A Complicated Love Story Set in Space

by Shaun David Hutchinson

  Jenny kicked the nearest Teacher. “How’s that for punishment?”

  “Did you kill them?” I asked.

  Ty shoved the device into his pocket and shook his head. “The EMP’s range is short, and it will only take them a few minutes to reboot. We should leave immediately.”

  He didn’t need to tell me twice. We took off in the direction of the shuttle as quickly as my injured leg would allow. Jenny had to help me when the pain grew too great. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any other Teachers along the way, and DJ was waiting for us in front of the hatch. I crashed into him and hugged him like I was never going to let him go.

  “You made it!”

  DJ laughed. “Why does it sound like you were expecting I wouldn’t?”

  Instead of a snarky reply, I just kissed him. It felt like the right thing to do.

  Ty cleared his throat, and I reluctantly pulled away from DJ.

  “Hey, DJ,” he said.

  Jenny pushed past us and buckled herself into the pilot’s seat. “Ty’s coming with us. This tripartite is now a foursome.”

  “She’s the pilot?” Ty asked, his voice low and skeptical.

  “Oh yeah,” I said.

  Jenny wasted no time preparing the shuttle for launch. She fired up the engines, and we shut the hatch and secured ourselves in our seats. I felt a little sad leaving Beta Cephei High, but I was also eager to return to Qriosity. It wasn’t home, but it was familiar and safe. Well, safeish. At least it didn’t have robots with lasers trying to shoot us.

  We reached Qriosity with ten minutes to spare, and we crowded into Ops to watch the fold drive tear a hole in the universe. When the countdown clock reached zero, the floating school vanished and was replaced by another empty patch of space in the middle of nowhere.

  Jenny gave Ty a tour of the ship, DJ and I made out while MediQwik repaired my leg, and eventually we met up in the galley, where I made French toast. I even crumbled Nutreesh on top of Jenny’s.

  When we’d had a chance to eat a little, Jenny said, “So are you going to tell us what that school was or not?”

  Ty hadn’t said much since boarding Qriosity, which I figured was due to the stress of our escape and his relief at finally being away from that place. I kind of expected he’d be a little reluctant to talk about it, but that he’d eventually tell us. I was surprised when his lips twisted into a cruel half smile.

  “Why don’t you tell me?” he said. “Or better yet, why don’t you tell them.” Ty motioned at me and DJ.

  Jenny had just stuffed French toast into her mouth; syrup dripped from her bottom lip. “What?”

  “Enough with the games,” Ty said. “I know what you are.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a pistol. He aimed the deadly end at Jenny.

  She swallowed. “What are you talking about?”

  Ty sneered. “If you won’t tell them, then I’ll show them.”

  I screamed. DJ leaped across the table. But we were too late.

  Ty pulled the trigger.

  Jenny’s chair flew backward. She hit the floor.

  DJ tackled Ty, and I rushed to kneel beside Jenny as a quickly spreading pool of blood ruined her beautiful dress.

  BACK IN TIME

  NOA

  JENNY SLEPT IN A MEDICALLY induced coma while MediQwik repaired her injuries. DJ was napping in the corner. A ribbon of drool ran out of the side of his mouth, and he made little piglet snorts every few minutes. I should have woken him so that he could shower and change out of his ruined tux, but he’d had a long day and needed the rest.

  According to MediQwik, Jenny had a 73 percent chance of survival. The projectile had torn her aorta, and she had technically died from blood loss. DJ had scooped her up and carried her to the med suite quickly enough for MediQwik to revive her, but she was now part of a club of which I’d been content to be the only member.

  Quietly, so that I didn’t wake DJ, I sneaked out of the room and followed the congealed drops and splatters of blood down the corridor to the galley. Mostly eaten French toast had cooled into a sludgy mess on our plates. The sickly sweet smell of butter and syrup and blood hung heavy in the air.

  If I left it alone, cleaning bots would do as they were programmed and the mess would disappear, but I couldn’t bear to wait. I cleared the table and washed the dishes. Then I found a bucket and hot water and soap and set about scrubbing the blood off the floor and the walls. Drops had splattered onto the table and the chairs. The galley had been my favorite place on Qriosity, but now it would always be where Jenny had died.

  Anger bubbled in my chest like a geyser on the verge of bursting through the surface. Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself marching through the ship. Standing in front of the head where I had initially found Jenny. Opening the door to stare down at Ty, his hands and feet bound. Kicking him in the stomach over and over. Ty hardly cried out. He didn’t beg me to stop. I might have kept kicking him until he hurt as badly as I did, but my leg began to ache where I’d been shot.

  “She’s going to live,” I said between breaths.

  “Pity for you.” Whoever Ty had been at Beta Cephei High, he was someone else entirely now. He was calculating and equable and British.

  I pulled back to kick Ty again, pleased when he flinched. “If you want to live, I suggest you convince me why I shouldn’t throw you out of the airlock.” I had already lost my temper once, and I fought hard to keep it in check.

  “Untie me and I’ll explain.”

  An explosive laugh burst from me. “Not a chance.” DJ had taken the weapon that Ty had used to shoot Jenny. A pistol that looked like it had been cobbled together from spare bits and pieces of other devices; cruder than his EMP, which DJ had also confiscated. Even if I’d had the pistol on me, I wouldn’t have trusted Ty enough to free him. And he shouldn’t have trusted me, either. It was probably for the best that DJ had kept the gun.

  Ty shrugged. If he felt any fear, he hid it well. Bound and completely at my mercy, he looked like he believed he was still in control. That triggered a warning voice in the back of my mind. Either Ty was an absolute psychopath or he knew something I didn’t.

  “Tell me why you killed Jenny,” I said. Before Ty could open his mouth, I added, “This isn’t a negotiation. You don’t get to suggest terms. Answer my question or I’m leaving.”

  “You honestly haven’t the foggiest idea what’s going on, have you?” His laugh made me cringe inside.

  “Goodbye.” I backed out of the room.

  “Beta Cephei High School isn’t the only school like it,” Ty shouted. “It’s not even the first you’ve attended.”

  I paused in the doorway. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember going to a high school in space staffed by robot teachers.”

  Ty’s smug expression slid into pity for a moment. “No,” he said. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Maybe spending a couple of days alone will make you more talkative.”

  “You don’t remember how you arrived on this ship, do you?” Ty must have sensed my hesitation because he added, “You only remember what they want you to remember.”

  “Who’s ‘they’?” I asked. “Tell me what the hell is going on!”

  Ty exhaled a weary sigh. “None of this is real, Noa. You’re one of the leads on a program called Now Kiss! It’s currently the most popular show being broadcast throughout the galaxy.”

  “Okay, yeah. Whatever.” Ty’s story was ludicrous. Sure, I’d been abducted, had woken up on a spaceship, had spent a couple of months trapped in a single day, had narrowly escaped being eaten by an alien but had nearly died of radiation poisoning, and had just broken out of a floating school with murderous Teachers, but Ty’s story was absolutely bonkers.

  I expected Ty to backtrack. To tell me he was joking. That he was messing with me. But he didn’t. “Trillions of viewers are obsessed with you and DJ. They’ve been watching you from the moment you woke up, shipping you, rooting for you and DJ to survive the horror
s of space, fall in love, and maybe find a way home. DJ’s the sweet but resourceful soft boy who would do anything for you, and you’re the stubborn hero with the gritty and tragic backstory who uses sarcasm to hide his wounded heart.”

  With every word that came out of Ty’s mouth, my disbelief grew, and when he finally finished, I said, “Right. So you’re clearly suffering from a mental disorder. I get it now. But don’t worry. I’m sure MediQwik can treat whatever is wrong with you.”

  “I’m not delusional,” Ty said.

  I shouldn’t have been listening to him. I should have shut the door and walked away. But I needed answers, even if they were nonsense. “Fine,” I said. “Pretend I believe DJ and I are the stars of a weird program. That still doesn’t explain why you shot Jenny.”

  Ty tried to scoot into a sitting position, but he found it difficult to move with his hands and feet bound, and gave up. “Jenny isn’t who she claims she is. On the program, she plays your batty sidekick, your confidante and friend, but she’s a spy for Production. Her job is to guide the story, providing a nudge to you or DJ when necessary, and to prevent you from discovering the truth.”

  The things that Ty was saying sounded outlandish, and yet I couldn’t help wonder if any of them might be true. Had Jenny been locked in the toilet when we woke up so that DJ and I would find each other and work together to prevent Qriosity from exploding? Maybe not, but it was possible. And I had always thought it was strange that Jenny shared her name with our ship’s hologram. Plus, I’d assumed Jenny’s interest in my relationship with DJ was the result of severe boredom, but what if her motives were more sinister?

  “Jenny isn’t her real name,” Ty said. “And she isn’t your mate. She’s a collaborator, and I wish you had let her die.”

  “Wish not granted, Ty.”

  Jenny, supported by DJ, limped toward us. Her face was drawn and pale, and I couldn’t stop staring at the ragged, bloody hole in her dress.

  “I can’t believe I kissed you.” Jenny stuck out her tongue and gagged.

  “What are you doing out of medical?” I asked. I turned to DJ. “What is she doing out of medical?!”

  DJ shrugged. “MediQwik said it was done with her, and she demanded a shower. I was taking her to her quarters to get some clean clothes.”

  I hiked my thumb over my shoulder at Ty. “Did you hear the crap he was saying? That we’re the stars of a show and Jenny’s a spy?”

  “I swear she is!” Ty yelled. “She betrayed you!”

  Jenny snorted. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “See?” I said.

  “I’m not the spy,” Jenny went on. “DJ is.”

  I looked at Jenny like she’d lost her mind. “Are you joking right now? I can never tell when you’re joking. Maybe we should return to medical and get you checked—”

  DJ shook his head, cut me off. He focused his gaze on the floor. “No, Noa. She’s right. Jenny didn’t betray anyone. I did.”

  DJ

  THE FIRST TIME I WOKE up in space, I puked. I think it was about a year ago; I’m not certain. Time’s tough to keep track of when you keep losing chunks of it. I wasn’t on a spaceship then, but on a station named Arcas that was orbiting Callisto, one of the moons of Jupiter. There were twenty-five of us, and we were confused as to how we’d ended up in space. Sound familiar? It was pretty chaotic at first. A real Lord of the Flies situation, with folks breaking into factions and trying to take control, pretending they weren’t as lost and scared as everyone else.

  Arcas was old and rundown, so when we weren’t fighting amongst ourselves, we fought to keep the station from crapping out. As soon as we fixed the carbon dioxide scrubbers, gravity plating would malfunction. After that it was the electrical systems, then the Freshie. Eventually, we were so exhausted from trying to stay alive that we stopped caring about who was in charge. We found an unexpected equilibrium in survival.

  Then Adam got sick, and everything went to hell.

  At first, it seemed like Adam had the flu—fever, joint pain, headache—so we stayed away from him, but no one thought it was a big deal. It was a big deal. Soon after, a thick, yellow mucus began to ooze out of every orifice. Then his skin slowly jellified and sloughed off. He screamed and cried from the pain, and nothing we did helped. Adam died a couple of days after he started showing symptoms. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst came a few hours later, when Adam rose from the dead desperate to do one thing: kill.

  Even before the outbreak I’d kept pretty much to myself. I liked tinkering with machines, so the work of keeping the station running came naturally to me. After the outbreak, I did my best to remain apart from the others. Judy had some medical training because her parents were doctors who traveled to impoverished countries and treated those who needed it, but she was in way over her head. She couldn’t figure out how the virus was being transmitted or how to treat it. And we didn’t have MediQwik. I figured my only chance of surviving was to avoid everyone.

  But I couldn’t avoid Nico.

  Arcas was an enormous station built for way more than twenty-five people, and it had an elevator that ran its length. I was silly to take the elevator in the first place. With more folks getting sick, we hadn’t been able to keep up with repairs. Power outages became common. Whole sections of the station were left to freeze. But climbing from one end of Arcas to the other could take hours, and I was in a hurry that day. I never asked Nico why he’d risked using the elevator, and he never offered a reason.

  At first, Nico and I kept to our corners, figuring the power would come back eventually. It always had before. It was probably around the second hour when he made a joke about which corner we were going to designate the official toilet corner. Come to think of it, he probably hadn’t been joking. Either way, it broke the ice, and we started talking to kill time.

  I’d seen Nico around plenty, so he wasn’t a stranger, but I’d been on the station for weeks and he was the first person I really took the time to get to know. He was the first person I let know me.

  Nico was from Baltimore, where he’d been homeschooled by his mom. He’d read more books than any person I’d ever met, and he was passionate about everything. He loved to argue, and he usually won. “Space,” he said, “is okay, I guess. But have you ever seen the sun rise over the Atlantic from the shore of Nags Head during the summer when it paints the sky like a fever?”

  I hadn’t, but damned if Nico didn’t make me want to.

  Two hours turned into four, four into eight. We each ended up using the corner and then pretending there wasn’t a puddle of urine on the floor. The power to that section never returned, and after eleven hours, we crawled out through the top of the elevator car and climbed to freedom. From then on, we had each other’s backs.

  I fell hard and fast for Nico. When he smiled, I forgot I was on a space station full of sick folks who died, rose again, and then hunted the living. Nico and I hid in service tunnels and air ducts. We passed the time constructing elaborate plans to escape Arcas and fly back to Earth. We found reasons to laugh amidst the horrors that surrounded us. We found reasons to keep living even as everyone else died. Those weeks were the best of my life. I know it sounds ridiculous, but falling in love is like falling into a black hole. There’s no escaping it once you cross the event horizon, and it distorts your sense of time. Hours feel like days, and every day is a lifetime.

  I spent lifetimes with Nico, and it wasn’t enough.

  After three months, only seven of the original twenty-five remained, including me and Nico. The dead stalked the living, and the living learned to avoid the common areas of the station. We learned to move quietly. To sleep in shifts if we had someone we trusted to watch over us, or to avoid sleep altogether if we didn’t. The others left Nico and me alone, and we were happy to return the favor. I didn’t want any of them to die, but my first concern was for Nico.

  Food was growing scarce, and we had to range farther from our hiding places than usual to scavenge. I remembe
red where there was a large store of food, but we couldn’t get to it without crossing through an area the dead had claimed as their own. I had the brilliant idea that I could reach the cargo bay where the food was kept if I traveled outside the station. I already had a suit. I didn’t tell Nico because I wanted to surprise him. I wanted to see his face light up with a beautiful smile when I returned with something to eat that wasn’t half-rotted or Nutreesh. So I told Nico I’d be back in a few hours and left.

  Getting there was easy. I reached the cargo bay with no problems, and I found enough food to keep our bellies full for a month. Returning was where I got into trouble. My oxygen tank malfunctioned, and I didn’t have enough air to get back. It took me nearly two days to find another tank while keeping hidden from the dead. I managed to get myself stabbed in the belly by a jagged piece of metal, and I had nothing to fix the wound with but antibiotics, glue, and prayer. The whole time, I was scared Nico would try to come find me, and get caught by the dead. It wasn’t the first time one of us had been out longer than expected, but Nico could be impulsive. It was one of the things I loved about him.

  When I finally returned to our room, Nico had locked the door and wouldn’t let me in.

  “Come on,” I said. “I’m sorry I was gone so long, but I brought you chocolate.”

  “I’m sick,” he called through the door. “I have yellow crap coming out of my eyes.”

  I pounded on the door. I clawed at it until my fingernails broke and bled. I screamed until my voice was raw. “Let me in!” I refused to believe Nico was sick. I refused to leave him to suffer alone. I refused to let him die.

  “No,” he said. “You have to get away from here.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Nico. I’ll never leave you. Not ever.”

  Nico kept trying to convince me to go, that it was too dangerous to stay. He tried to be gentle, telling me he’d been worried. That he was happy he wasn’t going to die wondering what’d happened to me. He tried being mean, saying he didn’t love me and never had. He even begged. But I wouldn’t go.