“It's odd anyone would be out here,” you say, half to yourself.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then I don't think we should let ourself be known. We don't know who they are or what they want.”
“Well, Ok ,” replies. She is staring intently at a bunch of incomprehensible hieroglyphics on her terminal. After a couple of minutes she starts typing furiously.
“What's happening?” you say.
“They're approaching the ship.”
“Can we make our ship look dead?”
“Sure. Help me out, the access code is 'Mark.'”
“He's growing up, isn't he?” you say as you log in.
“Yeah. Mark's a cute kid. I love him.”
“I can tell. I love him too.”
The lights in the bridge flicker and die.
“Well, I was thinking of dad when I set the password,” replies, her voice shaking a little.
You reach out your arm and pull her into a tender hug. You haven't held her like this for years. The last time was before you raped her. You feel an emptiness inside of your chest. She continues to type away but lays her head against you.
“I miss him too,” you say lamely.
She sniffles a bit bit before banging away with renewed vigor. “, I need your help with this. We have to kill the gravity and adjust the yaw at the same time.”
“OK, what do I do?”
“Just start ramping down the gravity slowly, if you go too quickly I'll tell you.”
A few minutes later you are staring through the window with your sister, the two of you bathed in starlight. You can see the vessel slowly drift right by your ship. It's tiny.
“Do you think they will force their way inside?” asks.
“Out here in the middle of nowhere? Nah. Where would they fence anything they managed to salvage? I wonder what they are doing.”
After a few tense minutes they fly off. By the time the colony ship is powered up the strangers are on the other side of the planet and in all likelihood headed off never to return.
“Well, I think you made the right choice,” says supportively, with no doubt in her voice. “They could have rescued us but it's pretty suspicious to find anyone out here. I wonder what they are up to?”
“Yeah, I wonder,” you say. What you really wonder is weather it was wise to stay hidden. |