T-Minus 1

  Oliver lugged his tired frame into the Engineering Bay. Two accidents in a week meant overtime for him and the rest of the boys. This entire floor was a mess, and even now they were still discovering new problems behind rubble: snapped wires, exposed piping, holes in the ground, etc. It was almost like they were exploring one of those old rpg dungeons where every unexplored area led to a trap, especially when the flooring fell out from under them.

  The chief was already giving people their assignments for the day when he arrived in the Command room.

“Robertson, take a team and continue clearing the rubble from here to the next sector. Winters, take another team and get the system online again. The higher ups are complaining that their precious system isn’t sending their annoying notifications. Better the computer’s voice than theirs. Ah, Hensley, take a team and do system checks for all the equipment in the sector.”

  The engineer saluted and waved the team assigned to him to follow him out. The Engineering Bay was cleared within the first day, along with the hallway outside. The only matter left was to rebuild the walls after they fixed the piping that were exposed after the walls broke. Well, and get the systems back online. Didn’t think they’d have to return to the paper era again, but luckily they did have packs of paper just in case this happened.

  Outside, he split his team into pairs or threes. There were ten laboratories in this sector and then the clinic.

“We’ll take the clinic. You guys clean up the labs sequentially.”

  For those who had died, they rested peacefully. Those unfortunate souls left in the land of the living had much more to worry about. Oliver had one particular person in mind. He had bumped into the doctor yesterday. She had given him her signature little smile, but stayed silent, contrary to her usual talkative self. Hopefully today he could ask what was up.

  Inside the clinic was Dr. Emerson equipped with a clipboard and pen. The higher ups were requesting mass shipments from Triton, so she was doing her part to take inventory. The clinic was battered, bloody, and a general mess. The doctor herself didn’t look much better. There were bags under her eyes, her hands were bruised, and she limped across the room slowly.

“Oh? Hensley, Jiang, are you here for work?” she asked.

“Yeah, tell us if you need anything.”

  She thought for a moment, and then nodded, watching them as they stepped in to stare at the door they had cut open. The slab of metal that originally served as the clinic’s door still rested on the ground where Oliver had kicked it several days prior.

“Well, it’s a pretty clean cut,” Daniel assessed, furrowing his brow.

“It’s not like we can put it back into the door,” Oliver snorted, struggling with one end. “Come on, let’s throw it back in the lab for recycling. We’ll just make her a new door.”

“But that’d mean we’d have to take out the door too.”

“Well, duh. Can’t leave the clinic with a hole in their door.”

  The two hefted the slab of burnt titanium and leaned it up against the wall outside where a different clean up crew would take it to recycling. Now, to detach the rest of where that came from so they could install a new one. They popped open their toolboxes and got to work. Daniel took the top hinges since he was taller than Oliver by half a head. Oliver focused on the bottom ones, using his power tools to carefully take the door out of its electrical socket. Once done, the two slid the metal frame out and placed it beside the rest of the original door.

  Oliver dusted his hands off on his pants.

“Alright, now we just need to install a new door.”

“I’ll go see if there’s any left,” Daniel offered. “You start on the equipment checks.”

  The other engineer jogged back to the Engineering Bay as Oliver poked his head into the clinic. Emerson had evidently completed her inventory check and was now sitting behind her desk. She looked up.

“You’re done?”

“I just need to check if there’s any problems with the equipment in here.”

  She gestured for him to continue. Oliver started with the lighting first, followed by the medical equipments’ wiring. Emerson asserted that all the medical worked fine, so he only skimmed through them to make sure. The only thing left was her work computer.

“When is the system coming back on?” she asked as he set the computer back up.

  The computer itself was working normally. It was ready for whenever the boys back in the Bay got the station’s system back online again.

“Should be by the end of today,” Oliver replied with a nod. “Okay, that’s everything.”

  He paused, tilting his head toward her.

“Anything on your mind?”

“Not particularly.”

“There’s gotta be something, Doc.”

  Emerson shook her head. She looked at him with her lips pursed. Eventually, she sighed and told him something he did not want to believe.

“I got a relocation offer from UEA Command.”

“What? When?”

“Two nights ago, after the hull breach.”

“Are you going to accept?”

“Yes.”

  Oliver was at a loss for words. Emerson looked away and continued writing in her half torn notebook.

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“This is home, isn’t it? We’ve been on this station for years. I personally couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”

“That’s not the case for me.”

  She closed her notebook. Oliver persisted.

“I mean, we’ve got so many great memories on this station. I can’t really see you leaving it all behind.”

“I’ve got nothing but regrets, Hensley.”

“Can you really say that?”

  She glared at him.

“Yes. I hate this station. I hate everything about it. My career is a dead end. This place is a culmination of mistakes and bad memories. I came here to do research, not to treat cuts and bruises. I’m not even good at that. Do you know how many people died yesterday? All because I couldn’t do anything. Do you know, Hensley?”

“...No, I don’t”

“Of course not. Now, if you’re done, I’ve got to finish inventory, go home, and pack. The shuttle arrives tomorrow evening, and I don’t plan on staying another night.”

  The room fell into an awkward silence. Oliver sighed, picked up his toolbox, and went back to messing around with the electrical wiring. Daniel walked back into the room.

“I’m back. Unfortunately the quartermaster’s only got IOUs. No doors at all.”

  He gave Oliver a little grin, proud at his little joke. Oliver solemnly nodded. His smile faded away. He cleared his throat, realizing the atmosphere.

“Well, uh, I’ll carry our equipment back to Engineering. I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”

“Sure thing, Dan.”

***

  The Section One cafeteria was nothing much to brag about. The ceiling was low, the tables crowded, and the food mediocre. There were several windows in the wall where the station chefs would prepare two meals a day, along with midnight snacks for the workaholic lab rats. Those who woke up early enough found themselves stealing last shift’s leftover snacks for breakfast. Sitting in the corner were two aerospace maintenance engineers.

“Oliver, what’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Did’ja have a fight with the lady doctor?”

  He glared at him. Daniel shrugged, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“What is it this time?”

“She… she’s leaving.”

“What? What do you mean by ‘leaving’?”

“She’s leaving the station. Tomorrow.”

“What for?”

“Relocation or something.”

“Well, you can’t just let her go like that.”

“She’s already made up her mind, Dan. Leave it alone.”

“Why don’t you tell her how you feel about her?”

“No way.”

  Daniel gave him a little punch on the shoulder.

“You haven’t tried everything yet then, have you?”

“Fuck off.”

“At least make up, you can’t let her go on bad terms.”

“Fine.”

  They chewed in silence for awhile.

“Did you hear anything about why the ring collapsed?” Daniel inquired.

“No idea. Probably wear and tear.”

“I heard from Jonah that it was caused by some of the eggheads in the labs. Some sort of secret weapon.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“No, hear me out, that’s why they have all these Navigators here. They’re building some sort of gravitational bomb. A black hole generator. Something like that.”

“What would the use would the UEA have for a black hole bomb, Dan?”

“I… haven’t worked that out yet. I’m sure someone could do a lot with it.”

“Jonah is a dumbass and so are you for believing him.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to cheer you up, man.”

  The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. The engineers stuffed what was left of their sandwiches into their mouths and downed their drinks. Back to work.

***

  Oliver collapsed onto his bed. Work had kept him busy, so he missed the chance to ambush Emerson before the day was over. He rolled over, resting his wrist on his eyes. He didn’t want her leaving before they could make up, but at this rate, she might just do so.

  What was he going to do? It was too late to change her mind about leaving. Her opinion on the matter was made very clear. Oliver sighed, sitting up. He rested his arms on his knees as he stared at the opposite wall. Groaning, he rubbed his head.

  Emerson was right, he didn’t know her very well outside of work. He didn’t have a say in if she should leave or not. To her, he was merely one of her regulars. He didn’t even know she was originally sent here for research. At this point, could he even consider them friends?

  Oliver slapped his cheeks. What’s done was done. He couldn’t do anything about that now. He had one final chance tomorrow. One final chance before she boarded the shuttle back to the inner planets. What he needed to do was send Emerson off on a good note, even if she didn’t have the best time here on Nereid.

  He crouched before his shelf of models. Oliver picked up the steel model replica of Nereid’s Space Elevator. Attached at the top was a model of the space station. This wasn’t the first model he had added to his collection, but it was one of the few he built by hand. He chuckled at the thought. He built the station by hand. He built the model by hand. The early days of Nereid were frustrating and depressing and a whole lot of “ugh”. Even now it was a mess. Despite all of that, he made friends, enjoyed his work, and met Emerson.

  He stood. This was it. He scrounged around for a gift bag. Of course, he had nothing of the sort in his room. Guess he’d have to pull it out from behind him when he visited her one last time tomorrow then. A smile, good wishes, and a momento. Oliver set the model on his counter so he’d remember it on the way out tomorrow morning.

  After changing into more comfortable clothing and getting ready for bed, Oliver slid under the covers. The lights were programmed to dim themselves at 23:00, and had long toned down their brightness. It was just him and the model in the darkness. The last image he held in his head was Emerson’s smile.

***