The mission

Part 9

Cryo chambers opened after several years. That's how they were programmed. Reyes's chamber opened first, then Naslov's, then Grim's, and finally Stelvio woke up. The consequences of cryosleep were felt by everyone, some more than others. Grim was nauseous and asked for a lot of water, Naslov tolerated dizziness well, Reyes was actually good, and Stelvio was vomiting, dehydrated, and again she had a nosebleed. Morgan didn't hesitate for a second and quickly rushed to her side. She brought her buckets and about two liters of water. She told her to sit on the floor next to the chamber and let her hold the bucket. Morgan wiped the sweat from Stelvio's face, but also the blood that flowed from her nose.

"I don't understand one thing," Naslov said in a stern voice, looking at the two of them. "Stelvio slept much shorter even though she woke up last." They knew they would realize that they did not immediately enter cryo. That was to be expected. ˝5 months, ˝ he immediately scolded them. Stelvio didn't even manage to recover. "Reyes too. Interesting. I hope you have a good reason for that because the general could find out." He looked at them angrily. Reyes exhaled as he immediately insisted on making excuses. She got up abruptly and motioned for him to go with her to the main deck.

Now that she felt at least a little better, Noah remembered the last memory before going in cryo. Morgan kissed her. It was a real kiss, something she had never felt. She was sure she wanted more.

"Did you show them the message?" Noah asked in a hoarse voice when Morgan returned. ˝Naslov is crazy, and Grim is shocked." She opened a new gauze to take care of Noah's nose.

In a few minutes the captain marched to Noah with his finger pointing at her. "It's your fault! You knew everything, and you were quiet! I bet that was your goal all along! You ruined the lives of three people! What do we do now? Living on a ship for the rest of our lives?! I have children at home!" Noah barely got up, and when she did, Richard pushed her hard, reached her, then lifted her up and hit her on the head. If Grim and Reyes hadn't stopped him, she would have probably gotten another punch. "You will drive us to Arma! I don't care what the consequences will be." He pushed them both away and disappeared from the deck. Reyes was very angry. She'd rather throw him out of the ship with a rocket. Noah wasn't feeling well. Ever since cryo, she was still dizzy and could not see with one eye. Naslov hit her in the temple. Reyes rushed to help her but Stelvio was already on her feet. "Sit down and don't move. I know you're mad right now and you want to break him, but it's not the time for that. Look at me." She couldn't look her in the eye. "Noah." She held her shoulders and felt how she trembled with rage. "Noah," she called softly, but it didn't reach her. "Noah Stelvio!" Reyes shouted so loudly and angrily that both Noah and Grim froze in a second. She got Noah's attention. Without blinking, they looked into each other's eyes. It was a new way of calming down for Noah. It had a very effective effect. But not for long. She rose abruptly and headed for the deck where she assumed Naslov was.

Morgan saw that she was sick and that she was losing her balance. Noah couldn't see and her nose was bleeding a little more. The engineer tried to stop her, but she was unsuccessful. Both Morgan and Grim were on the deck now, staring at the captain and the lieutenant.

Stelvio rushed to the computer, typed something aggressively, then she turned to Naslov. Degea squealed, "Are you sure you want to delete all the files? When deleted, you can no longer restore them." Noah pressed the button. She deleted all the files they had so far and all the data they had collected. "Are you crazy?!" Naslov shouted. "Oh, I am." Everyone was in disbelief. "I'm not going back or sending data." Stelvio was determined. Naslov raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to the surface," she pointed to the Earth through the ship's window. The planet was huge compared to the ship. They came halfway through their mission. Now they should lower Degea's dwarves to take samples.

"Did she just delete all the files we had?" Grim asked Morgan. "She just did." Neither of them dared to react. "The first thing that came to my mind when I saw you was that if selfishness could be a person, it would be you," the captain now spoke in a sickly calm tone. "Oh yeah? Did you ask the others where they wanted to go? To Arma where they will rot in prison for the rest of their lives or even maybe be executed, or here where they might have a chance for a new life?" she returned, but she knew those arguments weren't good enough to argue. "Lieutenant Stelvio's hope is a bitch," the captain said. Morgan was the first to stand in Noah's defense. Maybe this time it was her heart, and maybe her mind. Who knows. "I'm going to the surface, too," she said firmly. Naslov was amazed again, and then he smiled devilishly. "Everything is clear to me. It's been interesting these five months here, huh Reyes? I see you're attracted to pilots." Grim gasped in wonder, but the engineer and the lieutenant didn't respond. "That can't be true." Grim was extremely surprised, so Naslov wanted to prove something to him. The captain got closer to Morgan and suddenly grabbed her neck and pressed against the wall. At that moment, Grim spotted the pistol the captain was carrying on his belt. He froze for a second. As Naslov suggested, Noah pounced on him. He barely stopped her, surprised at how strong she was, and she didn't even recover. They looked into each other's eyes. There was so much anger in Noah's eyes that she seemed crazy. She gritted her teeth. "Get away from her before you regret being alive." For a moment there was fear in the captain's eyes, but not for long, he was wearing a good mask. "Grim, you see what I am talking about? They had a great time on the deck when we weren't... ˝ There was a thud. Naslov fell like a log to the floor. "I'm sorry, I couldn't listen to him anymore." Grim smiled sourly. ˝And by the way, I'm really okay with you two...you know... ˝ The situation was pretty weird, but neither of them wanted to deny it even though it was one kiss. "I don't want to be the third wheel, but I'm going to the surface with you." The lieutenant and the engineer smiled slightly. "It's okay, Grim, you're not going to be the third wheel," Reyes spoke first. However, what was currently etched in her memory was the lieutenant's previous look with a furious expression on her face and an exposed vein in her neck and her raspy sharp voice. Reyes couldn't say she didn't like Noah defending her. What Noah performed was very attractive to the engineer.

"What about the captain?" Grim asked. They were already half done with storing and preparing the surface equipment. "Did he wake up?" Stelvio asked. ˝He's fidgeting in the room, ˝ said Grim. "Do you want to come to the surface with us or you are going back to Arma?" Stelvio was collected and asked in a perfectly normal tone. Naslov first saw a large bruise on her eye, he smiled and then commented, "I'm going to the surface with you." Stelvio immediately suspected revenge, but she would leave it for later.