"Hard Times" (Gemini)

= Chapter 10: Hard Times = Sonia rushed around, desperately searching for Byron and Nadia. “Byron! If you can hear me, just let her go. She’s done nothing to you, and I know you wouldn’t do anything to her. Just think about it, this isn’t you! It’s the space dementia! The oxygen levels as well…” Sonia looked at one of the monitors which displayed a warning. “We only have a few more minutes… I feel numb already! I can get you to the med bay… I can’t open it, I can’t risk the others, but I can get you ready… Sure, I’ll be… I’ll be dead… But I trust Wells… And Rosie… They’ll help you,” Already she found the need to take lengthier breaths than normal.

“An interesting proposition,” Byron snuck up from behind with Nadia in his arms, a knife against her. “But I decline! You see… I want us to die, remember? So how about, you just let us get what we want… die with us, Sonia. There’s nothing left for you on Earth. No sister to return to. No nephew. No boyfriend. There’s no one. It’s just us now…” Byron’s eyes became droopy, as Sonia began to lose the feeling in her legs.

“You said it yourself… No oxygen… Time to… To die…” Byron needed to draw lengthier breaths as well.

But then, Sonia was struck with an idea – she saw her spacesuit was in front of the air lock still. She didn’t have the energy to smile or make a quirky remark. She crawled over to it as quickly as she could, holding her breath, and only inhaling during short intervals.

With some difficulty, she slipped into the suit, attaching the helmet to it. She activated her oxygen tank, as she breathed heavily and quickly. She slowed down her breathing rate again to conserve the little oxygen left in the tank – after all, she had used up most of it on her spacewalk.

Across the room from her, she noticed Nadia fading away, struggling to remain awake. “I’m sorry…” Sonia called out to her, her breath fogging up her helmet. She leant back against the wall, resting her eyes.

An hour later, everyone in the med bay was awake again. It had taken them a while to come to their senses. Wells on the other hand did not appear to have been taken by the space dementia, therefore remained awake the entire time. His impulse was to check on Sonia – and eventually he found her outside the air lock.

“Sonia! Sonia! Professor Jones? Are you awake?” Wells shook her energetically, as she slowly opened her eyes. “W-Wells…” She could just about make his face out above the cloud of fog on the visor of her helmet. “Let’s get that thing off of you!” He removed her helmet, as Sonia rapidly inhaled the oxygen. “You… You solved the problem?” She was impressed that Wells had opened up all the vents again. “No, not me…”

Wells turned around, gesturing to Roger at the other end of the room. “Roger!” Sonia jovially called out, as he immediately came running over to her. “Sonia! Thank goodness you’re ok!” He embraced her deeply. “What the hell happened? Space dementia? I can’t believe it! You were right all along!” They laughed slightly.

“Guys,” Kristina and Bertie were crouched beside Nadia and Byron. Wells and Roger helped Sonia to her feet, before joining them over there. “Are they…” Sonia didn’t want to say the word.

“Yes…” Kristina remorsefully answered, “They’re dead…”

For the first time in a considerable amount of months, Roger was stood in front of the air lock control panel again. “First of all: I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to Sonia and Wells for freeing us from the condition that was gripping our minds. Without them, the space dementia would’ve gotten us all unknowingly killed.” Everyone nodded appreciatively to them. “Secondly,” He looked inside the air lock at Byron and Nadia’s corpses inside. “Space is the final destination for humanity. It’s a shame that Byron and Nadia will never get to feel it now. At least most of the previous sacrifices, they were alive for a few brief moments – They would’ve felt space itself. But not all of us can be that fortunate… So, to our friends Byron and Nadia: May the stars take care of you. Safe flight, our friends…” With huge remorse and guilt for once, Roger pulled the red lever, ejecting the two corpses out into the vacuum of space.

“Six of us remain…” Roger followed up. “Professor Sonia, Wells, Rosie, Kristina, Bertie, and of course, myself, Roger. It’s a real shame that we have lost so many of our beloved crew members. But know that their deaths will never be in vein. We know what has to be done now… Byron unlocked the escape pod in attempt to save himself before the space dementia claimed his mind… We have a way back to Earth should we desire to. Trouble is, we can only seat four people in the escape pod. We could risk two lives, but in doing so, the sheer forces acting on the pod would kill the two standees… Therefore, two of you would have to stay up here, with at least some chance of survival for some amount of time… We only have days, if not, hours, if not, minutes even, until this station loses power. It could happen at any moment. We need to make our decisions now. I want everyone to pack their things and make a decision, meet on deck for dinner in one hour. We’re eating early on this day, Boxing Day 2026. Dismissed.” Roger clicked his neck, then headed for his living quarters.

“So, what’s everyone doing?” Bertie asked the others, as they all confided in each other.

“I want to go back to Earth still…” Kristina answered, “I just… I don’t care what it’s like… I have to see it for myself, with my own two eyes. I’m really sorry, and I really don’t want to sound selfish, but I’m not staying behind or giving up my seat for someone else.”

Wells and Rosie looked at each other – their minds were clearly already made up. “That’s alright Kris… We’re staying.” Sonia and Bertie instantly tried to change their minds, but they were obviously already made up. “No, absolutely no way,” Sonia shook her head, “You two have a beautiful relationship. If you go down to Earth, you can live your lives out wherever you want. Think about it, this station is still orbiting the Earth for now. If you want us to go to Australia,” she was slightly biased for obvious reasons, “Then will eject the pod there. If you want to go back to Ireland, Wells, we’ll eject the pod there. If you want to go back to Belgium, Rosie, we’ll eject the pod there! Or maybe you want to go somewhere exotic! Peru? Barbados?” She was desperately trying to convince them not to give up their lives.

“There’s only one place I wanna be, Sonia. And that’s in Rosie’s arms,” He hugged her, as she hid her face in his chest. “Just pack your things… And go. All of you. Sonia, Bertie, Kris, Roger. The four survivors of this catastrophe who returned to Earth… You can tell everyone you meet the story which you have. It’s ok, go…” He turned back to Rosie, as he could feel her tears on his shirt.

“Go…” Sonia quietly requested for Kristina and Bertie to leave the room. They parted Wells with a remorseful look before leaving. “Wells… I’m sorry,” Sonia looked deeply saddened by their sacrifice.

“We live in hard times now, Sonia. Difficult decisions will have to be made… Decisions we don’t want to make. Thankfully, Rosie and I have just made our last one,” he hugged her a little tighter. “Go… Venture forth, Sonia. Venture forth in our name…”

She took a deep breath, and clenched her eyes with her fingers, “Alright, ok… Good luck Wells…” She put her hand on his shoulder, parting him with her heart-warming smile.

Roger was already at the table by the time Sonia, Kris and Bertie had arrived. “Aha! I hope you guys are hungry! Because our special of the day is… Peppers! And berries!” He joked. “We’re all out of protein packs as well I’m afraid. Last one got consumed about a week or two ago. Though it doesn’t really matter. We can get some proper protein when we return to Earth! Speaking of which… Have we um… decided?” He lowered his voice to avoid any aggravation.

Sonia took bites out of her pepper, ignoring Roger’s question. Kristina answered for her instead, “Wells and Rosie… They’re giving up their lives so that us four can get away…” She then took her pepper as well, biting into it.

“Oh, I see… God bless them. I understand how tough it is to make a decision like that. I would never have wanted to force it upon any of you, but it had to be done. Remember, this isn’t anyone’s fault. This is just… unfortunate timing, I guess. The world just so happened to end while we were up here in space.” Roger took his pepper as well, joining the others in eating their food.

“You’d never expect something like this to happen ''back then'', would you?” Bertie appeared to be talking to himself, however the others tried joining in to make it a proper conversation. “I mean, back when we were in the rocket. When we launched off, all the way up here. I would never have ever anticipated that we’d end up killing each other off eventually. If I did know that, then I would’ve actually presumed that I’d be the first to die. No one at school ever liked me, ever. I’m the third youngest of the team as well. Three’s always been an unlucky number for me – No charm. Heck, most of you thought I was younger than Wells and Rosie. I get why. Only two years older than them, makes practically no difference.” He was digressing from his original point, but he didn’t care.

At that moment, the lights went out all across the station, as the engine seemed to stop humming as well – It was completely silent and still. The deck was barely lit up the light from the sun on the other side of the Earth.

“And there it is,” Sonia pointed out, “Power’s gone…”