The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 36

It felt strange to once again have a secret; Beck and Alice obviously had no reason to announce to the crew that they loved one another, and so it remained quiet. But as they sat around the table during down time, or at dinner, they both knew it. Like a wire that connected them, they would just simply remember that they had both finally said it, and a smile would light up on both of their faces like a shooting star. They were nearing Earth, so much so that they had stopped the spinning of the Hermes which gave it gravity; now they were floating at all times except in their rooms where they slept and the room where they ate. Instead of meeting in the rec room, they met in the kitchen because Lewis had something to say to the crew. Something serious.

"In a few days we will be sent the supply probe as we pass by Earth." Lewis began by stating what everyone knew. "Everything this extended mission needs to succeed is in that probe, and there is always the chance that we will not be able to retrieve it. A launch failure, a miscalculation. Anything. While it is slim, and we have one of the best people on board to catch the probe -Beck- we have to prepare for a failure. There is not enough food for all of us to survive this trip without the probe; if failure occurs, I have decided that we need one sole survivor. And I've decided upon Johanssen."

"Why me?" Johanssen asked curiously.

"You can man this mission on your own better than anyone else on board, and you're the smallest." Lewis took a deep breath. "In the event that this fails, the rest of us will take enough pills for a fatal overdose."

"That's still not enough-"

"Johanssen, I'm not done," Lewis said. "There will be enough food."

"Oh." Johanssen's eyes widened when she realized what Lewis was saying to her; she was telling her that she would have to eat their bodies to survive the trip. That would be the only way that she could survive the duration of the trip, but the very idea made her skin crawl. Johanssen's shy eyes darted down to her hands, where they began to fiddle one another instinctively. She was uncomfortable, but almost every single worst-case scenario was disturbing to think about. It was only a few days until the supply probe, and everything was going as well as could be expected at this point.

Alice felt that there was a huge weight off of her shoulders again when Beck had freaked out at Patrick; it had hopefully settled everything, she would have to ask Nick another time if the phone calls had stopped. But otherwise, things seemed easier. The playing field had finally leveled out between Alice and Beck, and it felt as though everything between them was completely care free. As the crew parted ways, Alice noticed that Johanssen was still sitting at the table, her hands clasped together and an obvious whiteness to her knuckles that showed how uncomfortable she was.

"You coming?" Beck asked Alice as he noticed her lingering.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." She looked over at Johanssen, then turned back to Beck. "I'll see you tomorrow."