Void

[23] Antimatter

Chapter 23 - Antimatter: Matter consisting of particles with charges opposite that of ordinary matter. In antimatter, protons have a negative charge while electrons have a positive charge.

Anne

I came awake slowly a while ago. Ed still hasn't.

I give up on pacing the hall and lower myself to my knees. Squeezing my eyes shut, I place my hand in the middle of his chest and focus on it rising and falling. I stay like this for an infinity I believe, until finally, I've dulled all my senses. Then I can only focus on the fact that Ed's still breathing normally. And that what's happening right now around me really isn't.

Ed wakes quickly. He notices the mask around his head, reaching for it. I slap his hand away.

"Too soon. You'll need it."

"Are you mad?" He lets his head fall back again. "There wasn't time to think about it."

I pull my knees to my chest and say nothing.

"I feel sick." He says.

I run my sleeve across my eyes. "Lia said you might. She said that it wasn't just oxygen the Computer was taking out, but it was also pumping in carbon monoxide."

He notices me crying. But unlike me, he just pushes my arm away. "Hey, I'm just a little nauseous, but I'm okay."

"Lia also said that. But that's not..."

The dulled senses return full force. The scene plays again. Abdeben is backed into a corner, screaming, pulling at his hair. Damien is trying to knock some sense into Cece, shaking her by her shoulders and telling her, no, it's not her fault. And Cedric is assuring her as well, his words in the form of nods, hugs, and infrequent whispers. Then there's Lia, yelling at Oliver to stop trying, to give up already. And he yells over her, louder, that he can't, he just can't.

And Noelle. She's quieter than usual.

"...Anne?" asks Ed when he sees, and he knows the answer.

"I almost didn't see her on the trip to the SSRC." My own voice sounds distant. "She sat just a few steps away, and I almost overlooked her. She was my friend and I never appreciated her enough."

Now Ed slides a sleeve against his eyes.

"She just wanted to be useful," I tell him.

Ed sits up, slow, because it hurts. "If I hadn't been with Finn Egan when he finalized the crew," his voice cracks. "She wouldn't have come here."

There's a thud as Cece falls on her hands and knees, head bent in guilt.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." She mumbles, endlessly.

Then Oliver's lunging forward, tilting Noelle's head to the sides and begging for an answer. And Lia is on top of him, pulling him away but it's not working. They both give up, instead holding on to each other.

"I'm ending them," Ed says. "NOVA... the SSRC. We'll never see this happen again."

His words hold danger. "What do you plan to do?" I ask with caution.

"Anything necessary."

"We can't... save everyone, Ed."

"Anne, look at us." With a sigh that fogs the mask and shields his face, "We can't save anyone. Not like this."

We are forced to empty another airlock.

---

A few days go by without any contact with the SSRC. I begin to wonder if they've given up on us entirely, and that we're doomed until the next attack wave hits us. Than one night, nearly a week after the incident, the SSRC logo displays on the screen.