Free HELIX: A SciFi Short Story by Drew Avera Page A

made their way to the main passageway and found it just as dark and quiet as the void had been. A few emergency lights were illuminated to provide enough light for people to navigate back to their dorms, but the eerily casted light made the boys more afraid than anything else. “It’s never been this dark before,” Grant said under his breath. His heart beat like a drum in his chest as he remembered accidentally being locked in a storeroom when he was six years old. Even then there had been enough light to not feel too claustrophobic. This scenario felt much different to him and he could not help feeling alone and afraid despite the fact Ben was right next to him.
    “Come on,” Ben said, pulling at his friend’s shirtsleeve as they moved deeper into the passageway, further from the relative safety of the emergency lit area.
    It didn’t take long before the artificial gravity began to dissipate and their steps no longer fell solidly to the deck below them. The sensation of gradually rising from the surface and swimming through the air was foreign to them, but excitement soon turned to dread after Ben dared a glance from a small window looking out from the craft.
    “Is it just me or does KG894 look bigger?” Ben asked.
    Grant moved across the bulkhead as his fingertips found purchase on the ribbing of the craft, coming to a stop at the window where his friend looked out curiously. “It’s hard to tell, really.”
    “Look there,” Ben pointed. “See the moon base’s landing pads? You can see more details of the structure from here,” he replied.
    “I hadn’t noticed that before. Are you sure? Maybe we are just seeing a different perspective of it than we usually see from the void’s big window.” Grant’s words seemed rational, but Ben was not exactly ready to accept his statement as the truth. There was no denying that the base at least looked bigger, alternate perspective or not.
    “Maybe, but we need to find my mom. She’ll have a better idea of what’s going on,” he said, nervously pulling back from the window. “Follow me; she’s usually on the bridge.”
    “We’re not allowed there, Ben,” Grant shot back. He remembered being caught playing near the navigation charts earlier in the year and being told never to set foot on the bridge again. They were harsh words coming from Captain Lancier, Grant’s uncle.
    Ben scoffed as he pulled his way down the passageway and towards the top of the spindle-shaped craft where the bridge was located. “You can stay behind if you want to, but I’m going to find answers.”
    *****
    Darkness met them every floating inch of the way. Each corridor and passageway was bathed in shadows, the emergency lighting barely visible against the dull light reflecting from the moon into the windows of the Helix. The temperature was beginning to plummet and steam escaped their mouths which each panting breath as they found their way to the bridge.
    “Uncle?” Grant whispered as they entered the ghostly room. The gravity levels were stronger in the bridge and their feet touched the ground lightly, allowing them to walk instead of having to pull themselves across the bulkheads of the ship.
    Surrounded by eerily luminescent control panels and screens the boys stepped deeper into the bridge. Some of the readouts were easy to understand, temperature and oxygen levels were the first things they noticed, but the oscillating numbers identifying the distance between the Helix and KG894’s orbit revealed the boy’s worst fears; they were indeed falling, if you could call it that.
    “Ben, look!” Grant gasped, pointing at the readouts as the digits scaled downward, each fluttering of numerals proving how quickly they were descending.
    Ben moved over and looked over Grant‘s shoulder, his eyes wide, terrified. Not only were they falling but he was just struck with the realization that they were the only two souls either of them had seen since the emergency started. “I don’t