No Way Back (A Neo Kosmo Story)

Submitted into Contest #94 in response to: End your story with someone finally conceding to another’s point of view.... view prompt

15 comments

Science Fiction Sad Adventure

Luis stared at the Earth in the far distance, little more than a blue and green marble floating in the pitch black of space, perpetually spinning. He gazed unblinking, alone as the planet slowly but surely vanished from his view. When the Neo Kosmo had first launched there would have been crowds watching, entranced, but the once busy viewing decks now stood silent and empty.

“Luis,” a voice called over his headset, and he snapped to attention. “You’re in the next group of crew going into cryo-sleep. If you want to send a final message back home now is the time. Comms officer is ready for you.”

Luis pulled his gaze away from the windows and sighed, “I’ll be there in a moment. Thank you.”

He began trudging towards the Communication deck, walking instead of taking the ships rapid-transit system. It had already been months since he’d spoken to Alejandro, it could wait a few extra minutes.

With nearly all of the colonists and crewmembers in cryo-sleep there was no squeezing through excited groups of people, no climbing into a lift full of hopeful faces, no being asked for directions by people still finding their way around the ship, and it didn’t take him long.

The Comms Officer whose name always escaped him looked up as Luis entered, wall-to-wall displays showing wireless connections, signal relays and transmission windows across the ship. The Officer indicated over to an empty desk. “You’re all set to log in and go. Your group goes under at zero eight hundred, so you got some time. I’ll give you a moment.” He moved to the other end of the enormous room, out of earshot.

Luis logged in and prepared, his finger hovering over the record button. He sighed and slumped back into the chair, remembering the day it had all started.

***

“I’m buying!” Luis said, stopping Alejandro from paying. He already owed his friend enough coffees on a tab that must have spanned seven or eight years.

“This place is expensive man, are you sure?” Alejandro said, his wallet already out. As the owner of an architectural firm, he had no qualms paying for an extra coffee, even in the expensive old-town neighbourhoods of Madrid. He frowned, seeing Luis twinkling. “What happened?”

Luis grinned. “I have a job, so I’m treating you for once.”

Alejandro cocked his head, “You don’t need to do that. What’s the job?”

“You know the Neo Kosmo, the colony ship that’s been all over the news?” Luis paused for breath, failing to notice his friend’s eyes widen. “Well, you’re looking at a junior crewmember. I-“

“You actually took a job with them? Why?”

Luis blinked. “What do you mean why? You’re always saying how the economy is terrible for young people, how our job prospects are limited. You know how much money they pay?”

Alejandro leaned forward. He had never been one to soften his words and Luis knew he was about to receive an earful. “For one year. You realise after that you have to go to space, to another planet, and live there. Forever. There's a lot of people to take care of and being a crewmember will be hard work. I love you man but this job…it isn’t for you.”

Luis sat silent for a moment, then pressed his finger to the bill, and sulked off after it confirmed his payment.

Their silence didn’t last long. Like family, they always reconnected, but it became a topic to avoid. Luis didn’t mind. There were plenty of company events to keep him busy, a welcome change after months spent on unemployment. The venues were always exquisite - penthouse parties with views over the Madrid skyline with guests that were far more supportive than his friend.

He bought a drink for a woman in a tight red dress, and left a handsome tip for the barman.

He grinned, “Humanity’s new home among the stars. 20,000 people need some kind of support team. I suppose that’s why I took the job, to help keep everyone safe.”

Her eyes went wide. “Wow, that’s noble of you.”

“I suppose.” He giggled, the effects of expensive whiskey quickly going to his head. “Maybe I’m just a born adventurer, desperate to see the universe.”

“Maybe you are. You certainly look the part of the handsome explorer.”

Luis flushed and stammered a thank you. She toasted, and they threw the drinks back and ordered another round.

There was little real work to do. Aside from a series of manuals that he was expected to read through, much of it was still social events. Posing for photoshoots and press releases and meeting the senior officers as they toured the Federation of European States. More training would be carried out in the final six months at the London headquarters which was – much to Luis’ excitement – completely paid for by the company. At the end of each ‘work’ day, he hit the bar in his Neo Kosmo crew jacket.

Almost immediately, a young woman approached him. “You’re one of the crew? I know people who have bought tickets but no one who was actually working on the ship.”

He grinned. “Well, I suppose some people are just born to serve. Can I buy you a drink?”

She paused, then nodded and stretched out a hand.

The next morning two empty cups of coffee already sat on the table when he went to meet Alejandro at their old-town café, the yellow renaissance architecture seemingly shining in the noon sun.

“You’re late.” His friend said.

“Late night,” he grinned.

“Ok. Look I’ve been doing some research, going over your contract with Offworld Life and the Neo Kosmo.”

Luis froze, then sighed and waved over for a coffee for himself. “I thought we’d dropped this subject.”

“Hardly, it would be irresponsible of your best friend to just leave it like that. First, you can still walk away. There’s actually very little that the company can do if you walk off. They’ll try to fine you, sure, and it would be a bad mark on your employment record but it’s not like others haven’t done it already. Second, your contract includes a clause that allows you to cancel anyway. If you pay back the advance then the company will release your contract with no black marks.”

Luis spread his arms. “Well, I don’t exactly have all of the money to return.”

“I know. My firm is doing pretty well at the moment and,” Alejandro paused, “I’ve got the money to pay back what you’ve spent. No strings.”

Luis groaned. “I’m enjoying life far more than I ever have. I have money, I can buy you coffee now. I have a job, women want me. Why would I quit that?”

“Because it's temporary. Once the training starts and the ship leaves, things will be very different. I don't want you to get sucked in to what they offer now, and realise it isn't for you later."

Luis snorted. “You think I’m only doing this because I don’t have any family, that I’m being manipulated by easy money?”

Alejandro held his ground. “I think you’re making a mistake.”

Luis sat, silent. The waiter brought over his coffee, and he took a sip, his eyes wandering over the medieval brickwork. It was a far cry from the skyscrapers and event halls he was frequenting at the moment. “Can we please drop it? Can you just enjoy the fact that I can buy something for you now?” he said eventually.

Alejandro stared at the table. “That’s not what friendship is about.”

“Ok?” Luis pressed.

Alejandro raised his hands. “Fine. I won’t bring it up. But please, know that the offer is there if you change your mind.”

“I won’t, but thanks.”

True to his word, Alejandro never brought it up again. Not once over their coffee mornings, not when Luis was late, and not even when Luis headed off to London. Alejandro even walked to the station with him, despite being clearly uncomfortable.

“Good luck.” Alejandro said. “I hope it’s everything you want…talk to me all the time yeah? Anything you need, I'm here.”

“I will.” Luis promised.

London was a completely different experience. Every day was filled with hands-on training. Luis pushed through long days, listening to instructions and practicing drills for everything from escape pod emergency re-entry procedures, to how to diagnose and fix the ship’s extensive coffee machine network. It was gruelling. Beyond knowing basic ship systems, he was expected to learn first aid, tele-operation of machinery, habitat construction, and even have a rudimentary knowledge of terraforming. He finished each day exhausted. To make matters worse, the local bar scene turned out to be a disappointment.

"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked a lady at the bar.

“I'm ok thank you.” she replied, turning away.

“Really? Not even from a man going to space?”

She turned and looked at him with pity. "I'm sure, I've seen enough crewmembers pass through already."

Luis sat alone for a while. He tried striking up conversation with some others in the bar to no avail. Eventually he joined a conversation with some other crewmembers on the Neo Kosmo, but left when it became apparent it was technical talk – what they found easy, what they found hard, what they thought life on the other side would be like. He left early and walked slowly back, trying to find somewhere that served a decent coca de trampo. He ended up settling for a meal of London sausages that lacked any spice or flavour, before heading back alone to his company-provided hotel room

***

Luis sighed, his finger still hovering over the record button. It had only got worse as the departure date had grown closer. Countless nights spent reading manuals and instructions alone had given way to drills at every hour of the day. Emergency run-downs, systems tests, and exams. There was no room for error.

He slowly brought up Alejandro’s contact card and began recording a message.

“Hey, I’m sorry for the delay. I can’t lie, it’s hard work right now. I’m basically on call all the time. A lot of people have paid a lot of money for tickets, and it’s all really serious.

“I kept thinking, maybe it will change. Maybe after the initial training it will chill again. Maybe after the emergency drills. Maybe after the ship is in orbit. Maybe once the ship is on the way. Maybe before cryo-sleep. I just kept thinking maybe, maybe after the next thing it will go back to being parties and fun again, you know? I'm sure you'd love to say you told me so right now.

“I nearly asked for your help, but...I wanted to see it through. At some point I gotta stand on my own feet right?

“Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm going to miss you. I'll miss the coffees, the brunches, everything. Wish me luck!”

He closed the recording and sat for a moment in silence. He had already seen the arrival plans. Once he woke up from the 500 year cryo-sleep he was looking at 14 hour long days as they hurried to get the first colony modules landed. He sighed.

“Alejandro, you were right. This really isn’t the job for me. I made a mistake. I wish I'd have listened to you.” he said to no one.

Luis nodded over to the Comms officer. He had some time to go, and took the scenic route along the observation decks. The Earth was long gone now, but the trillions of stars that dotted the sky were equally impressive. He traced the tail of Scorpio, trying to remember how to find the constellation they were headed to, a cluster barely visible to the naked eye. He smiled, maybe once the colony was established there could be another party.

May 21, 2021 14:32

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15 comments

Kristin Neubauer
17:13 May 28, 2021

I'm sorry I'm so late to reading - it's been a heck of a couple of weeks - but I loved this. A real study in character and relationships against the sci-fi backdrop. I think I've said that of your sci-fi before.....you ground it in a humanity that we can identify with, making the story so relatable and the characters so authentic. Another great one!

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Josh C
03:33 May 29, 2021

Thanks so much Kristin! It seems like I have found my stride/voice in writing. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I haven't seen any of your stories recently? Perhaps I just missed them - it's been equally chaotic here!

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Kristin Neubauer
10:19 May 29, 2021

The past few weeks have been a blur of school work and regular work and all the other life stuff that you don’t want to do but must. I keep having ideas for the prompts but haven’t been able to sit down and write. I’m hoping to get one out for this week’s prompt but probably not until Friday. I hope you manage to give us some more stories - I always look forward to your work. Hope the new baby is doing well!

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Josh C
00:27 May 30, 2021

Haha, whenever people ask - 'where do you get ideas?' I'm like, Ideas are the easy bit. Ideas are everywhere, finding time to write them out and develop them is the hard part. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for yours. I will definitely keep writing more stories, just at a slow pace these days. I plan to see this mini-anthology thing through to at least 10 stories and move on from the Neo Kosmo. Baby is doing great, if a little demanding.

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Monica June
15:43 May 25, 2021

Wow!!! I loved the beautiful descriptions of space in this story, especially the first line: ...Little more than a blue and green marble floating in the pitch black of space, perpetually spinning. Space scares me, and that totally gave me the chills. That ending was so sad. I wanted him to listen to Alejandro! I agree with Elizabeth Inkim, sometimes a subtle ending is what a story needs. I'm bad at that, I always want to write big endings, but this stories ending fit well. Really good job!

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Josh C
00:53 May 26, 2021

Thanks Monica, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Space is scary but also so cool. I love writing and reading descriptions of it since its so different to what we experience.

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Elizabeth Inkim
21:49 May 23, 2021

I am here early, yay! I didn't see the ending coming. If you had asked me, I would have guessed that either Alejandro would have bought himself a ticket or gotten a job on the Neo Kosmo, or Luis would have left the Neo Kosmo to stay on Earth. Still, I was wrong, and this ending was better because I think it allowed Luis to grow up and admit he was wrong. For many people, that's hard, but I think it hurts to know that his best friend was right and, as always, he was wrong. Enjoyed it from start to finish. Lately, I've been going through a r...

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Josh C
07:36 May 25, 2021

Hi Elizabeth, thanks for the read! I thought the ending was going to be obvious or underwhelming, so it's great you liked it. I didn't think it was one of my better ones. I'll check out yours now!

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Elizabeth Inkim
12:06 May 25, 2021

I don’t know, I think and coming to terms with not all endings have to be “pow” in your face fireworks or explosions. I am learning to love a subtle ending and I think that’s what this is. What do you think?

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Josh C
01:02 May 26, 2021

I think the ending has to be set up by the story. Promise and payoff kind of thing. A story that focuses on inner turmoil (most of mine at the moment) will generally have a subtler ending, because the climactic moment is the protagonist overcoming themselves. A story focused on external conflict like a fight or quest will have a grander ending. I'm actually writing a novel that ends with quite a lot of explosions, and I consciously rewrote the first chapter to be more action oriented to set the tone better for the ending. I don't think one ...

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Elizabeth Inkim
03:04 May 26, 2021

True, you do make a good point there. Set-up is everything when it comes to endings. The promise of the payoff is what makes the difference between satisfaction and that internal cliffhanger you feel when you have more questions than answers. I see where you're coming from. Oh, that novel sounds interesting. I was taking one of the MasterClass with Dan Brown, the guy who wrote: Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol; and he was like, "I write the first chapter, and then I write the last chapter, and then I write to fill the res...

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09:31 May 22, 2021

Oh no! Luis! :( That's absolutely gut-wrenching to make such a permanent, life-changing mistake far away from anyone and everyone you know and love forever. I did like the optimism Luis ended on though, even though he knew he'd made a mistake. And I felt really sorry for Alejandro, too. Watching someone you love make a mistake and being helpless to stop them is heart-breaking. I just keep imagining how Alejandro would react to getting that message--it would have been kinder for Luis to fake it a bit more, I think (though, perhaps I could...

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Josh C
10:07 May 22, 2021

I'm glad you thought it was a lovely story. I'm not 100% happy with how it turned out. My wife said the same about the final message being quite rough for Alejandro. I wasn't really sure how to do that final scene to make it work properly - like I said, not completely happy. But glad you liked it!

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Alison Clayton
16:53 May 21, 2021

Oh. I was waiting until the very end to hope he could go back. A bit of a sad ending realising his mistake too late. Sometimes you are past the point of no return. Thank you Josh. Another story that had me hooked to the end.

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Josh C
00:07 May 22, 2021

Glad you enjoyed it! Realistically there would have to be people who regretted the decision, so I thought it was appropriate to have a sad story.

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