All three of Kyle’s companions let out their own worried breaths upon hearing his words. Ian finally stood and determinedly began pacing, trying to fathom what little was still known about the entire magnitude of this situation, before finally speaking up, “Ok, so right now, Kyle, I need you to give me the best case scenario possible to explain exactly why the hell it’s saying it can’t find a huge-ass fucking ship.”
Kyle allowed a small sigh, “The best?”
“Yes, call me an optimist,” Ian returned sarcastically, as he continued his pacing there inside the already small quarters of the pod, despite the fact that most of their current light was coming from the lights inside their helmets, and the tiny amount provided by Kyle’s computer screen.
“Best…a temporary malfunction?” Kyle managed, but couldn’t help adding, “But she doesn’t ever malfunction.”
“I’d say that this would pretty much qualify as a malfunction!” Ian argued with an angry scoff.
“And the worst…scenario?” Lili forced herself to shakily interject into the middle of their rising debate, not really sure she wanted to hear the answer as she saw them all turn their upset expressions back towards her own. “Call me a realist?” was her only defense.
Kyle shook his head again as he looked back down, “Worst…We all actually crashed here and died, and this is hell?” Kyle added with his own still defeated scoff.
“A little less Twilight Zone, please,” Ian bit back as he shook his head, only to add, “and can someone please tell me if we can take these damn things off, yet?” he asked in angry reference to the bulky helmets they all still wore.
“Um, does the computer still do everything else, aside from communicating with the ship?” Jared managed, trying to force calm into his own voice.
“What, you got an urge to play minesweeper?” Ian scoffed.
“I mean,” Jared attempted to shrug off Ian’s redirected anger and try to make any sense out of the things that he, himself could, “do all the other programs still work?”
“Yes. There’s nothing wrong with my LU…she just, can’t find the ship,” he repeated, though his voice trailed off as he finished.
“Just,” Ian shook his head again as he mockingly repeated that part of the sentence.
Jared took another deep breath as he reached for his own handheld and began moving through multiple computer screens as well. Kyle just raised a brow before returning his attention to his own screen, while Lili couldn’t help leaning over to try and get an idea of whatever it was that Jared was attempting as well. Though, he moved through the screens so fast, she couldn’t really make sense of much of it herself, but somehow, watching him try to do anything at all, made her feel the slightest bit better.
“Ok,” Jared began with a breath. “How much self-contained air supply was in these suits, Kyle?” he attempted.
“Three days, same as the tanks,” Kyle mumbled, his attention still on his own computer.
“Then shouldn’t we all already be dead?” Ian had to pipe up.
“Like Twilight Zone, after all,” Lili mumbled worriedly.
“No, don’t worry, the stasis slowed down all of our body functions, including breathing,” Jared attempted. “So we should still have about twelve hours’ air left in the suits,” he stated, though with seeming calm.
“And you’re trying to make that sound like a reason not to worry?” Ian shook his head with continued disbelief.
Jared shook his head, and attempted to move forward in the face of Ian’s understandable upset, “No, the good news is that I just ran the air inside the pod. It’s airtight, and breathable, just like the air on the ship.”
Ian just shook his head again, though with the slightest bit more calmness to his voice, “So all that just to say that we can take this crap off, after all?” he attempted a summary.
“Wait,” Kyle interrupted.
“God, what now?” Ian said tiresomely, dropping his hands back down from his attempt to move them up toward the helmet’s release a moment earlier.
Ignoring Ian, Kyle spoke to Jared, instead, “I know the pod was designed to keep the air the same composition as it was on the ship, but with the ventilation system down, how would the air in here still be breathable?”
“Oh, fuck me,” Ian exclaimed as he looked away, shaking his head with further annoyance.
Jared just shook his head at Ian again, before attempting to respond, “I’m just telling you what the results say,” he offered a slight shrug. “And, they say we can still breathe in here,” he repeated more quietly.
“So, science boy,” Kyle began, “any theory on how that could be possible?”
“Cause your precious LU is a lying little bitch?” Ian offered.
“There is nothing wrong with the computer,” Kyle repeated more forcefully.
“Ok, guys, let’s think,” Jared attempted to keep the peace. “The bots we sent ahead tested the air on the planet when they were down here at the beginning of the week, when LU was just fine,” he had to add before continuing. “So if, without the ship or the pod keeping the air breathable, then it must mean that the air in here is the same as the air out there, on the surface,” he swallowed a bit. “And according to this, it’s a little thinner but still, breathable,” he added, though softly.
“So, if we believe the computer, then our lungs won’t explode when we take the helmets off?” Ian summarized once more. “Yeah, that’s only a small ‘if,’” he added with another shake of his head.
“The bots said we could breathe here,” Jared repeated, though quietly.
“Oh my god,” Ian spoke again, though at his normal volume, for once. “So we really are expected to trust more computer generated crap, when it can’t even seem to make a phone call, anymore?”
“Again, I tell you, there’s nothing wrong with the computer,” Kyle repeated, though with slightly gritted teeth.
“Ok, so a disappearing ship, that’s easier to believe than a computer not working? Sure, why not? May as well spend my last twelve hours in fantasy-land,” Ian scoffed as he sat down once again.
Lili then let out a heavy sigh, “Or, we could spend them trying to figure out what really happened. And if there is still a ship up there, with all the people on it, just trying desperately to figure this all out and find a way to reach us, too,” she stated softly, her eyes cast down.
They all sighed softly at her words, though none really moved to offer any other arguments to oppose her suggestion right then. Instead, Kyle moved his eyes back to the computer screen, while Ian looked away quietly, and Jared cast a glance over at Lili that said much more than any words did, right then.
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Finally, with her own deep sigh, Lili moved to reach for the release on her helmet, and that motion definitely got their full attention, as Ian quickly spoke up again, “Wait, just like that, you’re gonna trust this computer?” he exclaimed in an attempt to slow down her hand.
Lili sighed again, as she turned to look Jared in the eyes, “Tell me what you think, not what the computer thinks,” she asked Jared softly, hoping desperately that she could safely place her trust in him at that precise moment, when hope was suddenly such a rare commodity for any of them at that moment.
“He’s supposed to be psychic now?” Ian couldn’t help retorting, as the only effort he could still try and make to stop Lili from endangering herself in such a way.
Though, the way Kyle also glanced over at where Jared and Lili now both looked quickly downwards, gave a bit more of an answer than any words would have. Jared sighed slightly as he moved his eyes back to Lili instead of allowing a look toward the other men, and stated, softly, “I don’t think it’s the air here that is our biggest problem right now, honest,” he added, even more softly.
With a deep sigh, Lili then slowly reached upwards and placed her gloved fingers upon the helmet release once more, before finally pulling that latch loose in a moment when none of them seemed to even be breathing any air at all for what almost seemed like an endless split second.
She coughed a bit at first but held her hand up to stop them from rushing to her aid, and soon managed a few short breaths on her own, once her lungs finally managed to readjust, causing them all to breathe their own relieved sighs once she eventually managed to pull the helmet completely free after a few brief, but utterly terrifying moments for all involved.
After a few more tense moments, the other three also managed to remove their helmets and allow their lungs to readjust as well, before finally all relaxing for a moment. Or relaxing as much as they could, all things considered.
“So,” Ian began slowly, his voice a bit hoarse from his own recent readjustment to the thinner air, “either the computer is working, or we apparently do have a psychic among us,.” he finished, casting a pointed look at Jared.
“Or, maybe both?” Kyle stated, seeming only slightly less thrown by the idea than Ian obviously was.
“So, what do you all want our next step to be?” Ian said with a slight drop in volume, not able to keep from glancing back toward Jared again as he posed the question. “You guys wanna all stay in here, just waiting for Kyle to hopefully get through, or…” he finished by simply glancing toward the outer doors.
Lili took a deep breath before offering her input, “I guess, since we are here, and we can breathe, we should at least attempt to see what, if anything, we came here to find, right?” she asked shakily, her own eyes watching for Jared’s reaction to the idea.
“So, what do you think, Jared?” Ian couldn’t help speaking aloud the question in all of their eyes.
Jared just shook his head, suddenly feeling a lot more pressure than he ever wanted at that particular moment, especially in relation to a secret gift that he himself hadn’t even really been able to truly decipher at all. Finally, he looked back up at Lili, whispering some form of response, “They’re just flashes. Really brief, nonsensical, flashes,” he admitted sadly.
“But enough to know that we could breathe?” Ian had to call him on his apologetically spoken words.
Jared sighed as he looked down, “I just know that in the flashes we…we were out there, and we were able to breathe,” he allowed, though in a whisper.
“So, what did you see?” Ian continued, the conversation even having pulled Kyle away from his computer screen, as well.
“Like I was saying, they’re so choppy, and short, and non-chronological that I just, I can’t even put anything into words at all, really,” Jared insisted with another sad shake of his head.
Ian just shook his head as well, before he stood once more to begin pulling away the flight suit that he currently wore over his usual black jumpsuit. As he finished pulling free of the hindrance of the huge suit, he finally turned his gaze back toward Kyle, “So, did you know about this, too?”
“About what?” Kyle stammered as he looked up again.
“About him being the amazing psychic boy, too,” Ian returned, causing Jared and Lili to both cast their eyes downwards once more.
“Depends on your definition, of ‘know,’” Kyle stated quietly, as he slowly stood to remove his flight suit also.
Ian just scoffed, “How many definitions are there, really?”
Kyle let out a sigh as he finished sliding out of that monstrosity as well, “I knew that it was possible, in theory, that some of us could develop…abilities,” he decided on, which only caused the others to look up at him with the slightest bit of accusation on their faces
Ian just rubbed his eyes in a more silent type of frustration, now, “And you didn’t think that was worth mentioning, say, before you told me all the other so-called reasons for picking this team.”
Kyle sighed once more, “Like I said, I knew it was possible, in theory.”
“So, you got any parlor tricks up your sleeve, too, Ky?” Ian pressed.
“Abilities like that,” Kyle began as he cast another glance back at where Jared still held his gaze tight to the floor, “They’re a lot more likely, and stronger, the older we get. More likely the further we get into adulthood,” he added quietly.
“You forgot to say ‘in theory,’ this time,” Ian reminded him with another scoff.
Kyle shook his head again, “Why are you getting angry at me? I only thought it was a theory. Seems like some other people here knew a bit more about that particular subject,” he stated with a bit of coolness directed to the two more silent members of the group.
Jared finally forced words in his own defense, “I didn’t understand any of this, Kyle. Half the time, I thought I was going insane; imagining the shit I saw. I only told Lili, cause….I needed to tell someone,” he finally finished, as he looked down once more.
“Neither of us understood it, this thing he’s got,” Lili offered in her own quiet tone. “All we can do now is try and help Jared to make sense of it, himself. No one’s ever even tried to do that for him,” she whispered, “And right now, all of our lives might even depend on finding a way to do so.”