“It’s not an ideal situation for either of us,” he said. “But we don’t have another choice right now. And I hate to rub it in… but this was your idea.”
Tapestry glared at him.
“Yes, I’m sure you hate to rub it in, don’t you?” she said.
Malcolm rolled his eyes as she floated down the connecting hallway. He took another look around the cockpit, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the extent of the controls, despite Melvin’s reassurance.
The interior of the spaceship felt very different with the power reengaged. Before, it had bordered on being creepy, given what little they knew of the crew’s disappearance and the poor lighting.
Now, there was a warm, almost soothing quality to it that Malcolm was sure had been an essential part of the original design. It felt like someone had merged a futuristic living habitat with an expensive hospital room, comfortable, but antiseptic.
The room they’d first entered when they’d flung themselves through the portal now felt more like a kitchen than a conference room. Malcolm noticed that the table had a latch on it. He lifted it open and found a variety of food packed neatly away.
He picked out some beef jerky sealed in airtight wrapping, and a pouch of some kind of juice with a straw attached to drink from. Tapestry had gone deeper into the ship. He figured she could probably use some time to herself.
He settled down into one of the seats, strapping himself in and carefully opening the packages. Crumbs and liquid droplets were not something he wanted to experience in zero gravity.
The food improved his mood almost instantly. Malcolm could see a path forward now. They would make it to Europa, find Savior, rescue him, and then return to Earth. Savior would be able to stand a chance against Second Wind. The Champion Authority would rise again.
And then, I’ll live happily ever after. It’s all so simple and straightforward… And it will never go that smoothly.
The spaceship suddenly felt confining to him. Which, he had to grant, it was. He and Tapestry were basically prisoners of their circumstances. They were in the same situation as men living aboard submarines, trapped in a small, unchanging vessel for months at a time.
He took a slow breath, forcing himself to stay calm. Malcolm had just finished eating his food when he heard Tapestry scream.
CHAPTER 19
Malcolm threw himself down the hallway, flying faster than it was safe to as he hurtled toward the origin of Tapestry’s scream. It had come from the direction of the exercise chamber. Malcolm noticed immediately as he entered that the hatch to the small chamber he’d seen before was now closed.
“Tapestry!” he shouted.
“I’m… okay,” she said. “I just… wasn’t expecting this.”
There was a switch next to the hatch. Malcolm pressed it, and the hatch opened. Tapestry was floating inside the tiny room, but what caught his attention wasn’t her, but the walls.
Each one, along with the ceiling, the floor, and even the back of the hatch, was covered with a high definition display. All of them were currently showcasing a park on Earth, grass, trees, and people walking around. The room was a simulation chamber, and Tapestry had apparently activated it by accident.
“Neat,” said Malcolm. “This must be for the crew’s entertainment.”
“That sounds about right,” said Tapestry. “I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
“Maybe you should try it again after a month or two of staring at blank walls,” said Malcolm.
Tapestry slid out through the hatch, scowling as she went by him.
“You haven’t eaten yet,” said Malcolm. “Come on. I think you’ll be in a better mood once you have a full stomach.”
He showed her what he’d discovered under the table. Tapestry didn’t seem that enamored with the selection of food, though she eventually picked a few things out to nibble at.
While she ate, Malcolm’s curiosity got the better of him. He floated back to the simulation chamber, pausing outside briefly before slipping in. The screens activated as soon as he closed the hatch, plunging him into a darkness lit only by the blue menu on one of the screens in front of him. The options “Past”, “Present”, “Future”, and “Personal” stood in a neat little row.
Malcolm considered for a moment before selecting “Past”. The screens shifted, displaying rows of tiny thumbnails, like the viewing gallery for the camera on his old phone. He singled out one that was of a park and pressed it with a finger.
A park seems safe enough. Right?
All the screens shifted. Malcolm found himself in a wide open park, with green grass displayed by the screen underneath his feet and a deep blue sky smudged with cotton candy like clouds above. There was a large pond in front of him with a man and a woman pedaling a swan boat. They were holding hands and appeared to be very much in love. A family sat on a blanket to his left, with three children playing monkey in the middle with foam ball.
It brought a nostalgic ache to Malcolm’s heart. He’d played games like that with Danny and his friends, as a child. How long had it been? He didn’t even know if there were any safe parks left in the country, anymore.
The wind was blowing in the simulation, and he felt a little frustrated by the fact that he could see the grass swaying without being able to feel it. He suddenly wanted to be in the simulation, or rather, he wanted to make it real.
The simulation chamber, Malcolm realized, was there as much for motivation as it was for recreation. It was there to remind the astronauts of what the world had been like, and presumably, what it could be like again.
It didn’t motivate Malcolm, at least not during his first experience with it. It made him want to lie down in bed, and deepened the weight on his shoulders. Failing was not an option for him and Tapestry, and that opened them both up to so many desperate situations, and so much danger.
He left the simulation chamber in a daze, his eyes only slowly adjusting to the bright LED lights of the rest of the ship. He floated through the ship slowly, feeling half tempted to curl up into a little ball, or maybe crawl into one of the tethered sleeping bags he’d seen before.
Malcolm found Tapestry in the cockpit, sitting in the captain’s chair. She had a scowl on her face and was pressing the buttons that controlled the communication system, to no avail.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She made a noise and turned her scowl onto him.
“I need to get a message to Melanie,” said Tapestry. “So much has happened that I didn’t even stop to think about letting her know that I’m okay when we were talking to Melvin.”
“I think they closed the communications channel from their side,” said Malcolm. “You might have to wait until they get in touch with us.”
Tapestry glared at him.
“Don’t you have anyone back on Earth that you care enough about to check in with?” she asked.
Rose… If she even remembers me.
He shook his head, avoiding her gaze.
“No,” he said. “Not anymore.”
“Liar.” Tapestry’s fingers left the command console, and she turned her full attention onto him. “I know the truth, Malcolm. All of it.”
The tone of her voice let him know that it was finally time for them to have a certain conversation. One they’d both been avoiding since the start of their post collapse reunion. The shadow of Second Wind hung over them both. The shadow of Malcolm’s lies, mistakes, and deception.
“He told me,” said Tapestry. “Your copy. He explained everything on that night he confronted us in my house. His first night as a demon. He gave me… a detailed series of events. A timeline, practically, from when Rose first came into your life. Of how she’d been living in your apartment, and you’d been hiding her from me, right under my nose. Like I was just some kind of… idiot. Just your idiot partner who didn’t deserve any part of the truth.”