| |
Brother Anderson excused himself, citing some lame excuse or another. Something in the med bay he had to check.
Hannah looked at Colin.
“I guess we are officially dead.”
“Huh?” Colin took a moment to engage his brain. “Oh yeah, right. What was it? ‘Crew lost, severity red, no action required.’”
“Yes, something like that,” agreed Hannah.
“Well I guess no one will come looking for us then.”
“So we won’t have to worry about going to prison or whatever. But... Colin, what will happen to us? Will we be stuck on this ship forever? It’s not much better than prison in some ways.”
“What? No - of course not! Look at this pod! It will take us somewhere safe.”
“Really? Where?”
“There are a few mining outposts around here. I was thinking about this earlier actually. Maybe we could hole up somewhere out here and make a comfy little hideaway to live out our days.”
“Oh you’ve been thinking about this, have you?” She teased. Colin did have feelings toward her. She could see that now. And she didn’t mind him knowing that just maybe, she might be OK with that fact. But she couldn’t give up the chance to make him squirm just a little bit.
“Well, I...” Colin started to defend his intentions.
Hannah laughed at his awkwardness and pushed him over on the seat, then he too chuckled at himself.
“Are you going to sweep me off to some desert island or lock me up in some tower to keep me safe?” She was mock beating him now with balled fists hammering down upon his shoulder in slow motion.
“I would never put you in a tower! But an island might be nice!”
“It might, actually. If it has a nice beach.”
“Of course it has to have a nice beach.”
“And fancy shops!”
“Yeah.” The cold truth hit Colin. Survival in the mining colonies was not a simple matter. They would miss the amenities. Life out here was hard and dirty. He’d have to work hard, for a lot less pay than he was used to. His face turned somber. Even worse, these places were not the safest for a young woman. They would tend to be full of creeps and cretins. Tommy would look like a saint next to this lot. Perhaps the tower option was a necessary evil. No. They would have to stay away from the concentrated populations. But that was pretty much impossible. It’s not as though you could go carve out a place for yourself in the wilderness. This wasn’t earth. There was no readily sustaining natural environment, with food and water and fuel and building materials lying around just waiting for humanity to come along.
What was he getting himself into? He was lying to Hannah, to make her feel safe, but she was not safe. She would not be safe. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. They were on their own on the fringes of civilization. A civilization that was not entirely pleasant, and less so around the edges. She hadn’t seen the dark underbelly of mankind - its sharp teeth and grasping claws. Its insatiable hunger. Its utter coldness. Part of him wanted to weep. For humanity. For Hannah.
“What’s the matter?” Hannah had noticed his body tense up and freeze.
“I... It’s nothing,” he stated, his face stony. He had no idea how to tell her his thoughts. How could he? It would destroy her hope. Maybe they shouldn’t even try this stupid plan. Where would it get them? At least here on the ship the only thing to fear was death. Anywhere else they could go, she would run the risk of far worse fates.
“Colin! Don’t bullshit me! What are you thinking about?”
“I can’t. This is a bad idea.”
“What, the pod?”
“Yes. Well, no. Not the pod itself, but where it will take us. Hannah, there are no islands, no beaches. There is only darkness, and treachery, and meanness, and greed. There is only hard work, and hunger, and poverty, and theft, and exploitation. I’m afraid Hannah. I can’t keep you safe out here.”
“So we go somewhere better!”
“The pods are short range. It’s not like we can fly off to Neptune or Uranus.”
“I’ll fly off to your anus!” She couldn’t resist that tired old joke. It worked. Colin laughed quietly. It was one of the things she liked most about him, his sense of humour. It was dry and hidden most of the time, but like her, he respected the classics. The stupidity of a bad pun or the all-time dumb and slightly dirty humour. It was a strange bond between them. They were silent for a moment, enjoying the brief moment for a smirk.
“OK so the pods take us to wherever, then we hop the first transport to anywhere better.”
“Right.” His voice betrayed his complete unbelief in that possibility.
“What? Why not?”
“How?”
“What?”
“How?”
“They do have transport stations, don’t they?”
“Of course!”
“So what’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem? We’re dead! We’re cut off! All our accounts are closed. We no longer exist. Ghosts got no credit!”
“Oh... I see now. Yes. That would be a problem. But Colin! We’re not dead yet!”
“What are you talking about?”
“All we did was tell fleet that we are dead, right?”
“Yeah. And they’ll flag us, and that will lock down our official records, and our access, and our data. And our credit.”
“But they haven’t done it yet.”
“Wha...? Oh! They haven’t even received our message yet!”
“Exactly!”
“So we have at least a few hours to do something about it!”
“Yes! We can empty our accounts, back up our data, and then... well, I’m not sure.”
“Maybe we need to create some fake identities?”
“Yeah, maybe. Do you have any idea how to do that?”
“No. But I bet our doctor can find out!”