Hilarity Ensues Episode 8, part 6

   The first half hour seemed to last ages.  Patrick and the others sat in the room that once, back on earth, had been somewhere to laugh and sing, and now seemed so sad and dingy.  None of them seemed able to talk, but they didn't want to leave until it was over.  Even Patrick, who was still weak and felt tired, wouldn't leave or sleep until that hour was over.

   After half an hour Grothorne came back in to check on Ruth.  "She seems calmer," he said.  

   "Is that- good?" Tom asked.  Patrick and the others looked up, hope reawakening.  

Grothorne bent down to watch her breathing, and took her pulse.  "She is weak," he said.  "I cannot be certain, but it is likely she is slipping into the fourth stage of the disease.  I am sorry.  It seems that your choice may not be necessary any more."

   He left the room.  Patrick, Tom, Agnes and Adam were left alone with Ruth.  They looked at each other, and at her, not knowing what to say.

   "At least she won't be in any more pain," Adam said awkwardly.  Patrick didn't reply.  He felt that he had failed by not making the choice to give her the extra sedative.  He had been afraid of taking the responsibility of her death.  

   As he watched, he saw out of the corner of his eye a movement. Quickly he looked again.  There it was!  Her eyelids were flickering.  He turned to point it out to the others but at that moment it seemed that they noticed it too.

   "I...I think she's waking up," Patrick said.

   "I'll get the Empyreans," Tom said, leaving the room.

   Patrick lifted Ruth's hand and held it, watching her.  He hardly heard the others talking behind him.  "If she's waking up, will she still be able to feel the pain?" Adam asked.  Agnes shrugged.  "I don't know."  

   "Ruth?" he whispered quietly.  She made a soft moan.  He didn't know whether it was in reply or because of returning pain, as consciousness returned.  He didn't think she could understand him.  "I'm sorry," he whispered wretchedly.  "It's not fair I got through this more easily than you."

   "You were always lucky," Ruth said softly.  Her eyes opened and she smiled.  He started in surprise.  

   "You...are you ok?" he said.  "Is the pain..." 

   "It's gone," she said.  "I can move, and it doesn't hurt."  She squeezed his hand which was still holding hers.

   Tom came back with Angphir, Janella and Grothorne, who hurried over to the bed.  "It's a miracle!" Janella exclaimed.  "Praised be Brassica Rapa!"  

   The travellers looked at each other in joyful uncertainty.  Grothorne spoke gently to Ruth, "You have passed close to death, but now it seems you have recovered, beyond hope.  Sleep now, and gain strength."  He turned to Patrick.  "You too should rest."  The other travellers left the room to spread the good news throughout the ship.  The Empyreans began to clear up their equipment.  Patrick lay down and looked across at Ruth again, and exchanged a smile.  Now he was glad he hadn't made the decision earlier.  Perhaps indecisiveness could be useful, in the right circumstances.

   

   Downstairs a debate was going on.  Although everyone was genuinely glad to know that both the invalids were on the way to recovery, Zoe was beginning to get impatient again, and some of the other travellers had caught her mood.  The Hilarity was fully stocked and ready to leave, and Zoe wanted to be on their way as soon as possible.  

   "We don't know what we're going to find at home," she said, "But the longer we stay here the more likely it is that we'll be too late, or that the astroninjas will find us.  If Ruth and Patrick aren't well enough to come with us, we can leave them here and come back later, once we've sorted everything out."

   But the other earth-dwellers weren't happy with that idea.  

   "You've got no idea how long it might be before we could come back for them," Nick said.  "What are they supposed to do in the meantime?  What if something happens to the rest of us and we can't come back?  We're staying together."

   "Then why don't you all stay here?"  Zoe said.  "Will and I will go."

   "We can't just leave them, Zoe," Will protested.

   "If you two disappear, how are we supposed to get back to earth?" Ernest said.  "How do we know you'll come back?" 

   "I think we stay with you," Nick said.  "You're right about the astroninjas though.  We should leave as soon as Ruth and Patrick are fit to go."

   "It's really weird," said Emma.  "I mean, out of all of us, I wouldn't have thought that either of them would be the ones to do something like that- to be heroic."  

   "Nor would I," said Ernest.  "I suppose you just never know."

   After speaking to the Empyreans it was decided that, so long as Ruth and Patrick were still improving the following morning, the Hilarity and her crew would leave the next day.  There was general agreement that it was time to leave.  "It's about time, really," Agnes said as they went to see the invalids the next morning.  "I mean, turnip in moderation is a capital thing, but to live on turnip- turnip for breakfast, turnip for dinner, turnip for tea- to have it supposed that you care for nothing but turnip and..."

   "Thank you," said Adam.  Tom smiled.  "I can quite see that under those circumstances even turnips could become monotonous."

   They went into the dressing room.  Ruth and Patrick had woken up and were both looking much better.  The Empyreans were leaving, after much thanks.  "All you need now is rest," Grothorne said.  "You will soon be back to normal."

   "Then we are alright to leave?"" Tom asked .  Grothorne nodded.  

   "Go, and the peace of Brassica Rapa be with you," he said.  "A swift journey, and a safe arrival."  The Empyreans left the room.  The others stayed with the invalids, talking to them.  It wasn't long before they felt the ship move out of orbit around the planet and start to accelerate out into space.  The darkness closed in around them once again, and Della Crusca became just a blue and green blob gradually fading into the distance.  Ruth felt suddenly homesick, remembering how she had watched another blue-green planet recede like that.  

   Suddenly Zoe's voice came over the ship's intercom, hurried and urgent.  "Strange ships spotted coming straight for us, one on each side.  It looks like astroninjas again.  We're trapped!"

The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 8, part 5.

   Ruth did not awake from her restless sleep.  The Empyreans watched over her with worried faces and held whispered conversations in their own language.  There was nothing more they could do to help her fight.  They were unwilling to awake her before she should do so naturally and risk disturbing the struggle between venom and antidote, but to calm her pain and send her into a deeper sleep would risk her body giving up the struggle entirely, and surrendering to the effects of the venom.  


   The Empyrean medical team had had a long discussion, and had then called together Will, Adam, Tom and Agnes, who they had realised were those closest to Ruth.  The watched her writing in her sleep.

   "She's in pain," Patrick said. "I know how it feels.  Is there nothing we can do to help her?"  Grothorne shook his head sadly.

   "We have done all we can," he said.  "Any more painkiller would prevent the antidote from working.  She would slip into a sleep from which there would be no awaking."  He looked around at them.  "Perhaps that would be the best thing for her," he said.  "I am afraid that the chances of a recovery now are very small.."

   Some were shocked, others nodded sadly as if they had already guessed.  Patrick felt as if his feet had been swept from under him.

   "But I recovered," he said limply.

   "Your case was not as serious as hers," Grothorne said.  "Her chances were small enough to begin with, owing to the amount of time that had elapsed between her being bitten and treated.  She should have awoken by now if the antidote was working.  I'm sorry.  We were too late, and she was too weak.  Her body has all but given up."

   "All but?" Tom asked.   Grothorne nodded.  "While there is life, there is always a sliver of hope."

   "So...she still has a chance?" Will asked.

   "A little.  But so small- I would not advise you to build any hopes on it but to prepare for the worst."  There was silence as everyone contemplated this.  No one really knew what to say.  Patrick pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes.   

   Grothorne cleared his throat.  "Is any of you her next of kin?" he asked.  "A relative, a partner?  Someone with the authority to make decisions about her treatment?"  The travellers exchanged glances.

   "I don't think any of us are," Tom said.  "We're all just friends,"

   "You kidnapped us," Agnes said to Will. "You said you were responsible for us."  

   Will shied away from the idea.  "Not like that- I can't," he said.

   "Maybe you should have thought of that before you-" Tom began, but Grothorne interrupted.  

   "There is no help in arguing.  But you should decide which of you is to be authorised to act for Ruth.  Normally in the absence of a next of kin it would be the ship's captain, but given the circumstances of your kidnapping, I think it should be up to her closest friends to decide." 

   Tom looked round at Agnes and Patrick.  "I suppose that's us," he said.  "We've known her longest."

   "You lived with her, and you were with her through all this," Agnes said to Patrick.  He looked apprehensive.

   "You know more about what she's going through,"  Adam added.

   Grothorne spoke to Patrick.  "Will you accept this responsibility, to help your friend?" he said.  "It is our professional opinion that she is unlikely to recover.  Since then, sadly, it is practically certain, barring the intervention of Brassica Rapa, that she will soon die, I am permitted under the medical law of this planet, having the opinion of two other medical practitioners, to end her pain- to give her that extra sedative which will let her slip into the sleep of death with no pain or suffering.  But it would end the very small chance of recovery which she has left.  So I cannot do so without permission from her representative.  The choice is yours."

   Patrick stared at him, horrified.  "I can't decide that!" he said.

   "No one is better fitted to choose," Grothorne said.  The others nodded.

   "But what do you think?" he asked the others.  They looked awkward.

   "I...I don't know," Tom said.  "I mean, she's in pain, and if she's not going to recover, it seems kinder...but what if she would still have recovered?  Can we take that risk, even if it's a small one, when the consequences are so big?"

   Patrick looked at her.  She was evidently suffering, and she looked so ill, so weak that he understood why the doctor thought it might be best for her to have peace.  But to have to take such an irrevocable decision!  Decision making had never been a strong point of his, and he desperately wanted to delegate responsibility for this to someone else- to Will, to one of the others, to the Empyreans.  But he couldn't, could he?  They were right, he did understand better than them what she had been through.  And Ruth hadn't tried to escape from making difficult decisions, or tried to avoid the consequences.  She had decided to be a hostage, and had taken the responsibility for that decision away from the others.  And she had decided that the others should leave them, and had taken the responsibility for that too, giving them permission.  

   "I...I don't know," he said.  "You're sure she won't recover?"

   "As I said, there is always a chance," Grothorne said gently.  "But I do not think she will."

   "Would you be more certain if you waited longer?" 

   "The longer we wait, the weaker she grows, the more unlikely her recovery and the more she suffers."

   "She wasn't afraid to die," Patrick said quietly.  "She was afraid of the pain, but she had the courage to face it."  He struggled with himself in silence.  

   "One hour," he said finally.  "If she still shows no sign of recovery or waking in an hour, then you can give her the sedative."  He looked up at the others.  "Is that all right?"  They nodded slowly.

   "Very well," Grothorne said.

   Maybe by then, Patrick thought, I will have the courage to say yes.

The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 8, part 4.

   The antidote had been administered to both patients.  The Empyreans had given them a medicine to drink too, a herbal concoction that Janella said would let them sleep while the antidote did its work and the help the healing process begin.  

   "How long before we know if it's worked?" Tom asked.

   "Some hours," Grothorne replied.  "When they awake, we will know."

   The hours seemed to pass slowly.  While Angphir and Janella watched over the patients, Grothrone asked the travellers more about how they had come to be held captive by the Pserpentese.  Will, judging it best to be honest, told him the truth about his and Zoe's identity, their mission to Earth, and the likely reason the astroninjas had attacked them.  The Empyrean looked grave when he heard about how the earth-dwellers had been kidnapped, but as it was explained to him what Ruth and Patrick had done to help the others his expression became one of admiration.

   "For their sake, for the courage and self-sacrifice they have shown, our people will aid you," he said.  "The political strife of another planet is no business of ours, but you have sought sanctuary and healing here and you will be safe while you stay."

   "Thank you," Will said.  "We appreciate your kindness."

   All this time the Hilarity had been in a low orbit around Della Crusca.  Looking down, the travellers could see the planet's surface appeared to be covered by expansive green forests and vast blue oceans.  Here and there appeared to be clearings of open ground, but they could see no trace of cities or buildings.  Below them,  but above the forests there were large dark shapes that seemed to be floating in the planet's skies, some remaining stationary above one spot, others moving through the air.

   "Those are our cities," Grothorne said to them as they looked out.  We do not live on the ground.  We farm, in places, but our planet's ecosystem is too precious and too fragile to risk spoiling by clearing her forests or polluting her seas.  We leave our planet to nature, and find what we need in her bountiful gifts."

   "Are those airships?" Nick asked.

   "They are our living pods, suspended from balloons filled with gas.  Some of our people live in the treetops, some few who farm live in dwellings on the ground, but most in our great Cities of the Skies, the Urban Aireas!"

   "Your planet is beautiful," Emma said to Grothorne.

   "We work hard to keep her so," he replied.  "We have heard what has happened to other once-beautiful planets that have been defaced and their resources squandered by their inhabitants."

   "I'm afraid our planet has suffered like that at the hands of our species," Ernest said.  Grothorne nodded sadly.  "So I have heard.  Yet at least some of your people have recognised the danger and are trying to save what they can, even if it is too late for much to be done.  Such crimes bring their own punishment."  He looked at Will and Zoe.  "Your people would do well to remember that."  The brother and sister looked at each other, puzzled yet somehow ashamed.

   Other Empyreans arrived bearing gifts of food and drink.  The travellers were glad to accept, for their own supplies were running low.  There were strange fruits and vegetables that even Will and Zoe, brought up with the knowledge of the foods of a dozen different worlds, did not recognise, some of which were so exquisite that none of them wanted to forget the taste, and others which were rather more dubious.  Yet the most surprising things for the travellers was that amongst all this exotic spread, given pride of place were turnips. Ordinary turnips, identical to the ones they had seen and eaten (well, some of them) back on planet Earth, with nothing special about them at all.  Yet from talking to the Empyreans they discovered that this vegetable, the humble turnip, was revered on Della Crusca as the utmost gift of nature, the pinnacle of culinary delights.  The travellers from Earth looked on in wonder as the leader of the Empyreans who brought the gifts told them of Brassica Rapa, god of the planet, to whom turnips were sacred.  None of them dared tell the Empyreans that on Earth turnips were often scorned and looked down on.

   Patrick awoke.  For a moment he was confused, wondering what had happened.  Then the memories came back to him- the cold damp cell, the pain and fear, the rescue, the Empyreans and their medicine.  He turned and looked across to Ruth.  She seemed to be still asleep, but her repose was troubled and she tossed and turned and groaned.  It was evident that she was still in pain.

   He looked up, and saw Angphir coming across to him.  "You have awoken," she said.  "How do you feel?"

   "The pain has gone," he said.  "Well, almost...there's a bit of an ache still.  I feel...drained, tired but not sleepy, if you understand, but so much better!"

   "Your body is weak, after all it has had to fight, and it will take a little time to recover," she said.  "Also you have not eaten for some time, I believe.  That we can solve."

   She left the room for a few moments and came back with a cup containing some kind of soup, which she helped him to drink.

   "How is she?" he asked, looking back at Ruth.  The Empyrean's smile faded.

   "We do not know yet," she said, and turned away to wash the cup.

   Patrick lay down again, facing towards Ruth.  She had loosed her hand from the sleeping bag in her unrest, and it lay loose.  He reached out and took it in his own.  It was cold, and he could hear her breathing loudly.  "I wish I could help you," he whispered.  "It's not fair that you should suffer more."  She moved restlessly, and moaned incomprehensibly.  Patrick thought she might be waking up, but she did not.  He watched her sadly, and wished there was something he could do.

The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 8, part 3.

   "You are now entering Della Cruscan airspace.  Please state your ship's name and planet of origin."

   The message the Hilarity's computer received was greeted with relief.  It had seemed a very long and weary journey to get there, and those who were looking after the invalids had become increasingly worried, especially about Ruth.  And the others all felt guilty that they had suffered for their sakes, and knew that they would feel more guilty still if they were to die as a result.

   Will spoke to the Della Cruscan authorities and explained the situation.  They granted permission to enter orbit and promised to teleport medical help immediately.  Very shortly three people appeared out of thin air near the computer.  They were humanoid, although with skin of pale yellow, and with a variety of aesthetic shades of green hair.  Two of the Empyreans appeared to be female, although it was not easy to tell at first glance as all had long hair.  They wore long, loose dresses in pale colours, while the male was wearing a brown jacket of a velvety material, with breeches to match and white stockings and brown shoes.  All three wore garlands of flowers in their hair, in colours tastefully chosen to match or contrast pleasingly with their clothes.  The travellers were struck by their beauty and the natural simplicity of their clothes, compared to the highly technical spacesuits and worklike, manufactured fabrics they had become used to.

   The male stepped forward.  "Greetings," he said, in English but with an accent that the travellers took a moment to recognise.  It was sort of Scottish, but there was a hint of something else too.  Russian?  "My name is Grothorne, this is Angphir and Janella.  We understand you have crew members who are in need of medical attention?"

   "Yes- this way, please," Will said, leading the way towards the stairs, for gravity had returned once more.  "Thank you so much for coming to help."

   "We are always glad to be of service," Angphir replied, as they followed him up the stairs.  Tom and Adam, anxious for their friends, joined them as they entered the dressing room where Ruth and Patrick were.  Agnes was already there.  "We understand that they were bitten by the Pserpentese?"  

   "Yes," Will replied.

   "How did that happen?" said Grothorne.  "They usually keep out of other people's way?"

   Will glanced at the others.  To tell the truth would mean increasing the danger of either the Pserpentese or the astroninjas finding them, as well as possibly danger for the Empyreans who were helping them.  But to lie would risk upsetting the Empyreans, as well as being unfair to the patients.  

   "We were captured," Will said.  "Astroninjas captured us and took us to Pserpentia, where we were held captive.  Ruth and Patrick volunteered to be kept as hostages so the rest of us managed to escape.  We didn't know that the Pserpentese would do this to them.  By the time we were able to rescue them they'd been bitten twice."

   "Twice?" Janella said, exchanging swift glances with her colleagues.

   "That is grave news," Grothorne said.  "Let us examine them."  

   The poison had continued to do its work.  Ruth had been drifting in and out of consciousness and even when awake was only vaguely aware of most of what was going on around her.  Everything was secondary to the pain, the red mist which obscured everything.  It was constant now, no longer dying away for even a few seconds of remission and relief.  She was weak, and found it very difficult to speak and to think clearly about her answers to the questions the Empyreans asked her. Patrick, while more aware than Ruth of what was going on was also the more afraid, because he could see right next to him what the future held.  The arrival of the Empyreans had given him some hope, but their sombre faces as they examined the two patients almost destroyed it, and his voice stuttered and hesitated as he tried to answer their questions.  

   Their examinations complete, the three Empyreans consulted together in a language the travellers could not understand.  But from their faces it was easy to see that they were concerned.  Eventually the two females began to take things from the large bags they had brought with them.  They covered the table on one side of the room with a sterile cloth and Angphir began chopping up several different types of plant which Janella then crushed in a pestle and mortar and mixed with water and various powders.  Grothorne, who appeared to be the senior, turned back to the travellers.  

   "We have treatment for them," he said.  "An antidote to neutralise the venom, and other mixtures to help soothe and restore the damaged to the body.  You, sir," here he looked towards Patrick, who nodded nervously, "I believe you should make a good recovery.  You are still experiencing the second stage of the venom's effects, and your body is still fighting."  Patrick looked greatly relieved.  

   Grothorne turned to Ruth.  "I am afraid that the outlook for you is not so optimistic," he said gently.  "You have passed into the third stage, your body has been suffering for a long time and has all but given up the struggle."

   "So I will die?" Ruth asked quietly.

   "You have both been injected with enough venom to kill- yet not so much that it makes death inevitable.  You may yet be healed.  But you are weak. The antidote will mean more pain as your body fights off the venom's effects, and I do not know if you have enough strength left.  I do not know if you will be healed, but I do know you will suffer more.  There is an alternative.  I can give you a sedative, and let you sleep painlessly while the venom does its work, slipping gently from this life to the next.  It's your choice."

   Everyone looked at Ruth, including Patrick who suddenly felt guilty that he had escaped lightly compared to her.

   "I've never liked giving up," she said.  "I...don't know if I can stand much more pain but...I choose to try."

The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 8, part 2.

   The Hilarity sped on, away from the planet of the snakes.  They didn't seem to be being followed- the Pserpentese perhaps couldn't be bothered to chase after prisoners that were of little value to them now.  

   On the Hilarity's bridge an earnest discussion was taking place.  


   "Isn't there anything we can do for them?"  Tom asked.  

   "Pserpentese venom antidote isn't something that's part of your everyday medical kit," Zoe said defensively.  "We've given them painkillers, although I doubt they're strong enough to have much effect.  We've not got anything else."

   "Then where's the nearest planet where we can get help?" 

   Zoe turned to the star map displayed on the screen.  "Here," she said.  "Della Crusca.  But it's in the wrong direction."

   "Wrong?"  Adam said.

   "The opposite direction to Bognor."  Zoe said.  "If we go back towards..."

   "No!" Tom said loudly, almost shouted.  "Have you seen how much pain they're in?  And they're like that because of us!  We left them behind, and the snakes did this to them because we'd escaped.  The least we can do is try and help them now."

   "He's right," Will said.  "We've got to get help.  Zoe, when we brought them with us, we made ourselves responsible for their safety.  We've let them down.  Now we've got to do what we can.  We'll go to Della Crusca."

   Zoe turned to the computer and began to set the course.

   In one of the old dressing rooms upstairs, Ruth and Patrick lay in hammocks.  The painkillers Will had given them seemed to be having little affect on their symptoms.  Ruth regained consciousness only for yet more pain to sweep through her.  She gasped.  A hand sought hers and squeezed it.  She turned her head and looked into Patrick's concerned eyes.  

   "I'm sorry," she said.  "I know it's just as bad for you."

   "It's not, yet," he said.  "Because you were bitten first.  Will looked it up.  Apparently there are four stages of how Pserpentese venom works.  Stage one is when it hurts when you're first bitten.  Stage two is what we're getting now- pain that increases and then dies away again, but gets worse overall.  That can last for hours, even days.  Then you get to consistent pain, all the time, and then stage four is that you go numb- you can't feel anything, you can't move, and then..."

   "You die," Ruth whispered.  Patrick nodded reluctantly.  She held his hand tightly.  

   So it's not even reached the worst yet, then, she thought.  How was she going to cope?  She closed her eyes and tried to think about something else, but it was no good.  Unstoppable tears crept out.  

   The door opened.  It was Will, followed by Adam.    

   "I found some stronger painkillers," Will said.  Tom and Agnes came in too, and Ruth could see Zoe standing in the doorway.  

   "Thank you," Ruth said.  

   "I really am sorry," Will said wretchedly.   "We shouldn't have left you behind."

   "We didn't know they'd do this to you," Agnes said.  

   " If anyone was going to stay behind, it should have been me and Zoe," Will said.  "It's our fault you're here."

   "It's ok," Ruth said.  

   "Did you know they would do this to you?" Tom asked.  "When we told you about our escape?  Did you know they would punish you like this?"  Patrick and Ruth exchanged glances.

   "We didn't know," Ruth said, "But we thought they might."

   "Then why didn't you tell us?" Adam said.  "We wouldn't have gone if we thought that was going to happen."

   "That's why we didn't say," Ruth replied.  "We wanted you to get away."

   "They were getting impatient- there seemed to be a problem with the money they were expecting for keeping us prisoner- and we thought it would be better if the rest of you could get away before they got angry and took it out on you," Patrick concluded.

   "But then they'd take it all out on you!" Adam exclaimed. 

   "You shouldn't have done that," Will said.  

   "But the rest of you would be safe, rather than all of us suffering."  The others looked at one another, ashamed and surprised.  Patrick and Ruth weren't people you would expect to behave like that.  The others had never suspected that either of them could.  

  "Thank you," Tom said.  Adam echoed him.  There was an awkward silence.   

   "We're heading for a planet called Della Crusca.  The Empyreans, who live there, are very clever people.  We'll get there in four or five hours, I hope.  They'll be able to help." 

   "Five hours?" Patrick asked.  He looked at Ruth fearfully.  That was about the amount of time there had been between her being bitten and him being bitten.  In five hours, he thought, he would be like she was now.  He shuddered a little.




The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 8, part 1

Free from his fetters grim.

More waiting. But Ruth found that clear thought was becoming difficult, because of the pain. Even fear was taking a back seat. She sat with an arm around Patrick's shoulders, his natural optimism at last defeated by events. "We're going to die," he whispered. What could she say?

She could feel the pain growing stronger, could feel herself becoming weaker as the poison took hold. They held each other's hand, knowing that there was nothing either could do now. The third bite would seal their fate.

The pale, faint dawn was beginning to lighten the skylight far above. Ruth shivered, looking up to see the last of the stars that she had been watching all night. Tiny points of light against the blackness of the void. From this point in the galaxy the constellations were unrecognisable, and she had no idea which, if any, of those stars was her own Sun. A wanderer, with no idea of the direction of her home, wondering if she would see the stars the next time they came out, or whether by then she would be beyond seeing anything ever again.

And then, unbelievably, she felt her wrist communicator buzzing again. She hardly noticed it at first, then looked at it stupidly. "It can't be," she said, pressing the speaker button with a trembling finger.

"Ruth! Patrick! Are you there?" came a familiar voice, faint and crackling but still recognisably Will's.

"Yes! Yes, we're here," she said.

"Have you both got your teleport bracelets on?" Ruth looked at Patrick, puzzled. Will had told them that the teleport was broken, hadn't he? So what did it matter if they were wearing the teleport bracelets or not? Patrick shrugged and nodded, holding up his wrist so she could see the communicator/ teleport bracelet on his arm, like her own.

"Yes."

"Right then, this might be a bit nasty, but..."

Then her eyes were filled with colour, her ears were filled with sound, her nose and mouth were overpowered with smells and tastes they had never imagined. But she could feel nothing, everything was totally numb. All this lasted just a fraction of a second, and then-

"...it'll soon be over," Will continued. He was standing by a control panel built into one of the walls of the green room, on board the Hilarity.

She was sat on the floor of the green room in exactly the same attitude as she had sat against the wall in the damp, dark cell, one hand in Patrick's, the other with the communicator held to her mouth. Patrick was sat next to her, blinking confusedly. She felt as if a great wave had washed over and through her, leaving her drained and washed up. She tried to stand, but felt herself falling and hastily sat down again. Whether that was the effect of the teleport, or the snake venom, or just from not having been in a room where she couldn't stand properly for days she wasn't sure. Perhaps it was all three.

Will hastened towards them. "It's ok, the effects of the teleport will wear off in a few minutes. You're all here? Right." He spoke into his communicator. "We've got them. Get us out of here!" The ship began to pick up speed.

Patrick was trying to stand, now, with help from Adam and Tom. But he only took a couple of steps before sinking down again, dizzy and nauseous. Ruth looked up, confused.

"You said...teleport was broken," she gulped.

"It was, but we managed to get it working, thanks to the GilBot," Will said. "But it looks like you had a rough ride. Maybe the transferal stabilisers need a bit more work..."

Ruth shook her head. "Not your fault," she said. "Thank you."

"You should lie down, and I'll see if we've got any telecetamol," Will said. "You must have lost salt and protein-"

"It's not the teleport," Patrick managed to say. "The snakes...bit us."

Will stopped dead and stared at them. "They bit you? Pserpentese venom? Oh no. Oh...dear."

"That's bad?" asked Adam. Will nodded.

"When it happen?" Will asked. Ruth looked at him and tried to remember, but it was all hazy.

"Yesterday?" she said. "Or perhaps before...they bit me first, and later on Patrick..."

"It was yesterday," Patrick said. He seemed to be less vague and more awake than Ruth. "When they found you'd gone in the morning the leader came and bit Ruth, and then later he came back to get me, and then at night he came back and bit both of us again."

"Twice! You were bitten twice?" Will said, growing more and more anxious. "Oh my-"

"He said it would take three bites- that he wanted to make it last. The pain, I mean."

"One bite can contain enough poison to kill a man! Two bites- I don't know what to say." Will stared at them for a moment, then started talking very fast to Zoe on his communicator.

Patrick had struggled to his feet again, and collapsed beside Ruth. They met each other's eyes.

"So we're not safe after all," he said.

"No," Ruth replied. "But we still did the right thing."

Their friends clustered around them, bringing bedding, trying to make them comfortable. At least now Ruth was warm, which she hadn't been for days, and dry, and there was food and drink. But she was struggling to remain conscious and to think clearly. Patrick didn't seem quite so far gone as her, but he was still obviously struggling.

Will came over to them, looking very serious. Ruth struggled to sit up and focus on him. "You shouldn't have come back for us," she said fuzzily.

"We couldn't just leave you there," Adam said.

"It's not going to make any difference, anyway," Ruth said. "You put yourselves in danger for nothing."  Suddenly the effort to hold up became too much and she lost consciousness.


The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 7, part 6.

Patrick came over to Ruth as she gasped and sobbed. He put an arm around her, carefully.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm such an idiot..." He shook his head.

"That's not true," he said. "It's ok." She cried in his arms. The pain was dying down a little, but it was still bad. She wondered how long this would go on for, how long she would be able to stand it.



"And the others don't even know," Patrick said softly. "They thought maybe we'd be punished a bit- but not like this."

"Maybe it's better that way," Ruth said gently. "We knew the risk when we chose to stay, when we chose to let them go. If they knew, they might try to rescue us, and end up sharing our fate."

"If Will and Zoe hadn't kidnapped us," he began.

"I don't blame them," Ruth said quickly. "They never meant this to happen. Yes, what they did was wrong, but a thousand things have happened since then that have brought us here, and if any one of them had been different this might not have happened. Don't feel bitter towards them."

"You're saying it's all down to events? That we're just the victims of circumstances?"

"Not just," Ruth replied.

"But don't you want someone to blame?" Patrick said. "Someone to be mad at for what's happening?"

"Not if it's not their fault," Ruth said quietly. "Besides, although we may not have chosen to put ourselves in danger, we chose to stay here, to put our lives at risk, to help the others. Events don't dictate our lives. There is always a choice, and the choice we make shows who we are."

"If you put it like that," Patrick said, looking up at her with an attempt at a smile, "we're heroes."

"I'd never call myself that," she replied, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"But you are," he said. "Really."

"Look who's talking, Sydney Carton," she said.

"Then who are you?" he said.

"Just some kind of fool," she replied, with a sad, almost wistful smile. "A fool who cares too much." He pressed her hand in silence.

"Do you know why I stayed?" she said. "I mean, really? Because I was ashamed. As soon as I'm in danger I want to get out, at any cost. I'd sacrifice other people to be safe if I could. But then I feel ashamed of what I've thought. So I make myself do things I don't want to, that I'm afraid of, because I'm ashamed of what a coward I am underneath, and scared of what people would think if they found out. I'm no hero." He said nothing, but kept his arm round her and hugged her tighter.

There was nothing to do but wait. The pain died down but didn't go away, remaining an unpleasant undercurrent. They sat there for hours, hardly moving, hardly speaking. There was nothing to do, nothing to say.

At last they heard a noise in the corridor. Ruth looked up, heart beating fast, knowing what it meant. The door began to open. She was shaking with fear. She couldn't bear that pain again- and this time probably it would be worse. Patrick gripped her hand. She could see that he was afraid too.

"Ready for the nexxt dossse of medicssine?" the creature grinned. It advanced on them. Ruth shrank back, ashamed of her cowardice but too afraid to do anything else. It reared up and hovered over her until she could think of nothing else. She shut her eyes, but it was still there. She waited, tense.

"But ssssomeone hassn't had their firssst dossse yet, have they?" the creature said, and turned away from her. She opened her eyes to see it preparing to bite a terrified Patrick.

"No!" she shouted, reaching forward, but it was too late.

He cried out, as she had done, and backed away, utter terror in his eyes. She felt a renewed wince of pain as she remembered what it had felt like. The creature laughed and slid out of the room.

Ruth looked at her friend, whimpering in pain as she had been. She longed to be able to help him, to take the pain on herself, but there was no way of doing that. She sat down by him where he was curled up on the floor and hesitantly put an arm around him, as he had done for her. He looked up at her.

"I'm sorry," he began. She smiled brokenly, and shook her head. She put her arms around him and they hugged. Ruth felt a tear on his cheek as it rested against her own, but didn't say anything. She was crying herself.


More waiting, more hours of endurance. The pain seemed to die away, and then suddenly it would return, before slowly dying away again only to return. Ruth wondered how long the snakes would torment them for. Days? Weeks? It made her shudder to think of that. Presumably, since she had been bitten first she would die first. Then Patrick would be alone- would die all alone in this horrible place. She shuddered at the thought. Somehow, now that the others had gone, it emphasised the loneliness. Being the only Earth-dwellers for light years around wasn't so bad when there were twenty or more of you. But when there were only two...it was a frightening thought. Two minus one left only one.

Again the noise in the corridor, again the quickening heartbeat and flash of fear. Some hero I am, she thought bitterly. The two of them exchanged glances. Which of them would it be this time?

It entered the room. "I hope you are well?" it asked sardonically. "Now, which of you ssshall I choossse thisss time?" He hovered over Patrick, who shrunk back. Then he turned away from him, and moved towards Ruth. He laughed.

This time the pain took her breath away. She collapsed again, gasping, unable even to scream. She heard the creature laughing again, and she had never hated a sound so much.

"You cruel ...beast!" she heard Patrick yell.

The laughter stopped abruptly. "Perhapsss both of you thisss time, then?" she heard the snake say. Dimly she saw the creature strike out at Patrick too. She heard him cry out, heard their tormentor laugh again as the door closed behind it. Ruth and Patrick were alone again, alone with their fears and their pain.

He lay in the angle between the wall and the floor. She curled up next to him, her back to the wall.

"Are you ok?" she asked, looking at him. It sounded like the most stupid question ever. He looked up. "It hurts," he said hesitantly, "And I'm scared."

She reached out and took his hand again. "So am I," she replied. There was nothing they could do, and they both knew it.

So this was it. All her life before leaving Earth she had lived a normal life, boring at times, where the most exciting things were performing G&S shows. The sort of life anyone might lead. Occasionally she had wished idly for some adventure, but in her heart she had known that she was a coward and would go to pieces in a dangerous situation. And then everything had changed, her ordinary life had become extraordinary. Since leaving earth she had seen things that probably no Earth-dweller had seen before, her life had been in danger more than once, and she had discovered courage she hadn't known she possessed. The same was true of her friends- people she had thought she knew well, yet now suddenly hidden depths were revealed. And now she and Patrick would die here, alone on a strange planet, so far from home. What would their families think of them, if they ever heard what had happened? They had had several narrow escapes lately. But this time there would be no happy ending.


The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 7, part 5.

It was later that day, as the weak light was fading once again, that Ruth felt the communicator on her wrist buzz. She had almost forgotten about it, she was so used to wearing it by now. She looked quickly towards the door, hurriedly pressed the button which switched the sound on, and spoke quietly with it close to her mouth: "Hello?"

"Ruth? Are you ok? And Patrick?" It was Will's voice, speaking quietly but sounding loud to her frightened ears.

"Yes, we're ok," she whispered back, her eyes meeting Patrick's as he came over to her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. But listen. They'd disabled the ship when they let us come back here, but we've managed to fix it. We've got a plan, we think we can get out of here." Ruth's heart leapt for a moment. "But we can't work out a way of rescuing you." It sank again, and kept on sinking.
"We'll fly to the nearest friendly planet, and we'll be back with help as soon as we can. But we thought we should check with you two," Will said. "There's a danger that they might punish you if we leave. What do you think?"

She looked up at Patrick. "Can you give us a minute to think about it?" she asked.

"All right. But be quick."

Ruth switched the communicator to mute so they could talk without being heard. "What do you think?" she asked.

"They're right, aren't they," Patrick said quietly. "We will be punished if they escape."

"Yes, I think so," Ruth said in the same calm tone. "Maybe even killed, given what the snakes' leader said earlier. But the others are right that it's better for them to get away if they can. If not, we'll all just have to sit here and wait, and the snakes are loosing patience already. Soon they might imprison the others again, or if they decide there's no money coming- they might just kill us all."

"Whereas if the others escape, only the two of us can be hurt," he replied slowly.

Ruth looked at the floor. "If it means my friends can escape, if it can help them- I guess I'm willing to suffer," she said. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Even...to die?" Patrick asked hesitantly.

"Yes, if that's what has to happen," she said quietly. She didn't want him to know how scared she was, in case it made him afraid too, made him decide against letting the others go.

Patrick spoke slowly, as if he was admitting something against his will. "I know we should tell them to go," he said. "It's not that I don't want to. It's just that..." He stopped.

"I know," she said gently. "Do you think I'm not scared too?"

"You're thinking of the others, not yourself," he replied. "I wish I was as brave as you."

"You're braver," she said. He shook his head and looked away. There was a moment's silence.

Ruth reached out and took his hand. Her communicator vibrated. "We need to decide," she said awkwardly. He looked up.

"Tell them to go," he said quietly.

Ruth's communicator vibrated again, and she switched the sound back on.

"Have you decided?" Zoe asked. Ruth looked at Patrick. He nodded.

"You go," Ruth said. "And good luck."

"You're sure?"

"We're sure," Patrick said.

"Thanks, guys. Hope you're ok- we'll be back as soon as we can with help. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye! Thank you!" They could hear the voices of others in the background.

"Goodbye," Ruth and Patrick said. The communicator went quiet. Soon, if their plan worked, they would be out of range of the transmitter, and they would hear nothing more until the others returned with help. They looked at one another. "Well done, Sydney Carton," Ruth said, trying to smile. He shook his head, smiling back, but neither smile was genuine. Ruth tried to fight back tears but it was no good. Patrick took her hand. "It'll be ok," he said. "Maybe they'll come back before anything happens to us."

"I wish I had your optimism," Ruth replied.

It didn't seem long before they heard slithering in the corridor outside. The door opened and two guards came in, followed by the leader.

The snake leader reared up and looked down at them. "Your friendsss have essscaped," he said. "They have abandoned you, left you at our mercssy. And we're not feeling very merciful at the moment. With them gone, any hope of getting our money isss gone too. Now you give me one reason why I ssshouldn't have you killed inssstantly."

Neither of them spoke. Well, that was it then. Ruth gave up any hope she had been clinging on to that they would get out of this somehow. Villains in real life were much better at it than they were in stories. There would be no easily-distracted guards, no crawling undetected through ventilation tunnels, no improbably successful escape attempts.

"Do you have sssnakes on your planet?" the leader asked mockingly.

"Yes," Ruth said.

"Asss large asss I am?"

"No."

"Do they bite? Isss it painful? Can they kill?"

"Yes."

"Well then," the leader said, "You get the idea. If sssomething ssso much sssmaller can kill and cause pain, how much more damage can I do?" He moved forward quickly, his huge fangs reaching towards her.

Ruth had never considered herself brave. And snakes were probably the thing she feared the most- her room 101 nightmare. She shrank back, shivering, but the giant snake kept moving forwards, the mouth now almost touching her. She closed her eyes and tried to brace herself for the bite of the sharp fangs.

For days before the creature struck she had been tense, afraid. Now this was too much- far beyond any pain she had felt before. Suddenly she screamed, a long, high pitched, loud scream.

She collapsed to a crumpled heap on the floor as the creature drew out its fangs and moved back. She writhed in pain, unable to keep still, yet the movement brought no relief. There were tears in her eyes. Through them she could see Patrick looking at her, worried and afraid.

The creature laughed, and turned to leave. "Three bitesss it'll take to kill you, I ssshould sssay," it said. "I'll ssspread the poison out. It'sss more fun that way. For me, that isss, not for you." The door clanged shut as he slithered off.


The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 7, part 4.

The door clanged shut behind them, and the two of them were alone. They looked at each other. "Well," Ruth began, but couldn't go on. She tried to smile at Patrick, and not to release the tears, but they trickled through. They sat down together. Somehow, although they were both afraid, they could draw strength from one another.

"I hope the others are ok," she said after a couple of minutes of silence.

"They've got no reason to hurt them," he replied. He looked at her and smiled, that slightly nervous smile she knew so well. It was a comfort, even here. For some reason, although now there were only two of them in the cell, she wasn't lonely any more.

"When I volunteered to stay, I thought I'd be alone," she said. "But I'm so glad I'm not. I mean, I was prepared for it, and I wish you could have gone too, but...I'm glad you're here." His hand found hers. "You were brave to volunteer."

"I wasn't," he said. "I knew I wouldn't be alone. It took more courage for you to volunteer than me."

She looked at the floor. "I was scared," she said. "But I volunteered because I knew I was the right person to stay. I'm not...well, tied, by things like other people; I haven't got a partner to miss me, or a career or degree course...somehow it seems like I've got less to leave behind. I know it sounds daft, but you know what I mean? No one would miss me if I didn't come back."

He looked at her for a moment and then gave her a hug. "That's not true," he said. "You would be missed."

She shook her head. "Not as much as other people- not like Ernest without Emma, say. Better me than one of them."

"Anyway, why are we talking as if we were never going to see them again? What are we afraid of?" He had said we. So it wasn't just her then.

"I don't know," she replied, "But I am. It's something about the snakes. When I said I'd stay- somehow it felt like I was giving up more than it sounded, as though there was more at stake than just a few days' comfort. I mean...they're keeping Will and Zoe as hostages, in case something goes wrong in some plan to take over Bognor, and to keep them out of the way. But once that's over, if the plan succeeds, they won't be wanted. What'll happen to them? Probably they'll be killed. But we're not important at all. Why should they bother to keep us alive?"

"Well, they have so far," Patrick said.

"But for how long, if things go wrong?"

"Even so, we're in no more danger than the others."

"Maybe they'll be able to escape," she said.

"But they said they wouldn't."

"They said they had no plans to. Ernest's clever with words."

"They wouldn't leave us behind. Ruth, they wouldn't!"

Ruth shrugged. She wasn't so sure, but she didn't argue. They were quiet for a few minutes, in the twilit silence of the cold cell. On the surface of the planet outside it began to rain, and water splashed in through the skylight to collect in a puddle in the middle of the floor. It was a dark day and to Ruth there seemed little to inspire hope.

"What you said just now about being alone, about not being missed...you remembered once we joked about me being Sydney Carton- you know, from A Tale of Two Cities?" Patrick said hesitantly. "Well...when they said that a second person had to stay...I knew that what you said about yourself is mostly true of me, too. I had to volunteer."

"There's no 'had to' about it," she said. "You chose, because you cared about the others, not because you didn't care about yourself. I reckon that makes you braver than me." He shook his head. She smiled, and they hugged once more.

"We'll be ok," he said, trying to cheer up. "We'll get out of this somehow." Ruth looked at him, unconvinced. She wasn't even sure if he believed it himself. Yet he was always optimistic, always looking on the bright side of life- always trying to avoid consequences, even when they were inevitable. It had annoyed her sometimes- she had thought of it as hiding his head in the sand like an ostrich. But at other times she had envied his more relaxed attitude. And now...she couldn't bring herself to destroy his hope. She had little.

It soon seemed as though their fears were going to be realised. Over the following days the guards who brought them food became more and more grim. Hissed conversations in Pserpentese took place outside their door without the prisoners understanding a word. That something was wrong they could tell, but what it was they did not know.

Then, on the third day after the others had been allowed back to the spaceship, Ruth and Patrick heard the door opening. The snake leader, who seemed the only one with much English, looked down at them.

"When you were captured, wasss anything sssaid to you about who wasss paying for you?" he demanded. They shook their heads. "No," Ruth said, "They didn't tell us anything."

The snake hissed. "I begin to wonder if we will ever ressceive the money they promisssed usss," he said. "And if they don't keep their ssside of the bargain, I don't sssee why we
ssshould keep oursss. It cossstsss money to guard and feed you." He spat at the floor, turned and left.

They looked at each other. "Do you think that means they'll let us go?" Patrick said. Ruth shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe." But she didn't think it likely.


The story continues...

Hilarity Ensues Episode 7, part 3.

The room where they were imprisoned was not very comfortable. Although there was sand on the floor, it wasn't very deep and below was solid rock. There were a few rugs around the room, but they were of some rough material that was almost scaly, and unpleasant to touch. It was chilly too. Ruth was not the only one to feel ill.


When their jailers brought them food, just as the the light was fading completly, they tried to explain their needs, and ask for someone to bring their bedding from the Hilarity. They weren't sure whether the snakes had understood them, but eventually the door opened again and the sleeping bag cum hammocks they had used on board the ship were tumbled into the room. They bore traces here and there of a mysterious slime, but they were glad to get them none the less.

It was still an uncomfortable room to be imprisoned in, cramped and overcrowded. People got on each others' nerves very easily, and Will and Zoe unsurprisingly came in for a lot of the flack. Ruth was one of the few who felt sorry for them. It was obvious, from what the snakes' leader had said, that the astroninjas had captured them to keep them out of the way and keep the political system on Bognor in chaos, for the benefit of whoever was employing the astroninjas. And the snakes were to be paid to keep the prisoners safe while the astroninjas went about other duties- perhaps helping their mysterious employer seize power on Bognor.

By the third night in the dark cell it seemed that some people were coping better than others. Ruth, afraid, uncomfortable and still feeling lonely even in the crowded cell, sat by the wall and tried to hide her tears from the others. While it was light she had tried to speak to those who were alone too, who seemed to be finding the situation hardest to cope with, to comfort them, as far as it was possible, and just to be with them, to show them she cared that they were upset. But now she felt that she couldn't cope any more. She had tried to help others, but no one wanted to help her. No one cared about her, they were all too wrapped up in their own troubles.

That night was the worst yet. Even in their insulated bags, everyone was cold. People huddled together. Ruth shivered at the edge of the cell, afraid to take the liberty of moving close to someone, and too ashamed to ask. As soon as the light began to filter in, the prisoners consulted each other and when the guards brought their breakfast they made their complaint, and their request; to be taken back to the Hilarity and kept prisoner there.

The guards went away without giving an answer, but after a while there was the sound of slithering in the tunnel outside.

They huddled in pairs and groups in the small room as the door opened and their jailers slithered in. Looking round, she saw again how almost everyone had someone they were with to give them strength, a close friend, a partner, someone. Except her. She was alone in the crowd. Not that they weren't her friends, but not...not like that. She tried to put others first, but she wasn't first with anyone.

"Ssso, you want to go back to your ssship," the leader said. "But how do we know we can trussst you, that thisss isssn't sssome plan to essscape?" He looked round, smiling cruelly.

"We assure you, it isn't," Ernest said, taking the lead as usual. "We have no plans to escape. But without wishing to insult your hospitality, this room is unsuitable for humans- cramped, cold and uncomfortable. You can guard us just as well if we are held prisoner on board our ship." He looked the snake in the eye, as well as he could.

"Yesss," the snake hissed. "You ssshall go back to your ssship. But one of you must ssstay here, to guarantee that the othersss will not try to essscape."

The prisoners looked around at each other, while refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "We can't let that happen," someone mumbled, half hoping they wouldn't be heard. "How can we decide something like that?" someone else said.

Ruth looked down at the floor, trying to find the courage to say what she knew she should. One of the guards had attracted the attention of the leader, and now three of them were engaged in a close debate. The G&Sers were still looking round at each other, not knowing what to do. Even Ernest was subdued. Will and Zoe were both keeping quiet and looking uneasy.

"I'll stay," she said, finding the words and the courage from somewhere. People looked at her, the tension in the room snapping as they found their voices. But still some were reluctant to look her in the eye, ashamed that she was willing to do what were not.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked. Ruth nodded.

"Someone's got to. And better me than anyone else," she said. "I always end up volunteering for things." She tried to smile but had to struggle not to cry.

Agnes hugged her. A few tears escaped Ruth, but she wiped them away quickly. "We can't just leave you," Adam said awkwardly, but their captors had finished their discussion and turned back to them. Ruth stepped forward.

"Two of you mussst ssstay- jussst to make sssure," the leader said. The tension rose again as everyone looked round and once more tried to avoid everyone else's glance. There was silence.

Ruth looked at everyone in their clumps. Despite her fear, there was a peace in her from knowing she had done the right thing. But for someone else to have to sacrifice themself too- that wasn't fair.

"Please," she said to their captors, "just keep me. You don't need more than one."

"Sssilence," the one who had objected before replied, and hit her round the face with the tip of his tail. She staggered. Adam was behind her, and put out a hand to steady her. "Are you ok?" he asked awkwardly. "I'm fine," she said. "Don't worry." People looked shocked, but still no one said anything.

"Come on!" their jailer said. "Are you all cowardsss? Choossse sssomeone now or you'll all ssstay here. We haven't got all day." Surreptitiously people tried to shrink away from the guards.

"We could draw lots," Ernest suggested. "Anyone got some paper?"

"Hurry up!" the creature yelled, moving menacingly towards the group containing Ernest and Emma. Ernest pulled Emma closer to him, as if to hide or shelter her. The very movement made Ruth feel so lonely.

Suddenly Ruth realised that someone was moving towards her and their captors. "I...I'll stay," said a voice behind her. It was Patrick. She was surprised. Last time she had seen him he had been at the back, as far away from the guards as possible, and had been keeping very quiet. Looking at him, she could see how scared he was. Yet- he had always been one of those people who cared for others.

"You're sure?" she asked him quietly, looking him in the eyes. He didn't say anything, but nodded.

"Right then, out with the rest of you. We haven't got time to waste. You two ssstay here." Their captors began to herd the others out of the room, grabbing their bedding on the way. "Good luck," Ernest said to them. "And thanks. You're both braver than I am."

Zoe didn't look at them, but kept her eyes on the ground. Will was the last to leave. "I'm sorry," he said to them. "I...I should have stayed..." Ruth shook her head. "We chose this. It's not your fault. Good luck."

"Good luck to you," he said.


The story continues...