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Den Sista

"The Last One"

By Ashton HughesPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 6 min read
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Den Sista

“Nobody can hear you scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.” Lincoln, the ship’s Helm, peers over the playing cards in his hands. They’re shaking with excitement.

“What a load of bullocks! There you go again— I swear.” Davies throws his playing cards on the table. He takes a long-awaited puff from his half-lit cigarette. He crosses his arms and leans forward still calm. “Sounds to me like you ripped that from a movie poster, mate.” He snickers to himself.

“I’m tellin’ you, I didn’t. That’s what they all say.” Lincoln slowly grows upset. Davies takes another puff, but this time he blows the smoke in Lincoln’s face.

“They, who!?” Davies laughs. Lincoln jumps out of his chair knocking it to the ground. Drying her hair, Mako walks by Lincoln and Davies. She leans against the doorway, bemused by the spectacle. Playing cards fall all over the floor of the canteen.

“I’m tellin’ you it’s true!” Lincoln is visibly angry. Davies, still seated, lets out another chuckle. “Whatever you say, mun.” Lincoln gets in Davies face.

“I think you boys have had enough fun.” Mako interrupts. She walks towards Davies and puts her arms around his shoulders, leaning forward. Lincoln finally starts to calm down. He sighs. “You’re right, cher.”

Mako stands up. “I know, I am.” She winks at Davies and Lincoln before turning towards Blåsväder’s navigation screen. “Now that we’re on to bigger things, how much longer until we reach the fuel station.” Davies leans back in his chair and casually looks at Mako.

“At this rate, I’d say we’re about one parsec away.” Mako crosses her arms, annoyed. “How much longer is this trip going to take. I’m tired of doing tune-up repairs.” She exhales loudly and plunks herself down at the instrument panel. The Blåsväder’s quiet hum fills the silence.

“That doesn’t mean much coming from you. You’re always the first one to complain.” Davies looks over at Lincoln and smirks. Before Lincoln can respond, an emergency transmission comes through. They all rush towards the main screen’s alert. A set of coordinates is given, but nothing else.

“That’s odd, there’s usually more info.” Lincoln tries to click ‘accept’, but Mako slaps his hand away. “Don’t be stupid! The signal is coming from an unmarked sector.” Mako looks at them both, hesitating. Davies gets fed up quickly.

“Enough with this shite already.” He clicks ‘accept’. There’s silence. “You hear that, right? Nothing.” He moves to turn off the transmission, but waits. Not entirely sure, they all wait. More silence. “Maybe, it’s just a ghost sig—” Davies is interrupted.

I Want Your Love by CHIC plays loudly over Blåsväder’s speakers. They all stare at each other in disbelief. “Why in the hell would that be playin’?” Lincoln covers his ears. The song continues before abruptly cutting off. The signal goes dead.

“What in the hell.” Davies cigarette falls from his lips. The whole crew is silent. Blåsväder’s bay doors HISS open. Alexa, the Captain, has returned to the ship’s main deck. Their gazes follow her into the room—Davies mouth still agape.

She checks the screen confused. “Why are you all standing around like a bunch of idiots.” She surveys the rest of the room and motions towards the cards on the floor.

“And, what’s with this mess!?” The rest of the crew still doesn’t respond. She turns back around to get a good look at them again. “Am I missing something here?”

Mako is first to break the silence, but her head is hung low. “We just received this weird emergency transmission…” The group still remains eerily quiet. Alexa softens her tone a bit.

“Is it something I need to be concerned about? Especially by the looks on everyone’s face.” She looks quizzically at everyone again. She addresses Davies first.

“I’m shocked whatever it was has you wound up.” Davies grows slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.” Lincoln finally pipes up.

“It was weird…We were all here when this song started playing from an emergency transmission.” Alexa walks towards them hastily moving them out of the way. She reads the report on the ship’s screen.

“Nothing else was given, just coordinates?” The crew shake their heads in unison. “Did it sound like someone needed help?” Davies shrugs. “I couldn’t tell.”

“What about you?” She looks at Mako. Mako remains quiet. “Well, the signal isn’t too far away. We can check it out on the way to the refuel station.” Lincoln and Davies audibly sigh.

“You’ve got to be kid—" Before Lincoln can finish, Alexa interjects. “I really hope that’s not you being insubordinate I hear.” Lincoln shuts up quickly.

“Yeah, don’t be an arse.” Davies rolls his eyes. “Ok, it’s settled then, will make a stop there on our way.” Alexa stretches in her suit and yawns. “I need a shower anyways” She walks off towards the corridor. Mako follows her closely behind as the bay doors shut behind them.

She grabs Alexa’s arm. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Alexa turns around and holds Mako’s hand in response. She squeezes it gently. “You have nothing to be worried about. We have enough fuel for the trip.” Mako looks intently into Alexa’s eyes.

“Something just wasn’t right about that signal.” Alexa lightly sighs before caressing the side of Mako’s face, meeting her gaze. “I know we’ve been out here forever doing repairs, but we will be back at base soon enough.” Mako moves Alexa’s hand away and avoids her gaze. “That’s not it.”

Alexa looks over Mako curiously. “Well, whatever it is then we can get through it together, OK?” She cups Mako’s chin and kisses her softly on the lips. “I promise.” Alexa turns away and begins to take off her suit. “With all this excitement going on, I’m sure the whole crew is tired.”

She peeks over her shoulder mid-sentence to look at Mako, who's still clearly upset. Alexa finally gives up trying to comfort her. “I’ve got to go take a shower after my space-walk soo.” Alexa walks off and leaves Mako alone.

Mako crestfallen, saunters off and rejoins Lincoln and Davies. Lincoln is busy picking the playing cards off the floor, while Davies tosses a ball casually off the wall. There is an obvious change in the mood. Davies looks up at Mako and notices her sadness. Distracted, the ball hits him the face, knocking his cigarette out of his hand.

He casually picks it up and groans. “It didn’t go over to well with the Mrs., did it?” Mako doesn’t respond and sits down absentminded. Once again, Blåsväder’s quiet hum fills the silence. Suddenly, the P.A. System CLICKS on.

“This is your Captain speaking.” The crew looks up at the intercom. “Due to our longer journey, I request that the crew gets some adequate rest before we disembark in 12 hours. That is all, thank you.” The P.A. system CLICKS off— not a hint of concern in her voice.

“I guess that’s that.” Davies sighs deeply and relights his cigarette. Lincoln unusually quiet, continues to clean up his mess, while Mako stares at the coordinates on the Blåsväder’s navigation screen.

TO BE CONTINUED

science fiction
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