Christmas in Space
Part 2
Why was I the
only one left? It should have been Marsh. He was stronger. Or Gloria. She had
the biggest heart.
“What are you
doing on the floor?”
I was
hallucinating. That couldn’t be Marsh’s voice. He was gone. Like the others.
Strong hands
lifted me up. I knew those hands, had felt them under my arms before. Had felt
them all over my body. Now they cradled me against a hard chest. A chest
beneath which beat a heart so loud it hurt my ears. A wonderful hurt.
“It’s about
time you got up.” His chuckle rumbled beneath my ear.
I looked into
his laughing blue eyes and reached up to touch his face. “You’re alive.”
“I’d say that
was obvious.” Again, he chuckled.
“B-But Hal said
there was a malfunction in the tubes. I thought…”
“Yeah. We woke
up early. All at once. You should have seen MT scrambling from one tube to the
next.”
“Wait.” I held
his face between my palms. “Are you saying everyone is alive?”
“And waiting
for Sleeping Beauty to get her rear in gear.”
He led me down
the passageway to the combo gathering/dining space.
“Merry
Christmas,” they shouted. Laughing and cheering, the four surrounded us. Ana
and Tom, Gloria and Bill. Alive.
After much
hugging, Marsh said, “Give her some space.”
“Hal,” I said
to the comm speaker on the wall. “Why did you let me think they all died?”
“As I recall,
you ordered me to stop speaking.”
“Yeppers.” MT had
followed us into the gathering space. “You ordered me to not to talk, too.”
They were
right. It was my own fault for jumping to conclusions. “My apologies.”
I clung to Marsh,
reluctant to let him go, even when he seated me in a chair. I stroked his face
and let my hand drift down his chest. My love was still alive.
Gloria brought
over a container of the same liquid MT had given me to drink. “This will help.”
Marsh took it from her and held it while I sipped.
She returned to
Bill’s side on one of the loveseats against the wall. Ana and Tom cuddled on
the other. When I looked away from their obvious infatuation with each other, I
saw the decorations. Garlands were strung around the doorframe and hung from
the ceiling in loops. A small artificial tree sat on the table between the
loveseats. I wondered who sneaked the tree into their gear. Sparkling lights
blinked next to tiny ornaments on the tree.
Between sips, I
asked how long they had been awake. When Marsh answered, I cried, “Two days! And
no one thought I would want to be awakened, too?”
“It was my
decision,” Marsh said. “I thought it best to let the procedure cycle normally.”
“I could have
slept through Christmas,” I groused.
“Nah. I know
how much Christmas means to you. Besides, how could I give you your present if
you were still asleep?”
I brightened at
that. I loved presents. More giving than getting, though. I loved watching
others open my gifts and seeing their delight that I’d chosen the right thing.
“What present?”
I asked.
He helped me up
and with his arm around my waist for support he led me across the room. “Close
your eyes.”
“Unfair,” I
protested but obeyed.
With me
clutching his side, we walked three more steps. He held me in front of him, his
arms around my waist. He pressed his cheek against mine. “Merry Christmas,
love.”
I opened my
eyes. We were standing in front of the viewport. There, across the black. A
magnificent blue sphere, with browns and greens, and a scattering of white
clouds. Serenity.
The planet—our
new home—looked like Earth.
Two days later,
our landing module gently set us down on the surface right on target at LZ-1.
Four cargo containers sat nearby, one for each couple plus a common use container
where we would work, eat, and hang out.
Despite Marsh’s
instrument readings that indicated an atmosphere conducive to humans, we suited
up and took our first steps onto the alien planet. As mission commander, it was
my privilege to lead the procession.
I turned to the
others. “Welcome home.”
So prosaic.
Although I’d wracked my brain for months during training, I couldn’t top Neil
Armstrong’s “One small step for man…”
“We should
rename the landing zone,” Gloria said. “LZ-1 is so—so boring.”
The others
nodded.
“What do you
all think of naming it Christmas?” Bill suggested.
“Perfect,” Tom
said. “We could enjoy Christmas all year long.” The rest of us groaned.
We each claimed
a container. Marsh and I chose the farthest on the left. Once inside, he opened
the control box and started up the artificial atmosphere. As soon as the lights
changed from red to green, I helped him off with his helmet. He did the same
for me. The air smelled musty, not surprising since the container had been
closed for seven years.
“Would you like
your Christmas present now or wait until we rearrange the module?” I asked.
He unfastened
the top of his enviro suit. “I wondered why you didn’t give me something on
Christmas Eve.” He gave me the silly grin that always set my heart aflutter.
We’d had a
small celebration the day before, singing carols and toasting the success of our
mission. I’d handed out small tokens as gifts to the others, but to Marsh I’d
whispered, “Later.”
“It’s later
already. Think I could have my present now?” He reminded me of a kid who got
his parents up at six on Christmas morning.
I shoved down
my enviro suit and soon we stood before each other in our working jumpsuits. I
put my arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss. “I’m your present,
Marsh.”
Then I stepped
back and reached for the zipper tab near my throat. Slowly, I lowered the
zipper, one centimeter at a time. All the while I looked into his eyes.
When his eyes
darkened, a shiver of delight rippled through me.
He brushed my
hands aside. “I want to open my own present.” He yanked down the zipper. When
he got to my waist, his eyes widened. “You aren’t wearing any underwear.”
I gave him a
slow grin. “Why waste time?”
Within seconds,
he shoved off my jumpsuit and dispensed with his own. We stood plastered against
each other, bare skin to bare skin. I held his face. “Think we could get
started on our mission?”
“Mission?” The
disbelief in his voice almost made me smile. “You want to talk about our
mission now?”
“Yes. The
mission to populate the planet.”
“Oh, that
mission. My pleasure, Commander. My pleasure.” His mouth came down on mine.
Afterward, we
lay in each other’s arms, squeezed between containers of medical supplies and
dried meals.
“Happy
Christmas, Marsh.”
“A very happy
Christmas, Sara.”
The End
