Mel’s eyes snapped open, pulled towards the lumpy mound on the floor covered in a blanket. The background hum of the ship faded as memories flooded back. Tearing her gaze away, she shook off the grogginess and sat up.
They had discussed what to do with Sharon’s body, but no one was willing to make a decision. In the meantime, they had wrapped her in a cryogenic blanket that kept her body near freezing. They were used by alien races that preferred colder temperatures and Mel thought of it like a heating pad in reverse. But it made that corner of the ship colder than the rest of the cabin; every time Mel walked past Sharon she felt like she was passing through a ghost.
Mel wished they could preserve her body and return it to Earth for a proper burial. Funerals weren’t something she had cared about in the past, but she did now. Sending the body into space or burying her on an alien planet seemed wrong, like there would be nothing of Sharon left to mourn.
In the end, Mel knew she wasn’t ready to let go. She couldn’t believe Sharon was dead. It was the same with Jeff. And Rob and Evan. Evan had disappeared when a city street collapsed on a planet she couldn’t even remember the name of, his body gone forever. But at least Jeff and Rob were still back on Kathor’s ship, their bodies frozen. They wouldn’t come back to life, but it gave her a sense of comfort she couldn’t explain.
Come back to life, she thought grimly. Like me. Every conversation in her mind over the last day had ended at this place. She was a clone. Not just a clone, but the third clone since her original body had died. Mel the Fourth. Her mind had been transferred from one clone to the next, in theory at least. But she felt like an alien, even to herself. Was she still the original Mel, or someone else? It was all very confusing.
She looked around, still groggy. Riley was curled up on the floor, asleep. Beats sat on the floor, his eight-foot-tall frame too large for the seats. Beats held a tablet, reading a book or catching up on recent news. Something they hadn’t been able to do while prisoners on Kathor’s ship. Gorgeous curled up on one of the cabin chairs, like a cat. Jon wasn’t in the room. He might be in one of the smaller cabins. Or in the cockpit, talking with Anna. Or trying not to talk to Anna. Jon grew steadily more detached every day. Really since the first training incident, when he had run away instead of trying to protect Mel. She tried not to blame him, although she had been severely injured protecting Gorgeous. It was just his way of coping with something that none of them were equipped to handle. Reviewing her mental checklist, she felt like she was forgetting someone. Jon, Riley, Beats, Gorgeous, and Anna. Right. She was forgetting Sharon. Because Sharon was dead.
Mel stood and stretched, trying not to wake the others. She nodded silently to Beats, then walked to the front cabin. They should at least put Sharon in the smaller back cabin, she thought. They had that discussion too, but no one wanted to touch her. Too much emotional exhaustion after escaping Kathor’s ship. Mel still couldn’t get over being forced to shoot Anna. Even though Anna was an android and had transferred her mind into another device, it had been traumatic to pull the trigger. Reminding herself that it had been Anna’s plan all along only helped a little.
She entered the cockpit to see Jon slouched in one of the pilot chairs, staring at the stars against the blackness of space. They glowed vividly, even with the windows that adjusted for the brightness of the local sun. Especially the expansive clouds that Anna said were other galaxies. It was breathtaking.
Mel dropped herself into the seat next to Jon. They sat in silence for a bit; Jon didn’t even register her presence. Tapping her finger against her forehead lightly, she wondered how long she had slept.
“How are we doing, Anna?” she asked.
A hologram of Anna’s head emerged over the console in front of them. “Well enough. As you know, this ship doesn’t have interstellar capability. We’re an hour from the closest gate.”
“You still think getting through won’t be a problem?”
“Kathor won’t have reported anything, but I’m sure the game architects have. They