2025-04-18 10:49:09POV: Danny
The 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 BEFORE
I 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 of red stains. A wrong tune, a sound off-key that seems to worsen when I move the watch.
The watch felt heavier in my hand than its size suggested. Kovac watched my fingers trembling as I held the object.
“Do you know what this means, Danny?” Kovac asked, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it.
I shook my head, unable to speak. The red stains danced around the watch, pulsing in sync with my quickening breath.
“Piotr would be your age now,” he continued, intertwining his fingers. “When I look at you... I see the same spark he had. The same determination.”
“Sir, I...” My voice faltered as the watch emitted a high-pitched sound, like a muffled scream.
Kovac leaned forward.
“The accident on Mars... It was, and still is, the worst thing that’s ever happened in my life. I still see him in my dreams. I still hear... his voice.”
Then I realize: 4:23. That was the time the watch stopped working.
“It was all that was left of him,” the Great Hero murmured.
With tears in my eyes, I continued to stare at the lifeless object. The most important man in the country was entrusting me with his most precious possession.
He would never betray me...
Right?
...
The lunar module seemed to shrink since the start of the meeting. The air carried a metallic scent I couldn't ignore.
Alyssa sat to my right, her fingers tapping a funeral march on the aluminum table. Raj, to my left, fidgeted incessantly with his datapad. Jun was breathing very fast, his eyes darting between us like a trapped animal.
“Let’s start with the collection protocol,” I said, opening the file on the central panel. “Helium-3 has characteristics that—”
“That no one bothered to explain properly,” Alyssa cut in, slamming her datapad on the table. “Danny, sorry, Commander... but we’ve been here for weeks collecting this material and only now you decide to talk about risks?”
Raj, despite the outburst he had earlier, seemed much more controlled than before.
“Let’s stay calm, okay? If the Commander is bringing this up now, there must be a reason.”
She glared at Raj as if he had insulted her, but said nothing.
Lena, who had been silently watching from the corner of the room, crossed her arms.
“Kovac gave us all the necessary protocols. If we follow—”
“Protocols?” Jun interrupted, his voice shrill. “You still don’t get it? The protocols are a lie!” His fingers gripped the table with white-knuckled force. “They knew! They’ve always known!”
Raj placed a cautious hand on Jun's arm.
“Doctor, maybe you want to—”
“Don’t you see?” Jun repeated, grabbing Raj's hand, standing up so abruptly that his chair fell with a crash. “It’s everywhere! In the air filters, in the samples, in our clothes! ‘The worms!’ They’re inside us now, consuming us from within!”
Alyssa recoiled in her chair.
“Worms? What the hell, Jun?”
“The ones that glow! The ones that sing!” Jun clutched his head, his fingers digging into his hair. “They enter through your eyes, your ears... make tiny holes in your mind until—”
Lena moved like lightning. Before any of us could react, she had Jun pinned against the wall, a syringe pressed to his neck.
“Lena!” I rose from my chair, but it was too late.
The hiss of the syringe echoed through the room. Jun struggled for half a second before his eyes rolled back and his body collapsed into Lena’s arms.
“What was that?” Alyssa shouted, getting up so quickly she knocked over her chair. “What the hell did you do to him?”
“Modified Propofol,” Lena replied calmly, gently lowering Jun’s body to the floor with professional care. “Standard for psychotic episodes in confined spaces.”
Raj was examining Jun with a mixture of concern and fear.
“He’s one of the calmest men I know. I’ve never seen him like this. Never.”
“Stress hallucinations,” Lena responded quickly, cleaning the syringe with a cloth. “Prolonged isolation, lunar radiation... Kovac warned this could happen.”
I watched Lena as she spoke. There was something about the way her eyes avoided mine, the way her fingers trembled slightly as she put the syringe away.
“Kovac trained you for this?” I asked, making sure to keep my voice neutral.
Lena finally looked me in the eye.
“Kovac trained me for all eventualities. Like he should’ve done with all of us.”
Alyssa made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a grunt.
“So we had to be prepared for THIS? Don’t tell me this is normal and happens all the time, Lena.”
“He’s doing the best he can! Do you think anyone else cares about humanity like he does? About the peace he’s trying to bring?”
“Peace? Well, if the price we have to pay is this, then he can shove his peace right up—”
“Enough.” I raised my voice. Everyone turned to me. “Jun needs to be taken to the infirmary. Raj, you take care of that. Alyssa, check the air filtration systems. Lena...” I glared at her. “You come with me to the lab. I want to see those samples myself.”
“And Jun?” Raj asked, already kneeling next to the unconscious scientist.
“He’ll join us when he’s properly recovered.” I turned to the door, trying to ignore how the red stains now covered nearly all of my peripheral vision. “If he recovers.”
As I left the room, I felt something warm dripping from my nose.
Shit. Another nosebleed, and this time I wouldn’t be able to hide it in time.
My vision blurred, the red stains multiplying so much I was practically blind.
“Commander?” Raj’s voice seemed to come from another world.
I tried to respond, but instead of words, I spat a spray of blood that splattered onto the metallic floor. My legs gave out before I could shout a warning.
The last thing I heard was the ticking of the watch.
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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
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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
