Into the Black Hole

Chapter 21: Sacrifice

"Nupan!" Doctor River waves, happy to see her, but the elation leaves her face as she takes in the detective's expression.

"Are you alright?" Felix asks.

Nupan sluggishly walks toward us, still in her spacesuit, helmet discarded, eyes cast down.

"Where's Jual?" Blaze questions.

Clenching her fists, Nupan's lower lip trembles before she bites on it, steadying herself. "Jual was supposed to set the timer for ten minutes," she croaks, "then alert you when there was two minutes to go." She takes a deep breath. "The timer is automatically set to one minute, and Silvereye configured the self-destruct system in such a way that the timer could only be manipulated in one codebase and the activation button in another. By the time we realized this, it was too late. It would've taken hours to download the codebase with the timer in it, and so... we didn't have that kind of time. Their ship would've figured out we were stalling. And Jual..." A single tear runs down her cheek. "He didn't want us to wait for him to jump back to our ship. We had to clear the explosion range and lower the possibility of debris damaging DeLarge. He called Blaze, he waited a minute and pressed the activation button... one minute wasn't ever going to be enough. Jual"—her voice breaks—"sacrificed himself."

Tears run down Doctor River's face, Thomson stares glumly at the floor, and Felix punches a cabinet, startling us. I didn't really know Jual, but I've never been good at blocking other people's emotions from affecting mine. The sadness radiating through the room weighs on me.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Felix asks bitterly.

"Felix!" Doctor River reprimands.

"If I did," Nupan looks him straight in the eye with exaggerated calm, "you'd be dead. We'd all be. I wish more than anything there was another way. If we had the time to prepare... then maybe. But we didn't. He made the choice, and I respected it, because it was either him or the five hundred other Cosmics on this ship."

Felix turns away, pinching the bridge of his nose. Doctor River strides over to Nupan and envelopes her in an embrace. To my surprise, Nupan hugs her back with equal fervor. The doctor briefly kisses Nupan on the cheek then murmurs soothing words in her ear, and I wonder if their relationship goes beyond doctor-patient, beyond friendship.

Walking over to the women, Blaze places a hand on Nupan's shoulder. Doctor River withdraws so Nupan can face Blaze. He tells her, "He's a Titan." I don't think he means the ship Titan, nor the moon, but the giant deities of an ancient civilization.

Nupan swallows and nods.

Thomson and Blaze's shift in the command center commences, and Doctor River remains to console her lover. Is "lover" the right word?

"I'll need to find another pilot," Felix states numbly as he escorts me back to his cabin.

I open my mouth to solace him, but change my mind. What the hell good is saying "I'm sorry" anyway? It's not going to bring the man back, so I don't speak.

"I relied on him," he continues. "I don't allow anyone in the command center unless I trust them with my life. I set a high bar for working the stations."

I try not to ask, but curiosity gets the better of me, "Then why did you bring me there?"

"Obviously, not because I trusted you." He turns to look at me, smirking half-heartedly. "I brought you there to keep an eye on you. Naturally, you disobeyed me, but you also saved Thomson. You risked your own survival to protect one of us and... either you proved me wrong, or you're playing a deadly game."

I look away from him and stare straight ahead. "I knew if no one intervened, he would die. I didn't think. I just moved."

Felix grudgingly admits, "Now he looks at you... differently."