And the Suns Never Rise: A Story of Alpha Centauri

Agony

She awoke to darkness and pain. Pain in every joint and muscle. That and weakness, unlike anything she had ever felt before.

"I need you to drink sweety," came a very familiar voice. "Drink and it will help with the pain."

With that came the realization that there was something delicious pouring into her mouth. It was hard to describe, but it was good. Very good. It was like lemonade on a hot day, yet even more thirst-quenching. The fluid was like the best strawberry shortcake, but better. It was as if the very source of life itself was flowing into her.

After a few moments of drinking the liquid, the pain subsided to tolerable levels. Then the source of the ambrosia was pulled away from her mouth.

"What's going on?" she said, trying to sit up, yet could not. "Why am I restrained?" she asked.

"It is for your own safety. You have had a major accident," the familiar voice told her. "Currently, we are under a five gee acceleration on our way to Hope. The ship has the best medical facilities in the system, so we will use them to treat you."

"Five gees? That's a huge waste of reaction mass!" she said, using all of her strength to open her eyes.

Above her stood her close friend, Miss Harrison, looking extremely worried.

'How is she standing up and conscious under this many gees?' Haruhi realized.

"Braking maneuvers will begin in five minutes," came a report from the cockpit.

"You hear that? We will have you on Hope in no time," Miss Harrison said to calm Haruhi down.

Just then, the injured girl cried out in pain. Even though it was far less overwhelming than before, it was extreme compared to the painless state she had been in mere seconds beforehand.

"More medicine please!" she asked through clenched teeth.

"I can't give you much more or it will kill you," Miss Harrison warned. "I'm not a healer after all, but you are in desperate need..."

"Please," the injured girl pleaded.

"Okay, just a little more," Miss Harrison said and bit her left wrist so deep it produced a steady stream of blood. She then pressed it against Haruhi's mouth and commanded her to "Drink."

"But that's your blood, not medicine," Haruhi protested as she winced in pain. It was that sudden flash of agony that overwhelmed her protest and she returned to drinking the pure life force her long-term friend offered her. Then, once the pain was reduced, she felt a prick at her neck and all went quiet and dark once again.

---

Christiana caught the first shuttle she could. Unbeknownst to her, the weekly launch to Hope was days ahead of schedule. Still, the two days wait felt like forever. That was the longest the womb-mates had ever spent apart.

'Come on, come on,' was the thought that dominated her mind. 'I must get to her side!'

This was partially of her own will. Whenever Christiana let her mind wander, the more agitated she became. 'What if' had become her enemy. 'What if' her other half didn't make it? 'What if' she was badly injured and never recovered? 'What if' she never woke up? 'What if' she would have to spend the rest of her life alone? These thoughts had been swirling around in her head as soon as they had informed her of Haruhi's injury.

At least "Come on, come on" kept her focus on the future and getting to Haruhi's side so she could find out more information about her womb-mate. Then she could find out more information about the condition of her twin.

---

For her own safety, they were keeping the poor kid tranquilized and were trying to keep her alive in Hope's main sickbay. Not the little one on the crew ring, but the big one on the civilian ring.

'Duflot is pulling out all the stops,' Cooper thought as she finished signing the authorization to spin up the ring to a Martian gee. 'At least we have a full stock of tritium and deuterium to create the electricity needed to spin up hundreds of thousands on tons of superstructure.' she mused. 'It's also a good thing that we keep systems ready for use mere hours after we give the orders to reactivate the operations.'

'We're doing everything we can to keep you alive, so hang in there!' she thought as she skimmed another report from medical showing that the girl was in critical yet stable condition. 'Thank the gods for that... literally in this case.'

Tomoko was doing what she could to heal Haruhi from a distance, but since her specialty was in technology, her healing abilities were minimal for one of her kind. However, as Tomoko had said she would try her best since she was probably going to be a great aunt to the injured girl in the near future. Tomoko had even offered to go to the ship to help, but Cooper had talked her out of it. Knowing Tomoko, she would get engrossed in the medical equipment and various ways to improve it instead of healing the girl. Tomoko was still a tween at thirteen hundred Terran years, after all.

---

Christy never left Haruhi's side, even after they arrived at Hope. However, despite the Doctor's best efforts, Haruhi showed little improvement, teetering on the line between life and death. As things were, it was only the periodic drinks of vampire blood that kept her going.

'At least the Doctors haven't given up on her,' she thought as one physician gently nudged her out of the way.

'I hope Christiana can help us turn the tide somehow,' she thought for the umpteenth time. 'How much longer until she makes it here?'