Chapter 218 - The Space Between Us [Part 2]
Chapter 218 – The Space Between Us [Part 2]
From the view of earth to the far distance of space, thousands of miles away from the orbiting earth.
Orbital architecture
"For 3 years we haven't heard anything from our head office, the moment we got here," a young woman said as she levitates to some controls against the wall.
Her brown hair packed in a messy bun, she was on a navy blue overall, Japan badge crested at the arm side.
"I have told you countless times Yua, we have been abandoned by our own country," a young man said jokey, he was dressed in the same attire, he had dark hair and brown eyes.
Yua shot him a look.
"We have been over this you two, stop fighting or making jokes" A strong voice came in.
They both turned to a young man with short dark hair and grey eyes.
"Commander!" Yua and Itsuki said in unison.
Kaito sighed, floating towards them.
"Itsuki started it," Yua said pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Hey give me a break I was just joking" he intoned.
Kaito sighed once again.
"Both of you are getting cranky these days," Kaito said moving to the controls against the wall.
"Well we have been here for 3 years, if it wasn't for the resources we have we wouldn't have survived that long" Itsuki said.
"We are lucky we have that long, we should thank this orbit was enhanced to contain us for years but we don't know for how long, we will only see the side effects of staying in space for long when we land back to earth," she said with trembling eyes, she knew there will be consequences for this when they finally get back home, it has been a long 3 years.
"3 years ago the moment our rocket mounted the system, everything went offline" Kaito began facing them.
"For 3 years we have been stuck here, with no guidance or message from the home office and also all our systems here went offline like a global communication wipe out, the only reason we're alive is the backup generators installed in the orbit in case of emergencies" he states.
"Preparing for Atmospheric change… permission to engage?" An AI female voice came in.
"And for Gail with the help of that too" he adds.
"Permission granted"
A loud zoom sound went off, the gravity and atmospheric condition turning to that of earth.
They all went back to their feet.
Itsuki cracked his backbone in relief, the changes were only made a few times a month, he was getting used to the zero-gravity once again.
"But still the mystery remains, there's no way a global communication wipe out can happen like that, even as well as getting to us here" Yua explained.
Kaito sighed.
"True… we are still kept in the dark here… we have 20 souls onboard we should focus on keeping ourselves alive as well as getting our systems ready to launch," Kaito said.
"That's a long way Commander, we aren't halfway through, it's like something is causing a big jamming system like a black hole" Itsuki explained.
Yua nods in agreement.
"It's like we are invisible, my guess is that no one knows we're out here"
"Like we are lost in space".
"This will be difficult than I thought," Kaito said with trembling eyes.
A young man rushed in.
"Commander!" he yelled.
"It's Goro!"
They froze at his words.
***
Kaito took harsh breaths as he ran towards the lobby, others following behind.
A hatch door opened as they rushed into the medium-sized space that looked like a medical section.
Goro is on the bed, blood spilling from his lips.
"He's getting worse Commander," a young woman besides his bed said with tears in her eyes, holding unto his hand.
"Goro," Kaito said in a deep breath, taking his other hand.
Goro's bloodshot eyes land on him.
"I'm sorry Commander…" he coughs blood.
"But I can't…" he said in panic breaths.
Tears filled Kaito's eyes.
"I can't hold on anymore," he said weakly as the tears filled his eyes, streaming down his cheeks.
Kaito sobs.
"It's okay bud" he sniffs.
Goro was the youngest of them all in the unit, he got sick first due to how long they were in space, the moment Goro fell sick they knew their time in space was limited despite all procedures and protocols they carried out to survive, a human body cannot fully readjust to the atmospheric conditions, they all had a limited time. Even with their medical system, it wasn't enough to battle it.
"I wanna go home, I can't die like this" He cries.
"It's okay… I'm right here"
Itsuki looks away as the tears fell.
Yua sobbed and cried.
Goro took panic breaths, holding onto Kaito's hand tightly.
Kaito's eyes widen in realization.
"Goro!" he panicked.
"Goro" the girl beside cried.
More blood spilled from Goro's mouth as the panic breaths increased but then it subsides.
Goro let go of Kaito's hand, giving out breath.
"Fuck!" a young man cursed slamming his hand on the iron wall.
"Itachi! Now's not the time" Itsuki said.
"Don't give me that!" Itachi hissed pissed.
"How long are we gonna be stuck in here huh?"
"As soon as we get the systems back online, we can't just launch, it's suicide!" Yua yelled.
Kaito sobbed, closing Goro's opened eyes.
"The longer we stay here the longer we put our bodies at risk… whose gonna start coughing blood next huh? I don't wanna lose any of you!"
"We won't!" Kaito snaps standing at the center, his overall stained in Goro's blood.
"Not if we get the systems working".
"The systems are jamming by something we don't know about, it could be what's happening on earth too," Itachi said.
"Then we work hard twice as we have done over the years… no one" he points at Goro's body.
"Is dying like this again" he said pissed before walking away.
Yua sighs running her fingers in her hair.
"We will think of a way to ensure our bodies stay fit… we have to," she said as the tears threaten to fall, she turns to Sara who covered Goro's body with the white shirt.
Suddenly she coughs, painfully as she covered her mouth.
Yua gasp as she saw blood.
Sara stared at her blood-stained hand as it trembled.
She turned to them as tears filled her eyes.
***
Kaito worked the control, before losing it and slamming his hand on the iron multiple times, he sobbed holding his tears back in, his now bruised hands trembling.
He sat on the floor, leaning his back against the cabinet iron.
'We have to find a way out of this…' he thought using the back of his hand to wipe the tears on his cheek. Not just for his sake but everyone on board, time was against them, they thought they had this under control but they were wrong, they had to survive this before death took them and go back home to their loved ones.
As Commander, the lives of everyone on his ship were in his hands, he can't afford to lose anyone again.
He brought out a picture from his pocket. It was him and his little brother, taken years back.
'Wait for me Kaneki…. I will do everything I can to come back to you'