When Forever Ends (Part 2: The Place with No Name)

XXXIX

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T h i r t y - N i n e

The room was unimpressive, with the same boring walls, floor, and ceiling Erin had seen in the room with the sand tiger. The only differences were, obviously, the lack of starving, motion-sick tiger, and that the walls in this room were lined with metal shelves. Shelves covered with tiny, silver packages.

Erin stepped forward and picked up one of the packages. It made a crinkly sound at her touch and the object inside was in a hard, rectangular lump. She sniffed it. Its seal kept any scent of its contents from reaching her nose. "This is food?"

"Uh-huh," Will replied. "I told you, it's freeze-dried."

"How are we supposed to eat this?" Erin turned around to see Sofie had unwrapped one and was inspecting it suspiciously. The tan rectangle looked hard as a brick and very unappetizing. "Oh, yuck!" she suddenly pulled a face. "The smell is superbly un-foodlike."

Erin frowned at the package in her hand. "Maybe it's way expired," she said. "Doesn't food smell like that if it's really old?"

"I smelled sour milk once. It was horrible!" Sofie shuddered at the memory.

"Hey, guys! What's this?" Will was against the wall near a small, oval-shaped glass door. Erin and Sofie floated over to look.

"Open it," Erin suggested. She pulled on the handle and it opened with a click.

It was a small box with a light on one side that turned on when the door opened. The interior was white metal and there was a flat spot on the bottom with a picture of one of the packages on it.

"Huh," she reached in and put the package on the picture. They stared at it for a few moments.

"I wonder what it's supposed to do?" Sofie broke the expectant silence.

"Maybe you have to shut the door." Will nudged it with his elbow and the door clicked shut.

Immediately, there was a flash of light from the box and a loud beep. Then the door swung open again, revealing a moldy lump of cheese on a silver wrapper.

They all cringed at the sight, and Will had to put his hand to his mouth and take a few deep breaths to keep from vomiting.

"I think it's definitely expired," Sofie said. She reached in tentatively and removed the cheese, tossing it hurriedly to the side. It flew away, bounced off the wall, and hovered in a corner, the wrapper balling around it protectively. She then put in another package. "Maybe this one will be fine," she shut the door again.

The flash of light surprised them less because they were expecting it. But this time, the beep was accompanied by an earsplitting buzzer, and the room pulsed once with red light. As the door swung open, there was a cacophony of crashes as many things, including Will, Erin, and Sofie, fell to the floor. A long, drawn out Mrrowwowwoww! echoed softly through the ship in the following silence and Erin thought momentarily of the tiger landing roughly and painfully.

"Oof!" Will's foot slammed into her face and her head snapped back against the metal floor with a crack.

"Sorry," he said, peeling himself off the floor. He had barely risen to his knees when he toppled over and sprawled on the floor once more. "I think I'll stay here for awhile," he muttered, making no attempt to get back up.

Puzzled, Erin got to her feet and swayed unsteadily until she leaned against the wall for support. Her head spun with dizziness and her legs felt like lead.

While she was adjusting to gravity's pull once more, Sofie sat up with a shriek, her flaming red hair looking like a bird had unsuccessfully tried to make a nest in it. She scrambled to get away from the cheese which had fallen behind her.

"MY HEAD WAS ON THAT!" she exclaimed, furiously raking her hands through her hair to try to calm it.

"What was that?" Will sat up now, too.

"No idea," Erin said. "Maybe there's some sort of artificial gravity on this ship and it just got activated?" She finally felt strong enough to stand without the wall's assistance and moved over to help him up, supporting him while he adjusted.

"What about the other package?" he asked.

"Oh! Right!" she had momentarily forgotten about the package and the strange box.

The door still hung open, the food inside smelling a lot more appetizing than the moldy cheese. A small plop drew her attention to the chunky stream of red liquid pouring out onto the floor. The whole inside of the box was coated with the stuff.

"Crap. Soup." There hadn't been a bowl, so the soup had spilled all over, the mess made even larger when gravity switched on, which happened to coincide with the moment after the door opened. Now that she thought about it, Erin recalled seeing a small shelf with plastic bowls and other tableware on it, just inside the room. She looked over and saw that they had all been scattered about the floor.

"Oh well," she sighed "At least we know it works."

"I'll go find something to clean up the mess with," Will turned away and stumbled slightly, then righted himself and strode out of the room more sure-footedly.

"Are you finished yet?" She directed the question at Sofie, who was just getting to her feet.

Sofie muttered something unintelligible, then raised her voice. "Yeah. I just hope we don't have any more incidents like that," she aimed a glare at the offending cheese, still sitting innocently in the corner.

A shrill scream of terror reached their ears.

Erin and Sofie shared a worried glance. "Where did you say Maya was?" Erin asked. She might've been annoyed with Maya, but she still cared that everyone on the ship remained safe. She didn't want a repeat of what had happened to Ryan.

"I didn't," Sofie said, in response to her question.

They slowly turned to stare out the door.

There was a loud roar, then a shout: "Ryan!"

Together, they sprinted out into the hall.