Story notes

[lolotehe]

“Did you ever try to escape?”
he asked.

She took a long time to respond.

“Once,”
she finally said,
flatly.

“I had been with the Shipping Authority five years.”

Another long pause.

“I haven't worn a pressure suit since.”

The dark pressed on them, like a quilt.

“What--?”
He never finished.

“It was maybe a week later,”
she explained.
“By then, I was in bad shape.
New eyes
New lips
New hands
New feet
The tip of my nose
The end of my chin
So much damage...”

She swallowed the darkness.

“They never found a scrap of him.
They never bothered to look.”

“How old were you?”
he asked.

“I was seventeen,”
she replied.

The answer was simple and unadorned.

“It would have worked,”
she said.
“But we had to trust someone
who was not worth our trusting.”