“Hm… The pressure is a touch too high in these atmomixers, but why…“ she wondered to herself. There wasn’t a soul in a 10-kilometer radius of the spacecraft. Even though it’s Saturday, she came to work anyway. Janet is probably now playing around in her virtu, to take away the stress.

She cranked the valve next to the intake. No dice, the pressure readout was still showing 1104 hPa. She sighed and looked around.

The corridor was a tube going through the ship, from the head to tail, 5 meters in diameter. Apart from a few signs plastered throughout, the whole thing was white with lights on the ceiling spaced every 1 meter. The lights had a life presence sensor built-in, so the computer’s AI and OS could interface and enable lights, only where necessary. Entrances to various rooms were spaced unevenly, you’d think that the ship was designed haphazardly, but the rooms were distributed according to weight. Wouldn’t want the ship to rip itself apart during lift off or cruising speeds. The same tube-like corridor was present on the other side and one connecting both tubes in the middle for easy access. Only a few windows were available, not much space to put them. The captain’s cabin even had a starlight. Tan yellow light poured on her back, it didn’t warm her, like sunlight usually does. Thanks to heavy shielding, only visible light with low intensity can pass through, hence why it’s slightly red-shifted.

A couple of panels were scattered on the floor beside her. The tool-belt she wore had only the essentials – a couple of pliers (one needle nose, the other flat with grooves, so they can act like a wrench), a flat-head screwdriver and a knife. On her wrist, she had a terminal that connected to readout points via optic cable. The terminal’s display was hanging midair, a few centimeters above her wrist.

100 hPA difference shouldn’t matter, it just means the air mix will be a touch too thick. For the average spacewalker, this is nothing, considering they battle extreme pressure every day. It’s a shock their eyes don’t pop out of their sockets outright, they just bulge as though they might explode. But there’s another factor in her decision – engineer’s pride. A ship built by her shouldn’t have kinks like that.

There’s one more thing she hasn’t touched yet – the computer itself. She was told by the code-heads from UASA the computer passed all their tests, but who knows. Testing doesn’t eliminate possibility of errors, just checks scenarios that testers have thought of.

She headed to the computer core room, which was located in the middle of the ship. A pain to get to? Of course, but the safest position on the ship in case anything goes wrong.

As soon as she got into the computer room, she banged into the computer rack – who thought to put the rack on the ceiling. The ceiling…? Something’s not right, last time she remembers, the racks were firmly bolted to the ground, with additional support added for redundancy. The acceleration jolted her body into the sliding door that was closing behind her. She lost consciousness.

How long was she lying there on the ground? Her head was hurting badly, like someone tried to open her skull with a rock. Eyes were very hard to open. Everything was foggy. She had to open her eyes and get out of the room.

With all her strength, she opened her eyes enough to gather where she was. The vision was bright red from the blood flowing from her forehead. She reached for the button opening doors and crawled from the computer core room. What’s going on? Did the gravity change? Is it the grav plating? No, she was firmly on the ground, she felt a force pushing on her body towards the tail of the ship. Moreover, the ship was clearly vibrating. There’s only one man-made thing that vibrated in this specific oscillation, she felt it many times in test chambers – nuclear fusion space engines. The very same attached to this ship. She wiped her eyes, seeing much better now, she definitely has a concussion, but she’ll live somehow, just have to stay awake. She stood up grasping her ribs, one of them is probably broken, hurts, when she breathes. The nearest window wasn’t far from her current position. She had to see if they really were moving.

The light ray from the window wasn’t tan yellow anymore, there were multiple flashes and a lot of red light.

“Oh, oh no…”

She was in orbit, looking at Earth. Or rather what remains of Earth, the surface was full of red spots, encompassing the fragments of the crust that were peeling off of the liquid core. There were too many fragments to even count. The Earth was no more. Only a pile of hot rock and dust left.

The heartache has taken her mind. She won’t see Janet. She won’t ever apologize to her. Never to hug her again. The tears dripped on the floor, making a sad puddle just above her faux leather boots.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

She jerked her head towards the voice, she did not realize there was someone beside her. He was standing just outside her peripheral vision, a young man wearing a very expensive suit. Little too small, but that was the fashion lately. His gold earrings gleamed when he moved his head.

“What the fuck are you talking about? The Earth is in pieces, and you’re joking about it?!”

“There’s beauty in pure destruction.”

He looked at her. He noticed her injuries and let out a worried sigh. At least, it sounded worried. Surprising, when just a second ago he was disregarding the biggest disaster humanity has been through.

“Come – the doctor will look at your injuries while we cruise.”

She was too stunned to say no, and she really needed medical attention. Even to just confirm everything’s fine. Only now she noticed laughter and dishes clattering in the background. The mess was at the tail of the ship, it didn’t make sense… The man led her towards the commotion. There’s no sound in space, the Earth continued to fall apart in the window sill. The silence was louder than she could have ever imagined.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

***

The conference room was a simple rectangular room, but much bigger than any other room on the ship (apart from the bridge). It couldn’t have been bigger than 10 meters by 10 meters. The layout was fully customizable – the state of the art reprogrammable panel cubes could take on any shape and imitate any texture, simply by having a specific model uploaded to the controller’s memory. It’s essentially rich people’s and government's virtu, although the resolution is much smaller than a typical renderer (the voxels are 1 millimeter on each side). Currently, the environment was programmed to show Victorian-esque furniture – one table under one of the walls filled with food, few armchairs on the opposite wall and small tables near them. The ceiling had a small chandelier hanging. The room had only 5 people hanging around, they all were dressed as though it’s the best ball they’ve ever been. Nothing made sense here – who in their right mind would celebrate with an obscene amount of food, when there’s nowhere to get the food anymore. Even the commercial corporate stations around the Earth didn’t grow their own food – the water being the biggest blockage. Latest research showed that we didn’t have that much water around us, and the water on the asteroids is needed to ensure the orbits weren’t compromised. Adding insult to injury, it’s used for everything from propulsion to atmosphere producers and mixers, so you need a constant stream to stay afloat.

The aroma of the food and super-tobacco hit her in the face like the L.A.’s morning sewer breeze. The puke reached her throat, but she didn’t let it go through. A disgusting habit, she picked up, when training to get her spacewalker certification. Puking meant stinking up your whole suit, and it was very expensive to have the suit replaced, she learned that the hard way.

She almost fell to the ground, but the well-dressed man caught her, noticing she was a little woozy.

“Doc, could you take a look, please? Now?!”

“Henry? What’s happened? Who’s this?”

“Found her staring at Earth, looks like she got pretty banged up when we took off.”

“Girl, haven’t you heard of seat straps?”

She looked at the Doctor character with a fiery look in her eyes.

“No one was supposed to be here! The ship wasn’t scheduled to take off for another month! How could I have known that you’re going to—” She was cut off by the transmission from the bridge.

“Ladies, gentlemen and variations thereof; we’re at a cruising altitude, we’ll stay in orbit of the Earthly remains for another hour. We’ll then depart for our destination – Mars Prime. Upon arrival, you’ll have your duties assigned as the last citizens of Earth. For now, please enjoy the trip.”

Laughter resumed through the room, new people came in, they only took a passing concern towards her, Henry and the doctor. In total, the room housed around 10 people. None of them were familiar to her.

“Well, the good news is that you’re fine, only a minor laceration on your head. Your rib isn’t broken. If you wait a minute, I’ll bring the autosuture and repair you, miss…”

“It’s Jes, Jes Hook”

He bowed slightly. “Nice to meet you, I’m Vance.” After that, he went through the door.

“Come, sit down on the chair.” Henry extended his hand towards her. She was intrigued, but ultimately decided not to take his hand. She stumbled while getting up. At least she didn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Thanks, ‘Henry’ but I prefer to not accept help from psychos.”

“Now, that’s a bold claim, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think so, you’re the one that found beauty in such horrible situation”

She plopped herself on the armchair, it had frills ground around the edge, they moved as the air was displaced. The whole thing had a crimson red color with golden accents, looking like something straight from a Titanic.

“Oh honey, you’re looking rather pale… Would you like some water?” She heard a chipper woman over her shoulder, she was in her late 30s, her strapless dress was long and flowy, only a few silver chains hanging from the edges. She looked more like a caricature than a real person, it looked as though two water balloons were stacked on top of each other.

“Yeah, it’d be great.” The woman stomped to the table with food and drinks. The copper utensils and a jug gleamed in the light, nothing had a stain on it. Bizarre, but this is expected for rich people’s parties. Jes remembered when she ate Chinese down the 3rd substation in the middle of the city. Sweaty air and the Sichuan aromas in the air. No utensils in sight, she had to bring her own every time. But the food was divine and worth 20 dollars more than fast-food places. Ah… She’d love that veggie stir-fry with rice. The cook was such a nice guy, he recognized her as a regular she was. He’d even give her some pickled cabbage for free.

“Here.” She heard from the voluptuous woman, who was handing her water. A couple of ice cubes and a mint leaf floating in it. Ice – you have to spend the same amount of water as the ice cube to cool it enough that it freezes. Space isn’t always cool, it’s as unpredictable as the weather. A soothing sensation went down her throat as she drank. It really hit the spot, only now she noticed that she didn’t drink for hours. She was so absorbed in her work, she always does this, neglecting her body only for it to backfire on her.

Vance returned with a small black plastic case with no markings on it, the whole thing rattling as he stepped towards her. He put it down on the coffee table next to her and unlatched it. Inside was a small gun-like instrument with two nozzles, a few clips that fitted into the back of the instrument and a small glass spray bottle.

“This is gonna sting a bit but afterward you won’t feel a thing, it’s a numbing agent, so you don’t wriggle so much.” he said as he sprayed the wound on her head. She winced as she felt the sharp pain, and half a second later she felt nothing.

‘He did it before and a lot. Is he a field medic or a surgeon?’ she thought to herself.

The instrument clicked as the clip was inserted. He selected something on the small display on the right side, type of suture maybe, pressed it against her skin and pulled the trigger. The autosuture whirred into action, she felt it vibrate against her numbed skin and stop in less than a second. Vance put 2 more stitches, “Just to be on a safe side.” he smiled at her.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, we have to inform the captain that we have a stowaway on board.” His smile and warm demeanor was gone. Jes understood at that moment – she was being kept comfortable to be able to explain herself, and her fate was in the hands of someone else entirely.

“Do whatever you need to do…” she said dejectedly. The anger in her has subsided, and the hopelessness has set in.