A Breath of Mars [Open Novella Contest]

15 | Termination

The luminance behind Daria's eyes was intense, so intense that she didn't want to open her eyes. The soft pang of sterilization wafted to her nose, the sensation almost stinging her nostrils. She could hear things too. Unusual things.

Daria cracked her eyes open, only to snap them shut again just as fast. It was so fucking bright!

Voice's surrounded her, encased her, downed her. There were so many of them, all talking and mumbling and yelling. Where was she?

"Daria?" The voice was sing-song-like and extremely out of place in Daria's mind. That was the voice her mother used to use to coax her back to sleep after a nightmare. "Daria." The voice came again.

Then the world snapped into clarity.

"Daria?" It was Viva, or so she thought it was. Her eyes pried themselves open and she squinted harshly, barely seeing anything but white. Was it snow? No. It was walls. White walls.

She was in a room.

Daria flung herself upright, knocking the person hovering over her to the side, almost colliding heads with them. "Good grief, child. You scared me!" Viva said from her perch beside her bed.

Bed. She was on a bed.

"Seren? You'd better wake Seren up." Viva said. Was she talking to her? No. There was someone else in the room. Her vision began to clear, the white vanishing somewhat. What was going on?

The room swayed. Daria pressed her hands firmly on the bed to stop herself toppling sideways. It was so plush and soft, so delicate and delightful. How she had missed something as common as a bed.

Before her she found Seren's concerned face. She took the stubble were his beared had once been, the summer clothes were there should have been layers of winter ones. Her eyes trailed past Seren to Viva, then on further to the corners of the room, and gasped.

She was in a wholly white room, on a bed tucked far into the corner. On the opposite wall was a boxy white couch and floor lamp bent over the heads of two figures. Zarel and Tallie. Viva and Seren were on either side of her cot. That was as far as Daria had to count. She had no more crewmembers left.

"Wh–"

Daria had to stop herself, her throat so dry and cracked she couldn't swallow without a grimace.

"How are you feeling?" Seren asked, completely ignoring her attempted question. He gently cupped her face, turning it side to side, checking her pupils, examining her neck. Her neck? Oh. Aine.

"I-" Daria swallowed and tried again. "I'm fine." She waved away her hand and reluctantly, Seren lowered it.

The footsteps of two bodies caught Daria's attention. Tallie and Zarel approached her cot, plastering on reassuring smiles. That was when she realised what was beyond the room.

Somehow, she hadn't realised it when she had first awoken, but now, it was all too looming. Three walls were constructed entirely of glass to form a cage. A glass cage. On the exterior shuffled bodies. Human bodies with florescent yellow hazmat suits, their faces hidden behind the glare of their uniforms. There were examination tables and chemical vials set up everywhere along with colossal amounts of equipment. There were no further windows, so Daria still couldn't pin point where she was, or what was happening.

"Where are we?" Daria questioned her crew.

Zarel, who stood by her right with his arms folded over his chest next to Tallie, answered, "A ship, we think. We've had no visual contact with anything beyond this room, but we think it's a module due to the repeated thruster movements; the swaying," Zarel clarified.