2025-04-18 10:47:42POV: Danny
“My father didn’t want this.”
Piotr’s voice still echoes in my ears, so real that for a crazy moment I turn my head, looking for him in the dark room.
“I swear my father didn’t want this.”
My fingers find the watch on my wrist - 4:23, always 4:23 - while the last image from the dream is still vivid in my mind: Piotr standing in the middle of the lunar base, his NCEA uniform soaked in blood, pointing to the walls that were dripping bright red.
“Even if he didn’t want to, you’re seeing it now, aren’t you, Danny?” he had said in the dream, with a sad smile that didn’t match his bright blue eyes. “You’re seeing what he did?”
I rub my face hard, trying to erase the image, and my hand comes away stained with red. A damn nosebleed. And in a concerning amount.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
I’m trying to clean the mess discreetly on the sheet when I hear deafening screams.
“NO! NO, TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!”
Raj.
My heart races before my brain even processes what’s happening. I jump out of bed and run towards the screams, stumbling in the dark.
The lunar module looks different at night - narrower, more oppressive, the shadows twisting in the corners like living things.
I find Raj in the hallway, crouched down, hugging his knees like a child. His eyes are so wide I can see the white around his irises in the dark.
“Raj! What’s wrong?!”
He throws himself towards me, his hands gripping my suit with panic strength.
“Danny! Please, get me out of here! They’re everywhere!”
“What’s everywhere?”
“THE HANDS!” He points desperately at the walls. “Can’t you see?! Coming out of the walls! Blood... so much blood...”
I look around. The metal walls are clean, immaculate under the dim light of the emergency lights. I frown and turn back to our pilot.
Alyssa appears from the control room, already standing, her pale face under messy hair.
“Another nightmare?” she asks, but her voice is tense.
“It wasn’t a nightmare!” Raj yells, still terrified. “It’s real, Alyssa! It’s—”
“Adaptation stress.”
Lena appears behind us like a ghost, already perfectly dressed, her hair tied up as if she hadn’t slept. Her tone is calm, almost clinical.
“It happens to forty-three percent of astronauts in the first week,” she continues, crouching down to Raj’s level. “Hypnagogic hallucinations. Your brain is just confusing the stimuli.”
Raj violently shakes his head.
“It’s not a hallucination! IT’S REAL! Look!” He points again at the wall, his finger trembling. “Can’t you SEE?!”
Lena places her hands firmly on his shoulders and starts speaking softly in his ear. I can’t hear the words, but in seconds, the tension seems to disappear from Raj’s body. His muscles relax, his eyes grow heavy.
“I’ll prepare a light sedative,” she says, helping Raj to stand.
I’m genuinely scared. I’ve heard of tense astronauts before, but...
When Lena passes by me, her arm brushes against mine. The touch is cold, even through the fabric.
“You’re pale too. Did you sleep well?”
“Like a baby,” I lie, discreetly wiping the rest of the blood off my lip.
“Are you sure?”
“I am. I’m just scared from the yelling. Totally caught off guard.”
I’ve never liked lying, even though it’s always been relatively easy for me, but at that moment, it felt like the right thing to do.
Her green eyes scan my face, seeming to examine my expression carefully. For a moment, I think she’ll figure out my lie, but instead, she just nods at Alyssa.
“Come help me with the medical kit.”
As soon as they leave, I stand still in the hallway, listening to their footsteps fade away.
Something’s wrong. Very wrong. And if there are answers about this mess, there’s only one person on this spacecraft who will definitely have them.
. . .
The lab is dark when I arrive, lit only by the bluish lights of the standby equipment. The door is slightly ajar, which is strange, since Jun has always been meticulous about protocols.
“Jun?”
No answer.
I push the door open slowly, my senses alert. The lab looks like it’s been hit by a hurricane. Samples scattered, equipment disorganized. Things definitely weren’t like this when I did my nightly sweep before bed.
And in the center of the chaos, there’s Jun.
He’s hunched over one of the Helium-3 samples, his hands shaking violently as he pours the contents into a disposal container. His lips move, murmuring something inaudible, and even from behind, I can see how tense his shoulders are.
“Jun?”
He turns so quickly he almost knocks over the equipment.
“D-Danny! You... you should be sleeping.”
His face is covered in sweat, his eyes red as if he hasn’t slept in days. I may be seeing things, but his pupils are dilated too much, almost swallowing the iris, and in the center... a glow. Faint, but undeniable. Blue.
“What are you doing?” My voice sounds rougher than I intended.
Jun quickly hides the container behind his back.
“Contaminated sample. I had to dispose of it before it affected the others.”
I clench my fists.
“Show me.”
“It’s not necessary, I—”
“I’m the Commander of this mission, and I’m giving you an order. Show. Me.”
There’s a long moment of tension as we stare at each other. I hate having to force my authority, but this whole thing is too strange, and I can’t ignore what’s happening.
“Yes, Commander.”
Then, with slow, calculated movements, he brings the container forward. Inside, the Helium-3 glows innocently, as pure and blue as when we collected it from the surface.
“You’re lying,” I say, stepping forward. “Why?”
Jun’s eyes fill with tears, or at least I think they’re tears, until I realize they’re tinted a faint red.
“You don’t understand... they didn’t tell me... I didn’t know...”
“What didn’t you know?”
“The crime they committed against us.”
Alyssa’s voice makes us jump. She’s at the door, her tablet in hand, her face serious in a way I’ve never seen before. Her eyes go from Jun to me, and there’s a warning in that look.
“I just hacked his medical records,” she says, stepping into the lab and closing the door behind her with a soft click. “He deleted data. A lot of data.”
I grab the tablet she extends. On the screen, fragments of a recovered report, with the NCEA logo and the word “CONFIDENTIAL” stamped in red:
“Medical Report - Severe Neurological Effects (Initial Phase):
- Patient shows visual/auditory hallucinations (Grade 3)
- Recurrent epistaxis (Nosebleeds)
- Marked mydriasis with bluish pigmentation in the pupils
- Erratic and paranoid behavior
- Progressive loss of contact with reality...”
My eyes rush to the end of the report, where a bold line makes me freeze:
“Confirmed cause: Prolonged exposure to Helium-3.”
I look at Jun. His face is now covered in a sweat that strangely glows under the bluish light, and his eyes...
His eyes are glowing. Literally. A faint blue, but undeniable, emanating from his dilated pupils. Like tiny blue stars embedded in his skull.
“They didn’t know,” he whispers, the words coming out in gasps. “Kovac didn’t tell me... I swear I didn’t know it would be like this...”
Alyssa and I exchange a look. She’s the first to speak, her voice lower than ever:
“Danny... what the hell is going on with this mission?”
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HELIUM-3 Chapter 03
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POV: Danny“Suit checked, systems green,” the technical voice echoes through the platform speakers.I stand on the walkway leading to the Helix-7, the flight suit heavy on my shoulders, Piotr’s watch hidden beneath my sleeve.Launch day had finally arrived.The team buzzes around me. Raj checking the last bits of navigation data, Alyssa adjusting the comms systems, Dr. Jun holding his biological samples.And then I see him.Kovac crosses the yard like a ship cutting through waves, the technicians parting to let him pass. His dress uniform is immaculate, but there’s something different today—a tension in his shoulders that wasn’t there before.“Great Hero,” I greet, saluting.He skips protocol and walks straight to me, lifting his hands to adjust my helmet with precise movements. His fingers are cold against the back of my neck.“You ready?” my mentor asks, just low enough for me to hear.More than ever, I want to say something meaningful, something worthy of the moment. But all that c
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Chapter 09
POV: DannyThe lab smelled like blood and chemicals.Raj was hunched over the navigation panels, his hands trembling as he soldered exposed wires. The wound on his back already showed bluish veins, but he kept working.“Five… five more minutes,” he coughed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a soot-stained arm. “I can restore the temperature controls.”Alyssa watched from afar, arms crossed so tightly her fingers dug into her skin.“And then what? We’ll slowly cook instead of freeze?”“It’s bad enough already, okay? Maybe save the sarcasm for later,” Raj replied without looking up.“Yes, like at the time of our death,” she answered, ignoring his advice completely.I leaned against the bench, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my wrist.Piotr’s watch still read 4:23, as always.. . .Lena entered the room carrying a radiation meter. Her movements were slow, calculated, as if each step hurt.When she passed by me, I saw what she was trying to hide: the blue creeping up her neck
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Chapter 06
POV: DannyThe alarm was still blaring when Lena grabbed my arm hard enough to leave marks.“We need to isolate him. Now.”Jun just smiled, his blue teeth glowing in the dim light. Alyssa backed away until she hit the opposite wall, while Raj started hyperventilating.“Lena, with me,” I ordered, moving toward Jun. “Raj, disable that alarm. Alyssa, check the life support systems.”“Are you insane?” Alyssa screamed. “We need to get out of here! Abort the mission!”Lena was already at my side, her body tense like a coiled spring.“We contain him first. Then we decide.”Jun laughed, a sound that echoed like shattering glass.“Decide what? Who dies first?”Before we could react, he turned and bolted down the main corridor, his body moving in a strangely uncoordinated way, as if it wasn’t entirely under his control.. . .The control room was in chaos.Raj was typing furiously while Lena and I tried to track Jun’s movements through the security cameras.“Lock down Section C,” Lena ordered,
Chapter 05
POV: DannyThe main laboratory of the lunar module was colder than usual. Or maybe it was just the tremor that hadn't stopped running through my bones since I woke up.Lena had insisted that I stay in quarantine for another 24 hours, but the clock on my wrist kept vibrating - 4:23, 4:23, 4:23 - like an anxious heartbeat against my skin.Raj was typing frantically on his terminal when I entered, his fingers creating an irregular rhythm that mixed with the distorted music only I (and now Jun) seemed to hear."Commander!" He stood up so quickly he knocked over his chair. "You should be—""Where are the samples?" I cut him off, ignoring the throbbing pain behind my eyes.Raj exchanged a glance with Alyssa, who was watching from her position near the air filters. Her arms were crossed, and her face, usually so expressive, was void of any emotion."In containment chamber B," Raj replied, lowering his voice. "But you need to see this first."He spun his datapad in my direction. The images sh
Chapter 04
POV: DannyThe pain came before consciousness. A throbbing stab in my temples that made me groan even before opening my eyes. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, mixing with the acidic taste of dried vomit at the corner of my lips."Finally."Lena's voice came from somewhere to my right. Instinctively, I turned my head, which was also extremely painful. I tried to focus on her, but my vision was still filled with pulsating red spots."How long?" My voice came out weak and hoarse, causing Lena to frown."Eighteen hours, forty-three minutes." She leaned forward, her cold fingers touching my wrist. "You had three seizures. The team wanted to induce a coma, but I...""You stopped them."She didn’t respond, just pressed her fingers a little harder against my skin. Her touch was firm, professional, but there was something else there—a hesitation that had never been there before."You're not wearing PPE."Lena smiled, a small, slightly sarcastic gesture."Observant as always, Comma
Chapter 03
POV: DannyThe red shapes appear in my vision again.Danger.I blink to push them away, but it doesn't help.Alyssa insists:“Danny.”The nervousness, the disjointed information, and that damn feeling of not knowing what's happening quickly turn into anger.“It’s Commander to you,” I snapped.Jun flinches, but Alyssa merely lifts her chin slightly, as if trying hard not to insult me right then and there.“Very well. Commander,” she says my title with a slight tone of mockery, “what the hell is going on with this mission?”I glance at the clock. I take a deep breath.“Kovac sent me here not just because of my skills.”“What do you mean by that?”I feel my eyes burn with the tears that threaten to roll down my face.“He came to my house. That’s when he gave me this.” I point to the watch....TWO WEEKS BEFOREI look at the object in my hand. It’s a simple, analog watch, and apparently quite worn. Kovac, sitting across from me on the couch, says nothing as I carefully inspect it.Traces
Chapter 02
POV: Danny“My father didn’t want this.”Piotr’s voice still echoes in my ears, so real that for a crazy moment I turn my head, looking for him in the dark room.“I swear my father didn’t want this.”My fingers find the watch on my wrist - 4:23, always 4:23 - while the last image from the dream is still vivid in my mind: Piotr standing in the middle of the lunar base, his NCEA uniform soaked in blood, pointing to the walls that were dripping bright red.“Even if he didn’t want to, you’re seeing it now, aren’t you, Danny?” he had said in the dream, with a sad smile that didn’t match his bright blue eyes. “You’re seeing what he did?”I rub my face hard, trying to erase the image, and my hand comes away stained with red. A damn nosebleed. And in a concerning amount.“Shit, shit, shit.”I’m trying to clean the mess discreetly on the sheet when I hear deafening screams.“NO! NO, TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!”Raj.My heart races before my brain even processes what’s happening. I jump out of be
Chapter 01
POV: Danny“Suit checked, systems green,” the technical voice echoes through the platform speakers.I stand on the walkway leading to the Helix-7, the flight suit heavy on my shoulders, Piotr’s watch hidden beneath my sleeve.Launch day had finally arrived.The team buzzes around me. Raj checking the last bits of navigation data, Alyssa adjusting the comms systems, Dr. Jun holding his biological samples.And then I see him.Kovac crosses the yard like a ship cutting through waves, the technicians parting to let him pass. His dress uniform is immaculate, but there’s something different today—a tension in his shoulders that wasn’t there before.“Great Hero,” I greet, saluting.He skips protocol and walks straight to me, lifting his hands to adjust my helmet with precise movements. His fingers are cold against the back of my neck.“You ready?” my mentor asks, just low enough for me to hear.More than ever, I want to say something meaningful, something worthy of the moment. But all that c
