Chapter 1 - Awake

  Allura was cold. She wouldn't die, but it made drawing very uncomfortable. 

She was confident the basic artificial heating systems had shut down recently, but had no clue why. This means they wouldn't heat the ship comfortably anymore, but the artificial atmosphere was heated to a livable degree.

 She would have to go investigate, and try to fix whatever the issue was. Crossing Hallway 4A was something she never looked forward to, but it seemed unavoidable now. 

She put on the old troop suit, still loose on her, and left her living quarters. She hated putting the suit on too. It reminded her of the others. She made her way down hallway 3A, which joined a 4 way intersection between 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A. The various doors left open reminded her of the people that used to live here.

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Her celebration was going well. Almost everyone she knew on the Outpost was present. Recently, some members of the station had been called away to the war, but it was very few, since the war was in their favor. A big, tall man with a scraggly beard grabbed her by the shoulders with a wide grin. His Commander's hat was sloppily placed on his head, and she smiled. 

"You've been having a good one I hope?" He asked. 

"Of course Commander Chaple. Thank you for allowing everyone to be here." She said, and went in for the hug. 

He released her, and began to speak again. 

"Make sure you remember this. This is the first time we've had a teenager on this outpost since… this is the first time! Haha! I guess since you were-er- you know. We were all assigned here, no room for kids I guess." 

He patted her on the back, and walked her to where some other crew were waiting. Sometimes she wished she had some friends her age, but she was thankful she was accepted here. Keeping her wasn't an easy task….

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In the middle of the intersection, what used to be a somewhat large circular space had been exposed to the vacuum of space. The artificial atmosphere, as a result, did not function in these hallways anymore. She was incredibly scared to do it, although she had some before, but she jumped across the gap, easily floating through the space. Looking down, she saw the planet they were orbiting. 

"You used to be so pretty," She said. The planet's landscape had been rapidly degraded, even in a matter of months it had gotten worse somehow. The clouds were even darker. It made her glad she picked up the habit of drawing before she slept. Her first time seeing the planet since she slept was… awakening.

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Her tears still stained her cheek, and some of the moisture was floating around inside her suit. The gloves were expertly made, and allowed her to retain most of her dexterity. "At least enough for a rough outline," she thought. Her tears started flowing again as she traced the planet out through the still smoldering hole in the intersection. She liked to imagine all the insects and critters running around, if any were left, and she wondered if they saw her through the clouds. She thought that maybe the smoke trails made the Outpost more visible, but thinking of the Outpost like that made her cry more. Her tears began to cloud her vision, so she took the outline she had back to her quarters. 

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She kept floating down the hallway, until she got to the emergency airlock. It had actually been completely obliterated awhile ago, so she just went right through to the control room. The monitors and various holo displays lit up with "No ID detected. Unauthorized," before Chapple's code kicked in, and the whole room lit up to her command. 

She navigated her way through the various programs and icons, until she found the folder named "art_hab_behav" she clicked on it, and the computer auto launched the UI that allowed her to see its status. At first, several sectors showed as if it was working fine, then the system updated, and all sectors showed "redirected." 

"Redirected?" She muttered. Her heart sank. 

"No…" She thought. Perhaps it had finally come. Chapple and Hirihia warned her this could happen. 

"But they said there's no way it should have. It should have kept going for..." She thought. 

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Allura hid in her mother's quarters. Violent yelling was happening outside the door. She was too young to understand what exactly was going on, but she could hear them.

"You can't keep hiding that thing in there!" One said.

"Yeah, you're gonna get us all assigned to Luyten at this rate." Another chimed in.

"We understand you're trying to be nice, but this is your own doing-" 

The voices were interrupted by heavy footsteps, which stopped at the door. The man at the door whispered to someone, and they said "Allura." 

The man at the door said, "Allura, I know you're there. I need you to come out." 

Too young to know otherwise, she calmly walked to the door and opened, a cheerful grin on her face. 

"Wow! You knew my name!" She said, still beaming at the man she could now see. Her smile faded when she saw her mother, tears and sweat covering her. 

"Mom?" She asked. 

Her mother didn't look her in the eyes, and just said "I'm sorry Allura."

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She didn't even cry now, as she figured she had enough. She wouldn't let something out of her control get her down. At least not something else. She just stared blankly at the monitor. The only reason the computer should have redirected the power is if there was a shortage. If there was a shortage, it would likely get worse, faster than before. The fission reactor was out of date when they built the station, God knows what state it's in now. She gripped the keyboard, and looked away from the screen. She let go, and slowly walked back out of the control room. As she left, a small hologram of a cat leaped at her, rolled on the ground and disappeared. She smiled. 

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"Oy! Allura! You're gonna wanna see this." A tall, red haired woman yelled across the hall. She caught Allura just in the intersection, and Allura waved and smiled. She jogged over to her. 

"What is it, Hiri?" She asked. She was maybe nine years old, or ten, she couldn't remember. 

"C'mere," Hirihia said. "You spend a lot of time here helping Chapple with charting huh? This is to spice things up." She motioned towards the door. 

"Walk in and out, just for a test." 

Allura was excited, and eagerly tiptoed through the door, and then ran out. Startlingly, a blue transparent cat jumped in front of her, and rolled on the ground. Surprised, she tripped and fell on the ground. She started to laugh, and Hiri as well. 

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She cried some more. 

"God I'm surprised you still work," She said. 

She jumped back over the hole, still with some fright, and made her way back to her room. She could use a simple space heater for now. Living quarters were second on the list to be cut off from power, so she had time. Still, the thought of it made her sick, and she really needed to get out of the troop suit. She got in the airlock, and took it off. 

She flopped down on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Taped to it were dozens of drawings of the planet beneath the Outpost. Its name was Gilomni. That's all she knew about it. Her people had discovered it, and assigned this station as a communications point. They eventually planned to colonize it. She was sure they wouldn't bother now. For whatever reason, when she woke the first time the planet was covered in dark grey clouds, and devoid of beauty. She hadn't seen its surface in a very long time. She remembered how perfectly blue its vast oceans were, and the strange purple colors of its land. Hiri told her it's plant life grew purple, due to some reaction with light. 

The drawings above her showcased different angles of the planet's former allure. Beautiful, white fluffy clouds circled the planet like a belt, and the different oceans and land masses blended perfectly. It looked almost like a cake that was a baker's first time, with different layers mashing into the others. She smiled again, a record for one day so far. Soon, she got tired, but sleeping never came easy. She tossed and turned, and thoughts of loss kept her up. Eventually, sheer exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she was able to close her eyes. 

She had a good dream, the first one in awhile. 

"Wake up, Allura." A soft voice said. 

She rubbed her eyes, groggily. 

Hiri was sitting on her bed, her red hair let down to her hips. She was slightly smiling. 

Allura sat up and hugged her, so happy she was back. 

"Hiri. How? You're finally back." Allura said. 

"Hmmm. I suppose that's a way to put it, silly." 

They sat for a moment, and then Hiri spoke again. 

"You can let go, y'know. You'll see me again. Plus it'd be pretty embarrassing if I suffocated in a dream," She said. 

"Huh?" Allura asked. 

"You heard me," She said. Allura was on her lap now, and Hiri held her head up on her stomach. 

"You might wanna check that redirect again." She chuckled. "You were never good at pushing things. Always ready to accept whatever. A real "go with the flow" kinda girl." 

"What are you talking about Hiri?" Allura said, tearing up. 

"You heard me earlier, silly. Wake up," She said. 

Allura jolted up from bed. Her cheeks were wet, presumably from tears. She had no clue why she would have been crying during the dream. She certainly was now. Hiri was there. She had seemed so real to her. She could feel her, see her, hear her, everything about her was so alive it was hard to believe it was a dream. 

The heater was a good idea. Her room was hardly as cold as before. She tossed the blanket to the side, and flicked the lamp on her bed. It wasn't as bright as the ceiling light, but it was more comfortable. She thought back to dream, and suddenly remembered what Hiri said. 

"What else is there to see?" She thought. 

Not one to doubt Hiri, she put on the suit once more, and made her way to the control room again. On the way, the planet looked different than before. Midway above the hole, she grabbed a handhold and stopped herself. This was the first time she had been motionless above the space. Thankfully, the hallways gravity generator had been shut off long ago by the Station's maintenance AI, otherwise there would be some issues. 

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Allura had just recently turned 18. The celebration was smaller than her thirteenth, albeit due to the lack of people. She had only recently started to help Ramati with communications. It had become her favorite time of the day. Ramati was among the oldest of the ship, but due to his unique heritage maintained the look of middle age. He normally had her in the communication room to help with data sorting. 

That was where she was, in fact, when her life unraveled. Hiri rushed into the room with Captain Chapple in tow. Ramati turned around, smiling, but his smile faded when they began to speak. 

"Sorry Ramati. Full recall. They never thought the situation would develop this way." Chapple said. 

Ramati leaned back against the console panel, and looked up at the ceiling. 

He sat his red coffee cup down on the first monitor in the row, the machine powering off that small circle of the screen automatically. 

"Man. It's really happening huh?" He said. 

"Yes. I'm afraid so. Allura, follow me please." Hiri said, and took Allura's hand. 

Allura followed, speechless. Hiri was carrying her down hallway A1..  No. Why?

"Hiri, isn't this the-" 

"Hush," She said. 

Allura couldn't see her face, and she was struggling to keep up. Whatever the problem was, she trusted her. 

Behind her, Chapple and Ramati left the room, made their way down an adjacent hallway, and the doors locked. The smiley faces and stick men she had drawn were the last things she saw. 

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