By Sue O’Neill

He sat in the gathering darkness for what had seemed an interminable time reflecting on the train of events that had brought the situation to a head. He looked down at his torn space suit and was relieved to see the skin on his legs wasn’t exposed. Likewise, his helmet, although cracked, was intact. His air pack he knew only had two hours in it.

He wasn’t supposed to be on this planet in the first place. The powers that be had said it was just a routine trip to a previously visited station.  

His mind went back to the request for his agreement to be “cloned”. He had never been asked before and now he felt there was something suspicious about it. They had explained it was just a safety precaution in case something happened, but they had quickly assured him that nothing was expected to happen to him. If he agreed to being cloned, he would always be alive somewhere in the universe they said.

It had been a strange sensation being cloned and he relived the feeling of leaving his body and watching someone who looked like him entering the space that he had been immersed moments before.

As his thoughts travelled on, he felt the heat from the ground coming through his suit and beginning to burn him. He stood, testing his strength, and then took a few steps. If he continued walking and didn’t stop the heat was dispersed through his boots. It was hard to move, and he was exhausted after a few steps. He rested on some rocks which were cooler, and he looked out at the galaxy around him. He could see bright lights and strobes of different colours shooting across the cosmos. It looked like some sort of battle taking place. 

He remembered now the sound of the alarms echoing round the ship and how the sound nearly burst his ear drums. After that it was all a blur.  A great sadness came over him. He knew he wouldn’t last long here.

He decided he would try and find a cooler place to rest and took a few more tentative steps.  He thought back to his younger self and how being an astronaut was all he ever wanted to be. He had never married or had children, so apart from elderly parents and a few friends there wouldn’t be many to mourn him.

A few minutes lapsed and he felt overcome by a great tiredness. He closed his eyes. How long he lay like that he had no idea. Maybe it would be a quiet end when he lost consciousness and that gave him some comfort. Then just as he had that thought, he sensed a shadow move across his vision. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a person in a similar suit standing in front of him. This person had a name and ID number printed on the front of their suit and he tried to focus on it.

It didn’t make sense though because it was his own name and ID. The person stretched out his gloved hand and took his hand in his. He could see a smile appear under the other’s helmet and he knew that whatever was going to happen he wouldn’t be alone.

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