Evolution

stuck in there longer.”

I heard someone else take up the speaker.

“Alex.” It was Makara. “Why the hell didn’t you make it?”

“Anna’s door didn’t open. I had to improvise.”

“Wouldn’t open?” Ashton said.

“Yeah. It stayed closed.”

“Our techs will take a look at that,” Ashton said. “That it would not work at a time like this…”

“Well, I’m fine now,” Anna said. “Thanks to Alex.”

Samuel was next to speak. “Keep your heads in the game. The Mid Ring should be online soon, though I expect there will be a hell of a mess to clean up. Until then, sit tight, and don’t open that door.”

“Copy that,” I said.

The radio cut out, leaving Anna and me alone on the bridge.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get out in time,” she said.

“For what? It’s not your fault.”

“It might be,” she said.

I paused. “What do you mean?”

“I honestly didn’t realize the door was shut. I was looking for my katana. It wasn’t where it normally was. I was searching for a good fifteen seconds until I turned around and saw that my door wasn’t open. That’s when I started to panic. Then, you came along and got it open.”

“Could you have opened it from the inside?”

“I don’t know,” Anna said. “I didn’t have time to try it.”

“Anna….”

I stopped myself. There was no point in getting upset about something that was over and done with. Anna seemed to guess my inclination to anger. She unstrapped herself from her seat, angling herself away from and toward the back of the ship.

“Hey,” I said.

I unstrapped myself as she pushed herself away. I grabbed her boot. Instead of stopping her, as I thought it would, it pulled us both together. Her head bonked into mine.

“Ouch!” she said.

We were now face to face. She stared at me a moment, her eyes at first angry. Then, they softened.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” I said. “That’s what matters.”

Then, realizing I was still holding her, I let go, even if part of me didn’t want to. Well, maybe most of me.

She smiled. “I can’t believe you shot open the door.”

“I’m glad that worked out, too.

She sighed, turning slightly away. “I don’t like playing the part of the damsel in distress. But maybe just this once.”

“It’s not that bad,” I said. “I know you saved my ass more times than I can count.”

“Well, we both know that’s true.”

We looked at each other for another moment. Something softened in her eyes, and for a moment, I thought we were going to kiss.

Anna turned aside. “Since we’re here, we might as well get some rest. There’s bunks in the back.”

I nodded, unable to push down my disappointment. “Might as well.”

Despite the scare the impact caused, sleep did not elude me. As soon as I lay down and strapped into my bunk, I was out.

Chapter 5

After twenty four hours, we were out of there. The EVA team sealed up the hole within a couple of hours, but pressuring the Ring took a while, nearly depleting the station’s oxygen and nitrogen reserves. The techs then restarted the Ring’s rotation. Finally, when the Ring hit that happy 1G, its rotation steadied.

The stuff we left in our habs was safe. Each hab’s door automatically shuts upon detecting a sharp pressure drop. The lack of gravity for hours straight had made a huge mess of things. Ashton dedicated the entire day to cleanup — anyone who could be spared was set to putting things back in order. It was amazing what a few seconds of chaos could do.

Skyhome’s techs later found the foreign object that had nearly sent us all to our deaths; a thin, titanium rod, a few centimeters long and half a centimeter in diameter. It looked like it could have been part of a satellite. I could hardly believe it could have caused such a scare. Skyhome’s tracking system had a lot of objects to keep up with, and it was amazing that it could predict such a small incoming object with such accuracy.

Just as I finished reordering my room, Samuel stepped in the doorway.

“We’re all meeting in Ashton’s office at 1930 hours.”

“What for?”

“One last briefing before we leave tomorrow morning. Also, can you find Makara and let her know? Can’t seem to find her anywhere.”

“I know just where to look,” I said.

Samuel nodded, then left.

My mind was set racing. In the two months I had been up here, it was starting to feel a bit like home. No, it wasn’t Earth, but Skyhome had all the amenities that I sorely missed and grew up with. There was plenty of food and water, warm showers, soft beds to sleep in, and people to talk to. There was routine in Skyhome, outside of the odd titanium rod clobbering it. Maybe that part wasn’t so great, but it was safer than the surface, with its monsters, raiders, and dust storms.

I was always shifting between hating this place and loving it. It’s hard to argue with safety, a full belly, and a community to support you. It’s strange that you can hate something like that, but I guess you can if it’s keeping you from doing what you’re supposed to do — in my case, going back to Earth to finish what all of us had started. If no one did that, then this community up here would end.

I remembered something else Ashton told me. People could not live up here forever. There could be another impact that might be much worse. There could be solar flares that fry all the electronics. It was only a matter of time, a question of when, not if. Everyone in Skyhome had to return to Earth, someday. It was all the more reason to continue fighting.

I headed out the door, making my way to the Outer Ring to find Makara. That was where she would most likely be. I liked to go to the Outer Ring to watch Earth below. The Outer Ring spun at a rate of one full rotation every four minutes, fifteen per hour. Every time, it afforded a slightly different view of our world. I always tried to catch a glimpse of California and America, but of course, most of the time they were not there. When they were, half the time they were dark with night. And if they did happen to be there, the cloud cover was so thick that it was hard to make out anything at all. Everything appeared all dusty and red, an effect that cast the oceans with a violet hue.

I entered the glass automatic sliding doors that led into the Outer Ring. These doors helped keep the Ring warm and humid. The thick aroma of plants and produce tickled my nostrils. The Outer Ring was the freshest part of Skyhome, and anytime the chill of space becomes too much, going here was a sure solution. All the crops were kept in neat rows on the floor, and metal tiers supported by struts added additional space.

I climbed some steps to one of these tiers, and walked along it. A small catwalk branched from the tier, leading to a large set of windows that is perfect for Earth watching.

When I reached the windows, my suspicions were confirmed. Makara sat against the wall, staring outside. Earth was just now entering Skyhome’s field of view. As I went to stand beside her, she continued staring outside, taciturn.

“Makara?”