Afterglow

Chapter III

"So what's the buzz about you leaving next week?" Ildriana asked me over the noisy lounge area.

"How did you find out about that so fast?" I inquired.

She sipped her drink. "It's the first mission in about five hundred years thats not routine so obviously people are going to hear about it." He spoke.

I slumped down. "We're going to be travelling to Utopia Station Alpha."

"And why's that?"

"Why are you so nosy you bitch?" I smiled.

She sniggered before replying. "No really what are you doing? That stations about 150 Light years away..."

Thats when I actually studied Ildriana for the first time. Her long, brown, frizzy hair drooped down over her face and down below her shoulders. She had a slender face that had turned a deep shade of red due to the stuffy air conditioning. She leant in close to me. "Come on... You can tell old Illy..."

"Never call youself that again."

"Come on..."

"I have orders you know. Commander Jankowicz would literally kick my arse if he found out I'd told you." I replied sternly before getting up.

"Where are you going?" She asked as she grabbed my arm.

"My shifts about to begin," I replied "Doesn't yours begin in a minute?"

"Shit! It does!" She exclaimed "See you afterwards yeah?"

"Yeah yeah yeah... See you in a bit."

..........

"How does everybody on the bloody ship know we're leaving next week!" I exclaimed to George.

The clanking of the ships air recycling system overshadowed his reply.

"Pardon?!" I yelled.

"Because somebody screwed up... That's why... I bet it was the dumb little prick Josh... Fuckin' kill him next time I see him..." He yelled back.

"Agreed."

..........

Falling... Falling... Falling... Falling... into the heart of darkness.

I awoke to find my body curled up on the floor and my neck leaning against the door. Sagittarius A was now viewable in front of me. Clouds of gas and dust hung off it like tendrils floating endlessly in space, seeking out new matter to consume.

..........

Every night I like to imagine what the people I know are doing. For example I like to imagine that Ildriana lays in her stadis pod, breathing the average five breaths per minute and the average heart beat of two per minute. Her long brown hair splayed out across the mattress her open eyes lolled back, her mouth hanging slightly open. The coldness of this possibly infinite sleep prickling her arm hairs, giving her goosebumps. At peace with the universe. Oblivious to everything happening around her she could be pulled into the black hole, and she would just lay there until she was crushed into a singularity. Or if she was to suffer the same fate as the crew of Utopia Station One she would lay there until she ingested too much carbon dioxide and would just fall beyond the event horizon of life, the cold of the stasis pod preventing decay. And she would lay there, oblivious to the universe.

..........

George buzzed the intercom.

I reached for it from the space on the floor. "What the fuck do you want?" I said hoarsly.

"Calm down," he replied "Can I come in?"

"Yeah... Sure... one second. Let me put some clothes on..."

After putting some clothing on I hurridly opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Do you... Do you think that... that you and... you and me migh... might ever... Fuck?" He slurred.

"Pardon?"

"Y... You heard... You heard me!"

"Are you drunk? Where the bloody hell did you get that from?"

"D'ya'wanna?"

I noticed a steel cup in his left hand that smelt of oil. "Get the fuck back to your apartment before an monitor sees you."

"Where's... Wheres that?" His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he toppled towards me spilling his drink all over me.

I dragged him inside.

..........

I lay him in my open stasis pod and left him there as I checked the time: Four thirty nine. I then lay down on the floor again and slept.

..........

The eternal pit... Without a conscience... Without morals... The heart of darkness.

I awoke again and looked over at the stasis pod where George still slumbered. "Hey... Hey asshole wakeup!" I walked over to him and shook him.

"Wha... What?"

"George, your your such an asshole."

"Why?" He innocently asked.

"You knock on my door at four thirty four in the morning drunk, ask to fuck me and then pass out on my doorstep!"

"And?"

..........

Ildriana was in hysterics. Her chair even promised to tip over at one point before bringing itself back.

"He really said that?" She cackled. When I nodded that only made her laugh more.

"Have a good life Ildriana... Have a good life..."