I wake to the sound of sirens and screams; an announcement that the ship has been hit by a shower of meteorites.

It doesn’t take long before I’m running out into the hallway, whose floor cannot decide whether it wants to be vertical or horizontal, and straight towards the lab. Even though father told me not to go near  him—he is a fool for believing that I am more important than our only chance at surviving the menace which looms over our heads.

A man is curled up into a corner. As he holds on tight to a bench fixed with bolts hammered deep into the clinical tiles beneath our feet, he gags and coughs up most of his dinner, whilst I silently thank whatever luck was bestowed upon us for keeping the ship’s gravitation generator intact.

I catch a glimpse of the badge hanging off his lab coat. The number on it indicates he’s the scientist from earlier today. “Hey,” I say, ignoring his reaction as he tenses when turning towards me, ready to profusely apologize for what he calls his behaviour. “I don’t care about that,” I tell him. “Where’s Nero? Is he still in his container?”

“I-I— I don’t know,” the scientist blurts. “When the ship tilted, we were all thrown across the room! W-we heard glass crashing down, a-and—”

I’m already gone before I can hear the end of his phrase.

Damn these people. They had one job. One job, and yet they still managed to ruin it.

My shoulder takes a hit from the edge of a wall. I curse under my breath and continue to dash towards the lab. The lights blink and blind me. I squint as the path before my figure turns to darkness again. With my arm thrown in front of my chest and towards a door I cannot see—I feel the walls for a way to enter the lab.

A sigh of relief leaves my lips when I find the entrance has been left open.

My boots hit debris and various shards of glass that clink and screech across the floor as I take a couple steps forward. The image of Nero taking advantage of the chaos to end my life, of father finding my dead body, flashes through my mind—but I pay no heed to it and carry on.

And then, I freeze, because I am not the only one knocking over frail pieces of discarded lab-instruments anymore. Because there is someone else, someone behind me.

My shoulders tense. I turn around, my lips parted with shock as my eyes meet with Nero’s. They are like the light in the abyss, the only faint glow in this ever-growing darkness, and they are staring right at me. He is staring right at me.

“Y-you’ll regret it forever if you kill me!” I say without giving it a second thought as I take a step back and curse my legs for trembling in the ways they do. “I’ll have you know I’m the last of my kind, a-and if you dare touch me, there will be repercussions!”

Nero’s gaze is hollow. I start to wonder if he understood me at all. He tilts his head and takes a few steps forward. This causes me to back away, until my shoulders are touching the edge of the wall, until he has me trapped and shaking like a newborn lamb.

“W-what do you want from me?”