New Elysium: Breakout

"So human" Part 35

The ship swerved again, jarring the entire vessel. "Did you just hit one?" Red's hands clenched into fists on the console breaking the connection between himself and Ember.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm really getting tired..."

"Commander Larsson, how much further?" Red punched through to the channel. Ember's vitals were high, but the ships were low. It was giving everything it had to Ember. 

It might not be enough.

"Any second now, Sir," her voice came back clear and calm through the console.

"On the other side, is there a star we can use for solar collectors?"

"There should be plenty."

"You don't sound confident."

"I try not to give false hope. Realistically, you could get hit by an asteroid just being a few light years inside the belt."

Red nodded, realizing she couldn't see him. "Copy."

He turned back to Ember's face, recognizing the strain she was under. "What else can we turn off? To give you a boost?" This conversation felt too close to the one they'd had in prison.

"Life support, if we don't get through it won't matter anyway." Her tired voice came back. Damn it was that bad. The ship shuddered again.

"Do it," he said. "Blackstar, we're shutting down life support systems and following you through. If we don't make it, nice meeting you."

"We'll make it," Ember snapped.

"Copy." The voice from the Blackstar sounded oddly detached and Red pushed it aside.

"Ember we're going to order the biggest fucking steak they have there and then spend hours eating it, in our own room...and then we'll finally find something to wear besides these stupid prison outfits. We'll have a bonfire and burn these things. And then I'm going to take off all of your new stuff and spend hours getting to know you personally." He sat back against the chair. "Sound good?"

"Toss in some wine and I'm in," she choked out. There was a tear coursing down her right cheek and Red chose not to say anything about it.

"Hey Red," she asked a few minutes later. "Do you think my brother will recognize me?"

"I think he'd recognize you if we'd disguised you completely, just from your accent alone."

"How did you know I was from Neo-Tokyo and not him?"

Red smiled. "He's better at faking an accent than you are. I guess you could say he's a better liar than you will ever be."

The ship swerved as Ember dodged an Asteroid 100 times their ship in size. Red's limited vision still left him in awe. The giant stones toppled haphazardly through the belt and they were foolish enough to run through. But they'd made it this far and turning back really wasn't an option at this point.

Ember huffed a little and Red checked her vitals again, his heart started to race wildly as he saw how low the ship was getting. "Come on Ember," he whispered. And then, "Please God, let her make it." It was a desperate prayer to a deity he'd never believed in.

Oddly enough, he started thinking of Lars of all beings. Lars and his ridiculous notions of what he called people of faith. Captain, what do you think happens to us when we die?

Really Lars? You're an AI, aren't you supposed to be beyond that?

AIs die all the time Captain. I was just reflecting on the nature, well beliefs, some humans think all sentience goes back to the same place. After all, who created sentience? It's still not well understood. We can all think, feel, Sir. It's not the same in every person. I mean, it's not even the same in two humans, let alone a human and an autonomous AI.

Red had laughed at his Second then. It had been a good honest conversation, one of the first of many and he'd been surprised at the line of questioning the AI took. But now, staring at death yet again, he wondered if he should have paid more attention.

"Red, I'm sorry." Ember's voice cut through his thoughts and he wrenched his gaze to her image in the console.

The air was beginning to grow stale and he saw that the ship was losing power. "Ember just push through, cut off what you need to. It's all right."

He could see her nodding. The ship gave one last shudder as she turned off the shields and gave one last final push to the accelerate, and they were moving at a fast speed, hurtling like a stone fired from a slingshot with no way to alter course. He felt the ship smack into an asteroid hard and then silence.

"Ember?" He frantically reached for the buckles.

"You're through, Ember, open your solar collectors now!" Larsson's voice came through the console again.

The ship was moving at high speed but there were no more impacts. Red shifted his palms and felt Ember shift in her place. "Ember, give me manual control, now!"

"Done," she whispered, sagging into the harness. She had to have passed out. It took everything in him not to run to her right then and there. That would not have helped her, she was connected, he needed to charge everything back up.

Red worked quickly, pushing the solar arms out. He saw them lock into place, sweat dripped off of him as he worked. He had to wait ten agonizing minutes before he could turn on the life support systems again. The air had grown stale and warm in the meantime. He wanted to puke and go to sleep at the same time.

"Ember what is your status?"

"Ember is down for the moment," he snapped, finally getting out of the restraints. It would take some time but it was all in the matter of charging everything and waking her up. He floated up the ladder leading to her room. Everything else was taken care of. Ember would care about the passengers so he'd made sure to turn on the life support. But his biggest concern right now was being there when she came to.

His heart nearly dropped out of his chest when he crawled into her room and saw her floating limply in the harness.

"Come on, come on, Ember," he whispered frantically cupping her face in both hands. "I can't do this without you."