"Space Dementia" (Gemini)

=Chapter 8: Space Dementia= “Stop!” Nadia grabbed Byron and threw him away from the control panel. “Are you out of your mind, Byron? They don’t actually want to die! They’re just upset! You’re killing them for misplaced emotions?”

He shrugged, “Does it really matter anymore, Nadia?” He too appeared to have lost hope. “We are literally living in a post-apocalyptic universe now… On board a bloody space station of all things! That’s what you’d expect to see in some Science-Fiction novel!” He also seemed to believe their situation was unrealistic. “We’re all gonna die up here anyway. Those who want to do it sooner rather than later might as well be granted their wish…”

As he tried to move back over to the control panel, Nadia stood in his way, “Byron please, don’t… Just think about this. We still have that escape pod remember!” He laughed her suggestion away, “The heck can we do with that? Return to Earth? You think life down there is any better than it is up here? In another life, you should really be a stand-up comedian, Nadia.” He tried once again to bypass her, but she completely blocked his access to the lever.

“For what it’s worth, I think Nadia is right…” Wells added to the conversation, as Rosie nodded with him in agreement. “Look at them,” Wells nodded to Kristina and Roger inside who were both slouched up against the wall – not caring about anything. “Just let them go, Byron. We’re like family now. We don’t kill each other – at least not anymore anyway.”

Byron looked at all three of his comrades, noticing they were a united front. “Alright… fine,” Byron threw his hands up and headed out into the corridor. Nadia opened the air lock door, “Wells, Rosie, help me get them to the medical bay.”

Sonia continued to admire the Earth beneath even now. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” A familiar Australian accent called to her from behind. Confused, Sonia turned around, “Alison?” She received the shock of her life upon seeing her ‘sister’ behind her.

“Hello Son’. Did you miss me?” She joined her sister at the window as they admired the Earth below them together. “Australia… What a beauty. Even prettier from up here, don’t you think?” ‘Alison’ tried to make conversation with Sonia, but she was partially confused by her sister’s appearance, yet partially also knew she was just a hallucination.

“Remember when we were just kids?” The hallucination of Alison continued anyway, “Remember running through the streets of Sydney? Oh… and how you almost got hit by a cyclist?” She laughed, but Sonia still appeared to be solemn and contempt.

“Lighten up a bit, sis. Please? For me? Come on… What isn’t there to love about your new lifestyle? Think about it, you’ve got fresh vegetables up here for one. You’ve got a new family even. You don’t need me,” Alison fully turned to face her sister, gesturing towards the broken photo frame on the floor, “Looks like you really do miss me after all…”

Sonia began to cry. “Alison… You have no idea… I love you so much, I miss you so much.” Her sister warmly smiled at her, “Hey, it’s ok sis, don’t cry,” She sympathized with her. “Everything’s going to be ok, I promise. You know why? Because I’m here now. Never has there ever been a single problem that you can’t solve with me by your side. We’ve been two little geniuses since we were just twelve. Remember that? The two highest scoring students in the year group – that was us!”

At last, Sonia shared her sister’s warm smile. “That’s more like it, sis!” Alison remarked, “Now, come on. Let’s figure out what’s happening to you, hey? What’s with the sudden hallucination of me? And maybe we can figure out what Nadia wanted while we’re at it too. Us sisters, we can work out anything together. You up for it?” She put her hand out, implying Sonia needed to shake it.

“Yes… Yes!” As Sonia reached her hand out to shake her sister’s, she squinted and winced in pain. After rubbing her eyes for several seconds, she opened them again – Alison was gone. “No… No! Please, no!” She kicked the window. “Come back Alison! Please! I don’t care if you’re just in my head! I love you and I need you! Please!” Again, she kicked the window, this time with force.

As she looked outside onto the black emptiness of space, a realisation came to her. “That’s it…” She knew the cause of the hallucination now, “Space dementia…”

Roger and Kristina had been tied to their beds with zip-ties. “Why do you even have these?” Roger asked Wells – who was guarding the room. “No idea where they came from. For one reason or another, Amanda had them. But she’s drifting somewhere out there right now,” he gestured to the window, “So I highly doubt she’s gonna need them any time soon.”

Kristina laughed heavily, “You see! That’s what I’m talking about! Dark jokes! Why should we be taking this situation seriously? We’re all gonna die! Let’s celebrate!” She cheered extremely loudly, as Roger joined in with her.

From behind Wells, Sonia entered the medical bay. “Sonia? Are you alright?” He noticed she appeared to be saddened, misty-eyed, and rather sweaty too. “Wells, step outside with me for a minute…” She pulled him out of the room.

“What’s going on?” He enquired. “Remember all those times I warned you about getting space dementia up here? Well… I hope you heaved my warnings.” He looked at her, mystified. “Look, just now, I was literally hallucinating my sister. Alison was right next to me… It felt so real, it was as though she was actually there! These hallucinations… Up here, the only logical cause has to be space dementia. I’m suffering from it. I don’t know where it’s come from, I’m guessing someone didn’t pressurize the air lock properly at one point or another. Anyone could be affected by it…”

Wells nodded, believing her. “What? You believe me? You always disbelieved my space dementia theory though?” She was bewildered. “Roger and Kristina… Just go and talk to them. Tell me if that is a symptom of space dementia…” Wells stepped away from the door, allowing Sonia to enter the medical bay again.

“Roger? Kris?” She smiled at them, “How are you guys doing?” She didn’t know what to say, so began with general small talk. “Sonia… I like that name. I’ve never really thought about it until now! It kind of sounds like the name of a flower!” Roger’s comment put a perplexed look on Sonia’s face. “Alright… What about you then, Kristina? What do you think of my name?” She began to laugh, “I think… It sounds like the name of a board game! She laughed even harder, prompting for Roger to join in. He laughed so much he began hitting the ground.

Sonia backed away out of the medical bay slowly.

“Space dementia?” Wells asked her again. “I don’t believe it… It has to be… My god, what if that happens to me?” She turned to face him.

“What if happens to me? Or Rosie?” Wells added. “If that happens to all of us, we’ve got zero hope, of surviving. At all. Is there any kind of…? I don’t know, a cure?” He was completely on board with her now.

“Not really, but there is a treatment for it. A basic treatment: oxygen… That’s all we need. If we can pump enough oxygen into them, they should recover. The only downside is; it would require a lot of it. We’d have to direct it all into the medical bay. Everyone outside would likely pass out, and it would do a lot of damage to the respiration cycle we have on board this station. It’s possible some of the plants and bonsai trees could die from it… Let alone some of us.” She threw her hands over her head. “There’s really only one thing we can do for them… They’re radical, Wells. I need you to understand that.” She put her hands on his arms, he knew what she was about to tell him.

“I get it, Sonia. Kristina nearly opened the air lock to kill all of us. Byron got to her just in time. They’re a threat, and we can’t waste resources trying to save them. You’re about to suggest that we give them what they want, and throw them outside?”

Remorsefully, Sonia nodded. “We don’t have a choice Wells… I’m sorry…” He partially believed that Sonia’s space dementia was affecting her brain as well, as she would never willingly suggest killing two members of the crew unnecessarily.

“Tell you something, this is pretty delicious. For preserved meat anyway!” Byron and Nadia returned to the table to finish the roast chicken. “I know right! For our last meal, it was pretty good as well…” She had brought him back on to the point of their inevitable deaths.

“Look, Nadia,” he leant over the table to her. “I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier; about the escape pod. I’m considering returning to Earth…” Her eyes widened at his proposition, “You really mean that?” He nodded in confirmation.

“Think about it, Nadia. We can die in one of three places. Here, on board the Gemini; Out there, in space; or down there, on Earth. Which would you prefer?” He held his hands up, waiting for an answer.

“Well… Earth, obviously.” Nadia responded. Byron’s face lit up, “Excellent. Then come with me, Nadia. Just the two of us, I’ll take you back to Earth. Two is easier than Eight. We wouldn’t even all survive if eight of us went back to Earth – not enough seats or resources! Look, help me back the berries and peppers which are hanging on those plants, and we’ll descend to Earth. We can find more food like this! More meat reserves. There’s probably a little farm down there run by a post-apocalyptic farmer with several cows, or pigs, or lambs.” He put the vision into Nadia’s mind, convincing her to join him.

“Alright…” She smiled back at him, “Let’s go home…”