The Venture
(c) Isabo Kelly

Later, as Cal was finishing up some adjustments to the stasis cells, Mouse joined him. "Cal?"

"Yeah, Mouse." Cal didn't look up.

"Cal, it's Lena. Have you seen her? Have you seen..."

Cal programmed in the last piece of data and shut down his work. He turned slowly to face Mouse. He was holding an atmosphere suit in one hand, most of it dragging on the floor.
"I found this." He held the suit up before Cal. "There's a tear in the arm. She got hit in the arm before we were on the ship, before we'd gone through decontamination. Cal," Mouse's voice rose a half octave, fear widening his eyes, "Cal have you seen her? Her eyes... It's not supposed to be possible. She shouldn't be... She's becoming..."

Cal steadied the kid by putting his hands on Mouse's shoulders and shaking him gently. "Mouse. Mouse, listen to me. I know what's happening. I understand. And I'm taking care of the situation."

"But Cal, they're gonna find out. The Leeches. If they know about her, that she's turning into a..."

"Mouse," Cal interrupted, his voice snapping out like a slap, "There are no female Leeches. It's impossible. You hear me. No one is gonna find out anything, because there's nothing to find out."

"But..."

"No. There are no female Leeches. I'm taking care of it." Cal looked directly into Mouse's eyes, stared hard until he saw the shock of realization filter into the purple depths.

"You're gonna kill--"

Brown walked in then, cutting off Mouse's outburst. Cal stared into the kid's eyes for a moment longer, making sure the kid understood that what he was going to do was necessary, then he dropped his hands and straightened to face the navigator. He watched from the corner of his eye as Mouse toss the damaged atmosphere suit into a space between stasis cells.

"Okay, Cal, all the systems are set to go on emergency shut down in fifteen minutes. The auto-nav is working fine. Should get us to Zed without a hitch." Brown looked around, his gaze running over the rows of stasis cells lining two walls of the long room. "Where's Lena?"

"On her way. Go ahead and climb in, Brown. I'll make sure everyone is well on their way to sleep, then seal myself in."

Brown clapped a hand on Cal's shoulder, chucked Mouse under the chin and climbed into the stasis cell. He leaned back against the angled bed, his feet resting against the bottom of the cell. Once the occupant of the cell was in complete stasis, the cell would rotate to a horizontal position and slide back into the wall. Brown smiled at Cal as the clear lid lowered over him. Red lights clicked to green and the monitors began to hum, displaying Brown's physical state.

Lena walked in just as Brown's eyes closed. She wrapped her arms around her body, hovered at the far end of the room until Cal motioned her forward.

"Okay, Mouse. Your turn." Cal spoke quietly into the kid's ear. "I've left a log, explaining everything." His gaze darted to Lena then skittered away. "Almost everything. Don't worry." He settled a hand against Mouse's shoulder once the kid was inside the stasis cell next to Brown's. "I've got it all taken care of. You're gonna be alright."

"Cal?" Mouse's gaze flicked to Lena, then back to Cal. A tear slipped across his cheek.
"It's okay, Mouse. This is for the best. Take care, kid." Cal stepped back as the lid sealed over Mouse. When the monitors clicked on, Cal set a hand against the lid and mouthed, "Goodbye, Mouse."

He turned away from the sudden panic in the kid's eyes and joined Lena. He took her arm, lead her to one of the cells opposite Brown and Mouse. "Are you ready?"

She bit her bottom lip, nodded. Cal brushed his fingertips against her cheek, met her yellowing eyes and smiled. "Don't worry, ace," he murmured, "I'll be right there with you."

He stepped into the cell, reached out to her. She stepped in, closed her eyes and buried her face against his chest, wrapping her arms tight around his waist. As the lid lowered and Cal began murmuring the stories she needed to hear, he looked across the room at Mouse.

The kid's hands were pressed against the lid, his head shook back and forth frantically, a silent "No" rounded his mouth. Then his hands slipped to his side, his body relaxed, his eyes closed. Cal smiled a little, breathed in deeply as Lena's spicy scent enveloped him, and continued whispering until he couldn't speak anymore.

********

It was six months after coming out of stasis before he could remember the name of the ship he'd been on. Another two months before he could remember some of what happened on that ship. Four months later, he remembered that the Venture crew had called him Mouse. A year after that, he opened the package he'd been given by the crew of Outpost Zed, a package they'd found with the ship's log with a note attached saying, "Make sure the kid gets this." He fingered the atmosphere suit inside, tracing the jagged tear in the leg. And for the first time in two years, he allowed himself to remember the engineer named Cal.

THE END

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