Free Deeper Into the Void by Mitchell A. Duncan

seems pretty familiar to Long; it is where he has lived his whole life, Earth. The other planet, opposite Earth in the schematic appears only as a black circle and has no name attached to it. “That can’t be…”
    A sharp movement on the far left side of the screen draws his gaze; the power input from the solar panels is dropping quickly, power in the storage array is failing. Warning messages on the screen appear in the power section. As Long is studying the control panel in front of him, the screen shuts down. Emergency lights, mounted along the walls at the ceiling in the control room all switch on as the screen goes clear. The faint humming of the computer in the room ceases; all goes absolutely silent.
    A single reflection on the blank sheet of glass overhead draws his eyes slowly from the reflection of the emergency lights glowing in the background. The reflection is familiar enough to him; it is the reflection of his own face, weary and dejected. Despite the weight of his eyelids, Long widens his gaze to stave off his exhaustion. His arms lie on the arm-rests, his head leans back into the neck support of the chair. His extremities go completely flaccid, yet his mind quickens.
    With his body completely relaxed and limp, his senses sharpen, drawing his focus to the smallest detail. The reflection of his eyes in the glass encapsulates his every thought. A single particle of dust causes his focus to intensify as he watches it drifting from up above to its settling place on the glass panel.
    After staring at the dust particle, his gaze delves ever deeper into the eyes which stare back at him by way of the glass pane. Slight movements seen in the eyes in the reflection presses a surge of panic through him from his lips to his fingertips. Motionless and immobilized, he studies the movement of the eyes in front of him. Distress comes into plain view in the glass eyes; quick movements left to right in the eyes draw every reserve of mental acuity and capacity as he strains his mind to figure out how his gaze upon the reflection can remain so unshaken, yet his reflection looks about so. His relaxed muscles leave him at the mercy of gravity as he slowly slinks down the back of the chair.
    His focus upon his reflection is broken only by the sound of a squeaky toy wheel as it rolls very slowly within an arm’s reach of the chair he sits in. The old toy’s wheels wobble on their bent axels as it rolls across the flat, level floor of the control room. The car rolls under the control panel, which is fixed in place just in front of him. Through the clear, plain glass Long watches the car as it rolls up to the wall behind the controls as it bumps into some frayed live wires. Sparks fly as it rests against the surging metal wiring. Smoke rises off of the floor and begins collecting on the ceiling. The windowless room only has a single door out, the door that is steadfastly shut behind him.
    Cool clean air is tainted with foul smoke; the blue emergency lights quickly become concealed in the thick gray smoke. The waning light penetrates less and less through the building smoke. Smoke begins to descend slowly from the ceiling as Long lays helpless and paralyzed in his chair. His eyes widen as he watches the smoke begin to swirl around; it reaches down toward him. Long struggles against paralysis as he draws in the foul air. The strong smell of burning wood, which reminds him of campfires as a child, fills his nose and burns his throat. Weak coughs ensue as the smoke encapsulates his entire face. The world around him is constricted in a dark gray cloak; a final view through the narrow tunnel of vision is the last view of the faintly lit car as it smolders on the floor in front of him.
     
Cardiff:

Sleeping on the job, huh?
    Long jumps up out of his seat as he turns quickly to look at Cardiff. She stands in the open doorway, looking at him with her arms folded. His fist rushes up to mask his mouth as he coughs violently. His eyes become