The scanner in the pilot\u2019s cabin read 852,0 \u00b0C outside. Next to a star with a heat burst in progress\u2026 that\u2019s expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOpening airlock in thirty seconds\u201d, Heather tweaked some switches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the airlock, Tony stood ready in his spacesuit, holding a space surfing board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cY\u2019know, that\u2019d be our fiftieth planet\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cAmber would\u2019ve loved that\u201d, Ethan watched him through a small window. \u201cShe always counted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather\u2019s heart skipped a beat. She counted, too. Mission number forty-one took Amber away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s do it in her memory. Three, two, one…\u201d She opened the airlock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLove the space breeze!\u201d Tony smiled and jumped off the ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The board allowed him to surf the heatwave while sustaining a protective force field. Now, Tony needed to scatter the devices \u2013 small metal spheres – to catch and contain the stellar flare before it reached the nearby planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a meteoroid coming your way,\u201d notified Ethan, monitoring the radars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tony dodged just in time, then shot another rock from a laser gun. And another one. And another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTwo asteroids just smashed into each other nearby\u201d, Heather rescanned the area. \u201cThere\u2019ll be a shower of them \u2013 go back, Tony!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, c\u2019mon, I can handle a few rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he couldn\u2019t, not without Amber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m going after him,\u201d Ethan intervened. \u201cI\u2019m not her, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExactly\u201d, Heather interrupted. \u201cStop trying to impress her. You\u2019ll get yourself killed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToo late, Heather. I died when she did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already in a spacesuit, Ethan picked up a spare surfing board and opened the airlock manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather wanted to scream. If only he knew\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethan caught up with Tony just in time to shoot a big rock coming his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne device left,\u201d Tony said, speeding up; Ethan followed him, shooting more rocks, until one hit his own surfing board. His force field started to decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI guess this is it\u201d, he said nervously. His spacesuit was melting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDamn I be if it is\u201d, Tony turned around sharply, reaching Ethan and dragging him on his own board. It wasn\u2019t designed for two people, but for now, it held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tony threw the last sphere into space. \u201cReady – now!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather activated the network of spheres, and the heatwave was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGuys, today was a disaster\u201d, said Tony. \u201cTime to move on. We need four in our team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were all in a medical centre, putting ice patches on Ethan\u2019s burns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know you both loved her\u201d, he continued, \u201cI\u2019m sorry she didn\u2019t even live enough to make her choice…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe did\u201d, Heather closed her eyes. Sometimes, she could still feel the taste of Amber\u2019s lip balm. Strawberries. Back then, they had no time to tell everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethan stood up abruptly, ignoring the pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlright. Let\u2019s move on\u201d, he said and left the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s agreed, then,\u201d signed Heather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The scanner in the pilot\u2019s cabin read 852,0 \u00b0C outside. Next to a star with a heat burst in progress\u2026 that\u2019s expected. \u201cOpening airlock in thirty seconds\u201d, Heather tweaked some switches. In the airlock, Tony stood ready in his spacesuit, holding a space surfing board. \u201cY\u2019know, that\u2019d be our fiftieth planet\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1539],"tags":[1565,1567,1398,1563,8,1564,7,122,20,145,9,14,1566,385,1332],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-heat","tag-airlock","tag-amber","tag-board","tag-ethan","tag-he","tag-heather","tag-her","tag-him","tag-his","tag-just","tag-said","tag-she","tag-spacesuit","tag-surfing","tag-tony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-BU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2351,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions\/2351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}