Andrew J. Morgan's Blog: Aspiration Keeps Me Alive, page 4

Chapter 35

I awoke with a start, with the strangest feeling that someone had been near me, close enough for my skin to still feel warm from their breath. I sat up, expecting to feel groggy, but I didn’t. As I stood, I realised I didn’t actually feel that bad at all and, pleasantly surprised, I wandered out to the galley to fix myself up some breakfast. From the galley, it looked like the rec room was empty, so I forewent food for the time being and went to see where everybody was. I couldn’t have oversl...

Chapter 34

With the second hole coming along nicely, Emily returned with our second stasis tube, depositing it nearby. Rather than scooting off as she had done before, Emily had to shovel the pile of debris from the first hole back in again to protect its contents against the impending weather. This gave me a chance to talk with her as she shunted back and forth, using the small plough on the front of the transport vehicle to push small mound after small mound into the pit.

‘So the storm’s coming in a l...

Chapter 33

With the drill set, chewing away at the one-and-a-half metre hole appearing in the ground, vacuum hose sucking out the debris and spewing it out into a pile on the opposite side, all Sophia and I could do was wait for Emily to show up with our first stasis tube. We’d been going about fifteen minutes now, and were a good metre down already, which I was pleased with—although I did not look forward to collapsing the drill and moving it to the next spot, or the other ten or so we had to do.

Takin...

Chapter 32

After the cramped airlock in the Athena, the larger one in basecamp was something of a relief. With shining white walls it seemed a little surreal, almost ethereal, us group of shining white people gathered together inside. The larger chamber took longer to fill, and did so with none of the hissing urgency of the Athena’s. Red light went green, and we filed through and into basecamp.

It was a big, open space, glowing with translucence, and was pretty much empty right now. Usually the lab equi...

Chapter 31

The door slid open without so much as a squeak of metal on metal. All was silent. Only the subtle hiss of my intercom kept me from being completely disassociated from sound, and in a way, I appreciated its presence. It was bright outside, and I let my eyes adjust before I stepped out. The Athena was a relatively dark place, and months of being in a twilight state gave my eyes more of a workout when exposed to the radiance of Gliese 370, burning bright and big (about three times as big) in the...

Chapter 30

I tried to read, play computer games and even sleep to pass the day, but none of it really seemed to work. I stopped checking the time after I realised only five minutes was passing between glances, and considered moving up to the briefing room with Jason and Byron, but dismissed that thought almost soon as it occurred. So I stayed put, cycling between thinking about going home (and the soft buzz of elation that came with it), followed by the sinking feeling that home was a long way away, fol...

Chapter 29

Why? Why did Byron try to kill me?

It was a question etched on my brain, and it wouldn’t rub off. Jason surmised that perhaps Byron was a member of a terrorist cell working for the gathering armies in the unprotected zones; after all, he had the ins through his father, and we’d seen how precise his mind could be when he applied it. In the wrong hands, he could be a deadly weapon. Another option was that he was a renegade, masterminding a destructive plan simply to get back at the father that s...

Chapter 28

Talking with Byron usually had a habit of leaving me emotionally roiled, but this time more so than any other. I sat on my bunk for a while, careful not to wake Clip and Grant (although Clip’s snoring probably would’ve woken them if they were going to be woken), thinking over what had just been said. Was I doing this purely for selfish reasons? Should I let Byron take the punishment expected of him? He seemed to want it, that much was sure, but I couldn’t convince myself he wanted it for the...

Chapter 27

We were all making sacrifices. Some more than others, but we were all doing it. I wondered if I would have been able to make the ultimate sacrifice, but I wasn’t sure of it. If I decided yes, I began to doubt myself, if I decided no, an unpleasant sense of guilt began to set in. I came to the conclusion that it would have to be something I was presented with, and only then would I know. I hoped it never came to that.

To ease my conscience I made it a priority to see Byron at least once a day s...

Chapter 26

I didn’t realise I’d said it until I awoke. I don’t know how long I’d been asleep for, but Emily was propped up on one arm, reading, while I rested on her lap with her other arm draped over me. I sat upright so suddenly it startled her, but I barely noticed.

‘I’m sorry I said that,’ I said, almost breathless.

‘Said what?’ she said, holding her chest, a flustered grin on her face. She didn’t remember? She must do . . . Now I wasn’t even sure if I’d said it all. I remembered a response, but had I...