Free My Star by Christine Gasbjerg Page B

lifted a finger. Besides, if we succeeded, then we’d probably be locked up the moment we return to Earth anyway. I think for now it’s safer that we stay put, and submit to the mercy of the captain.” Kurt pauses and looks straight at me. “I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you. Once we’re back on Earth, we can reconvene and do something about it. Get the message out by using the proper channels.” Kurt sounds clear and determined.
    ...You can’t stand the thought of something happening to me...? Suddenly I’ve forgotten everything about danger, conspiracy, and the captain’s iron grip.
    “That’s right, Millie.” Kurt looks at me tenderly.
    “What does that mean?”
    “I’ve come to l...” Kurt stops.
    I hear it too. There’s someone outside the cabin door. Kurt gets up and flings the door open. I’m right behind him, and see the back of someone disappearing around a corner further down the hall. In an instant, Kurt’s down there too at full speed, turning the same corner. In less than a minute, he’s back.
    “I got to the dining hall. It’s full. There was no way to figure out who it was.”
    “Do you think they heard us talk?” I sincerely hope they didn’t.
    “Possibly. Probably. We can only hope they didn’t hear what we were talking about. I’m going to go back there, and have a meal. I’ll see if anyone looks at me, or behaves strangely towards me. You should eat too.”
    “Thanks, but I’m not hungry.” I’d go with him for the company, but since we can’t be seen fraternizing in public, there’d be no point. I’m not hungry, and my mind is in too much turmoil for me to be socializing with the rest of the crew.
    I return to my cabin, and try to relax and turn off my brain. Kurt’s words echo in my mind... He cares for me... I wonder how much... So much that he loves me?
    I imagine his firm embrace around me again, and his soft lips all over me... All over my body...
     

TEN
     
    red
     
     
    We’ve left the E-corp space station, and are heading deeper into space toward our final destination—a big light red planet popularly named The Virgin Planet. Now we’re so far away from our own galaxy that I can’t make out any familiar star constellations or planets with the naked eye. Everything around us is unknown. At least to me, the ‘noxpert’.
    We’re not far from the big pink planet when we’re hit by a shower of meteors. The hull is bombarded with rocks. I’ve never been to war in my life, but that’s what the sound makes me think of—war.
    Not surprisingly, the engines are knocked out. The impact on the mood of the crew is instant. Uncertainty and mild panic spreads like a disease, and breathing is troubled and uneasy. The questions hang suffocatingly in the air almost spelled out—what if we can’t start again?—are we going to die here?
    It’s not like having an engine breakdown or running out of gas with your car on the highway, where you just call the auto service to come and haul you home. Here in space there’s nobody to save you. You’re all alone.
    It’s probably not like there’s never going to be another ship in space, it’s just that it might be quite a few years before another ship passes by here. And you certainly shouldn’t expect any emergency service to come and get you. It’s just too expensive, and the corporations aren’t legally obliged to protect you. Different laws and morals apply in space. It’s a bit like when you’re at war—a few casualties are expected. If a few space explorers are ‘sacrificed’ in the name of science and space imperialism, no heads will be turning, no penalties, no judgment. It’s morally accepted in society today that the value of a human is of little significance in space.
     
    When we’ve been hanging immobile in space in a cloud of rocks for two days, Kurt strolls by me.
    “Never leave home without it!” Kurt triumphantly holds up his pocketknife with the corkscrew