Jensen looked down at the back of the old man’s helmet, his hand gripping the multi-tool tight enough to make his forearm burn. He could end it right now. Laser the back of the helmet and split it open enough so it wouldn’t reseal, let the water flood the old man’s suit and finish the …

 The sea had always seemed impossibly vast to Jimmy, but staring out at the pitch black deep as he contemplated how he would break things off with Zoe made it look like he was staring at an endless space. The transport lights tried hard to illuminate everything around them but its attempt seemed pathetic. They …

The massive center flooded with rich, colorful light. Music playing all around them. Thousands of people laughing and having the time of their lives. Restaurants, bars, clubs, businesses of all kinds, anything that anyone could want was all around, plus more. Lumis had taken what they had built at the other two cities and turned …

Jimmy waved his hand over the door console and waited. When nothing happened, he pulled his comm unit to his lips only to have the door open unexpectedly. The changing room inside was small, making the big door leading into it seem unnecessary. On each side were rows of lockers and a single suit hung …

“It’s probably sealed for a reason,” said Jimmy as they stood in front of a food transport chute. They had attempted to open the main door but not even Nee had been unable to override the lock. Now, they stared at the only other way in. It’d be the first place I close off to …

The food was not warm but it was many times more acceptable than chewing through frozen chunks and frost over his mouth and gullet. At least now the nerves in his teeth weren’t sending signals of shock through his jaw and his belly could feel satisfied with the steady stream of nutrients being offered to …

Lumis had tried to get him to go to therapy. Not Lumis as a whole, but the supervising board. They were concerned about his mental health after multiple reports had flagged Jimmy as toxic to his peers. They all believed that if Jimmy learned to reason why, that he would be able to perform even …

The amount of time he had been stuck in this freezer felt unreal. According to Nee he had been there five days, but his mind told him otherwise. He had been there weeks, no months, maybe a year. There was no way it had been only five days, but if it was, those were five …

Every corner he hugged, each window he looked through, every second he checked behind his shoulder. Any trace of confidence Jimmy had felt before reaching food storage was gone. He had become the lost puppy, afraid of the unknown world around him and letting his senses guide him as best they could. But he couldn’t …

There was a massive pressure in the back of his eyes that made it impossible to ignore the beating of his heart inside his head. He felt pain across his face, like a pulsing ache that would sting even from the bite of the air. He groaned but even that was painful as the shifting …

They walked through the halls together, each one holding a bag of severed fingers. He had been quick to hop to the opportunity for more answers. He was glad she was not the type of person that felt the need to talk unnecessarily either. They had made some pointless banter among each other at first …

With his mind lost in thought, he didn’t even feel the trip. One second he had been outside the parlor with his head sunk in misery, the next he was in the gargantuan floor that housed the welcoming stores of Galapagos 3, his ego lost to the clouds. He trailed toward engineering, all the while …

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” shrieked Jimmy as he felt the teeth of a starving stray dog chewing through his wound. He felt something smother his mouth with so much force that he felt as if he were about to be raped. His eyes sprang open and he tried to struggle but he was too weak to do anything. …

The sound of the creature’s claws scratching wildly at the entrance woke Jimmy in a panic. His body felt frail and clammy as if he had been sweating profusely. He could tell he had not yet fully healed by the inconsistency of his hearing. Pain shot through his side as he sat up but he …

He was regretting every moment of this. There was no reason to put his life at risk again. Especially now, just so he could win Patricia over to his side. She had been kind enough to wait until he was somewhat confident enough to walk on his own but it meant that if they were …

Throughout Jimmy’s life he had never been able to sleep with others in the same room and if he could somehow manage to doze off enough, any shift or noise, no matter how faint, had woken him in a panic. Here and now, however, it seemed his body cared more about his recovery than entertaining …

“I’m sorry,” came a voice that echoed all around him. Everything was completely black. He could hear someone sobbing in no particular location, as if it were happening everywhere, yet nowhere. “I’m sorry,” he heard again. “I shouldn’t have done that. You deserve better.” Jimmy began to feel something again but was unable to pinpoint …

“Malto,” said Patricia as they walked side-by-side down the dark corridors, each with a bag that contained two pairs of suits they had been instructed to carry with them. It hadn’t taken long to take apart the internal drive for the work station. It had seemed too simple, but he had to admit that he …

He placed the last suit over the mechanism they were using to fill them up with oxygen. “Ready,” he told Patricia as he felt the suit finally stay up on its own. Patricia tapped the panel close by and the sound of escaping gas resonated around them. “Fond memories of this place,” said Patricia with …

“…Dr. Lagos,” said Aida as Jimmy and Patricia stood in front of the mounds of furniture, piping, faux plants, anything that could be used to barricade the doors that kept them from the living quarters.  “We’re familiar,” Jimmy said back. “Please tell me he’s close to the entrance.” “He’s not far from it,” she said …

He didn’t know how long it went on for. Hours, minutes, maybe seconds. He heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing. The burning pain at his back, legs, and feet. The occasional cry that arose from the woman on his back. It seemed to be engulfed by the wallowing misery in his mind. It wasn’t until …

Just like on a roller coaster, the anticipation and worry over the worst had been for nothing. Jimmy had felt the pulsing of his heart in his fingertips as he had watched the water rise, the large circular door sliding open. He had expected the bony limbs of the creature to slip through the jams …

The door pushed open and startled Jimmy, bringing him up from his knees. Patricia stood there, a curious expression that quickly turned to relief. Jimmy smiled back and took a short step toward her. She threw her arm out and reeled him in for an embrace. She was no longer in her suit which gave …

Her hand ran over his providing the reassurance he needed. Jimmy looked up at her, expecting her to disappear as all good things in his life did, but here she was still. Her breathtaking smile, just as he remembered.  He had agreed to Patricia’s suggestion and taken it upon himself to reach out to the …

Do the job. Come home.  Daniel Erickson had lived by those words for the past 23 years, from the moment his wife had first said them to him. Not once had he ever strayed. He had been true to her from the moment he met her, and in return he had kept a strong marriage …