Chapter Text
She stares out the window of the ship, only ice, as usual. It is far too cold for most crops to grow anywhere but a lab, maybe someone’s expertly kept greenhouse, but that even is failing. The cold isn’t the only thing that gnaws at her bones. It may bite through her coat and leave her fingers numb, but the guilt… That was the thing that chewed on her ribs, slashed at her stomach, and stabbed through her heart, like an icepick. She sighs, seeing the water vapor of her breath disperse in the dry air. She can’t stomach her coffee, can hardly remember when they started rationing it. All she can remember is before, anything after that day is just guilt. All she sees anymore in an occasional dream, or when she looks up at the stars, the slowly dimming flickers of light. They could all be out for all she knows, no one would know for a very long time.
Tap
Tap
Tap
She sighs, turning to look through the frost coated glass, Carl is gesturing slightly excessively for her to come inside. Her boots crunch on the salt.
“What is it?” She speaks as she shuts the door to the cold wind outside.
“You’re gonna want to see this for yourself.” She rolls her eyes a bit in frustration, but is quiet when she reaches the radar display. They both stare for a while, silence heavy and dense, after far too long, her voice shakes as she shatters it.
“...What- is that?” a blip on the Radar, not far from Earth, too big to be a probe.
Within four agonizing hours, they would have their answer.