182 lines
7.6 KiB
HTML
182 lines
7.6 KiB
HTML
<!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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<p class="comment">
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Outline:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li class="comment">
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Lena and Emily put on their space suits to go outside
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<ul>
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<li class="comment">
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(imply that Lena is about to die)
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Lena double-checks that Emily can get back inside
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Emily helps Lena with her helmet
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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something to the effet of Lena is leaving for one final time
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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they go to the grave of Lena's SO
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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once there, they sit down on the ground
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<ul>
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<li class="comment">
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Emily helps Lena take her life support unit off her back
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Lena sits down leaning against a rock, her life support unit next
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to her
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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"You were ultimately right" conversation
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<ul>
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<li class="comment">
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Lena has to tell Emily that she should get in touch with Jack
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using the downlink
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Emily leaves and returns with new oxygen canisters
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Lena dies
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Emily returns inside and goes to a room with a view of the sky
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<ul>
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<li class="comment">
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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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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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she lies down on the floor and looks out the window in the ceiling
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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she remains on the floor for an absurd amount of time
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li class="comment">
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Jack uses the uplink to dial into the station
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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Emily and Lena start putting on their space suits. Emily is done
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relatively quickly while Lena makes slow progress as she struggles to
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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.
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Sorry, I can't... I feel exhausted.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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Emily takes their helmets and brings them into the airlock. She returns
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for a life support unit, pulls it out of the rack in the wall, and sets
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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
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list on the wall. Yes, this unit is ready. She triple-checks everything
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– 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
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into the airlock.
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</p>
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<p>
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The pumps are getting quieter and quieter. Lena kneels on the floor
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holding a bunch of flowers from the biotope module, her life support
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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
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they start walking, Lena leaning on Emily.
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</p>
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<p>
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They reach the graveyard and walk over to the recent graves. The entire
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graveyard is covered in hills where the bodies of the deceased were
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buried. Some have signs with names, some have painted pieces of regalith
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as gravestones, some have <span class="comment"><the crumpled remains
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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>
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<p>
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Lena places a couple flowers on each of the most recent graves, then she
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gestures for Emily to take the life support unit off her back. Emily
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takes it off and she sits down. Emily places the life support unit
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behind her, Lena leans against it. She turns her radio on and Emily does
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the same.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Ultimately, you were right.</span> She is
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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
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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
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slither of hope in her voice.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">No – no cure can save me, it's too
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late.</span><br />
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Emily tears up. <span class="comment">note: Slightly. Is there a better
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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
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her shoulders.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">What will I do without you?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You have a strong mind. You got this. Jack
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will call in the evening, as usual; he will know what to do next.</span>
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<br />
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</p>
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<p class="comment">
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missing:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li class="comment">
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Emily starting to reconsider her choice not to leave the moon
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</lI>
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<li class="comment">
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The conversation topic changes to Earth in general
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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The conversation is interrupted by the beeping of Lena's low oxygen
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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
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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
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alarm goes off. <span class="comment">Disappointed/annoyed reaction</span>
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</p>
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<p class="comment">
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Emily sits down next to Lena again, but there is no conversation.
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</p>
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<p>
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Emily looks at Lena – she had closed her eyes. As if she knew Emily
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was looking she opens them, looking directly at her.
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<span class="comment">Gripping?</span> her hand as she speaks.
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<span class="comment">some meaningful last words?</span> Then she lets go
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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>
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<p class="comment">
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Emily sits next to Lena for a while, completely out of it, her mind
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being numb.
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</p>
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<p>
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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
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she had been following the procedures from muscle memory without even
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thinking about them. She walks to the <span class="comment">???</span>
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module and lays down on the floor staring into the sky.
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<span class="comment">This module has to be described at some point
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before this. It has panorama windows to all sides and a glass ceiling.
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</span>
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
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