“Don’t you think that’s fucked up?”
“Dude, it’s nothing. It’s just a little pinprick. We’ve all done it. She’ll be fine.”
“She’s passed out, though.”
“Yeah, so she won’t even remember by morning.”
“I’m really not sure about this, Mel.”
“Then go to your room, Eliot. Lucky for you, I’m the one holding the needle. It’ll be over soon.”
Seizing. Desperate gasping. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.” Muscle spasms.
When she comes to, she’s wearing a respirator plugged in to a big metal tank. The room’s cold; its walls are bare steel. She’s in her underwear. “Did I…”
“I injected you with the helix serum while you were out, yes.”
This isn’t my body anymore, she thinks. Her palms look like they always have. “Melissa…” The mask distorts her voice’s quiver.
Melissa grabs a short wave radio from her green army jacket. “Pump it,” she says, “I’m pretty sure she’s breathing normally.”
A bright orange gas, the color of Cheeto dust, hisses into the room from vents on the floor. They stare at each other through the haze. When it reaches the ceiling, Melissa takes her mask off. “You can breathe now, Aliya. Take it off.”
The other woman pulls her mask off. “I said I wouldn’t do this.”
“You enlisted.”
“But I said I wouldn’t do it.”
Mel cocks an eyebrow. “You’re the only mechanic on board. This is your job. Besides, we gave you the shot now, isn’t that what you were worried about? It’s a fait accompli, and it was pretty expensive. I’d say it behooves you to go have a look outside, don’t you think? I’ll go out with you if you’re scared. Or Eliot, if you’d rather.”
Aliya grits her teeth. “Fine. I’ll go out alone.”
I wonder where I lost her.
They met one spring afternoon, on Earth. They were nine. Aliya was reading Treasure Island by a tree. The book was a present; it was boring. A breeze rattled the leaves.
THUMP!! She looked up from her book to see a ball bouncing off a brick wall. A girl caught it on her chest, controlled it, and kicked it with another big THUMP!
It smashed a window. The girl stood there, wide-eyed and petrified.
“RUN!” Aliya was on her feet, was taking her by the hand. They ran.
The door opened. “HEY!!” They ran. “You kids!” They ran. “This won’t end like this!”
The airlock falls open. The room depressurizes. “Okay, Ali,” says Melissa through a speaker. “You’ve got about five hours of sunlight.”
She thumbs-ups the wall-mounted camera, then steps out.
Harsh winds under a blue desert sun. The sand lacerates her heavy jacket. She coughs every once in a while; the air tastes like stale cigarette smoke. The landscape is barren and golden, with scattered jagged grey rocks, and a black crater in the distance. It takes her just over an hour to get to the crater. She spends about twenty minutes rappelling down to its center.
The surface is burnt rock. Somehow, no sand gets in. It’s warm to the touch; she feels it through her gloves’ leather. Although the terrain is irregular, her steps are smooth and silent. The wind fades, as if a window had come between it and her. Pillars of grey smoke rise occasionally from cracks in the rock.
What am I looking for? How big is this thing, anyway?
The senior geologist, Cranton, showed it to her before he set out for the first expedition. A metal rod about six feet tall, with a drill on the bottom and a red-painted top with some buttons on it. Of course, only the top is supposed to protrude. Only Eliot returned from the first expedition. Six people were lost. Astounded and silent, the remaining half of the crew gathered round him in the mess hall to hear the story.
“We got there,” he said, “at about 0700, with seven hours of light ahead of us. Kerr and Hwang spent an hour or so scoping the place out, and taking a bunch of soil samples. The rest of us found a stable place on the rim of the crater and set up a tent there. They came back with some notes and told Cranton he could proceed. Kerr said the soil was stable enough to support the vibrations. She said they’d actually found a perfect spot for it, so we followed her there. I think it was maybe 60 yards off the center of the crater, but… scratch that. I really don’t remember. Anyway, she and Hwang had marked it out with a yellow flag, but I guess that wouldn’t be there anymore. When we got there, Cranton buried the ultrasound probe right next to the flag. He said it was super easy.
Things got weird as soon as he turned it on. The earth shook, but it was odd; I’ve never felt it like that. The probe’s pulses are supposed to be irregular, but the ground was moving up and down all together, all at once. It’s like it was breathing. Hwang said we should turn it off; he said maybe they’d gotten a calculation wrong, or maybe we should return with a different probe, but Cranton refused. He kept saying it was normal. He said it had to do with the planet’s constitution, how it had so few mountains and internal caves. He said it’s like the whole thing is one single seedless fruit.”
He paused.
“Suddenly, the ground stopped shaking and everything was dead quiet for a second. Then the wind came rushing in. Whatever it is that keeps the wind out of the crater must’ve stopped or paused or something, cause the next thing we know we’re being buffeted by sand. There were pieces of glass in it. Hwang shouted”Abort!” at that point; I don’t think Cranton heard him. I think him and Kerr tried to rush the device and turn it off, but I’m not sure. We were all panicking. Me and some others, Rosie and Valdés, broke away and tried to run back to the tent, but the wind was blowing so hard it kept knocking us over. When the ground started rumbling again, Cranton said: “See? It just takes perseverence,” and that’s when the monster burst out from the rock.”
He paused again. The crew looked at him. He looked at his hands on the table.
“I thought it would be hard to describe, but I guess it looked just like a huge snake. It was probably fifty feet long, and at least fifteen feet tall. Its skin was this really deep blue, but it didn’t seem to have scales. It had these tiny little black eyes that moved so quickly. All of it moved so quickly; it’s like its head was on a swivel. And it had two huge pairs of fangs. Valdés and Betancourt freaked out and started shooting. The bullets did nothing. They sank into its skin like it was water. Valdés was the first to die. The thing let out this metallic hissing scream and crushed his head with its fangs. It killed Betancourt with a swish of its tail. When they were both dead it looked at the rest of us, and the wind stopped again. I could hear it breathe from where I was standing. Then it hissed again, and its skin let out a white vapor. I think it was oxygen, cause I immediately started coughing and feeling light headed. I think it’s able to control the atmosphere inside the crater somehow. Maybe that’s what those plumes of smoke are for; maybe that’s why the wind can’t get in. I guess it flooded the whole place with oxygen. I saw Rosie drop to the ground next to me, holding her throat. Right before I lost consciousness, I heard her gasping and whispering”Mel, Mel, Mel,” over and over. I thought I was done for.
When I came to, I was standing alone just outside the crater, by where the tent was. The snake was gone, and somehow I knew everyone else was dead. I think it rescued me so I could come back and tell you about it.
Melissa, I–I’m sorry. I don’t know why it saved me and not Rosie. I wish…”
He trailed off. Everyone turned to Melissa. “Rosie knew what she was signing up for,” she said quickly. “Is the probe still sending signal out?”
“I think so,” said Aliya, reading a handheld monitor, “but it looks all fucked up. The values are out of range. I think it’s damaged.”
“You think you can repair it?”
“If I had it with me, yeah.”
“Then let’s send out a detail to recover it. Xie, Collina, you’re going out with explosives to kill the snake. Take some respirators with you, in case it oxygenates the crater’s air again. Brennan will go back out with you as a guide.”
“No!”
Eliot’s outburst startled the room. “I mean… Please don’t send me back out there. Whatever that thing was, I don’t think I ever wanna see it again. I think we should head back.”
“Whatever,” Melissa said, rolling her eyes, “Collina and Xie will go out alone. Try to recover the probe if you can, but your priority is to secure the area. Blow the joint if it comes to it.”
Aliya trips over something, cutting her memories short. She tries to regain her balance, but can’t. She falls over next to a blue-faced corpse. She looks at its square-cropped hair, its rectangular glasses. It’s Collina. His respirator mask is in his stiff hands.
What am I even doing? Everyone’s dead. If I find the probe and fix it, I’ll probably die too. I should head back and report that the second expedition failed. No signs they got the snake. Maybe then she’ll agree to return to Earth…
Earth… I’ll never breathe normally there. Jesus Christ, Melissa. What was the point of all this?
She curls up by Collina’s corpse, almost hugging it. She can feel his machine gun hanging off his belt, and explosive charges next to it, untouched. If she were here, she’d tell me to take these and blow the place up, I guess. But what is there to blow up?
She’s close to the bottom of the crater. It’s featureless. The rock underneath her feels volcanic; she runs her fingers over its pores. Broken-off pieces litter the ground. This already looks like an explosion site. Who’s to say the snake is here? I’ll find the probe and head back. I don’t think Mel has a right to expect any better than that.
But she doesn’t want to move. The ground is wonderfully warm. She unconsciously spreads out her arms and legs to feel it. She feels sleepy. What if I never return? She pictures Melissa giving her up for dead. Eliot’s grief. Their return to base empty-handed. Mel’s career stalling. Officers whispering to each other when they see her. No less than she deserves. She’s surprised to feel like that. But what about Rosie? If that didn’t move her, nothing will. I can’t believe she’s gotten like this.
She remembers Rosie’s smile at Christmas a few years ago. How the two of them laughed at private jokes. Secret Santa. Eliot’s new sneakers. Rosie’s red face as she pulled out a frilly bra from a bag. Mel’s giggles. They were happy. She’s falling asleep. The cold sun bathes her face. Christmas lights. Cutting a pie. Rosie and Mel under mistletoe.
The dream sweeps her; she falls down her Christmases past. Her mom’s apple puree. Treasure Island.
The cold wakes her up. It’s dark. The rock feels as warm as it did in the day, but it isn’t enough anymore. Her face is freezing. Oh fuck, she thinks, and gets back on her feet. Am I about to die of hypothermia? How ironic. I haven’t even seen the snake and I’m still gonna die.
She gives Collina’s corpse a last look, then walks away. Maybe I can make it to Eliot’s tent.
She stops suddenly. There’s a silhouette standing in front of her. She can just about make it out in the starlight. Its back is turned. Melissa? Is she here to rescue me? How long has it been? She approaches it softly and lays a hand on its shoulder. “Mel?”
The silhouette turns around. Thin cat-eye glasses, small silver earrings. “Xie! Holy shit, we thought you were dead.”
“You the rescue?” Her tone’s flat and lethargic.
“Yeah, I guess so, what happened? Why didn’t you get back to the ship? It’s been days.”
“You got water? I’m out.”
“Uh, sure, here,” she opens the small pack slung round her back and hands Xie a metal water bottle.
“Thanks. Let’s go back to the tent.”
Xie leads the way. Aliya follows in silence, shivering. After a while, they see the tent: a glowing blue pyramid on the rim of the crater.
“You’ve got lights?” asks Aliya.
“The first expedition left them there.”
There’s a rope hanging down from the crater’s top. They grab onto it and start climbing, slow going in the dark. They trip, they scrape their knees. She’s gasping for breath by the time they get up. Was it like this on Earth? Is it the serum? Xie seems okay though, maybe it’s practice. They go into the tent.
The inside feels warmer than the walls’ fabric seems to warrant; maybe it’s the sudden change. The warmth settles into her bones. There’s a small white light on the floor, between two sleeping bags. A pile of other equipment sits on a corner; ropes, knives, goggles.
Xie takes off her jacket and sits on one of the sleeping bags. She motions for Aliya to take the other.
“Aren’t you cold?” she asks. “You should put that back on.”
“It’s whatever. The tent’s very warm. How come it’s you they sent? I’d have thought Kirby would come down.”
“Yeah, she–she didn’t. The probe stopped transmitting entirely the day after yourself and Collina set out. She said that probably meant that you’d set off an explosive charge and damaged it. She said we should try to either fix it in-situ or recover the black box, and that she didn’t have the mechanical training to do it. So she sent me. She and Eliot –Brennan, I mean– stayed on board.”
“And you went with it? I thought you said you didn’t want the shot. You were adamant when we were in orbit. What changed?”
“We–there was an altercation. I said I wouldn’t do it. Eliot supported me. We tried to tell her that…”
She pauses, breaking eye contact.
“That the two of you were probably dead and that it made no sense to sacrifice more lives. She insisted that the snake was dead, and told us we were being insubordinate. She said neither of us could pilot the ship without her and that, even if we did, we’d be tried as deserters on Earth. She basically dared us to mutiny.”
She turns back to Xie, gauging the other’s reaction. She’s impassive, unsmiling. Aliya continues.
“I kinda did. I tried to overpower her; I didn’t really wanna hurt her, just to tie her up or something while we got the ship back to Earth. I’m still not sure they’d have seen us as deserters. The mission’s failed, right? They know they’re sending us out into the unknown, they know it’s a gamble. They can’t win every time. That’s all I was thinking. I sucker-punched her. I thought all I had to do was knock her out and then Eliot and I would be able to figure something out. We were in the bridge. I sort of bear-hugged her and asked Eliot to take off her respirator. He didn’t move, it’s like he was frozen. I didn’t want us hurt her, I just thought it’d be a quick way to disable her; I would have put it back on as soon as she was out. I didn’t see her touching the control panel while we struggled; she pumped the bridge full of carbon monoxide and I passed out. When I came to, she’d already given me the shot.”
“And Brennan didn’t try to stop her?”
“I–I guess he didn’t.”
“Don’t you think that’s fucked up?”
“I mean I–I guess so? He knew I didn’t want the shot. Everyone knew. I mean, heck, by the time the first expedition went out, I was the only oxygen-breathing crew member; even he’d had it. I guess he just didn’t know what to do in the moment, or he didn’t wanna fight Mel or something. I’m pretty sure she’d kick his ass; she’s trained.”
“So you realized that you didn’t really have Brennan’s support, and you accepted to come down here.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way, but sure.”
“I see.”
Is she being judgemental? What a time to pick. “So what about you? What happened to Collina? He took off his respirator.”
“Yes. When we got to the crater a few days ago, we found the floor rumbling normally. The probe was working as far as we could tell, although we couldn’t find where Cranton had planted it. There was no sign of the snake, so we didn’t set any charges. We split up to look for the probe; we’d been at it for half an hour when I heard Collina’s machine gun. I turned around, expecting to see him fighting the snake, but he was alone. I don’t really know what happened next. Plumes of steam rose from the floor. We put on our masks. I rushed to where Collina was. As I neared, I could hear him shouting at something. It’s like he was in conversation. By the time I got there, he’d taken his mask off. I couldn’t revive him.”
“Why didn’t you go back to the ship?”
Xie doesn’t answer, just sips Aliya’s water. The light flickers. After a long time, she speaks again, looking out the tent’s flap as she does so.
“We did this to ourselves. We went and injected ourselves with a serum that keeps us from living normal lives on Earth. What for? Maybe that’s why Collina took his respirator off.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did we come down here, Aliya?”
“It’s our job, right? We signed up for the exploratory forces, to do recon on uninhabited planets.”
“No. Why did we come down here?”
“I mean, I suppose because our scanners detected an anomaly centered around this crater? Cranton said it could be related to geothermal conduits. He said we might be able to tap into the planet as an energy source.”
“So we came down here to use the planet as an energy source.”
“To figure out if we could, yeah.”
“And we injected ourselves with the helix serum –which was rather painful, I might add– to figure out if we could use this desert planet as an energy source. That’s why we fucked up our bodies.”
“Hey, I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t even want the shot, remember?”
“Then why did you sign up?”
“I just wanted to see stars and shit! Rosie’s dead now, you think I’m happy about that? She was my friend. They didn’t tell me we’d have giant snakes to deal with, they said I wouldn’t even have to leave the damn ship!”
“Why are you getting defensive? I’m not blaming you.”
“You’re asking a lot of questions you already know the answer to. That’s a cheap rhetorical trick. What are you suggesting? You think Collina was right to choke to death? Should we go back down there and see if we can find the snake so it can kill us too?”
“Maybe.”
The glint on Xie’s glasses hides her eyes for an instant.
“Why were there two sleeping bags here? You and Collina never came here together, did you? You make it sound like he died within hours of you setting foot on the anomaly.”
“He did.”
“So?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“For a rescue, you mean?”
“No. I was waiting for you.”
“Xie’s dead, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re using her body to talk to me.”
“Yes.”
“What are you?”
“The ancients of your world would have called me Ocean. I’m this planet’s blood, its hope for life. The wind made the sand. I made the wind.”
“And the anomaly?”
“Is both my exhale and my landing pad. One day I’ll pour out from it as more than invisible vapour, and this world will be ready.”
“For what?”
Ocean smiles.
“For whatever. That isn’t my choice anymore.”
“So what now? Do you kill me?”
“Not necessarily. In fact, I can do something for you. If we act quickly enough, I think I could reverse the helix serum. You’d be able to go back to Earth and walk around without carrying a carbon tank.”
“And in return?”
“You help me kill Melissa Kirby. She’s dangerous. She’s able to set aside everything in pursuit of her goals. I don’t even think the goals themselves matter to her. She just wants to win. Now that she knows about this planet’s potential for geothermal energy, she’ll do whatever she can to get another crew together and can come back to try and undo her defeat. It won’t take her long; people like her lose sleep over failures.”
Aliya says nothing. The wind outside the tent whistles, rushes.
“Oh, so now it’s a risk.”
Sunrise floods the bridge with light. Through big glass panes, a view of the desert. Melissa’s sitting on a tall swivel chair. Eliot, arms crossed, stands in front of her.
“It always was, you were right.”
“So it was fine to risk Ali to recover the probe, but Ali’s not worth a rescue mission.”
“I said I made a mistake. I fucked up. I’ll probably get in trouble for this, you know? I just lost a whole crew.”
“Yeah, right. You’re hot shit. Doesn’t this kind of thing happen every so often? You just found them a nice geothermal opportunity– why are we talking about you? The probe never came back online, right? So maybe Ali’s still out there; let me go look for her. I’ll come back before sundown whatever happens.”
“No. We head back.”
Suddenly, there’s a figure on the horizon. Melissa sees her first. She swivels towards the panes, and says: “Eliot. Look.”
“Holy shit.”
The airlock hisses open. Aliya comes back into the ship. They look at her with hanging jaws. Finally, Melissa steps forward and hugs her.
“Ohmygod, I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought–” she starts sobbing. “I thought I’d gotten you killed, Ali, I’m so sorry. I should’ve listened to you. Let’s get out of here now.”
“I found the probe,” says Aliya simply, not reacting to the hug.
Melissa pulls back and looks into her eyes, sniffling. “You didn’t bring it online, though.”
“I wasn’t able to. I need your help. I think the snake flooded the crater with wind again; some boulders from the desert fell in. It’s buried under those.”
Mel and Eliot trade a look. Mel asks: “Well, do you wanna go get it, Ali?”
“Sure, let’s go. It’ll be quick.”
“I’m not sure it’s worth it anymore. Let’s just go back. You guys were right.”
“You’ll get in trouble, won’t you?”
“Whatever.”
“But you’re doing so well! I don’t want you to get in trouble. A few hours max. We’ll be back by sundown. The anomaly’s not dangerous anymore.”
“…”
“Leaving now won’t bring Rosie back. We may as well find out what she died for. We’re so close.”
“Uhm,” Eliot says. Mel turns away from her friend.
“I guess I deserve that. I guess I did get her killed. Is the area secure?”
“I’m alive, aren’t I?”
“Then we should go back for her body. The others too. Her parents would like that. I know they’ve got a plot back in Georgia. I think she’d want to be laid there to rest. We’ll see about the fucking probe. If it’s easy. Let’s go.”
“Good. You and I, so Eliot can watch the ship.”
“I’ll go with you,” he says. “You’re gonna carry back all those bodies alone?”
“No,” says Melissa, “she’s right. We’ll bring some of those construction dollies we’ve got. It’s kind of a fucked up way to carry a body, but it’ll work.” She hugs Ali again. “let me get myself suited up and we’ll go, okay?”
The wind outside has died down. They can hear the soft crunch of their boots on the sand, the dollies’ creaking wheels. They say nothing.
Am I really gonna do this? Aliya’s thinking. She seemed genuinely sorry. Maybe she can change again. Is she actually dangerous?
She stops moving involuntarily. She’s lost in thought. Mel walks a few paces in front of her then turns around: “You okay?”
The sun’s just behind her head. From where Ali’s standing it looks like a halo.
“Yeah. Sorry, I just got distracted by something. Let’s go.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, come on. There’s no time to waste.”
Why is it so hard to judge someone you’ve known for so long? When I look at her, do I see her? Or do I see the girl she was decades ago?
She remembers the day Mel convinced her and Eliot to enlist. They were at a bar. She was still in uniform; they all walked in ten minutes before the end of her shift. She poured out four beers and sat at their table. “Fuck it,” she said, “I’m clocked out.”
“Let’s goooo,” Rosie said, “early clockout.” She was already in a respirator by then. “I wish my boss would let me clock out early sometimes.” She gave Mel a flirty side-glance.
“C’mon babe, you barely do any work. Other than the helix shots, what’ve you had to do on my ship? I guess Betancourt tripped on that escarpment the other day and you had to give him stitches.”
“Yaa, you run a pretty tight ship, I must say. Pretty tight.”
“Behave.”
“How long’ve you been in charge now?” asked Eliot.
“Eight… months?” Mel looks at Rosie quizzically. The other’s sipping beer through a straw fit into her mask. “Does that sound right?”
“I guess? You were on for that mission with that volcano, remember? That was your first and that was in, like, October.”
“That was fucked. I thought we were losing someone there for sure.”
“What happened?” asked Aliya.
“Well,” Rosie said, “the geologists swore up and down that this one volcano was totally inactive, totally safe. To be honest, that was a pretty weird planet. There was, like, methane in the atmosphere, it was super thick and hard to breathe. Horrid little shrubs with blue leaves. Looked like underwater creatures. Anyway, these fucks said we should go all the way up to the rim of the thing and whatnot. I think they get off on looking into the mouth of a thing that can kill them. So up we go, yadda yadda, they take some measurements, they rub their dicks, and then on the way back down there’s this BARROOOM sound, and we turn around and the thing’s blown. There’s lava streams coming our way.”
“Jesus,” said Eliot.
“I just saw this smoke plume rising,” said Melissa, chuckling, “and I was like”oh shit.” I’m, like, immediately fearing the worst, right? So I give the order to rescue them in the ship, which is usually, uhm, “discouraged.” The official doctrine is that the ship is our base on the planet, so we should park it somewhere safe and away from any geological features that might fuck it up. If we lose folks out there, we lose ’em, but losing the whole ship kills way more people. Anyway, I ignored all that,” they all laughed, “and flew it in really low.”
“Yeah, the bottom panels were like, melting, right?”
“Yeah, I got chewed out pretty bad for that. But we sent down a ladder, and people scaled it and got home, so who’s right? Me or some crusty higher-ups?”
They laughed again. Someone tapped Aliya’s shoulder: “Hey, excuse me, is your kitchen still open? Could we get some cheese sticks over here?”
“Hey!” Eliot said, “she’s off-shift, man, come on.”
“Yeah, dude,” Rosie jumped in, “we’re visiting her from OUTER SPACE. Go pick up your cheese sticks at the bar.”
The guy shrugged and walked away. “Thanks guys,” said Ali.
“When are you gonna get bored of working like this?” asked Melissa, “I know you could be so much more than a server at a bar. You really should enlist, you know? You can study something you’re passionate about. Explore the freaking galaxy.”
“That’s the problem, though, I don’t know what I’m passionate about.”
“Then just study whatever. We need so many people in all disciplines right now; it’s growing super quickly. You could literally get a job as a mechanic.”
“Don’t you have to have the helix shot?” Eliot asked, “I think I wouldn’t be up for that, you know? Carrying a carbon tank around whenever I’m back on Earth.”
“It’s really not that bad. Look at us, we’re sitting here drinking beer with you like it’s nothing. The tank’s pretty light, we just throw it in our backpacks.”
“It does kinda mean that our nights out are limited, though,” put in Rosie.
“Yaaah, but you don’t have to have it. Again, just as an example, if you study mechanical you don’t even have to really leave the ship.”
Ali leaned forward: “Really?”
“Yeah, totally. I had it a while ago cause I signed up for security, and Rosie’s had it cause obviously the doctor goes out on missions, but there’s crew members without it. The ship’s interior usually runs oxygen, actually. Unless we’re in our quarters, we’re in there with respirators. You should think about it. You too, Eliot –I’d kill for a chemistry guy. Be at it for a few years, make some money, you know, then you can figure out what you do from there. It’s not a bad life.”
“Would I be assigned to your ship?” Eliot asked, “who does that depend on?”
“Captain Fantastic can make anything happen,” Rosie said, “guaranteed she gets you two on our crew.”
Mel winked.
“I mean, I’ll think about it,” said Ali, “how’s that?”
“Like the other times you’ve said you’d think about it? C’mon girl, just do it. It’ll be fun! We’ll see each other all the time, like the old days. I know you’d love that.”
“I–”
“I need to top up my beer,” said Eliot suddenly, “anyone else?”
“…me too.”
“Me three.”
“Me four.”
“’kay, four beers. I’ll be right back.”
He got up and went to the bar. “You know he’s in love with you, right?” said Melissa.
“Really? I thought…”
“He definitely is. Just keep in mind that he’ll enlist if you do. I don’t mind, of course, the more the merrier. But maybe talk it over with him. I don’t want anyone who doesn’t really wanna be there, you know what I mean?”
They never did talk it over. A month later she signed up at her local recruiter’s. When she told him, he hid his concern behind a smile, and quietly signed himself up the next day.
“Ali? We going?”
The wind’s rushing again. Melissa’s standing on the edge of the crater.
“Yes, let’s go,” says Aliya, and pushes her friend down.
By the time she gets down, Melissa’s conscious again, trying to drag herself on hands and knees. She puts a boot on her neck. “What… are… you doing?”
“I’m sorry.” She pushes down. Mel struggles, reaching for the gun on her holster. Aliya kneels down to restrain her hands.
“Ali…”
Tears stream down Ali’s face. “Sorry, sorry, sorry…”
Images flash through her mind. Gossip over crushes; Mel protecting her from bullies; sleeping bags at Ali’s place the day Mel’s parents got divorced; Christmas again. Eventually Melissa stops twitching. “I’m sorry, oh God, I’m so sorry.”
She gets up and turns away from the corpse. “THERE! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED? NOW CAN I GO BACK TO EARTH?”
Steam hisses from cracks on the rock at her feet. She feels light headed. Is this it? I think this is oxygen. I’m breathing oxygen again. It hits her that the atmosphere outside the crater isn’t oxygenated. How am I getting back to the ship?
There’s a sound of trickling pebbles behind her. She turns. Eliot’s standing at the rim of the crater, looking down at her and Mel’s corpse. “What’s going on?” he shouts down, “you okay?”
What did he see?
Steam keeps flooding the crater.
“Eliot! She tripped and fell. I think she can make it. Come down here and we’ll carry her back up, please?”