Vincent knew the way well. He had visited more times than he could remember, over the many years he had been trading with the community. He stopped as he reached the door. He hadn’t seen Felicia’s father much since he had fallen ill, he really struggled seeing him in that condition. It wasn’t even the first time he had been through this situation. Felicia’s mother had been the same, as were both of their parents before them. Stubbornly refusing any treatment that meant leaving. It didn’t make seeing him in this state any easier. If they would just visit a medical bay, none of this would have to happen. He clenched his fist. It was their choice to make, and it was the way they chose to live, he knew this. After getting a hold on his emotions, he knocked on the door. There was a fit of coughing coming from inside and then a weak sounding voice answered.

“Yes?”

“It’s me. It’s Vincent. Can I come in?”

“Vin! Please come in, come in.”

Vincent pushed the door open and stepped inside to greet his friend. He was met with another coughing fit, as his friend tried to sit himself up in the bed.

“Ray, take it easy. You can stay as you were, it’s only me.”

“I can still sit up for a chat!”

“Don’t push it. You don’t sound great.”

“Ha thanks… You on the other hand look and sound just as well as always!” Ray said with a chuckle.

“Well, you know how it is.”

“I know you’re probably thinking, why doesn’t he just come with me and get treated?”

“You’ve got me there… I wish you would.”

“This is the life I’ve chosen and I’m going to see it through until then end. I lived my whole life here and I’d like to die here too.”

“But you don’t have to, you don’t need to die!”

“You know, it was such a long time ago now, but I still remember. You were just like this when my father was reaching the end of his days.”

“Yeah… You’re just as stubborn as he was.”

“Death comes to us all and it will come to you too one day. It’s just the natural order of things.”

“But it doesn’t have to be now. Your children, they’re still young. You could see them grow up if you just listened to reason.”

“It’s my time, I can feel it. I’ve grown old, I’m tired Vin. There’s no need for me to dwell here for generations. I’m not needed anymore.”

“Please don’t say that…”

 “I’m serious. I’m not like you. I’m not a hero, I won’t be needed if they return. For my part, I’m more than happy to have lived for one cycle. I’ve lived the life that I wanted.”

“I’m no hero either.”

“I remember all the stories you used to tell me when my father wasn’t watching.”

“Then you know that…”

“I know, but I’m happy with things like this. I’m happy for my children to live on instead of me… I’ve never once asked why you don’t return to the crew have I?”

It was true. Ray had never once questioned how Vincent had decided to live.

“No… But I’m going to miss you. I don’t want to lose my friend.”

“I know, and that’s the hardest part of this for me… But this is what I want, it’s how I want to live. I know you’ll respect that, just like you did with my father.”

“Of course, I will.”

“Thank you. Now after saying all of that, I have a favour to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Promise me you’ll keep on visiting and look out for my children just like you always did for me.”

“You could stay and look out for them yourself.” He couldn’t help himself.

“Promise me, please.”

Vincent groaned, then fell silent wondering if there was anything else he could say to persuade him.

“Fine, I promise.” He answered eventually.

“Thank you…” Ray said before being overtaken by another coughing fit.

This was worse than the others. Vincent spotted blood on Ray’s hands as he covered his mouth.

“I’ll call Felicia.”

“No, I’m okay and I don’t want to trouble her. See it’s stopped.” He said pulling on Vincent’s sleeve.

 As Ray spoke there was a knock on the door before it opened. It was Felicia, she stepped inside.

“Dinner’s ready.” She said as she walked in.

 “Thanks Felicia.” Replied Vincent.

“It’s no trouble… I’ll bring yours in shortly dad. Oh, and these are for you. Vin brought them.” She said placing the packets down on the bedside table.

“What is it?” Ray asked looking dubiously at the packets.

“Medicine.” She answered.

“Vin?”

“It’s only basic stuff, nothing you would object to. I promise.” Vincent explained.

“Hmm okay, leave it there and I’ll take them later. You two go and have your dinner, the others will be waiting for you otherwise.”

Vincent didn’t hold out much hope that Ray would take the medicine. He had already started to come to terms with the fact that he was going to watch his old friend slip away. Not that he could understand it. He was a travelling merchant now, but Vincent had started out on the ship’s crew. His engineered genes alone meant he would easily live past two hundred and that was without medical intervention. A check up once a decade, was enough to prolong his lifespan indefinitely. Short of a fatal injury, or the ship being destroyed he would likely live to see Palehost’s destination. The civilian population were less resilient, but with regular check-ups and maintenance they were able to live indefinitely long lives too. This isn’t to say he didn’t know death, but he had only known people to die due to serious injury. Before he started this lifestyle, he had never known someone let their old age and illness become so advanced that it threatened their life. Where he came from, no one wanted to die.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know that it was how things used to be in the past. Back then people didn’t have the choice. You lived your lifespan and you died. That was how things worked. It happened to every organism. However, he didn’t believe that they wanted to die. Humanity had always chased scientific and medical advances, ways to stop illness and push forward life expectancy. Once the techniques were developed to enable this, the death rates dropped rapidly. Almost everyone took up the treatment and had their offspring enhanced. Death, as he had been taught as a child, it was something that humanity had escaped. Yet here was this small community that had shunned all of that, found a forgotten area of the ship and lived like the ancients. It baffled him, even if he admired the simplicity of their daily lives.

“Come on Vin, let’s go eat.” Felicia said taking him by the arm and leading him back down the corridor to the kitchen.

The table was already laid when they returned and the two boys from early were sat there patiently waiting for dinner. They were accompanied at the table by their older brother, Milo. He was clearly pleased to see that Vincent was coming to join them for dinner, from the big grin on his face as he walked in.

“Vin! I didn’t know you were here. Felicia didn’t mention you’d come over.” He said as the pair entered the room.

“That’s because I didn’t want you to interrupt him while he was talking to dad.” Answered Felicia.

“Sorry Milo. You were busy in the shed when I got here, and I wanted to talk to Ray. Are you working on something new?” Asked Vincent.

“Yes, that info terminal you brought last time has come in really handy.”

“What’re you working on now?”

“I’m trying to get one of the broken automatons to work, without the access gene.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah… Well only for the simple commands and they still need to be activated first, but it should work.”

“I told you, not in front of the boys!” Felicia said angrily.

“Sorry…”

Milo was the only member of the community that didn’t believe the spirits moved the machines. Although, he did keep up the facade outside of his family. It was something his older sister and father weren’t particularly happy with. Then again neither of them was going to stop him from learning, if that was what he wanted to do.

“Sorry Felicia, I started him.” Vincent said not wanting to cause an argument.

“It’s okay Vin. He knows not bring it up when they’re around.”

“We’ll talk about it after dinner. You can show me how you’re getting on.” Vincent said as he sat down and joined the boys at the table.

Once Felicia joined them, they started their meal. It wasn’t anything fancy but to Vincent it was a treat. They had real food in the canteens at the crew’s residential areas, but even that wasn’t quite the same. The meat had been reared here and the vegetables grown in the fields that surrounded the dwellings. That and Vincent mostly lived off ration packets and the imitation food his dispenser produced. After they finished eating, he left the others and went with Milo to inspect this project he had been working on.

As Vincent stepped into Milo’s shed, he was met with the sight of a partially dissembled automaton. There were pieces all over the place. He didn’t know where to start looking. This sort of thing was a little out of his field of experience in the first place. I hope he doesn’t need my help.

“What do you think?” Asked Milo.

“I think you’ve got a lot of work to do, putting all of that back together!”

“Yeah, that’s the hard part.”

“You think it’s going to work?”

“I hope so. I’ve repaired the damage and replaced the parts I could get hold of. It all works, as long as I can reassemble it properly.”

“Why are you doing all this? You have enough automatons as it is here. Couldn’t you have practiced servicing them or just repaired this one as it is?”

“Yeah, I could’ve but that isn’t the point… The thing is Vin, I’m not like everyone else here. One day I want to be able to leave this place and see the rest of the ship, maybe even try to join the crew. I can’t do that if Felicia is the only one that can operate the automatons.”

“So that’s what this is about.”

“I want to leave this place with you one day.”

“Look, I can understand where you’re coming from here, but…”

“You used to be on the crew, couldn’t you put in a good word for me?”

“Perhaps…”

He didn’t doubt that referral from him could get Milo on the cadet programme. If his guess about their ancestry was correct, he would be considered family of the original crew. As things stood, they wouldn’t turn down having more genes in the pool. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that knowing the captain, she would more than likely see it as an opportunity to pressure him to return to his post. He wasn’t ready for that just yet.

“Thanks Vin! I knew I could count on you.” Milo said excitedly, having taken Vincent’s answer as agreement on his behalf.

“Look, don’t get too excited. You’ll need your father and Felicia to agree first.” He said knowing that would at least buy him some time.

“Father isn’t going to last much longer, and Felicia is never going to let me go and leave her here as the only one…”

“You don’t know that. I’m still hoping your father will pull through.”

“Please Vin, don’t give me that. The others might be holding out hope for the spirits, but I know he’s dying just like you do!”

“Sorry I just…”

“You should just take him with you to get treatment.”

“If he would agree to come, I would.”

“I know you could make him.”

“I’m not going to take him against his will. I know how you feel, but I’m not going to force him. As much as I don’t want to see him die either.”

“I need to leave this stupid place. I don’t want to end up like that.”

Vincent didn’t know what to say anymore. I wish I knew what to tell him. He struggled in these situations, and it became an awkward silence. It lasted until Milo continued showing Vincent his project, after he calmed down a little. When they had finished in the shed, Vincent stopped back at the house, before he made the trip back to his own quarters. He handed out the contents of his large rucksack, all supplies he had collected especially for this place. Felicia grateful as always, tried to pay him for the items. After refusing to take anything she settled at making him stop for a cup of tea. He left a little while later, but only once Felicia was happy, that she had repaid him a little. With a much lighter bag on his shoulders now, he headed for home.

“Come back soon Vin!” Felicia said with a wave as he left.

He walked up to the barrier and waved his hand, then passed through the doorway and back into the overgrown section, leaving the others behind him. I really hope they’re going to be okay. I’m going to have to cut down the time between visits. He didn’t have long to worry about that, as when he hit the halfway point back to corridor he was distracted by an alarm. What now?

[Proximity alarm room 234E. Security compromised] Flashed up across his eyes.

“Damn it! Someone’s sniffing around my apartment!” He said and picked up the pace towards the exit.