New Elysium: Breakout

"So human" Part 35

"What kind of food do you think they'll have there?"

Her voice broke the silence catching Red off guard. She'd been dodging asteroids for hours and he knew she was exhausted. Had to be. He could see the strain on her face, the sweat rolling off of forehead in beadlets. He knew he looked the same way.  

"What's that?" He sat up and stared at her face visible on the console in front of him. The image was emblazoned on his mind. He glanced at her vitals noting the drop in battery life on the ship itself. It seemed unreal that they might actually run out of power when they were so close. Escaping prison only to die in an asteroid belt. 

"Food." She continued. "I can't wait to eat something real again. I even snuck a bite off of one of your protein bars." She made a face at that, even as she was dodging huge chunks of space rock.

Red smiled at the console. Ember was the only person on the entire vessel who didn't need to eat to survive and yet, she missed it. Wanted it even. It was so remarkably human of her. And protein bars were no joke, they were almost as tasteless at the gruel back on Helion 7. 

"We did send out everything they would need to terraform," he stretched as he tried remembering exactly what had gone out before his capture. Enough to build a small civilization, or so he'd hoped. He never expected to see it in person...

And yet... Here they were.

"I miss eating, I know it's stupid but just the idea of chomping into a nice juicy burger again," she hesitated as the entire ship swerved. "Don't laugh."

Red smiled anyway, filing that bit of info away. Whatever New Elysium had to offer he would get for her to eat, plus the two rail guns permanently attached to her ship. She wouldn't be defenseless ever again. Not on his watch.

He rubbed both hands at the irritating stubble on his chin. He could have made the hair gone permanently but for whatever reason hadn't been able to bring himself to a plastic surgeon for that one little spec of vanity. So, he'd kept the shaving ritual, no matter how much the stubble got on his nerves.

"I'm not laughing, I'm thinking the same thing," He said out loud to the console. The ship shuddered again and he wondered how many of the others were panicked in their crash couches. He'd only kept the lines open between himself and Dag. The rest of them would just have to wait.

"What did you have in mind?" Ember swerved, her whole body flexing to the side on the screen. Red felt the ship follow suit. It was an amazing setup, the interface alone must have cost, well he couldn't imagine how much it had cost to build. But watching Ember move the ship as effortlessly as she moved her arm, he couldn't help but be awed by the woman in front of him.

He'd only known her a few weeks and yet she managed to worm her way in under his skin. He'd gone from feeling disgust for her origins to fighting desperately for her survival. He didn't want to live without her under any circumstances and yet next to her, he felt mediocre. She was the very definition of self-sacrifice, and at one time he'd been perfectly willing to sacrifice her. But watching her slowly shut down to save a few stranger's worthless hides, and the suffering she'd endured... He remembered how desperate he'd been to get her connected to that ship. She had to make it. Even if he didn't. 

"Red?" Her voice pulled him out of his self-introspection. What had the question been again?

"I said 'what did you have in mind?"

"At this point, I don't care, I've been eating tasteless gruel for the past seven years." He placed his palm onto the console and did an inward scan of her vitals. He knew she would feel it and possibly be irritated but for someone willing to do herself in, he didn't want to run the risk that she'd run herself into the ground just as they came out. He wanted her to make it more than anyone else on this ship. She had to.