Nathan Hystad - The Event

“I’ve used it. No way to flush,” I said.

I scooped up the metallic rope rolls and attached one side of the first roll to my suit’s belt. The suit was surprisingly light, nothing at all like the space suits from our Apollo missions on the moon, from what I remembered from the old documentaries about them. Magnus came back in and I hooked his rope to the suit and passed him the helmet.

“I’ll try it first.” I put the dome over my head and it clicked in, mechanical clasps auto-connecting it to the suit. The helmet was dark, but a clear square appeared in front of my face, giving me crystal-clear vision out of it. It had a small grid layout in light green lines. I looked at Magnus, laughing at the sight. Here was the massive man in a silver alien space suit, sleeves bunched up so his hands would fit into the gloves of the long arms. As I put my own hands into the gloves, I realized there was only room for four digits in there. Luckily, their hands were larger, and my two middle fingers easily fit into one space.

“Nothing more of a reminder that we’re in an alien’s suit than a four-digit glove, hey?” I said, my voice cutting out in the small helmet.

“You got it. I can hear you in the helmet, so I guess we’ll be able to communicate, at least. Good thing these guys weren’t telekinetic or something, I only know a bit of sign language.” From the smirk he gave me, I had the feeling he just knew the dirty words. “Do you really think this can work?” he asked.

I didn’t know, but we had to try, and it was the only thing I could think of that gave us a shot at saving everyone. I decided to be the positive one and told him I did think it would work. He clapped me on the shoulder, and we grabbed the handheld thrusters and strapped them to our wrists. Soon we walked to the cargo bay we’d first entered the ship in.

Mary stood there watching us. Her face had never looked more serious.

“I see the air is breathable?” she asked and I nodded. “Good. I’m twenty feet over the container. I’m going to move in closer to land on it. You know what to do then. I’ll yell at you when you’re good to go.”

Magnus grabbed his metal-linked rope and clasped the other end to a firm-looking anchor point in the bay. There were three, side by side, and they had to be made for this purpose… I hoped. I clasped in beside him and pulled on it a few times to make sure it was secure.

I knew Mary was worried and had every right to be. I was petrified, but at the same time, relieved to finally be nearing the end, one way or another. Taking her hands in my alien space suit gloves, I looked her in the eye. “We’ll be back shortly. Hopefully, we’ll have good news.” I found the helmet’s release, and it hissed open. Cradling it under my arm, I leaned in and kissed her deeply. My inevitable bad breath, and any other thoughts, pushed down below and I opened myself up to just being with her for a moment. She kissed me back, not with a fervent passion, but with a soft, caring effort that left my knees weak and my heart pounding. I almost didn’t hear Magnus clear his throat, and I’m sure I turned a little red as Mary leaned back and smiled at me. “Just come back to me,” she said, and turned to walk to the cockpit.

“Well, well, well. Looks like we have ourselves an old-fashioned love connection.” Magnus grinned ear to ear in his helmet. I donned mine once again and walked to the center of the room. We’d moved our pinned buttons to the outside of the suits, mounting them on a loose pocket on the breast. For good measure, we also each strapped one of the Kraskis’ powerful guns to our backs. We didn’t know what would be waiting for us out there.

My heart pounded and a bead of sweat ran down my back as I waited for the word from Mary. I was about to willingly alter my matter to get to the container. The idea that I might materialize half in the container, or that the rope wouldn’t come with me and I would float out there forever, crossed my mind as she called to us, telling us it was time.

Magnus, looking as calm as ever, pushed his button and was enveloped in a green light. Following suit, we both glowed as we used a rail above us to push down gently. I didn’t feel my legs moving through the ship wall, but soon I was neck deep in ship and after a quick eye closing and opening, I was out in space. Then, just as quickly, I was entering the huge black container, rope still firmly in place. We entered into a small room with dim lights on each wall. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust – then I saw the bodies.

The room was about thirty feet square, and maybe a hundred people lay on the floor, unmoving. I knelt down to the nearest person, and saw her chest rising and falling slowly. She was alive!

“Magnus, she’s alive! Check the others! Are any of you awake? It’s okay, we’re here to help you,” I called out. A few people moved around along the wall, and one of them hesitantly stood up.

“It can’t be,” the skinny man said. “We’re dead, don’t you see?” He stumbled forward, stepping on some unmoving bodies to get to us.

“No, you’re not. We’re human like you. Here to save you.” I gripped him as he stood in front of me. His face was gaunt, and dozens of others were slowly getting to their feet. Some stayed unmoving, and I feared the worst for them.

There was a door at the far end of the space; Magnus was already moving for it. It hissed open, sliding to the left, and he motioned with his hands for me to follow.

“We’ll be back. Does anyone know if there’s a control room or something with computers in this thing?” No one answered. I breathed deeply and felt the cool, fresh air hit my lungs. Guilt hit me right in the gut seeing these struggling people, dead or near death, and here I was with full oxygen. I needed to have it so I could help them, though.

Magnus waved me forward from the next room. Dim lights flickered softly as I stepped over and around countless people. I wanted to stop and check on them, but I knew that we needed to keep moving.

“Everything seems to happen at the center of the Kraskis’ cubes, so let’s make a line for the middle of this thing. And do it fast. There might be some air control – maybe thrusters or something,” Magnus said.

We moved past countless thousands of humans, all piled on the floors in the dozens of rooms we went through. There were hallways every few rooms deep, like they made these containers just for storage and only needed limited access to them.

“Should we hit the middle of this cube, like on the mother ship?” I asked.

“I think you have the right idea. Let’s hit these stairwells and climb our way up.” Magnus walked up to the door, and it slid open for him. We could now tell the stairwell markers on the doors, because they had a small image of a ladder on them. Pretty universal. We climbed for what we assumed was halfway, and after a few minutes, we took one of the hallways and followed it a while before it intersected with another hall going perpendicular to it.

“If I remember anything from old shoot-em-up games, you see a path like this, you follow it to the big bad guys,” I said, remembering my days playing Doom in my parents’ basement.

I tried to forget about the other containers just like this one, filled with people and heading for the power of the sun as we were walking around this one. It felt so hopeless, but we had to try our best. I wished we had a radio right now so we could check in with Natalia and Mary and let them know we were okay. I heard something coming from down the hall and turned, straining to hear it through my suit.

“Wait!” a pleading voice called. A thin woman struggled toward us, her clothing smudged and stained. Magnus stood firm, holding his gun, and watched the other end of the hall.