บท 253: Hello Darkness

After what seemed like an eternity, Eva opened her eyes and picked herself up off the ground. She stumbled as she did so - her entire body felt as sluggish as her mind. She tried to shake the haziness away, though it didn’t seem to want to go away. It instead lingered, even as she tried to look around.

Despite her fuzzy, unfocused vision, she could tell that she was in a hangar on Helios, though it was somewhat smaller than normal. It seemed nearly claustrophobic at times, even. The walls seemed to expand and contract, as though the whole thing was breathing.

Before she could wonder why, the sound of heavy thrusters boomed above her. And when she looked up, she saw that the Spirit of Amelia was dozens of meters high above. The hangar’s bay doors were wide open, and Amelia herself was flying out.

Eva reached out and cried, “Wait! Wait for me!”

But she wasn’t heard, and the ship kept on going. It exited the hangar gracefully, then blasted off into the inky darkness of space.