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Ashton shivered weakly against the wind. He’d taken as little as he could; worn shoes, an old pair of pants and a thin shirt were all that protected him from the biting night air. He couldn’t bear to take more from his colony. Wasting any more than what he had now was a reprehensible thought.
Aside from the cold, fatigue had him trembling too. The journey wouldn’t have been difficult a few years ago, before he’d started coughing up blood, but sickness had weakened him almost to the point of being enough of a liability that someone would have to end it themself. The colony couldn’t afford to waste food on a dying boy, so he’d chosen to eat as little as possible as he got worse. He hadn’t been feeling hungry lately anyway.
Ashton had seen people cling desperately to life after getting sick or injured, many swearing that they were still useful even as they were mercifully put down, but Ashton had more pride than that. If all he could offer his colony now was a dignified death, he felt privileged to give it to them.
Of course, it seemed only right to indulge himself in one life-long wish now. He’d always imagined that the mountain must have an incredible view of the land around it, but the risk of being seen by drones and lack of anything useful on it meant that there was no reason anyone would waste time and resources climbing it. Ashton didn’t need to fear being caught now and seeing his whole world from so far away was all the excuse he needed.
The moon was bright; after making his plan, Ashton had allowed himself to wait until it was at its fullest for this journey, in part because nobody came to the surface when it was too bright, so there was less risk of being caught leaving. Even as he panted, lungs burning, he could look back at how far he’d come and see countless long-dead treetops. A little further and he might even catch a glimpse of the lake through them.
Ashton’s legs were starting to shake with the effort of keeping him walking and the pain in his lungs and throat was occupying more and more space in his mind, but he couldn’t give up now. He at least had to reach the cliff he’d seen countless times from the ground, always wondering what it was like up there.
It was hard to tell, but Ashton thought he’d been climbing for hours. He’d left early to make sure he had time before dawn came; there was no way he could do this while the sun burned blisters into his skin.
Reaching out to pull himself to the top of a huge, steep rock with the help of a dead branch, Ashton stumbled and lost his balance, falling and sliding down another side of it. He cried out as his foot hit the ground badly, pain shooting up his leg. Shit.
Ashton felt a coughing fit coming on and tried to examine his ankle through it. He’d fallen from the cover of the trees and the moon was bright enough that he could easily see it wasn’t broken. Touching it, he winced. He still couldn’t walk on it.
As he looked around for anything that could help, Ashton realised that he’d actually made it to the cliff he was aiming for. He’d thought it was further up, but this had to be it; he could see the ancient radio tower and even the lake from here.
Carefully, Ashton manoeuvred himself so that his back was to the rock and leaned back. A few kilometres north of the tower was the colony. Obviously, it was hidden, but Ashton gazed at the spot he knew it had to be and wondered what they’d think of his note. Hopefully they’d be more grateful for his sacrifice than devastated by the loss of the clothes he was wearing.
Ashton could see a drone heading for the mountain. He’d never seen one up close; that would have to mean one had seen him too and being seen meant being captured. This one still seemed far away, barely more than a shadow against the dark sky, but Ashton wasn’t exactly bothering to hide. It was probably already telling the invaders where he was, he thought idly.
“Come and get me,” he breathed, “I’m dead anyway.”
}-o-{
Ashton hadn’t realised he’d dozed off until he was waking up again, fumbling in the darkened room he found himself in. Frowning, he tried to sit up and found that something tugged on his arms. He could make out bandages and tubes, but couldn’t figure out who put them there.
There was a window by his bed. Outside he could see stars, but not just a handful, there had to be millions glittering in the blackness. Was it even blackness? The more he stared, the more he realised that even the gaps between stars were filled with more, infinitesimal stars.
A huge bright shape was slowly rising into view. Craning to get a better look, Ashton realised that it was a planet. It was Earth.
“You’re awake,” someone said through a speaker.
Jumping, Ashton turned to look for the source, heart dropping at the sight of a huge, furred alien.
“Don’t be alarmed,” the alien said in its electronic voice, raising two of its four hands, “I’m a healer.” It pressed something on the wall and the lights slowly brightened.
The alien had to be at least nine feet tall, taller if its writhing antennae were included. It wore a pale green gown and watched Ashton with six small eyes. Its voice seemed to be coming from a device attached to its neck.
He leaned back as it approached to examine the machines the tubes and wires in his arms were attached to.
“We found cancerous cells in your lungs, ribs and hips. We have the worst of it under control, you won’t die overnight, but more treatment will be needed if you are to be healthy. Oh, and your ankle was sprained, but that was an easy fix.”
Ashton said nothing, though his head spun. He was dying, they couldn’t actually fix him, could they?
“Obviously, you can’t go back to the surface,” the alien continued, “But we can take you to a sanctuary with plenty of other humans while you recover and are monitored for any signs of the cancer returning. We find that most humans experience an easier transition when accompanied by those they have strong emotional bonds with, is there anyone on the surface you would like to take? Family, maybe?”
There it was. The aliens couldn’t cure him, they just wanted him to sell out the colony.
He shook his head.
The ends of the alien’s antennae curled a bit. “I know it’s scary, but I can promise that it’s the right choice,” the alien lied, “So many humans are found sick and emaciated, just like you. Earth is clearly too hostile an environment for humans to thrive on. At a sanctuary, you’ll never go hungry or breathe carcinogens again.”
Ashton shook his head again.
The alien paused, antennae drooping slightly. “Very well. I’ll fetch your breakfast and give you time to think about it.”
As it left, Ashton noticed that it had a small, furry tail poking out of a hole in its gown.
He looked around the room. He didn’t know what their next tactic would be, but he knew that torture was an inevitability. Nothing else would make him give the colony up, but he wasn’t sure how much pain he could take, how long they’d force him to stay alive before he told them everything.
Ripping off a bandage, Ashton started pulling out all the shit they’d attached to him, cringing at the feeling of it coming out of his skin. He swung his legs off the bed and noted with relief that his ankle didn’t hurt anymore. He would probably have to run.
A quick look around the room revealed nothing useful. Ashton peaked out the door and saw no aliens in the hallway. Picking a direction, he hurried down it. He couldn’t let them torture information out of him and there was no fucking way he could escape. His only option was to somehow kill himself.
Someone shouted and Ashton looked back to see that an alien had emerged from a room and spotted him. Unthinking, he bolted. At the end of the corridor was a larger hallway with more aliens. Ashton ran in the other direction, lungs already straining. He could hear footsteps behind him, but he didn’t look back again, he just darted down another corridor and dove through a closing door.
Too late, he realised that he was surrounded by two more aliens, these ones in huge white suits. They stared down at him and he stared back at them. There was a hiss. Ashton felt himself get pulled off his feet and thrown towards the far wall, but it was opening to the starry blackness. He curled up, but his shoulder collided with the sliding door on the way out and he screamed.
He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t stop spinning, catching glimpses of the huge station he’d been on as he hurtled away from it. Sick, he closed his eyes and hoped that the pain would be brief.