Outline:
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
bench across from the air lock. Emily helps her all the way into the
suit. Lena sits there for a moment, heavily breathing, while Emily waits.
Sorry, I can't... I feel exhausted.
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 the air tank is connected properly and the status display reads what it 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 findings, she carries it over to the air lock. Then, she repeats this procedure for the second unit. Finally, she helps Lena up and they get into the airlock.
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 helps her up. The outer door of the airlock swings aside and they start walking, Lena leaning on Emily.
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 <the crumpled remains of>? What happens to flowers when exposed to vacuum for a prolonged amount of time? flowers next to them, some are entirely undecorated.
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.
Ultimately, you were right. She is
interrupted by coughing. If more had taken
Tony's cure – no matter what risk it posed ... – maybe
some of them would be alive now.
What about you? Emily asks with a slither of
hope in her voice.
No – no cure can save me, it's too
late.
Emily tears up. note: Slightly. Is there a better
way to say this?
I'm sorry.
Lena raises her arm. Emily sits down next to her and Lena puts it around
her shoulders.
What will I do without you?
You have a strong mind. You got this. Jack will
call in the evening, as usual; he will know what to do next.
missing:
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
through the airlock and looks for a full oxygen bottle. She lifts one
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
it and opens the valves again.
missing: Emily's LSU is also empty. She replaces the oxygen bottle
and returns, sitting down next to Lena for company.
missing: time jump, Lena dies, etc.
Copyright © 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.