“When was the last time we had radio contact?”

Shiina’s voice bounced inside her own helmet, and for a few moments, only her headphones answered her, with a slight static noise.

“Two hours.” Tess finally answered her.

The young woman looked at the turned-off screen of the Hauler’s exterior. The Supplier was lost in an orbit around Mars. She knew that Honey only stood a few dozens of meters behind her. He was flying in the void, holding on to the components needed to repair the defective electrical system, and his toolbox.

“I can’t verify the ship’s hull integrity or anything at all. The whole system is fried.”

“Can you open the airlock door?” The captain asked.

Shiina looked at the green light over the door.

“Yes.”

Another voice resounded in her ears.

“That means there is still some juice left, the whole thing is not down. Johansson must have redirected everything he had in his batteries towards the life support.” Honey said.

The young woman nodded, even though no one could see her gesture.

“Open the exterior entrance and if everything looks optimal inside, pursue the mission. If you see signs of condensation, or anything abnormal, we cancel until we hear back from Johansson.” The captain commanded.

“Copy.” Shiina turned off her headphones, she could still be heard, and her video feed was still transmitted live, but she would not be disturbed during her task. She pushed on the generic opening button of space airlocks.

In absolute silence, the door opened, just like a metallic jaw would. Shiina passed from dark but starry skies of space to complete darkness inside the ship.

“The emergency lights are turned off.” She announced turning her audio back on.

“The onboard computer or the captain can decide to shut off every light in a last resort action.”

Behind Tess Foncet’s voice, Shiina heard their new crewmember ask a question to Oliver. “Wasn’t he supposed to have enough oxygen for three hours?”

“It may be that he didn’t hear our message back to him, having cut off every non-vital system to conserve the most air and electricity as possible?”

Shiina cut off her audio once more, she didn’t need hypothesis, she needed to concentrate.

She turned on her headlight through a visual command on her helmet’s internal screen. She checked the thermal scan once more as she did so, observing it was ten degrees Celsius inside the Hauler, and stable, which meant no depressurization. After examining the interior of the airlock, she found no sign of damage.

“No issues here, I’m activating the pressurization sequence.” Shiina pushed on the screen at the other side of the room, but nothing happened.

“Shit.” She exclaimed.

“A problem?” Honey overrode her deafened headphones with his proximity radio.

“Without juice, no way I can open the airlock. I haven’t opened one manually since my training.”

“Coming.”

“Uncle…” She began.

“I know, I’m putting two lives at risk instead of one, but it will be less risky in general if we’re both working together.”

Shiina sighed and turned on her audio once more with the Saviour.

“Captain, we’re both going to enter the airlock at the same time, I need Honey’s help with the manual override.”

“Agreed.”

“Don’t forget to pressurize the airlock before opening…” Nate said in the background.

“Also, tell our new recruit not to get so worried.” She added.

“I was joking…” The young man began. He stopped, probably seeing Tess or Oliver’s reaction, and changed his tone. “Fine, I was only half-joking. Sorry, I trust you Chi.”

Shiina exited the conversation, a large smile on her lips, when Honey arrived next to her. She heard the faint noise of gas ejecting from the EVA suit on his back. He entered the airlock with a push of the hand, his other full with all the tools he needed for the repairs.

“Is that big smile because he finally called you Chi? Or are you just happy about a young and handsome boy worrying about you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

The young woman’s smile was replaced with a grimace, and she checked that the Saviour wasn’t hearing them before answering. “Stop teasing me about that. I do like him it’s true but…”

“Don’t play that game with me, Chi. You do more than just like him.”

“Can we focus on the mission at hand?”

He completely disregarded her question.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, even if he can be slightly arrogant and stuck up, but I like him, he has quite the brain and even more importantly, the heart in the right place.”

“First of all, he’s definitely not stuck up, and he’s not arrogant either. He worked very hard, and still admits his mistakes. That he’s also aware of his strengths and doesn’t try to hide them doesn’t mean…”

“Chi.” Her uncle stopped her gently. “Do you see how you’re defending him? There is nothing wrong with having feelings for him, he saved your beloved uncle, after all, being in awe after such a magnificent act is natural. But if you can’t admit your own feelings and can’t look at the situation objectively, then it’ll become a problem. Tess is right about that, you know. Work first, feelings next.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Shiina shut her eyes. “I am not…” Then she sighed. “Fine. I’ll think about it. What about the door?”

“Oh, I linked my suit to the door’s sub-system while we talked, results should be visible…” Faint lights turned on in the room they were floating in. “…about now.”

“You’re using your suit’s batteries? Isn’t that…”

“I don’t want to turn a handle for ten minutes by hand, I’ve got the jet pack, I can recharge my batteries easy enough. I have enough fuel to make four trips to the ship and back anyway.”

Shiina looked at her uncle with admiration. “Not bad.”

“Hey. Thanks.” The man with bear-like stature gave her a big toothy smile.

The exterior door closed behind them, and little by little, the sound of air entering the room grew stronger. After five minutes, a robotic voice, a bit jerky, echoed inside. “Atmosphere.”

Honey groaned. “What a shit voice. Girlie is so much better.”

Shiina started to facepalm in despair, but only swiped her helmet’s screen.

The internal door opened, and the ship’s AI continued its monologue.

“Astronauts of the S.A.V.I.O.U.R, your presence into the cargo ship the Hauler has been authorized…”

Shiina gazed at the dark abyss behind the opened door.

“…Captain Johansson welcomes you aboard.”

And with that, the faint lights of the airlock turned off, plunging the two Clarkes in darkness.

Shiina immediately turned her front light back on. She could still see Honey easily enough through his suit’s lights.

“I didn’t think to bring another flashlight, so I’ll keep my suit on.” She said.

“I’ve got the EVA and I don’t want to bump it everywhere, so I’ll remove mine. Shit, it is cold in here. Can you turn the lights over to me?

Honey quickly removed his spacesuit and, with his repair tools in hand, followed Shiina inside the ship.

“When compared with the Saviour, second of its name, this is really bad, isn’t it?

He commented as he gazed at the quite ugly intersection of the ship lit up by Shiina.

Shiina nodded. “You visited the Hauler once, didn’t you?”

Honey gave her a strange look. “Yes. When Johansson lost his two crewmembers, me, Tess and Oliver were those that came to help him.”

“I remember, I saw it on the news.”

“In any case, this way is life support and the electrical hub.” Honey pointed to the right, to a cylindrical tunnel. “This way is command centre with the radiation shield.” He pointed to the left, towards a mirrored cylindrical tunnel.

“Where do we start?”

Instead of immediately answering her, Honey reactivated his headset. “Captain, what do we do? Life support or do we look for Johansson?”

“Johansson. No use in repairing the electricity if there is no one alive inside. Sam is ready to join you if he is hurt. Also Honey, I don’t have your feed anymore.”

“I undressed; I wasn’t going to carry the jet pack everywhere I went.”

“It is logical, yes, but warn us when you do this. Even if you know I know.”

“Yes, captain.”

Shiina pointed her headlights to the left. “This way then.”

“Full speed ahead.”

They flew straight through the corridor. Shiina had a hard time orienting herself in the dark, so she followed Honey’s instructions. Still, the low-budget ship had been entirely built by builder-robots, and as such was hard to navigate. Everything looked alike. Metallic corridor, with a ladder up to a kitchen and bathroom area, down to a bedroom area…without her uncle, it would have taken her at least ten minutes to get to know her bearings.

She stopped.

“Ow.” Honey crashed on her back. “What is it?”

“Shh. Don’t you hear?” She focused on her hearing.

She hadn’t dreamt, this was…

“Crying.” Honey finished for her.

“Shit. Not creepy at all.”

“I’ve seen worst.”

“You say that because you’re hiding behind me.”

As the man-bear was not hidden behind her small frame at all, she knew she was wrong, but her bravado was here to bring courage to herself.

She grabbed a handle on the wall and pulled herself forwards to the command centre once again.

A few meters further, she was met with a thick lead curtain.

“The shield is still on.” She thought out loud.

“It means he must have been inside the room for at least twenty-four hours.”

“Alone. In the dark. Did you take your handgun?”

“No, not this time. I know the guy, he’s nice as…ah shit. You think he may have…?”

Shiina didn’t answer him.

She knocked on the metal sheet. “Johansson? We came to help. Can you let us in?”

There was no answer, but the sobbing stopped.

Honey took the lead.

He hit the anti-rad shielding with more force.

“Johansson! It’s me, Clarke! We’re here, open up!”

“…not possible. Monsters. Appeared from the dark, killed Hannah. Too fast. Only means that I’m already dead.”

“Well, fuck.” Honey swore. He spoke to his niece. “Chi, I’m opening the door and shielding, be ready, he could be violent.”

“Understood. You think he’s armed?”

“No, he’s Swedish. He’s even more against guns than even Tess.”

“Well, there is good news at least.”

Honey opened his toolbox.

“Lights please?”

Shiina did as he asked.

He unscrewed a panel on the wall to reveal a series of cables of all sorts.

“So…damn things. How far we came from the thirties. At least then there was a budget allocated for the important things! But now, noooo, space is easy now, no need to invest anymore, we can take so many more risks. What a piece of junk, ass-lick…” Shiina heard an electric discharge, and a spark flew away from the metal panel.

“Uncle! Please don’t burn the ship.”

“Don’t you worry, that one I’ve never done before.”

“You know many people who survived after starting a fire in space?”

The mechanic stopped to think. “Well, a matter of fact, no, never. Weird. I could be the first in history.”

A thud echoed from the other side of the radiation shield, and they stopped talking, tension having returned in full.

“I got it.” Honey announced.

Slowly, the lead curtain rose, and once completely gone, the door opened.

The command room was identical to the ones you could see in UN ships, but Shiina couldn’t see the interior well just with her front flashlight. She moved her head to aim the light beam everywhere, passing the two zero-g chairs, the computer, the mainframe…but she didn’t spot anyone. Then she did a second sweep.

Something looking humanoid in shape had appeared in front of the captain’s chair. It had crazed eyes looking straight towards her.

The man was tall but way too thin. His clothes were torn, his emaciated body was ghostly, he looked dead already.

“YOU DON’T EXIST!” He projected himself straight for them, with what seemed to be a weapon in his right arm.

“Shit, Johansson, stop!” Honey shouted.

But it was too late, he was quickly flying towards the blinding light, ready to crush the young woman’s skull with the thing he was holding.

She recognized it as a wrench at the very last second.

Then she dodged the clumsy assault with a side-step, grabbed the man’s armed hand while he hit the void where she had just stood, and deflected his attack while turning around.

The man was carried by his own force, spun in the air, then crashed on the ground.

Shiina had put more force in her counter than normal, as she could not count on her opponent's weight to do the work for her. By reaction, she herself flew the opposite way, straight to the ceiling, but she caught herself with no problem.

But the atrocious sound of breaking she heard chilled her bones.

“Oh my God. I killed him.” She immediately exclaimed in horror.

She backed away. The man on the ground didn’t move.

Honey knelt in front of him.

“Chi, we need your lights.”

A voice echoed in her helmet. “Chi. Show him to us. Sam is on her way.”

“I…” Shiina gulped, her captain’s voice forcing her to act.

She lit up the figure on the ground.

His face was…red, like blood, with bruises and yellowish plaques of skin. Some of the middle-aged man’s blond hair was missing.

“He’s alive.” Honey announced. “But something definitely broke. And his face…shit Johansson, what happened to you?”

A new voice sounded in their ears.

“He must have missed the solar flare emergency warning and didn’t take refuge in the shield in time. But the rest of his physical state… I’ll have to examine him to know more, but you did not kill him Chi. Look. He’s breathing.” The recomforting voice of her mother let Chi breathe again. She looked at captain Johansson and she finally spotted that yes, he was inhaling and exhaling regularly.

“When I heard the crack…Holy Shit I was so sure I had killed him.”

“You did what you had to Shiina. Good job. Keep an eye on him, and in the meantime, Honey will go repair the electrical hub. Sam is arriving on your position in fifteen minutes.” Tess Foncet said in a calm manner.

“I’ll reactivate the emergency lights, can you point to the keyboard Chi?” Honey asked at the same time.

“Mh mh.” She nodded. She didn’t dare to let the man on the ground out of her sights but managed to point her headlight to the control panel as well.

After a few moments, reddish pale lights turned on to illuminate the ship in their hue.

“So much better.”

And for once, Shiina agreed with her uncle completely.