The Sable Valley

by Courtney Bowen

get back to base at this rate,” He said to the other pirates, “With this ship. We’ve got to scrap her, and funnel the rest of the fuel into our ship, once she’s done making the repairs.”

  “But that means--” Marjory looked over at the captain. “There’s no room for the hostages on board our ship.” She said.

  “Well—they wouldn’t have lasted long anyway,” Clive chuckled. “We’ve given them a few more minutes of life, they should be pleased with that.” He said. “We’ll give them some time to think about what they can do with the next one when we leave them here.”

  “Clive—you’re going to be damned,” Marjory whispered.

  “Aren’t we all, Marjie girl, aren’t we all.” Clive said as he turned on the intercom again. “How’s it going, miss?” He asked Caroline.

  “First one done—the coupling for the fuel line has been reattached and sealed,” Caroline said. “I’ve going over to the next rocket to fix that one.”

  “How many do you have to do?” Clive asked.

  “Three more!” Caroline said.

  “Three more--” Clive turned off the intercom. “That’s going to take forever. We need to get out of here before the space patrol--”

  “Clive-- it’s going to be okay,” Marjory said, approaching the captain from behind and laying her hands on his shoulders. “We can wait, my good man…we can wait,” she said, rubbing his shoulders to get him in a good mood. The other space pirates went away to give them some privacy.

  Clive raised his head back, looking up at her in bliss. “How did I ever deserve you, Marjie girl?”

  “We deserve each other, my captain,” Marjory said without a hint of emotion. “We deserve each other.”

  The captain groaned with pleasure as she massaged his shoulders, and then he waved her away before he turned on the intercom again. “How are you, miss?” Clive said, in a good mood for once.

  “I’ve finished the second, and halfway through the third.” Caroline said. “One last one to go after this!”

  “One last—at least she’s getting faster,” The captain remarked, before he turned to the monitor. “Hello…there’s something funny here…” He said.

  “What? What is it?” Marjory asked; distracted with everything else, she hadn’t noticed—she leaned over the captain, staring at the monitor. “Is this true?” She asked.

  The captain turned off the intercom. “There’s a leak in the spacesuit.” He said, looking up at her. “I think that miss only has a few more minutes left before she runs out of oxygen.”

  Marjory stared at him, and then pressed the intercom button. “Caroline!” She called, yelling out to her old friend.

  “What? What—Marjory?” Caroline’s voice said.

  “How do you know her name?” The captain barked at Caroline, and then he looked up…“How do you know hers?” He asked of his beloved Marjie girl.

  “We…we used to be friends--” Marjory said. “Back at the colony. But not anymore.”

  The captain frowned. “Then you tell her,” he said, thrusting the speaker at Marjory.

  “Tell me? Tell me what?” Caroline’s voice said, faint on the other end of the line.

  Marjory hesitated, and then raised the speaker to her mouth. “Caroline? How far are you along with the repairs?”

  “Halfway through the last,” she said, a little uncertain.

  “There’s a-- there’s a leak in your spacesuit,” Marjory said, closing her eyes.

  There was silence; then Caroline’s voice said, “Not again…”

  “What? What was that?” Marjory asked.

  “It’s happened to me before—the final test at the Central Space Program,” Caroline said, “When I had forgotten to check—I must have done it again.” She said. “At least then I was in a controlled environment, and they pulled me back in before it was too late, but…how long do I have left?”

  “A couple of minutes—why didn’t you check,” Marjory said, a tremor in her voice.

  “I wasn’t the best of the best,” Caroline said, her own voice weaker than before; “I just forgot.”

  Marjory groaned, and whispered, “Why didn’t they choose me…”

  “However, I did learn a lot from the space program,” Caroline said, her voice getting stronger. “I learned enough to help me now, and my training—my training was top-notch, despite everything else.” She said, “I’m done with the repairs!”

  “Hurry back! You have a little over a minute left!” Marjory said, turning around to face—“Clive, why are you looking at me like that?”

  Clive turned off the intercom. “You should have told me she was your friend.” He said.

  “She wasn’t—we hadn’t seen each other in years,” Marjory said, “And when she left us, I was—I was so mad…”

  “Then you wouldn’t mind if I did this!” Clive said, firing off his blaster cannon at the wall panel that accessed-- the air-lock.

  “The air-lock!” Marjory cried, turning towards him. “But that means she can’t—she can’t get back abroad this ship!”

  “Then you tell her,” He smirked, pushing the intercom button. “Or why don’t I--”

  “There’s something coming!” Caroline cried, breathing heavily on the other end of the intercom link. “Please open up this air-lock!”

  “No can do,” Clive said, grabbing the speaker from Marjory. “You’ve got no way in, and a little under a minute left.” He smiled. “Good-bye, Miss. Caroline--”

  “Caroline!” Marjory said, bending down to lean over towards the speaker. “What’s coming, what--”

  “Captain!” One of the space pirates called over the ship’s intercom; they paused for a moment to look up. “We just got word from the bridge here that there’s a ship approaching, just off to starboard—it’s a space patrol vessel!”

  “Space patrol? What--” Clive sputtered in a roaring voice, while Marjory grabbed the speaker from him.

  “Did you hear that? Caroline--” she said, “Caroline?”

  “I can see--I can see all of space…” Caroline’s voice said, a little soft and faint as her breathing started to slow.

  Marjory lowered her head, and said, “Yes, Caroline—it’s all of space…and it was the sable valley where once we played as little children,” She said as Clive ran off to deal with the impeding attack, “Never dreaming that we would spend eternity in the stars,” She said, turning off the intercom as Caroline breathed her last.