Chapter 23

"Not going to do it?" Shinya asked turning to face me.

"Noticed the gun?"

"As a human it hurts that you would think I wouldn't."

"A joke?" I asked raising my eyebrow at him. "You should stay here with them."

"You should too. There's nothing out there for you in those colonies."

"I need to get my family out of there."

"I would hate to be the cold hearted scientist here. But statistically speaking they are safe and have moved on from you. And, I know that every guy would like to think that their wife or girlfriend is different. Or that their family would never forget about them-"

"I know." I said interrupting him. "I know all of that… But I need to find them. Without them I have no reason to continue."

Shinya stood there with his mouth open as if he was ready to say something. But didn't because they words wouldn't apply to me anymore. Or, because he's realized that there's nothing he could say. That could possibly change my mind.

I looked at him and just nodded slowly as I turned my back to him. Leaving him in that hallway as I made my way to the deployment bay.

"Where have you been?" Asked Shaku standing in front of the doors to the deployment bay.

"Looking for you actually."

"Oh, really? Then tell me why you went out looking for me." She said confidently crossing her arms.

"To thank you." I said as I wrapped my arms around her.

"F-for what?"

"For always being there for me and caring for me. You have no idea just how many years I've gone without feeling loved." I said which made her hug me back.

I slipped the green ball in my mouth holding it in my cheek. Once it was there I slowly pulled away from her.

"And thank you for falling for someone like me." I said before leaning in and giving her a kiss. A kiss that would let me slip her the green ball.

Shaku pulled away from me and looked confused. "Wh-what was that?" She asked after having swallowed it.

"I hope you find someone better." I said as she lost conciousness and collapsed.

I was able to catch her as her body dropped slowly lowering her and laid her on the floor. I looked over at Michael who hasn't left my side once and took a deep breath.

"Stay." I commanded holding back the pain in my voice.

He whimpers at me and taps his feet against the floor. Even as he did this he didn't move from the spot I made him sit at.

It hurt because I would do anything to take him with me. Though I know that if I did it would survive the flight over there. So I turned my back to him and commanded him to stay. Walking around Shaku and making my way inside of the deployment bay.

Luckily enough there was no one inside and the pod was still there too. I entered the pod and turned on the main console. There were coordinates of a colony ship stopped near a planet. I quickly memorized the coordinates then made my way over to the Gargoyle.

He lowered his hand and helped me climb on board, where I typed in the coordinates into the main console once I was inside.

"Now how are we going to get out of here?" I asked myself out loud as I leaned back in my chair.

As I laid there I could hear a howling sound in my head. That sounded like a weird mix between a wolf and a whale. However, the strangest part of it was that it felt like a language in my mind. A language that I understood.

It felt like the sound was the Gargoyle tyring to tell me that it has an idea on how to open the bay.

"Well, I'd rather not bust through the doors so if you have any ideas go for it." I said causing all the screens to go black.

After a moment they came back on with red numbers flying across all the screens. And moments after they came on I could hear the bay doors slowly start to open.

"Did you just hack the ship?" I asked impressed by it being able to do so.

Once they were fully opened I flew outside and had the Gargoyle close the doors behind me. When that was done we were finally off with the Gargoyle set on autopilot.

I was used to traveling long distances but when it comes to space everything is different. I have nothing to gauge just how far we've gone beside some numbers on a screen. On top of that I had absolutely no sense of time out here. What could have been hours spent in this cockpit felt like days spent in here. Along with not having prepared any food or water this trip turned into something awful.

"I'm so tired I can't even tell if these numbers mean we got closer or further from the ship." I said talking to myself.

The Gargoyle howled at me telling me to just lay back and go to sleep.

"I feel like if I close my eyes right now I won't wake up." I responded with it howling at me again.

"I know I should have planned this better. Michael is right once again, a rushed plan is no better than no plan… I know if he could see me now he would be dissapointed." I said as I fought the urge to fall asleep.

We continued to fly endlessly in one direction as kept fading in and out of conciousness. After what felt like hours I heard another howl but this time I couldn't understand it. I was sat there so tired that the only thought that crossed my mind was how good it would be to close my eyes.

I slowly closed my eyes on the black canvas in front of me. Reopening them to a massive pink planet looking back at me. It looked reminiscent of Jupiter if it was dyed pink.

"Looks like we're here." I said to myself.

The Gargoyle howled at me telling me to look closer.

"Wait, where's the ship? That colony ship was supposed to be right here!" I shouted punching my seat.

It howled at me once again telling me not to worry. That we could land on the planet and see if we can find any new information about the ship.

"That's a good idea." I said as I turned off autopilot and flew us towards the planet.