doubleYou

“So, I heard you’ve recruited a human for the ship.” Prax says sternly. He stands beside my podium, his gold eyes lost in the millions of stars that breeze by as we travel through a wormhole. It would be his last time to travel with the ship.

“Yeah..” I pause, focusing on the controls. “It’s going to be the first time I’m going to work alongside my own species. Humans are highly recommended for a starship crew. This one’s a bit special. She’s a high-ranking Scout. She should be resourceful.”

Prax laughs, rubbing his stubby beard. “Don’t leave humans unsupervised.” I stare at him, wondering what he meant. “I’m serious. Don’t do it. Things. Happen.”

“I think I can handle a rowdy small woman—“

“It’s not that.” He interrupts. “Sure, humans are excellent innovators and are psychologically expansive, but, their culture…their feelings..make them strange and powerful people. Their ability to coexist with almost any species is incredible.”

The darkened world around us warps into a bright ray of sunshine as we near Sol, or the Sun as most people call it. After we drop off General Prax at Planet Zion, we would sail 40 lightyears eastward Sol to pick up the new recruit at a space station.

I watched as my adoptive father steps off the starship, immediately surrounded by his waiting family.

Khajitians -- that’s what they were. I was born human, but raised through the Khajit ways. The pale-skinned aliens were a physically enhanced and crafty species hailing from Planet Zion, a place strategically located near the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. I watched Prax struggle to lift his nieces and nephews up, all eager to meet their uncle.

If Prax had not adopted me, I would have probably been sold off as a slave in some random planet. Our eyes meet, his golden pupils staring back proudly. He had given me his ship to command, and for one last time, we saluted each other good-bye.

Despite the general leaving, his presence definitely stayed with on the ship. I was the Captain of Galaxia Polar now, but nothing much changed. Until, of course, a certain human joined the crew.

“Captain.” A crewmember saluted professionally. “The scout has boarded the ship. We’ve replenished supplies and completed maintenance. We’re ready to leave on your command.”

“Great, we’ll leave for the unmarked planet 351 lightyears away. I want the scout to prove her skill.”

“About that Captain..” He pauses. “The scout said she’d like to meet and introduce herself to you.” Troy himself seemed embarrassed at the statement. A scout trying to meet the Captain of the ship? Does she know who I am? No one barges through the front doors demanding to meet me. Only special personnel and high ranking officers get that honor.

I scoff, crossing my arms. “I don’t want to introduce myself to someone who might end up dead in the next couple of days. I want to see her skill first, then, we’ll talk.”

X X X

We landed on a deserted, gloomy planet a couple days later. So far, the planet hadn’t been bothered to be properly searched for minerals or any resources by any starships. The trip getting there was tiresome enough, but rumors of a new species of wildlife were rising, and I was intrigued.

My guilty pleasure revolved around collecting all sorts of different animals of all shapes, sizes, colors, etc. It was grand achievement developed into trophies. Once we landed, we set up a defensive perimeter, then sent the scout out.

Our previous scout had died in combat when we were under fire from another starship. He was a large, violent Orcsmer, but I respected his valor and skill. So when a small, skinny black-haired girl jumped out of the exit of the ship, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s her name?” I manage to ask between laughter. I adjusted my eyes to the camera displayed on the screen.

“Taeyeon, ma’am.”

I grin, voicing out my commands. I sent my orders to a middle-man, who then translated it to her headset. The woman was equipped with the standard white body-armor and helmet. A small sword hung loosely on her side with a heavy shotgun loaded on her back. Still, the girl looked nothing much of a threat and as morbid as this sounded, I had already began looking for a replacement scout.

“Report, scout.” Troy said through the microphone.

“Uhh..” A feminine voice replies. “I need to pee.”

“….We want descriptions of the land, weather, gravity..” He groans. “Come on scout.”

“Oh! Uhm. Gravity is 15.2 m/s. The dirt is very..uh, crunchy? I guess.” She laughs. “It’s similar to the substance back in Planet Retron. Air is heavy, it’s a bit difficult to maneuver. So far no life signs. The view is pretty speculator though. Is that Eridenus star in the sky?”

“She’s awfully chatty.” I voice my opinion, rubbing my forehead. “Tell her to keep going forward to the middle of that crater. It doesn’t seem naturally created.”

“Copy that.”

The crew and I watched as the camera on Taeyeon’s body armor followed her line of sight. An odd, weary feeling erupted as I spotted the unnatural crater, but I kept my mouth shut, trying to test the rookie.

Sure enough, she walks closer and the ground begins to rumble. The grey dirt shifts around, cracking as a large demon looking creature crawls its way out of the ground. Bones wrapped around it’s body acting as armor creaks as the alien begins to pace towards Taeyeon.

“A death hound, huh?” I smile. “I don’t think I have that in my collection. If she can bring it back alive, I’ll be pleased.”

As we relay the messages to Taeyeon, she nods, folding her hands behind her back. I expected her to get her shotgun, or a stun grenade, but instead—

“Who’s a good baby?!” She childishly says, brandishing a piece of steak. “WHO’S A GOOD BABY?!”

The crew is silent. What on Zion was she doing?

“I’M A GOOD BABY.” She nods, wrapping the steak across her hand. “Come here you cutie pie honey bunch.”

Cute?! That death hound was anything but cute. The creature pauses, watching the stranger waving meat around. Then, his sharp, bloody teeth show as he growls.

“NO GROWLING!!” Taeyeon shouts, her fist introducing itself to the death hound’s face. “BAD DOGGY.”

Did..did she just punch a deadly creature in the face?

“That idiot is going to get herself killed!” I hiss, already calling the back-up fighters. I watched helplessly as the death hound pounces, it’s demonic deadly claws aimed at the woman’s throat.

I almost closed my eyes. But it happened too fast. The scout stood still, waiting for the creature to attack. Despite the extreme difference in size, Taeyeon stopped the monster mid-air, her hand wrapped around it’s throat squeezing madly. For a brief moment, I saw a psychotic grin sprayed on her face before she shot the creature’s head off. She drops the lifeless body on the floor, it’s blood staining the sand a weird green color. She sighs, reloading her shotgun. “I thought you were going to be a good doggy.”

Once again, the crew was silent. The only sound audible was the scout’s voice singing calmly, “How much is that doggy in the window~”

X X X

I was happily pleased, yet terrified of the new scout. Never in my life had I seen such calm aggression -- if that even made sense -- especially on such an innocent looking face.

Not only did she eradicate the entire death hound population in the crater, but she managed to befriend and save a newborn death hound. She brought it back to the ship, then disappeared for a few days.

I was curious and intrigued. At no time had I found such violence so…attractive.

Despite being human, I acted nothing like them. My way of thinking, personality, culture, and legacy were all deprived from the Khajitian ideology. The question sparked in my head, -- were all humans like this? I visited Earth a couple times, but never bothered to talk to any of my kind.

After the scout finished her mission, she vanished for a while. There were cameras in every room of the ship, but she always seemed to hide from them. I could never find her when I tried. One specific afternoon, I decided to take a detour into the medical facility. I hardly ever walked out of the main control room where I spent most of my time. Crewmembers who hadn’t seen me before were quick to move aside, bowing or saluting nervously. They wondered what the Captain was doing in the rear ends of the ship.

As I strolled down the brightly lit hallways, I took note of a door left open. Wondering if anyone was inside, I took a quick peek into the room.

In the middle of the room was a bed taken up by two species. A human and a baby death hound. Not noticing my presence, the scout continued to wrap medical bandages around the creature’s head in an odd way. It didn’t seem necessary, in my perspective, and as far as I knew, the scout didn’t have any medical training listed as her skills.

I waited a while before speaking.

“….If I remember correctly, B2107 has been medically cleared.” I said curiously, watching the small woman wrap a bandage over the creature’s head. “There’s no need for that bandage.”

Without so sparing a glance, she happily grins. “I’m not patching him up because he’s injured.” I watched as her hands intricately danced in waves of movement. “I’m wrapping a bow on his head!”

I pause. “A bow?”

“Yup.”

“May I ask why?”

“Because in human time, it’s Christmas right now.” Finally, for the first time, our eyes meet. Her onyx eyes yielded a caring gentleness behind them, her sleek black hair and cherry red lips made her look daringly alluring yet childishly innocent. She continues to speak. “His name is Pepper! And he’s my gift!”

My lips twitch. “Your gift?”

“Yup!” She rubs the death hound’s rough, coarse skin earning a low growl from the alien. “I don’t have any actual bows to give him, so I used the bandages to make one! Look, isn’t he cute?”

I stared at the foul-mouthed darken demon brandishing his red canine teeth.

Yup. Humans are weird.

X X X

If I had to choose between one word to describe the human scout named Taeyeon, it would be ‘crazy’.

The woman self-promoted herself to be the caretaker for my exotic animals I collected over the years. At first, I thought nothing much of it. She did her scouting missions just fine and busied herself with my pets. But after hearing constant complaints from the crewmen that ‘Taeyeon brought a 10-foot-tall Orcsmer Glaiver to the cafeteria to eat lunch with her’ or ‘That scout rode on the back of a Jakarat and raced all around the starship’ – I figured to go talk to the hyperactive scout in hopes of calming her down.

I summoned her to my private headquarters one night hoping to stop her silly shenanigans. There was a knock on the door and after I confirmed her presence on a screen, I opened the door and allowed her in.

There was a long, silent moment between us.

“Uhm, what..” I struggled to find the words to speak my mind. “What..are you wearing?”

Taeyeon looked down at her clothes before reaching back and pulling her hood up. “It’s my penguin pajamas.”

“Penguin pajamas?” She nods, fixing her t-shirt. “What the bloody hell are penguins?”

“Penguins are from Earth.” Taeyeon speaks shyly. “They’re basically panda chickens.”

“P-Panda chickens?”

“I love penguins.”

“I..” All the pent-up stress I accumulated over the long day slowly decreased as I let out a burst of laughter.

X X X

In the end, I didn’t scold her for being crazy. As a matter a fact, I quite enjoyed it. Her odd perspective of fun and life slowly peeped into my ideology as well. I didn’t expect humans to be this fun. I had only dealt with my kind through strict business trades, and seeing this playful endearing side of humankind made me happy and proud.

After a while, Taeyeon’s shenanigans became a normal routine. No one complained or batted an eye anymore when the scout would bring in a new alien to tame. It was intriguing for the most part, and eventually I realized that Prax was right. The human bond was incredibly strong and special. Monsters that took years for me to control and tame melted under Taeyeon’s soft hands.

The bond between the animals and her slowly developed into a relationship between the two of us.

What differentiated her from the rest of the people on board was her complete lack of fear. Upon the sight of my prestige white-collared uniform, people cowered and bowed their head immediately. Taeyeon? She simply didn’t care.

Her interactions with me weren’t because I was the Captain of the ship and she owed me favors, no, she just wanted to be friends. At first, I thought she was being disrespectful and ignorant of my rank, but after a while, I began to open up to the strange, quirky scout.

She told me stories about her home planet Earth, her adventures as a scout, and other trivial things that I normally wouldn’t bother to listen to. They made me proud, for some reason, and curious about who I really was. Her visits to my headquarters became more frequent as we got closer and closer.

It wasn’t until one specific day that I realized what I was feeling.

The huge transparent screen broadcasted the video call I was in with Prax’s family. We talked strictly about business, then eventually his family.

“Lenta is having a baby soon.” He announces, looking at a piece of paper. “It will be a healthy one. I am proud of that.”

“I didn’t even know Lenta had a husband.”

“No, you’re correct. She doesn’t.” Prax stops to take a sip of water. “She’s too old for marriage now, but she refuses to let the family legacy die. We arranged for a suitor to help invest in her life. That is all.”

A memory of Taeyeon telling me about her high school crushes and co-worker relationships made me think. Normally, I wouldn’t question anything Prax said. In Khajitian culture, he was correct. After a certain age, marriage was out of the question. The government in Zion arranged marriages and lovers to genetically purify their species. Earth didn’t do that. Who was right?

Love was forced on Zion. Even Prax’s wife was arranged by the government. Though he learned to care and get along with her over time, there was always that awkward, fine line between them.

After the video call ended, I talked to Taeyeon, asking her about marriage back on Earth.

“Marriage?” She replies while chewing food. “In the old days, they were arranged. I think some cultures still do that, but for the most part, it’s a natural thing that happens when people decide their love can last a lifetime.”

“How do they know?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do they know they will love each other forever?”

She shrugs, picking off the radishes off her plate. “They just do.”

I asked with genuine curiosity. “How do you know if you’re in love?”

For a small fraction of a second, I detected an unfamiliar emotion written across Taeyeon’s face. As I waited for a response, Taeyeon grabs my collar and connects our lips together.

X X X

The beginning of a New Year use to mean nothing to me. Time, I learned after a while, was a relatively useless thing in such a huge, grand universe. Besides, every planet had a different rotational speed. New Years were different everywhere.

But Taeyeon loved it.

The two of us were relaxing in my private headquarters. As far as the crew knew, I had promoted Taeyeon as a Scout Analyzer. It took her off the field sometimes, but it was the only excuse I could officially give to invite her to my headquarters.

We were ‘looking over mission reports’.

“Halcyon sounds like a great place.” She gently mumbles, rubbing her finger back and forth across my open palm. “We can travel through a wormhole to get there. Oh, but there’s no guarantee we’ll make it in time for the New Year countdown.”

“I don’t understand the huge commotion about counting down a start of a timeline.” I reply, pulling her closer to my chest. “It’s going to be the same thing. Nothing much will change.”

“Not with that attitude.” She chuckles. “It’s a super important day for Humankind. It sort of..tracks how long we’ve been around.”

“Whatever you say.”

Despite the love we had for each other, we hid it from the public’s eye. It was a social standing. To be a Captain was a highly-respected position and it certainly didn’t look good when a Captain and a regular Scout fell in love.

Especially since we were both women.

In Khajitian culture, homouality simply didn’t exist. Of course, that gave me a fairly blank canvas to illustrate and practice on. But I had only seen a same- couple (even the same species) once back in Planet Ysgramor.

When Taeyeon started hyping up about the Human Holiday called Christmas, I simply scoffed and brushed it aside.

Stars were nothing but luminous spheres of plasma held together by it’s own gravity. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less.

But when I saw Taeyeon sitting on the ledge, holding her hands together, muttering a prayer, I began to wonder if there was anything more.

What was it that made her think a burning ball of hydrogen and helium would make her wishes come true? The correlation between hot gases and her hope and aspirations were nothing but idiotic. 

One day I asked her. "Why do you wish upon the stars, when I'm here, and I'll love you?"

"The stars are going to be here for a very, very long time." She quietly replied. "Much longer than I'll be here. I'm just wishing for the both of us -- for you, when I'm gone."

I didn’t understand what she meant at the time.

X X X

As the ship’s missions successfully expanded our business and name throughout the galaxy, my lovely obsession for the small, dorky scout grew just as strong. I had never been in love before, and I’ve never dared to experiment. But there was just something about Taeyeon that made her so approachable and easy to care for.

But she warned me that my love was..warped.

She stood there, slightly agape when I presented the new black and red uniform I wanted her to wear. It was the E.K Armor, the letters standing for Executive Knight. It was the highest rank a guard could ever achieve with their main objective to protect the Captain himself.

With a hesitant, and unsatisfying smile, she gently asked me. “That uniform isn’t for me, is it?”

I nodded. “It’s yours. I promote you to the highest-ranking station guard – my personal bodyguard.” I proudly stated, waiting for a smile to emerge on her face. Instead, she opened a little bit, but didn’t say anything.” I waited. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”

“Tiffany, don’t take this the wrong way but..” She rubs her arms. “Don’t you think that’s a little too selfish?”

“What do you mean?”

She points at herself. “Me? The bodyguard of the Captain? That’s the highest rank a fighter can have. I’m..I’m just a scout, Tiffany. I go out head first and travel the lands to see what’s going on. I’m no fighter. And I certainly don’t want to steal a rank I’m not worthy of.”

I stopped. This was the first time someone has ever declined a promotion. Taeyeon looked at me with those sharp, brown eyes I fell in love with.

She looked lost.

“I’m just..” I sigh, dropping the uniform onto the desk. “Every time we send you out to scout a new planet, I get scared. What if you don’t come back? What if you get injured or hurt somewhere I can’t reach you? I want you by my side at all times, where nothing can hurt you.”

X X X

In the end, Taeyeon ended up going back into the fields to continue her scouting missions while I monitored her behind a screen in a heavily protected starship. There was an unexplainable rift between us. Behind closed doors, we laughed the day away, exploring each other further each time. But once we were in the presence of others, we treated each other nothing more than strangers.

But after a while, I found that the door didn’t matter. Missions got more difficult as we took in more clients, and as the Lead Scout I promoted her to, I saw her face on the screen more than I did in real life. The line that previously divided us began to become transparent, and often times, I felt awkward just being around her.

We still talk, and I still love her to pieces, but things have changed, and I don’t like that change. It’s harder to make her smile and laugh, and we feel like giving up most days – but we never do.

When the ship made a stop at Planet Eden for supplies, Taeyeon and I took the opportunity to explore and enjoy the fresh, golden planet that sprouted beauty in every crack of the earth.

I had been to many planets, but there was a soft, heartwarming idea to Eden’s visual location that sparked a wild fire in my heart. As we walked down the busy market street, I had the urge to kiss Taeyeon on the lips.

I gently pulled her hand, grabbing her cheek as I always did to kiss her, when she suddenly leaned back and shook her head.

“Not here.” She whispered in a hush, angry tone. My heart sank when she let my hand fall down empty. She continued to walk forward, trying to focus her attention someplace else. I forcibly grabbed her arm, jerking her back to me. She frowns. “Tiffany, please.”

“I was trying to be romantic.” I hiss. “Don’t act like this.”

“Like what?”

“Are you embarrassed?” I scoff. “Of me? You do realize I’m a Captain, right? You should feel privileged and grateful, if anything.”

Her brows furrow in frustration. “You do realize, we’re in Eden right?”

“I’m not stupid, Taeyeon. We’re in Eden, yes. It’s the second home planet to Humankind next to Earth. Not to mention we’re in the Garden Capital..” I lean back, trying to catch the International Space Terminal in the distance. “I don’—“

“It’s not that!” She nearly yells. “Can we talk about this later?” Embarrassed by the commotion we were creating, she pulls me to the side, guiding me down an empty street.

“What’s wrong with you?” I angrily demand. “There’s no need to cut me off like that!”

“Tiffany, you can’t just kiss me in the middle of the street like that.”

“And why not? We are dating, correct?”

“Yeah, I know..but..” She rubs her arms uncomfortably. “Just..not when other humans are around okay? Remember, the ship doesn’t know we’re dating either..”

“So what’s the problem?”

“It’s just..”

“Out with it.” I cross my arms.

She sighs. “It’s just..we’re girls in love.”

“And that correlates to?”

“Tiffany, listen.” Taeyeon says scratching her head. “I know you didn’t grow up with humankind, but there’s this thing called..uhm..homouality.” Her voice fades away as she whispers the end.

“I’m familiar with that term.” I respond sarcastically.

“Well, uh, humans don’t really..like that.”

Taeyeon carefully explained to me about the near extinct of humankind a couple centuries back. Children were highly encouraged, but due to the decline in birth, the government banned homouality, stating ‘it was selfish to hold your body against the will of Mother Nature. It is a woman’s job to nurture a child and a man’s job to create life.’

“They hated homouals and forced them to surrender their bodies to the government to ‘use their bodies as they should be used.’” As our eyes meet after her explanation, I could sense the pain behind them. “Do you understand?”

Taeyeon waited for my response, but instead, I merely scoffed and looked away. “You should have just told me.”

“I didn’t think—“

“Look, fine. Whatever. Let’s go back to the ship. Separately.” I mention loudly. “So people don’t think we’re dating or anything.”

The sentence ended harsher than I wanted it to be, but with the angry, bubbly feeling rising and spreading throughout my chest, the response was made unconsciously. For the rest of the week, I avoided the scout, making sure to get the point across in a passive, aggressive way.

It was insulting – to be rejected romantically despite of my prestige and perfect position of power. It hurt and it wasn’t fair.

Taeyeon was pretty quiet about it, but I knew she didn’t give up on me, on us. The date hadn’t made a single significant dent in my head, but on one particular day, she refused my usual quiet demeanor and handed me a gift.

It was a woody perennial flowering planet hailing from the human planet – a red rose.

And that’s all it took. A hand reaching out to me holding a rose to knock down the barrier that separated us.

“That was very random of you.” I whisper, closing the door behind her. “Why?”

“Because..” She pauses. “It’s Christmas back on Earth.”

“Ah, the made-up religion built and celebrated over thousands of years by your kind?”

“Our kind!” Her cheeks burst into a soft, pink color. “It’s not dumb, ugh, I need to take you to Earth during the holidays.” By some odd series of events, we end up on my bed, her arms wrapped around me as she melted against my skin.

“I’m not going to give up on you.” She mumbles, burying her face in my neck. “There’s a lot of barriers preventing people from being happy – homouality is one of them.” Taeyeon takes a brief moment to kiss my neck. “The world needs less of those barriers, and I’m willing to travel to the ends of the universe to find a place where we can kiss each other on the street without being scared of what other people think.”

With a slow, but gradual shift of our axis, the sun made its way to my window, shining the gleamy silver walls with a soft, orange tint. A part of the sunshine stayed on half of Taeyeon’s face, slowly slipping off. They made her eyes twinkle like stars.

I open my mouth, gently blowing on her hair for fun. “Since it’s Christmas, wouldn’t that mean your New Year is coming up as well?”

“Yeah.” She responds, her thumb rubbing against my palms. “We should go somewhere. Just the two of us.”

“I would like that.”

“We can go to Planet Halcyon. It’s tropical, beautiful, and it’s huge!” Her laughter fills up the spaces of the room. “I’m sure we can find somewhere to be alone.”

“That’s not so far from here if we take the Wormhole X309 there.” I calculate the journey in my head. “And I’m sure we can make it in time for your..mandatory New Year’s Countdown.”

She nods. “I would like that.”

X X X

Despite my neutral opinion on the human holidays, the dates certainly caused an extreme amount of heavy workload on our ship.

Because we were one of the few ships that had the ability to travel between galaxies, trading was essentially our strongest main point. Of course, with Prax’s heavy ranking in Planet Zion, we subtly worked for the government, occasionally scouting new planets for usable resources, or territories (this is where Taeyeon’s job as a scout came in).

Ultimately, the incredible amount of jobs we had to get done caused my dream of counting down the New Year with Taeyeon had to be cancelled. The human was incredibly upset about it, and once again, we argued about our relationship’s priority.

Just like the previous New Year, we began the mark of a new timeline arguing.

"Why haven't you left yet?" I mutter impatiently. "We're 17 hours behind schedule."

Taeyeon stops in the doorway, afraid of going in. The distance between was suffocating.

"..Sorry..I overslept. My suit was undergoing repair because of the injuries on my previous mission--"

"Are those excuses?" I hiss. "Go and get out there. We're suppose to be halfway to Solsteim for trading already!" I grumble, massaging my head. "Just go." I whisper.

She doesn't say anything. The scout stood there awkwardly cradling her helmet in her hands. Then finally, she left without a word. A few minutes later, her camera was live and streaming to the control room.

It was a standard search-and-destroy procedure. As usual, I rattled off a list of commands and achievements we wanted the scout to do, only this time, I was a little harsher in my tone of voice. The goal of keeping our love a secret strained our relationship. The distance between us grew farther and farther as we slowly began to act like strangers.

"What do you see?" Troy spoke. The camera feedback Taeyeon was streaming was blurry and static.

There was no response for a while, just audible sounds of the scout breathing.

 "What do you see?" He repeated louder.

"It's..." She pauses, her movement growing sluggishly slower. "A little hard to breathe.."

I scoff. "Dial up your oxygen tank."

We watched as she attempted to reach the controls on her back, but after a while of useless movements wasting her energy, I began to speculate something was wrong.

 "Did.." I blink, the worrisome emotion growing stronger. "Did they forget to fix your oxygen tank?" Taeyeon's temperature on the screen was decreasing abnormally. I grab the microphone. "Taeyeon, answer me."

"I can't.." She collapses weakly onto the floor, sweating as she tried to take in gasps of oxygen. I’m staring at the gray, sandy ground of the weird planet.

"Taeyeon, retreat to the ship now." I say as gently as I can. The only response was her coughing, apparently choking. I begin to panic. I deduct from the lack of responses that the audio translator was broken.
 

"Distance..851 meters.."

"No." I shout. "No. No. No. I said come back to the ship."
 

"Gravity..17.." She hacks, her hand gripping her chest.
 

"God damn it, Taeyeon. Did you hear me?! Retreat to the ship now!!"
 

"No sign of life.." She mumbles. The alarm system on her suit begins to sound, alerting us of her condition.
 

"TAEYEON." I scream. "PLEASE."

I stare at the screen, glaring at the digits stating the time ; January 1^st, 2057 --

And Taeyeon’s heartbeat.

It’s abnormal, but the only thing I can see is the camera slung over her body suit. She falls down, the video stream catches the starry, black view visible up above.

She’s coughing, gasping for air.

I’m breathless, like her, as I scream into the microphone, slamming commands.

Eventually her heartbeat slows down.

Zero.

The screen continues to emit the video feed, but I hear nothing anymore.

Silent, empty.

Gone.