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Chapter 19
Zach Croft: 2053
There was a sudden burst of light, a wave of warmth. Thick steam blurred Zach’s vision, making him feel like he was waking up in slow motion. It was as though he was in a meat locker, his skin taut and slightly sticky with condensation. A moment passed, and his heart rate began to regulate after so long in stasis.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Once the fog cleared, Zach sat up, unhurried, and rubbed his eyes. He ruffled his hair and took a deep breath. He felt like he had a hangover.
“ENTERING MARS ORBIT,” the intercom blared, making Zach wince. A month, overnight. Crazy.
Still drowsy, he turned his head to the left, where Mabel was shivering. Apparently, his warm waking experience was an acquired feeling. He tried to remember the first time he had gone on ice, clawing at a layer of fog that separated his memories. He knew he was ten at the time, on his way to Prescott. And if someone had told him then that he would be going back, he would have laughed in their faces. Coming to terms with it all was hard enough.
Suddenly, he remembered something. Something bad. Something that stole his breath away from him. Balling his hands into fists nervously, he turned to the other side and looked down into the pod beside him.
Ryker walked over from his own cryopod. “What is it?” he asked, shifting to see what Zach was gazing at. Zach jumped out of his chamber, standing rigid before the seam separating the storage room floor from the cryopod beside his. The way he stood resembled one of those bony, gray-skinned horror movie girls from classic films. “What are you looking at?” Ryker said.
“There’s someone in there,” Zach said shakily. He scratched his neck, scared, sick to his stomach, and most of all, confused. Confused by everything. Confused by how someone could be asleep under the floor for god-knows how long without them even realizing it.
“There can’t be.” Ryker stepped closer to the occupied cryopod and bent down toward the glass. Sure enough, there was a person inside. “What the fuck?” he said with a strangled gasp.
Woozy from cold sleep, Mabel made her way over and planted herself next to Ryker. “What’s going on?”
Zach studied the man in the pod with caution. Ignoring Mabel, he asked Ryker, “Who is it?”
“How the fuck do I know?” Ryker replied. He pointed at the patch on the man’s torso. “It says Prescott.”
“I know, I know.” It was the most obvious thing about him. “But how?”
“Someone better tell me what’s happening right now,” Mabel demanded.
The man began to stir, shifting on the rubber bed.
“There’s no way he’s been here all this time,” Ryker said. He clasped his hands behind his head, suggesting he had a massive headache.
“You said you wanted your rescuers to find you,” Zach reminded him. “You never checked the pods.” As much as he wanted to pretend he never found the man, Zach’s need for answers kept him in check. How long had the man been here? What did the patch on his chest mean? Prisoner? What crime would a colonist have committed? Everyone in Prescott was like family.
Zach wondered how long until the prisoner woke up and saw them staring down into his pod. It wouldn’t be much of a warm welcome. But for all they knew, he didn’t deserve one. Again, prisoner? Zach knew there were things his father didn’t tell him, but this was among the biggest.
Another colonist. Alive.
No, no, they didn’t know that yet. They didn’t know anything about the guy. Where he came from, where he was going, and why he was on the Gateway. He could have been a stowaway that hopped onto their dropship before they left OSE. But then, he would have had to get onto the station, avoid being seen, and jump into the pods before they closed. The idea was preposterous, and Zach knew it. Somehow, someway, the man was already here. Asleep. Under the floor. For decades.
“Has he been here since…” The words caught in Ryker’s throat. “Since we were?”
Zach thought about it, his father putting them in the pods while a criminal—possibly a murderer—slept beside them. “I don’t know. Let’s just take a step back and work this out. When he wakes up, we’ll question him.”
“We’re not interrogators,” Mabel pointed out.
“We can be.” Zach ran his fingers through his hair. “We have to be.”
The prisoner opened his eyes. He squinted against the bright light, then fixed his gaze on Zach. “Is my time up?”
Zach ignored the question. “Your name?”
“Erik Trivett.” He itched his hair and propped himself up on his elbows.
“Are you from Prescott?”
“Of course. Where else would I be from?”
“What was your assignment?”
“I’m a geologist.”
“Why were you in cryo?”
Erik hesitated, then sighed. “I stole rations.”
Cryo-prison for stealing rations? That seemed a bit harsh. “When?”
“After the meteor.” He sat up and swung his legs out of the pod. “Why all the questions? It’s all in my file.” With a yawn, he stretched his arms high and wide. “When can I see my daughter?”Zach tensed, unsure of how to answer. Before he could speak, Erik looked him up and down warily. “Wait. You’re not a guard.” His eyes darted to Ryker and Mabel, who were standing a few feet away. “None of you are.”
“I’m Zach.” Zach paused, then extended a hand. “Zach Croft.”
Erik tentatively shook Zach’s hand. “Croft? Like, Quinton Croft?”
“He was my father.”
“Was?” Considering Zach’s words, Erik glanced to the side. “Zach, you say?” His eyes found their way back. “That can’t be. Zach is a kid.”
Recognizing Erik’s confused expression, Zach nodded. “We need to talk.”
Zach started with the meteor and the destruction of the processing plant. Erik had been there then, so not much had to be said about it. Then came the part Zach was dreading: what happened after. He explained the Red Plague, how people started getting sick, and how they abandoned the colony. Recalling everything was painful for Zach, and detailing it all to Erik was even worse. But nothing compared to what he had to do next: breaking the news that twenty-three years had passed since.
Zach kept his voice steady, all the while feeling horrible for Erik. A few days ago, the guy was with his family. Happy, or as close as one could get to it in Prescott. The next moment, some random person was telling him that everyone he loved was dead. His daughter, his friends, everyone.
“Why did you wake me?” Erik asked, his voice trembling.
“We didn’t know you were here.”
“Oh? You didn’t? Nice to know the council was gonna leave me forever.” Erik leaned his hands against the cryopod, letting his head hang low. “Are we home?”
“Not yet.” Zach clenched his jaw. He couldn’t yet break the news that Earth was basically doomed. It was too much for one person to handle all at once. “We’re orbiting Mars.”
“So, what? You guys never left? After all these years?”
“No, we left. And now we’re back.”
“Why?”
“For the irogen.” The lights flickered as if tuning in to Zach’s announcement.
“The irogen.” Erik gaped at Zach in disbelief. “Not the people. The irogen.” His voice began to get louder. “Nobody went back to see if anyone survived? They just left my daughter? And my brother?”
“I’m sorry,” Zach whispered. “I really am.”
Erik took a deep breath to calm down. “You were just a kid. It’s not your fault.” He squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to return to the darkness of cryo. “Twenty-three years.” Then he opened his eyes and looked at Zach again. “Why are you here?”
“I told you—”
“No, you. Why are you here? Why come back after so long?”
Zach thought for a moment before responding. Everything had happened so quickly that he hadn’t even really thought about why. Finally, he gave the best answer he could. “I’m trying to do better.”
Zach explained the series of incidents that had led him back to the Gateway, in orbit around Mars, twenty-three years after he left Prescott. Still groggy with the sedative from cryo, Erik strained to understand. Zach mentioned Wilford and the files showing how much irogen was in the crater; it turned out that Erik knew the guy from before the mission. Zach told Erik about the solar flares and everything happening on Earth. Then he moved on to Alpha Cen, emphasizing the absolute urgency to get there before Earth went up in flames.
“I think I got it,” said Erik. He waited a moment before elaborating. “You woke me up just in time for the end of the fucking world.”
Zach Croft: 2030
Zach saw the crater in his dreams.
He saw the reddish sand beneath his feet, the rocky walls surrounding him on all sides, the pale orange sky towering above. These did not seem out of the ordinary. But other things seemed peculiar and out of place, as if they didn’t belong in this memory. The impact site was covered in thick grass up to his knees. The mines were fully illuminated and broke off into dozens of rooms filled with scientists.
Oddly, no one noticed the ten-year-old boy roaming in their midst. He descended the elevator, the same as in real life, but level 13 was not a mineshaft at all. It was a cavern with no discernible floor, walls, or ceiling. Only crystals. Bright blues and purples, beautiful to the eye. But when he walked out over them, it felt like he was running over kitchen knives.
He awoke in a sweat, immediately clawing for his feet to confirm they were intact, then laid back against his pillow in exhaustion. What time was it again? Zach glanced at the clock on the wall and noted it was past noon. Why had nobody come to wake him up?
Never mind that. He had more important things to worry about than breakfast. The dream reminded him of the backpack of crystals he and Ryker had stashed under the hab unit when they returned from the mine.
Zach scampered out of bed, cleaned his teeth, and went to move the floor panel. But when he looked into the space under the floor, it was empty. No bag in sight.
That wasn’t good. Where was the bag? Zach strained to remember if this was where they put it, yanking up a few other floor panels to check. Had his father found it? He began to sweat at the thought but realized Quinton would have woken him up, furious. So his father hadn’t found it, and Zach hadn’t misplaced it. Who else would have gotten hold of the crystals?
Ryker.
He was the only other person Zach could think of, and frankly, he was the most likely suspect anyway. After all, Ryker didn’t want to go into the crater because he didn’t want to get caught. Was he trying to destroy the evidence as Zach sat there, doing nothing? He had to be.
Zach swiftly threw on some clothes, barreled out the door, then headed for the tunnels that lead to the crater. Any attempt to return to the mines would be risky, but it was the most likely place for Ryker to go. Dumping the crystals there, where everyone would expect them to be found, meant no connection would be made back to either of them.
As Zach neared the tunnels, he slowed his pace. Three guards carrying semi-automatic rifles stood around the mouth of the tubes, not threatening anyone but not being inviting either. Oh god, it had to be because of him and Ryker. Someone had discovered their foray into the mines and had ordered guards to stand watch. Zach only hoped it was for a different reason.
Zach veered away from the tunnels and tried to guess where else Ryker might be. He recalled their conversation a few nights ago about the upcoming week. Zach claimed he had to study for their upcoming science test, while Ryker said something about learning to drive a rover.
With that in mind, Zach set course for the rover garage. He crossed into the mecha district, passing a workshop with an engineer building a prosthetic leg. A side street brought him to the back of the rover garage, a giant building too mighty to be toppled by the meteor, and he entered through a smaller door. The smell of fuel and exhaust burned his nostrils, and although the giant roller doors were wide open, the interior of the garage was boiling.
A mechanic stopped Zach as he entered between two rovers. “Can I help you?” the man said in a gravelly voice. A cough rumbled through his chest, sounding like an unoiled engine. He wiped a dirty rag across his grimy forehead and leaned against the rover.
“Oh, yeah. I’m looking for my friend.”
“Short kid, blonde hair?” the mechanic confirmed, fanning his torso with the collar of his shirt.
“That’s the one.”
“You just missed him, actually. Left five minutes ago.” Then, he added, “Almost ran me over.”
“Sorry about that. Thank you.” Zach turned to leave when he noticed something weird about the mechanic. “What happened to your arm?” Zach pointed to a cluster of red bumps swelling from the man’s forearm.
“Good question,” the man said. “I just noticed them myself.” He ran his finger over the bumps.
The same bumps that would kill him three days later.
Ryker Gagarin: 2053
Erik was right there all those years, and Ryker never knew.
Would things have been different if he did?Would the days have gone by easier, hours passing more quickly? Would he have spent less time wandering aimlessly around the ship and more time caring for his sanity? Would he have been able to have real conversations with real voices instead of the ones in his head?
As Zach and Mabel discussed what to do with Erik, Ryker focused on everything he could have done. It seemed so pathetic. He knew that. Friendships were the last thing that mattered to him, but would one have been so terrible? Someone to chat with over breakfast, other than the monotonous Gateway AI.
On the other hand, something was eerie about Erik being there the whole time, asleep. It was like finding a corpse in your childhood home. Something just felt off about it, and Ryker wasn’t sure how to feel.
“So, what do you suggest we do?” Zach asked, bringing Ryker back to the real world. The three of them were standing in the hall outside the storage room containing the cryopods. They had locked Erik inside so they could have a frank conversation without him listening in. It wasn’t ideal to leave him unattended, but at least he was contained until they figured out what to do with him.
“We should bring him with us,” Ryker suggested. Zach looked at him like he was crazy. Before Zach could protest, Ryker continued. “I get it. You don’t trust him.”
“And you do?” Mabel asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.
“I don’t know, but I think we should give him a chance.”
“Oh, hell no,” Mabel said. “I barely trust you guys, and now him?” She gazed through the hall window into the vast blackness of space. “I say we leave him here.”
“So he can take the ship and ditch us?” Zach said.
“Of course not. We’ll put him back in cryo.”
Ryker may have just met Erik, but he knew the guy wouldn’t go for that. How could he, after his entire world was just upended? “Look, we can’t treat him like a stray dog, okay? He’s a person who’s been through the same fucked up shit that I have.”
Being asleep all that time didn’t change it. They both lost people in Prescott, got trapped on the Gateway for decades, and emerged into a world so different from the one they remembered that none of it seemed real. In a lot of ways, Ryker saw himself in Erik. A warped, miserable version of himself, but still him nonetheless.
“We have a launch window that we can’t risk missing. Especially not with this,” Ryker continued, shooting a look in Mabel’s direction. “Whether you realize it or not, he’s in the same boat as us.”
Mabel crossed her arms over her chest. “Do we even know if he’s telling the truth? About what he was arrested for?”
“Why would he lie?” Ryker asked. “He’s in shock.”
“Either we get some answers, or he stays here,” Mabel finished.
“I can’t stay,” Erik’s voice called out from the other side of the door.
Zach cursed under his breath. “Shit. He heard us.”
“Now, what do we do?” Mabel whispered.
Zach punched the access code into the control panel on the wall. The door to the storage room slid open. Erik stood there with pleading eyes. “Please. I have to find my daughter. Dead or alive.”
Zach exchanged uncertain looks with Ryker and Mabel. Mabel shook her head.
“I don’t want in on whatever you’re doing,” Erik continued. “I just want to find out what happened to her. I won’t be a bother. Trust me.”
Ryker spoke before Zach could decide for himself. “What was her name?”
Erik’s eyes went glassy. “Sophia.” He smiled, lost in a memory of the girl.
The room was quiet for a moment.
“Fine. You can come,” Zach said, breaking the silence. “But you might not like what you find.”
Ryker’s stomach turned to stone as the dome appeared in the dusty haze. His blood congealed. His muscles tightened. The closer the dropship got to the ground, the faster his heart beat.
Leaning against the control module, Ryker couldn’t really see inside the dome. Every inch of the glass bubble was covered in dust and grime, making the whole thing look like a mole or pimple on Mars’ sandy surface.
The dome itself was massive, maybe a mile or two in diameter. Ryker couldn’t remember exactly how big it was. But it was big. The secondary dome, which covered the crater a few hundred meters away from the colony, was not nearly as big. It honestly shocked Ryker that it was still intact. After all, it wasn’t made of the same meter-thick glass as the primary dome. Instead, it was built from a type of plastic that would retain its shape after being blown up like a balloon. It was efficient when the colonists needed a temporary air bubble, but Ryker couldn’t have imagined it would survive this long.
At the front of the main dome, a long tube extended to a trio of stone landing pads. Ryker vaguely remembered that the pads had once been emblazoned with the Prescott emblem, though he could see no signs of lettering now. Worse, the pads were in complete disrepair, with deep fissures spanning their widths and jagged chunks reaching into the air.
“Shit,” Ryker mumbled, drawing the attention of Zach and Mabel.
Zach straightened his back to look out the window. “What’s wrong?”
“The landing pads are fucked,” Ryker said. He switched to manual flight controls.
“Shit.”
Ryker flicked a few switches and took hold of the flight sticks. The ship veered to the right, forcing Prescott out of view. Ryker scanned the landscape for a suitable place to land.
“What’re you doing?” Zach asked.
“There’s a sand flat.” Ryker pointed at a wide clearing a few hundred meters from the dome. “We’ll land there.”
“So we have to walk?” Mabel complained.
“Yep. I hope you packed some sneakers.” Ryker maneuvered the controls as the dropship quickly approached the ground. “Brace for landing.”
Zach and Mabel tightened their restraints and pinched their eyes shut. Ryker could read the fear and anxiety on Zach’s face. Sweat trickled down his forehead and dripped from his nose.
The dropship landed with a thud.
Ryker smiled at Zach as he opened his eyes. “Better than the last time?”
Zach breathed a shaky sigh of relief and swiped the sweat from his eyes. “Much.”
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