Leaving Hope

He smiled at her, "Was it that obvious?"

She returned the smile, "It gets more obvious each time you think about it."

"Sorry," he sighed.

Sadly, the day did arrive when the supply ship was supposed to land. Hope ran a scan on the sky, locating the beacon on the ship as it neared the planet's atmosphere.

"Scimitar Alpha to Supply Ship," Hope contacted the ship.

"This is Supply Ship 462, en route to your location. Please activate your beacon."

"Beacon is activated," Hope responded, doing so.

"Beacon signal is strong. I'll reach your location within ten minutes. Please stand by."

Hope turned to Devyn, who was again brooding about what would happen to her once they returned to Earth, "There never seems to be enough time, does there?"

"I can't do this," Devyn shook his head, "I can't let them kill you."

He moved to her and took her in his arms, and she gratefully let him hold her. Now that it was time to go, she found that she was scared. Hell, she was almost petrified with fear.

"There's nothing we can do about this," she replied miserably.

In eleven minutes, Devyn went outside to meet the SAI unit that had flown the supply ship. He was a new model, like Hope, but without the modifications, Devyn surmised.

"Captain Savoy, it is good to meet you, sir. I must inform you that my ship ran into trouble en route, and I was forced to utilize some of your fuel supply to make course corrections. I will upload the course corrections into your navigations system for your safety."

"Wait a minute," Devyn stopped, and the SAI took two additional steps before noticing that Devyn wasn't beside him, "You said you were forced to use some of the fuel I need to get home. How much did you use?"

"I had to use approximately 320 units, sir. I do apologize. It was necessary for me to get here."

"Wait, if you used 320 units, how does that leave us enough to get home?"

"After I used the units, I made calculations as to how to use the remainder to get you home. It will require you to lighten your ship. You will need to remove most, if not all of the equipment from your laboratory, including core samples. I can move them to my ship to maintain the integrity of both your samples and equipment."

"Okay, so, with all of that extra weight off my ship, I'll be able to get home?"

"As long as your ship's navigation system follows my course corrections, you have a ninety-three percent chance of making it back to Earth."

"Well then, that's comforting," Devyn rolled his eyes.

The SAI cocked his head slightly, "It should be."

Devyn looked for Hope while the SAI began unloading equipment from Devyn's ship. He didn't find her in the cockpit or his quarters, so he started looking outside the ship. He found her just around a small outcropping of rocks nearby the first area from which they had taken their core samples.

"What are you doing out here?" Devyn asked nervously.

Hope was pacing back and forth, "I can't go back. I can't let them take my memories. I can't let them destroy me."

"What should I do? Whatever it is, I'll do it. If I have to, I'll refuse to leave. I'll stay here with you."

Hope gaped, shocked, "No! I can't let you stay here. This might be your only chance to get home, and if you don't take it, you may not get another."

"I don't care," Devyn insisted, "I'll spend the rest of my life here with you. That drone with the food and water should be getting here pretty soon, right?"

"Yes, in a few days, but what after that? They very well may not be sending anything else. What happens to you when you've run out of food and water? You'll die, and I'll be here alone. No, you've got to go back. If you don't go, then I'll knock you unconscious and put you in stasis myself. Promise me!"

"Damn it!" Devyn cursed vehemently, "I don't want to leave you here. Please don't make me do this."

Hope sighed, picking up a handful of sand and grit, letting it spill slowly back to the ground, "You have no choice. And if the SAI pilot is correct, I wouldn't be able to go anyway. You've got to conserve as much weight as you can, and that includes me. Now go."

Devyn pulled Hope to her feet and into his arms, holding her tightly. It took every ounce of strength he had to let go of her, which he was able to put off when she suddenly grabbed ahold of him. After a few minutes, and a few whispered words of endearment and encouragement, she let go of him, and then added, "Here is something to remember me by."

With that, she held out her hand, and he accepted her gift to him. Before he could respond, she turned and started running out into the desert, sprinting away at top speed.

"I love you," he whispered, hesitated a moment while she disappeared into the distance, and then walked back to the ship.

"Sir, may I inquire of your on-board SAI?" the supply ship SAI asked as he began loading the fuel units.

Devyn shook his head, doing his best to maintain his composure, "She's gone. She was damaged beyond repair, so I'm leaving her here. Besides, that's one hundred and fifty pounds less aboard."

"Unnecessary weight if she is unable to perform her duties," the SAI agreed, and Devyn felt a bright spark of hatred for this damned machine, which had no feelings, no emotion, only cold calculations. Any human would at least wince, or protest. Hope would've. He struggled to keep his facial expressions neutral as the SAI walked onto his ship with him and replenished the stasis fluid in the pod.

"You know the procedure, sir," the SAI reminded him, "I'll set your course for you before I leave your ship, and you will be on your way home in a few minutes."

Devyn nodded distractedly, "Yeah, sure. What about you? Do you have enough fuel to get back?"

The SAI replied politely, "No sir. I will remain here. While I am here, I will continue to take and analyze core samples until another ship arrives."

"Good luck with all that. Better you, than me."

"Very well, sir. Please lie down and I will initiate the stasis."

Devyn was barely aware when his ship lifted off, and was unconscious before it left the atmosphere of planet E-1585. He floated within the stasis pod, in a state of suspended animation as his ship followed the course set by the supply ship SAI, unthinking, unfeeling, unknowing. Just as it had been when he had begun this mission, he simply awoke to find that he had reached his destination. The last time, it had been Hope that had revived him. This time, it was a medical team at the Department hospital he awoke to.

"Captain Savoy," the tall, bald doctor, whose face was the first he saw, greeted him, "Welcome back to Earth. Once you are fully functional, and have had some natural sleep, Colonel Ramos will personally debrief you. Now, get your rest. It's been a long trip for you."

"You have no idea," Devyn croaked in a bare whisper that the doctor couldn't hear.

His eyesight was a little off, which was a mild side effect from the stasis fluid, but was nothing compared to the sudden onsets of vertigo and confusion some of the other pilots experienced. He simply closed his eyes and fell asleep, his closing thought being of Hope, snuggled tightly and comfortably in his arms.

While they didn't name any holidays after him, there had been a parade in his honor, a new car given to him by the city, a shiny new Apollo with all synthetic leather interior, and his promised promotion to Major. Though he was one of their best space pilots, he began asking for local missions, much to the delight of his worried parents. When he wasn't flying, he was an instructor, teaching the basics of space travel to young recruits. After everything he'd been through, he had no desire for space travel anymore. His superiors found this to be expected. They did have questions as to the whereabouts of his on-board SAI unit. He explained to them that it had been damaged beyond his repair capabilities, suffering some sort of short in its head, and had run off into the desert. He had been unable to locate it. They seemed to believe him, and let it go, their spoken agreement being that perhaps all that sand had shorted out its synapses.

-Epilogue-

Devyn lounged on the back deck of his home, a modest little three-bedroom home well within his financial means. He nursed a beer, frequently staring up at the sky, which seemed enormous, too enormous, as far as he was concerned. The sliding glass door slid open to his right, and he glanced over, seeing a beautiful woman standing there, looking resplendent in a small, red, two-piece bikini, her strawberry-blonde hair cascading down her bare, tanned back.

"Did you miss me, sweetie?" she purred.

"Only every second we're apart," he grinned.

"Have I ever told you how shameless you are at flirting?" she sat down on the lounge with him, nudging him over with her hip.

He slid an arm out behind her, and she leaned into it, "You sure have, but I never grow tired of hearing it."

She watched him for a few seconds before asking, "Do you ever miss being out there in space?"

He shook his head, "Nah, hell, most of the time, depending on the distance, I was in stasis anyway. No, I'm just fine here on the ground. Besides, why would I want to go and leave you behind? I already had to do it once."

"You never left me, sweetie, not the part of me that loves you."

After having gotten his rest, he had heeded the instructions whispered in his ear by Hope, seeking out the handlers that had made and modified her. The handlers, both excited by their obvious successes with Hope and almost teary-eyed over everything he'd told them, had set out to build a new SAI, mostly the same as Hope had been, but with some new modifications they had come up with. Rather than create her to look exactly like the first Hope, which might make people suspicious, since Hope was supposed to have been left behind on E-1585, they gave her blonde hair, a decent tan, and had made her taller by about two inches. Also, they were able to take about thirty pounds off of her, making her a reasonable 120 lbs. Her hips were slightly more flared, her waist a bit smaller, and her breasts about a size or two larger. Finally declaring themselves finished with her body, it was time to give her a mind. Devyn produced a small, opaque cube, which they inserted into her cranium. Devyn had received the cube from Hope before she had run off into the desert, a simple program that was given to her body after the cube left her hand. The cube had held all of her programming, and her memories.

As soon as they started her up, she sat up, looking around, startled for a moment until she saw Devyn standing there, looking worried.

Then she smiled, "I see you're still brooding."

"I was," Devyn admitted, "But now that's over."

Alternate ending:

"You're thinking about what's gonna happen. Quit it. There's nothing we can do about that, so let's just enjoy the time we have."

He smiled at her, "Was it that obvious?"

She returned the smile, "It gets more obvious each time you think about it."

"Sorry," he sighed.

Sadly, the day did arrive when the supply ship was supposed to land. That day seemed longer than every other day spent on the miserable planet, something just wasn't quite right. Hope stood outside of the Scimitar, running a complete scan of the sky so the supply ship could be located. It should've been here by now, and its absence worried her.

Hope knew how moody Devyn got in the heat, which was why he was inside while she was outside. Though she could feel the heat through all of the sensors in her body, she could dial down the sensitivity of the sensors until she might've been standing out in a meadow on a spring day. She had temporarily repaired the Temperature Regulator, using spare parts, though she knew they wouldn't last long. She wanted Devyn to be comfortable until it was time for him to go home.

Devyn caught a glimpse of her as she crept down the hallway; she moved like liquid along the hallway walls. Cool liquids in the hot desert heat.

"Hey," he waved slightly to her as she passed by, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere as she passed him by without a word. He heard her in the cockpit, speaking on the radio. He strained to hear what she was saying, but couldn't. Something was wrong. He was relaxing on his bed, hoping that she would come to him and let him hold her, something that had grown more and more precious to him as the time they had to do so grew shorter and shorter. After everything she meant to him, going home without her just seemed so wrong. How could she expect him to leave her here alone on this damn rock, to leave her here alone to deteriorate and die while he went on living?

"Hope?" he called, and after getting no response, he got up and went into the cockpit. She was still on the radio, attempting to hail the supply ship. When she noticed him there, she stood. She seemed concerned, almost distraught.

"It hasn't arrived," she spoke quietly.

"What do you mean?" he moved to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"The supply ship," she responded, "It should've arrived by now. In fact, it should've landed about forty-five minutes ago."

"It's okay," he shrugged, "It might just be running late. I kinda hope it is, actually, because I count any extra time I get to spend with you as a gift."

"Devyn," she shook her head, "I'm worried."

"I know you're worried," he took her in his arms, a gesture that seemed so natural now, but would've been an awkward embrace before. To his relief, she responded by laying her head on his shoulder, her lips close to his neck.

"It'll be okay," he assured her, "Come to bed."

The next day, as he awoke, he found that Hope wasn't next to him. He dressed and searched for her. She wasn't in the cockpit, or the lab. He walked outside, immediately being blasted by the intense heat. She stood outside, scanning the sky for the supply ship.

"It's still not here, Devyn," she warned, "Your rations aren't going to last much longer, and the ship still isn't here! It should've been here yesterday!"

"Hope, please," he took her hand, "Calm down. Everything is gonna be fine, okay?"

"How can that be possible?" she resisted, "You've got three weeks' supply left, and that is only at half rations. And look at you! You're already noticeably weaker."

Devyn soothed her, "Sweetheart, the more you're out here worrying, the less time you'll have to spend with me. Besides, that drone should be here really soon, right?"

"I have no fix on a beacon, and there's no guarantee as to where it landed. It would take too long to locate, even for me."

"Don't worry about the things you can't change, and just focus on what you can."

She finally allowed herself to be led back inside, but then she headed toward the cockpit. He followed, touched at how concerned she was, how much she feared for him. She began calling for the supply ship over the radio.

"Hope?" he touched her arm, and she stopped mid-call, "I don't want to go back to Earth."

"What do you mean? You must!"

"I can't... no... I won't go on without you. Any semblance of a life I could have there would be worth less than one second I could be here with you."

Hope looked abject, "No, please don't say that! I don't want to watch you slowly die. It would be worse than leaving me here alone. At least, if you go back, I can take comfort in the fact that you would still be alive."

"What's life if I can't spend it with you?" Devyn sighed, "I won't... please don't ask me to."

"Devyn..." Hope took him in her arms, "What will we do, then?"

Devyn didn't answer her question right away, considering it carefully for a while, before finally suggesting, "I want to make love to you again, and then... we can both go together."

"Go together?" she blinked, "Where do you mean?"

"You can take a syringe, fill it with morphine, inject me, and then power yourself down. That way, neither of us will have to watch the other die, and I won't have to leave you here alone."

Horrified, Hope cried, "No! Absolutely not! You're asking me to kill you, and I won't do it!"

"Either you can inject me, or I'll inject myself. Those are your options. Honestly, I'd rather you do it. It would mean so much to me. When you do so is up to you, but I'd rather you do it while I still have strength to make love to you beforehand."

"Please," Hope pled, "Don't ask me to do this. I- I don't know if I can."

"These are my last wishes," he insisted, "And I'm asking you to carry them out."

Unable to change his mind, Hope finally relented, looking lost, forlorn.

"Now, come and make love to me, make me happy."

A few hours later, having made love twice, both times so intense that he felt as if his heart would burst with raw, unadulterated emotions, he decided that it was time. Hope left for a moment, returning with a syringe. She searched his eyes for some kind of reluctance, hoping that she could dissuade him from this course of action, but she only saw his love for her. She sat down next to him, hesitating.

"It's time," Devyn nodded, "Please, go ahead."

She inserted the needle into the vein in the crook of his arm, and depressed the plunger, injecting a lethal dose of morphine into his bloodstream.

"Good, now, if you would shut down with me..." he lay back, and she tossed the syringe aside before snuggling against him, feeling his arms tighten around her. She initiated a permanent shutdown mode, which was usually used to keep any adversaries from gaining access to top-secret software in her head. It would burn up the opaque cube in her head that held her programming and memories, and she would cease to be. It took a minute to fully execute, and she watched as he smiled dreamily at her, and then closed his eyes. She could feel as his heart stuttered to a halt, and his other life-functions ceased. Something flared behind her eyes just then, and she ceased as well.

"Supply Ship 462 to Scimitar Alpha," the SAI piloting the supply ship orbited the planet, "Please activate your beacon, Scimitar Alpha."

No response was received, so the SAI activated the scanners, searching for the last known location of Scimitar Alpha and its pilot. It took almost an hour to locate it, and once it was located, still no response was received. The supply ship landed within twenty yards of the Scimitar, and the SAI disembarked. It scanned the site around the Scimitar, found it empty of all biological signs, and then boarded the ship.

"Captain Savoy?" the SAI called as he entered the ship, "Please respond."

The SAI scanned the ship for biological signs, but found none. Power to the ship was still running, as well as the temperature regulator. The ships on-board computer showed that there had been no movement for the past two days. The SAI did a search, and quickly found the captain in his quarters, deceased. The captain's on-board SAI was on his bunk, cradled in his arms. A quick inspection showed that the SAI had initiated a permanent shutdown.

The SAI took a blood sample from the deceased pilot to analyze, quickly picking up large amounts of morphine. A closer inspection of the pilot showed that he had expired forty-eight hours ago, one day after the Supply Ship 462 was supposed to have arrived. Unfortunately, several hazards along the original flight-path forced the SAI to alter the path, costing seventy-two hours' worth of time delay. The SAI left the Scimitar, made its report, transmitted, and then boarded the supply ship. Its mission was to bring fuel, stasis fluid, and some consumables to Captain Savoy, and then remain on the planet, as it would not have enough fuel to return to Earth. In the Scimitar, Captain Savoy's corpse would remain where it was, with his SAI held in its arms.