The scanner in the pilot’s cabin read 852,0 °C outside. Next to a star with a heat burst in progress… that’s expected.
“Opening airlock in thirty seconds”, Heather tweaked some switches.
In the airlock, Tony stood ready in his spacesuit, holding a space surfing board.
“Y’know, that’d be our fiftieth planet”, he said.
“Amber would’ve loved that”, Ethan watched him through a small window. “She always counted.”
Heather’s heart skipped a beat. She counted, too. Mission number forty-one took Amber away.
“Let’s do it in her memory. Three, two, one…” She opened the airlock.
“Love the space breeze!” Tony smiled and jumped off the ship.
The board allowed him to surf the heatwave while sustaining a protective force field. Now, Tony needed to scatter the devices – small metal spheres – to catch and contain the stellar flare before it reached the nearby planet.
“There’s a meteoroid coming your way,” notified Ethan, monitoring the radars.
Tony dodged just in time, then shot another rock from a laser gun. And another one. And another.
“Two asteroids just smashed into each other nearby”, Heather rescanned the area. “There’ll be a shower of them – go back, Tony!”
“Oh, c’mon, I can handle a few rocks.”
But he couldn’t, not without Amber.
“I’m going after him,” Ethan intervened. “I’m not her, but…”
“Exactly”, Heather interrupted. “Stop trying to impress her. You’ll get yourself killed.”
“Too late, Heather. I died when she did.”
Already in a spacesuit, Ethan picked up a spare surfing board and opened the airlock manually.
Heather wanted to scream. If only he knew…
Ethan caught up with Tony just in time to shoot a big rock coming his way.
“One device left,” Tony said, speeding up; Ethan followed him, shooting more rocks, until one hit his own surfing board. His force field started to decline.
“I guess this is it”, he said nervously. His spacesuit was melting.
“Damn I be if it is”, Tony turned around sharply, reaching Ethan and dragging him on his own board. It wasn’t designed for two people, but for now, it held.
Heather revved the engine up to full power and caught up with the surfers, putting the ship in the way of meteoroids as a shield, hoping to buy some time while rocks were smashing into it.
Tony threw the last sphere into space. “Ready – now!”
Heather activated the network of spheres, and the heatwave was gone.
“Guys, today was a disaster”, said Tony. “Time to move on. We need four in our team.”
They were all in a medical centre, putting ice patches on Ethan’s burns.
“I know you both loved her”, he continued, “I’m sorry she didn’t even live enough to make her choice…”
“She did”, Heather closed her eyes. Sometimes, she could still feel the taste of Amber’s lip balm. Strawberries. Back then, they had no time to tell everyone.
Ethan stood up abruptly, ignoring the pain.
“Alright. Let’s move on”, he said and left the room.
“That’s agreed, then,” signed Heather.
