p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"350 days later/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"*Unnamed Planet*/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"If there's one thing above all that Penny hates, it's sleeping in a hammock. Yes, it did allow her to move out of the Jupiter and away from her siblings, but it also gave her a crick in the neck every dang day, but a bit of ache is worth it for the freedom she feels. It's not that she doesn't appreciate her brother and sister literally saving her life. She really, really does appreciate it. Still, now Judy, especially, won't leave her alone. If it's not the weekly skin patch check, it's her food intake and the 'Where are you going? Who are you going with?' questions she asks her daily. I get it, I almost died, but can't a girl have a little freedom, especially on a planet with no parents? Anyways, speaking of skin patch, it's time for a checkup by Dr. Robinson herself./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"-Penny-/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Rubbing her neck, Penny exits the shelter and heads up the hill to the Jupiter Transport that brought them there. Based on how many people are awake and moving around the camp, she is late for her appointment with Judy, so she walks a little faster up the ramp and into the Jupiter. Hurrying down the hall, she takes a breath before she walks through the med bay door and almost runs into her sister as she leaves the room./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Judy! Where are you going, Sis?" Penny asks nonchalantly as if she's not late. Judy gives her a total Mom 'your late' look as Penny jumps up to sit on the table. Judy follows her back into the room and stands in front of her. "I have a strict schedule, Penny," Judy says to her crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I would appreciate it if you were on time for at least one of your appointments." "I'm sorry, Jude," Penny says with her best forgive me smile, "but I was thinking, and I don't think I need checkups anymore," she says excitedly. "The patch is healing great, and I haven't had any problems," Penny finishes as she lifts the bottom of her shirt to show her sister her side./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Just like usual, Judy gently presses her fingers around the patch's edges to assess its healing. Penny hates looking at her stomach, but once a week, while her sister checks her healing, she forces herself to look at it. The skin patch stretches from the side of her left hip to the middle of her stomach, even though her wound wasn't that big. When she first woke up, Judy told her that the patch had to cover the entire injury to heal and prevent infection. Since the blast was only partially stopped by her stomach plate, she had injuries that stretched her left side, which all had to be covered. That resulted in the checker-patterned pink skin patch permanently fixed to her body. Judy pokes at her side for a minute longer before she seems satisfied and pulls Penny's shirt back down./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""I agree your healing very well," Judy pauses. "But how is the pain you were experiencing?" she asks, looking at Penny. "I barely even feel it anymore, Jude, you know that" She replies, "I just don't want to take any chances," Judy says, looking down to the ground "you were so lucky, Penny." At this, Penny stands up from the table and pulls her sister into a hug. "I know Judy, but it's been a year, and I'm fine now," she says to her sister. Judy's arms slowly wrap around her back and return her hug. "Okay, fine. We don't need to have weekly appointments anymore," Judy says. Penny pulls back from their hug and gives her sister her most reassuring smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she exclaims while Judy gives her a slight laugh./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"As the sister's part and walk out of the med bay, a very concerned Vijay Dhar's voice comes over Judy's radio, "Judy, can you please come to the cockpit, um, now" he says through the monitor. "On our way," she hears Judy say into the monitor as Judy gives her a look, and they turn and quickly walk towards the other end of the ship./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""What's wrong, Vijay?" Judy says into the room as Penny follows behind her. "It's the atmosphere," Penny hears him say as he turns to face the screen. "Two of the larger asteroids we were tracking hit this morning and created a lot of rock filling the orbit." Vijay points to the screen and then looks behind him to Judy, but this is the exact point that he notices her standing there. It's safe to say it's been a little weird between them since she woke up to him holding her hand a year ago. Judy doesn't seem to notice his distraction when she radios for Will to meet them in the Jupiter in half an hour./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""At this rate, we have four or five days," Vijay says to bring Will up to speed on the situation. Judy, Vijay, Will, Robot, and her stand around the table processing the news. "It will take longer than four days to repair the ship, won't it?" she asks Will, "I could do it in four hours if I just had enough titanium," he responds./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Alright," Judy says suddenly, "I know how to get the titanium" she pauses, looking around the room. "When we first arrived, the Jupiter sensors picked up a pure titanium deposit two miles up." Vijay questions first. "Two miles? Not even you have climbed two miles before," he says to Judy. "How much worse is falling two miles than falling one mile?" Penny says, smiling. "That's the thing," Penny hears Judy say to her, "You can't come."/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""What?" Penny says, taking a step back, "Yes, I can, Judy. You said it yourself this morning that I'm fine." Judy pauses and then replies, "it's too dangerous. I can't allow it," she says, standing her ground. "You can't allow it?" Penny repeats with a laugh, "You are not Mom Judy; you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do!" she yells as she leans forward and leans her hands onto the table. "I'm fine, and I'm coming," she says./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Everyone thinks you're dead, Penny," Judy says flatly. Penny is glad she's leaning on the table when Judy says this to hide the unsteadiness in her stance. She knows everyone thinks she's dead. She has heard the story more times than she can count from the other kids, but her siblings don't talk about it and have never talked about it. Penny raises her head to face her sister as redstarts to color her cheeks "and?" she says, challenging her sister to continue. "And" Judy says confidently, "it's my responsibility to get you back to Mom and Dad alive, so again, you are not coming with us, end of discussion." Penny walks backward from the table and stops just before leaving the room. "You know Judy, we wouldn't have to get back to them if you didn't rip our family apart in the first place," she says, staring straight into her sisters' eyes before she turns and walks out of the room./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Penny needs to leave, to get away from her family and this camp they call home. The pressure in her chest is building as she walks down the ramp and away from the camp. She must keep it together until she gets far enough away from the children running past her, playing games, and completing their chores. She walks until she hits a small stream and can no longer hear the camp. Her tears come then, and fat drops roll down her cheeks and stain her shirt. She surprises herself at how calm she is. This cry would usually be panic filled and scary. Still, instead, it is peaceful and silent. She sinks down into the dirt and sits against a large boulder. When the other kids in the transport told her the story of the day they left. They didn't spare her a single detail. They told her about Judy running through the Jupiter covered in blood, Will's pleading, and her parents' voices that turned into screams. Penny finds a small rock beside her and throws it into the stream. Her mind has too much to think about, so right now, she's just going to focus on throwing rocks into the stream./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Soon the sunset starts to show on the horizon, so she picks herself up off the ground and walks back toward camp. The first thing she needs to do is find Will, she knows he blames himself for what happened, and she needs to assure him that she's okay. Then she needs to find Judy. She walks into the clearing of the camp and straight to the Jupiter. She checks the table and the cockpit and sees no sign of the people she loves. Heading back outside, she catches the attention of one of the other kids, "Hey, Liam," she calls out to him, and he turns his head to her. "Have you seen Will? Or Judy?" she asks. "They left a few hours ago," he tells her. "They said to be ready to go when they get back, so we're all breaking down camp." "Oh, okay, thank you," Penny says as Liam returns to what he is doing./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"They left, and she didn't get to apologize. They might die on the climb, and they think she's mad at them. Penny criticizes herself internally for being such a child, then puts herself to use gathering her things and helping the other children pack up their lives because when Judy, Will, and Vijay return they will be ready to find get the kids to Alpha Centauri the find their parents./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"*Sunshine Base*/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"-Maureen-/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"It started as a way to keep track of the days. Every morning Maureen would wake up, slide out of her nightgown, and into her work clothes. She would wipe the sweat off her brow and pull her hair into the same low bun, then she would take a marker and draw a line on the mirror in the bathroom. One line for each day that they were gone. The desperate gesture she made to feel closer to her children now haunts her every day as she adds a tally mark and can see her failure adding up. She should stop marking it and just erase the damn thing, but for some reason, she can't. Now she completes her bun and looks at herself through the marks on the mirror, and she sees the stranger staring back at her. She walks back into the room and pulls the thin sheet she had kicked off at some point in the night back onto the bed; she doesn't bother straightening it./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"She has a routine that she likes to stick to; go to work, eat, sleep, repeat. All her time is filled, and she is where she is needed. For a few weeks after it happened, she would meet with Victor, Naoko, John, Isabel, and other colony leaders and work on the problem. First, they needed to guarantee they were hidden from the robots, so she did it; she built the sunshine base. Then, they needed to figure out how the robots were tracking them on the surface of the planets, so thanks to her previous research, she did that too. It was coming up on the first month of them being gone when they asked her to do something she couldn't do, find their kids. Since that day, she hasn't been back to the command portion of Sunshine base. Victor tried to convince her first, then Hiroki, then John. Since John tried to persuade her and lost that argument, no one has come to visit her./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Welding is loud and takes a lot of concentration; it's the one thing Maureen looks forward to. The focus of making a perfect weld, while the sound drowns out anything else she could have to think about. She could almost, maybe, hate Don when he comes to tell her that her shift is over, John is back, and to go get some sleep because she knows that today's routine is different from the other days. Today her routine is go to work, eat, fight with John, sleep./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Today she walks into their Jupiter a little slower than usual. She overheard one of her crewmates talking about the attack on the most recent mission. Their missions are always dangerous, but it has been a few months since the last death. Lugging her tools, she rounds the corner and sees him sitting at the table; she can finally breathe because she knows he's safe./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Hey," he says to her in a surprised tone; all she can muster up in response is a small wave. "Can I fix you something to eat?" he offers her. She knows he's trying to have a normal conversation, and she just has to ruin it because this will never be normal for her. "Something's right," she chuckles as she walks to a seat far away from John "there are a lot of smart people here. Still, nobody knows what's in those," she says as she sees the defeat wash over John's face. "I'll take that as a no," he says, turning his back to her. "I- "she pauses and clears her throat. "I heard from some of the crew that it was rough down there," she says, willing him to give her a fight. "It was what it was," he responds, pushing his spoon down into the MRE he had made. She's not hungry anymore and needs to lie in their bed until she can go back to work tomorrow, so she works on unlacing her work boots and sliding her feet out of them, "How are things up here?" she hears John ask her, she looks up to him and can see the pain written in his features. "Busy," she says, letting her eyes fall back to her hands in her lap, "there is a lot to do," she finishes./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Yeah, about that," he says, turning to face her. "The crew stopped me when I came in; they need us to clear out the kids' rooms." Maureen tries to control her expression but can't stop her lip from slightly quivering. "They said they have been asking you to do it for days," he says, and she can feel his eyes on her, "I've been busy," she says, not returning his gaze. "I've got to get some sleep. I've got another shift in six hours," she manages to say before John stands up in front of her "Maureen, what are you doing?" he asks "we have things we need to take care of right here," he pleads with her. Her eyes are forced to look at his when he says her name; she thinks for a moment, "I'm not stopping you," she utters at him as she stands and starts to walk away, but she stops herself when she sees John's hand move to cover his face./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""I can't do it," he says with a shaky voice; he drops his hand and looks at Maureen with red-rimmed eyes. "I've been trying to since I got back, and I can't, Maureen. Please." All Maureen had wanted to do was get over this fight so she could get back to her schedule, but now with the look in John's eyes, she wished she would have gone straight to bed without talking to him. "You're my wife. Were in this together," he sighs, dropping his hands to his sides. Maureen takes a deep breath. "We used to be parents, John. You used to be a father, and I used to be a mother," she manages to say before her words get caught in her throat. "We still are," John says, matching her tone, "We used to have three children," she says barely above a whisper. The look that flashes across his face is the same one he wore the day it happened. "I can't do this without you, and I don't want to," she hears John say to her; he steps towards her and reaches out a hand. She considers briefly before placing her hand into his. She sees the shock on his face as his eyes travel from their clasped hands to her face, she gives him a confused look, and he lets out a deflated laugh. "You don't even know," he pauses, looking at her "you haven't let me touch you since that day," he says, holding her hand delicately like she might pull away at any moment. His words hit her as she replays moments of the past year in her head. Him placing a hand on her back, she moves away, he holds out a hand to her, she leaves the room, he faces her in bed, she turns the other way, he sits anywhere, and she sits in the farthest chair away from him. She didn't mean to; she didn't even realize she was doing it, "John, it's not you…" she stumbles over her words. "I didn't mean to," she says as she pulls his hand closer to her and wraps her arms around his torso. He stills for a moment before she feels his hands slide across her back, and his head falls against hers./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"They stand in the middle of the floor at peace, holding each other. As time passes, they rock side to side in a steady rhythm, Maureen's not sure which of them started it, but she doesn't want it to stop. John turns his head into hers and says lightly into her ear, "I'm not a genius, Maureen. I can't get us out of this no matter how hard I try" he pauses "this is all I can do" he says, tightening his grip slightly "all I can do is try to protect you." She feels his chest rattle as he suppresses a sob. She pulls away from their hug, places one of her hands on his cheek, and softly brushes her thumb over the skin. She takes his other hand in hers and says, "Come on."/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"*Unnamed Planet*/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"If there's one thing above all that Penny hates, it's sleeping in a hammock. Yes, it did allow her to move out of the Jupiter and away from her siblings, but it also gave her a crick in the neck every dang day, but a bit of ache is worth it for the freedom she feels. It's not that she doesn't appreciate her brother and sister literally saving her life. She really, really does appreciate it. Still, now Judy, especially, won't leave her alone. If it's not the weekly skin patch check, it's her food intake and the 'Where are you going? Who are you going with?' questions she asks her daily. I get it, I almost died, but can't a girl have a little freedom, especially on a planet with no parents? Anyways, speaking of skin patch, it's time for a checkup by Dr. Robinson herself./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"-Penny-/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Rubbing her neck, Penny exits the shelter and heads up the hill to the Jupiter Transport that brought them there. Based on how many people are awake and moving around the camp, she is late for her appointment with Judy, so she walks a little faster up the ramp and into the Jupiter. Hurrying down the hall, she takes a breath before she walks through the med bay door and almost runs into her sister as she leaves the room./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Judy! Where are you going, Sis?" Penny asks nonchalantly as if she's not late. Judy gives her a total Mom 'your late' look as Penny jumps up to sit on the table. Judy follows her back into the room and stands in front of her. "I have a strict schedule, Penny," Judy says to her crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I would appreciate it if you were on time for at least one of your appointments." "I'm sorry, Jude," Penny says with her best forgive me smile, "but I was thinking, and I don't think I need checkups anymore," she says excitedly. "The patch is healing great, and I haven't had any problems," Penny finishes as she lifts the bottom of her shirt to show her sister her side./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Just like usual, Judy gently presses her fingers around the patch's edges to assess its healing. Penny hates looking at her stomach, but once a week, while her sister checks her healing, she forces herself to look at it. The skin patch stretches from the side of her left hip to the middle of her stomach, even though her wound wasn't that big. When she first woke up, Judy told her that the patch had to cover the entire injury to heal and prevent infection. Since the blast was only partially stopped by her stomach plate, she had injuries that stretched her left side, which all had to be covered. That resulted in the checker-patterned pink skin patch permanently fixed to her body. Judy pokes at her side for a minute longer before she seems satisfied and pulls Penny's shirt back down./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""I agree your healing very well," Judy pauses. "But how is the pain you were experiencing?" she asks, looking at Penny. "I barely even feel it anymore, Jude, you know that" She replies, "I just don't want to take any chances," Judy says, looking down to the ground "you were so lucky, Penny." At this, Penny stands up from the table and pulls her sister into a hug. "I know Judy, but it's been a year, and I'm fine now," she says to her sister. Judy's arms slowly wrap around her back and return her hug. "Okay, fine. We don't need to have weekly appointments anymore," Judy says. Penny pulls back from their hug and gives her sister her most reassuring smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she exclaims while Judy gives her a slight laugh./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"As the sister's part and walk out of the med bay, a very concerned Vijay Dhar's voice comes over Judy's radio, "Judy, can you please come to the cockpit, um, now" he says through the monitor. "On our way," she hears Judy say into the monitor as Judy gives her a look, and they turn and quickly walk towards the other end of the ship./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""What's wrong, Vijay?" Judy says into the room as Penny follows behind her. "It's the atmosphere," Penny hears him say as he turns to face the screen. "Two of the larger asteroids we were tracking hit this morning and created a lot of rock filling the orbit." Vijay points to the screen and then looks behind him to Judy, but this is the exact point that he notices her standing there. It's safe to say it's been a little weird between them since she woke up to him holding her hand a year ago. Judy doesn't seem to notice his distraction when she radios for Will to meet them in the Jupiter in half an hour./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""At this rate, we have four or five days," Vijay says to bring Will up to speed on the situation. Judy, Vijay, Will, Robot, and her stand around the table processing the news. "It will take longer than four days to repair the ship, won't it?" she asks Will, "I could do it in four hours if I just had enough titanium," he responds./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Alright," Judy says suddenly, "I know how to get the titanium" she pauses, looking around the room. "When we first arrived, the Jupiter sensors picked up a pure titanium deposit two miles up." Vijay questions first. "Two miles? Not even you have climbed two miles before," he says to Judy. "How much worse is falling two miles than falling one mile?" Penny says, smiling. "That's the thing," Penny hears Judy say to her, "You can't come."/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""What?" Penny says, taking a step back, "Yes, I can, Judy. You said it yourself this morning that I'm fine." Judy pauses and then replies, "it's too dangerous. I can't allow it," she says, standing her ground. "You can't allow it?" Penny repeats with a laugh, "You are not Mom Judy; you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do!" she yells as she leans forward and leans her hands onto the table. "I'm fine, and I'm coming," she says./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Everyone thinks you're dead, Penny," Judy says flatly. Penny is glad she's leaning on the table when Judy says this to hide the unsteadiness in her stance. She knows everyone thinks she's dead. She has heard the story more times than she can count from the other kids, but her siblings don't talk about it and have never talked about it. Penny raises her head to face her sister as redstarts to color her cheeks "and?" she says, challenging her sister to continue. "And" Judy says confidently, "it's my responsibility to get you back to Mom and Dad alive, so again, you are not coming with us, end of discussion." Penny walks backward from the table and stops just before leaving the room. "You know Judy, we wouldn't have to get back to them if you didn't rip our family apart in the first place," she says, staring straight into her sisters' eyes before she turns and walks out of the room./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Penny needs to leave, to get away from her family and this camp they call home. The pressure in her chest is building as she walks down the ramp and away from the camp. She must keep it together until she gets far enough away from the children running past her, playing games, and completing their chores. She walks until she hits a small stream and can no longer hear the camp. Her tears come then, and fat drops roll down her cheeks and stain her shirt. She surprises herself at how calm she is. This cry would usually be panic filled and scary. Still, instead, it is peaceful and silent. She sinks down into the dirt and sits against a large boulder. When the other kids in the transport told her the story of the day they left. They didn't spare her a single detail. They told her about Judy running through the Jupiter covered in blood, Will's pleading, and her parents' voices that turned into screams. Penny finds a small rock beside her and throws it into the stream. Her mind has too much to think about, so right now, she's just going to focus on throwing rocks into the stream./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Soon the sunset starts to show on the horizon, so she picks herself up off the ground and walks back toward camp. The first thing she needs to do is find Will, she knows he blames himself for what happened, and she needs to assure him that she's okay. Then she needs to find Judy. She walks into the clearing of the camp and straight to the Jupiter. She checks the table and the cockpit and sees no sign of the people she loves. Heading back outside, she catches the attention of one of the other kids, "Hey, Liam," she calls out to him, and he turns his head to her. "Have you seen Will? Or Judy?" she asks. "They left a few hours ago," he tells her. "They said to be ready to go when they get back, so we're all breaking down camp." "Oh, okay, thank you," Penny says as Liam returns to what he is doing./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"They left, and she didn't get to apologize. They might die on the climb, and they think she's mad at them. Penny criticizes herself internally for being such a child, then puts herself to use gathering her things and helping the other children pack up their lives because when Judy, Will, and Vijay return they will be ready to find get the kids to Alpha Centauri the find their parents./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"*Sunshine Base*/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"-Maureen-/span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"It started as a way to keep track of the days. Every morning Maureen would wake up, slide out of her nightgown, and into her work clothes. She would wipe the sweat off her brow and pull her hair into the same low bun, then she would take a marker and draw a line on the mirror in the bathroom. One line for each day that they were gone. The desperate gesture she made to feel closer to her children now haunts her every day as she adds a tally mark and can see her failure adding up. She should stop marking it and just erase the damn thing, but for some reason, she can't. Now she completes her bun and looks at herself through the marks on the mirror, and she sees the stranger staring back at her. She walks back into the room and pulls the thin sheet she had kicked off at some point in the night back onto the bed; she doesn't bother straightening it./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"She has a routine that she likes to stick to; go to work, eat, sleep, repeat. All her time is filled, and she is where she is needed. For a few weeks after it happened, she would meet with Victor, Naoko, John, Isabel, and other colony leaders and work on the problem. First, they needed to guarantee they were hidden from the robots, so she did it; she built the sunshine base. Then, they needed to figure out how the robots were tracking them on the surface of the planets, so thanks to her previous research, she did that too. It was coming up on the first month of them being gone when they asked her to do something she couldn't do, find their kids. Since that day, she hasn't been back to the command portion of Sunshine base. Victor tried to convince her first, then Hiroki, then John. Since John tried to persuade her and lost that argument, no one has come to visit her./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Welding is loud and takes a lot of concentration; it's the one thing Maureen looks forward to. The focus of making a perfect weld, while the sound drowns out anything else she could have to think about. She could almost, maybe, hate Don when he comes to tell her that her shift is over, John is back, and to go get some sleep because she knows that today's routine is different from the other days. Today her routine is go to work, eat, fight with John, sleep./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"Today she walks into their Jupiter a little slower than usual. She overheard one of her crewmates talking about the attack on the most recent mission. Their missions are always dangerous, but it has been a few months since the last death. Lugging her tools, she rounds the corner and sees him sitting at the table; she can finally breathe because she knows he's safe./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Hey," he says to her in a surprised tone; all she can muster up in response is a small wave. "Can I fix you something to eat?" he offers her. She knows he's trying to have a normal conversation, and she just has to ruin it because this will never be normal for her. "Something's right," she chuckles as she walks to a seat far away from John "there are a lot of smart people here. Still, nobody knows what's in those," she says as she sees the defeat wash over John's face. "I'll take that as a no," he says, turning his back to her. "I- "she pauses and clears her throat. "I heard from some of the crew that it was rough down there," she says, willing him to give her a fight. "It was what it was," he responds, pushing his spoon down into the MRE he had made. She's not hungry anymore and needs to lie in their bed until she can go back to work tomorrow, so she works on unlacing her work boots and sliding her feet out of them, "How are things up here?" she hears John ask her, she looks up to him and can see the pain written in his features. "Busy," she says, letting her eyes fall back to her hands in her lap, "there is a lot to do," she finishes./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""Yeah, about that," he says, turning to face her. "The crew stopped me when I came in; they need us to clear out the kids' rooms." Maureen tries to control her expression but can't stop her lip from slightly quivering. "They said they have been asking you to do it for days," he says, and she can feel his eyes on her, "I've been busy," she says, not returning his gaze. "I've got to get some sleep. I've got another shift in six hours," she manages to say before John stands up in front of her "Maureen, what are you doing?" he asks "we have things we need to take care of right here," he pleads with her. Her eyes are forced to look at his when he says her name; she thinks for a moment, "I'm not stopping you," she utters at him as she stands and starts to walk away, but she stops herself when she sees John's hand move to cover his face./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;""I can't do it," he says with a shaky voice; he drops his hand and looks at Maureen with red-rimmed eyes. "I've been trying to since I got back, and I can't, Maureen. Please." All Maureen had wanted to do was get over this fight so she could get back to her schedule, but now with the look in John's eyes, she wished she would have gone straight to bed without talking to him. "You're my wife. Were in this together," he sighs, dropping his hands to his sides. Maureen takes a deep breath. "We used to be parents, John. You used to be a father, and I used to be a mother," she manages to say before her words get caught in her throat. "We still are," John says, matching her tone, "We used to have three children," she says barely above a whisper. The look that flashes across his face is the same one he wore the day it happened. "I can't do this without you, and I don't want to," she hears John say to her; he steps towards her and reaches out a hand. She considers briefly before placing her hand into his. She sees the shock on his face as his eyes travel from their clasped hands to her face, she gives him a confused look, and he lets out a deflated laugh. "You don't even know," he pauses, looking at her "you haven't let me touch you since that day," he says, holding her hand delicately like she might pull away at any moment. His words hit her as she replays moments of the past year in her head. Him placing a hand on her back, she moves away, he holds out a hand to her, she leaves the room, he faces her in bed, she turns the other way, he sits anywhere, and she sits in the farthest chair away from him. She didn't mean to; she didn't even realize she was doing it, "John, it's not you…" she stumbles over her words. "I didn't mean to," she says as she pulls his hand closer to her and wraps her arms around his torso. He stills for a moment before she feels his hands slide across her back, and his head falls against hers./span/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"They stand in the middle of the floor at peace, holding each other. As time passes, they rock side to side in a steady rhythm, Maureen's not sure which of them started it, but she doesn't want it to stop. John turns his head into hers and says lightly into her ear, "I'm not a genius, Maureen. I can't get us out of this no matter how hard I try" he pauses "this is all I can do" he says, tightening his grip slightly "all I can do is try to protect you." She feels his chest rattle as he suppresses a sob. She pulls away from their hug, places one of her hands on his cheek, and softly brushes her thumb over the skin. She takes his other hand in hers and says, "Come on."/span/p