Page 42 of Sol Survivor

“Tap your heels together to activate magnetization.”He balanced a helmet over her head and tapped the top until it was a snug fit.Her breath fogged the visor.He flipped it back with a chuckle while clipping the suit to the helmet.

She did the same for him, except the tapping.As tall as he was, she couldn’t reach.He had no problem doing it himself and clipping the suit to the helmet.

“Comes with practice.”He handed her a blaster and strapped one to his thigh.She did the same.After flipping her visor down, he hit the airlock release.As the door slid open, he unhooked two silver guns that had the look of bazookas of old.“You can’t pick these up with gravity activated.They’re heavy.”

She wasn’t paying him that much attention, not with the vastness of space before her and the dwindling Lunar Base orbiting the moon.Behind that was Earth, happily spinning on its axis as if her life wasn’t in peril.

“Computer, extend tethers.”His voice filled her ears.

Something snapped onto Vic’s shoulders, but before she could spin to study his back, he pushed himself out the door.At the last minute, he caught the door’s edge and swung himself.He vanished from sight.Fear strangled her throat, and she thrust herself at the door.

“Hurry up, Vic.This is a time-waster of note, and I have pasta sauce on the boil.”His voice in her ears calmed her erratic heartbeat.Moving in the cumbersome suit didn’t bother, not when anti-gravitational fighting had been part of Carne’s training.In a tank, the chance of floating off was zero.She shuddered.Would Dieter fetch her if her tether snapped?

She caught the edge and mimicked his maneuver, tapping her heels at the last minute.The thud-thud reverberated up her legs when the boots pinned her to the outside of the ship.

“The longest part of this is the walking.”He pointed with his nitro gun to the stern where plumes burned with bright light.

At each thud, she grew accustomed to the task of strolling with space around her, mostly by pretending it wasn’t there.He recited his pasta recipe he hoped she’d like.Yeah, there had to be something on the intra on how to cook old school.Protein bars on a plate with hydro-gel in a glass was all her struggling brain could envision.

“Sometimes I have to suit up to repair a panel or exchange fuses some idiot engineer installed on the outside.”He paused and gestured to the lumps of mustard yellow clinging to the side of the ship.She was so close to the engines, the sol heat dewed sweat on her brow, and the white plumes burned shapes into her retinae.

“How can you see?”She blinked to clear her tearing eyes.

He chuckled.“It’s always the little things I forget.Computer, activate the sunvisor for Vic.”

“Sunvisor activated.”

When her visor tinted, she sighed.Gazing out to space, there was a sense of peace amid the lethal beauty.She didn’t feel as alone as she thought she would, just as long as her boots stuck to the metal beneath her.

“Okay, on the count of three, hit the switch on the side and aim for the piles.”Laughing, he called out three and fired.

She joined him, blasting the yellow lumps.They popped off like hydro-gel caps.The momentum launched them into space, toward the Lunar Base.

“They’ll catch a ride on another ship.”He stepped to the side and aimed at the next pile.

One by one, they cleared the itaya.It was satisfying work.No creature was harmed, and her relief at that meant she might not be the one to slaughter a pig when the time came.

Chapter Sixteen

Year: 2219

Mula Pesada

Vicgiggledasthechickens swarmed her, bumping her with their additional appendages.More legs made sense.Last night, Leah made roasted chicken and salad.Vic had never tasted anything that good.Well, besides Dieter’s pasta.Her raving drew a blush from Leah, though, at this point, Vic couldn’t say whether it was from embarrassment or if their vendetta was ongoing.

Computer had awoken her to tend to her task.As soon as she unhooked the bag, the chickens gathered around her.Sprinkling the seed garnered a little breathing space.She hooked the bag and chose the next, the one with ‘P’ on it.The contents made her gag.Rotten food, something she wouldn’t have wasted to begin with, had to be poured into the troughs.The cow bags were closest to them, marked with a ‘C.’She stuck in her hand and pulled out pale-gold strands.A deep inhale filled her chest with…she couldn’t say.There was something deeply organic about the smell, like sand, dead grass, sun, and dew.

“There’s hydroponics just for the cows.Captain loves his cream and cheese.”

Vic cast a grin over her shoulder.“Morning, Dieter.Thanks for my UV light.”

He shrugged.“Did it while you were dockside.”His fingers twitched as if he longed to ask about her unscheduled trip.Instead, he scooped a metal bucket off a shelf and strode to the farthest cow.He stroked her nose, taking the time to greet her before kneeling to place the bucket under the udders.“Come, Vic.”

She mimicked his greeting, with an added scratch behind the cow’s soft ear, then kneeled on the opposite side of Dieter.The cow twitched away from her, shuffling on her feet.

“Mm, seems I need to do this a few more times before Spots is comfortable with you.Watch my fingers.”He wrapped his hand around an udder, and with a gentle tug, squeezed from top to bottom.A jet of white liquid hit the bucket’s bottom.“Do this until you reach the black mark on the inside of the bucket.That’s all we ask of them each day.”

“All right, and what’s this one called?”She rose and rubbed the cow’s nose.

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