Chapter Two: Malfunctions and Goodbyes

Chapter Two: Malfunctions and Goodbyes

 

    It had a bright blue face and glowing red eyes. What looked to be a grey shag carpet was draped around its body and a silver jumpsuit was peeking out from underneath it. It began speaking in a garbled tongue. The being appeared to yell, its eyes glowed a brighter red, and we all took an involuntary step back. It then hit a button.

        "My apologies, the equipment malfunctioned. Now, as I was saying, good thinking Myra, but wrong, very wrong."

        "How do you know my name?!?"

        "Oh, I know all about every one of you. There's Commander Ezekiel Barber, the cult leader, who thinks he's too good for God. There's Computer Systems Operator, Baxter Mattien, who designed all the software on your ship, but left to himself would probably forget to eat and starve to death. Shiloh Schlen, Navigator, the would-have-been priest who's been disrupting this mission because he's too pious to admit he's the father of three illegitimate children back on Earth. And then there's Myra. Weapons Manager, genius and teenage runaway, who lied about her age to get in to the space program. Bet they didn't know you're only sixteen, eh Myra? Or should I call you by your given name, Molly? I told you I know all about you. Well, It's been a nice five minutes, I'll see you soon."

        "Bax, what did...it...just do?"

        "Well 'sir', it just wasted out last four and a half minutes."

    We all watched as the clock ticked down. Five....four....three...two...one. We all heard a thud, similar to that of earth being thrown on top of a coffin. Unfortunately for us, the coffin was ours.  

Suddenly, it hit us all at the exact same time. Zeke doubled over in pain, Shiloh sobbed silently and I dropped to my knees holding my aching head in my hands. Only Bax seemed unaffected. I ran to him and tried to bury my face in his shoulder, wanting safety and comfort, seeking the refuge of his arms.  If I was going to die this far from home, I was going to die by his side. He was my best friend. It drove a knife through my heart when he pushed me away.

        "I've been completely honest with all of you, why couldn't you do the same?"

        "Face it, Bax," I pleaded. "all of us had a handicap that would not have allowed us to follow our dreams. Me, my age, Zeke, his past, Shiloh's children. We couldn't know anyone who would report us was listening. Please Bax."

He turned away and sat down in his chair. My eyes filled with tears. "Please, imagine if you had something stopping you from doing the one thing  you've ever wanted most in your life. Think of the sacrifices you would make to get what you wanted. Family and friends left behind, people without any answers.. as to where you...went. If...you are alive..or dead."

My thoughts immediately flew to my parents and my baby brother, James. They had never gotten those answers. They never would. They might continue hoping. That idea stopped me in my soon to be dead tracks. Having them hold out hope was worse than them knowing the truth. I began to cry silently.

        "I'm still mad at all..."

    Suddenly, it was as if Bax's brain had been switched off, his green eyes went dark, his head slumped forward, his dark hair coming forward to shade his eyes, rolling off his chair vertabrae by vertabrae, as though he had fainted. We all turned to where Bax had been looking. I felt a slight pressure on the back of my neck and blackness engulfed me. But not before I saw what Bax had seen. A message that read,

'This time it's forever. Goodbye, humans.'