"Home Truths" (Gemini)

=Chapter 5: Home Truths= “I love how everyone’s worried about dying of starvation, thirst, oxygen-deprivation or Roger, yet I’m sitting here dying of boredom of all things.” Sonia was pacing the room, completely unaware of Wells’ predicament.

“It’s going to be death by Roger for me,” Bertie replied, still monitoring the radio transmitter. “Don’t worry about him, Bert. We don’t have to get rid of absolutely everyone, remember. Only one or two more, then I reckon Roger will be done with his little killing spree.”

But Bertie wasn’t so convinced, “I wish I shared your optimism Professor. But I really can’t… Oh! Speaking of pointless optimism, it’s time for me to radio down to Earth. You know, the thing which Roger said I should do on an hourly basis… I’ve done over twenty-five transmissions by now. I’m getting tired of just static, Professor. Can’t you at least surgically remove my ears or something?” They both laughed.

“This is Space Station Gemini calling Earth. Repeat, this is Space Station Gemini calling Earth on all frequencies. Can anyone hear me? Over.” He sounded extremely unenthusiastic.

“I repeat. This is Space Station Gemini calling Earth on all frequencies. Can anyone hear me? Over.” Again, the static blared out in his ears. “You see, Professor? Absolutely pointless.” He dropped the microphone on the table, “Anyway, nature calls,” As he rose out of his chair, the static suddenly stopped, instead it was replaced with muffled sounds – as though someone was rubbing the microphone on the other end.

“Professor!” He called to Sonia as she rushed over to him. “What is it Bertie? Is there someone there?” Bertie shrugged, and transmitted back down, “This is Space Station Gemini calling Earth. Is there someone there? Over…” A few moments passed, but for once without any static. “I repeat; this is Space Station Gemini calling Earth. Is there anybody there? Over!” For once he actually sounded upbeat.

“Uh… Hello?” A voice responded to Bertie, as he turned around to show Sonia the jovial look on his face. “Hello! Hello, Earth! Are you still receiving me?” Bertie could barely contain his excitement. “Earth? Yes, this is E…” The man was slightly drowned out by static, as Bertie adjust the frequency slightly to focus just on the man at the other end.

“Are you still there my anonymous friend? Over.” The static was still gone, however there was now complete silence again…

“… Yes, I am still here.” Bertie and Sonia’s faces lit up once again. “Here, pass it to me,” Sonia took the microphone, feeling that she would be far more diplomatic in this situation.

“This is Professor Sonia Jones of Space Station Gemini. To whom am I speaking?” Several more seconds passed. “My name is… It’s Art…” The man was clearly stuttering, though he also sounded rather scared, “I’m sorry I haven’t used my name in such a long time… There’s been really no need… Until now anyway…”

This response along with Art’s scared tone had confused Sonia, “Well then, Art, are you alright down there? You sound rather distressed my friend.” She could hear him swallowing and gulping hard. “No… No… Listen to me, Professor Jones, or Sonia, whoever the heck you are! Just, listen to me, please. There’s people here… lots of people here. I didn’t know there were this many survivors!”

Sonia’s eyes widened, “Survivors? You mean there’s not just a few who survived this… Virus?” Again, the man’s breathing and swallowing were erratic. “No, no…. There’s still many of us here… They said that… Or someone said that… Only around 75% of the population were killed by this epidemic, this Death virus… whatever it is! I don’t even care anymore!” The man broke down into a fit of crying.

Sonia turned to Bertie, with a look of concern on her face. “Art… Listen to me, ok? If around 25% of people on Earth are still alive, then that means you have nothing to worry about. Humanity will go on. This is no extinction. I want you to save yourself the trouble of encountering these, so-called ‘bad people’… Tell me, do you have a weapon with you?” Sonia now was swallowing hard; she could only think of one thing to do for Art.

“Um… Uh, yes… I have two. I have a hammer, and I have a handgun… Why?” Sonia wiped one tear from her eye. “Put the gun against your jaw… please… Just forget everything else, and listen to me. Trust me…”

He slowed his breathing, as she heard him cocking the gun. “They won’t take me alive…” Next, a gunshot echoed down the radio, followed by the thump of, what was presumably, Art’s corpse collapsing against the floor. “May the stars take care of you. Have a safe flight, Art…” Sonia nodded to Bertie, who tuned out of the frequency.

“So, looks like someone found Earth Control after all. That’s gotta be good, right? Now we know the home truths, Sonia. Not everyone is dead!”

Now, it was Bertie who was the optimistic one. “I wish shared your optimism, Bert’. But I just can’t… If that man found Earth Control, that clearly means everyone who was actually working in there is now dead. Otherwise, someone else would’ve radioed up. Bertie… That wasn’t good news, it was the brutal and harsh reality of things. No one’s coming for us. No one even knows we’re up here. Talking Art into suicide… It was the only favour we could do for him… Now, we might as well do the same thing…” Sonia turned around, and slowly strolled out of the room with a depressed look on her face…

Wells and Rosie had been tied against Rosie’s bed. Amanda paced the room. “Look, what do you want? Just tell us, and we’ll give it to you!” Wells was determined to protect Rosie.

“Wells honey,” Amanda began, “I like your name. It reminds me of the author. Tell me, were you named after him? Or were you named after the other one?” He didn’t respond.

“No point in giving me the silent treatment, dear.” Amanda pulled the knife out again, placing it against Rosie’s throat.

“Yes! Yes, I was named after the author!” Wells was quick to protect Rosie – who still did not say anything. “You see, that right there is your weakness… Not the name stuff, I mean Rosie. It’s evident to everyone else on this station that you have a crush on the girl. Rosie turned to face him, with one eyebrow raised. Wells was too embarrassed to say anything. “You seriously haven’t noticed? Wow, then you’re more stupid than you look,” As Amanda taunted Rosie, Wells tried lunging out, his zip-ties restricting him.

Amanda laughed. “Now, there it is… That’s the Wells I’ve been looking for all along! The feisty one… The aggressive one… The one who loves the girl that contributes zero to the rest of the crew, yet still does anything to keep her safe. It’s cute, but pathetic. We’re all gonna die up here now… I hope you realise that, Wells. Even Rosie here is all out of time.”

Wells dismissed everything which she had just said. “Why are you keeping us here then, Amanda? I mean, why not just kill us?” She laughed again, “Believe it or not, I don’t actually want to kill either of you. In fact, it’s because you two are so young and clumsy that I’m keeping you alive. You see, everyone else on this station is going to die before you two. Then, we shall return to Earth, you will be my minions. You know how I’m going to do that? I’ll just threaten the other one. For example, if I want Rosie to do something, I’ll just threaten you, Wells. And vice-versa.” Her cruel tone was not intimidating either of them.

“Look me in the eye and say that then, bitch!” Wells taunted her, as though he had a plan. Rosie was shocked by his daring attempt.

“You watch your potty mouth boy!” Amanda pulled the knife out again, “Otherwise, you can make just like Gus and Neil, and get stabbed.”

Though Wells was shocked to hear about Neil being attacked, now wasn’t the time to react. He had to think about saving Rosie now.

“I said… Look me in the eye and say that, you… bitch…” He repeated himself solemnly.

“I do say, you are extremely foul-mouthed, aren’t you?” She crouched down right in front of him. “Alright then… Here’s what I’m gonna do to you: I’m going to make you my slave when we get back to Earth. The same thing will happen to Rosie. If you don’t do what I ask you to do, I’ll kill her,” she leant closer to him, “How does that sound, dear?” She whispered.

“I’ve got a better plan,” Wells responded. “Oh…” Amanda smirked, “And what’s that?” Wells smirked back at her, “Well, you see. Unluckily for you, I trained for the S.A.S. five years ago. Didn’t quite make the cut, but I learnt many valuable things. For example,” He leant forward, gesturing for her to do the same.

Wells whispered to her, “In case of a hostage crisis, we were taught how to break free from several different kinds of restraints – including rope and zip-ties…” Amanda leant back, realising what he was telling her.

Then all of a sudden, Wells ripped his hands out from behind him, engaging them around Amanda’s neck, pushing her back. He released his grip on her again, “Luckily for you, I’m not a killer…” He grabbed her head and threw it back against the ground, “Sleep tight…” He took her knife and turned back to Rosie.

Wells cut Rosie loose from her zip-ties. “One of the many advantages of not cutting your fingernails… You can always break free from zip-ties. Thank you to my drill sergeant for teaching us that!” Immediately, Rosie jumped at him, kissing him intensely on his lips. “I reserve my words for the people I love…” She finally spoke, as they continued to snog. -The writer claims that the reason why Sonia was able to convince Art into shooting himself was due to the fact that Art was already suicidal because of the apocalypse, but also that Sonia has a manipulative personality.
 * This could foreshadow her becoming a villainous character.