Free Sojourn Sol (Eternal Sol) by Morgan Landsbury

chest.
     
    Ren turned to Antioch. “Are you fucking satisfied,” he hissed.
     
    “No. He was successful. Now we're all fucked. You've been given the same charge as I have. Why did you try to stop me?” Antioch raised his pistol.
     
    “I was going to stop him, but you rushed up and shot him,” Ren's pleas were exploding through clenched teeth. “Get me a fucking med-kit - they're in the back.”
     
    Antioch hesitated for a second, but he did eventually put his gun down. He ran to the back closet, which was in between their bunks, and pulled out a red box.
     
    “There's a healing accelerator in a tiny black bag, and you can find some cleansing spray there too.” Antioch ran over and sprayed down the wound in order to clean it while it healed, then he gave Ren the pill, which he swallowed dry. “Fuck you,” he said, staring at the shooter . “This is FUCKED!”
     
    “They're all going to get killed, Ren. What are we supposed to do now?”
     
    “Leave,” he scoffed.
     
    A sound like a supernova blasted through the sky, and the ground began to shake with the force of the blast. The two men couched down on the floor and made their way to the viewing hatch near the front door. What they saw astounded them. A fleet of center ships, many of them with weapons had landed on the outskirts of town and the spiders were swarming to see what was going on. They rode white hover transports, and carried tiny banners made of sheets of aluminum with letter inscribed on them. Even in his wounded state, Ren found the entire scene to be quite absurd. He would've laughed if he could muster the energy.
     
    * * *
     
    Henny was shaking and cold. She'd given up on leaving the ship and was trying to dispel thoughts of what would happen to her. She decided that she would live, and that if she kept an optimistic attitude it would happen, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that. She kept thinking about disgusting creatures and hateful wars. She imagined that when the hatch opened, she would see bodies and organs lying on the ground in front of her.
     
    She'd never heard of the Kendall Center, so she wasn't sure what was going on, but she was certain that it must have something to do with a war, or the man would've known whether or not he was coming back. Dark thoughts crowded her mind like unwanted sea buzzards at a beach picnic.  She pushed them out of her mind and tried to think happy, optimistic thoughts.  The pushed the angry birds away but not for long – they kept returning to feast upon all her mind. Focusing on action seemed to help her ward off their paralyzing grip and help her formulate a plan of sorts.
     
    She found that getting into her space suit would help with the cold. It was designed to maintain body temperature, which meant that it would be the perfect antidote to the bitter cod.. She might even be able to get some sleep if she could only slow her mind down, but it was proving to be impossible. What she did do was enter the digital world, where she could sit in the sanctuary once more.
     
    She decided, when she started walking around her little cube that she would recreated the dining hall, where he had finally confessed her love to him. She materialized a piece of paper and an ancient quill, which matched the scene perfectly and strode over to where they'd sat.
     
    She began speaking immediately. “Tamil. I love you and always will, but I think my time is almost over, and I don't know if I will ever see you again. I am in the cargo hatch of a carnival ship I stowed away on. I thought they would go to Fyrion or someplace nice, but I ended up on an ice world where the ship was commandeered by the Kendall Center who plans on using it on some dangerous mission, which they believe may be fatal. I can't leave the ship, and I can't dDao anything but tell you I love you and that if I don't see or hear from you again, I want you to know that I will always be there with you.” As soon as she finished her