Derek opens the door and wheels in. The walls of the small room are a blue hue, and contain little except for Maeve, a nondescript table, and two chairs.

At the sight of him, Maeve’s face lights up. Her eyes are as red as her long hair. Rising from her chair, she flings her arms around him, holding him tightly. She sobs, “Oh, Derek, I’m in big trouble.”

“What’s wrong? Why have they not released you?”

She pulls back from him. “At first, they said something about maintenance and taxes not being paid, but then they started saying that we’ve been transporting drugs from Earth to lunar orbit all this time. I can’t believe it, they said drugs were found on board.”

Derek frowns. “Drugs? That’s an automatic life sentence!”

Maeve looks back to where she was sitting. “They are saying it was K-pop ninety-nine. What am I going to do??” Her eyes focus on his.

Holding up his hands. “I am going to get you out of this?”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet, but trust me, okay?”

She nods, “I do.”

“I have to go now, but I’ll be back.”

Derek wheels out of the room. His arms suddenly felt tiring from the exertion. There was no point in going back to where he came from. So, he turned in the other direction and pressed onwards.

Derek goes down the lift to the ground level and makes his way to the entry area. He looks out to see them getting closer with every rotation. Their entry is now imminent. He is waiting for the hatch to turn.

He goes over to the left, not wanting his chair to be the first thing she sees.

His heart is pumping now, and he reminisces about their first virtual meeting. It was in the game Swords of War about three years ago. Her army had seemed to come from nowhere and had cut a swathe through his. Then, the taunting had begun. Not what he had expected from a young woman on so many levels. Of course, a rematch was inevitable, and they grew close. Well, close for people thousands of kilometres apart. Meeting virtually was perfect. He could put his best foot forward. Not show his frailties. This was something else entirely.

Six foot, broad-shouldered, with strong athletic legs. That is what his avatars looked like. Five feet seven, with a thin frame, is the reality. And the chair, of course.

The hatch turns, and a crowd spills out into the atrium. He spots her long, red hair, which she had told him about, draped down the back of a uniform.

Maeve looks at the giant dome that is the moon station Sector C. It is a large, translucent dome with multiple levels inside, under a star-laden sky. She sees dots moving. Looking down at the grey regolith, she hopes to join them.

Thank God for Derek; everybody made it back safely. She shudders at the thought of what would have happened without him.

Feeling sweaty in the spacesuit, she wonders if he will find her attractive.

I hope so.

One of the rescuers had made a strange comment, though. When she had relayed the story of what had happened, she stated that Derek probably would have been there himself if not for the rocky surface.

What was that supposed to mean?

Her Mom talks over the communications. “Don’t forget to thank that, Derek. And thank you, Maeve. The two of you saved the ship and everybody on board.”

“I will, Mom.” Even after a near-death experience, Mom just keeps being Mom.

Another crater to traverse.

Just as well, I can hop over all these obstacles in the low gravity.

They are getting closer now, and she can see that the station is internally spinning to create artificial gravity close to that of Earth.

Maeve feels her heart beating, “I’m not sure I can do this, Derek.”

“Yes, you can. Remember when you thought you were a goner in Terminutus V? I messaged you that you could do it, and you did. And I’m telling you now, you have this.”

She grinned. “You always were my biggest supporter. If I do make it through this, we must meet up. You can show me the best places in Moon Sector C. What do you say?”

There is a pause for a few seconds.

“Yes, we’ll do that. I promise.”

The holographic display begins to flicker, and a red dot appears. Maeve purses her lips. “There’s something wrong.”

Back on the moon, Derek is trying to understand what has gone wrong and what can be done to rectify the situation. He bites his bottom lip as he looks at the timer at the bottom right of his screen. It shows fifteen minutes counting down. It denotes the time left before Maeve either lands safely or dies in a massive fireball.

You can do this, Derek.

“Okay, Maeve, we need to cut off the fuel to a thruster. Press the red dot three times.”

She did so, and the display stopped flickering.

Derek tapped his desk. “Okay, Maeve. Here comes the hard part.”