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Day 77: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Part 2)

The Year is 20XX. Myself and my space crew have found themselves stranded at a refueling station asteroid, and all space crews have been sent out to complete tasks in order to restore power to the station. Problem is, there are space mutants disguised as humans spreading across the galaxy with the sole intention of murdering and consuming humans. I had just completed my task of restoring electricity to the asteroid, and in that same instant a pink blob collapses on top of me from the ceiling.

Gasping for air and probably from some broken bones, I quickly shove the pink blob off of me and quickly try to stand. I position myself ready to run, but after taking the first step, I feel an intense shooting pain in my ankle, and instead find myself back on the floor I desperately tried to escape from. I try crawling to the exit, but my feeble arms could not move my body even an inch. I guess this is what I deserve for skipping arm day in space. Making peace with myself for probably the third time today, I await my demise. In the corner of my eye, I see the pink blob rising from the floor, changing into a human form and… staying human. And then, something unexpected happened.

“Ohmigosh, are you okay? I didn’t meant to hurt you!”

The polite and soft female voice belonged to the pink being standing behind me, and quickly rushed over to help me up. I couldn’t see her face inside of her space suit, bit I could tell she was frantically trying to apologize.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! It’s just… I wasn’t sure if you were one of those…” and she trailed off.

“It’s fine, I thought you were one of those as well. I guess if you really were, I’d already be like my blue buddy over there.” I distastefully nod to the raveged blue engineer’s body in front of the electical panel, and and the pink crew-woman inadvertently looses her grip on me as she processes the horrible scene before her. I find myself on the floor yet again with even more injuries I probably deserve, and the pink crewwoman quickly gasps and prepares the motions as if she was ready to profusely apologize once more, but I quickly raise my least painful hand to stop her.

“It’s fine… I really wasn’t expecting to live past today anyway. Anything that that isn’t death or eternal suffering is actually a huge win for me today…” I state wryly. With that dismissive note, I try to stand on my own once more, but it’s too much for my body to bear, and I find myself falling to one knee and catching myself with my open hand as the plant.

“Please! Let me help you! It’s the least I can do after causing you all this trouble.”

Quick to refute help from anyone as a traditional lone wolf, I began to open my mouth to reply, but shut it immediately. Though a bumbling bad-luck magnet, I needed her help to get off this asteroid alive.

“Fine… do as you will.”

The pink crew-woman then proceeded to fling my arm around her shoulders, and helped me hobble along back to the docking station.

“…My name is Cleo. What’s yours, Cyan?”

Traditionally it was unnecessary to ask for the personal names of space crew members you meet. The galaxy was vast and most interactions were brief, so most chose to refer to each other by the color of their space suit.

“… Pizza Time. My name is Pizza Time. ”

Cleo paused for just a brief moment to recompose herself. I could tell she was trying her upmost to not break into a fit of laughter.

“Pizza Time? Seriously? You must be pulling my leg here, Cyan!”

“No… I am not. I don’t remember my birth name, so one of my crewmmates thought it would be hilarious to call me Pizza Time as a joke. Unfortunately the joke was too good, and it stuck with me.” I smiled painfully under my spacesuit.

“That’s not a problem! I honestly think Pizza Time is a pretty cute name. I promise you this, Pizza Time. I will have you delivered in 30 minutes or less to the docking station. How does that sound to you?” Cleo finished her triumphant promise in a playful tone.

“If you cut back on the horrible jokes, I’ll take you up on that offer. But be warned, I don’t accept promises for free. In return for your great deed, I promise to protect you as we-”. I cut myself off before I finished my own sentence. What in the nebulas was I saying? We were currently in a space free-for-all for survival, and here I was promising to protect someone else when I could barely walk myself. But something inside my chest was stirring… and it got the words out of me before I had a chance to process them. What a horrible time to have heartburn.

In that same instance, Cleo stopped facing me to chat and focused forward as she continued to help me hobble across the barren asteroid.

“I’d like that, Pizza Time. I’ll take you on that special offer then! I hope the extra breadsticks will be worth it!”

“Ugh… this is going to be a long trek…” I groaned under my breath as Cleo begun to giggle at my dismay. Just then, I receive a message from my crew-mate, Buag.

“Pizza Time, you still kickin’ out there? I need some help completing my task. I’m suppose to rake leaves to feed them into the bio-combuster, but broke my rake in the process of fighting off one of those murder aliens. I managed to scare it off, but now the rake is busted. You mind coming over and lending a hand at the biodome?”

I sighed knowing that Buag was too disoriented to ever find himself on the winning side of a struggle against anyone, let anyone a murderous space entity. The truth was probably closer to Buag lazily pursuing his tasks and accidentally sitting on the rake during one of his many self-designated brakes.

“Something the matter, Pizza Time?”

“Yeah… I have to make a quick detour to the biodome on this asteroid. My crew-mate needs help finishing up his task, and you are under no obligation to help me with its completion.”

I try to struggle myself free in an effort to hobble over to the biodome alone, but Cleo proceeds to tighten her grip on me and shake her head.

“’Fraid I can’t do that, Pizza Time. You made me a promise, remember? You’d do a horrible job as my protector if you went off on your own like that!”

I grit my teeth, but realized there was no use in fighting this deceptively strong crew-woman.

“I suppose you are right. So we’re in this together until the end huh?”

Cleo didn’t reply, but somehow I could tell she was beaming under her space suit with delight. She slightly increased the speed of my hobbling as we continued to cross the empty and quiet plain of the lonely asteroid.

@michellebasey @sabweld @mariasokolowska @susanmclachlan @philkastelic @sandrahenriques @wildcat @dragon @homeroom11

Friday is the finale! Tomorrow I will write my weekly post on our wildcat topic.