by Archer Gibbs
May 9, 2040
10.30pm
“Well, that was sad,” said Jacob.
“Really, I found it pleasing,” replied Rider. “Riley was a bad guy. He didn’t care when Emily died.”
“Dude, your friends are dead and your response is … it was pleasing,” yelled Jacob.
“I get it,” said Rider. “You lost Riley.”
“Really? You know what it’s like to lose your best friend?”
“In fact, I do,” said Rider. “I lost Emily, remember!”
He ran out, mad and upset.
Jacob felt bad.
12.30pm
Ring, ring.
Jacob picked up his brand-new phone. He was a trillionaire now. He and Riley had bought and built a space station with the reward they got after they saved everyone from the virus, but now Riley had died, and the money had all gone to Jacob.
“Hello,” Jacob said.
“Hello, Mr Robert,” said Jack, his manager. “Yeah, how many people were on the ship when it left for the space station?”
“Umm, eleven. Why?”
“Okay, so someone is dead,” replied his manager.
“What?!” Jacob yelled.
“So, I suggest you come up.”
May 16th
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …. Lift off!
Jacob was screaming the whole time, but 24 hours and 1,500 km later, he connected with the Roberts and Baxley Space Station, travelling through space at 100km per hour. When he arrived, he was met by Jack and his security manager, Phoebe.
“We’re so glad you’re here. Something happened. Hurry!”
They all ran to the engine room, where a question was blinking on the monitor:
For lift off, what do you need? There’s no fuel and nothing to use. What does it take?
Jacob was thinking hard, but then it clicked. He knew the answer, but there was only 10 seconds before a nuclear meltdown. He tapped in the answer …
The lights went off.
*
Jack ran out of the engine room and up the stairs to fix the lights. He was working on the control panel, when a voice in the dark behind him said, ‘‘Ugh, how did they figure out my question?”
Jack was scared.
“Well, hello Jack,” said the voice.
“Who’s that?”
“It’s me …”
May 17th
8:00am
Jacob was wandering the ship with a flashlight, but then he tripped over something. He looked down to see Jack lying there.
He rolled Jack over and, with his last dying breath, Jack said, “Run far!” Then he closed his eyes and died.
Jacob was about to kick Jack, but he was interrupted by a crewmate, Cooper.
“What are you doing, Jacob?”
“Something feels odd about Jack,” Jacob replied.
“You’re going to kick someone who has just died?”
Before Cooper could stop him, Jacob took a kick at Jack and then what they thought was Jack’s body exploded and threw them both back against the wall.
Jacob stormed down to the security room, where he found the body of the other person who had been killed. It was a robot, just like Jack. At that moment, Jacob knew the people on the ship weren’t being killed. They were being kidnapped and replaced with robots!
*
Cooper was confused. “Who is kidnapping them?”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea,” said Jacob.
They ran down the hall into the security room. “There she is,” Jacob said, pointing to Phoebe.
“Really? Why do you think that?” asked Cooper.
“Because she’s the security manager and the only one with the vent key, so she can get to place to place without detection.”
“I think you’re crazy,” said Cooper.
“I’m not crazy, I’m calling a meeting.”
But then someone shouted, “I found something!”
They ran to another room, where there was a streak of blood leading to the vent.
“Okay everyone,” said Jacob. “Me and Cooper are going in. You guys go and check out every other vent.”
Cooper and Jacob jumped into the vent, where it was pitch black. Cooper brought a torch and Jacob brought a map.
“Okay, we are here,” said Jacob, holding up the map. “We want to get to the vent control room, where Phoebe is probably hiding.”
They heard a clunk clunk, and when Cooper lifted his torch, they saw someone in a black coat running ahead of them through the vent, dragging Phoebe along behind.
“There!” screamed Cooper.
They chased the person in the coat, who looked like a girl. But then she dropped through the floor and disappeared. Jacob and Cooper stopped.
“She fell into a giant drain,” said Cooper. “But look down there. She survived!”
“I’ve seen one of these before,” said Jacob. “You have to drop in 0.5 seconds with exactly the right timing.”
“Or we could turn this lever,” said Cooper.
They turned the lever and jumped down. To Jacob’s surprise, there stood Rider and Emily.
“Emily!” exclaimed Cooper. “How did you survive the acid?”
“Wait,” said Jacob, staring at him. “How did you know about the acid? You weren’t there when we were trying to cure the virus.”
“Tell him, Cooper,” said Rider.
Cooper took off his helmet to reveal … “Riley!” shouted Jacob.
Emily tackled Riley and tied him up.
“Jacob, my name isn’t Riley. It’s Cooper. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. I’ve been undercover all this time.”
“Okay, time to stop talking,” said Emily, and she put duct tape over Riley’s mouth.
“Emily, I need you to explain,” said Jacob. “Now!”
“Well, it started when I fell in the acid. I was instantly disintegrated, but when the hotel collapsed a drop of the virus cure splashed into the acid and I woke up in the rubble. I was alive! I knew that Riley didn’t care when I died. You didn’t care, either. Rider is the only one who cares about me, so now we’re taking over your space station!”
Cooper twisted away from Emily. He opened the airlock. “Hold on to something,” he screamed at Jacob. Jacob held on. Emily and Rider were sucked out into space.
An alarm went off.
Everyone was running to the emergency ship.
Everyone escaped, including Jack and Phoebe and all the other people who had been kidnapped.
