Author's Note: Okay, well the disk drive error has been fixed. I don't know about the pause button, but the greater of the two problems has been fixed. YAY! [dances] Enjoy.
~
Chapter Sixteen
Worth Dying For
~
Braz held six straws for each of the six crew members. No one wanted to include Beck on this, but she had insisted, and no one doubted that she was capable.
The autopilot was steering the ship for now, but sooner or later either Iverson or Beck (or both if neither of them picked the shortest straw) would be back in their seats conducting Virgil in its motions. All started suspiciously at the straws as though they were plotting against the crew. That it would be through these inanimate objects, and not fate or change, that their own ends would be decided.
"Hmm." Zimsky was supposed to pick first. He stood for some time, contemplating his decision. Serge was rolling his eyes. Just pick a straw, he thought.
"Together." Josh stated. The others nodded. That was the best way to do it.
"Yes, thank you." He nodded his head and rubbed his chin fearfully. "Wait." Josh placed his fingers on a straw. Zimsky's hand trailed every which way save towards the straws. Everyone else had theirs lined up and ready for the taking, save him.
"On three." Josh went on.
"Okay."
"One...two...three." Josh pulled his. Everyone else took their own, and Zimsky moved last for his. Braz was left standing with the last choice. No one dared to look at their straw just yet. Glances and glares were exchanged, as well as apologetic grins and nervous sighs. Finally, everyone brought up their own straw. It was strange. Josh was certain that they had an agreement that all the straws were cut in different lengths. If the one person who drew the shortest straw had a good reason to not die for this expedition (this rule had been added mainly if Serge had drawn the shortest straw) then they would not have to go, and the job would therefore pass to the person with the second shortest straw.
Braz held up his hand with the others. Josh noted, as well as those nearest, that he held the shortest straw.
"Huh." he stated with some wonder. All eyes went nervously, and guiltily, toward him. Braz did not bring his eyes up to meet those around him. "Well, I better go on, get myself ready."
"No, Braz, wait." Zimsky protested, following after him quickly. Josh eyed his straw awkwardly, took Serge's, and compared the lengths. He then took everyone else's and compared their lengths. "No, Braz, no wait. Excuse me." he grabbed Braz's hand. "Just a moment. May I see this?"
"No!" Braz yelled, fighting Zimsky off, but it was too late. Zimsky had his straw.
"May I?" he asked mockingly after.
"Yes." Braz smiled angrily.
"Thank you." he displayed Braz's straw, folded over.
"Magic." Josh exclaimed in mock fascination.
"I mean Braz, come on." Zimsky went on, sounding pleased with himself. "Six straws of equal length. This is childish. Let' s do it again."
"No, we will not do it again." Braz leaned against one of the bunks in the living area. "I thought you'd be happy."
"No. Not at the expense of you making us look like fools."
Josh turned his face to Braz, frowning.
"He's right. Why do you get dibs on being the hero?"
Serge and Beck frowned.
"Because it's my damn ship." Braz argued forcefully.
"Oh that makes perfect sense." Zimsky snapped.
"Look, for twenty damn years I've done nothing but Virgil. Twenty years. Virgil belongs to me, and I will not let her fail. I will not. Now, if you want to know what's worth dying for--this ship. Building it, instead of imagining it. If Virgil needs blood, it will be my blood."
"That was very inspirational, Doctor Brazzelton." Serge stated, rocking his torso as he pumped his right arm up and down. "I'm sure who ever is walking through that crawl space in the next ten minutes will remember yours words." Everyone turned a questioning, frowning eye toward Serge. His expression did not change. "Now, if you please, we are picking straws again."
"No, I-"
"We're drawing lots." Josh stated very matter-of-factly.
"Bull shit." Braz fumed, stepping threateningly up toward Josh so that they were nose to nose almost. "I'm going and-"
"You're not going."
"I'm going-"
"You are not going. Not like this. We're picking fair and square." Braz's eye twitched, and Josh, along with the others, believed that he would be Braz's next punching bag. But he stepped back, sighing and nodding.
"Very well." he grumbled.
~
Josh held the straws this time. Each of them had been cut by Zimsky in the arrangement they had previously agreed on.
"On three." Josh went again. Everyone nodded firmly. "One...two...three." Everyone drew. "All right, everyone?" All nodded once more. Then, in a fraction of a second, all measured their straws. Iverson compared his to Beck's and sighed in relief that at least she was not going. Iverson, comparing his to Serge's found that he too was not going. Beck embraced him happily. Serge smiled as he saw Zimsky's own straw was shorter than his own. Braz and Josh compared their own quietly in the corner.
"Well?" Zimsky asked Braz with a grin. "Did you get what you wanted? Edward?"
Braz and Josh exchanged glances, then eyed the others. Josh had a hesitance in his eyes, where Braz only looked sorry and disappointed. The few number of grins that were on the faces of the crew died immediately.
"Well?" Serge asked.
Josh held up his straw, not meeting anyone's eyes. Of all the regretful expressions, Serge's, he knew, would be the most painful to meet.
~
Joshua Keyes stood in the living quarters, fully suited save for one connection wire in back that he could never reach. The simplest things are always the hardest. He heard Iverson say in his mind over and over again. How true that was.
Suddenly, he heard something louder than their Commander's voice. The hiss of the door opening reached his ears, and Josh turned to see a frowning Serge staring back at him.
"Need some help?" he asked heavily.
"Ha. Always." Josh laughed. Serge didn't even break a ghost of a smile on his heavy features. He walked behind Joshua and connected the last bit of the suit. Their microphones had been turned off, unknowingly to them, to allow for some privacy. When Serge had left the cockpit, the four others left behind knew exactly where he was headed.
There was some silence as Josh adjusted his collar and turned to face his dear friend. He smiled lightly, and as casually as possible.
"All right. Well, as ready as I'll ever be I guess." he stated in a whispering laugh. Josh knew that Serge was upset, but he wanted desperately to see the old man smile before he died. It would be a nice memory to fall into oblivion with. A friend smiling in the face of great tragedy. For some reason, Josh believed that that would give him strength. Josh was pretty sure he would never get to have his wish.
"You don't have to do this." Serge stated sternly, as though he were dealing with a juvenile delinquent. He roughly straightened some of the features on the suit, taking out his angst physically on the specimen.
"I know." Josh stated boldly, but hollowly. He was young. He didn't want to die, but fate, or God, had deemed it his place to do so for the greater good of the world.
"Then why are you?" Serge asked, his frown deepening. "Why are you throwing your life away?"
"We need this done." Josh argued.
"Brazzelton was willing to go."
"It isn't Braz's place."
"But it's yours?" Serge's voice broke noticeably, but he tried to cover it up with a cough. Josh winced, the emotional pain this was sending both of them through was excruciating, and it seemed to reverberate off of the metal walls around them.
"Serge.." Josh sighed, moving forward.
"No!" he put up his hands. His eyes were tearing, but not willing to let go just yet. "You risked your life to save me from a death that I could not have saved myself from. Now here you stand, asking me to accept yours when even you cannot accept it?"
"Serge...please," Josh inched forward. Serge set himself on the lowest bunk near him and sighed, running his hands through his already messy hair. Josh, awkwardly large in his suit, could not sit next to him, so instead kneeled at his side. He felt so much like a little kid, trying to explain a horrific deed done to a heartbroken parent. For all it was worth, if it would make Serge happy, Josh would throw off this suit immediately and embrace him for comfort and care. But that wasn't an option for the geophysicist, and the atomic specialist knew that as well. But it still hurt. For both of them. It hurt Serge to watch his young friend die, and it hurt Josh to watch the pain the Frenchman was going through. "If it were you...you'd do the exact same thing." he stated in a light whisper.
Serge sniffed, raising his head with an indignant laugh.
"Yeah, maybe."
"Of course," Josh grinned. "I'd be doing exactly what you were doing now." he added. Serge smiled, then chuckled. Josh finally felt a great deal of weight lift from his heart, and he fell back against the wall with a laugh and relief.
"What?" Serge smiled.
"That's what I was waiting for." Serge raised a questioning eyebrow. "I told myself, I wasn't going anywhere until I could make you smile."
There was an awe-like silence, until again Serge smiled. This time it was a sad, regretful grin, but a smile nonetheless.
"Why would you want me to smile?"
Josh frowned, not angry or confused, but suddenly realizing that he did not understand why he had wanted to see Serge smile. There was no real, logical explanation for it. Maybe because a smile, to him, meant the old man's approval, or that there was a sign that even in all of this trauma and sadness, Serge still had the strength and heart for some shred of happiness.
"I don't know." he answered with a stupid smile. Serge laughed.
At once, they both stood and nodded. A tacit understanding stood between them. There was no going back. Josh went out first with Serge following after. It took all of his will to keep him from collapsing in realization of what he was losing.
~
"Okay Beck, open the door." Josh stated. He jumped up and down a bit, trying desperately to loosen the nerves in his system. It didn't do a damn thing for him. His heart beat rapidly and his joints shook like an earthquake had hit them. It was all Josh could do to keep from throwing up. He was going to walk in there, and he would not be walking out.
"Door releasing." she whispered into the com. It slid open slowly, and yet too quick for Josh to readily handle the blast of heat that came straight for him. Some sort of guttural moan ejaculated from his mouth, but he couldn't decipher if it was out of pain or shock. He could feel the hair on his body begin to burn off; could feel the first few layers of his skin blister, crack, and peel beneath the unobtainium blend suit. "Josh?" He heard Beck cry meekly.
"All-right." he responded stiffly. He'd brought a hammer with him to help eject the lever in the crawlspace, to release the main hydraulic gear, but found it would be of no help. The hammer melted in his hand, through the glove and bit into his skin. Letting go wasn't an option. Josh cried out and shook his arm as fast as was physically possible for him, until it dropped and melted with the ground.
His progress was slow. The chamber seemed longer than Braz had told him it would be. The protective plastic-metal-unobtainium blend on his feet was now melting to the chamber floor. The light in his helmet burnt out half way through, and Josh figured that he was as good as burnt out in the next few moments too. Would he have been listening, he'd have heard Beck's voice: "Come on, Josh. Come on."
Serge sat in his seat, biting his knuckles painfully. His face was white and his nerves strained to their max. He could barely sit there as they all listened to Josh's final steps, final words, final breaths, without so much as blinking. How could they be so cold? So hard? So unmoved? Josh was a young man. Most of them here were old, with the exception of Beck. The prime light of their days had long since passed. Why was it Josh who had to go and fight for their survival? Why did Josh have to give up everything?
There was suddenly and abruptly heard through the chamber cockpit a hiss, and then the release of a great amount of pressure.
"He did it." Braz barked a brittle laugh. "You did it, Josh." he stated through the com.
"Open the propellers, Beck." Josh stated roughly through the com.
"Josh?" her brow furrowed and a frown came to her face.
"Open the propellers." he commanded once more. Beck looked to Iverson. He nodded the go ahead.
"NO!" Serge screamed at last from his seat, standing and pushing through Braz and Zimsky.
"Serge, we can't leave him in there-" Iverson began to argue
"Then wait. I'll go get him."
"You're insane!" Zimsky argued immediately. "You'd never make it past the door. It's a miracle Josh has."
"Joshua!" Serge hollered over the com. "Joshua. Joshua can you here me?"
"Hey Serge. Beck opening the propeller door?"
"Not if I can help it."
The man in the crawlspace started to laugh. "What are you doing leaving me down here then?"
"I'm coming to get you."
He walked off. Braz and Zimsky followed.
"He's not serious." Josh gasped through his com.
"Braz will stop him, Josh. We won't let him go in."
"Good."
"Josh?"
"Yeah Beck."
"Your vitals are dropping, but you've got time. You can get out of there."
"No Beck. No."
"Do it Josh." she ordered. "Do it for Serge."
There was silence for some time. Finally, a defeated sigh. "I'll try."
~
"Get off of me!" Serge protested. Braz pulled the Frenchman back as Zimsky ripped the suite out of his hands. "No! Joshua!"
"There's nothing you can do for him, Serge!" Braz fought him. For someone the same age as Braz, he was remarkably strong. Or perhaps the possible threat of losing Josh had simply strengthened his resolve. "It's over."
"NO!" Serge yelled. He wasn't even reaching for the suit anymore. He dove for the crawlspace opening and started to pull it back.
"You're freaking insane!" Zimsky screamed, pulling him back. "What? You're going to go in there with no protection? That's smart, yeah, and you'll fry up in a millisecond!"
"I don't care!" Serge fought to open it again. Braz pulled him back as Zimsky pushed him away. The result ended with all three smashed against a wall. "JOSHUA!" Without warning Serge began to curse at them in his own tongue. "Non, dieu le condamne! L'arrêter bâtards! JOSHUA! Je ne le partirai lui."
There was another defined hiss, and then a soft, lulling hum.
"The propellers." Braz whispered. Serge fought against them both now, violently.
"SORTIR DE MAN SENTIER!! JOSHUA!!!"
"Serge it's over!" Zimsky snarled. "It's done."
"No!" Serge pulled himself from them and tried to tear open the door. But his fingers trembled too badly, and his eyes were too over flown with tears to see what he was doing. Braz sighed sadly. They'd lost a valuable team member, that was for sure. But Serge had lost a dear friend, a son figure. That was more pain than Braz believed should be endurable by any man. Kneeling somberly beside the weeping Frenchman, he placed his hands comfortingly atop Serge's shoulders. He could still hear Serge muttering blindly through the metal door. "No. No. Joshua, no."
"Serge?" Braz whispered gently. "Serge, come on. Let's go back to the cockpit."
"Condamner tout! To hell with you!" Serge snarled. Braz sighed.
"You don't mean that."
"To hell with all of you! To hell with this mission and the world!"
"I think we're already there." Zimsky laughed. Braz shot him a bitter glare, then turned back to Serge.
"All right, Serge." he sighed, then stood. "I'm going to wait over here. Zimsky is going to go back. When you're ready to leave, let me know."
"Just leave me here!" Serge hissed.
"I can't do that Serge."
The bloodshot eyes looked at Braz with questioning "Why not?"
"Cause you'll try and go down there, and with hot molten magma running through that walkway now it'll spill into the ship."
"I won't go in." Serge promised. Zimsky walked out, leaving the two old men to their talk. Braz was just about to leave when Beck came in over his com.
"Braz, you have to hear this!"
'Put it over the com, Beck."
He heard beeping. Like the beating of a heart monitor. "What is this, Beck?"
"Josh. I-he may have made it through the crawlspace. His vital signs never stopped reading!"
"Beck, that's impossible. No one could survive that."
"Check. That heart beat is unmistakable."
Braz sighed. "Very well." He turned to Serge. "Could you...excuse me?"
"What, you're going down there?"
"I need to check something is all." Serge wiped tears from his eyes with a shaking hand and moved out of the way grudgingly. "I'll be back." he confirmed. Serge nodded, not meeting the scientist's eyes.
Braz went swiftly down the ladder and into the small chamber. He could still smell the burning magma in the chamber to his left. The room was slightly larger than he remembered, but even at a glance he could tell there was no sign of Josh.
"Beck, he's not down here." Braz confirmed.
"Never mind Braz." she whispered. "It stopped."
He nodded. Tears began to form in his own eyes, surprisingly. He'd never gotten exceptionally close with Josh, but the kid had grown on him over the few days they'd been journeying toward hell.
"I'm sorry, Beck."
Serge was upstairs listening to this conversation over his own com. The tears came back to his eyes. He pressed hard up against the wall. With one last surge of anger at himself, he slammed his head into the metal wall behind him. Surprisingly, he didn't feel much of it. At last, with nothing left for him, he rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. His fingers clenched like metal over his hair, and without warning he began weeping like a child.
Braz in the lower level heard the clang of Serge's skull against metal and sighed. He felt like doing very much the same thing. With a sigh he turned to go up the ladder, but a blistered hand grasped his arm. Braz's heart fell to his feet and then landed in his stomach. He peered up and looked into the blackened eyes of Josh.
"Help me..." the young scientist pleaded before collapsing to the ground. Braz stood in shock for a moment before screaming through his com.
"BECK! BECK! I NEED HELP!"
"All right Braz, help is on the way!" she confirmed, yelling back in a state of panic.
Serge's face popped into the opening overhead almost instantly to see what was wrong. "Brazzleton, what is it?" But he didn't need telling. Josh's shattered form on the floor was all the convincing and motivation he needed. Sliding down the ladder, Serge went to work in trying to revive the young man. "Joshua?"
"Mm-hmm." Josh muttered. His face was blistered and peeling, but he was still recognizable. The suit, still on him save for the gloves and mask, was melted and cracked in numerous places.
"Joshua, can you hear me?"
"Serge...?"
"That's right." he ran his fingers though Josh's hair.
"Did it work?"
"Yeah." Serge nodded and brushed away a few tears. "You did it Joshua. You got it."
Josh smiled, then closed his bloodshot eyes to fall into a deep sleep. He didn't know if he'd wake up. He wasn't sure if he cared. He'd done what was necessary, nothing else mattered. Serge watched as Josh finally started to let go. Panic filled his heart. "C'mon Joshua, you're going to make it." he encouraged.
Commander Bob Iverson slid down the ladder at that time, brandishing the first aid kit. One look at Josh and he tossed it aside. "Well hell, this isn't going to do him any good. Can one of you help carry him up the ladder?"
"I can." Both Braz and Serge offered simultaneously. Iverson sighed. "All right, you two go up first. In case something happens I'll stay down here to catch him." They both nodded. Serge took Josh's shoulders and began to haul him up the ladder. Zimsky was waiting above him to assist where he was needed. Braz followed, with Iverson overseeing their progress.
"We've got him, Beck." Iverson stated over the com. "He's going to need all the medical help we can get, so as soon as I get in there bolt to the medical pod, all right?"
"Got it, Bob." she confirmed.
Serge broke through the opening looking, if possible, worse than when he had been throwing his fit moments ago.
"Serge he's-" Braz began.
"I know." The Frenchman replied and went to work using CPR. "Damn it Joshua, you're not getting away this easily."
"Serge, that won't work." Zimsky protested. "Get him to the medical pod!" Iverson flew from the crawlspace and started yelling for Beck through his com.
"We don't have time to wait Beck, he's not breathing now. BRAZ! Get him to the medical pod, Beck will take care of him there."
"Roger that. C'mon Serge, hurry!" He placed his hands beneath Josh's knees, and Serge took the man up beneath his arms again. Together they made their way to the medical pod where Beck was already waiting, frantically putting together supplies and injections.
"Remove the suit and his shirt." she instructed.
Serge and Braz immediately got to removing the suite. It was ruined, they could both tell. Braz took a pair of metal cutters and hacked away at the limb coverings.
"What are you doing?" Serge frowned.
"The damn thing is ruined. Get it off any way possible." grunted the man. Serge looked up and around for another pair. Beck handed one to him and he immediately got to working on peeling off the suite as Beck started feeding Josh oxygen.
When the suite was gone, Braz went to remove his shirt. He rolled Josh on his back and sighed sadly.
"I don't know if we can remove this." Braz commented, looking over Josh's arms and back.
"What's wrong?" Beck pushed in between him and their patient. "Oh my God..."
"What is it?" Serge asked, moving toward them swiftly.
"His shirt has...melted into his skin!"
Each looked in turn at the injury, save for Zimsky who claimed to have a sensitive stomach on such issues. He did, however, have his own comments. "Cotton doesn't melt, what are you talking about?"
"Well human flesh can, in a sense." Braz argued. "Not in a sense like ice more like...candle wax only not so extreme. Josh's shirt has...sort of fused with his skin in the heat of the crawlspace and..."
"There could be a plethora of internal injuries." Beck stated, shaking her head. "I mean...no one knows what such intense heat can do to someone, at those temperatures, and that's if he survives the night."
Serge nodded his head. "Do what you can, Beck."
She smiled briefly. "I'll try. You boys go get some rest."
"I'll stay and help." Serge stated. It wasn't an offer, and giving the events of the past fifteen minutes, no one was going to even dare try rip Serge from Josh's side.
"All right, Serge." Beck smiled sadly. "You can just sit there if you like-"
"What do you need?"
"I need you to calm down." she smiled. "Just-just sit there. If he starts to gain consciousness see if you can talk him awake. He'll respond to you."
Serge nodded. "All right."
Braz sighed. Using a handkerchief he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I'm going to go take a seat in the cockpit." he notified the others. Zimsky nodded.
"Think I'll join you."
Braz nodded, and the two of them headed out. Beck got to work injecting Josh with liquids and revitalizing proteins. After inspecting his burns she pulled some bandage wrap from a cupboard and started working on his arms. "At this rate he's going to look like a mummy." she laughed. Serge never said a word. His eyes never left Josh's face. Beck, seeing the concern, realized that she had to distract him otherwise he might lose his nerve completely.
"So...how-how long have you...know Josh?"
Serge looked up. His expression was sincere, but the concern never left his eyes. "I'm sorry?"
"How long have you known Josh?"
"Ah..." he sighed, smiling lightly as his mind drifted back into old memories. "I first knew his father before I knew Joshua." he stated. Beck listened intently, still doing some checks here and there. "His father was a weapons specialist. He comes to work one day, and it's 'bring your child to work day' at Joshua's school. So naturally Joshua had come in. He was just a skinny little blonde haired boy with dark eyes. But he had a happiness to him that I had never seen in a child before. Joshua was introduced to me, and I was happy to meet him.
'Hello' I says to him, and I shake his hand. He looks me in the eye and he says...he says, 'You're Dr. Leveque?'. I say 'Yes, I am. Has your father been telling you nasty things about me?'" Serge laughed. "He says 'No. Quite the...quite the contrary. He says you're the best in your field.' I says 'Well perhaps. That's what they say. They don't know too much though.'" Serge smiled. Tears unmistakably made their way to his eyes again. He did all he could to wipe them away. "So a few years later I'm a special guest in a freshman thermal-physics classroom at a University somewhere - I don't remember where - but I walk in and there's that skinny little boy with the blonde hair and dark eyes at the front of the room. He's looking..." Serge started to laugh again. "He's looking bored as hell, he may have been sleeping for all I know! I come down the steps and I pat his shoulder and I says 'Hey, you're Keyes' boy?'. He goes 'Yeah. You remembered me.' He sounded absolutely amazed. I say 'Yeah of course.' and I was early so we started talking for a while. After my presentation we went out to lunch together and Josh paid for it cause I'd left my wallet at my hotel room. I swore I would pay him back and he told me not to worry about it. He asked me how long I was staying. 'I'm leaving for France in a week.' I told him. 'My daughter is having her birthday soon.'. 'How old is she?' he asked. 'Turning four.' I said. 'Has a fascination with anything that has butterflies on it.' Joshua laughed at me. It wouldn't be the first time. 'Sticking around for a while?' he asked. I nodded. 'I'll show you around if you like?' I smiled. 'I'd like that.' I answered. I'd not been expecting to make any friends, and I hated teaching kids really, but Josh hit me differently.
A week later I was running to the airport. Josh gave me a ride. Told me cab drivers weren't trustworthy and this way he didn't have to pay for an un-enjoyable trip. I could get one for free." Serge laughed once more. "I'm running to the plane and Josh is carrying some of my bags for me and I turn to him and I say, after we reach the gate and my luggage is loaded, I say 'I don't think I can repay you for all of your kindness.' 'Don't worry about it.' he tells me and smiles. I loved his smile. It was so sincere. 'Oh one more thing.' he says, pulling something out of his pocket. 'For Chantel.' and he hands me a small box with butterfly wrapping paper on it."
Beck cocked her head in admiration of the story, and the thoughtfulness of this man who was now completely entrusted in her care.
"'I cannot except this.' I protested. 'Well you'd better.' Josh laughed, stuffing it in my hand. 'I don't have a girlfriend to give it to, and I don't think you'd like it.'" Serge laughed.
"What was it?" Beck asked.
Serge sighed, his eyes looking fondly down at the floor.
"Chantel didn't do a thing to tear up the paper. She made me cut it carefully so it didn't rip. When she opened it, she pranced around singing 'Butterfly! Butterfly!' through the house. It was a little necklace. Silver chain, and at the center was a little butterfly with glitter and golden lining."
Beck smiled. Serge laughed fondly at the memory. "It was probably the best gift she'd ever gotten." He looked at Josh's still form. "She still wears it. Four years later and she still wears it."
"He's a good man." Beck stated. Serge nodded his head in agreement.
"He is."
There was a bout of silence in which each flashed back on the past day. None of them thought they'd be here. With a sigh and a sweep of her brow, Beck glanced up at the Frenchman.
"Go get some rest, Serge. I'll call you if there's any change."
He nodded his head. "All right." he headed out the door, leaving Beck alone.
Not a few moments later, his head had popped back into the doorway. "You'll call me?"
"Yes, Serge." she laughed in annoyance. "Now go." he cast one skeptical look at the young man on the table before leaving at last.
"Finally." Beck sighed.
"No kidding." Beck dropped her tools and turned her gaze to Josh. His eyes were partially open and his breathing had strengthened. "I thought he'd never leave."
"You're conscious! Why didn't you say something?"
"Cause I could listen in on Serge's opinion on me." Josh laughed. Beck shook her head, chuckling.
"You're an idiot." Beck laughed. Josh merely smiled. "But a brave idiot."
"I'm a burnt idiot, that's what I am." he argued, trying to sit up. "How bad am I?"
"Take a look at your arms."
He did. They were bandaged from the fingertips to just above his elbows. "Holy hell."
"You have heavy second degree burns all over your body."
"Just second degree?" Josh asked. He seemed impressed and slightly disbelieving.
"Yeah." Beck answered. "You're pretty damn lucky."
"I'll say."
She set herself at the edge of the table. "I'll go get Serge."
"No, let him rest. He needs it."
"Yeah he does." she agreed. "You want to stay in here then? Rest up a bit."
"I'm good to go-"
"No, you're not." she stated. "At least stay in here so Serge doesn't think I'm a liar."
Josh laughed. "Yeah, good idea."
"He'd never trust me again with you." She headed out the door. Josh sighed and laid back down on the table.
~
"How is he?" Braz asked as Beck entered the cockpit. Beck smiled and leaned over Serge's seat.
"He was conscious a few moments ago, but he's sleeping right now. He'll be okay." she patted Serge's shoulder who nodded. Releasing a great sigh of relief, he could now rest easily in his chair. Beck took her seat at the head of the cockpit beside Iverson.
"Our patient doing okay?" he asked. She nodded.
"Alive and well. Recovering remarkably, though heavily bandaged."
Everyone laughed, which was more of a release of the inner tension and stress they'd been feeling, and a chance to finally feel some relief.
"How long has he been conscious for?" Serge asked from his seat, checking the hull integrity of the ship once more.
"Longer than I knew." Beck admitted heavily.
Serge's brow furrowed slightly. "What does that mean?"
~
Josh's eyes were closed. He was drifting easily between sleep and semi consciousness when he was suddenly aware of another presence in the room. He didn't open his eyes in case the person was intent upon not disturbing him, but when it became apparent that they were not searching for anything, he tensed.
"You can open your eyes...if you're awake that is." came a heavily accented voice. Josh did so, but winced at the powerful light over his head. He'd forgotten just how bright it was.
"Did Beck tell you?" he smiled, sitting up stiffly and sighing. Serge took a seat on the cabinet, an apple dancing between his fingers. The Frenchman eyed it curiously, as though considering what he was about to say, then looked up eagerly with a smile at Joshua.
"You know, it's a funny thing." he started, the apple still dancing between his fingers.
"What is?" Josh smiled in confusion.
Serge smiled once again, knowingly. "How ten minutes can give you an entirely different outlook on the rest of your life." Josh said nothing. His eyes stared keenly at the Frenchman, curious and slightly weighted with guilt. "We can't control fate, Joshua. We can't control others, or control the choices they make. But we can control one thing."
"What's that?" Josh's brow perked as his smile broadened.
"We can tell a person what they mean to us, and let them do with that knowledge what they will. You see, to the world you may be just one person," Serge leapt from the cabinet and leaned toward Joshua. "But to one person, you might be the world." Josh smiled and nodded, showing that he understood. But Serge wasn't finished yet. "I have a family. A lovely wife and two beautiful, intelligent, happy children." he explained. "But I never had any brothers. I never had a fraternal relationship with anyone in my life, my whole life. That's something you can miss at times. That bond of male friendship that is so rare. You understand where I'm going with this?" Josh started to nod, then reconsidered. He shook his head and cocked a crooked, cute and confused little grin. Serge smiled and ruffled his hair a bit, entertained at the expression. "Today, I thought I had lost something I never realized I had. Do you know what that's like?"
"Yes." Josh nodded with a knowing glance.
"Well, I got lucky this time Joshua. But I don't know what will happen in the future. I might not be so lucky, and that's what worries me." he gracefully flipped the apple from his right hand to his left hand, and poked his index finger near Josh' nose. He then laughed, placed his hands on his knees, and smiled sadly. "Today, I thought I'd lost the one and only person I've ever loved like a brother." his face was cast down at the ground now, but his eyes soon returned to Josh's face.
Josh wasn't stupid, but he wasn't sure how to handle the information being thrown at him. Serge smiled, shook his head, and ruffled Josh's hair once more.
"Don't let it happen again."
With that, he walked out of the medical pod and left Josh to think.
