All of Reilly’s anger and frustration dissipated in but breath as the words ran through his mind without the Russian accent to confuse or distort.

We were ejected on purpose.

“Borsh, If there was a manually activated ejection, then Grabo’s pod would at least be with us. I can’t imagine her waking up only to eject us onto an alien world so she could starve to death on the journey back home.”

“I don’t understand it,” Borsh said. “I’ve rechecked the logs and everything indicates a manual ejection.”

“Well recheck them again. It doesn’t make sense that-”

“Jim,” Chapel interrupted, swiveling back towards his commander. Gone was the taught cheeks and narrowed eyes and instead, his forehead was curled into deep ridges of thought. “Give Borsh a break. You know he’s telling the truth.”

The capsule rocked from a strong blast of wind. Chapel almost fell out of his seat but his restraints kept him secure.

“You keep your eyes in the sky,” Reilly spat.

“Look, I admit I was a little out of line for asking Borsh to reset the hibernation sequence, but we had nothing to do with the ejection. Now look, I just had a thought about Grabo that might-”

“I said-”

“Just shut up and listen,” Chapel interrupted once again. “If Grabo is still alive, there’s a good chance she’s in the area. If we can get in touch with her before we fall under the cloud cover, she might be able to get some help.”

Borsh didn’t need to be told what to do. He swiveled in his chair and started typing sequences of numbers and letters into his console. Hidden from view, gears turned with a low metallic whirl as electrical current swished through all the wiring like the beating of a heart. Above them, the circular dish moved in a slow arc across the sky.

Thank god it wasn’t burned off, Reilly thought.

Data points streamed across Borsh’s console as he continued to manipulate the movement of the dish with a small stick. All the while the clouds grew closer to the craft.

“How bad will the clouds interfere with Borsh’s sweep?” Reilly asked.

“Hopefully, not much, but I’m getting some strange readings down there.”

Borsh’s console light up in a matter of colors pronounced with a soft chiming sound. Borsh pumped his fist in the air.

“I found her,” he yelled before all the lights and sounds in capsule extinguished in but a second.

Reilly pressed buttons to hear only empty clicks. Chapel tried to restart the power sequence to the same results. Borsh’s pounded his screen with the side of his hand. The power did not return.

The crew sat in silence as they floated into the clouds, casting a dark shadow inside the module. Reilly stared up into the sky as the cloud enveloped the sun in thick white mist.

I wonder if I’ll ever see the sky again.

• Previous
• First
• Next