Event Horizon

Chapter 9

Last night's expedition bore no result. Oh dear Liesel, what could you have been thinking? So many planets out there, how lucky would you be if your first was a success?

I'll find it soon. I have to— how could the universe allow for anything else?

Liesel picked up her phone. The solitude was killing her, and she didn't want to die alone.

"Hey, Mathilda?"

...

"Yeah no, you can stay with me."

...

"Honestly, don't even worry about it. Just having you around's good enough."

...

"Tons of places that're hiring here. Don't worry about leaving it."

...

"You still have my address, right?"

...

"Great. Seeya."

She put on the news. Liesel always liked having something to listen to while she cleaned the house, and it had to be presentable to an old friend.

"...with the city of Port Dewsbury being hit the hardest this time. Many had to be hospitalized, and the doctors could not save them."

The clock on the wall was ticking.

"Research has been underway but the cause of the disease is still not certain, though many believe it could be an airborne virus."

Cleaning almost never felt like work. It soothes the soul to see everything fall into place, prim and tidy. But it always takes too much time.

"...being short on workers, as all medical staff are required to be individually approved by the government, as per a recent change in..."

Wind was rustling outside. Leaves needed to be raked again. Is the washcloth in the sink? Has she swept the foyer yet?

"...and no sort of correlation has been found among the survivors, and the disease does not seem to target a certain demographic."

She could swear that the bottle of floor spray was full when she put it away last week.

"...so many lives, haha. Mother Earth hates us."

Dee-dah-dee-dah went the doorbell. It was a sound that Liesel wasn't quite used to hearing. She harriedly fixed a pile of folded blankets on her end table before greeting her friend.

"Mattie!"

"Hey, girl." Mathilda checked her watch a few times before stepping inside, then leaving her shoes by the side of the woven rug. "How you've been?"

"Feeling more alive than I ever was."

"That's not saying a lot."

"I know." Liesel led her guest into the well-lit dining room and picked up a tray of drinks and various dainties. "How's the dating game?"

"Always the same with these guys. I have a nice dinner with him, then next morning he disappoints me with his entourage of horny ladies I find out he's been sleeping with."

Mathilda sighed as she poured herself a cup of rosehip tea, mixing in a little too much cold water. "If the customers are desperate, the product's probably cheap. I wouldn't marry a product anyways— I want a man."

"Aw, darling..."

Liesel wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders, and the gold-rimmed chair she was sitting on. "You don't need anyone anyways. You have yourself."

"I can be my own woman and be wanting a mate, you know. Everybody deserves love," Mathilda said, smiling as she stirred her second cube of sugar into the cup.

"I can't argue with that."

Liesel remembered the state of the guest room and a gust of worry blew her in her face. She set her cup of Earl Grey down and nearly spilled some onto her placemat.

"You used to be in pharmacy, weren't you? Barely any cops around anymore. What's stopping you from making some of the good stuff and cashing out?" She embellished her statement with a little chuckle.

"My honour."

Mathilda looked at Liesel with a twinge of chagrin. "I know you're joking, but too many people trade their values for comfort, even when they've got a choice." She started smiling again.

"Sometimes, comfort's all a person has. It's just how it is."