Adiana looked around the immaculate lounge area of the habitat ring. Despite the mess the crew kept making, the robotics constantly kept the area clean. Patrolling and picking up their trash. There was literally nothing for them to do here. Even taking care of themselves was, taken care of.

Adiana couldn't help but feel she was failing all of them. As mission commander, this was her responsibility. To keep the crew healthy and alive, but in the end, she was as powerless as the rest of them were.

Standing next to a window, brooding was the only one she had any luck in protecting. Orion stood there gazing at the surface of the moon. Maybe she could keep Orion safe though, even if it was only one, just one victory, it would be worth it.

He really was quite brilliant, if still young. His optimism and hope despite what was going on around them, somehow gave her hope too. Maybe one day, he'll actually be able to realize his dreams, in the waking world. Their relationship had grown closer, she never told him the reason, and she doubted he truly knew why. Not that it mattered, she never really believed in true love. It was just a thing of fantasy for romance novels and the young. There were people you were compatible with and would meet in life or those who you weren't or whose paths you would just never cross. Given that, Orion was more than an acceptable choice. If they ever found a way off the station, perhaps they'd spend more time together.

All that said, she still had to try and take care of the rest. Even if the crew was beyond saving, she had to try. With that in mind, something worried her,

“Anyone seen Ross?” She hadn't seen him in a couple days. It was possible she just missed him, he had been staying up after everyone else went to sleep, but as she asked around the lounge area, the few who were lucid all said the same thing, no. What was most concerning was Adiana had noticed his difficulty walking and even using his hands on occasion.

The habit ring wasn't 1 earth g, bone and muscle loss was quite easy here. That could even lead to nerve damage if left untreated. Of all her crew, Ross was the most at risk right now. She needed to find him and make sure he was moving around at least, and not just laying in his bunk.

"Orin!" She called to the young man still brooding at the windows. She could do this search on her own, but help was always welcome. Besides, it would give him a reason to move around with her too.

The walk through the habitat ring was silent, and otherwise lonely. At least there was someone to share the loneliness with. "You think he's hurt?"

"I don't know. He's been having trouble moving recently. I just, want to make sure he didn't get into something."

"You're a good leader, Ada. I wish this mission was better."

"Yeah… To be fair I chose to do this."

"You mentioned that a few times?"

"I spent my whole life preparing to work up here. When I heard the stories about what Jump Point Alpha would be. What young explore wouldn't dream of it. Even after everything that happened, after the Earth Governments abandoned the station… I still wanted to at least see it."

"Ignoring our current predicament. What do you think of it now?"

"… It's sad. This place was supposed to propel us forward, out of the cradle and into the rest of universe. Instead…" She drifted off, not wanting to finish her through, that humanity's dream of leaving their cradle was just turning into their collected grave. "I guess, some of the machines might pick up after were no longer in the picture. Some of the AIs are quite capable of thinking about the future. Unlike us."

The conversation ended as they reached the crew quarters. In fact, this was one of several places on the habitat ring where people could bunk. It just so happened to be the one they chose as their own. Ross' bunk was empty, however.

"Well if he's not in his bunk or the lounge maybe he's-"

"Ross moved out of his bunk a few weeks ago." Art opened his own sleeping space to talk to the two making a racket.

"What do you mean he moved out? Art, any changes in sleeping arrangements need to be cleared with me first. If something happens I need to know where they are."

Art snorted before trying to climb back into his bunk but ended up falling back instead.

"Art! Are you ok?"

He shook his head a few times before glaring at his own shaking hands. "Fine. Just the same shakes as Ross and the others… He's over in the 'B-section' nearest to the lounge. He's been having problems walking and… it was just easier."

"…If you knew, why didn't you tell me?"

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"Because you think you're still in charge. Because you think there's still hope they'll let us come home. Because you would try and help."

"We are going back home. I just… need to convince the idiots at corporate to-"

"See, this is what I mean. We've already made peace with it. This is where we're going to die." Art pushed her away with his withered body. What was once a strong powerful man, looked weaker than even a skeleton. At the very least, he'd have no problem sitting in the command seat of the shuttle anymore, if there was still a reason to sit in it.

Orion tapped at Adiana's arm. "Shouldn't we go check on Ross now?"

All she could do was nod. The trip to the other living spaces was done in silence. Inside the quarters, the first thing they noticed was the smell. "Oh… no."

Adiana prepared for the worse. The smell seemed strongest at one bunk that was closed off. Opening it, and the stench was even worse than she could have imagined.

Thankfully though, it wasn't the stench of death, just something else. It was clear he wasn't breathing, but Ross still didn't respond. At his neck, his neural link port was connected to something.

"These bunks have neural link ports?" Her voice held more fear than anything thing else. She had to make sure the rest of the crew didn't learn about this.

Adiana grabbed the cable, and pulled the plug unceremoniously from his neck. Causing a rather loud scream and whale from the now awake crew member.

"Ahhh! Fucking hell commander what is your… problem… What the fuck is that smell?" Ross held his hand in front of his mouth.

"That's you! How long have you been in here?"

"I don't know. What day is it?" Ross' hand shook quite violently as he held his wrist to his temples. "About two days, I guess… Kind of thirsty actually."

"Why do these bunks even have neural link ports anyway…"

"I asked one of the robots to install it a few weeks ago. Been using it when I sleep."

Adiana shook her head and gestured for him to get out of the bunk, "Come on Ross. Let's get you cleaned up and then get some fluids in you."

"Actually, about that Adiana… I can't move my legs any more…"

Art and the rest of the crew were unable to help bring Ross to the lift. It was left to Adiana and Orion to carry him in his soiled state down to the medial bay. The medial bots moved around the paralyzed pilot. Doing their various scans, taking blood samples, connecting to parts of his body to pull biological diagnostics. Eventually they stopped.

“How is he?” Adiana didn't pull any punches as she glared at the medical bot next to them.

“Hey isn’t my medical file private?” Ross' laugh masked any seriousness of his protest.

“Not to your commanding officer.” Unlike Ross, Adiana was not in a joking mood.

The medical bot took a moment, trying to find the right set of verbal cues for this sensitive topic.

“Physically, Mr. Escola is fine. Heart, kidneys and lungs all show normal stressors. There is some muscle degradation and bone mass loss from being overly sedentary, but it’s correctable with extra vitamins supplements and additional time in the exercise room.” The machine paused, allowing the good news to seep in before moving to the less good news. “In regard to Mr. Escola’s brain scans, there is the start of significant atrophy in Pons Medulla and midbrain. Scans also showed some localized EEG spikes in the feedback between the Midbrain and Basle Ganglia.”

“Prognosis?”

“Damage like this doesn’t usually get better. There are treatment options available that stop further damage and can, in some cases, reverse part of it. This medical facility doesn’t have them, unfortunately. At a minimum Mr. Escola should stay away from the stimulus that cased this.”

“What do you think the primary stimulus was?”

“Very likely the neural J-…Genetics. There are several genetic markers that could explain the degradation. In addition to the vitamin supplements I’m going to recommend B12 injections weekly. I do think Ross will be fine.”

That was not what Adiana was expecting to hear, "You don't think the neural jack had anything to do with this?"

"No, the time Ross spent in the simulations is too short for something like this. The root cause seems to be genetic."

She thought about that answer for a bit. It was not what she was expecting to hear. “Ok, I’ll put a mandatory medical transfer request into Earth.”

Some time after the four left the medical bay, the medical bot twitched a few times, and then began to give the last part of it's diagnosis.

"-ack. It seems to be degrading the neural pathways between its connections and the midbrain. Mr. Escola, needs to stop using the neural link all together… immediately…" The medical bot looked around the med bay, noting the absences of any patients. "Hello?" To say it was confused would be an understatement. The bot would run several low diagnostics on itself to try and isolate it sudden loss of time. It would not find anything.

Back on the habitat ring, Ross didn't take Adiana's new orders well. At all. "Go fuck yourself commander. You're not stopping me from jacking in. The medical bot even said it had nothing to do with this."

"Pilot! I am still the commanding off-"

"No you're not. No one cares. No one on earth cares…" Ross began slurring his words and paused to take a breath. "Commander. There's nothing left. Hell, even if we went back to earth… There's nothing there either." Ross looked down at his own shaking hands and took a deep breath. "I always wanted to fly. Since I was a little kid. My father was a fighter pilot. One of the last ones. Everything on earth is automated, there's no need for pilots. Do you know what strings I had to pull to be in this program? To be able to fly a shuttle? The only reason they even let us is because of legalities…"

There was silence among the crew present. Silence broken only when Adiana tried to give one last order, "I understand. But I am still giving an order to you. To all of you to-"

Art stopped her, "Ada, what did the wigs say about Ross' emergency medical transfer?"

Adiana didn't want to repeat what she was told that, "They'd look into it."

"…That's what I thought." With that Art stood up and wandered towards the lounge. As did the rest. All except Orion, Yuri and her.

Yuri said something that would haunt Adiana. "Back in Russia, it was very bad. People, they turn to drugs. Drugs like crocodile. The crew, they remind me of those times, just with more to eat." With that, Yuri wandered off to go play his chess games alone, or work on his math theories that no one really cared about.

Adiana was left alone in the habitat ring. Watching as what was left of her crew, disbursed. Even Orion, for as much as she tried to keep him in this reality, had begun talking to the AI Ezra again. It felt like it was only a matter of time before he gave up too. After that, what would be the point?