Gunther awoke slowly, he felt like utter shit, he could barely squeeze his eye lids open and his throat was dry and irritated. After a few seconds of lying awake with his eyes closed he pried them open with his fingers and tried desperately to focus on the ceiling above him. There were blurry images all around him, Heath called them ghosts but they weren't ghosts. Gunther knew they were just his eyes playing tricks on him. Your eyes were supposed to be a little messed up after your body was in an isolation chamber for a couple hundred years.

He pushed the door of the isolation chamber open and stepped out naked, it was just like being born again. Stepping out of a warm womb where you could sleep for eternity and be born into a new place, it may not look new but two hundred and sixty-four years had passed since Gunther had first stepped into the isolation chamber. Back on Earth, time had gone on and he suddenly remember Tia, a girl who he had promised he would go to university with. But that had been before he boarded the Centauri Two. He hoped she'd understand even if she was an senile old lady now. Advances had surely be made in life expectancy.

His legs were all wobbly but he somehow managed to walk over to the bathroom in an drunken stupor to open the lid of the toilet. He pissed for one and a half minutes, remembering painfully how much Coke he'd drank at the crew party before they all went into isolation. That was some time ago. He flushed his urine out into space, what did they say in that movie Apollo 13, the constellation of urination? He tried to laugh but nothing came out from the dried out tube which was now his throat. Stupid isolation chamber was supposed to keep me hydrated, he thought to himself

He walked over to his cupboard, opened it and picked out a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt. It would be good enough for the first day anyway. He was about to step one leg into the shorts when there was a buzzing sound at his door and Kalina stepped in. She looked at Gunther who was unsuccessfully trying to conceal his privates with a pair of blue shorts.

"Oh come on, it's nothing I haven't seen," she croaked, it sounded like she had been smoking for two hundred years instead of sleeping.

Gunther tried to speak but a strange gurgling noise came out of his throat instead. He gestured with one hand for her to turn around while he held his shorts at his lower belly.

"Oh very well, it's not like it shrinks like it did when guys were first put in isolation for the Europa mission."

She spun around and he put on his shorts and t-shirt then tapped her on the shoulder to indicate he was done. He pointed to his throat, he needed the hydrator which Kalina had already used when she got out of her own isolation chamber.

"Oh, haven't used the hydrator yet, huh? Well here ya go," she said handing him a small green bottle. "Don't forget to gurgle it." Gunther realized that Kalina's voice was already returning to normal, it was as warm and friendly as it was when they said good-bye some two hundred years ago. They'd wanted to get one of the double isolation chambers so they could stay together but their parents had refused to sign the permission slip.

He poured the contents of the green bottle into his mouth and titled his head back and gurgled for a few minutes before swallowing. It was the apple flavoured hydrator, the best flavour in his opinion. Back on Earth they'd had to go in the mandatory three month isolation period as preparation for their journey to Alpha Centauri. It had been a horrible way to spend his summer vacation since it had become non-existent but it was the price to pay to go to Alpha Centauri.

He tried to speak again and a few more gurgles and croaks came out before he finally managed to speak in a very sickly voice. "Guh-Good to see you again." He hugged Kalina close, he could hardly believe it had been two hundred and sixty-four years. Of course they were supposed to stay in much longer like the rest of the crew but that was all part of their plan.

"Hmmm," she pulled away. "You're frisky already Gunther. Who could blame ya though? It's only been two centuries years since we've fucked."

He nodded. "That makes me the galaxy's biggest loser." She brushed his long dirty blond hair out of his face and kissed him.

"So are the others up yet? Heath, Bryce and Tanya?"

"Oh yeah, they're just getting rehydrated like you though. You shouldn't try to talk much for the first five minutes."

"No problem," he muttered in his sickly voice. He took her hand gently and pulled her into the isolation chamber with him.

A display in the kitchen the readout was: "Ship Clock: 264 years, 145 days, 5 hours, 12 minutes, 42 seconds. Ship Time: 16:36." This display was in about just about every room on the ship.

"What do you suppose Kalina and Gunther are doing?" Heath asked from the round lunch room table. He was guzzling back his third tall glass of orange juice. Bryce was fiddling with his CDTP (compact digital tape player) trying to get some tunes that he hadn't heard in two centuries. Tanya was spreading some jam on an English muffin, her third since she'd woken up.

"You know exactly what they're doing," Tanya said taking another bite of her English muffin. "It's been a while for them."

"It's been even longer for me and you don't see me pulling you on the table for a quickie." When there was no reaction Bryce continued fiddling with the knobs on his CDTP.

Heath poured himself another glass of orange juice from the picture and drank almost half of it on the first sip. He burped loudly and filled up the glass again. He looked up when Gunther and Kalina came into the room holding hands and smiling. That was quick, Heath felt like saying.

"Good morning," Kalina took a seat at the table and looked at everyone. It was kind of spooky, they were the only ones awake on the Centauri Two, ten thousand billion kilometres away from Earth.

"Morning," they all said at different times, they all neglected to tell Kalina that it was 16:36 Ship Time.

Gunther sat down next to Kalina, they watched their Tanya eat hungrily. Gunther didn't feel like much like eating, he wasn't completely awake and he was still wondering why they had gone ahead with the silly plan.

"There! Finally," Bryce said and made one last adjustment on his digital tape player. "It's finally gonna work."

"What was wrong with it?"

"Needed new batteries and I had to make a few adjustments so it'd perform to my liking."

Bryce opened a slot on the small black digital tape player and slid a small grey tape in, he closed the lid and pressed a button. The machine hummed as the lasers read the disc which was contained in the grey tape. The machine was about as small and thick as an average paperback book but the speakers on it were "powerful enough to drive you insane" as the popular Sony motto went.

"What tape is it?" Tanya asked, she had finally finished all her English muffins. She had been quite satisfied with them.

"You'll see," Bryce said adjusting the volume. The lyrics finally poured out of the speakers.

'Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe...'

"Oh God, don't tell me," Heath stood up and picked up a couple of the tapes that were sitting in front of Bryce. "These are all space songs. Aw, Christ Bryce. Christ, Christ, Christ!"

"Well, I thought you'd like them," Bryce said angrily. He reached out to flick the off switch on the CDTP but Tanya grabbed his hand.

"Don't mind him, I like those songs. Do you still have that song about the sun? What's it called? The Sun is a gas or something."

"The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas! Yes, I'm surprised you remember. It's a brilliant song, I'll put it on now if you want."

"No, that's okay, we can listen to it later. I wouldn't want Heath to have a spaz."

Heath crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. Shoulda stayed asleep like the rest of the crew, he thought. They weren't the only teens on the ship after all, there were others and maybe once they got to Alpha-Clarke, the Earth-like planet, some of the other chicks would like to talk to him or make out with him in the jungle. The climate on Alpha-Clarke was supposed to be quite tropical, possibly steamy. He shuddered and gulped down the last of his orange juice.

"Did you ever think of how much shit we'll get in once the rest of the crew wakes up in a couple of years?" Heath said suddenly.

Kalina shrugged. "It's all right, I know that the crew is going to be busy once we're close to Alpha Centauri anyway. They won't notice if a few supplies are missing. Mellow out Heath, this was supposed to fun."

"Just don't know if it was such a good idea," he said. The rest of the crew was sleeping and they had programmed the isolation chambers to open a few years before they reached Alpha Centauri. Kalina had said just that when the idea had been brought up back on Earth, 'it'll be so much fun guys, it'll be like a party', and who would argue with that? For a few weeks they planned to have some kind of bizarre ship party while the crew slept, Heath had the idea now that it was an excuse for Kalina and Gunther to fuck. Gunther had seemed pretty pissed that Kalina had brought up the idea with them so Heath reached the conclusion that the original party was supposed to just be for Gunther and Kalina.

"Don't worry, you'll get into the mood of the party soon enough. We're going to do all sorts of things that we could never do when the crew was awake."

"Like what?" Heath groaned. "Run around the ship naked?" he added, laughing.

"I'd be up for that," Kalina said. She wasn't really but she just wanted to create a party atmosphere.

"Well, I'm going to the greenhouse to make sure we have some fruit and vegetables," Bryce announced. "I don't want to eat that freeze dried shit forever. How long were we planning on staying out of isolation anyway?"

Kalina shrugged, "A couple of weeks maybe. Hey guy, you can go back any time you want but I'm planning on staying out a while. Man, this'll be fun."

Gunther pulled her close and started kissing her, in seconds they were making out. They fell on the floor and continued slobbering all over each other. Heath, Tanya and Bryce watched.

"Wish I'd brought a chick," Heath said and crossed his arms. "Anyway, the naked thing sounds cool. We should definitely chill out though and hang out and listen to music. I'm sure we can find other tunes than the ones Bryce brought alone." Bryce shrugged and grabbed his tapes in case Heath was about to smash them to pieces. "None of that twentieth C crap, the new stuff."

"It's all old now anyway," Bryce pointed out. "On Earth you'd be as cool as a guy who headbanged to Beethoven."

"What ever, this is going to be fun, I'm sure of it. We're going to have more fun than anyone on Earth is having. It'll be a party."

"A Proxima party," Bryce mumbled as he began arranging his tapes.

They'd eaten, bathed and gone their separate ways. Now Kalina and Gunther were walking down the hallway hand in hand towards the Observatory Dome where they could observe the distant stars, possibly the sun and possibly Alpha Centauri.

"Why is Heath being such a jerk?" Kalina asked. The hallways on the ship all looked pretty much the same. They were blue, not painted but sort of a velvet covering. The carpets were a dark purple and the ceilings were white.

"I donno, he's probably just a little disappointed. We're never going to see Earth again you know."

"You don't know that," she protested. "We could go back. It's a possibility. We've brought some of the smartest technicians with us, they might be able to build a ship which could return to Earth. And if they did I'd go."

"I wouldn't" Gunther admitted. "There's nothing left there, we're a last ditch effort. There might not even be anyone left on Earth; they might have all killed each other."

"That's my boyfriend, always the pessimist. For all we know they're living in a utopia where the most difficult activity is fucking outside all day."

He sighed, she squeezed his hand. They walked a little further down the hallway before they arrived a door marked 'observatory'. Gunther pressed a button next to the door and they went inside.

The observatory was an oval-shaped room with tacky leather sofas lining the wall. Above them thousands of stars were flashing by, they moved closer to the centre of the room so they could be directly under the centre of the dome.

"Reminds me of those drugs I took back on Earth," she said. "Bastards wouldn't even let me bring them with me."

"The scientists just didn't want any fucking druggies in the new colony. We're not travelling all these light years just to drop acid and jump off some cliff on Alpha-Clarke."

"Yeah, well. It's nice," she said pulling her neck all the way back until it hurt. "Why don't we lie down and look?"

"Sure," he took her hand and they lay down next to each other and looked up at the stars together.

After twenty minutes of this Gunther rolled Kalina on top of him and started to kiss her.

"Well, you sure know how to ruin a perfectly beautiful moment."

"I'm just horny," he admitted. "Gotta problem with that?"

"Yeah, it's only been four hours since our last go. What's with you?"

"I don't know, I just feel energetic."

She looked into his eyes. She started to kiss him and then stopped. She pulled off her shirt. "What the hell, let's go big boy."

Bryce and Tanya were in the greenhouse. Plants hung over the pathway which tickling their necks. The scientists had just like the plants grow and over two hundred years they were plump, green and overgrown. The paved pathway weaved around the plants and it was easy to get lost. The whole greenhouse seemed huge. Somewhere above them a bird screeched.

"Good to know the ecosystem is still doing well," Bryce said arching his head upward to see if he could catch a glimpse of the bird. There was nothing, just the bright white lights which provided the plants with artificial sunlight. "Do you remember coming in this place when we first got on the ship?"

"Yeah, it was practically empty. Hell, from the back of the place you could see all the way to the door. Now..." She looked behind them from where they had come in but the thick foliage blocked her view. "I can't see anything."

"Well, there should be some fruit or vegetables around here we can eat around here somewhere. I think the botanists planted some one hundred different varieties."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"Um, I was just an eager science geek when it came to this stuff. There was nothing more I wanted to do than travel on a starship between here and some distant planet in another solar system."

Tanya shrugged. "I sort of got pushed into it. Well, you've heard about my parents haven't you?"

"Um, I think you told me about them a little. They made you join the crew?"

"Basically I had no choice, I was expected to do this because it would give me something to live for. My parents felt like I was a waste of space, someone who was not a benefit for anyone. So I had to sign up and I was accepted. Here I am."

"You probably wish they were dead."

"Oh, I don't know how much more damage they could do. They always got along with my brother; he met their expectations."

"Earth must be quite different now," Bryce added. "If you parents are still alive they might be different too."

"Maybe," she said. "Hey look, we can eat that can't we?" She pointed to some ripe peaches which were hanging off a tree.

"Yep, those will do fine." Bryce walked off the path and protected his face from the twigs and grabbed a handful of the peaches. "There should be more fruit around here somewhere." He walked deeper into the foliage and continued talking. "I think they planted some wild raspberries. The strawberries should be pretty good too." He turned around when his arms were filled with fruit. Tanya was no longer behind him.

"Hey, where'd you go? Tanya? Hey!" He dropped his fruit on to the ground in front of him. Then something leapt on him from behind, he screamed. He struggled as the thing got on top of him.

"Miss me?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Bryce asked looking down as his shirt which now had squished fruit all over it.

"Just having fun," she said as she got off of him. "Isn't this party supposed to be about fun?"

"I don't know," He wiped some of the fruit goo off the front of his shirt. "It wasn't my idea, just remember that little fact."

"Well, I want to have fun. We're not just going to pick fruit in the greenhouse the whole time like Adam and Eve are we?"

"We have to have fruit if we want to survive. Where did Heath go anyway? You could go check out what he's doing. It might be more interesting than picking fruit."

Bryce bent over and picked up some of the fruit which he hadn't squished. The party was supposed to be about fun but for some reason he wasn't really up to it at the moment. He assumed that Kalina and Gunther were the only ones really having fun; the party sort of revolved around them.

"He went to play pinball in the games room. He was a little pissed off that no one wanted to party yet. I mean Gunther and Kalina are certainly getting rolling, pun intended."

"It's only their second time since they've come out of isolation," Bryce added.

"Yeah, second time already. I'd rather stay here. I guess picking fruit isn't that bad, I just expected a whole lot more."

"Well, Kalina certainly made this sound really great before we went into isolation. So far I've had better parties on Earth and that isn't saying much."

"Yeah, just you and your techie buddies solving problems with manuals in your laps and a case of Diet Coke on the floor."

"Hey, it wasn't like that at all."

"It was caffeine free Coke wasn't it?"

"Sprite," he muttered as he wiped the rest of the goo off his t-shirt. He knew if he had any guts he'd take his shirt off but that was just something he wouldn't be comfortable doing in front of Tanya.

"Heh, you guys sure had a lot of fun. Hey, it's worth it though," she patted him on the shoulder gently, "we need a techie person on board and certainly for the party. I mean if something goes wrong we'd all be screwed without you."

"So that's all I am to them? Just some guy who could bail them out of this mess in case anything bad happened? Is that what I am to you?"

"No, you're a friend, a friend who just happens to be good at that stuff. I trust you, that's all."

"Hm, thanks. Let's get some more fruit. I'm sure Kalina and Gunther will be hungry later on."

In the darkened game room Heath was singing under his breath as he pressed the buttons on the side of the pinball machine viciously.

"And so I'm having a wonderful time but I'd rather be whistling in the dark. Whistling in the dark, whistling in the dark."

He stopped when he realized what he was doing, singing to one of the songs Bryce played on his CDTP. Bryce played them to nausea and Heath supposed it was only natural for them to get stuck in his head. He stopped singing the irritating song and continued pounding away on the flippers. The machine spat out various beeping and buzzing noises on the speakers as Heath racked up the points. He shot the ball up the ramp and scored a ten thousand point bonus.

"Not fucking bad," he shouted as he entered bonus land. "Sure beats hanging out with those other guys."

"Well, we're going to pick berries in the greenhouse," he said imitating Bryce. "I'm gonna go do my girlfriend again," he said imitating Gunther this time. "Girlfriend's a dog anyway."

The ball came rolling back towards the flippers, he pressed the buttons but didn't react quickly enough and the ball rolled right between the flippers.

"Shit!" He pounded the glass of the machine and then immediately felt sorry for doing it. He remembered Kalina telling them that they had to cause as less damage as possible.

He was about to press the button to shoot his third ball, then hesitated when he thought he heard something behind him. He spun around and peered into the darkness of the room. The only lights which were on were the four or five small spotlights which were above the pinball machine he was playing. The rest of the room was dark except for the shapes of the other game machines in the room.

He stood there looking into the darkness for nearly a minute, his heart was pounding, he swallowed hard and started to wonder if he had even heard anything in the first place. It seemed possible. He was alone after all and people heard all sorts of things when they were alone. It was just the mind trying to play tricks on itself for entertainment.

He turned back around and looked at the flashing lights on the pinball machine but didn't press the button to start up the game again. He turned around again when he thought he heard something.

"Just the heat coming on or something," he mumbled to himself. Suddenly he wished he was as comfortable as he had been a few minutes ago when he had been singing the stupid song which Bryce always listened to. He knew that he was alone in the room since he definitely would have heard the door open if Kalina, Gunther, Bryce or Tanya had decided to check up on him. That meant he was alone, alone with the other four on the other side of the ship. He looked into the darkness and felt his heart pounding harder and harder in his chest.

He began to wish he had turned more lights on when he had first entered the room. The light controls were next to the door and he couldn't turn them on from across the room. He wished he hadn't been so macho or so paranoid about the crew finding out that they had come out of isolation for their proxima party. That's what they were all calling it now and had been ever since Bryce had first coined the phrase after they had first all come out of isolation.

Heath turned back to the pinball machine and then spun around again when he thought he heard something again. This time there was no mistaking that there had been a noise and Heath didn't feel like enduring the pain that came from standing around listening to the mystery noise. He left the pinball machine on and dashed over to the door and fumbled for the switch that would open the door.

"Come on you son of a fucking bitch. Open up! Come on." He fumbled some more knowing that if he wasn't so scared that he would have been able to get the door open right away. He finally hit the right button after several minutes of struggling and ran out the door.

He caught his breath outside in the artificial light of the hallway. Behind him the door to the game room closed automatically. He jumped when the door hissed closed. He ran down the hallway and smacked right into Bryce who was coming from the opposite direction. They both fell over.

When Heath opened his eyes he saw Tanya looking over him. She helped him up and then helped up Bryce. They both stood around rubbing their heads in confusion and then Bryce looked over at Heath.

"You son of a bitch, you better get running because I'm just a wee bit pissed off."

"Come on techie boy, come and get me," Heath said slapping his ass.

Heath started running down the hallway, his knees coming up nearly to his stomach. He passed doorway after doorway, most of which contained the sleeping crew. He continued yelling taunts and heard Bryce not too far behind him. He ran to the elevators and pressed all three buttons desperately. He could hear Bryce behind him, the doors of the middle elevator opened and he managed to squeeze inside and shut the door just as he saw Bryce appear from around the corner.

"Come get me ya geek! You'll never catch me." He pressed nineteen rapidly and was whisked away as soon as he pressed the button.

Bryce stopped at the elevators, he looked up at the display above the middle elevator. Tanya suddenly appeared around the corner, out of breath much more than either of the guys were.

"Where'd he go?" She asked, bent over.

"Section nineteen. I'm gonna catch that son of a bitch."

She coughed and finally managed to spit out: "Why? Why is it so important?"

"It's just a game and I have to catch him to prove I'm just as good as he is. I think this party is finally starting."

Heath raced down section nineteen as quickly as he could knowing that Bryce would have been able to know where he was going from the display above the elevator. It was all part of the game though. Just in case Bryce was close behind Heath decided to yell some more taunts.

"Come get me, come on, where the hell are you, you bastard?"

He continued running down the partially lit hallway when he nearly smacked right into Gunther and Kalina. Heath stopped just in front of them instead and shot a glance over his shoulder to see if Heath was coming.

Gunther grabbed Heath by the arms. "Whoa, what's going on. Who the hell are you running from?"

"Did someone come out of isolation?" Kalina asked. "One of the other members of the crew?"

Heath tried to speak but he was still breathing hard from running away from Bryce and was having a hard time talking. "I-I'm just running. Bryce is chasing me."

Kalina and Gunther looked at each other. Gunther grabbed Heath again when he tried to get away and continue running. "Why the hell are you running away from him?" Gunther had visions of Bryce going crazy and killing all four of them and then himself. It'd be like The Shining or something.

"Relax, it's just a game. I mean, this is supposed to be a party isn't it? And we've got the whole ship to ourselves so we can make as much noise as we like. Can't we?"

"Sure," Kalina said watching to see if Bryce would appear around the corner and start chasing Heath. She was finally glad the five of them were having fun. She hoped they would stay a lot longer than they first anticipated.

"Well, get the hell out of here before he comes." Gunther gave Heath a shove and he was away like a shot. Kalina and Gunther watched him go and then stood around and waited until Bryce showed up several minutes later.

Out of breath, much like Heath had been, Bryce asked if Heath had gone by them.

"Um, I don't think I can reveal that information," Gunther said laughing. Bryce growled and continued running the same direction.

Moments later Tanya came walking down the hallway with a full bag in one hand. She strolled up to Kalina and Gunther who were still discussing how much fun Bryce and Heath seemed to be having.

"Hey," Tanya said dropping the bag at her feet. Gunther bent down and used a single finger to look inside the bag. Not to his surprise it was full of fruit, he grimaced and stood up.

"Those guys are having way too much fun. I'd swear they're secretly in love or something."

"Ah, wouldn't surprise me," Gunther said.

"Well, I'd be surprised," Kalina said. "Heath is always talking about how he should have brought a chick aboard. I don't think he's quite that desperate. They're just having fun for a change."

"For a change?" Tanya asked rolling her eyes. "They've never had fun in their lives."

Gunther, Kalina, Bryce, Heath and Tanya were sitting at the kitchen table as they had been when they first came out of isolation. They were all chewing on English muffins this time and eating the sliced fruit Bryce had collected from the greenhouse a couple of days ago. They ate in silence, chewing and wondering what the fourth day out of isolation would bring. The game which had been played between Heath and Bryce was now commonly referred to as 'the chase game'. Gunther thought of it as a sad version of hide and go seek, it was especially sad since he'd be nineteen in a couple of months.

Heath finished his second English muffin and grabbed a couple of pear slices from the dish in front of him. He started sucking on them and then grimaced. "I've forgotten how much I hated pear. Isn't there anything else?"

Bryce looked up from where he was eating his own English muffin. "Um, no, that's all we got left. I guess I'd better go get some more later on. There's lots left in the greenhouse though. We haven't even scratched the surface of the food supply."

"Okay," Heath said. "That's one thing we've gotta do. Besides that what's on the planning board? Anyone up for the chase game?"

Everyone groaned except for Heath who looked more than a little confused by his friends' reaction.

"What?"

"Well," Kalina said trying to put it delicately. "I think we're all a little sick of the chase game. Look, it was fun for a couple of days but maybe we can think of something else to do."

"We could play games in the game room," Bryce suggested.

In response to this suggestion Heath just stared blankly at the wall behind Kalina. There were a number of appliances over there including one to make coffee and one to nuke food but he wasn't thinking of those. He was thinking of the chills he had gotten when he was in the game room all alone. He wondered if it would be any different if they were all in there with the lights on with music playing.

"Hey Gunth, what are you doing?" Recently Gunther and Kalina had been going off together for quite a bit of time. Heath understood it to a certain degree, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but recently it had just begun to tick him off more than usual. He hadn't said anything about it though.

"Well, Kalina and I were just going to hang out together. We've been hanging around with you guys for the last couple of days so I think we just need a little more personal time."

You mean a little more time to fuck, Heath thought. Yeah, nothing like doubling up the old fucking time and totally ignoring your friends. His aggravation couldn't be contained any more and he decided to say something.

"No surprises there."

Bryce was eating a piece of pear, he looked up to see the inevitable shit that would fly as a result of Heath's comments. When there was no immediate reaction he knew it would be bad, it meant the anger was stewing in Gunther and would soon be released. So Bryce just hunkered down on the table and pretended to ignore the nasty onslaught Gunther was about to present.

"What? Look, I can spend as much time with my girlfriend as I like." With every word Gunther seemed to raise his voice more and more. "It's none of your fucking business."

"Your business is all about fucking," Heath said chuckling. He looked over at Tanya but she was hunkered down much like Bryce was. Kalina wasn't showing much either, she was just kind of staring ahead like she couldn't believe what was being said.

"Okay look, just get out of here. I'm not going to deal with this shit. I know you're jealous or what ever, just get out of here and cool off."

"Fuck this!" Heath shouted. "This was supposed to be fun, this isn't fun. I should just go back into isolation."

"You'd be doing us all a favour," Gunther responded.

"Well, maybe it's just what I'll do then. Come on Bryce, you're going to help me. I don't need this shit anymore."

Heath stormed out of the room, the door closed behind him and the other four friends were left sitting at the kitchen table. In a matter of seconds they had gone from party to argument.

"You better go help him," Gunther said. "If he wants to go back into isolation that's his choice."

"No," Tanya yelled. "He's just mad right now, I bet everything will cool off."

Bryce stood up, the other three looked. "I'm going to talk to him. If he really wants to go into isolation I'll help him. He might have changed his mind already."

Bryce pressed the button for the door and stepped outside into the hallway; Heath was sitting up against the wall a few metres away. His head was buried in his arms; he looked up when Bryce came out.

"Well, are you going to do this for me?" He asked.

"If you really want me to I will."

"I do. This party is over for me. You guys can have fun without me."

"Well, all right then. If it's what you really want."

They took the elevator and then walked to Heath's room which was over on section fifteen. They walked in silence, Bryce assumed that the situation had been dealt with and that there was nothing more he could do. If Heath was angry there was no point in him being a part of the party, he would just mess things up even more and make everyone angry. Bryce couldn't stand it when everyone was bitching at each other, it annoyed him and gave him a headache.

They arrived at Heath's room, he punched in a code and then pressed another button and they went inside. He activated the lights and then and lay down in the isolation chamber which was in the corner of the room. He didn't close the door of the chamber, he waited for Bryce to come over.

Bryce came over and started fiddling with the controls on the side of the isolation chamber. It was a complex system but it was one of the ones he was more familiar with on the ship. He even knew the exact date of when the rest of the crew would be woken which would now have to be programmed into Heath's isolation chamber. Bryce swore under his breath as he pressed various buttons.

"I can't believe those guys," Heath said from inside the chamber. "I mean, this was supposed to be a party and those guys are running off every five minutes to go fuck in a different part of the ship. It isn't what I expected at all."

Bryce continued pressing buttons and turning knobs, he swore under his breath again and tried to get the isolation chamber to set so Heath would come out of isolation with the rest of the crew.

"I wanted this to be fun, I really did," Heath said continuing his little rant. "But those guys just screwed the whole thing up. We should have planned this better."

"No kidding," Bryce mumbled as he tried for the third time to programme the isolation chamber. He was getting nervous now, he could feel the sweat under his shirt but he tried desperately not to increase his breathing just in case Heath noticed. He didn't want Heath to know there was any trouble. He just hoped that he was forgetting something.

"Are you done fiddling with that thing yet? Well, I guess you know what you're doing. We're lucky to have you. I wouldn't have a clue how to get us back into isolation."

I just hope I do, Bryce thought as he tried to programme the isolation chamber in a different way. His fingers were getting sweaty and they kept slipping off the key pad before he could press the buttons. He wiped away the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. Every time he tried to programme the chamber he ran into some kind of security feature, it was like the computer knew they had gotten out of isolation and didn't want to let them back in. Bryce had never seen the feature before and he was positive before the ship left that he knew the system inside out.

He pressed another button, one that would tell him what the problem was but the computer asked him for a security clearance. The only person who could give Bryce clearance had been in isolation for over two hundred years and now it looked like the whole system was freezing up. He tried to get back to the start screen but the computer was frozen on the screen which asked for the clearance code.

"Fuck!" He screamed and pounded his fist on the floor.

Heath sat up and looked over the edge of the isolation chamber. "What is it?"

"I can't do it," Bryce explained. "I've run into some sort of security problem. The computer just won't let me put you into isolation. The system is all frozen up."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Heath asked, he climbed out of the isolation chamber and was now standing behind Bryce looking at the controls.

"I'm saying I can't put you back into isolation."

"So bring me to one of the extra chambers. Programme me to get out a little early and no one will know."

"The whole system is networked. The only way I could get any of us in isolation would be to get security clearance and I'd have to bring one the security guys out of isolation to do that."

"Can you do that?"

"It's sketchy, the whole system is frozen up right now. I don't know what I can do."

"But if we bring someone out of isolation they'll know what we've done. We'll be in shit."

"Well, it's either that or living the rest of our lives on this ship."

"And how long is it until we arrive at Alpha Centauri?" Heath asked nervously.

"Well, about twenty thousand years."

Heath slowly nodded. "I guess we better find a way out of this then. Well, what do you think you can do?"

"I'll go check the other chambers to see if they've all got the same problem. I expect they do. Our only hope is to take someone who knows this stuff out of isolation or hope that the problem times out."

"Do you think it'll time out?"

"It could, I've seen other problems like that happen on the ship and sometimes the computer is smart enough to know it's frozen. My fear is this is some kind of security measure though and that it won't time out until the rest of the crew is awoken."

"In twenty thousand years," Heath said frowning. "Twenty thousand years." He began visibly biting his lower lip. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. What do you want me to do?"

"Go back to see the others, I'm going to fiddle with this for a while. I'll probably be able to give you a definite answer in an hour or so."

"I don't think I could stand living the rest of my life on this ship. You have to do something."

"I'll try, just do me a favour and don't tell the other guys about this. Just tell them you changed your mind about going into isolation."

"Will do," he said and pressed the button on the inside of the doorway and stepped outside into the hallway.

Bryce was left inside staring at the display on the isolation chamber which was still asking for a security code. He tried to get rid of it by resetting the whole machine but it wouldn't work. The situation looked absolutely terrifying. Bryce was not very confident that he'd be able to solve the problem.

Heath pressed the button outside the door of the kitchen and stepped inside. Gunther, Kalina and Tanya were still sitting around the table and they didn't seem very surprised to see him.

"Back so soon?" Gunther said pulling out a chair for Heath. Heath sat down trying not to show what he had just found out from Bryce. He knew that when a super techie like Bryce was stumped they were in trouble. So he tried not to show all this but it was very hard not too look worried when the possibility of spending the rest of your life on a ship in the middle of nowhere existed.

Tanya spotted it right away, she could tell that Heath looked worried. It was obvious something had happened, she wondered if it had anything to do with Bryce, so she asked. "Where's Bryce?"

Heath looked up at her; trying desperately not to show the bad news which was now the only thing he could think of. "He went to do some technical thing, I don't know he got wrapped up in some detail." It seemed like a good enough excuse to him but he didn't realize the others could see through his lie right away.

Gunther, Kalina and Tanya looked at each other and then at Heath who had his head buried in his arms. He looked absolutely miserable; a sharp contrast to what he had been like twenty minutes ago when he had been shouting at Gunther.

"What's wrong?" Kalina asked putting a hand on Heath's shoulder, he immediately pulled away. "Come on, why don't you tell us. Something must've happened?"

"Nothing happened," Heath mumbled, head still buried in his arms.

This time Gunther had visions of Heath killing Bryce in a fit of rage when Bryce tried to convince Heath not to go into the isolation chamber. He wondered if it was a possibility and wondered if Heath would have even come back had he slaughtered Bryce. In his frustration he decided to confront Heath.

"Where's Bryce? Is he hurt? Did you hurt him? We'd understand if you did it by mistake."

Heath looked up for a moment and shouted: "I didn't hurt him!"

"Well, where is he then?" Kalina asked. "We just want to know that he's okay."

"I told you where he was, he's fixing some technical problem."

"Why don't you just tell us the truth," Gunther said. "You'll have to eventually, won't you?"

"I suppose so," Heath said pulling his face out of his arms. "Bryce told me not to though."

"What did Bryce tell you not to tell us?" Tanya asked impatiently.

"Well, he tried to put me back in isolation and he kept fiddling with the controls and kept swearing. I thought it was taking more time than usual. That's when Bryce told me about some security problem. He said he couldn't put me back into isolation."

"He couldn't put you back in isolation?" Tanya shouted like she hadn't heard him right. "What the hell's wrong? Can any of us go back into isolation."

"He's trying to find that out. He said something about our only choice being to take someone out of isolation to fix the problem."

"And that would be the end of the party and a big slap on the wrist from everyone on the ship," Gunther said.

"Who knows if it would even be a slap," Tanya said. "We're never going back to Earth, the crew could basically do what ever they wanted to us. Torture us, kill us. You name it."

Heath continued to explain the problem. "Well, Bryce isn't even sure if we can take someone out of isolation. He said the whole system was screwed up. He said the security measure might be in place so that no one can come out of isolation and no one can go into isolation."

"That would mean we'd be stuck on the ship the rest of ours lives," Kalina shouted. She started to weep and collapsed into Gunther's arms. Gunther rubbed Kalina's back and told her that Bryce would be able to find some way to save them.

They discussed the issue for almost an hour, hoping that Bryce would be able to do something to save them. When Bryce came in an hour and a half after he first left with Heath he didn't look particularly optimistic. He took a seat at the table and started squeezing his hand and fingers nervously.

"I have to tell you something," he said. "I--"

Heath interrupted. "It's okay, I told them. I had too, I just couldn't keep it bottled up anymore. Our lives are at stake, just tell us what you know Bryce."

"Well," he said still squeezing his fingers. "It doesn't look all that good. It looks like the same problem that was in Heath's isolation chamber has been repeated in everyone else's."

"So what do we have to hope for?" Kalina asked; her hand was tightly clutched in Gunther's stronger hand.

"Our only hope now is that this whole problem times out. It's been known to happen with other problems, I don't know if it'll happen to this one. We'll know if the problem is still here in twenty-four hours. So, we can only wait till then."

The bad news had been broken, Bryce had gone around to every available isolation chamber that morning and had found they were all in the same state. For a moment there was silence in the room and then all five of them started to argue.

"Look, you can't just give up," Kalina shouted at Bryce. "I mean, this is your strongest area isn't it? You have to do something or we're all going to die."

"I can't do anything," Bryce answered. "The only chance we have of fixing this thing lies in the security room behind three reinforced steel doors. I told you before we left that I didn't know every single corner of the system and you accepted that. You didn't seem worried that this type of thing would happen. I knew there was a possibility of it happening but I never thought it would."

"So this is my fault? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, it's---"

"It is! You're saying that this is all my fault because I didn't know the consequences. You think I would have I gone through with this if I knew this would happen? We're all going to live the rest of ours lives on this crummy ship. I never would done it..." She broke down sobbing. Gunther tried to comfort her and then she snapped at him. "I don't need your sympathy."

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't tell that you that this could happen," Bryce said gently. "I just never thought it would. This was your party, not mine. It was your idea, I just went along with it."

"I think we're all to blame," Heath said softly. "We were stupid to think we'd ever get away with this."

"Well, we're going to have to get used to it," Tanya said. "I mean if we want to live another hundred years on here. Is it possible Bryce? Is there enough life support?"

"We could do it, it's very possible. The greenhouse has tons of food in it and there are tons of rations just in this room alone. The thing is that these were meant for the entire crew. We'd be stealing the supplies they'll need when they come out of isolation."

"Yeah, in twenty thousand years," Tanya said. "I think we're entitled to it. Don't you?"

"I don't think this is a very good existence," Heath muttered. "Living on a ship for the rest of my life. I wonder how long it would take for me to get bored. I don't think I could live with you guys anymore anyway. I trusted you."

"So you have nothing to do with this?" Kalina screamed, tears in her eyes. "I think you do. You came along with us and you're just as responsible. If you don't want to take responsibility just fuck off. This is a big ship. I could go years without seeing you."

"Then maybe that's just what I'll do." Heath stood up, pushed his chair out the way and picked up his English muffin and launched it at the wall. A round strawberry jam stamp appeared where he threw the English muffin. He pressed the button and left the room. They didn't see him again for five days.

"Well, at least we got rid of him," Kalina grumbled. "We've got to stick together."

"I'd rather not," Tanya said standing up. "I think this is your fault. You should've known what you were getting us into when you forced us to accept."

"I didn't force anyone, I didn't even know this could happen! Bryce should've known, not me."

"Leave Bryce out of this," Tanya snarled. "He just got sucked into this like all of us did."

"If you want to believe that then go ahead. If we stuck together we'd be much better off."

"It doesn't matter at this point," Tanya said grabbing Bryce's hand. "Come on Bryce, let's go. We don't need this abuse. I'm sure you and your boyfriend would like to fuck for the next one hundred years anyway."

Tanya and Bryce left the room, leaving Gunther and Kalina alone at the kitchen table which had at one point been a peaceful place for all of them. It was a war zone now and on the fifth day out of the isolation chambers it was the last place they would all gather together.

"Just you and me honey," Kalina said and tried to lean over to kiss Gunther. He pulled away and showed with his eyes that he was upset. "What?"

"I don't want to," he explained. "I think I just want to be alone for a while. A long while."

"What? We've got to stick together. You and me? We're a couple."

He stood up. "I think that ended when you put my life at risk. I'll see you around some time maybe." He walked to the doorway, pressed the button which opened the door and stood there in silence for a moment. He turned around. "Maybe." And then he left like the others had.

She sat in the kitchen alone staring at the strawberry jam stain on the wall. She wondered how this had happened, how they had managed to put themselves in this situation. Now she was alone and she didn't like it very much.

Heath had been in hiding for four days; ever since he stormed out of the kitchen after the argument with who he now considered his ex-friends. He was in the lower sections of the ship where all the engineering work was done. He was crouched against a warm set of pipes, the ceiling was only a couple of feet above his head and the wall of the tunnel on the other side was lined with tools to fix the various components of the ship.

Further down in the tunnel he had a small supply of food which he had grabbed from the kitchen. He'd gone back several hours later after he had first left and found that no one was there. The stain from the strawberry jam had still been on the wall and the kitchen looked pretty much abandoned. He'd grabbed enough food for a couple of days and made his way to the bottom of the ship to escape everyone else. He figured none of the others would come looking for him here. He hoped it would be one of the last places they would look if they looked at all. But judging from the lack of bodies in the kitchen Heath assumed that they had all gone their separate ways and split up.

He kept thinking about spending the rest of his life on the ship and dying before he ever got to Alpha-Clarke which was supposed to be some kind of wonderful paradise. There was also the thought about joining the rest of his friends for that miserable life but he didn't feel like doing that either. He felt like staying alone and feeling miserable for having to live out the rest of his life on a stinking ship.

He crawled down the tunnel, which was only lit with small ceiling lights every few metres. Some of the lights didn't even work so he was left in darkness for part of his crawling but he didn't mind very much. In the past four days he'd managed to overcome the fears he had first experienced when he had been in the game room. He didn't care about the noises which came from the belly of the ship because he really hoped that they were some terrible monster which was going to come after him. It would be a fair end, one which wouldn't be drawn out like the lives of all his friends.

He reached the end of the tunnel after crawling another thirty metres or so. He leaned up against the wall of the tunnel and started pouting uncontrollably. At his feet was the food he had taken on his trip back to the kitchen, his supply was running low and he knew he'd soon have to go back. It would mean risk running into the others. He didn't want to see them again, he'd had enough of them and their god awful stupidity. They were the ones who put me in this situation, he thought. They were the ones who fucked everything up. All attachments he had once felt for those people were now gone. It had been easy enough, he only had to be condemned to live in the bowels of a space ship until he died of old age. Or earlier, he thought. There was always much earlier.

He started munching on some of the fruit he'd taken from the kitchen. It was really Bryce's fruit since he had brought it from the greenhouse but that didn't matter to him. It was food nonetheless and he gobbled it down as quickly as he could. He chucked the cores further down the tunnel.

It was dark in the part of the tunnel where he was, he had smashed the bulbs himself because he liked it dark, it made him more comfortable. Gone were the days of being scared of dark. He liked it now, it put him in the kind of mood he wanted to be in. He wanted to be lonely, depressed and as far as away from his once friends as possible.

He sat in the dark sobbing, his face was sticky from the fruit he had eaten. He licked his hand and tried to wipe it away, his face was rough with bristles. He remembered he hadn't shaven in four days. He'd been in his hole suffering like a lunatic. He wiped the moisture out of his eyes and started smashing his fist into the wall in anger.

"You killed me, you bitch!" He could hear his voice echoing endlessly down the shaft. "You killed me and now I'm crazy!"

He suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth, thinking that they might have heard of him. He knew that if they were on the deck above him that it was quite a real possibility. But he hoped that even if they did hear him that they would have the good sense not to come looking. In Heath's opinion it would just be foolish, foolish and stupid. He smashed his fist into the wall of the tunnel again, much harder this time, he pulled back and looked at it. It was torn up and covered in blood. Heath kind of shrugged in the dark and started licking the blood away.

"Bitch killed me," he murmured to no one in particular. "Is this what it feels like to crazy? This is day nine, what's day four thousand going to be like?" At that instant he made up his mind and started crawling towards the exit of the tunnel. He'd started to know the maze of them pretty well now and he knew he wasn't too far from one of the exits in the room of the tunnel. which led to a standard utility closet. Like a hibernating rodent underground Heath had more than one exit. He knew that was exactly what he was.

He crawled in the dark towards the nearest exit, his eyes were still moist from the crying he had been doing. This time he wasn't going back for food, this time he knew he was going back for something more important.

"Come on, we have to get some food at the greenhouse, I don't want to run into the others. We're the only ones together you know. Everyone else is going their separate ways."

Tanya nodded, then paused. "Well, we don't know about that. It's been five days since we've seen them, maybe they got back together. I think it's likely that Gunther and Kalina did."

"How did you know they split up?" Bryce asked, they were halfway down the hallway towards the greenhouse. He remembered once running down the very same hallway to escape from Heath in a classic edition of the chase game.

"I heard them yelling after we went out into the hallway. I just know that Gunther felt the same way we do. He's blaming this all on Kalina too."

"Well, I'm just sick of laying blame," Bryce said. "I'd rather just hang out with someone I can trust."

She grabbed his hand. "Really? You trust me?"

"Yeah, more than those other guys. I think I'd go crazy if I was all alone. I think we'll all get back together at some point."

"There's no sign of them, they're all in hiding." She squeezed his hand tighter.

"Well, I could've sworn I heard something yesterday. Remember? When I was down in section one? I was checking out the equipment to see if there was any change. Fuck, that was a waste of time."

"You heard something down there? You never told me!"

"Well, I was tired and I'm not really sure anyway. It sounded like yelling to me but it could have been anything. I mean, who knows where those other guys are. This is a big ship."

"Yeah." They had arrived at the greenhouse, Tanya pressed the button and stepped inside. It was steamy inside and the lights were bright; it was always a shock to her.

"Come on," she said grabbing his hand. "I don't want to stay around here too long. I just don't want to run into the others. I just don't think I'm ready for it yet."

"I understand," he said as they started to weave through the gardens. "We'll just go get some fruit and veggies and get out as quickly as possible." Overheard he could hear birds chirping. On his right he could see a small green lizard crawling up the side of a tree.

"Great!" She squeezed his hand again, it made Bryce feel nervous because he was pretty sure it meant that Tanya was starting to get a thing for him. He didn't have a thing for her, it was funny really. They were in a last man and woman on Earth position and he felt nothing for but friendship. Dammit, I'm too much of a nice guy, he thought. I've gotta try and get rid of that reputation.

He was looking ahead, looking forward to trying some different fruit this time when Tanya grabbed his whole arm suddenly. He thought she was kind of over doing it this time.

He pulled her toward him. "What? What the hell's the matter." She kind of pointed into the bushes and made gurgling noises like she wanted to scream but couldn't. Bryce looked at Tanya and then back at where she was pointing but he didn't see anything. He looked harder and then he did see what she was pointing at. It was a hand and not only a hand but a whole body.

Tanya pulled him toward her and started hugging him desperately. She was able to speak now. "Oh god! Oh god! Who the hell is it?" She looked around nervously.

"I'll look," Bryce said pulling away from her. He stepped off the path and examined the hand. At first he thought it looked blistered and then with closer inspection he could tell it had been chewed, chewed by the wild animals in the greenhouse. The rest of the body was covered with leaves and plants; it was pretty chewed up too. He pulled the shrubs away from the face and gasped; there was no mistaking it was Heath. He'd been dead for at least twelve hours.

"Who is it?" Tanya asked impatiently. She was bouncing from foot to foot. "Just don't tell me he was murdered."

"It's Heath," Bryce shouted from the bushes. He started clearing some of the bushes away from the body when he saw something. A round bottle, he picked it up and saw it was empty. It was plaraphyl, a strong drug that was deadly in strong doses. Heath had committed suicide.

"Oh god! Heath!" Tanya mumbled, she looked over at the bushes and could see Bryce was coming out.

"He committed suicide," Bryce said. "I guess this was all a little too much for him."

"Oh god." She buried her face in his chest and started weeping. They stood like this weeping together for their now dead friend for quite some time.

"It's awful. What are we going to do with him?"

"I don't know," Bryce said looking back at the corpse in the bushes. "He's all chewed up. He overdosed on some of drugs found in the medical office. It seems clear he committed suicide."

"Unless Gunther and Kalina did it."

"No, there's no chance of that. It's pretty obvious he killed himself."

"Well, we got to get him out of here. We can't just let those things in there eat him."

"Okay, if you help me we'll be able to pull him out."

"Help," she asked nervously looking back at the body.

"Yeah, help. I can't move him all by myself."

She looked back at Heath's body momentarily. "Oh god. I can't do it. Look at his eyes, he's got no eyes. I can't do it Bryce, I can't look at him like that. You've got to cover him up." She turned away, waiting for Bryce to cover up the body.

Bryce took a look around the greenhouse, he was surrounded by bushes. There was absolutely nothing to cover Heath's face with. Bryce looked down at his own shirt, which he had been too embarrassed to take off in front of Tanya. Now he felt he had no choice and he peeled his shirt off and pulled it over Heath's head. The gaping holes in Heath's eye sockets were now covered and Bryce found he was satisfied they were gone.

"Okay, I covered him up," Bryce called. Tanya had wandered a little further down the path. She looked back and saw that Bryce was now shirtless and that his shirt was now covering Heath's head.

"Okay," she said coming over to him. "I think I can do it. But where are we going to put him?"

Bryce crouched down next to the body. "We'll bring him out into the hallway. I don't know what else we can do."

"Okay."

"Look, I'll take his head and you carry his feet. We'll just lie him down out there."

Bryce picked up Heath gently by the head and waited for Tanya to pick up his feet. She walked nervously over to Heath's feet and looked up at Bryce.

"Pick 'em up already!" he shouted.

She complied and began walking backward toward the entrance of the greenhouse. They walked nearly twenty feet without resting once and dropped Heath at the entrance.

"That was hard," Tanya said out of breath. "Not physically though. I just mean carrying a dead friend was hard."

"He would do the same thing for us." Bryce walked over to the door controls and pressed the hold button which would keep the door open.

They carried him out into the hallway and dropped him out of the way of the doorway. He looked the same except for his fingers which had been gnawed away by animals. Bryce thought of Heath's fingers being digested in some animal's stomach and shuddered.

"Now what?" she asked. "Do we just leave him here?"

"I don't know what else we could do with him?" He looked back at the body and then nervously wiped some sweat off his chest. "Where could we bring him? I don't want to carry his body around the whole ship."

"You're right," she said. "There's one problem though. What about Gunther and Kalina?"

"They'll come by here and find his body eventually."

"What will they think when they just see Heath's body lying here? What's going to be the first thing that comes to mind?"

"Do you honestly believe they'll think we killed him? That's silly."

"But we don't even know where they are and we didn't exactly leave them on good terms. I think we should at least leave them a note." She found herself looking back at Heath's body.

"This isn't a dented fender, his is a dead friend. We can't just leave a note and expect them to believe us."

"We could leave the empty bottle of pills too. That might help. And if all else fails we could tell Kalina to run a blood test. She's pretty knowledgable in that stuff."

He wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Well, okay. I guess there's nothing else we can do."

Kalina and Gunther were huddled in his room. The room was a mess with dirty laundry, food wrappers and music discs. Although Gunther had stormed out on Kalina six days ago they had reconciled nearly four days ago. They both knew that the bond between them couldn't be destroyed no matter what the circumstances were.

She rolled over in the bed. "You love me, right? I mean you really do."

"Yes, I do." He kissed her on the cheek thinking about how many times she had asked that same question. Half a dozen? Two dozen times? He tried his best to show her that it wasn't getting to him. So far she was clueless. He did love her though and he did forgive her for putting them in the situation they were in. It was everyone's fault really. But that wasn't the theory Kalina was leaning towards, she kept insisting that it was Bryce's fault for not telling her about the risks. When this came up Gunther would just nod politely and pretend that he agreed with Kalina completely.

"Well, I'm hungry," she mumbled and pulled herself out of the bed. She stepped around the miscellaneous crap all over the floor; ignoring it completely. "We need food you know."

He burped from under the covers. "Yeah, I know and we can't just survive off the crap from the kitchen either. We need fruits and vegetables."

"Do we have to go out there? Running into the other guys at this point would just be awkward."

"I know it would but we have to go out there. We can't just stay in here for the rest of our lives. It's pretty obvious they're avoiding us too so maybe we won't run into them."

She sat on the bed, next to him. "Well, okay. If we meet up with them you have to do all the talking."

"Deal."

Gunther was in the shower, he was singing something but Kalina couldn't tell exactly what he was attempting to sing. She lifted the mattress and pulled out the knife she had been hiding from Gunther. It was protection really because she was scared. They were alone with each other and it was protection just in case anything happened-- she hoped it wouldn't but shit happened and she was scared of it happening. They were all alone together and when people were alone they could do crazy things so the best thing to do was to bring protection. She had been feeling on edge lately since she had been alone with Gunther. The others were out there and they were in hiding just like they were. There was really no telling what they were capable of. She slide the knife into her pocket. It was small but it would get the job done if it ever needed to be done.

Kalina got dressed and started walking with Gunther toward the elevator; they took it down to section twelve where the greenhouse was. They walked down the hallway hand in hand hoping they wouldn't run into any their ex-friends.

Kalina felt comfortable having Gunther's big sweaty hand in her own. "Kinda creepy, isn't it?"

"Huh?" he asked stupidly.

"It's creepy. Walking down the hallway. Remember the chase game?"

"Don't remind me. We'll have to get used to this anyway. This is the rest of our lives, remember?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't my fault---"

He clasped his other hand over her mouth. "I know! I know! It's everyone's fault." He pulled his hand off.

"No, it's that stupid Bryce---"

He started to put the hand back over her mouth and she stopped. "Okay, I'm a bitch. Who wouldn't be in this situation though? We're all bitches right now. Aren't we?"

"I guess so."

"So let's just get these fruits before we die of scurvy or whatever."

They turned the corner towards the greenhouse. Kalina was grabbing Gunther and acting all bubbly and Gunther was just allowing it to happen. He looked down the hallway as Kalina continued kissing him and hugging him. He stopped, she started pulling at his pants and he swatted at her.

"What? I thought you loved me. I thought we---"

He didn't say anything, he looked at the body at the entrance to the greenhouse. Kalina stopped speaking when she followed his gaze and saw exactly what Gunther was seeing. She screamed, it echoed down the hallway and she immediately wondered if the others had heard her.

She started hugging Gunther, this time she was seeking protection instead of affection.

"Oh god, who is it?"

"I don't know," he said softly.

"Well, are we going to find out who it is?" she asked.

"Do we want to?" he asked.

"Look, I'm the chick. I'm supposed to be the one who's scared."

"Well, this will be an exception."

"Do we even know if he's dead?"

"I guess i better find out," Gunther snipped sarcastically. "I'm the man after all so if I get butchered by one of my ex-friends it'll be okay."

"I'll go with you." She grabbed his arm and they started walking down the hallway together. When they were a couple of metres away from the body she gasped.

Bryce's body lay as it had been when Bryce and Tanya left it the day before. His head was covered with a striped blue and green button shirt and he was leaning up against the door to the greenhouse. His hands rested limply on the carpet; his fingers were gnawed and bloody. Lying on his chest was a piece of paper which had been folded.

"Oh god, he's dead!" She quickly turned around and looked down the darkened hallway to see if anyone was coming after them. She felt very edgy knowing they were cornered. "I don't like this."

"He's got something over his head," Gunther said stepping closer to the body. "It's a shirt, I think it's one of Bryce's shirts. This is shitty, ultra shitty!"

"I want to know who it is," she said grabbing him. "I just have to know. Pull the shirt off of him. Tell me."

He walked over the body and started to carefully pull the shirt off his head. Gunther swallowed hard when he had pulled the entire shirt off; Kalina gasped and held Gunther tightly. "What the hell did they do to him?"

"I'll see what the note says." He picked it up and started reading it out loud. "Gunther, Kalina. Found Heath dead at quarter to seven on Proxima day ten. He committed suicide with pills from the infirmary. We will remember him fondly. Bryce and Tanya."

"Shit," she muttered. "Shit, shit, shit. How could they do this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? They killed him. He got in their way so they killed him."

"Where did you get that from? Look," he bent over, "they even left the bottle of pills he committed suicide with. What do you want? A blood test to prove he really did this?"

"I have no doubt he died from an overdose of pills," she said rationally. "I think they got him to take the pills and he died."

"Come on, these are our friends. They wouldn't do that."

"Ex-friends," she shouted. "Ex-friends who are now murderers. Murderers who are going to get away with it. In case you haven't noticed there are no police up here with us. Bryce and Tanya have gotten away with murder and they can spend the rest of their lives living on this ship without getting punished for it."

"I don't know." He looked back at Heath's body. "His eyes are missing. Wouldn't that mean they left him in the greenhouse before pulling him out here?"

"They got sloppy. Not that it would matter. They knew they could get away with it no matter what they did."

Gunther was torn between agreeing with his girlfriend and telling her that she was completely out to lunch with her bizarre theory. He thought of Bryce and Tanya who he had known for several years and wondered if they were capable of murder, not just the murder of some stranger but the murder of a friend. Could they really do that?

"So what do you suggest we do then," he asked turning away from the body. He knew that if he looked at it any longer he would vomit all over the floor. "Hold some sort of trial? Kill them off in an electric chair we're going to build?"

"Don't be an asshole," she shouted. "I don't need an asshole right now. I need a boyfriend. They murdered him. Understand? Why would he commit suicide?"

"Because he was bound to spend the rest of his pitiful life living in this ship with us. He knew it would get to him to he ODed on the pills."

She scoffed. "Look, apparently you know nothing about suicide or your now dead friend who is rotting in front of us. Taking pills is a girly way to go. When chicks commit suicide they take too many pills. Heath was not a girly type of guy, he wasn't a fag. This was a plan by Tanya and Bryce to kill him off. Who knows why. He might've pissed them or who knows what. I'm just so pissed off at them right now. Fuckers."

"Okay." He grabbed her hand and started pulling her down the hallway. "Let's just get away from this. Let's just go back to the apartment and---"

"And what? Fuck? Heath is dead, those guys are just wandering around the ship like they own the place."

"I just don't think we should stay right here. Come on." He pulled on her hand again and this time she came with him. "Come on." They walked down the hallway without looking back at the corpse which had been leaning up against the greenhouse door for over a day. They walked around the corner when they nearly bumped into Bryce and Tanya.

Kalina screamed when she saw them, she tried to run around them and then she stepped backward. She grabbed Gunther and tried to pull him with her. "Come on. They're coming back to finish the job."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bryce asked. He looked over Gunther and Kalina, he hadn't seen them in six days. He had expected them to look much different by the time he finally ran into them.

"You killed Heath," Kalina screamed from where she was hiding behind Gunther. Her hand was still in his. "You murdered him. Both of you. We should fucking kill you."

"Oh come on," Tanya said stepping forward. "You can't be serious. He committed suicide. We pulled him out of there so he wouldn't have to be eaten."

"Gunther and I think you killed him," Kalina said stepping forward. "We think you should be punished for what you've done."

"Oh come on. You're nuts," Bryce shouted. "Listen to yourself. Why would we kill Heath? He's our friend but he was depressed so he killed himself. Tell her Gunther, you must understand."

Gunther stood silently looking at everyone with anger in their eyes. He squeezed Kalina's hand without even being aware that he was doing it. He tried to say something but he couldn't. No matter what he did he knew it would end in someone hating him. He stayed silent.

"We always knew you were chicken shit," Bryce muttered. "We always knew you had no fucking guts. Why don't we all just go our separate ways again? I think that would be best."

"You think you always know what's best don't you?" Kalina took three steps toward him. She touched the knife in her pocket just to make sure it was still there. "This is your fault. We all agree on that. But have you been trying to fix this? No, you've been screwing your new girlfriend."

Tanya stepped up to Kalina, she was disgusted. "This isn't his fault. It's all of our faults. We took the risk and now we're paying for it."

"I'm really sick of that fucking speech," Kalina said patting her pocket. She took another step toward Tanya and they were now face to face. "I'm going to put an end to it."

Tanya had some kind of impression about what was going to happen and grabbed Kalina by the throat. She started to squeeze tightly; there was absolutely no reaction from Kalina. Kalina started pulling the knife out of her pocket with one hand and grabbed Tanya with the other. She stabbed her in the throat.

Tanya choked and clawed at her throat. The blood poured through her fingers and she fell forward on to the carpet. Gunther and Bryce looked at Tanya's body and then looked at Kalina who was still holding the knife in her hand. She grinned and dropped the knife.

"We've got to do this Gunthy. We've got to." She rattled the bottle of pills in front of him.

"But you told me it was a girly way to die."

"That was a long time ago. We've got to pay for what we've done now. Everyone has to pay for what they've done. We were wrong. We were wrong together and now we'll have to die for that."

"But I didn't do anything Kalina, I wasn't the one who stabbed her."

"Oh shhhh. I'm sick of that petty argument. You knew what I was going to do and you didn't stop me. For that you have to pay too."

"I don't know."

"We were lovers, we have to die together. It's the appropriate thing to do."

"I'm not really into this Romeo and Juliet shit," Gunther yelled. "I don't want to do this!"

She grabbed his arm. "You're going to do it. We're both responsible. Killing ourselves is the honourable thing to do."

"I---," he began but she immediately interrupted him.

"Look, I could hurt you more than I am right now. I can grab much tighter in some other place. Do you want me to do that?"

Softly, "No."

"Good boy."

"I just have one question before we go ahead with this then. What about Bryce? How will he survive this thing alone?"

"He won't," she said softly, rattling the bottle of pills in front of his face. "These things will get to him too one day. He'll just have to wait. It's obvious now we'll never get back into isolation. He's been trying for a month."

She opened the bottle of pills and spilled them all over the bed. On the night stand next to her was a glass of water.

"Some party," Gunther said.

"Yeah, some party." She forced one of the yellow pills into Gunther's mouth and then put one in her mouth. She took a big sip of water and swallow. Gunther reluctantly grabbed the glass of water and did the same thing.

They kissed and waited to die.

Three days ago it had been the six year anniversary of the party beginning on the ship. Bryce found he had grown accustomed to living alone, tinkering with the isolation chamber and growing fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse. Gunther, Kalina, Tanya and Heath were buried there and Bryce had no trouble eating the food which grew in the ground his friends were buried in. He found it kind of comforting actually, it reminded him of them. He needed all the company he could get. He'd been alone for a long, long time and he was almost surprised he hadn't gone completely insane.

He'd been working on the answer to the isolation chamber religiously since he'd found Gunther and Kalina dead. It seemed kind of pointless at first but he knew that if he didn't find the answer he'd be forced to live the rest of his alone. Kalina and Gunther hadn't left a note but he knew they had expected him to commit suicide too. He'd found an entire unopened jar of the same pills they had killed themselves with in his own bedroom and the only explanation was that Kalina and Gunther had put it there. He'd soldiered on for the next six years though, reading everything there was to know about the isolation chambers and the computer on the ship. He'd almost given up a couple of times. Every time he thought of it he'd just thought of giving up like Heath, Gunther and Kalina had. He often wished Tanya was still with him so he'd have someone to talk to and someone to encourage him to get out of the mess he was in. He often thought that it had been his fault all along.

Yesterday, six years and two days after he had come out of isolation, there had been a breakthrough. For years he had searched the entire ship trying to find the answer to the isolation lockout. He could get in every room on the ship except for one. The security room. It had been locked up tight before anyone went into isolation. For months Bryce tried to get inside but he always remembered the security team bragging about how good it was. It was made up of three doors which would prevent anyone from breaking in. He assembled crude tools and tried to use them to drill open the door. Some helped and some didn't. He made very slow progress until yesterday when he managed to get through the third door and into the security room. It had taken him six years but he had finally gotten inside. Once inside he managed to override the security feature which had been frustrating him for the last six years.

He paid one final visit to his friends in the greenhouse before he went back to his room and climbed into his isolation chamber. He knew his friends would have been able to live another six years. Had they done so they would have lived to see the new solar system. Bryce's last thought before he drifted off to sleep was a question. Could he have stopped his friends from destroying each other?

Bruce and Mark were sitting on the edge of the garden in the greenhouse looking over the plants and flowers. There was a small clearing on the other side of the garden which was empty except for four large granite markers. They were individually marked with the barely visible letters: 'K', 'G', 'H' and 'T'.

"I didn't know anyone was buried here," Bruce said sipping his coffee.

"Either did I," Mark said chewing on an English muffin. "I wonder who it is."