“GIOVANNI STOP TRYING TO MAKE US FLY INTO STARS!”

    The ship dodged out of the way of yet another star that should have been impossible to overlook, while Giovanni rolled his eyes at the screaming pilot.   

    “My scanners did not see that, so it’s not MY fault that that burning rock was so rudely blocking the best way to get to where we’re going.”

    “I swear you’re worse than a GPS…..” Talyn mumbled, handing the controls back over to Joan. They had taken over to get the ship back on course, but after that they’d prefer to just watch than fly. The view was beautiful, after all.

    “You do realize my code was taken from a GPS system and updated, right?”

    “Well that explains it!!”

    “Well, I guess that also explains why you all hate me so much!" Giovanni muttered, folding his arms before his hologram disappeared, as he probably went off to eavesdrop on Emile and then wallow in self pity. Once he left, quiet immediately returned to the room, and a brief sigh of relief could he heard.

    Giovanni gone, Thomas turned to Remy, “So,” He asked, “Where are we onto next?”   

    Remy contemplated his response, “Well, we were gonna try to visit here,” He said as he took a sip of his drink. He pointed to a small speck on his digital map, “It’s a star cluster, pretty far - it would probably take another two years until we got there - but…”

    “But what?”

            Remy was silent for several long moments. Thomas shifted nervously, waiting for him to finally reply. A pause that wasn't just due to him taking a long sip of his drink normally wasn't good.

    “Thomas ...We're already five months behind," Remy grew serious, his expression grim and his voice low. This threw Thomas off guard - Remy doing anything that wasn’t laughing, joking around, or roasting people was an uncommon occurrence on its own. Him being so bleak and stern was foreign sight.

    “We’re having a life or death experience almost every day now. There’s no way we’re going to get anywhere like this. I know it’s dangerous to travel like this, but this is insane! This is way more than any of us expected and way more than any of us can handle and you know it.”

    Thomas knew he was right. Since the first almost-collision three months ago, nothing had let up. The next day, another asteroid nearly hit them. Then their electricity cut off. Communications were down. Another asteroid. A quarter of their food went bad. An asteroid DID hit the side of their ship. A gas leak. The ship’s temperature was uncontrollably hot. Much of their water became contaminated. Half their oxygen tanks went missing (they reappeared a day later, and still no one knew where they had gone in that time). It was struggle after struggle after struggle, and it felt like something was out to get them; there was a target painted on the side of their ship, and some unknown factor had a gun.

    And it would be a lie to say Thomas never wondered if that was the case. He still remembered Giovanni’s mention of the Planets, and still remembered the figure he saw. Did that old myth have any truth to it? Was there something - or someone - out there, a Planet, trying to harm them? He wanted to doubt it, but for some reason he could not shake the thought no matter how hard he tried. It was stuck in his mind. 

    “So what are you suggesting…?” Thomas asked slowly, already knowing the answer, yet still hoping he was wrong.

    Remy sighed, taking off his sunglasses before he spoke. “Maybe we should head back.” He held up a hand, interrupting Thomas’ immediate objections. 

    “Thomas, we’re going to die out here. The only reason we haven’t already is luck, which always runs out. We’ve gone plenty far already. If we continue, I don’t think we’ll make it back.”

    There was silence for several moments; neither of them knew what to say to that. 

    But fortunately for both of them, they did not have to figure out an answer. At that moment, Talyn came running into the room, a panicked look plastered on their face.

    “What’s wrong?” Thomas asked immediately, while Remy put his sunglasses back on and turned to face them. Talyn was breathing heavily, though it was hard to tell whether it was from panic or from running the whole way.

    “Somethings wrong with Joan, they won’t wake up.”

***

“A personal attack?! Really?!” 

“We didn’t kill any of them, Saturn. I thought that was what you wanted.”   

“Putting their pilot in a coma is not any better! That’s going to kill all of them, they need them!” Saturn’s face darkened, “I thought we agreed not to play dirty! We agreed we weren’t going to cause their deaths! Not yet!”

“They have another pilot, they’ll be fine!!” Uranus laughed, “I’m sure whoever it is is plenty capable of getting them back home to Earth.”

“Then what?” Saturn demanded, stepping closer to Jupiter and jabbing a finger into his chest accusingly, “You put their pilot in a coma and we both know you sure as hell aren’t going to be healing them. None of the humans' technology is anywhere near good enough to undo what any of us could do. They can’t help them! Their life is over! You've essentially killed them! You lied!” 

Jupiter shoved his hand away, “I said I would not kill any of them, and I did not. The human is alive, just unconscious.” He smiled, “I never lied.”

Saturn glared at him for several moments, staring back and forth between him and Uranus. They’re proud of their loophole, he realized. This is useless. Arguing with them would do nothing. The pilot’s life was over, there was nothing he could do. Neither Uranus and Jupiter were going to undo that, ever. And he couldn’t either, not with how proud they were. Who knew what they would do if he even tried to heal the pilot? Kick him out? Ruin his life? Whatever they would do, it would be nothing good; that was for sure.

Realization struck him before all hope was lost, however. There was a chance that the pilot could be saved. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless. He stopped frowning, and his face resumed its blank and unrevealing state. Without another word to his companions, he turned and disappeared into the void.