116 lines
7.0 KiB
HTML
116 lines
7.0 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Alone </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><svg class="hidden_filter"><filter id="crunchy_blur" x="0" y="0"><feFlood x="4" y="4" height="2" width="2"/><feComposite width="6" height="6" in2="SourceGraphic"/><feTile result="a"/><feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="a" operator="in"/><feMorphology operator="dilate" radius="1.4"/><feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="2.2"></feGaussianBlur></filter></svg><div class="home"><a href="index.html">⌂</a></div>
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<h1> Alone</h1>
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<!-- perspective: Emily -->
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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... too exhausted...</span>
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<br />
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Emily nods and continues getting both of them ready.
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</p>
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<p>
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She takes their helmets and brings them into the airlock. Then, she
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returns for a life support unit, pulls it out of the rack in the wall,
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and sets it down on the floor. Following a mental checklist, she makes
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sure that the oxygen bottle is connected properly and the gauges read
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what they should. Everything okay... or is it? She double-checks with
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the check list on the wall. Yes, this unit is ready. She triple-checks
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everything – first time it actually matters. Reasonably satisfied
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with her findings, she carries it over to the airlock. Then, she repeats
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this procedure for another unit. Finally, she helps Lena up and they
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get into the airlock.
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</p>
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<p>
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Helmets on, inner door closed, airlock cycling. The pumps are getting
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quieter and quieter as the pressure drops. 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 helps
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her up. The outer door of the airlock silently swings aside and they
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start walking, Lena leaning on her.
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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 have made it.</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 ceiling of large
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glass panels.</span>
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</p>
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