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<!DOCTYPE html> < html > < head > < title > Alone < / title > < link rel = "stylesheet" type = "text/css" href = "html_resources/style.css" > < / head > < body > < a href = "index.html" > < button class = "back" > < < / button > < / a >
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< h1 > Alone< / h1 >
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Outline:
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Lena and Emily put on their space suits to go outside
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(imply that Lena is about to die)
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Lena double-checks that Emily can get back inside
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Emily helps Lena with her helmet
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something to the effet of Lena is leaving for one final time
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they go to the grave of Lena' s SO
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once there, they sit down on the ground
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Emily helps Lena take her life support unit off her back
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Lena sits down leaning against a rock, her life support unit next
to her
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" You were ultimately right" conversation
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Lena has to tell Emily that she should get in touch with Jack
using the downlink
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Emily leaves and returns with new oxygen canisters
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Lena dies
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Emily returns inside and goes to a room with a view of the sky
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following any procedures such as operating the airlock as
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robot-like as possible
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she lies down on the floor and looks out the window in the ceiling
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she remains on the floor for an absurd amount of time
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Jack uses the uplink to dial into the station
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< p >
Emily and Lena start putting on their space suits. Emily is done
relatively quickly while Lena makes slow progress as she struggles to
keep her balance. Half-way through, she gives up, sitting down on the
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bench next to the airlock. Emily helps her all the way into the
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suit. Lena sits there for a moment, heavily breathing, while Emily waits.
< br / >
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< span class = "quote speech" > Sorry, I can' t... I feel exhausted.< / span >
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< / p >
< p >
Emily takes their helmets and brings them into the airlock. She returns
for a life support unit, pulls it out of the rack in the wall, and sets
it down on the floor. Following a mental checklist, she makes sure that
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the oxygen bottle is connected properly and the gauges read what they
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should. Everything okay... or is it? She double-checks with the check
list on the wall. Yes, this unit is ready. She triple-checks everything
– first time it actually matters. Reasonably satisfied with her
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findings, she carries it over to the airlock. Then, she repeats this
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procedure for the second unit. Finally, she helps Lena up and they get
into the airlock.
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< p >
The pumps are getting quieter and quieter. Lena kneels on the floor
holding a bunch of flowers from the biotope module, her life support
unit next to her on a short tether. Emily puts it on her back and and
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helps her up. The outer door of the airlock silently swings aside and
they start walking, Lena leaning on Emily.
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< / p >
< p >
They reach the graveyard and walk over to the recent graves. The entire
graveyard is covered in hills where the bodies of the deceased were
buried. Some have signs with names, some have painted pieces of regalith
as gravestones, some have < span class = "comment" > < the crumpled remains
of> ? What happens to flowers when exposed to vacuum for a prolonged
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amount of time?< / span > flowers next to them, a few are entirely
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undecorated.
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< p >
Lena places a couple flowers on each of the most recent graves, then she
gestures for Emily to take the life support unit off her back. Emily
takes it off and she sits down. Emily places the life support unit
behind her, Lena leans against it. She turns her radio on and Emily does
the same.< br / >
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< span class = "quote speech" > Ultimately, you were right.< / span > She is
interrupted by coughing. < span class = "quote speech" > If more had taken
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Tony' s cure – no matter what risk it posed ... – maybe
some of them would be alive now.< / span > < br / >
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< span class = "quote speech" > What about you?< / span > Emily asks with a
slither of hope in her voice.< br / >
< span class = "quote speech" > No – no cure can save me, it' s too
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late.< / span > < br / >
Emily tears up. < span class = "comment" > note: Slightly. Is there a better
way to say this?< / span > < br / >
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< span class = "quote speech" > I' m sorry.< / span > < br / >
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Lena raises her arm. Emily sits down next to her and Lena puts it around
her shoulders.< br / >
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< span class = "quote speech" > What will I do without you?< / span > < br / >
< span class = "quote speech" > You have a strong mind. You got this. Jack
will call in the evening, as usual; he will know what to do next.< / span >
< br / >
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< / p >
< p class = "comment" >
missing:
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Emily starting to reconsider her choice not to leave the moon
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The conversation topic changes to Earth in general
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< p >
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The conversation is interrupted by the beeping of Lena' s low oxygen
alarm going off. Emily gets up and walks back to the habitat. She enters
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through the airlock and looks for a full oxygen bottle. She lifts one
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out of its rack and carries it back to Lena. She opens the life support
unit and closes the valves on it and the empty bottle, then she replaces
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it and opens the valves again. Just as she is done with that, her own
alarm goes off. < span class = "comment" > Disappointed/annoyed reaction< / span >
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< p class = "comment" >
Emily sits down next to Lena again, but there is no conversation.
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< p >
Emily looks at Lena – she had closed her eyes. As if she knew Emily
was looking she opens them, looking directly at her.
< span class = "comment" > Gripping?< / span > her hand as she speaks.
< span class = "comment" > some meaningful last words?< / span > Then she lets go
and closes her eyes again. A couple minutes later, she stops breathing.
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< span class = "comment" > wording< / span >
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< / p >
< p class = "comment" >
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Emily sits next to Lena for a while, completely out of it, her mind
being numb.
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< p >
Her oxygen alarm goes off. Absentmindedly, she gets up and returns to
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the habitat. She opens the airlock, enters, closes the outside, and
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enters the inside. As she is putting away her suit, she realizes that
she had been following the procedures from muscle memory without even
thinking about them. She walks to the < span class = "comment" > ???< / span >
module and lays down on the floor staring into the sky.
< span class = "comment" > This module has to be described at some point
before this. It has panorama windows to all sides and a glass ceiling.
< / span >
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< / p >
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