Page 55 of Sol Survivor

Year: 2219

Aboard an alien ship.

Vicsqueezedhereyesshut.With space laid before her like an endless graveyard, she couldn’t bear to look at it.Nothing whizzed past, no matter how she squinted or glared until her eyes watered.Her suit beeped the second warning.Across her visor flashed the quarter marker.Twenty-five percent of the oxygen remained.It took all her control and discipline to calm her breathing.

Every ten minutes, she tried calling out, hoping someone would pick up her frequency.Hell, she’d face down Carne if it meant she lived.

She wanted to snort at her stupidity.In the vastness of space, she was but an infinitesimal speck.

“Drafe,” she whispered, letting a tear slide free.Sparkling like a diamond, it floated in front of her and collided with her hair, darkening the wayward strands.Exhaustion bombarded her mind.She was so tired of staying calm, of surviving, of succeeding despite the odds.If she drifted off to sleep, could she die without waking?Not that death had scared her before, but she hadn’t been this alone.Ande was on the outskirts, watching and waiting, ready to bolster her flagging spirits, to rush her to medical if needed.

Another tear slipped free.

She had wanted her freedom, but never like this and at this cost.Well, she was free now.A hysterical bark of laughter escaped her, but she tamped it down, not willing to waste the oxygen.If she survived this, by some incredible miracle, she would return toMula Pesadaand fargen kill everyone.Well, maybe not Grunt, Dieter, and Tiny, but the rest of them would die a slow, torturous death.

Squeezing her eyes shut again, she tried to roll over.Nope, she had nothing to push against.This was the view she would die with.She breathed in and exhaled slowly.What she should have done was kick Pa off the farm and harvest sol.Out on the ocean beds, she would have spotted visitors from miles away.

No, space had offered the freedom she had so desperately needed.Love might have blossomed with Drafe if she’d been afforded the chance to find out.Sorrow, as she well knew, was like a thick blanket: hot, wet, heavy, sucking on her heart, soul, and her ability to think.

Since the fifty percent oxygen beep, she’d studied her situation from all angles.Without access to communication, she couldn’t call for help.Nor could she slow her trajectory.The last time she had tried had spun her out of control, ‘landing’ her on her back.Jupiter loomed to her right, so large it appeared close enough to touch.To her left was the Kuiper Belt.

Would her corpse be pulled into orbit around Jupiter, would she splat on a moon or an asteroid?Millions of years from now, an advanced species would run tests on her and assume humans had mechanical parts.They’d call her by the name imprinted on her titanium bones: Carne.

She splayed out her arms and legs, as if she floated on the surface of an ocean, swept away by the tidal currents.She’d imagined so many times what that must have felt like.Some training vids had touched on how-not-to-drown.Living on a dried-out sea bed, the irony of it had tickled her sense of humor.

Just like that, she drifted to sleep, lulled by the beauty of uncharted galaxies and twinkling lights.

A beep jerked her awake.

Ten percent oxygen remained.The letters flashed red.

She closed her eyes again, unable to deactivate the irritating message.

“I know.Stupid suit,” she muttered.“Farg off.”

Another beep intruded on her snooze.Five percent oxygen remained.Replace canister now.“Sure.Let me take the spare one out of my pocket.Oh, wait, it’s in my other pants.”Drawing in a calming breath, she tried one more time.“Mayday, mayday, woman adrift, taking the scenic route around…fargen space.”

Right, sure, that worked.Look, a ship.Oh, wait, no, more stars.She giggled then pinched her lips.Laughter bubbled in her chest as the tears rolled free.

“Ande, I wish I told you.You’re the family I always wanted.”

She cried, drenching her visor and saving her from the darkness smothering her.

“Drafe, you had such promise.I miss you, like a piece of my soul had crossed this endless void to you.”Her chest swelled with emotion, and something rippled along her skin.Visions of worlds and people she didn’t know flitted across her mind.They told stories she’d never have the time to sift through.

A shadow traveled from the bottom of the visor to the top, engulfing her in black.Death wasn’t what she’d expected.Most spoke of a white tunnel calling her to pure love and light.Perhaps this was hell, a place reserved for killers, haters, and those who defrauded on their taxes.Exhaling, she arched, offering herself to the shadow and the gentle nudge, as her life left her body.

She hit something hard, shooting a bolt of agony from the back of her head to her fingertips.

What the farg?She opened her eyes and squinted at the distorted faces filling her vision along with the fargen message warning her that two percent of her oxygen remained.The squiggly species were demons?She laughed.No wonder they tormented humans, who were, as a whole, prettier.Also, hell lacked fire and color in general.Gray geometric shapes marked the ceiling high above.Lights flickered in blue.

“Is it human?”The words were in English.

She grinned.Good.Spending eternity trying to get a demon to understand her was her definition of hell.

“Yes.Open the visor.”Fingers covered her face and flipped the visor back.

Fresh air cooled the tears on her cheeks.She blinked at the faces, all with obsidian skin and brightly colored hair flowing down their backs.Brown, green, blue, and black matched their eyes, for the most part.Farg.Did her version of demons look like Drafe dipped in a kaleidoscope of hair dyes?

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