have some work to do here, Sally. Have you ever worked in a ecology lab?"
"No, but I can learn ..."
"There's no work for you to do here, Sally. Please get another assignment." Keller rushed from one machine to another, pressing buttons, inserting samples from a box on the shelf into one of the machines, looking at the progress of another machine ...
Sally had followed him all the way so he finally came to a halt.
"Ok", he said.
Keller produced a handheld device and gave it to her.
"Please read up that list."
"Setup of water source."
"That has been done."
"Retrieval of plant samples."
"Done."
"Setup and start of the incubator."
"Done."
"Insertion of plant samples into the incubator."
"Done."
"Programming of the incubator for a long low-energy travel."
"I'm at it. Anything else?"
"Setup of a connection between the water source and the incubator."
"Done."
"Alright, Mr ..."
"Keller"
"Mr Keller. Alright, you obviously can handle your tasks yourself. There's still two hours time till the meeting. I could stay here and we could ask for another assignment later together."
"No." He stopped typing on the screen of the machine.
"Well, Mr Keller. I have been ordered to assist you and make sure you're ok. I suspect you are but I'm not permitted to leave you alone. You are considered unstable. And we have you attending the meeting. Did I make myself clear?"
"Absolutely, ma'am." It was his turn to be bewildered now. Which rank did that lady have?
"Please finish your work Mr Keller. The sooner we can get off the lab the better."
She withdrew into a corner of the room and produced another handheld device on which she typed a few times. Then without a word, she got into soome rest position which he considered not to be human.
Well, at least he could go on with his work. He took a deep breath and decided to work a little slower.

* * *

To be continued

Thanks to @art-universe for hosting a sci-fi writing contest based on the @nextcolony game's background story.