by Steven Wolff
“Whoa, wait, where is this coming from? What are you trying to say?” Jenkins asks, clearly getting upset.
“What I’m doing is… calling a spade, a spade.” Whitfield says provocatively.
April stands up, “You’re about to call an ambulance if you shut yer trap!” She says clenching her fist, “Jenkins was passed out when we found her – Nikolai tried to kill her and we saved her. There’s nothing more to the story!”
Jenkins sobs in Chantal’s arms, as tension starts to escalate in the cabin.
“What’s going on?” Howard asks.
“Whitfield here is about to need a dentist because I’m going to knock all his teeth out.” April says pissed off.
“Please don’t… at least not yet.” Howard says, trying to calm the situation.
Whitfield defends himself, “All I said is that Jenkins story sounds very suspicious if you ask me. After all, we never did see the body of the ‘supposedly’ dead astronaut.”
Howard’s face frowns in anger, “Whitfield, I suggest you keep quiet and not say anything if you know what’s best for you.”
“But…”
“Not one word!” Howard says pointing at him, “Jenkins is part of our crew now. You will treat her with respect.”
Whitfield salutes Howard sarcastically with his hand, “Yes, sir. Anything you say, sir!”
Suddenly the lights on Josh’s console start blinking, “Sir, you might want to come see this!”
“What’s going on?” Howard asks, leaning his arm on Josh’s chair.
“I’m picking up a massive debris field up ahead!”
“Can we go around it?”
“Negative, it’s too wide in all directions.”
“Slow us down then…” Howard suggests.
Edward interjects, “I highly advise against slowing down.”
“Why? What do you know that I don’t?”
“The slower we go or the longer we are tip-toing through the debris field, the higher the risk for one of those giant rocks colliding with the ship. The probability of impact is higher.”
“Okay, what do you suggest?”
Edward pulls his seatbelt over his shoulder, “I suggest we buckle up and hang on for dear life.”
“Josh, you’re the pilot. Do you feel comfortable flying through this massive debris field?”
“Do I look comfortable?!?” He says with a look of panic on his face. “No, I’m not comfortable… with any of this!”
“What does your favorite pilot say when he’s in trouble? I’m a leaf in the wind?”
“Yeah – but he ended up with a spike through him!” Josh says in a panic.
“Look, just do whatever it takes, okay? Just get us through it, preferably alive!”
“Gah! This is too much stress. I can’t handle this kind of responsibility.”
“Josh, focus. We need you, right here – right now. Get us through this. Then freak out later if you want.” Howard says strapping himself in.
“I can do this…. I can do this...” Josh says while gripping the steering column tightly with both hands.
Howard tells everyone, “You heard the man… buckle up and hang on.”
Josh pushes the steering column forward and dives the ship under a large asteroid spinning dangerously close towards them – before pulling to the left and then to the right as other rocks barely miss the ship.
Smaller rock-size dust particles pelt the outer hull of the ship like a shot-gun blast, causing deafening impact-sounds on the inside, but the hull remains intact. The crew hangs on, gripping the edge of their seat tightly as Josh carefully maneuvers through the asteroid field.
One asteroid rock – the size of a fifty-cent piece punctures the hull, causing the cabin to quickly depressurize. Papers and small things are violently being sucked out of the ship through a hole two inches wide.
April unbuckles herself quickly and uses the novel she brought on board to plug up the hole. The suction is holding the book in place as Josh does evasive maneuvers, sending April bouncing all around the ship.
She’s trying to hang on while making her way back to her seat, but it’s difficult. Once buckled in, Chantal leans over to April, “I’m glad you’re okay, I was worried about you.” she says with her thick French accent.
“Thanks, I was worried too. I’m just glad the puncture in the wall wasn’t a large gash, then we’d be in really big trouble.”
“You are very clever…” She says pointing to April’s book plugging the hole.”
“Yeah, but now I can’t finish reading it… unless I read and turn the pages with it stuck to the wall.” April says jokingly.
Josh continues dodging and maneuvering around the debris field as everyone is hoping they don’t die. Chantal looks over and tilts her head to the side.
“What’s that say?” She asks April.
“The book cover? It says Self-Aware – A Zombie Series With A Fresh Twist! By Steven Wolff.”
“Is it a good book?” Chantal asks.
“If you’re into zombies, then yeah… I think so. Otherwise, you might not like it. It’s pretty gory.”
“Do you mind talking to me about it? I could use a distraction right now.”
“No problem. Let me see… it’s about two women who wake up at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse with a mutated version of the zombie virus. So instead of being like all the other zombies, their virus heals and regenerates their body. They look, act and sound normal, like you and me. They end up falling in love with each other, while trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.”
“Like we both are, except we’re in space… and there are no zombies.” Chantal says with a smile.
April raises one eyebrow, “like we both are what? Do you mean like surviving?”
Chantal giggles, “But of course. What else did you think I mean? Falling in love with each other? Don’t be silly.” She says, as her face turns bright red.
Both of them stare ahead and avoid eye contact, trying to play it off. April smirks while thinking about it, then slowly moves her hand on top of Chantal’s – who willingly holds her hand back.
Jenkins suddenly pops her head between them and says, “Chantal!”
Startled, she turns and looks as Jenkins who has a look of panic on her face, “Something’s not right with Edward – you might want to come check him out!”
Chantal unbuckles and swings her body to the back row and immediately notices bright-red blobs of blood floating in the air next to Edward. His eyes are closed as he’s buckled securely in his seat.
“Oh no!” She says under her breath.
“Edward, you okay? Talk to me… What’s going on?” She asks while examining him all over. She lifts up his left arm and notices a two inch hole in his side, the same size as the asteroid that pierced the hull of the ship.
Blood is slowly bubbling out of an opening in his side like that of a lava lamp. Chantal quickly puts his arm down to stop the flow.
“Is he going to make it?” Jenkins asks.
Chantal shakes her head left and right, without verbally answering. He lowers her head in sadness as Josh lets out a huge sigh of relief, “Wooooo! We’re through the debris field. We made it!”
“Not everyone made it.” Howard says in a somber tone.
“Wait, what’s going on?” Josh asks, turning around in his seat. He notices Edward with a giant red blood-stain on his side.
Howard continues, “A small piece of asteroid punctured the hull and embedded itself into Edward. There’s nothing we could do to save him.”
“Oh, no… this can’t be!” Josh says running his hands through his hair while tears stream down his cheeks. Guilt is written all over his face as Josh blames himself.
“You did nothing wrong.” Howard says comforting Josh by putting his arm around him.
“It’s clearly my fault… he’s dead.” Josh says, “I killed him.”
April stands up and puts her hand on Josh’s other shoulder in a s
how of solidarity, “No, you saved us all.”
Jenkins and Chantal swarm around Josh to put their hands on him, trying to comfort his heavy heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Funeral
After paying their respects to Sir Adam Edward the third, everyone puts on their helmets as they suit up for the last part of the funeral. Howard checks to make sure everyone is good to go before pulling the handle, causing the cabin to depressurize. Everyone has one hand on Edward’s lifeless body while he floats as if on an invisible stretcher.
Once the door is open, the crew gently nudges his body so it floats slowly out the door. As he passes through the doorway into the darkness of space, a celestial combination of reddish-pink and blue colors reflect off of Edward’s shiny helmet from the surrounding stars.
Everyone stands by the door in silence, watching as Edward floats away slowly. April notices her book slowly floating past her on the way out the door. She quickly grabs it and is reminded she needs to fix the hole in the hull. Ten minutes later, it’s patched properly as the ship pressurizes back to normal.
“We’re good to go.” April says, proud of her work.
“Josh, let’s continue on.” Howard says.
With two crew members now gone, the ship feels larger and emptier than ever before. Seeing the once occupied seats now empty is making everyone feel a little more vulnerable to the dangers of space.
Later that night, Whitfield opens his eyes and quietly sits up in his bunk. He looks around and listens – only hearing the sound of snoring and the ambient sound of the engine humming. He quietly floats over to where Edward used to sleep, squatting down in front of his drawer. He pulls it ever so slowly, trying not to make a sound.
Inside is a backpack that belonged to Edward, so Whitfield reaches in and pulls the whole thing out – trying not to wake the rest of the crew. He sneaks around the corner away from anyone that can hear before unzipping the backpack to inspect the contents. He peeks in and his eyes widen suddenly, as he pulls out a chocolate moon pie, wrapped in a clear plastic.
Whitfield carefully tears it open, trying not to crinkle the plastic as he bites into the marshmallow sandwich. Tiny brown crumbs float like dirt around his mouth and head as he smiles and closes his eyes, taking another bite.
*A-HEM!*
Someone behind Whitfield clears their throat, startling him. He turns around and sees Howard with a stern look on his face.
“What do you think you are you doing?”
Busted with a mouth full of moon pie, he slowly swallows and turns around, wiping his lips with his arm.
“I, uh, um...”
They both look down at the green backpack that has Edward’s name written on the front.
“Look what I found!” He tries to play it off.
“Don’t play dumb with me. What are you doing with Edward’s stuff? That’s not yours to touch, nor is his food yours to eat!”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. It’s not like he’s going to say anything or eat it.”
Suddenly a sucker punch comes flying from out of the darkness, sending spit, blood, and moon pie crumbs all over the cabin. April steps into the light and shakes her right hand.
“How dare you!” She say with such anger written all over her face.
Whitfield nurses the side of his jaw with the back of his hand, giving April the evil eye.
“What? Afraid to hit a girl? That didn’t stop me from hitting you, you little bi…!”
“I’ve got this…” Howard interrupts while holding April back. Whitfield staggers to his feet, but flinches when April taunts him, even with Howard in between. She snatches the green backpack out of his hands and puts it back in Edward’s drawer.
“Show some respect, you coward.”
Howard watches as April leaves out of the room, before looking back at Whitfield, “Can’t say I didn’t see that coming.”
“You just gonna let her do that?” He asks looking at the blood on the back of his hand.
“What? Kick your ass? She’s a grown woman. I can’t tell her what to do.”
“But you’re the mission commander!”
“I am. So what?”
“Order her to not touch or hit me.”
“Here’s a better idea. Don’t touch other people’s stuff and she won’t touch you. How’s that for a compromise?”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I am a military officer of the United States government! When we get back, I’m going to court martial you and April… and when they do, they are going to lock you away for a long time.”
Howard grabs Whitfield by the collar and looks him in the eyes… “Let’s get something straight. I’m the one you report to… this is my ship and this is my crew! Regardless if they are dead or alive, you will show respect to them and to me… that includes their belongings. Comprende? Seeing how you are thousands of miles from Earth, your empty threats and military bullying don’t mean squat out here. Besides, you can’t court martial civilians – you of all people know that! You’re just trying to intimidate my crew… If I catch you going through anyone else’s things again, or threatening any member of my crew, I will personally drop you off on the nearest asteroid and you can hitch a ride back home with the other ship. If you think I’m kidding – try me!”
Josh whispers under his voice, “Holy ….” as his eyes widen to that of an owl.
Whitfield grumbles, “Understood.”
Howard lets go and turns his back… walking away.
“Damn!” April says in awe as he walks by her.
“How’s your fist? Do you need Chantal to look at it?”
“It’s fine. I’ve hit harder things.”
Chantal grabs April’s hand and smiles, “Please… it will be my pleasure!”
April smiles as she lets Chantal tend to her wound.
“What about me?” Whitfield asks in a whimper.
Chantal doesn’t make eye contact, but politely answers him, “There’s only one of me – you’ll have to wait your turn.”
She slowly takes her time, wrapping April’s hand in a bandage and secures it with metal clips. April smiles and touches Chantal’s cheek gently with her wrapped hand, causing her to gasp in pleasure.
Staring each other in the eyes, they look at each other as their heads lean in and their lips slowly touch… checking to see if the other pulls away, but instead they gently kiss. A gentle peck at first, barely noticeable, but then another kiss follows and then another, before they are kissing like two teenagers madly in love. Jenkins is awoken by the noise of two people tumbling about the cabin, passionately making out. Jenkins smiles and rolls her eyes, “Get a room you two…” She says before turning on her side, pulling her blanket over her shoulders.
They both giggle and continue making out without a care in this world. Jenkins can’t help but listen to these two keeping her from falling back asleep. After several minutes, Jenkins gets up, “Don’t mind me. I’ll just go make some coffee.” She said, leaving the area to give them some privacy. The rest of the crew gather around the coffee pot, except Whitfield – who’s sulking in the corner.
Josh snickers, “April and Chantal… who knew?”
“Mr. Dunningberg warned us this was bound to happen.” Howard says, trying to add cinnamon to his coffee container. “When you’re trapped in a small area for weeks on end, you’re going to develop all kinds of feelings for people. Some romantic, others not so warm and fuzzy, right Whitfield?” Howard says looking at him.
He doesn’t answer.
“Mr. Dunningberg was right. Intense emotions.”
“Speaking of, what about you?” Jenkins asks.
“What about me?”
“Is there someone back home that… you know, like to cuddle with?”
“My cat?” Howard answers bewildered.
“Dude, she means do you have a girlfriend or a wife…”
“Ooh, Sorry! I’m not awake yet. Hence, why I’m trying to making coffee.”
; Jenkins laughs, “I totally get it, no worries.”
“I’m single!” Josh blurts out unexpectedly, “In case you’re wondering.”
“Josh, really? Don’t listen to him, he’s a horn-dog.”
“Am not!”
“Am too! Gah – you’ve got me talking like you now.” Howard says as he takes a slow sip from his hot coffee. “You hit on any woman that smiles at you or even stares in your direction.”
“I can’t help it. I’m attracted to all kinds of ladies.”
Jenkins smiles, “Josh, I so know your type. You’re the heart-breaker type. You’re sweet, innocent, loving, but when a different wind blows, you float to someone else.”
“What about you?” Howard asks, “Married?”
“I was. Now I’m widowed. My late husband was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Howard says looking down.
“It’s okay. That was almost ten years ago.” She says taking a big breath in before slowing letting it out.
“Any kids?”
“No. You?” Jenkins asks.
“I am my own kid.” Howard awkwardly jokes.
“What do you mean?”
“I still feel like a teenager with adult responsibilities, even though I’m so much older. I still like video games, movies, going to carnivals.”
Jenkins smiles, “Me too!”
“Which part?” Howard grins in excitement.
“All of it. X-box or Playstation?”
“I’m a Playstation kinda guy.”
“Ooooo so close, but wrong answer.” Jenkins jokes.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re an X-box lover.”
“I am – it has more features, better graphics, etc.”
“I like movies!” Josh adds to the conversation.
Both Jenkins and Howard say at the same time, “Josh… shush!”
Suddenly, there’s a violent jolt to the ship, causing it to rock violently as the lights overhead flicker. Audio alarm-sounds are going off on the front console as Josh races to his chair, pulling his monitor closer to him to see what’s going on.
“Warning… life support systems offline. Proceed to the nearest exit…”