Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End

Chapter VII: Fixing

Apollo Drakos

"Anyways," he said after a very awkward pause. "You kids have any place I can sleep?"

"The seats are the only things that are soft," I said.

Mr Aetos just crashed onto one of the seats.

"Something feels off," I said. "Something's different about him."

"I thought it was just me," asked Phoenix.

"He just isn't himself. Did you notice the change in his personality?"

"Yeah. Anyways, been serious for too long. Might catch the serious-Apollo disease."

I looked over at Mr Aetos. There definitely was something off about him. Then I heard an alarm.

"What is it?" cried Melissa.

"I don't know!" I said, running to the cockpit. And I saw that there was a fuel leakage, as it was displayed on the screen.

"It's a leakage!" I cried.

Phoenix and Melissa ran to the room. Phoenix was holding a half-eaten sandwich.

"CAN'T EVEN HAVE A SANDWICH IN PEACE?" Phoenix cried.

"CAN'T SHUT UP ABOUT SANDWICHES?" Melissa cried just as loud, but her voice was scarier than Phoenix's so he shut up.

"We really should wear our spacesuits," I said, examining the leakage display. "It can only be fixed from the outside. And we don't know what's going on with the ship. How did this happen?"

Phoenix and Melissa agreed. We wore our spacesuits.

"Can we communicate through these things when we're away?" asked Phoenix.

"Yeah, I guess," said Melissa. "But I'm staying in the ship. I don't want to risk my life by going outside."

"Stop talking as though I want to," said Phoenix. "I have self respect, you know? Your life is a grockole. Mine is a sandwich."

"Why did you become a hero then?" said Melissa, giving him a superior look.

"That's good," I said, loudly. "Because I need you both in."

Melissa went to the front. So did Phoenix. I took a thick, long rope and a few tools to repair the ship from a drawer.

"Apollo," said Melissa. "Be careful."

"I will," I said, as I went through the inner door.

I shut the inner door. It was almost completely dark. The light came from our suits. Then Phoenix opened the outer door. Well, surprisingly, it was not so dark outside. The reason, I figured, was that the Earth had its own light now (though it was not a star) and it reflected sunlight as well.

"Melissa and Phoenix," I said. "Can you hear me?"

"I can," Melissa's voice echoed through my ears.

"Good," I said.

"Apollo," said Phoenix. "Don't die, or I'll kill you. I mean it. I'll kill your dead body."

"Not funny," I said, even though I felt like smiling. "But hey, look after yourselves, I'll be fine."

Then, I noticed that I was about to jump into a dark, never-ending void. It gave me a thrill. And fright. I jumped.

I don't know what I expected after jumping off, but all that happened was that I banged my head against the top of the doorway. Phoenix began to laugh.

"What?" I said. "You think it's funny?"

"Yeah-ah," he said, laughing his head off.

This guy was so weird. He had first asked me to be safe, and then laughed because my head hit the top of the doorway. Luckily, my helmet protected me from it. Why would he laugh?

I put my right leg out. Then, with a little hesitation the left one. It felt so weird that I was floating I could still here Phoenix laughing in my ears. I was seriously annoyed. I mean, just stop.

Anyways, he closed the outer door. I stayed near that door, floating. Then, I kicked myself off gently. When I went far enough, I realised how big the ship was. About seven percent of the ship was not fuel tanks. And one of the fuel tanks was leaking. I didn't understand how. Mr Aetos had been on the inside.

I used the rope to get to that fuel tank. Then I began working on it. It was not easy, but I figured out how to repair it.

As I was working, I could almost hear my mother speak to me.

"You'll be a very intelligent man one day," she had said when I had made a model of Earth that I created from a box of scraps.

"What?" I had said.

"No one your age can do this," she replied. "At least not without practice. There's something incredible inside you, and whatever you choose to become, you will be extraordinary at it."

This was about a week before my fourth birthday, when our family was enjoying on Earth, not knowing that the four of us would soon become three. We were all happily enjoying on our home planet, not knowing that we would one day be travelling in space because of some global catastrophe.

The memory of my mother often made me cry. I always used to remember her when I used to act like a mechanic, which wasn't very often. But those times were rewarding in their own way. And then I had to fix the hole as well.

"Are you done yet?" came Melissa's voice, bringing me back to the present. "I want to get rid of this damn helmet!"

"Um... not yet," I said. "Only halfway done."

I continued working on it for quite a while. It was difficult work.

"Apollo!" said Melissa suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. "I'm sweating horribly in this suit! How long will it take?"

"I'm almost done," I said.

"Well, how much more time do you need?" said Melissa impatiently.

"Just another second," I said. "In fact, I've finished it."

Then I tugged on the rope to get to the front, but nothing happened. Instead, I was pulling the rope, until I could see its end. I pulled it closer and saw that the rope was clearly broken. But I did not understand how. The rope was around three centimetres thick.

Panic seized me. My suit's oxygen was quarterly over. I also noticed I was slowly drifting away from the ship. I was running out of options. I wanted to just speed into the ship, but I couldn't.

Then I got an idea. A very dangerous idea, but then, I was in a dangerous situation already. It was a matter of life and death anyways.

I could still reach the ship, so I put my left hand on a fuel tank, and then I pulled my right hand and put it beside my left hand. Then really slowly, I moved my left hand away from my right hand, and then brought my right hand close to it.

I reached the front like that. I was going quite slow, because if I got something wrong, I'd be a dead man.

When I reached the front, I saw the rest of the rope, and attached it to another part of my suit. I still hadn't told Phoenix or Melissa about anything, because I was scared of how they would react if they knew what had happened.

So I had. I went to the door, and just as I reached, someone opened the door.

"Come in, quick!" said Phoenix, in a worried tone.

I obeyed, coming in and shutting the door. It felt good to be on solid ground again. Phoenix shut the outer door, and opened the inner door.

We went through, we shut it, we removed our suits, etc. It also felt good to be relieved of the suit.

"I've applied a fresh supply of oxygen to the ship," said Phoenix, holding up a spray and keeping it back in a drawer.

I gobbled up a sandwich.

I hardly heard Phoenix say to me, "We were worried. Eat. Remember the book that I had given you to read? That guy ate so many sandwiches that he died. Well, don't eat so much, but eat a lot."

I didn't remember reading such a book but Inodded, finished my sandwich and slept again. I guess I deserved sleep. It onlyfelt like a few seconds, but when I woke up, I saw something that could changeour lives forever. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to live my life inpeace ever again.