being enclosed there. And every day, the system kept repeating the same thing about the “twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” It was driving me mad with worry. I didn’t trust the machine. There was no way for me to tell if it even was functioning properly or if it’d suffered some damage during the landing. I’d run the diagnostics on the main control panel; however, no damages had been reported. Yet there’d been no progress and no updates on Wyck during these two long days.
“Come have some breakfast with me,” Svetlana said, her voice warm and caring.
From the food replicator, she carried a second cup of coffee for me and two pieces of plain toast, one for each of us.
The atmosphere outside our ship remained volatile, forcing all of us to stay inside since the last attack. Cut off from the resources of the Dark Anomaly for the time being, we’d begun to ration the food supply available from the replicators on board. There were no more lavish meals for us.
“Come, Nadia.” She set our modest breakfast on the table.
“I’ll need to get my bed out of here, first.” I toed my mattress with my bare foot. I’d slept in my suit, but I’d taken my boots off for the night and didn’t bother putting them back on yet.
“I’ll help you move it back after breakfast,” she said. “You’ll need to eat something. Please?”
I took a seat next to her at the table and bit into the toast. The smell of coffee was oddly nauseating, so I didn’t touch the mug. I felt ravenously hungry, though, and polished off the toast in a few huge bites.
“Is Vrateus still asleep?” I asked, attempting to converse, even as all my thoughts remained on that capsule.
“Yes.” Svetlana glanced at the door to their cabin and lowered her voice. “He stayed up late last night, analyzing the situation.”
“And?”
She inhaled deeply, hugging her coffee mug with both hands.
“It’s not the first time that Vrateus has had to deal with mutiny on the Dark Anomaly.”
I nodded. Judging by the wild nature of his crew, it didn’t surprise me they’d proven difficult to control. I’d heard of other mutiny attempts before.
“He’d been able to make them submit, every time,” she continued. “But now, he’s doubting if it’s worth the price.”
“What do you mean?
“Every time there is a power struggle, a lot of people die. And Vrateus has grown to care about some of the people here too much to risk their lives.” She smiled. “I’m talking about you, me, and Wyck, of course. He wonders if he should even bother fighting for power at all.”
“He doesn’t want to be the captain anymore?”
“His main goal, now, is to keep the four of us safe and well. And it’s getting harder and harder to do so out there.” She gestured at the entrance to the corridor. “The life out there carries a constant risk, and it’s not just about surviving hardships. The crew are actively killing each other. Nothing would stop them from killing us, too.”
I understood the problem. The solution remained vague, however.
“What does Vrateus want to do?”
She bit her lip.
“There aren’t that many options, sadly. We could start a smaller community with just the four of us and whoever else would want to join on the condition that everyone works hard and respects each other. That would mean of course that the rest of the crew would be left to their own devices. It pains Vrateus to abandon them. He’s cared for their wellbeing for so long.”
“While they’ve been trying to overthrow and murder him, constantly.” I scoffed.
“True.” She scraped her hand over her face. “Anyway, we’ll have to discuss it together when Wyck gets better...”
We both turned to the medical capsule at her words.
A soft-yellow light lit up on its control screen. It hadn’t been there before. Shoving my chair back, I got up quickly, worry spiking in me.
“Something’s happening.” I hurried to the capsule, yelling at it, “Patient’s status update!”
“The life support is no longer necessary for the following functions and systems...”
A long list scrolled down the screen as the robotic voice read it out loud.
“Breathing, heartbeat, blood production...” The list went on and on.
“What exactly does it mean?” I demanded. “Is he getting better? When is he going to be well again?”
“Initiating the sequence of returning the patient to full consciousness,” the system announced instead of replying to my questions.
“He’ll be waking up, now.” Svetlana stood next to me as we both gazed at Wyck