THE GUARDIAN
By Jim Lai
Oh my god, Jake thought, I'm going to die.
Everything hurt. A fist-sized lump on the back of his head throbbed in time to the screeching alarm claxon. Fire seared his back where he had slammed into the rail. Everything from his waist down was pain.
Except for the dull red emergency lights, and the shuttle was dark spiraling out of control. Tiny fragments of something rained on the mangled hull. The vessel quivered like a hurt creature. Through a veil of sweat and tears, Jake spotted the plunger that activated the distress beacon. The red light was flashing brightly, in time to the alarm.
It was getting cold. Jake's ragged breaths condensed as they escaped his mouth. Frost clung to his gray pajamas. The one-man shuttle was losing heat and air. He had to activate the beacon before he froze or suffocated.
The g-force had penned him to the deck. Jake planted his palms against the floor and pushed up, but his legs refuse to move. Pain lanced up his spine, blacking out his sight. His arms gave out, and he fell, sobbing and shaking. Down in the main cabin, the rescue beacon's controls flashed on, just out of his reach.
Partly from the cold, and partly from the pain, Jake shivered. His spine felt like it was going to come apart as his muscles yanked at shattered bone. Ice was starting to form in his sweat soaked hair. The hull must have breached somewhere.
I'm going to die, Jake thought. God, please help me...
"No you're not. This isn't your time yet."
Despite pain that threatened to drive him into unconsciousness, Jake lifted his eyes, searching for the voice. She eased herself to the floor and sat beside him. Dark, wavy hair framed a smile. "Come on, Jake. It's not that far. Look on your screen. There's another ship close by. All you need to do is get to the beacon." She laid a hand on his shoulder. It was warm to the touch, and steady. She didn't shiver, despite the plunging temperature.
Jake couldn't feel his legs. "But I can't," he whispered. "My legs..."
"Are pretty messed up," she finished for him. "But you still have two good arms. You can make it." She zipped up her blue jumpsuit and rubbed her hands together. "But you've got to hurry. It's getting cold. You're losing heat and air."
Jake's whole body was numbness and pain. "But I can't move! It hurts..."
She nodded and laid a warm, soft palm against his cheek. "Then grit your teeth and drag yourself. You've got your whole life ahead of you. All you have to do is make it to that flashing light and push one button."
Jake was getting tired, and her hand was so warm. "I can't. I just need to rest." She was getting blurry.
"No!" She grabbed his icy hand in her warm ones and squeezed until he felt it through the numbness in his fingers. She shouted, "You'll have plenty of time to rest when you’re safe. Not now. Not until you make it to that beacon. Now, I'll guide you, but you have to put one hand in front of the other first. I know you can do it. Show some guts."
The sharp pain in his hand woke Jake. Her hands were warm, unlike any part of him. She had faith in him. Jake bit down on his lip hard to keep from screaming. Even his blood was cold. He dug his fingers into the floor and pulled. Gasping, sick and blind from pain, he dragged at the floor until his elbows bent again.
"That's it. You can make it, Jake." He could barely see her through the icy mist that clouded his sight. "Just a little to the left now—there. Now one more time. I know you can make it."
She kept talking. Every time Jake put one hand in front of the other, she'd touch him and guide him along. Every time he moved, his shattered body tried to quit. More than once, he begged her to leave him alone. It hurt so much, and that beacon still looked so far away. But she never let him give up. When he seemed about to give up from the pain, there she was, always sitting near his shoulder. "So where are you headed?" she asked him once.
"I'm going home from school, back to Earth to see my folks." Talking to her helped take his mind off the pain. He could crawl just a little bit farther.
She smiled. "Schools are getting out now, aren't they? Hey, you've reached the stairs now. You're close. Keep it up."
Jake reached his hand out, feeling along the floor. Her voice was there to guide him when fever mist clouded his eyes over. She closed his fingers over the edge of the first stair and she held his hand when he hit the floor sobbing from the jarring pain. "You can make it now, Jake. You're almost there."
She stayed with him the whole way, keeping him focused on the beacon, and talking to him when he seemed to be slipping away from his injuries and the cold. "Where are you from, Jake? Earth's a big place, even now.
"Boston." Jake could barely hear her. She sounded so distant.
"Really? I'm from Massachusetts myself. Or at least I used to be."
The beacon was getting closer. Jake squinted so he could see it through the ice in his hair. "Did you move?"
She sighed softly. "You could say that. It was a long time ago. I miss being home though. It's been a long, long time."
Jake's fingers hit something. He didn't feel it as much as he noticed his hand wasn't moving forward anymore. "Is that the beacon?"
She was silent for a long time. "Yes. That's it, Jake. You made it. You'll be okay now." Her voice sounded funny. It was muffled, like she was far away.
"Thank you," Jake gritted his teeth and reached up, fumbling for the signal button. "For helping me." He paused over the button. "You miss being home?"
"I miss it every day, Jake." Her voice was fading. "I need to go now, and so do you." Her voice was hardly a whisper.
Jake couldn't hold his arm up any longer. It collapsed against the plunger, and the computer announced that the beacon had been deployed. "Will I ever see you again?"
He had to strain to hear her reply. Just one word, slipping in as he lost consciousness.
"Someday."
** **
It was warm. Lights turned the darkness bright. Jake opened his eyes. He couldn't move. Something soft and warm held his arms clasped tightly to his sides. Mom and Dad walked beside him. Dad held his arms around Mom's shoulders. She looked like she had been crying. Jake tried to call out to them, but something over his mouth wouldn't let him talk.
The stretcher stopped moving. Mom and Dad started talking to someone who identified himself as Dr. Clark. They said his shuttle had hit something and that he was lucky to be alive. He tried to tell them about her, and how she had helped him, but the mask over his mouth stopped him from talking. His arms were strapped to his side. Jake turned his head to try and get their attention and saw her.
From the sign above the door, she smiled down at him, her blue jumpsuit covered in mission patches, amidst a crowd of faces that welcomed him home. "This station is dedicated," the sign read, "to the brave men and women who gave their lives to help us reach the stars."
He saw a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye as the stretcher started to move again. As it turned to enter the station, he saw her standing in the airlock, amidst a crowd of people leaving the station. She met his gaze, looked up at the sign and her own likeness. Then she pointed to his hand and waved as the stretcher carried him from view.
Jake opened his hand and lifted his head. Clutched in his fingers was a crumpled patch depicting an old space shuttle named Challenger streaking heavenward.
