CHP 12

Protozoa screamed into the microphone to hear her voice again. Something was wrong. She wasn't answering, her voice was slurring.

"She's probably on auxiliary air," Astrid explained and pressed a few more buttons on the dash with a readout came up on the screen in front of them. She tapped a few more pieces on the screen and then tapped on the bottom of the map, "There."

Protozoa shot the shuttle through the stars to the station in the near distance, "Observation is what she said. Observation deck on the lower point, right?"

Astrid nodded and took the control in front of her. She took control to pilot and turned just slightly to him, "You need a space suit on. We're not docking."

He saw the station getting closer and a small white dot floated just beside the hull of the lower deck. He pulled on the space suit in the back of the shuttle and secured everything before tossing himself into the small airlock.

"Hear me?" Astrid's voice came through his helmet.

"I do," he nodded and pressed the shuttle release for the airlock door.

He jumped out into space once they were close enough, his suit tethered to the shuttle. What was left of the station loomed over his head and the small shuttle. He had little experience with the suit he was in, but he knew enough to propel himself to the floating space suit ahead of him.

The space suit floated away from the station, though still attached. He took hold of the other tether and disconnected the suit from the hull. His glove struggled to turn her toward him to see if she was in there. There she was, but there was no movement and she was unconscious.

"I have her."

The tether on his suit automatically pulled him back in. At the door, he pushed her up and into the small door and he pursued with the door locking behind them. The air pressurized in their room quickly as Astrid pulled far enough from the station to be safe from jettisoning pieces and then put on autopilot to lock them in.

"Air pressurized," the computer system alerted and Protozoa pulled off her helmet first and then his own.

"Zenon," he gasped and pulled her head up to get her to wake up, "Wake up, love."

Astrid pulled open the door and looked at her face. Her lips blue from the lack of oxygen and she shook her head, "Zoa, get her out of the suit."

They both pulled her out of the suit immediately and Astrid immediately went into chest compression. She looked up at him as she pushed onto Zenon's chest, "Breath into her mouth when I tell you."

He nodded and waited until her go ahead.

"Now. Two breaths."

He pinched Zenon's nose and breathed into her deep twice, "Come on, Zee. Please."

Astrid started on chest compression again, her knowledge of breathing and lungs taking forefront to save her daughter. She knew she had to get oxygen back into her system and prayed her heart was still going in some kind of capacity.

"Come on, honey," she chanted as she pressed down and nodded to him to give her more breaths, "Come back."

He sat back again, but would not take his eyes from her face, "Don't leave..."

Astrid shook her head and tried again. At her first push, the body jerked and Zenon's head turned to the side to take a gasp of air.

"Zenon!" they both gasped and Astrid carefully let her do what she felt was more comfortable.

Zenon took gasping breaths and her hands flew out to grab onto the arms of her rescuers. Protozoa only started laughing in relief and ran his free hand through her hair and back from her face. Astrid rubbed at her arm and hand attached to her own as Zenon took grateful, deep breaths.

"Zoa?" she weakly looked up at him.

"I'm here, I'm here," he nodded and put his forehead to hers and then kissed the top of her head.

Her eyes went to the other person in the shuttle, "Mom?"

"Hey sweetheart," she whispered, and ran a hand down her cheek to give her a physical touch.

There was a long pause and Zenon looked between the two of them and her lips, losing their bluish tint, began to tremble, "I'm sorry- I wish I didn't-"

"Shh," Protozoa shook his head and kissed her forehead again, "I can be mad at you later, okay? I'm just happy you're here and breathing. You can apologize and make up for it all later, ey?"

She smiled a little at him, knowing he was only joking with her. She would vow to make it up to him later, though. She will promise him she would never lie to him again. No matter what.

"Shuttle Deckstar, do you read? This is shuttle Readly," the radio jumped to life from the panel.

Protozoa looked at the panel and at Astrid. He nodded and squeezed Zenon's hand quickly before letting go, "I'll see what they want. Check over our patient here."

"Go on," Astrid nodded and looked over Zenon and took her pulse.

"How long was I out?"

"Possibly up to five minutes," Astrid said quietly, "We don't know when you stopped breathing, only when you stopped talking on the radio."

"I'm sorry," she said again, "I just wanted to be selfish for once and knew you would stop me. Any of you."

"You'd be right," Astrid nodded, "Not a bad idea to listen to those who love you- or your own intuition."

"Is... is this a military shuttle?"

"Yes, it is. We will need to talk to Hammond when we get back."

"He's actually outside our door," Protozoa cleared his throat as the small shuttle rocked a bit as a larger vessel connected to their side door.

The side door beeped open with an override and a couple of paramedic staff members and Hammond stood on the other side.

"I thought you said you wrote off the space suit idea, Miss Kar," Hammond raised his brows at the tattered space suit around her.

"Not my idea to be in any space suit, General. More of a necessity," she said with a little wheeze.

"We will secure the shuttle from you now, Protozoa," Hammond turned to him.

"Please do," Protozoa nodded and gestured to the panel.

Two more soldiers came in and took over the panel for the trip back to Earth. The paramedic team put Zenon on a board and brought her to the larger vessel.

"I'm guessing Mark didn't distract you for very long," Astrid asked with raised brows.

"I never made it as someone essentially stole a shuttle from the docking bay," Hammond said and turned with a well knowing grin. He followed the paramedics and the other two followed behind him.

"I want it to be known it was my call, General," Protozoa offered and shook his head, "I roped Astrid into it. I just needed to get up here. And I would do it again because it saved her."

"I'm not pressing charges," Hammond put his hand up to stop them before they got into the med bay so the physicians could look over Zenon first. He sighed deep, "I understand the reasoning and what she has done for our home and our people- it was deserved. But I don't want to see any Zenon escapades from here on in with government property. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Astrid sighed in relief.

"Understood," Protozoa nodded.

"Now, as soon as she's cleared to talk freely, I want the entire story about how she even made it back up there."

"I can tell you what I know, but I want to be with her as soon as possible. Both of us," Protozoa offered.

"Let's have a sit down. I understand you wanted us to talk with a certain Jaime?"


The next couple of months went by in a flurry. Zenon made a full recovery with a few bruised ribs from her mother's efforts to get her breathing again. She stayed low at the military station with her parents for the time she was recovering. Protozoa also stayed and kept a close tab on her as she healed, only leaving for a cleanup at Nova Linda or with a meeting with Lester and lawyers. He was careful to dodge the media, as he didn't want to draw too much attention to the base.

Zenon could not leave the base at any point. It was bad enough her family and boyfriend were being protective of her, but the media were also in a frenzy for any information. It had leaked she had gone up to the station to commit suicide. She only had one guess about who could have leaked the story. As far as the media knew, Zenon Kar was lost with the station. Hammond and Plank both kept her status under wraps to see if Jamie would give anything to hang herself with.

It took two months for her to make the statement she had taken Zenon up to the station for a last goodbye. She released a few details the media didn't have- no one had- of the events up to the destruction of the station. She told a dramatic story of how Zenon trapped herself in the observation deck and gave them no other option but to leave her behind.

Questions then came up. Why didn't she radio the authorities to tell them of what occurred? Why didn't she alert Zenon's parents? Why didn't she tell Protozoa, an equal in the entertainment industry and Zenon's boyfriend?

She would bring up clever answers for each. Until the truth finally came out.

Then they released the recording from Zenon's radio transmission, recorded on the radio of the Shuttle Deckstar. Zenon also had shifted the recording of her invitation to her personal zap pad. A reason she left it at home to ensure it stayed safe. They made sure everyone knew Zenon wanted to come home. Come back to Earth. It was someone else's plan to keep her in space. Jaime refused to admit to the recording of the zap pad communication, but did not know the helmet recording. How could she? She was too far to hear it.

Then, it was released Zenon was alive, and she was talking.

Jaime was arrested quickly after it broke and placed in for full interrogation. Charged with attempted murder along with a few lesser charges, she would not be reinstating her pop star status soon.

Over the next year, Cosmic Blush continued with a new band name and a new lead singer. There were rumors they were looking at Margie since her infamous rant at Jaime from the gala. Unfortunately, she had other options to see to- including a guest spot on a few different vid programs. From the sound of it, both Margie and the rest of Cosmic Blush were making a killing in the entertainment field.

The station families built their community not too far from the military station that housed them. The homes were all modest, but more than enough for the scientists and their families to grow and flourish as their new home was built. The labs went up faster than the homes to continue their studies and experiments. Anti-gravity pods installed and no loss in time, as they were very keen to get back to work quickly.

Zenon continued her studies and became very intrigued with the engineering portion of the buildings and the new station. Her studies grew into the field and she brushed through them easily, again close to graduating the first portion of her degree goals. Hammond and Plank even set up for her to have an internship with the station team to view their progress and maybe even have some input as they go. She had seen the station collapse from the inside. She could let them know exactly what the issues were and where, so they would not repeat.

Protozoa had sold his LA flat to the couple who were keeping an eye on it for him, as he was reluctant to go back to the busy city. He told others he had grown spoiled in his hideaway with the woman he loved. Both he and Zenon settled in Nova Linda Cove. She studied at the board and small desk in the music room as he wrote his newest hits with his muse in sight. They still walked down to the village to enjoy the festivities and a sunset here and there.

It was on the one year of their first trip down to the village where he won the strong man mallet test again he pulled out a ring and knelt on one knee.

"A year ago, you kissed me for the first time right here. And every time since, it feels like the first kiss all over again. I never want it to end," he held her hand carefully, "Marry me? Be my supernova girl?"

Zenon grinned and laughed in genuine surprise. Her voice caught in her throat, but she nodded eagerly down to him before finally choking out a giggled, "Zoom, zoom, zoom."

He put the ring on her finger and picked her up into a spin with a kiss. People around them clapped and cheered at the couple, still unaware of who the couple really were.

They settled at the overlook to watch the last of the sunset again with one another, just like the first night. He stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist as she leaned back against him. His chin rested on her shoulder as the last of the reds and purples extinguished into the water and horizon. He fiddled with the ring on her finger and another smug smile took over his features.

"When should we tell them?" he asked her quietly.

"We can keep it under wraps until your album release, I think," she nodded as she thought about the end of next week, "Keep it to ourselves for a bit."

"It didn't last as long as we wanted last time," he reminded her.

"It's okay. I'm sure the media would love to know I've definitely lasted past the two-week mark."

They both chuckled. Zenon turned her head to look up at him and pushed his sunglasses back from his eyes.

There was a loud click next to them and they both turned to find the same girl from before shaking a picture for them.

"Picture for lady?"

Protozoa was quick to pull out credits for it this time, "I'm buying."

Zenon only laughed louder, as she never saw him move so fast for a souvenir.

Two pictures now sit on the shelf in the music room between her work station and his guitar set up. One was captured when they loved one another unknown. The other where they loved completely aware.

"Staring off again, love," he said from the side of the room, caught on the chorus of his newest piece.

"Just thinking," she smiled at him, "I'm just happy to be home."

END