By Joelle Ramond
I asked my friends to give me the plot to a sci-fi story and I would do the rest. And with that being said, Space Break was born. We hope you enjoy it.
373.21 million kilometres. That’s how far they need to be from Oscar to find comfort.
And yet still, they shiver when his name is muttered in drunken conversations. An entire pub silenced by mention alone. A reputation that reached the dankest corners of the galaxy. Notwithstanding, Oscar couldn’t have felt smaller in his concrete cell.
He was halfway done on his journey to Mars, being sent on the most secure spacecraft in all of the galaxy. Only the highest-profile criminals, terrorists, and the truly despicable rode with him.
Oscar’s cell was no bigger than a washroom stall on Earth, though it was triangular. 12 feet of solid concrete made up for two of the walls, the other being a fine grid of lasers so strong they could slice a diamond in half. He was given no bed and a hole in the floor as a toilet. Under his water tap, his daily mush meal was slid through a slit under the wall.
But what could a man do to deserve conditions so cruel? What could be said about a man so dangerous, he is to be sent to Mars for an imprisonment secure enough?
The thought was lost on Oscar, who sat crossed-legged in his cell trying to come up with the answer. Whether it made sense to him or not, he would not lie to himself. He knew who he killed, for his face haunted his sleepless nights.
He was thinking to himself as he heard his daily mush platter being scraped across the concrete from under the wall. He grabbed it apathetically, but his face tensed as he realized there was no mush on his plate that day.
In its place, he found a sleek silver disk. He held it up to the light of the lasers to examine it. He observed a groove on the surface of the device, after pushing his thumb into the cover of the disk, it retracted to reveal a lense accompanied by a small button.
Holding his breath, he pressed the button.
A spark formed in the lens and the device suddenly jumped out of his hands and onto the floor.
A blue light brighter than a million stars shot up and filled the angles of his cell. Oscar squinted as it started to take the form of a man.
The light man became fully realized, though still just light. He stood a little shorter than Oscar and had jet black hair, which hung messily around his eyes. He wore sleek clothes, paired with strange shoes. The device closed and he became separated from it completely.
The hologram began to talk.
“Jesus, took you long enough,” he complained to Oscar, who still tried to merge with the wall.
Oscar kept his voice to a harsh whisper, “Who are you?”
“I’m Oliver, and I’m here to break you out.”
“Who sent you?” he confronted the man.
“Hey man, lose the attitude. I’m risking my life here to help you”. Oliver threw up his hands in offence.
Curious, Oscar reached out a hand and waved it through the hologram.
“You’re made of light, and I’m made of flesh and blood. Who’s life is really on the line here?” Oscar scoffed.
“So quick-witted, stop being a wiseguy and just listen to me.” Oliver’s tone lost the lightheartedness it once had; there was almost a darkness in his words now. “If we go through the lasers at the very same time, our movements perfectly in sync, you can escape the cell.”
Oscar almost let out a laugh, “Why would I trust that?”
“Fine, don’t trust me. Rot here and then rot on Mars.” Oliver looked at him fiercely.
Oscar knew his ultimatum was true. He could either follow Oliver, or he could spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement. He looked to the laser wall in thought, the laser wall did nothing but radiate its unwavering light back at him, almost as if in mockery.
“I will do a pinky first.” He stated.
“You’ll try it out with your pinky?” Oliver asked.
“Yes,” Oscar replied.
“So be it.” Oliver started moving towards the laser wall. “After you see that your pinky is fine, you will have to quickly move the rest of your body through. If even an inch of you touches the lasers, you will die. I can only stay in them for a few seconds, and I can only do it once. Do you understand?”
Oscar cautiously nodded his head.
Oliver closed his eyes and situated himself in the laser wall. Oscar promptly dipped his pinky finger into the two lights. Feeling nothing but a slight tingling sensation, he looked down at his finger in awe.
“Hurry it up, Oscar” Oliver barked at him.
Oscar aligned his body with Oliver’s light and threw himself through. The air on the other side was sweet on his skin, a laugh took Oscar over. Oliver joined Oscar in his joy.
Oscar looked around. It was then he realized he was the only prisoner on the entire floor. He was filled with a lonely melancholy. This entire time he had been truly alone.
He stood with this feeling a bit, before he shook it off and turned to Oliver. They started towards the end of the hall. The guard was a porcelain sculpture, with glossy eyes stuck in a dazed glare. Oscar claimed his key card, flashlight, and taser as his own. He thought about taking his gun too, but thought of the lifeless body of the man he had killed possessed him, how his blood was a wine stain on the tablecloth of his conscience.
Oliver gave him a nefarious smile and a wave before Oscar opened the door, and the two closed it behind them.
To Be Continued...