Wells smiled back at Sonia, “Ok…” He took several deep breaths, adjusting his clothes, before heading off to Rosie’s quarters. Sonia watched him with great comedic value.
In one of the corridors, Amanda was emptying one of the fuel barrels. She poured the yellow substance all over the floor, throwing it into several empty dormitories as well – one of which had belonged to Julian.
“Why not just target the engine room?” Neil asked from behind, frightening her. “Neil! I was… Uh…” She didn’t have an excuse. “It’s alright, Amanda. You don’t need to justify yourself to me… I get it. What I don’t get is why you wouldn’t just target the engine.”
She caught her breath before answering. “It’s simple… I don’t want to destroy this station. That’d make it too easy, plus, I’d be in danger too. You see what I want, Neil, is I want to make life harder for the people on board here – especially Roger. For the past six months, he’s been an absolute dick to everyone. Now, I can make him suffer personally, but also mentally. I’ll make him watch Sonia suffer as well. Then, I’ll make my return to Earth… Sound good?”
Neil nodded slowly, “One suggestion: How about I join you in the escape pod on your return?”
Amanda laughed, “Ha! No…” She smiled malignantly and then stabbed Neil in the chest. She continued to smile as she drilled the knife all the way in and then pulled it back out again. Neil collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest desperately. “Guess we know who’s next on the chopping block then…” Amanda threw some of the fuel over him before dragging the barrel off into another section…
“Alright, you can do this Wells, you can do it…” He reassured himself, rubbing his hands together. He looked up at the camera, noticing it was now facing him. He waved at it, knowing Sonia was on the other side. The camera shifted up and then back down again in a sort of ‘nodding’ gesture.
He knocked on the door, waiting several seconds. There was no sign of anyone rushing to open the door, so he tried knocking again. “Rosie?” He knocked more desperately, “Rosie? Are you in there?” But it didn’t matter how much or how hard he knocked, there was no response. He stepped back, looking up at the camera.
In the coms room, Sonia noticed the panicked expression on Wells’ face, and activated her ear piece, “Wells? What’s going on down there? Where is she?” She noticed that Wells wasn’t wearing his earpiece however. “Dammit! Oh well…” Sonia leant back, folding her hands behind her head – she did not suspect anything about Rosie.
Wells however was not satisfied, he tried knocking on the door again. “Rosie? Rosie!” He was concerned now.
“Don’t move boy!” Amanda commanded, startling him. In her arms, she had Rosie apprehended, a knife against her throat. The poor girl looked terrified.
Chapter 5: Home Truths
“I love how everyone’s worried about dying of starvation, thirst, oxygen-deprivation or Roger, yet I’m sitting here dying of boredom of all things.” Sonia was pacing the room, completely unaware of Wells’ predicament.
“It’s going to be death by Roger for me,” Bertie replied, still monitoring the radio transmitter. “Don’t worry about him, Bert. We don’t have to get rid of absolutely everyone, remember. Only one or two more, then I reckon Roger will be done with his little killing spree.”
But Bertie wasn’t so convinced, “I wish I shared your optimism Professor. But I really can’t… Oh! Speaking of pointless optimism, it’s time for me to radio down to Earth. You know, the thing which Roger said I should do on an hourly basis… I’ve done over twenty-five transmissions by now. I’m getting tired of just static, Professor. Can’t you at least surgically remove my ears or something?” They both laughed.
“This is Space Station Gemini calling Earth. Repeat, this is Space Station Gemini calling Earth on all frequencies. Can anyone hear me? Over.” He sounded extremely unenthusiastic.
“I repeat. This is Space Station Gemini calling Earth on all frequencies. Can anyone hear me? Over.” Again, the static blared out in his ears. “You see, Professor? Absolutely pointless.” He dropped the microphone on the table, “Anyway, nature calls,” As he rose out of his chair, the static suddenly stopped, instead it was replaced with muffled sounds – as though someone was rubbing the microphone on the other end.
“Professor!” He called to Sonia as she rushed over to him. “What is it Bertie? Is there someone there?” Bertie shrugged, and transmitted back down, “This is Space Station Gemini calling Earth. Is there someone there? Over…” A few moments passed, but for once without any static. “I repeat; this is Space Station Gemini calling Earth. Is there anybody there? Over!” For once he actually sounded upbeat.
“Uh… Hello?” A voice responded to Bertie, as he turned around to show Sonia the jovial look on his face. “Hello! Hello, Earth! Are you still receiving me?” Bertie could barely contain his excitement. “Earth? Yes, this is E…” The man was slightly drowned out by static, as Bertie adjust the frequency slightly to focus just on the man at the other end.
“Are you still there my anonymous friend? Over.” The static was still gone, however there was now complete silence again…
“… Yes, I am still here.” Bertie and Sonia’s faces lit up once again. “Here, pass it to me,” Sonia took the microphone, feeling that she would be far more diplomatic in this situation.
“This is Professor Sonia Jones of Space Station Gemini. To whom am I speaking?” Several more seconds passed. “My name is… It’s Art…” The man was clearly stuttering, though he also sounded rather scared, “I’m sorry I haven’t used my name in such a long time… There’s been really no need… Until now anyway…”
This response along with Art’s scared tone had confused Sonia, “Well then, Art, are you alright down there? You sound rather distressed my friend.” She could hear him swallowing and gulping hard. “No… No… Listen to me, Professor Jones, or Sonia, whoever the heck you are! Just, listen to me, please. There’s people here… lots of people here. I didn’t know there were this many survivors!”
Sonia’s eyes widened, “Survivors? You mean there’s not just a few who survived this… Virus?” Again, the man’s breathing and swallowing were erratic. “No, no…. There’s still many of us here… They said that… Or someone said that… Only around 75% of the population were killed by this epidemic, this Death virus… whatever it is! I don’t even care anymore!” The man broke down into a fit of crying.
Sonia turned to Bertie, with a look of concern on her face. “Art… Listen to me, ok? If around 25% of people on Earth are still alive, then that means you have nothing to worry about. Humanity will go on. This is no extinction. I want you to save yourself the trouble of encountering these, so-called ‘bad people’… Tell me, do you have a weapon with you?” Sonia now was swallowing hard; she could only think of one thing to do for Art.
“Um… Uh, yes… I have two. I have a hammer, and I have a handgun… Why?” Sonia wiped one tear from her eye. “Put the gun against your jaw… please… Just forget everything else, and listen to me. Trust me…”
He slowed his breathing, as she heard him cocking the gun. “They won’t take me alive…” Next, a gunshot echoed down the radio, followed by the thump of, what was presumably, Art’s corpse collapsing against the floor. “May the stars take care of you. Have a safe flight, Art…” Sonia nodded to Bertie, who tuned out of the frequency.
“So, looks like someone found Earth Control after all. That’s gotta be good, right? Now we know the home truths, Sonia. Not everyone is dead!”
Now, it was Bertie who was the optimistic one. “I wish shared your optimism, Bert’. But I just can’t… If that man found Earth Control, that clearly means everyone who was actually working in there is now dead. Otherwise, someone else would’ve radioed up. Bertie… That wasn’t good news, it was the brutal and harsh reality of things. No one’s coming for us. No one even knows we’re up here. Talking Art into suicide… It was the only favour we could do for him… Now, we m
ight as well do the same thing…” Sonia turned around, and slowly strolled out of the room with a depressed look on her face…
Wells and Rosie had been tied against Rosie’s bed. Amanda paced the room. “Look, what do you want? Just tell us, and we’ll give it to you!” Wells was determined to protect Rosie.
“Wells honey,” Amanda began, “I like your name. It reminds me of the author. Tell me, were you named after him? Or were you named after the other one?” He didn’t respond.
“No point in giving me the silent treatment, dear.” Amanda pulled the knife out again, placing it against Rosie’s throat.
“Yes! Yes, I was named after the author!” Wells was quick to protect Rosie – who still did not say anything. “You see, that right there is your weakness… Not the name stuff, I mean Rosie. It’s evident to everyone else on this station that you have a crush on the girl. Rosie turned to face him, with one eyebrow raised. Wells was too embarrassed to say anything. “You seriously haven’t noticed? Wow, then you’re more stupid than you look,” As Amanda taunted Rosie, Wells tried lunging out, his zip-ties restricting him.
Amanda laughed. “Now, there it is… That’s the Wells I’ve been looking for all along! The feisty one… The aggressive one… The one who loves the girl that contributes zero to the rest of the crew, yet still does anything to keep her safe. It’s cute, but pathetic. We’re all gonna die up here now… I hope you realise that, Wells. Even Rosie here is all out of time.”
Wells dismissed everything which she had just said. “Why are you keeping us here then, Amanda? I mean, why not just kill us?” She laughed again, “Believe it or not, I don’t actually want to kill either of you. In fact, it’s because you two are so young and clumsy that I’m keeping you alive. You see, everyone else on this station is going to die before you two. Then, we shall return to Earth, you will be my minions. You know how I’m going to do that? I’ll just threaten the other one. For example, if I want Rosie to do something, I’ll just threaten you, Wells. And vice-versa.” Her cruel tone was not intimidating either of them.
“Look me in the eye and say that then, bitch!” Wells taunted her, as though he had a plan. Rosie was shocked by his daring attempt.
“You watch your potty mouth boy!” Amanda pulled the knife out again, “Otherwise, you can make just like Gus and Neil, and get stabbed.”
Though Wells was shocked to hear about Neil being attacked, now wasn’t the time to react. He had to think about saving Rosie now.
“I said… Look me in the eye and say that, you… bitch…” He repeated himself solemnly.
“I do say, you are extremely foul-mouthed, aren’t you?” She crouched down right in front of him. “Alright then… Here’s what I’m gonna do to you: I’m going to make you my slave when we get back to Earth. The same thing will happen to Rosie. If you don’t do what I ask you to do, I’ll kill her,” she leant closer to him, “How does that sound, dear?” She whispered.
“I’ve got a better plan,” Wells responded. “Oh…” Amanda smirked, “And what’s that?” Wells smirked back at her, “Well, you see. Unluckily for you, I trained for the S.A.S. five years ago. Didn’t quite make the cut, but I learnt many valuable things. For example,” He leant forward, gesturing for her to do the same.
Wells whispered to her, “In case of a hostage crisis, we were taught how to break free from several different kinds of restraints – including rope and zip-ties…” Amanda leant back, realising what he was telling her.
Then all of a sudden, Wells ripped his hands out from behind him, engaging them around Amanda’s neck, pushing her back. He released his grip on her again, “Luckily for you, I’m not a killer…” He grabbed her head and threw it back against the ground, “Sleep tight…” He took her knife and turned back to Rosie.
Wells cut Rosie loose from her zip-ties. “One of the many advantages of not cutting your fingernails… You can always break free from zip-ties. Thank you to my drill sergeant for teaching us that!” Immediately, Rosie jumped at him, kissing him intensely on his lips. “I reserve my words for the people I love…” She finally spoke, as they continued to snog.
Chapter 6: Now, We Can Relax
Roger had asked for everyone to gather around the air lock again the following day. “So… I have good news, and I have bad news…” He started. “Unfortunately, Neil was stabbed yesterday. His cut was too deep to be treated… He bled to death by the time he was found. The good news is; we have also prevented an attempt on the lives of those of us remaining. Amanda here,” he gestured to her – she was inside the air lock. “She was planning on burning this station up. Not destroying it, just enough to make our lives miserable. Enough so that we would die slowly from starvation, thirst, lack of oxygen, you name it… But the Green Room is safe, the fuel spill is cleaned up. We live to fight another day…” Roger turned to the control panel. He looked at Neil’s corpse on the air lock floor, then at Amanda who had a look of disgust on her face. “I may be going to hell now… But I’ll be meeting the rest of you there later…” She closed her eyes and took slow breaths.
“Neil, may the stars take care of you. Safe flight, my friend. As for you, Amanda. May the stars burn you to ashes. Crash and burn, you devil!” Roger pulled down the lever, ejecting her into the vacuum of space.
Roger turned around, gazing upon all the survivors. He noticed Wells and Rosie holding hands – For once, Wells was happy, and was not speaking out against Roger. “I know the past three days have been hard on all of you… But there are only eight of us left now. The sacrifices, are over. Sonia, Wells, Rosie, Byron, Kristina, Nadia, Bertie: We’re still alive. We can start again up here. The water generator is still working. The Green Room is still active. We have enough food resources to last us up to two months now… But fear not! For in that time, we can build something new. With these,” Roger produced two packets of flower seeds from his pockets.
“I don’t get it. What can we do with those?” Kristina was hopeful, yet confused, “We can grow plants. Plants which grow fruit, and veg. My wife works… or, worked… at an orchard. This packet here can grow into plants which grow berries. And this one here can grow into plants which grow peppers. Fresh fruit and veg! We don’t need to return to Earth, people. There’s a lot of space on the deck. We can take down a few of the wall tiles, build a small orchard, and grow food! So, who’s with me. Hey?” Roger threw his hands up in optimism.
Kristina stepped forward, “Roger… Those seed packets… They were from your wife. She gave them to you as a souvenir from her. You should keep them.” But Roger disagreed, still smiling however, “My wife would want me to live. She would want me to help others. I get it, I’ve done bad things rather recently… But sacrificed the few to save the many… We can’t dwell on the past. What’s done is done. All that we can do now is… Well, survive. I’m up for growing these peppers and berries. Doesn’t anybody else want to live?” He held up the packets once again.
“I am,” Byron stepped forward, “I can work the water generator. Might as well assist with the food as well. Count me in, Rog’.” He nodded at him appreciatively, “Anybody else?”
Still interlocking hands, Wells and Rosie stepped forward as well. “We’re in too. We’ve got oxygen, we’ve got water, and most importantly, we’ve got each other.” He looked at Rosie and affectionately smiled at her, “That’s everything I need… Except food,” he turned back to Roger, “So, we’re in!” Again, Roger nodded appreciatively, “I’m glad to see we have a truce now, Wells.”
Nadia was the next to step forward, “I still don’t really like you, Rog’. But I’m starting to. I see you have a heart underneath your cold-blooded emotionless armour which you call skin. I’m in as well.” Kristina followed immediately after, “All in. Or no one at all, I say.” Roger nodded appreciatively yet again, at the both of them. Everyone now turned to face the last undecided members – Bertie and Sonia. They had only stalled because they were both thinking about the 25% of humans left on Earth. Their radio
transmission to Art had been kept a secret from the others. “Alright…” Bertie nodded, “I’m in,” he stepped forward to join the rest of the group. Sonia thought hard, “I…” She looked slightly saddened…
…Her expression then lit up – She realised everything and everyone she needed was right in front of her. The life she had lived for 43 years was now over, a new one was about to blossom in its’ wake. A new life up in space. A chance which was even more slimmer than the apocalypse itself happening. “I… I’m in!” Sonia’s face lit up, as she joined with all the others. They all cheered and clapped. “To great things!” Roger held the seed packets up in the air.
One week later
“I can’t believe it’s actually working,” Roger was impressed by the fact that his plants were actually growing. “I told you your wife was still with you…” Sonia smiled at him, as they shared a friendly hug. “At long last, Sonia. Now, we can relax. All the hard work, all the sacrifices. They’re all over. Now we get to grow fresh vegetables!”
“I call dibs on the red pepper though,” Rosie and Wells admired the plants. “Aw come on, red’s my favourite colour,” Wells joked with her. “I’m just kidding, it’s all yours’ babe!” They shared an affectionate hug.
Byron watched all the hugs happening on the monitor in the coms room. He looked down at a photo of his son, then back up at the monitor. Despite all the wonderful people he had befriended on the station with him, he’d never felt so alone in his entire life…
Human Nature (Book 2): Human Nature II Page 3