Hang In There

Chapter 7

I woke up remembering the remnants of a dream.

Frank talking with Alistair. Alistair laughs and shakes his head. Frank says something. Alistair nods.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly, looking around at where I was.

Medbay

I would've laughed at the irony, but my memories had caught up with me. "What happened?" I asked the figure next to me. "Why is it so dark?"

Frank smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Alistair and Emma sabotaged the lights by taking my tablet. For your first question, Alistair took you out, and we were all thrown in here."

"What deal did you make with Alistair?" I blurted out.

His eyebrows shot up, and he responded cautiously, "I asked him for more time. Apparently he needed time anyways, so it wasn't much of a deal." Frank smiled weakly.

I rose up to my feet, steadying my hand against the wall. "We need to fight back! I won't just let him kill me or you!"

His voice was barely a whisper. "Kate, look around you." As I looked around, I saw Yellow sitting with Pink, trying to calm her down. White was sitting upright, watching Black, who was barely conscious. Green was tending to Lime and Blue, both of whom were unconscious. "They're in no condition to fight."

"And no one's in a condition to die. We at least have to try." I pleaded with him, as I walked unsteadily toward the center of the room.

I could feel everybody's eyes watching me, wondering, the same question burning in their minds.

I turned around to face them. "I know that most of us here think that we can't fight back. I know that we think that we're going to die." I started slowly. I saw Frank watching me, wondering where I was going with this. Even I didn't even know. "But we can't die, not having tried at all. If Alistair and Emma end up killing me, so be it. But I promise that I won't go without a fight. There are two questions here: Are all of us willing to fight for ourselves and each other? And, will we work together to save us and basically, Earth, from two murderers?"

I looked around, hoping that somebody would step up, hoping that someone would also believe.

I was met with silence.

The astronauts went back to whatever they were doing. I was about to go back to where I was sitting when I heard a quiet voice say, "We can use the medical kits here to heal people, so that they'll be in good condition."

I turned around, and saw White was the one that had spoken. Black nodded. "We can use the Scan to check if everybody's well."

Green added, "I can tend to people. I have some medical experience."

Soon everybody was talking and working, until someone spoke. Frank.

"We can take Emma out. But what about Alistair? I was the only one possessed by him, and I know how much energy he can take out of you in just a matter of minutes. If he takes possession of one of us, how are we going to attack him if it's going to hurt the person he's controlling? How are we going to defend ourselves?"

Everybody went quiet. There was a moment of absolute silence. Then I asked, "You bargained for more time right? How much time were you able to get?"

He smiled grimly. "He needed exactly an hour. But seeing how much time has passed since, I'd say there's around a minute left."

Frank was right. As soon as his words settled in, the doors popped open. And Alistair walked in, with Emma right behind him, holding rope in her left hand.