I hear Laney protest in the background, "Let me talk to him! David?"
"What's up, Glitter Menace?"
"What about your reserve rockets?"
"Used them to tackle Domnin."
"Okay… maybe we can improvise something? What about the EVO's?"
"They have to be initiated from outside the station."
"Damn it. What about… there's got to be something!"
"Kiddo, all that matters is the mission. I've got the nuke. The bad guys are dead. We'll be able to retrieve this thing before I become a shooting star and all will be right with the world."
"No, it won't. Don't give up." I can hear her sobbing on the other end of the comm.
"I'm not. I'm just accepting the idea that there are no more alternatives. Make sure that Vin finds those kids in Rio that helped me. If that happens, I'll die a happy man."
The earth is so big and beautiful right now. I'm on the day side and night is approaching — It's such a wonderful metaphor for what's happening.
Bennet, Peterson, Tyler, they all died for an important reason I get now. I know why they did it.
I can hear the static of the open channel, but neither Laney nor I know what to say.
"David," says Markov. "You've done an admirable thing."
"Thanks. Look after Washburn for me."
OPS goes quiet as they try to figure out what you tell a guy about to die.
Finally, I speak, trying to put a brave face on everything. "Hey, Laney, it's so beautiful up here. I can't wait for you to see it one day."
82
Fallback
I look at the lights down in the night side and imagine each one is a living person. Maybe they are.
"David…" cries Laney, tired of the silence, "if only the DarkStar hadn't been destroyed."
"Yeah… is it?"
"You said all the ships were destroyed in the explosion?"
"I meant the Russian ones."
"Wait… Hold on… checking telemetry. Yeah, it's still there."
"Well, that's a relief. Too bad it's about a kilometer away now."
"I can control it remotely."
"Wait? What?"
"Yeah, dumb ass. If you tethered it, I'll use the control rockets to burn through the line. Hold on. We're logging in now. Got it."
"Shit? Are you saying I'm not going to die?"
"Not from lack of oxygen. But you'll still have to do the high altitude reentry on the inflatable heat shield. Nobody has ever tried that before."
To hell with the martyr bullshit. I want to live. Or at least die trying to.
"I think I can deal with those odds."
So this will be interesting…
Thank you!
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Andrew Mayne
@AndrewMayne
About the Author
Andrew Mayne, star of A&E’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, is a magician and novelist ranked the fifth best-selling independent author of the year by Amazon UK. He started his first world tour as an illusionist when he was a teenager and went on to work behind the scenes for Penn & Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield. He’s also the host of the WeirdThings.com podcast.
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