Chapter Text
Galactic date: December 2nd, 2079.
Alph’s Mission Log.
I think I’ve been staring at this alarm clock for about an eternity. Just waiting for it to finally tick to 4:00 AM. It’s technically the start of my shift, but considering the all-nighters I pull and how I always wake up hours earlier than I should, I merely take it as a suggestion. I know it's bad for me to stay up, but I can’t help it. It’s hard for my body to sleep in a place like this. No, I don’t mean the sterile white walls and furniture, the terrifying depths of outer space, or how eerie a large ship and its vast rooms seem when there are only three people. What gives me the chills is the quiet. I can’t stand sleeping in total silence, it seems unnatural to me. All my life, there’s always been some racket keeping me from getting a good rest whether it be the city life, noisy neighbors, bombing zones, sirens... Normal stuff like that. I used to hate it, but now it’s uncanny not having it all here. Though Brittany thinks I’m crazy for thinking so.
Right, Brittany. I walk out of my quarters to the biochem lab, already in proper attire. Our landing sequence, the day we finally set foot on a new world, is scheduled for tomorrow. We’re doing one last maintenance and inventory on our materials and tools. Additionally, as a little bonus, we’ll be testing some native Koppaite plants with the atmosphere. Since we’re so close to PNF-404, the SPERO satellites have been gathering more data on the atmosphere’s makeup and plant life. We already had a rough idea of what it's like from carbon scans before coming near. It’s really interesting! The wavelengths show a high concentration of stuff you’d find from greenhouse gas emissions. It did wonders for our theory of the planet having a long-extinct intelligent race, so hopefully we can find more concrete proof during the actual mission.
I enter the lab to find it empty, as per usual this time of day. I plop on a little chair and wait for my colleague. I lean back and fidget my fingers a little. The chair levitates upward, powered by Krustallinate. Pretty much everything on the ship, and Koppai, is made of the stuff. Planet Hocotate and Giya seem to finally be catching up with the tech. I’ve heard they call it “Sparklium” so it doesn’t sound like the semi-radioactive compound it really is. A shame they’re making it such a big business and energy source nowadays. We Koppaites can handle it just fine, but those people could seriously get hurt. Oh well. I guess we’ll hear news of an increased number of cancer patients and fallen jaws soon enough.
A series of slow, thumping steps interrupts my thoughts. A tired woman stands before me and slowly walks up to the desk. Her short pink hair is a bit of a mess, there are bags under her eyes, and there's smudges on her red glasses. Yet, she still looks so beautiful.
She yawns.
“Hey...”
“Hi, Brittany..”
“I know you’re a weirdo who doesn’t sleep, but give me a minute to set up.”
“Yeah. Right…”
I always get so awkward with her. It’s not like it's our first time talking, we’ve been working on our project for years. Things used to be normal. We used to be close. Really close. It hasn’t left my mind since. I wonder if we could ever be as close as we were again. I gaze upon her sparkling blue eyes and fair face. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still dream about her. Our nights of rambling about nerdy topics, sharing a drink or a fruity popsicle, inspiring one another… What I would give to know what she’s thinking. Why did I have to be such a-
“So,” Brittany starts. “270,00 light-years, Alphie. This is really it.”
“Y-yeah…” I stammer. “It’s all been so long, but it feels like it was just a blur. Don’t you think?”
“Nah, not at all. Between the trip itself and the years of getting it all approved in the first place, to me, this just feels like something I’m looking forward to getting over with”, she replies.
“I guess so... but not even exploring a new planet or saving people excites you anymore?”
“Well. No- I mean. Of course, that’s all wonderful. It’s just. I don’t know... It’s all so much.”
Brittany looks to a nearby window. There’s a perfect view of the planet below. It’s an incredible swirl of blue and green, the likes of which no one on Koppai has ever seen. Brittany walks up to it.
“Alphie, you know what I’m really excited to see?”
“What?”
“The grass. All the bushes and wildlife… There could even be forests down there! Could you imagine? Things we’ve only seen in history textbooks now in front of our own eyes.”
She sighs.
“It’ll be incredible to see it all for the first time.”
I smile. Gods, I love that enthusiasm and curiosity. It’s rare to see her with it now. I jokingly respond,
“Well, home definitely isn’t as colorful as this place. I doubt there’s air pollution or poverty there.”
She snickers. “Oh no, and for sure no starvation or a government trying to stop a life-saving mission-”
I laugh. “Oh my God, remember when I almost got us blacklisted-”
“Well maybe if someone listened to me-”
We go on and on with jokes and memories. For the first time in a while, we love each other again. We can stand to have a good, long conversation. I hope it never ends.
Then, all is quiet. For a brief moment, I love the quiet. Such blissful, beautiful, wonderful quiet. We stare into each other's warm eyes and a slight blush appears on our cheeks.
“Hi, Brittany.”
“Hey, Alphie.”
…..
“...Do you ever think we could try again?”
Before she could give a response, the room flickers red and the sirens give a loud SCREECH. We see smoke emerging from the hallway, setting off the fire sprinklers. Now completely drenched, I’m left panicked and Brittany screams.
“What the hell is going on?!” she cries.
I look at my surroundings and see a direction we can escape. I call out, “I have no idea, but we gotta get out of here! We should suit up. We need the extra durability and air.” Brittany nods, and we both initiate the nano-tech suits. With a flash, we are instantly transformed into our astronaut gear, complete with helmets. We run out the door and towards the lobby.
“I hate that man, but we should probably find the captain. He could be in trouble!” Brittany exclaims. I respond, “Exactly what I’m thinking!” and I open a hologram map with my suit. It looks like Captain Charlie is in the training room. Perfect, near the escape pods. Hopefully, the fire hasn't gotten there yet!
We continue to dash through the S.S. Drake. Some places have been hit harder than others. Wires are exposed and some structures look like they’re about to collapse. Along with the map, I frantically open up a screen to observe the reactors. I triple-check everything, yet I can’t seem to find a single issue that could have caused an explosion this catastrophic. “I don’t understand! Everything seemed fine! I do so much work on the ship, I couldn’t have possibly missed something!” Lost in thought, I trip over a fallen piece of metal. Brittany quickly swoops in to catch me. “We can look at that later! We need to focus on staying alive first!” she shouts.
Right. She’s always right. I put away all my holo-screens, but the thought still eats me away. What did I do wrong? How could I have made such an error? If important tools are destroyed, or worse, someone gets hurt, it was all due to my mistakes! No, can’t overthink now, Need to run. Need to get Charlie.
We turn into a corridor of the ship. The blinking red lighting contrasts with the vibrant views of space from a nearby window. Suddenly, something starts to make a loud noise. My ears perk up and I look toward the now-shaking wall. Shit, this isn’t good. “Brace yourself!!” I scream. With a BOOM and a CRASH, the whole thing explodes! Shards of metal fly everywhere, and I duck and cover my head. After a period of silence, I slowly opened my eyes. With a slight shakiness, I glance around to see if there’s any damage. I freeze. A single sharp shard penetrates the window. The cracks grow and grow– this is it. It’s all going to break, and I’m going to die!
…….
There’s nothing. It stops. Thank the stars! We’re safe! Wait. Brittany- Where’s Brittany? It appears she’s nowhere around me until I see… Her body. She’s on the floor, not moving. A large metal piece impales her left arm.
“Oh God! Brittany!” I collapse on the floor to her, wafting away the smoke. “Please be alive…I can’t lose you…”
Thankfully, she jolts up and coughs aggressively. “Ughh… Alph… Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“But- But your arm! You’re hurt.”
“I can manage, Alphie. It’s just on my upper arm, we’re lucky it’s nowhere fatal.” She notices how my eyes start to tear up. “Hey…hey… It’s ok! We have some of the most advanced medical technology in the galaxy! I’m sure we can get me all better in no time. Please don’t cry…”
“I know, I know,” I mumble. “It’s just…” I can’t help myself, and I start to shed some tears. “Everything is all my fault! The ship wouldn’t be destroyed and you wouldn’t be hurt if it weren’t for me!” I sigh and keep my head low. “I’m supposed to be the best engineer on Koppai. Yet I ruined everything… How could I be so stupid-”
“Stop!” Brittany interjects. “What are you even talking about?? You said it yourself, everything seemed fine all day! You’re the only person I know who would willingly work overtime on ship maintenance or your projects. Why? Because you don’t want to be fast, you do things right. Listen, I don’t know how this happened, but we can’t solve anything if you’re stuck in this headspace!”
Brittany grabs me by the arm. “You’re incredible, ok? Can’t you accept that?”
I look up to her. Through the tears, I form a faint smile. What am I doing? I still have a job to do. And… I still have her.
“Yeah… You’re right,” I quietly say.
“Duh, I always am. You’re a pretty keen engineer, you know.”
“I thought no one calls me that?”
“I do.” And with that, Brittany leaned in and gave me a small kiss through the glass. “Stupid helmet-” she murmurs.
My face goes completely red. Even though it’s through a barrier, oh I have missed those lips. I giggle to myself, and she joins in too. “Ok,” I begin, “Want to save a captain?”
“Yep,” she replies. “I love you, Alphie.”
“I….”
CRACK.
We both turn to see the window has started to break again. Damn it, we’ve stalled too much here, and now-
SHATTER! CLASH!
It all happened in less than a second. The window, at its breaking point, went into a million pieces. The vacuum of space pulled everything in sight out of the window. Including her. In an instant, she was ripped from my arms, and the last thing I saw was her frightened face. I nearly got sucked in too but was able to latch on. Inch-by-inch, I make my way to the next room, closing the door behind me. The vacuum stops. Gravity is back to normal.
Then, all is quiet. Agonizing, horrifying, and awful quiet.
“...I love you too.”
I drop to the floor. I sob, I yell, I curse, I pray. There was nothing else I could do. I couldn’t rationalize, speak, or think anything. I could only sit there, overflowing with my emotion. My world stopped.
“Kid??”
I look up, It’s none other than Captain Charlie. He looks down with a concerned and knowing face. I snap back into focus. I knew even though I was falling apart, the world had to keep spinning, and I had to keep going. I just wish there was a moment I could stop .
“Speak to me kid, what happened?”, he says.
I couldn’t say much. All I could muster was,
“Brittany…”
The captain kneels to me. I’m able to get a good look at him. He has a somber face, and his amber eyes glisten. I notice his many badges, his small wrinkles, and a grey hair or two starting to grow. I know he’s seen something like this many times. I know he’s likely experienced this situation himself many times. How long did it take for him to easily keep his composure? To have the confidence to move on? Why can’t I be more like him?
“I’m… so sorry…” he tenderly speaks.
I look up at him and give him a tight hug. He slowly reciprocates. “I don’t want to die, Captain… I don’t want to die-” I quickly stammer.
Charlie stares out and continues to hold me. He was lost in thought, and I couldn’t tell you what was going on inside his head. After a moment, he breaks the hug and looks at me. “We can’t mourn now. Not yet. We need to go. Follow me!”
I immediately follow his orders, and we make our way to the escape pods. They’re our only hope now. We open the doors and are greeted by more smoke and flames. No no no! This can’t be! However, Charlie still perseveres and charges into the room.
“Are you insane?!?”, I yelp, “It’s no use, you could die!”
“Look! The last one is still untouched and in working order! If we’re fast, we can make it!” he yells back.
I reluctantly follow up, and sure enough, the third escape pod hasn’t been destroyed… yet. “Wait!”, I exclaim. “Two people can’t go in there, it’s unsafe! Only one of us would fit.”
He turns to me and smiles. “I know.”
My face sinks in horror, no, he couldn’t- “Charlie. You can’t. You take it!”
Charlie ignores my pleas and goes to the control panel. “Keep that suit on! It will keep you from burning upon entering the atmosphere!”, the captain ordered.
I run and grab onto him, trying to restrain him from pushing anything else. “PLEASE! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
Charlie beams and pauses, “Something I should have done a long time ago.” With his great strength, he gets me off and kicks me into the pod. I bang and scream through the glass, but it’s already too late. Charlie finalizes the coordinates and readies me for takeoff. He calmly walks up to the pod and tells me, “If anyone has a chance of getting through the mission, it’s you. This has always been your vision. I know you can do it.”
“But not without you guys!”, I shout back. “I always act like I’m fine and capable, but I’m still just the same naive, stupid boy I always have been! I’m nothing without you... And Brittany…”
Charlie puts a hand on the glass. I put my hand up to it, too. He confidently booms, “Hey. A good captain always goes down with their ship. Now go. Save the world! For me, for Brittany, for Koppai!”
Abruptly, the escape pod launches away. In mere seconds, my grandfather’s now ablaze ship, my friends, and my life is nothing more than a spec in the great big sky. The last thing I hear is my suit stating,
High levels of stress and injury detected.
Initiating emergency sleep mode…
I pass out, going into a hazy sleep wonderland. My pod splashes into a body of water. I see the greenest of trees surrounding me… Is this real? Or a dream?
My eyes start to close… The world goes black…
Alph…
Alph…
Alph…