Human Nature (Book 2): Human Nature II Read online

  “No, absolutely not.” Sonia was refusing to sacrifice any members of the crew. “Some of these people may still have loved ones back down on Earth… It’s not our right to give up their lives!”

  Roger threw his hands up, “Except some of them may not! You saw what we all saw Sonia! Most people, if not everyone, is dead on Earth!” His voice had raised slightly too high now.

  Seth and Bertie looked over at Roger, then turned towards each other. “No… Guys, listen….” Sonia tried defending Roger, but surprisingly both men walked away from their duties and went over to her, slowly.

  “I heard what Wells said earlier…” Seth informed them. “I just heard what you said as well. And you’re right, Rog’. Our loved ones most likely are no longer alive. But people up here, we are… I know we may only last another month or so, but I know that’s enough time for you guys to think of a solution. Either continuing to survive up here, or returning to Earth. Whichever it is you’d like. The point is, I can buy you some more time.”

  Sonia and Roger looked at each other amidst confusion, “Seth, what do you mean?” He squinted at him.

  “What I mean, Roger, is that I’m willing to give up my life. If it’ll give you enough time to think of a solution, I’ll step out of the airlock…”

  Sonia looked at Roger, noticing a remorseful deep-in-thought look on his face. He was clearly considering Seth’s request.

  “Roger…” Sonia desperately shook her head at him. He breathed in deeply, and nodded, “Ok, Seth…”

  The acceptance of his request sent horror over Sonia’s face…

  Chapter 3: Sacrifice

  The entire crew had gathered around the air lock. “Gemini crew…” Roger spoke up, pacing in front of the air lock door, looking everyone up and down. “You all know we may not last too much longer up here. You all know we can’t return to Earth either, at least not yet. Not without proper gear, equipment, or contacts back down below. Therefore, we need to buy as much time as possible for ourselves. This is how we do it. Seth here has volunteered to… Give up his life, for all of us.”

  Sonia’s eyes twitched, they were extremely watery, as she looked at Seth waiting to enter the air lock.

  “We must all remember his sacrifice. We must all remember why he is about to do what he is about to do. I never wanted it to come to this. But I don’t have a choice, none of us do. There are thirteen people on board this station. Every single one of us making it out of this ordeal alive is just a myth. We need to cut down on resources massively. This is the way forward. Now, none of you are expendable – I want you to remember that. We have weighed the risks in comparison to the advantages received from doing this. This has become the only way…” Roger moved towards a control panel on the wall, pulling down the blue lever, opening the first door. Seth took a deep breath, stepping in to the air lock. Pulling the lever up, the door closed again. With it being made of glass, everyone could see him inside.

  “The stars will take care of you. Safe flight, my friend…” Roger moved his hand over to the red lever, and pulled it down. As soon as the back door opened, Seth was flung out into the cold empty vacuum of space.

  Roger pulled the lever up again, closing the door. He pressed the green button beneath the two levers, as the air lock pressurized. He swallowed hard, turning back to the rest of the crew. “I know that wasn’t easy…” Everyone appeared to be on edge.

  “Liar!” Wells called him out, “That was easy for you! You’re just a prick on legs, Roger! You’ve always been a cold man. But now, you’re literally murdering people just to save your own ass! How can you live with yourself?” Wells shook his head in shame. “You’ve gotten rid of one person… One pointless sacrifice. How many resources can one death save? Huh? Hardly anything! You’ve probably spared us another day or so. Hardly anything at all!”

  Roger looked down to the ground, unable to face Wells. “You look at me when I’m talking to you…” Wells marched over to him, but still, Roger faced the ground shamefully.

  “I said…” He clenched his fists, “Look at me!” As he went to punch Roger, Julian grabbed his arm, “Wells, don’t do it…” He was the Canadian member of the crew. Wells glared evilly at Roger. “Come on, why don’t we get you a drink? I’ve still got a bottle of whisky lying about somewhere. Kristina? What do you think?” He nodded at her for friendly assistance. “Uh… Yea? Sure…” She didn’t expect this sudden request, but helped Julian nonetheless.

  Shortly thereafter, the rest of the crew exited as well. Roger looked up at last, turning to face Sonia. She was shaking and twitching vigorously, tears running down her cheeks. “Son’…” As he walked over to her, she backed away from him, sliding against the wall. “Sonia… please…” He begged, but she merely shook her head at him through her twitching and her tears. “I don’t even know who you are anymore…” She ran off, causing Roger to now begin crying – A rather odd response given how dry-eyed he was upon throwing Seth out into space…

  “Here, get this down you,” Julian handed Wells a glass of whisky. “You too,” he handed the second one to Kristina. “What about you? I thought you only had two glasses?” He smiled and nodded, “I do… Take it…” He insisted, as Kristina finally accepted the drink. “How can he live with himself?” Wells took a sip of the whisky, “That uptight bastard… How can he just kill someone like that?” Kristina rubbed his arm, “It had to be done baby,” she informally referred to him, “We all loved Seth. He was the life of the party. But his sacrifice… It was all so that we could live.”

  Wells took a larger sip this time before wiping his mouth. “Not really… He’s only gotten us another day at the most. Roger is an idiot. Sacrificing just one person has done nothing!”

  Julian picked up the whisky bottle from the desk, it was only a quarter full now. “Kristina,” he turned back to her, as she looked up at him, “Look after him…” He gestured to Wells, “He’s a good friend to all of us…” Though confused, Kristina still nodded, “I will… I guess?” She continued to comfort Wells as Julian exited the room.

  Sonia laid down on her side in her living quarters. She looked out at the Earth beneath. It felt like she was being taunted by it – simply the fact that her dying world was right in front of her; her home, right in front of her; her deceased love ones, somewhere right in front of her…

  There was a desperate knock on the door.

  “Go away!” Sonia shouted back. “Sonia, please!” She was surprised by the voice behind it – she had expected it to be Roger, but it was actually the voice of Augustus. Sonia jumped up, heading over to the door. As she made the movement to open it, she recalled her hand again. “Who’s with you?” She leant against the door.

  “Only me!” The second voice belonged to Amanda. “Open up, we just want to talk…”

  Sonia took a deep breath, then finally opened up, letting Augusts and Amanda inside. “Please, make yourselves at home,” she closed the door behind them. “I would offer you a drink but, we’ve kind of gotta preserve resources now haven’t we?”

  Both Augustus and Amanda sat down on the bed and faced each other, before turning to face Sonia again. “You’ve got something to ask, haven’t you?” She read their expressions.

  “Sort of… More of a, suggestion, if you will.” Sonia squinted at them, partly out of suspicion, but partly out of curiosity too.

  “We’ve been thinking about what Wells said earlier,” Amanda began, “He said that one sacrifice wasn’t enough. We all know he’s right. Everyone’s been thinking about it deeply… We all know that at some point or another, more people are going to have to go out of that hatch. So, we’re thinking of a trade…”

  Instantly, Sonia shook her head, declining their offer. “No! No way! We’re not bargaining over who should die next just in order to stay alive!”

  But this didn’t deter Amanda from continuing her suggestion anyway. “Don’t you want to see your twin sister again? Don’t you want to see your boyfriend again? Or your mo
ther? Or your niece? Or your nephew?” She tried to slip past her opposed views. “They’re all probably dead. I’m struggling to cope with that… But I’m on my way to accepting it…” Sonia swallowed hard.

  “But you don’t know that they’re all dead. We don’t know for sure that there are 0 survivors down there. That would mean we are, quite literally, the last twelve humans in existence. Given Roger’s new law as well, that number is only going to get smaller. But we’re not them, Sonia. We’re not the last people alive. There just has to be others down there. You know it to be true.”

  Sonia was speechless, “Alright, I’ll bite… What’s your suggestion then? All this ‘trading’ nonsense?”

  Amanda looked to Augustus who took over for her. “We can get rid of Kristina and Neil with ease. We’re close to them. They trust us. In order to do that, we’ll need a sacrifice from you in return.”

  Sonia didn’t even bother defusing them this time, “You’re expecting me to give up my life just so that you can give up two more? Not happening!”

  Amanda shook her head instead, “Not yours. We want Roger. If you can get Roger in that air lock, we’ll get Kristina and Neil in there too. That’ll put us at nine members left. It’ll give us a hell of a lot more time.”

  Sonia turned around, looking out at Earth again. “Do we have a deal, Son’?” Augusts enquired. The use of Roger’s nickname for her had prompted Sonia to make up her mind…

  “You absolutely certain of this?” Roger stood outside the air lock with Julian; who was holding the bottle of whisky in his hand. “If it means the rest of you get to live… yes. Besides, I don’t want to be responsible for killing anyone. I’m not like you, Roger, I can’t burden that.” He nodded remorsefully, opening the air lock up for Julian to step inside. He then closed the door again once Julian was inside.

  “The stars will take care of you. Safe flight, my…” Before he could finish his parting words, Sonia appeared from behind, “Wait!” Amanda and Augustus were with her. “Roger, don’t do it… Not yet…”

  He took his hand off the control panel, curious about Sonia’s proposition. “What if we… trade?” He looked confused by her suggestion. “Trade?”

  Sonia nodded, “Yes… What if we make deals with each other to stay alive? Sacrificing one person in order to have another die as well… Could that work?”

  Roger knew Sonia too well by this point, he could tell she was just playing along for some reason and that she had no intention of making any ‘trades’. “Well… I suppose it could work in theory,” He played along as well, “Who do you have in mind?”

  Amanda stepped forward, “Neil and Kristina… They are by far the two most useless members of the team. Neil and Julian do the same job, and Kristina was really only needed for take-off back on the rocket… And I highly doubt we’re going back to Earth now. We don’t need her to pilot the escape pod, any of us can do that. Thus making her redundant. Make sense to you?” She raised her eyebrows. Roger swallowed hard, and nodded, “Who do you want in return then?”

  Amanda stepped back, allowing Augusts to stand directly in front of Roger. He looked over at Sonia slightly, her expression indicated to him that their bargaining chip was him.

  “Oh, right…” Fearful for his life, Roger kicked out at Augustus, sending him to the ground. He thrusted Amanda against the wall, before opening up the air lock. Sonia stood, frozen to the spot. Roger grabbed Augustus first, slinging him in to the air lock with Julian. As he went to grab Amanda, she pulled out a knife on him, “Get in there, you bastard!” She ordered.

  Augustus stepped out again, standing back by Amanda’s side. “Thank you, Gus’… You will be remembered,” She turned the knife on him, stabbing him in the side before throwing him back in the air lock. Julian was going to tend to him, but realised they were both about to die anyway.

  “Don’t follow me!” Amanda held the knife out in front of her, threateningly. She backed away from Sonia and Roger slowly. Once she was near the corner, she ran off.

  Sonia turned back to Roger, “I couldn’t let them kill you… I hate you, but not enough to kill you…” Roger brought her in as the two shared a tender hug.

  Chapter 4: How We Must Survive

  Everyone had once again gathered around the air lock, with Gus and Julian inside. “We gather here today, once again,” Roger delivered his speech, “Just as we did yesterday… Today, we are saying goodbye to more of our beloved fellow crew members. I know this isn’t what any of you want,” He then turned to Wells, “Believe it or not, I don’t want this either…” Wells was silent, but still looked distastefully at him.

  “When I was a young boy living in New York, my family and I were nearly deported back to Kenya… My dad ended up doing something illegal to save my mother and I. An innocent family instead ended up getting deported, and my father… Well, he was executed for doing that upon being caught…”

  Wells rolled his eyes, believing Roger’s speech was not going anywhere – but it was.

  “… The point is, my father gave up not just his life, but he also gave up the freedom of an innocent family just so that I would have a chance at a proper life. In the long run, it paid off. I’m here, aren’t I? A physician on board a space station? I just… I want you to understand something. Sometimes, we may not like the things people do. But we do what we must. It’s how we must survive – by doing everything which has to be done, regardless of any morals it may break.” He turned back to Julian and Augusts, “Julian and Gus here,” Despite the fact that Gus was already passed out on the floor from his stab wound, “They’re giving up their lives so that we can have a chance. This is how we must survive…”

  He put his hand on the control panel, “May the stars take care of you. Safe flight, my friends…” With those parting words, he pulled the lever, as the two men were flung out into space.

  Wells could not keep his opinions to himself, “Three down. Ten more to go. Right Roger?” He taunted him. “No one said this was going to be easy, Wells…”

  He shook his head, “Everyone except you that is. You don’t show the littlest bit of sympathy when sending those people out there!” He raised his voice, “This time yesterday, Julian was holding me back from beating you to death!” He emphasised his words so much he had spat them out, some of his spit hitting Roger’s face. “The only reason why you aren’t teeth-out and knocked out on the ground right now is because Julian has just sacrificed himself, for me…” He stepped back to Kristina, still maintaining eye contact with Roger. “If I ever go out of those doors, Roger, I want you in that air lock with me when it happens… Deal?” He locked his eyes fiercely.

  Sonia grabbed Roger’s arm, tugging at it. He turned to face her. She shook her head in desperation – An ironic contrast to how she last shook her head at him upon denying Seth’s sacrifice. He turned back to Wells, “Deal…”

  In the engine room, Amanda ran her hand along the pipes as well as the boxes containing the important electrical components. In a dark corner, there were barrels of fuel. She grasped her arms around one of them, shaking it to feel how much liquid was inside.

  “Perfect…” She dragged the barrel away from the engine room and towards the door. As she opened it, she continued pulling it out into the corridor.

  Sonia had returned to the deck; she was once again gazing out upon the Earth beneath. “Sonia…” Wells’ voice was familiar yet unexpected. “Oh, Wells. Please, join me!” He stood next to her as they both watched the world beneath.

  “It’s strange really… It doesn’t look any different, does it?” Wells remarked, referring to how Earth hadn’t changed at all despite all which had happened. “No, you’re right. It doesn’t. It certainly is odd, isn’t it?” Sonia agreed with him.

  “It’s still so beautiful though,” Wells shocked Sonia with this comment, as it was exactly what she had been telling everyone else all along. “This could be the last time I see it… It appears that people are getting thrown out on a daily basis
now.” Wells added to his previous comment.

  “No,” Sonia abruptly responded, turning to face him. “Listen to me, Wells, I won’t let Roger throw you out of that air lock. I’m his best friend. He’d never harm me. I’d never let him harm you either. Don’t worry, you won’t die up here… At least, not in the near future.”

  Wells smirked at her, “We’re all gonna die up here Sonia. I doubt you wouldn’t have let Roger kill Seth, or Julian, or Augustus, when we initially arrived up here. But he still did. I don’t have a problem with dying anymore, Sonia. Because if I die, Roger dies with me…”

  The thought of both men dying made Sonia shiver. “Look, if it’s just you left at the end of all this… Just go back to Earth. You can either die up here or down there… Might as well die down there I figure.” Sonia completely blanked Wells’ words – she had no intention of being the last living member of the crew.

  “Look, just… If I do go next, I want you to do something for me…” Wells scratched the back of his head, blushing slightly. “Tell Rosie I had a crush on her. Tell her I’m sorry for being too shy to ever make a move.” Sonia laughed, “Oh Wells… Always the glass half-full kind of guy aren’t you?”

  He nodded through his reddened cheeks, “Most importantly though, try to keep her alive as long as possible. Please. If it gets down to you and her, I can understand. But make sure she outlives everyone else at least, can you promise me that, Sonia?”

  She laughed again, “Wells… You can look after her yourself. I’m not letting either of you die next. Rosie’s a quiet girl, and she’s only in her early twenties. Just like you – probably why you like her, isn’t it?” He didn’t respond.

  “I know she’s in danger. Being the least talkative member of the team, she’s therefore the most likely to be voted or traded for. With Amanda on the loose, no one is safe. Least of all, Rosie. No one would notice if she disappeared because of how quiet she is. Look… Why don’t you go to her quarters? Go and find her. Go and be with her. Cherish her. Love her. Tell her that.” Sonia put her hand on Wells’ shoulder, “The world is ending. No time for secrets anymore. If it’s the last chance you get – which it isn’t, by the way – be a man, ok?”