Within the Nexus
October 23, AC 197
A low buzz filled the steel rectangular room, breaking the silence and bringing Zechs Merquise out of his daydream.
"Sir," The voice of the young co-pilot crackled over the intercom, "We'll be in Earth's orbit in a few hours."
Zechs rubbed at his dry eyes as he looked up from the screen of his laptop, towards the round shuttle window of his room. He saw nothing but the solid black curtain of space, and the light, translucent reflection of his own pale face. Their current trajectory was at the perfect angle to cast the red dot of his former home, Mars, within his line of sight and he pursed his lips at the pang of nostalgia. Getting up from the built-in desk, he walked over and hit the blue button on the intercom that was next to the door of his quarters.
"Thank you, I'll head up." he replied, and slipped his thumb off of the button. He turned back to the desk and stretched, raised his arms up over his head and arched his back. He was so tall in comparison to the small room that his elbows almost touched the ceiling and he let out a large yawn.
A once ten-week journey from Mars was now only two, but it was still too much time to be alone with his thoughts. Piloting the craft in which he now travelled did prove to be a good distraction; however, he didn't pilot it 24-7, so when he wasn't piloting, he was hunched over his computer.
He looked into the small mirror that was mounted on the wall, stared into his tired ice blue eyes and raked his hand through his long blond hair. He worked a small knot loose with his fingers, sighed and turned to his bed.
Rolling his shoulders to work the stiffness out of them, he grabbed his discarded white T-shirt from his thin bunk and draped it over his long, lanky torso. Although it was mandated that all crew members do a series of workouts in the morning to keep their muscles from atrophying in space, Zechs hadn't bothered since the accident. He slept in most days anyway and had no appetite, so as a result he'd lost a fair amount of weight in the last three weeks. His pants were all loose and his shirts hung on him.
There were 10 crew members on the shuttle to Earth. He and the co-pilot, three engineers, two botanists, two biologists, and their medic, Myrna. During the two week trip to Earth, Myrna had constantly harassed him to eat more, but he just wasn't hungry. She'd grab his face, turn it left and right, then comment on how emaciated he looked. He'd just brush her off and lie that he'd make sure to eat something at the next meal. He usually tried, but it never resulted in more than a few bites of whatever the rehydrated food of choice was that day.
With a sigh, he hit the button next to the steel door and it slid open with quiet hiss. The shuttle was only 200 feet long, so he walked down the central hallway and was in the cockpit a moment later.
The dark haired pilot looked up when he entered and saluted him from his seat.
"I've told you not to do that, Arlo." Zechs mumbled and the young man lowered his hand with an unperturbed smile and turned back towards the navigation controls. He was actually only a year and a half younger than Zechs, but Zechs felt much older than his 21 years. He slumped down into the second pilot's seat and stared over the navigation panel, out the window to the little blue planet in front of them.
He couldn't believe that he was actually returning.
Suddenly he felt a weight land on his shoulders and the depression he'd been battling the last three weeks descended on him like a thick fog. His mind wandered, for the thousandth time, to the precious cargo they had in the lower bay. He let out a strangled breath as an invisible hand thrust into his chest and squeezed his heart.
He deflated in the seat and raised a hand to cover his eyes. Arlo looked over at him concerned.
"Sir?"
"Hn? Oh, I'm fine." he lied, looking away and abruptly getting up. "Are you alright to keep going?" he asked and Arlo nodded.
"Yes'sir. Maybe you should go see Myrna? You're awful pale." Arlo observed, but Zechs shook his head lightly. He turned and left the cockpit, and decided to go down to the cargo bay. Carefully avoiding the shuttle's clinic, he made his way to the door that lead down to the cargo bay, and looked behind him quickly before opening it and slipping inside.
A motion detector turned the lights on as he entered, and a soft white light illuminated the small bay as he came down the ramp. He walked across the room, passed the blocks of supplies and stopped at the single cryogenic sleeping pod, where Lucrezia's beautiful face shown through the small window.
The pod was the closest thing that they had to a coffin on Station NW2, where he and Lucrezia had lived together.
"Hi sweetheart," he whispered.
Putting a shaky hand on the window, he lowered his head as his throat constricted and he wrestled for control.
He and Lucrezia had moved to Mars soon after the Mariemaia Uprising, hoping to make a new lives for themselves. A few days into the new year, they had been contacted by one of the heads of the Terraforming Project, Kalkin Muzall, wondering if they would be interested in the project. They had accepted right away and took the first shuttle headed out to Mars.
He would never forget the beaming smile that Lucrezia had on her face when they first set foot on the Martian planet. The sun highlighted the deep violet of her hair through the glass of her helmet, bringing out a deeper array of colors and her eyes twinkled like amethysts… God, she was so radiant. She had grabbed his hand and released a sigh of content.
"Oh Zechs." she murmured looking up at him. "I'm so happy." she smiled at him and he smiled back.
"I am too…" he replied and paused for a moment as he stared down at her, "I love you so much, Lucrezia." he blurted suddenly and she blinked in surprise. It was the first time he had said those words aloud to her, although they both knew. Lucrezia's smile faltered a moment then returned bigger than before and her eyes glistened. Suddenly she jumped on him, catching him off guard and he lost his balance as she wrapping her arms around his neck. They fell together, laughing as their helmets clunked together and they landed in a cloud of red dust.
"I love you too Zechs…" she whispered when the laughter subsided. "I've always loved you."
They had both been assigned as Captains for half of the Northwest sphere, in charge of overseeing the construction of 30 of the total 480 factories that would be releasing the greenhouse gases needed to create ozone on the red planet. It was 20 year plan: 5 years to complete construction and 15 years for the factories to emit enough greenhouses gases before the surface could be even remotely survivable. They were excited for their new life and had planned to be there for the long haul.
Mars had been mapped out simply: north sphere, northwest sphere, northeast sphere, west sphere, east sphere, southeast sphere, southwest sphere, and south sphere. Each sphere had two identical anchored habitats on each end, and each housed 90 people. They lived in Station NW2.
Their accommodations had been a cozy 200 square feet that included a small kitchenette, bathroom and narrow closet, and they loved every square inch of their tiny quarters. They were used to small spaces after their time at the academy, so they didn't care how much room they had, as long as they were together. Although he was in a position of power, Zechs felt completely uninhibited and free for the first time in his life. No battles to fight, no wars to prepare for...just his work and being with the love of his life.
After a long day of construction, many of the Station's crew members would go to it's only drinkery to relax. Sometimes Lucrezia and Zechs had joined them, but most of the time they would retreat to their room and just enjoy each other's company.
A searing pain cut through Zechs' chest as he remembered how happy they'd been. The accident was three weeks ago, but her death still felt fresh as if it had been yesterday.
They had been together at Site 4, which was almost complete and they were going over the final phases of the build. A call came over their coms saying that there had been an incident at Site 7, roughly 5 miles away, and Lucrezia had offered to take a Lite Runner and go check it out. They knew that there was a storm warning for the the night, but it was only a 30 minute drive and there was plenty of time before sundown. She was going to check-in when she got there to report what the damage was at Site 7, then she'd be right back. Zechs was eager to put the final touches on Site 4, so he gave her a kiss and she left
But the storm hit early. Zechs hadn't even noticed the sound of the rushing wind while he talked with the electrician to make sure that the water recycling system was running properly. It wasn't until there was an alarmingly loud 'thunk!' and the sound of splintering glass that he looked up. Someone called him over to one of the few windows that the factory had and that was when he saw the large starburst crack that decorated it. The rock that had flown into it had been very large.
The workers were already putting tape across the window then putting a plastic covering over it, in case it did decide to give. Luckily they glass was a thick, very strong polyfiber glass that wouldn't break easily, otherwise they would all have been dead already.
Zechs' thoughts strayed from the window quickly, however, when he saw the powerful red storm beyond the glass. It had come hours earlier than expected. He hadn't even realized that he had pulled his radio off of his belt and was screaming "Luci?! Luci!" into it, until the loud screech and and white noise started to blare from it.
"I have to go find her!" he yelled at the workers and ran down to the Runner hangar before anyone could respond. Red lights were flashing and an alarm was sounding when he burst into the hanger. Ignoring them all, he hastily ran past the Lite Runners to a Runner XL, climbing over the large all-terrain wheels and ducking under the silver roll cage, and carefully sealed the door. The electric Runner hummed happily when he hit ignition, but the hanger door wouldn't respond when he put in the command.
A red warning appeared on the screen.
***Warning***
Hangar doors on lockdown until Category 8 storm passes.
"NO!" he bellowed, slamming his fist on the display. He tried the door again and the warning continued to flash. "Goddammit!" He dialed Kalkin's number. The stout man's face appeared a moment later on the screen, he looked just as harried as Zechs felt. The picture was rough and fuzzy from the bad signal and the image wavered.
"Kalkin! I need you to override the doors here at site 4!" Zechs yelled, "I need to get out! Lucrezia is out in the storm!"
"What the fuck is she doing out there?!" Kalkin yelled back at him. It seemed that the storm was raging on his side of the sphere too and it was hard to hear over the howling wind.
"She was heading to site 7! Let me out! I need to find her!" His voice cracked with urgency.
"I can't Zechs! The lockdown is automatic when a storm is over category 5. Even I can't override it!"
"You have to! There has to be a way!" His deep voice begged.
"I can't!" Kalkin said with a shake of his head and at that moment the screen blinked and Kalkin's face disappeared.
"No!" He yelled at the screen and hit it again.
Zechs tried finding the control box so that he could force the doors to open, to no avail. Then he headed to the airlock, dressed in a surface suit, prepared to walk into the billowing red storm to find her, but the doors wouldn't open either. Some of the other workers tried to help him, they were worried about Lucrezia too, but no one could find a way out, they were locked in.
It was 12 hours before the storm cleared up.
The red sand had built up around the factory and when they finally opened the hangar door, it came spilling inside. Already dressed in a surface suit, Zechs started to climb the tall dune of red sand before the crew could clear it. When he got to the top he could see a Runner coming towards them in the distance and his heart leapt.
"Lucrezia!" He called out at the top of his lungs, stumbling over and down the dune, then ran towards the oncoming Runner. He couldn't see who the driver was due to the reflective windshield, but a part of him believed it could have been her.
He wanted so badly for it to be her.
The Runner stopped when it was 50 yards from Zechs and the door creaked opened, releasing a shower of red dust. Breathless, Zechs stopped and waited, then fell to his knees when the person who stepped out of it wasn't her.
Kalkin walked over to Zechs slowly, and the expression on his face through his helmet stopped Zechs' heart.
"No….no!" he cried out, grasping at his helmet. Karin kneeled down in front of Zechs and put his hands on his friend's shoulders.
"I'm so sorry…"
They had found her already, down at the bottom of a deep ravine. The Lite Runner she had been driving, had no roll cage, and it was crinkled like an aluminum can. From what they could surmise, the storm had thrown her off course and somehow she slipped into the ravine. The Runner flipped and rolled; puncturing the armour on the sharp Martian rocks. It was common practice to remove their helmets inside the Runner because of the low ceilings, and that was exactly what she had done. She suffocated when all the air was sucked out of the cabin.
He spent the next few days numb and in shock, not getting up to eat and unable to sleep. He felt broken, like someone had taken the best part of him, his soul, and destroyed it. On the fifth day, Kalkin came into his quarters and sat next to him on the bed.
"I've spoken to your sister," Kalkin said, looking sadly at Zechs "and we have a shuttle ready to take you and Lucrezia back to Earth."
And now, he stared into her peaceful face through the thick glass of the cryo-pod, willing her eyes to open, until his vision obscured with tears.
His breath suddenly hitched as he bit into his quivering lip, wiping away the tears in his eyes with the back of his hand, then slammed his fist angrily against the pod. 'It should have been me,' he told himself for the thousandth time, 'I should have gone instead. Why did I let her go?! Why?! Why was I so stupid?'
Alone...in the belly of shuttle...he cried for Lucrezia...mourning for the life that they had together, for her beautiful eyes that he'd never see again, for her soft lips that he'd never kiss again, and for the children that they talked about, who would never be.
9 months. He only got have 9 months with her. How was that fair?!
End of Chapter 1! Hope you enjoyed it! Much more to come. If you think you may have read this before, its possible! I've posted it before, then took it down so I could make it better. I'm thinking it is time to put it back on Fanfiction, so I hope you have enjoyed it.
Thank you!
Cedechan