The Horrors Below

Chapter 24: A Leap Of Faith

     Sammy could feel her spine tingle with an overwhelming fear as vents in the walls of the airlock filled it with nitrox gas. 
     She closed her eyes and let her consciousness melt back into the past for a few seconds...

     2204, 9:46 PM. Sammy prepared her sleeping bag as Ashley finished sketching the many contours of Chesspeek's now seemingly insignificant streets, it was almost time for Sammy to surrender and let sleep wash away every fear and doubt that had sunk into her mind.
     Ashley made a final pencil-stroke and closed the tent flap, enclosing her and Sammy in the dark, silent, sensory deprivation of the tent.
     She lit a candle and placed it in the space between them, "Truth or dare?"
     Sammy watched the candle flicker, illuminating the dark tent with fickle flashes as the flame conducted its eerie roundelay in the small glass it possessed, "Dare, I guess." 
     "Okay, do me."
     "Nope! I'm a chicken, I switch to truth!"
     "Oh why not? You're not a chicken you're a chick."
     Sammy blushed, "Sorry, but you're the brave one, I'm the honest one."
     Ashley held her hands out to the warmth of the candle, "Okay, so truth, did you think about doing the dare?"
     Sammy blushed even harder and put her face in her hands, "Yeah...A little bit.". Her voice was jittery and hushed, but Ashley had been listening, closely.
     Ashley rolled out her sleeping bag and snuffed the candle with her thumb and forefinger, "That's all I wanted to know. Goodnight!"

     2453. Sammy stepped forward, "Just be brave, do what Ashley would do!"
     "What?"
     "Oh, sorry Stitch, I was just talking to myself."
     "That's unhealthy, don't do that."
     Sammy clicked on the EVA suit's light, "I don't really care that much."
     "That's not unhealthy, but it is rude, so don't say that either."