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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“ Lecker? ” Matthias asks.
I nod, moaning as I take another bite.
He chuckles as we make our way to the dining area. Our fingers entwined – one of his warm, large hands enveloping my much smaller one.
A tin is tucked under his other arm whilst I munch my way through my third Lebkuchen. Or was it my fourth? Fifth? I’ve lost count, but the delicious spices blend together perfectly. I hum in delight.
He frowns at me, shaking his head at my obvious foodgasm. I’ve been waiting for these for a good six months; pardon me for savouring the moment.
Up ahead, a jabber of voices spills out into the hallway, even over the droning sound of the air recyclers. As I turn the corner, no one pays us any mind. No one besides Luca.
His eyes glide down between us, settling on our latticed fingers. Before he quickly glances away.
My stomach clenches. I feel awful for the guy. Just because it wasn’t love doesn't mean what we had wa sn’t special. We were friends, and it doesn't sit right with me to ditch him so suddenly.
“Ok, mein Herz ?” Matthias asks.
I smile up at him, nodding.
We enter further into central command.
The rest of the group are all leaning over the table, Reiter and Yuri are prodding at a screen in front of them, mumbling sounds of disagreement.
“It’s analogue. Look, here…” Matherson schools them, her finger pointing at the screen.
Aiko is meekly hanging back as she leans into Anderson. The only person missing is Dr Hadfield, and… I need to check on Chelenko.
He is one stubborn bastard. Roles reversed, I'm not sure I would have survived it.
A little squeeze of my hand has me tearing my attention away. As I look up, Matthias is looking back at me, his moss-green eyes twinkling in reassurance.
“You got this.” The edges of his eyes crinkle as he smiles, bringing the back of my hand to his mouth to lay a kiss along my knuckles.
Further inside the module, Clayton's voice calls out above the other babble. “Now, we’ve got bad news and bad news. What would you like first?”
I swallow harshly, my throat feeling itchy and dry.
“Guess we’ll start with bad then,” Matherson smirks.
Yuri nods, “Like ripping off bandage.”
Clayton rubs his chin, his fingers brushing against his coarse beard before he takes a deep inhale.
“As you all know, we have lost contact with Earth. We’re on our own out here.
No Houston. No nothing,” he leans back against the wall slightly, his fingers thrumming against the stainless steel.
“We sent out a distress call on all analogue frequencies. Hoping for…” he sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“Something to get through. That was before we realised we were millions of light years from Earth.”
“Jeez. When you said bad, I didn’t realise you meant depressing.” Matherson rolls her eyes.
“Oh, it gets better.” Anderson chimes in.
Matherson's eyebrows climb higher up her forehead, her eyes wide.
“Yes, I was getting to that.” Clayton huffs. “We got a response.”
“Houston–”
“Not Houston.”
“Then who?”
“Seems the Chinese Space Station got ripped halfway across the universe, the same as us.”
“Tiangong Station?” Aiko perks up, swiping an obsidian lock behind her ear just for it to escape and climb above her again. “They were operational and manned. A small crew of three. ”
“Manned sounds right. Unfortunately, their response was too garbled to make any sense of it. Matty, perhaps you can take a crack at it.”
The crew notice us for the first time, loitering half in the doorway, our hands still clasped together.
“Welcome back, Peakey,” Anderson greets me with a warm smile. “You had us a little worried back there.”
I can feel heat flushing to my cheeks under the group's stares. Matherson is the first to look away, her eyes quickly shooting back to Clayton.
“I’ll take a look.” Matthias takes the datapad.
“We walk over to our neighbours and invite them inside. Dio knows we need more supplies. Half of the solar array is fucked.” Luca says.
“I wouldn’t mind some fresh air,” I add.
“That brings us to the worse news,” Clayton says.
“If this was the bad news, what's the worse news?” Matherson asks.
“Tiangong Station looks rough.”
“Rough...?” Aiko tilts her head to the side.
“Like a bull in a china shop.”
He brings up an image on his datapad. A grainy depiction of a space station.
Only a third has any obvious illumination from within, and even more disturbing is the back end – a T-shaped junction of metal jutting out into two airlocks designed for connecting to shuttles.
Significantly more advanced than our Soyuz docking procedures.
One side looks open, the hatch hanging wide off its hinges. That can’t be right.
Beside me, Matthias is tapping at his datapad, sifting through the static on the message we received. His brows furrow as his eyes squint at the screen.
“I think I found something,” he hits play.
A deep voice breaks through the static, “ This is Commander… Yang Zhu of ……. Station… In case of… death–”
Screams rattle through the speakers.
The room drops to a deafening silence.
Heavy breathing and something that sounds eerily close to bones snapping. Just my overactive imagination. The trauma of the past days lingering as nightmares in the back of my mind.
Another snap. I flinch.
A shrill scream.
Metal clashing.
Static fills the void.
Air rushes back into the room as everyone takes an audible breath.
“What in the ever-loving fuck was that?” Matherson starts.
“Nothing good,” Clayton states.
Matthias swipes over the data pad once more .
“Wait. There’s more.”
We all pause, waiting with bated breath as a delicate voice whispers against the static.
“Give it here. I can make it louder.” Matherson snatches it from his hands, tapping across the screen. “There.”
“ ...is gone. I repeat. Do not look for us. Do not come for us. It’s not safe…. THIS IS A RECORDED MESSAGE. MESSAGE HAS BEEN SET TO REPEAT. MESSAGE DATE 21/05/2027. MESSAGE WILL NOW REPEAT. ”
I look down at my watch, the large hour hand ticking past the date in the background. Today is the 6th of April. 2025. “We left Earth days ago…” I breathe out. “How…?”
“Tiangong station must have arrived here before us,” Aiko answers calmly. I feel anything but calm.
“Long before us.” Matze’s mouth drops open. The whole crew stares in horror at the datapad.
“Two fucking years?” Yuri’s brows furrow. “Doing what?”
“Waiting. Surviving.” Pesquet offers.
“Pfft. Not well.” Yuri scoffs, directing our attention back to the grainy image of the station. A single light flashes orange on the far left airlock door.
“How is this possible?” Matherson asks, tapping the datapad again .
The message repeats in Chinese.
“It’s not,” Clayton assures, resting one palm on Matherson’s shoulder.
“It most assuredly is.” Reiter pipes up, a look of delight alighting his usually shrewd features. He immediately turns to Matthias. “I knew it”.
“Come now, Artur, this is hardly conclusive proof.” Matthias retorts.
He thrusts his finger in Matthias’ face. “Mark my words.”
“It is what we all have been thinking.” Reiter reaches for his datapad. “This is proof.”
“Proof of what?” Matherson asks.
“Time dilation. Natürlich .”
Clayton pats Matthias’ back. “How does that help us get back?”
“It doesn’t.” He sighs.
Clayton nods at me. “Without a better idea, I guess we’ll be taking the long way home.”
The crew with return in
BLOOD IN THE AIR
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