“Lights In The Sky” by J.F.R. Coates (part 2 of 2)

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You’re listening to The Voice of Dog. I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,

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and Today’s story is the first of two parts of

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“Lights In The Sky”

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by J.F.R. Coates, the author of dragons and magic with his Destiny of Dragons series,

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and of starats and space popes in the Reborn series.

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You can follow him on Twitter at @jfrcoates

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for occasional writing nonsense. [if this is the second or third entry]

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Last time, Leandro,

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Ellen, and Christie were deposited on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere and expected to mine.

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They found beauty in their isolation,

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but space is a dangerous place.

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“Lights In The Sky”

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by J.F.R. Coates, Part 2 of 2

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L ife quickly turned into one of routine and structure for the three starats.

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The sunrises never once lost their wonder though,

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despite happening every three hours.

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Ten hours of work was followed by five hours of rest,

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and that was all the starats could ever have.

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Rest in the small hut was spent trying to sleep while not floating off the bed,

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and work was spent drilling into the rocky surface and gathering all the minerals that they could dig out.

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Every five hours

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the two starats mining would return back to the silo to deposit their cargo.

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One starat would remain behind,

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while the other would replenish their oxygen and head back out with the third starat.

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And so the cycle would continue and repeat.

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Over and over, for countless repetitions.

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But through it all,

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the starats laughed

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and talked amongst each other.

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It was all they had to stop themselves from going insane from the forced repetition of their work.

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At the start of every shift,

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Leandro checked their reserves of food,

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water, and oxygen

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to make sure they weren’t using too much.

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Their human owners had been considerate, and had provided enough to be

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reasonably comfortable.

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It was more than some starats could have hoped for.

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For two months that was their routine.

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Slowly their supplies dwindled,

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but they diminished at a rate that meant they would have enough for two days leeway should they be picked up a little late.

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Leandro had just finished his double shift mining.

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His shoulders hurt,

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and he had struggled out of his suit to drape it over the bed.

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They had no other clothes to wear,

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but none of the starats minded each other’s nudity, and there were few occasions when they were present together inside their small hut.

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While most starats were shades of brown,

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Leandro’s distinct grey and black fur made him stand out.

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He had always been proud of his fur,

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and enjoyed showing it off.

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In the few occasions they had been present together,

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his two companions had been happy to admire it as well.

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With a smile on his muzzle,

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Leandro started to run his usual checks over their supplies.

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He didn’t get far though,

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before there was a loud thump against the hut.

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It shook the entire building,

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and immediately Leandro was on his feet.

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His fur had puffed up

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and his tail stuck straight out behind him.

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A cold shiver ran down his spine.

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He knew enough to realise that loud noises in space were rarely good things.

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The starat hurried over to his helmet and put it on,

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fingers scrabbling for the communicator button.

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“Check in please.” A response came back a few moments later.

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It was crackly and indistinct, but Leandro knew that they were mining on the far side of the asteroid,

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so the signal was poor.

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“We’re here, Leandro.

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Is everything alright there?”

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Ellen replied. “I do not yet know,”

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Leandro said. He flicked his tail nervously.

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“I heard something hit the shelter.

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I will suit up again and investigate.”

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A brief pause followed.

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“Be careful out there.

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Do you want us to come back?”

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“No, not yet at least.

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I will call you if I need you back.”

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“Alright then. Be safe.

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Hear from you soon.”

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Leandro took a deep breath

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as he removed the helmet again.

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He looked down at the suit that he had draped across his bed.

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Despite the systems within it to help minimise and deal with waste,

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including sweat, the suit was starting to smell.

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Leandro didn’t want to waste any of their precious water to wash it,

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but he had to wrinkle his nose every time he had to put it on.

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He had been hoping for five hours without having to put up with wearing it,

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but it was not to be.

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The suit was awkward to put on without any help, but Leandro had two months of practice with it now.

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Within ten minutes he’d got it on properly,

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and was clipping the helmet securely in place.

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He crouched down to pick up his tether rope

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and stepped out into the airlock.

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His tail still twitched in nervousness,

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even with it awkwardly stuffed down with his right leg.

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After he linked himself to the tether tracks outside,

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Leandro carefully inched around the side of their shelter.

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He couldn’t see any damage.

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The solar panels seemed intact,

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and there wasn’t anything broken around the front of their small hut.

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It wasn’t until he got around to the back,

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where all their water and air were stored,

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that he noticed the damage.

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Leandro’s blood went cold.

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Visible against the empty vacuum

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was a small cloud leaking from one of the pipes that ran between the hut

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and the storage containers.

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For a few seconds Leandro couldn’t move at all

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as he watched their precious air leaking out into space.

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“Oh no no no no,” he groaned,

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galvanised into sudden action.

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He turned and raced back to the silo, knowing there were some tools in there.

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It was difficult to run in the minimal gravity environment,

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but he knew he had to hurry.

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One hand held onto the tether ropes,

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and his other slapped against the communicator button on his helmet.

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“We have an oxygen leak.

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Come back as quick as you can. I may need help sealing it.”

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Both starats tried to respond at once,

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leaving just a garbled mess of static in his ear.

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He was sure they were going to be coming back though.

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He needed all the help they could get.

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If the leak wasn’t contained

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then they would die;

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it was as simple as that.

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The silo was full of unprocessed minerals and ore.

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The three starats had been trying to keep it all as organised as possible,

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but most of it was stacked depending on when it was recovered from the asteroid.

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It was a towering pile of rock and metal,

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but that wasn’t what Leandro was after.

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Instead he wrenched open a couple of small doors at the base of the tower

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and pulled out the tool kits that had been provided for them.

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They were rudimentary,

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but they were better than the starat’s gloved hands.

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Leandro raced back to the small hut with his precious equipment

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hugged close to his chest.

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He stumbled a few times

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and for a couple of heart stopping moments

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both feet failed to hit the rocky surface.

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Then the tether ropes pulled slack

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and dragged him back down again.

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He hit the ground with a jarring thud,

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wincing as the impact shook his knees.

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With a fresh limp in his gait,

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Leandro kept pushing on.

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A little pain was nothing compared to the dread of running out of air.

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As Leandro reached the hut, he squawked in surprise

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as the tether rope pulled slack.

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He fell back and bounced off the rock,

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dropping the tool kit at the same time.

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He watched helplessly as a single screwdriver ricocheted off the rock

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and started to float off into space,

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quickly out of reach.

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“I hope I did not need that,”

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he muttered as he rolled over onto his front.

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Only then did he realise why he had been pulled back.

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The tether rope simply didn’t go far enough to allow him to stand in front of the leak.

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The system had been designed with the longer arms of a human in mind.

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The starats were paying for that now.

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Though he couldn’t get any closer,

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Leandro was just about able to stretch his arms out and get his fingers around the valve that controlled the air flow.

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Slowly he was able to turn it,

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and the flow of oxygen ceased.

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The leaking cloud of air dried up

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and dispersed into the vacuum.

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No more air was escaping,

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but nor was any air circulating in their hut,

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nor refilling their spare oxygen packs.

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Leandro grimaced to himself.

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He had to fix the leak quickly,

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or else they would have to risk losing even more oxygen

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just to make sure they had enough to breathe short term.

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The problem was, he couldn’t reach the broken pipe,

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no matter how much he stretched himself out.

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There was only one choice he could make.

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His hands shook as he unclipped his tether.

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Taking a couple of nervous steps,

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Leandro gripped hold of the pipes in both hands to steady himself.

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He kept his legs wide to try and ground himself firmly.

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It would have worked had there been gravity to hold him down, but mostly it was just for ease of his own mind.

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The pipe had almost completely ruptured about half way between the tank and the hut.

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It looked like it had been struck by something in a glancing blow.

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Leandro could only be thankful

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it hadn’t directly hit the tank, or else they could have lost their whole supply

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in one unfortunate strike.

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The starat glanced down to the tools he had.

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There wasn’t much there,

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and certainly no replacements.

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He would have to make do with what they had.

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He had no other choice.

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Carefully crouching down,

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Leandro searched through the open kit,

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making sure he didn’t accidentally knock anything else out of the asteroid’s orbit.

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Almost everything

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was utterly useless to the situation at hand,

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but then he found a couple of small circular rubber sealing sleeves.

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Inside his helmet,

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his ear twitched a little,

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folding back against the uncomfortable interior.

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Instinctively, Leandro tried to scratch his ear back into place,

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only tapping his hand against the side of his helmet.

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Leandro held up the rubber sleeve up to the pipes.

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They looked about the same size.

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He twitched his muzzle and wondered what the best way to affix them was.

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He looked to either end of the pipe, but it appeared to be pretty securely connected to the tank and hut.

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He doubted he’d be able to remove it from either end.

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That left just one option remaining.

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The starat held the pipe with his hands

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either side of the rupture.

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He pulled and twisted on the pipe, feeling it bend slightly,

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but not by enough.

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He grimaced. He didn’t want to use the power tools untethered,

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but he didn’t have much choice.

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With one hand always holding onto the pipe,

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Leandro prepared the cutting blades.

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They would have the power to slice through the pipe fully,

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but he would have to be careful the force they exerted didn’t push him back too much.

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Sweat dripped from Leandro’s fur.

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It trickled down his body before it was collected by the suit’s waste receptors.

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It irritated him,

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especially as it dripped down over his eyes,

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but there was nothing he could do to wipe it away.

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He blinked a few times to try and clear his vision,

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before he slowly started to cut through the pipe.

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A few sparks briefly flared,

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and he was thankful there was no more oxygen flowing. The pipe

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slowly started to buckle

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and bend under the force of the spinning blade,

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before it finally gave way with a sudden wrench.

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Leandro fell forward as the resistance suddenly ceased.

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He bounced against the pipes,

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and the cutting blade fell from his hands

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and switched off immediately.

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The starat flipped over the pipe and floated up.

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But for his iron grip on the pipe,

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he would have already soared high above the ground.

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“Shit shit shit,” he swore to himself inside his helmet.

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His arm strained as he kept his grip on the pipe,

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his only lifeline now.

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His free hand scrabbled in empty space

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as he tried to find something else to hold on to.

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Everything seemed to move so slowly

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as he tried to pull himself back.

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His elbow and shoulder screamed at him in pain

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as he strained them,

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trying to move so slowly so he didn’t jolt himself out of orbit.

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His fingers started to slip.

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Terror coursed through his veins.

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Not only was he going to die,

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but he would kill Ellen and Christie too.

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He had to pull himself back.

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His fingers slipped further.

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There wasn’t much left to hold on to.

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Leandro squeezed his eyes closed.

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A hand gripped around his elbow.

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His eyes jerked open again to see Ellen in front of him.

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Through her visor he could see her mouth moving,

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but he couldn’t hear what she was saying.

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He didn’t need to hear her.

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He whimpered softly inside his helmet as he unhooked his fingers from the pipe.

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She had him. Ellen

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quickly hooked Leandro up to her tether ropes,

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and with Christie’s help they pulled him back down to the surface.

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His whole body trembled as his feet touched down on the ground once more,

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and he pulled them both into an awkward hug.

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Their helmets bumped up against each other.

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“Thank you,” he said,

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before realising that they wouldn’t be able to hear him.

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He pulled back out of the hug

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and pressed in the button on his helmet.

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“Thank you, but we are not through it yet.

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Keep me tethered. I still have to fix this.”

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“We’ll keep a hold of you,”

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Ellen replied. She tested the link between them,

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making sure Leandro was fully tethered.

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She stepped out to pull her tethering cable taut,

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giving the other starat as much freedom of movement as she could provide.

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Feeling the confidence of being tethered,

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Leandro was able to move with a little more certainty.

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He carefully bent the two halves of the pipe apart so he could slide the rubber sleeve on.

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It wasn’t a perfect fit,

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but Leandro was confident he could make it a better seal once the two halves were reconnected.

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It was slow work,

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but Leandro was able to pull the two parts of the pipe together beneath the rubber sleeve.

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He took a deep breath when it was done,

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before he rummaged around in the tool kit for some silver tape.

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It wasn’t ideal, but it was all he had.

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The starat wrapped the tape around the rubber seal,

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adding as many layers as he could get away with before the entire black sleeve was completely coated in the reflective silver tape.

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He handed the remainder of the roll back to Ellen,

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before he tried to smooth down the crinkled edges as best he could.

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It looked crude, but then Leandro knew that was because it was.

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But if it worked,

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then that was all that mattered.

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With his heart thumping loudly in his chest,

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Leandro turned the valve back on.

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He stared at the bodged repair job,

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the tip of his tail twitching down his right leg.

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Nothing leaked. No cloud of precious oxygen escaped.

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His legs felt weak,

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and he slowly fell back into Ellen behind him.

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“How much did we lose?”

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Christie asked. Her voice wavered across the speakers inside Leandro’s helmet.

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“I do not know that yet. I need to check inside,”

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Leandro said. A flutter of anxiety rose in his chest.

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He knew they didn’t have much spare air to last the remaining month.

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If they lost too much,

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then they wouldn’t be able to safely make it.

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Oxygen wasn’t something they could ration.

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Leandro didn’t even bother removing his suit after he got back inside.

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He simply unclipped his helmet

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and made his way across to the sensors tucked away in one corner.

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Water levels were still fine,

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but he had expected that.

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His throat went dry when he saw the oxygen readings.

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His hands trembled as he turned around.

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“We’re here for twenty-seven more days.

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We have twenty-three days of air remaining.”

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Ellen dropped down onto the nearest bed.

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“Well shit.” “Well what do we do?

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We can’t just... not breathe,” Christie said.

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She threw her arms up in the air.

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“I’ll trigger the distress beacon.

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They’ll have to come pick us up early,”

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Leandro said. His voice was dull and flat.

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His held his head in his gloved hands.

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“You know they won’t do that,” Ellen retorted.

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She growled softly beneath her breath

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as she started to wriggle free of her suit.

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Her coffee and cream fur was usually a sight Leandro was happy to see,

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but this time he didn’t even look up.

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“They don’t give a shit about us.

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They’ll just expect us to keep working and digging until we choke to death.”

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“They might come. We have to try it,” Leandro pleaded.

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“There isn’t any other way.”

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Christie cleared her throat.

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“There is another way.”

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Leandro’s eyes snapped across to the other starat.

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He flicked his ear and frowned.

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“What other way?” Christie slowly breathed out.

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Her eyes flicked towards the airlock.

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“One of us goes outside and removes our helmet.”

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“No, absolutely not,”

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Leandro barked. He rose to his feet too quickly and had to push himself back to the floor off the ceiling.

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“No one is going to do that.”

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“But then there’s enough air for the remaining two,”

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Christie replied.

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“I’ll volunteer myself, if I must.

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If it means you both survive.”

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“That’s not happening.

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No one is going to sacrifice themselves,” Leandro growled.

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He stood in front of the airlock, prepared to push Christie back if needed to.

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Thankfully, she remained by the bed.

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“So what do we do?”

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Ellen asked. She had draped her suit against the end of her bed.

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Her naked body stretched out over the bed

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and she stared up at the ceiling.

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“We just keep breathing until suddenly we can’t?”

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“I activate the distress beacon

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and we wait for rescue,”

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Leandro said. He tried to keep his voice steady and confident.

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“They will come.” *** They didn’t come.

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For three weeks the three starats tried their best to ignore the depleting oxygen levels.

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Leandro checked their reserves every day,

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but they were never able to recover enough air to support them for those critical four days short.

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His repairs on the pipes had held,

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but there was nothing that could be done for the oxygen that had already been lost.

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They had worked smaller shifts with larger rest times between,

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so they didn’t exert themselves too much.

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They would need less oxygen that way,

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but it hadn’t been enough.

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At the end of every shift,

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Leandro spent ten minutes outside just

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looking up into the darkness.

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He hoped for lights in the sky to herald their rescue,

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but nothing ever came.

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Despite their dire situation,

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no one ever brought up the offer to sacrifice themselves again,

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though Christie did occasionally share some dark looks with Ellen.

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The window of opportunity for that dark outcome had come and gone anyway.

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There wasn’t enough oxygen left for even two of them to survive until their planned extraction.

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A sacrifice was worthless.

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Leandro didn’t speak to either of the starats.

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He kept his head bowed and didn’t meet their eyes.

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His reluctance to accept a sacrifice had killed them.

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He stared mournfully at the oxygen metre.

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If they didn’t exert themselves too much,

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then they would have enough air to comfortably breathe for another ten hours.

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A hand rested on his shoulder.

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“It’s not your fault.”

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Leandro turned to see Ellen standing behind him.

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She pulled him into a hug,

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and he enjoyed the close contact of her fur against his.

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His cheeks were wait, and he was surprised to find hers were too.

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“It is my fault,” Leandro replied mournfully.

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“I should have made the decision.

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I should have been the one to go.”

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Ellen’s arms squeezed tighter around Leandro.

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“No, you shouldn’t have been.

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It wouldn’t have been the right decision for one of us to go outside.

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None of us should have gone through that.”

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“Instead we all will,”

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Leandro whispered.

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“But at least we’ll all be together,”

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Christie said, from her usual place on the bed.

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With so little air remaining, the three had decided to down their tools for good.

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There was no point in filling the silo any further,

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given they would never see their owners come to collect them.

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“Yeah, we’ll be together,” Leandro said with a nod.

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He moved out of Ellen’s embrace

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and wiped his eyes dry.

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“Until the end.” Leandro sunk down onto the nearest bed,

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and Christie shuffled up to sit by his side.

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She rested her arm across his shoulders.

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Her fingers slowly swirled through his fur.

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“You know what we should do?”

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she asked. “What’s that?”

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“Go see

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the sunrise again.” Leandro laughed

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and shook his head slightly.

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“That is not what I thought you were going to say,” he said,

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and for a brief moment he was able to forget his worries.

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Christie blinked and flicked her ears in confusion,

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but then her eyes lit up in mirth.

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She cackled and slapped Leandro lightly across the shoulder.

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“You dirty male. Is that all you ever think about?”

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“Well...” Leandro said, spreading his hands wide.

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“There is no reason why we can’t after we’ve seen the sunrise.”

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Ellen smirked. “I’d be down for that.

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What do you say, Christie?

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Going out with a bang, as it were.”

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“Sounds like a deal,”

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Christie said. The wide smile across her muzzle only faltered for a moment.

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“Though I think we’ve got a couple of hours still before sunrise.

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Want a little taster of the big event?”

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Leandro found himself pinned down to the bed as the two female starats clambered on top of him.

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He grinned from ear to ear.

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They would soon run out of air,

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but at least they would enjoy themselves first.

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The time for worry had gone.

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Instead it was time to focus on pleasure and happiness above all else.

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It was something Leandro was easily able to do. ***

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The three starats stood outside their small shelter for the last time.

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Hand in hand they stared towards the horizon.

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Their mining efforts had changed the shape of the asteroid,

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and the horizon was different to the first time they had looked upon it.

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There was less of it,

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with large chunks of rock blasted away into the vacuum of space.

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Leandro couldn’t stand still.

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He had hurried when putting his suit on.

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His tail was pinched awkwardly,

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but it didn’t bother him enough to go and fix it.

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He wouldn’t be wearing the suit for long.

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Just enough time to watch the sunrise,

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then they would go back to their last few hours inside the little hut.

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Twisting his back to try and wriggle his tail into a more comfortable position,

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Leandro caught sight of the opposite horizon.

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Something seemed strange about the stars there.

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They moved. His breath caught in his throat,

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and his fingers numbly fumbled for his communicator.

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“There’s a light! A light in the sky!”

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“Yeah, I see it,” Ellen replied,

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but her eyes were still on Sol.

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“No, there,” Leandro crowed,

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pulling Ellen around so she could see where he was pointing.

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“Holy shit!” Christie exclaimed as she turned on her toes.

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She took a couple of steps forward,

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waving her arms in the air as though the distant ship would be able to see her.

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He knew it was a useless endeavour,

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but Leandro joined in.

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The three starats

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all jumped up, waving their arms madly.

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The lights in the sky got brighter as the ship approached.

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Impossibly, it was coming to rescue them.

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Instead of waving their arms into the air, the three starats embraced each other,

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wrapping themselves up in their arms.

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“I told you they’d come,”

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Leandro said, tears falling freely from his eyes.

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It didn’t even matter that the other two couldn’t hear him.

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The ship was not branded,

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so Leandro knew that it wasn’t from their owners.

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For a few minutes, the ship just hovered above the asteroid, before it slowly came down

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to land a hundred metres away from the silo.

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The three starats

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quickly ran across to meet their rescuers,

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just as a ramp lowered down from the near side of the ship.

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A single figure emerged from the airlock and walked down the ramp.

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Judging from the height,

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Leandro could tell they were human.

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The figure silently stood in front of the starats.

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The mysterious stranger held their hand to their helmet.

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Suddenly a voice reached Leandro’s ear.

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“This frequency?” a male voice asked.

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“I hear you,” Leandro replied quickly,

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nodding vigorously at the same time, just in case the human couldn’t hear him.

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“Who owns you?” the human asked.

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“Masterson Minerals,”

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Leandro said. The tip of his tail twitched nervously.

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“Masterson, hey? Mining group?

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Got lots of minerals?”

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The human looked towards the silo.

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“Three months worth,”

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Leandro said. He took half a step back from the human,

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towards the two starats behind him.

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The human turned back to his ship

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and waved his arms.

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Three more humans emerged from within the ship,

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and they all approached the silo.

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None of them were tethered,

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but they seemed confident in their steps.

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Leandro wondered how they did it,

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but his attention was soon taken by the nearest human,

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who had turned back to face them.

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The human’s tinted visor cleared.

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Inside the helmet was a young human with a silver lock of hair visible over his forehead.

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He smiled down at Leandro.

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“I hereby free you from your servitude with Masteron Minerals.

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Your cargo is now the property of the Silver Fox,

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and you three are welcome to join his crew.”

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“Oh that’s great,” Ellen squealed.

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She stepped ahead of Leandro.

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“When do we get to meet him?”

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The human blinked.

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“Meet him? He’s me.

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I’m the Silver Fox,

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famed pirate and scourge of the empire.”

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Ellen didn’t broadcast anything she said, but Leandro could see her shoulders shaking in laughter.

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Recognising that the situation perhaps needed to be recovered,

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Leandro stepped forward and held his gloved hand out towards the human.

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“Mr Silver Fox,

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it will be our pleasure to join your crew.

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Our oxygen is low, so the sooner we get on board your ship the better.”

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The Silver Fox gestured to the ramp.

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“By all means. Welcome aboard the Emperor’s Revenge.

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Let me give you the tour.”

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Leandro followed the human and other two starats up the ramp.

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Before he entered the airlock

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he paused and turned around.

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Sol was emerging from behind the horizon now.

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Light shone off the gleaming silo

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and refracted off the scattered shards of rock on the once-pristine asteroid.

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The starat smiled as he left it all behind.

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He was no longer the property of Masterson Minerals.

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He was no longer a slave.

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He was a pirate now.

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This was the the second of two parts of

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“Lights In The Sky”

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by J.F.R. Coates, read for you by Khaki,

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your faithful fireside companion.

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As always, you can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,

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or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.

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Thank you for listening

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to The Voice of Dog.