HELIUM-3

Chapter 09

POV: Danny

The lab smelled like blood and chemicals.

Raj was hunched over the navigation panels, his hands trembling as he soldered exposed wires. The wound on his back already showed bluish veins, but he kept working.

“Five… five more minutes,” he coughed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a soot-stained arm. “I can restore the temperature controls.”

Alyssa watched from afar, arms crossed so tightly her fingers dug into her skin.

“And then what? We’ll slowly cook instead of freeze?”

“It’s bad enough already, okay? Maybe save the sarcasm for later,” Raj replied without looking up.

“Yes, like at the time of our death,” she answered, ignoring his advice completely.

I leaned against the bench, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my wrist.

Piotr’s watch still read 4:23, as always.

. . .

Lena entered the room carrying a radiation meter. Her movements were slow, calculated, as if each step hurt.

When she passed by me, I saw what she was trying to hide: the blue creeping up her neck, rising like poison in her bloodstream.

“You too,” I murmured, low enough only for her to hear.

She didn’t deny it. Just pressed her lips together and continued toward Raj.

“We need to recalibrate the radiation shields,” she said, placing the meter on the table. “Levels are beyond safe.”

Raj looked at her, then at the blue stains on his own hands.

“What difference does it make now?”

“All of it.” Lena touched his shoulder. “We can still warn Earth.”

Alyssa let out a bitter laugh.

“Oh, of course! Because they care so much, right? Tell me another one, Lena.”

The silence that followed was broken by a crackling noise from the speakers.

“I got it!” Raj pressed the headphones to his temples. “I’ve got a weak but stable signal.”

We all gathered around the console. The screen flickered before showing a blurry figure — a tired-looking technician from NCEA.

“Helix-7, confirm receipt. I repeat, Helix-7—”

“We’re here!” Raj interrupted, fingers flying across the keyboard. “We need immediate evacuation. The Helium-3 is—”

The image froze. For a moment, I thought we’d lost the signal again. Then a new figure appeared.

Kovac.

His face was pale, his icy blue eyes colder than ever.

“Danny.” Hearing my name from his mouth felt different. Not like a father soothing a son, but like a mentor angry with his pupil. “Report.”

My hands clenched instantly.

I wanted to destroy him, scream, send him to hell. But I didn’t.

I could feel the weight of the AZ-7 injector in my pocket — the only dose. The only salvation.

“The experiment failed,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “Jun is dead. The rest of us are contaminated. We need to abort.”

Kovac didn’t react.

“And the samples?”

“THE SAMPLES?” Alyssa exploded, pushing Raj aside. “YOU SON OF A—”

Lena grabbed her arm.

“Alyssa, no!”

Kovac ignored the outburst.

“Danny, you understand what’s at stake. The future of—”

“The future of YOUR research,” I cut him off. “You used us. You KNEW what the Helium-3 would do.”

On screen, Kovac leaned closer.

“And you knew the cost when you accepted this mission. Or have you forgotten your own words?”

The watch on my wrist pulsed again. 4:23.

The words I exchanged with Kovac before liftoff:

I’ll never let you down.

. . .

The transmission cut. Raj collapsed into his chair, breath coming in short gasps.

“He… he hung up,” he murmured, stunned. “He abandoned us.”

Lena stood frozen, her hands trembling slightly. I expected anger from her, maybe even hatred. Instead, there was only a deep sorrow.

“We need to make a decision,” I said, looking at each of them. “We have the emergency capsule.”

Alyssa raised her eyebrows.

“That only fits two people. And there are four of us.”

“Three,” Raj corrected, touching his wound. “I wouldn’t survive the trip.”

“And I’m not leaving anyone behind!” Alyssa slammed her fist on the table.

Lena finally spoke, her voice almost a whisper:

“There’s another option.” We all looked at her. “We can destroy the module. Take the Helium-3 with us.”

“So… group suicide,” Alyssa muttered.

“No.” Lena looked straight at me. “Danny is the only one with a chance of surviving the mutation. He can take the data back to Earth. Warn them.”

My heart raced. She knew about the AZ-7. And she was giving me an out.

“Why do you think he’ll survive?”

“Look at him. For some reason, it’s not affecting him like it is the rest of us.”

Part of me wanted to call her out right there, but I was too broken for it to matter. We were all in the same sinking boat, and we’d go down together — no matter who was to blame.

Raj coughed, blue-tinged blood on his lip.

“She’s… she’s right.”

“No, she’s not,” Alyssa grabbed my arm. “Danny, you’re not doing this. Not after everything he did to us.”

I looked at her — at Raj, already half gone; at Lena, her regret written all over her; at Alyssa, still fighting like a cornered beast.

The injector burned in my pocket.

“We need to vote,” I said.

. . .

Raj was the first to raise his hand.

“Destroy the module. Danny takes the data.”

Lena followed, her movement slow but firm.

Alyssa looked at each of us, her eyes shining with angry tears.

“You’re all cowards.”

“Alyssa—”

“NO!” She stepped back, knocking over a chair. “I’m not dying here because you gave up!”

Lena tried to reach her.

“No one’s giving up. We’re choosing the—”

“What? The lesser evil? Danny, do you honestly believe Kovac will let you reach Earth with this information? You’ll be the next ‘accident.’”

She had a point. I knew it. But I also knew we didn’t have another choice.

“We have to try,” I said.

Alyssa looked at me for a long moment. Then, without a word, grabbed a first aid kit and knelt beside Raj.

“Idiots,” she muttered, cleaning his wound with harsh movements. “You’re all idiots.”

Raj gave a faint smile.

“But we’re your idiots.”

The sound Alyssa made could’ve been a laugh or the start of a sob.

. . .

While Raj and Alyssa handled the final preparations, Lena pulled me into a corner.

“You have the AZ-7,” she said — not as a question.

I nodded.

“Use it once you’re in the capsule. It’ll hurt, but—”

“Why are you doing this?” I interrupted. “After lying to us. Watching us die.”

Lena looked at her hands, now fully coated in blue like gloves.

“Because I believed in him. Like you did.” She looked up. “But some things are bigger than loyalty, Danny. Bigger than us.”

The sound of crystals growing along the walls echoed like a clock.

“You should come with me,” I said, knowing it was pointless.

Lena gave a sad smile.

“Who else would stay to hold the bomb?”

She leaned in and, before I could react, pressed her lips to mine. A quick, bitter kiss.

“So you’ll remember,” she whispered. “When you tell our story.”