Prisoner Six

Part 10

Day 743 23:45 hours

Sam came to, slowly, and took in her surroundings. She was back inside the ship. She was out of her suit. And Dave was watching over her.

Sam bolted upright and scrambled backwards, colliding with a plastic barrier. She then noticed more barriers on either side, as well as one above, and suddenly realized she was inside a hyperbolic chamber. Which meant she was now confined in quarantine—and Dave was free to run the ship.

The tables, indeed, had turned.

"Relax," said Dave. "You're safe. Your suit depressurized and lost oxygen for several minutes. I pulled you in and used your code to get into med bay. I did not remove my suit until after I placed you inside the chamber. Contact was minimal."

Sam stared at him, trying to shake the cobwebs from her mind and body.

"How long was I out?"

"A few hours."

Sam was fully awake now, and gripped with a sudden fear.

"The reactor?" she asked. Dave punched a command into one of her tablets and turned it towards her, revealing a visual of the reactor floating away.

"We released it just in time. It escaped the debris and we're now about... a few thousand kilometers away," he said, turning the tablet back so he could check the readout. Something about the action made Sam feel nervous, claustrophobic. She wanted out of the hyperbolic chamber. Now.

"Vox? Review minimum safe distance," she said.

"Four thousand kilometers," Vox replied, a little indignantly.

"What's the status on detonation?"

BEEP, came the ten-minute warning in response.

"What's that?" asked Dave.

"It's the self-destruct failsafe. I thought it might not trigger after release, or that we could outrun it, but..."

She slammed the palm of her hand against the plastic barrier in frustration, startling Dave. If only she'd been conscious to turn the ship, to accelerate. But with what power? She could have used the reserves, but then what? She'd make it back home on fumes? She hadn't thought this through. And now, there was no time...

"There's still time to—" Dave began.

"No, Dave, we're out of time," said Sam. She hated the way he was always in her thoughts. The way he was always so calm and patient, as he was now. "We're out of range for my shutoff command, but not far enough away to survive the blast. And even if we were, saving me wasted valuable power. There's not enough to get home. We're going to die."

Dave shrugged. "Nothing is certain. We can only put our mind to what's next. Life is full of possibilities." Sam studied Dave's face. She could tell that he truly believed what he said. Somehow, he was both hopeful and unconcerned. As if he already knew what was next.

"What kind of possibilities?"

Dave hesitated, but it was clear he'd given this a lot of thought.

"The landing module," he said. "If we survive detonation, we can transfer all remaining power to it and jettison from the control module."

"And then what? Start picking out curtains for our home on the asteroid?"

"No... because we won't land on the asteroid."

Now he was coming to it. Sam knew this was going to be a bargain. After all, Dave held all the cards now. If he wanted to, he could lock her in this chamber, suck the air out, and simply steal the landing module with her ID code. But no... something told Sam there was more going on here. Something besides self-preservation. What else could he want from her? What—exactly—did he mean by "we?"