The Power of The Sun, In The Palm of Our Hands

Tucker and Emma laughed, still enjoying themselves. Still unaware of their friend Emma who had fallen off the tower in space and was now motionless on the ground. A poor soul that probably only had moments left in this realm.

And they were drinking.

Tucker shook his head. “That’s crazy!”

“No, that’s fifty Euro.” said Emma.

“Whoa, I’m pretty sure we were talking dollars, not Euros.”

“You might have been. So, you got that on you now or…?”

Then she glanced at the monitor and frowned. Lien’s camera was still on the ground.

“Oops,” she muttered. “Doesn’t even look like she noticed her camera fell.” She pressed the radio. “Hey, Lien, looks like you dropped your camera.”

Silence.

Emma sat up in her chair and cleared her throat. “Lien, you dropped your camera. Over.”

Nothing. It was as if she was talking to herself.

“Lien, you have dropped your camera. Do you read? Over.”

More silence. The emptiness of the radio made them sweat.

Tucker hit the speaker button. “Lien?”

Nothing.

They both bolted out the door.

***

The whole crew ran as fast as their feet would take them. Boots pounding against the metal floor. Faces tight with fear.

“What the hell, Emma?” Jack snapped, keeping pace beside her.

“I know, I know!”

“You were supposed to be watching her!”

“I was!”

“Then why is she on the ground?”

“If I knew that, I’d have told you already.”

“Lay off!” Akira snapped.

Dr. Martinez cut through their bickering. “How long has she been out there?”

“Couldn’t have been long!” said Tucker, “We only looked away for a second.”

Jack shot him a look. “Doing what?”

“Will you shut up?” yelled Victor.

“That’s enough!” Martinez barked. “Focus on what’s important! We aren’t going to get to her back ”

They reached the locker room next to the airlock. They all squeezed in, rushing. Tucker slammed the button, and the door slid open, revealing the row of spacesuits. They all grabbed the first one they saw.

Chaos.

They scrambled, bumping into each other, yanking at helmets and gloves.

Martinez, being the lead, took charge. “We can’t wait for everyone to suit up. Akira, Emma, you’re the fastest. Everyone else, out.”

Tucker opened his mouth to argue.

“I said out!” Martinez snapped.

Tucker hesitated, but then stormed out with Victor, Jack, and Martinez.

He watched helplessly from the other side as Akira and Emma finished suiting up. They hit a button inside the airlock and gas shot inside, depressurizing the small room. The artificial gravity turned off and their light steps inside turned to bouncing as if they were on a trampoline.

The gate opened and they hopped outside as fast as they could.

They moved across the lunar surface in wide, weightless strides. The bunker loomed behind them. Lien lay still in the dust, her suit stark white against the endless gray.

They couldn’t see her face. When they got to her, Emma rolled her over. Her face shield was too fogged to see.

“How is she?” asked Akira.

“I don’t know! Just get her inside!” said Emma.

The rest of the team rushed inside the surveillance room. Victor flipped through the cameras, searching.

Then he found it, Akira and Emma lifting Lien’s body.

Jack exhaled hard. “I hope she’s not dead.”

“What?” said Tucker, “Of course she’s not! Why the hell would you say that?”

“I said I hope she’s not. All I’m saying is there was no air resistance to slow the fall—”

Tucker grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

“She’s not dead, you hear me? So shut up already!”

Martinez and Victor pulled them apart. He was done with their squabbling. Now was not the time for emotion. Emotions cost people their lives and he wouldn’t have a dead teen on his conscience.

“Break it up!” he barked, “Focus on what we can do to help, nothing else! Understand? Jack, stop being an ass and get the med bay ready. Tucker, go help them bring her inside. Vic, status?”

Victor was already on the radio. “Akira, this is Victor. Do you read? Over.”

A beat of static. Then—

“Yes, I read you. Over.”

“How is she? Over.”

Another pause.

Then Akira’s voice came back, tight and uncertain.

“I don’t know. Just trying to get her inside. Over.”

***

Tucker and Akira moved fast, pushing Lien’s limp body through the corridor on a stretcher. Emma was close behind them with a clean pink jumpsuit. 

Their boots pounded against the floor, as they rushed. They were careful but quick. The stretcher was old. Too fast and she’d topple over. Too slow and she could die. The med bay wasn’t far, but every second felt like an eternity.

***

The medical bay was a circular room designed for efficiency. Medical beds jutted out from a central pillar like spokes on a wheel. Along one side, a massive viewing glass overlooked the corridor. Jack paced back and forth waiting for them with some medical equipment on a silver table.

Jack was their medical expert. He, like the other juniors, had never known a world without turmoil. The gas and oil resources dried up 3 years before he was even born. In this new world, many functions that were once limited to adults were now open to children.

Britain underwent a civil war when he was 10 and he used to care for the injured with his parents. Now at 17, he had seven years of medical experience. Over the years he had become stern, only lashing out when his emotions had boiled over.

His sternness sometimes came off as offensive, hence why people called him a jackass. He wouldn’t apologize for what happened between him and Tucker, but he figured if he saved her life, it would suffice.

Tucker and Akira burst in, wasting no time. They laid Lien onto the nearest bed, her suit still coated in lunar dust. Akira quickly removed her space suit, down to her pink jumpsuit.

Jack quickly tended to her, his fingers pressing against her wrist, checking for a pulse. His face darkened. “She’s in cardiac arrest.” He turned to Tucker. “Can you give her CPR?” The rest of the crew rushed inside, keeping their distance to let them work.

Tucker instantly positioned himself. “On it.” he said, firmly.

He ripped open the top of her suit and started compressions. Hard, fast, steady. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

Across the room, Emma stood frozen, eyes locked on Lien, her face pale. Emma couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to her, let alone it being her fault. They were the only two women in the entire base and because of this, they were quite close. 

They stayed in the same room and spent hours talking. She was also the first to find out about her secret. It was this secret that made Emma really worried.

Emma spent her whole life around machines. Her mom, an engineer, and her dad, a mechanic. She spent her youth building machines hence she was given the engineer role. 

Unfortunately, working on that tower was such a mundane task to her, she had neglected to fully train Lien before she went out there. She bit her thumb, waiting.

Jack worked quickly, preparing the defibrillator. He took the machine off the silver table once it was ready. The machine whined as it powered up, a sharp, high-pitched sound filling the room.

Tucker kept pumping. “Come on, come on.” he said,

Jack moved Tucker out the way and placed the pads on her chest. “That’s enough! Everyone get back!” said Jack.

They stepped away.

The defibrillator let out a warning beep. Then—

ZOLT!

Lien’s back arched violently as the electricity surged through her.

A sharp gasp. A deep, ragged inhale.

She coughed hard, her body jerking. She sat up choking on air. The room exhaled like air from a tire. Tucker patted Jack on the back, relief washing over them. Emma rushed forward, throwing her arms around Lien.

“I’m so sorry!” Emma’s voice cracked. “I should’ve gone, not you!”

Lien blinked, dazed, awkwardly patting Emma’s back. For a moment her face warped to confusion. Then Lien gave a small smile. “My head hurts,” Lien rasped. “But I think I’ll be fine.”

Victor folded his arms. “What happened?” he asked.

“It was weird,” said Lien, “My… strap. It broke. Somehow.”

Dr. Martinez sighed. “We’re just glad you’re okay.”

“I still want to run some tests,” said Jack, “Everyone out.”

The team started filtering out, some murmuring reassurances. Tucker lingered at the door. For a brief moment, he and Lien locked eyes. Their body language begged them to embrace, but it seemed that something was holding them back.

Jack cleared his throat. “Tucker,” he started, “is there a reason you want to stay?”

Tucker snapped out of the trance. “Uh, no,” he said, “Great work Jack.”

He nodded at Lien and turned and left. Lien watched him take every step out.

Jack washed his hands in the sink. His voice was low. “So Lien,” Jack said firmly, “Have you told him yet?”

***

Dr. Martinez sat at his workstation in the research lab, typing rapidly on his computer. The hum of machinery filled the room. After all that stress, nothing made him feel better than getting back to work.

Across the lab, Tucker and Victor cleaned out the crystal tanks, scraping residue into collection trays. The process was tedious, but at least it was mindless.

“You know what I miss the most?” Tucker muttered. “A steak. Just a giant, thick steak.”

Victor smirked. “Your sentence is almost up. One more week, and you can go home and eat all the well-done steaks you want.”

Tucker frowned. “Well-done? You can’t cook a steak past medium. Kills the flavor.”

Victor shrugged. “My younger siblings love well-done steaks.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Figures.”

Tucker respected Victor a lot. During the turmoil in his home country, Victor and his siblings were orphaned. Killed by people who were looking for oil drums in his house. Since he was 11, he basically had been raising his siblings on his own. The IPD was a great way for him to support them. They were currently staying in government housing while he was away.

Tucker prayed Victor never learned too much about his past.

They finished stacking the cleaned tanks to the side.

“All right, we’re done,” Victor said. “You need anything else?”

Dr. Martinez pointed to the glowing rock in the press. “Yeah. Help me test this new one.”

Tucker and Victor each took hold of thick, insulated cables, waiting for Martinez to finish the setup. The scientist crouched beside the press, double-checking the positioning of a fresh crystal before moving to the crank.

“Increasing pressure,” he announced. He began cranking and the machine pressed harder. The machine hissed. Metal groaned. For a split second, the crystal flickered—just a tiny pulse of light.

Tucker stiffened. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” asked Victor.

Martinez looked up. “Problem?”

The rock just sat there. Tucker shook his head. “…Nothing. I thought I saw something.”

Martinez nodded and tightened the crank, locking it into place.

“Goggles up,” he instructed. The three of them lowered their protective eyewear. Martinez placed his hand on the activation switch.

“On my mark. In three… two… one… Mark.”

Tucker and Victor clamped down.

BOOM!

A violent surge of energy erupted from the crystal.

The entire base shook.

Tucker felt himself lifted off his feet, weightless for a terrifying second before slamming back down.

Sparks rained from the ceiling. Alarms blared.

Tucker’s brain went into hyper mode and everything happened in slow motion. He was forced to see it, perceive it, but his body was too slow to move.

Then—

Everything went dark.