It wasn’t supposed to end this way, Ella thought as they lifted Smith onto the table in the medical bay. But I’m not surprised that it did. When you live your life among the stars, every second is a risk. If it isn’t a misjump into a giant sun, it’s crossing the wrong person on a remote planet. And all you have left is an instant to fight for a life that’s already forfeit. One breached hull and you’re floating through the cosmos for the rest of…well…forever. In space, shit happens. Bad shit. Ella knew this and had dealt with it before. But the others?
Ella closed her eyes as her thoughts drifted to the rest of her crew, and her years of experience in the navy took control. Morale will be hell after this. Especially the Doc’s. Ella opened her eyes and watched Ibrahim work with superhuman effort, trying to breathe life back into a dead man. How long had she been drifting in the chaos, she wondered? She looked down at the gray skin below her. Too long, already. The robots will find us soon. We have to keep moving.
“Doc. He’s gone. Let him go.”
—————
Sometime in the future…
Brushed steel. Sterile. Cold. Ella hesitated as she stared down the long metal corridor. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered that her breath floated in front of her as faint puffs of white frost. I’ve been here before, she thought. She heard a regular click/clack sound, and a brief moment of alarm jolted through her chest before she realized that it was her own feet, moving down the hall of their own accord.
To the left and right, there were rounded tubes, also in brushed steel, but with glass plates in front, allowing a clear view of what lay within within. Faces. So many faces, all of whom she had known in the past. She didn’t count them anymore; there were too many. Nor did she really even look.
Eventually a humanoid shape detached itself from the gloom far down the hall, and stood, waiting for her approach. The clack-clack of her boots slowed and stopped. The lone figure stood beside a tube that unlike all the others, stood open. The light from inside the tube highlighted his profile and cast a fierce shadow on the other side of the hall.
“Smith.”
“Cap.”
A beat.
“Sorry Smith. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.”
The shape shrugged. “A life in space sucks, Cap. If it wasn’t death by crazy robots, it would’ve been something else.” He pointed back down the hall towards the occupied tubes. “All of these?”
“Yeah. When you’re in the military during conflict, you tend to lose a few friends.”
“You should let go of ’em, you know. That’s a lot of weight to be carrying around. Hell, I’m enough baggage by myself to weigh down a two-person shuttle.”
Their laughter echoed down the hall for a few seconds after they had stopped, and then faded to silence.
“Well, could be worse here, I guess. I mean, that lady that’s straight across from me is hot. I won’t mind staring at her for a few years until you can purge all your demons.”
“That’s my mother, Smith.”
“Awkward.”
Somewhere, a lone trumpet started to play.
“Ah, guess that’s my cue.” Smith took a couple of steps towards the open tube, and turned around. “Cap?”
“Yeah?”
“Give my best to Jones. He’s a good guy. Make sure he gets home to that wife of his.”
“I’ll do my best.” But that may not be enough.
The tube hummed as the cover closed automatically, and the light inside dimmed. Smith smiled wanly through the glass, and as the last of the light faded to black, he closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep. Ella found herself alone once more with the dead.
