Okay i'll go first. He said, leaning back and clasping his hands behind his head.

He took a deep breath and looked at the two other men in the small escape pod. It's not like I have anything to hide. I mean i haven't done anything wrong. Well, anyway nothing illegal that is. The eyes of the two others were all on him now. Him, the lover. He cleared his throat and stretched his chest awkwardly. In deep space, the other two listened. I came here to get away like so many others, b t for me it was more than that. The three tho sand nits on my card were not travel money like they were for everybody else. They were my last. !nd hard earned" #amn it if I didn't work my ass off for them. I managed to scrape eno gh together for a ticket and a room and a little spending cash, and I intended to make good se of every last penny. $o see this trip for me was more than an escape for a week or two. This was my last shot. If I didn't find a woman to bed p with and mooch off of% or if I didn't score a &ob or a flight off the station within a week or so, I wo ld be screwed big time. I don't know what they do with stowaways here, b t god knows earthside i'd be locked p for it. !nyway, I arrived and got a cheap room. Then I went down to the cafe to get started. I grabbed a cold one, settled on a sofa, and within an ho r I was back in the crew ' arters with an eighteen year old waitress from the dining district. (he had a rinkydink b nk bed and her f cking roommate was watching for christs sake. He shook his head wistf lly. ) t that's the thing" !gainst all odds, that may have been the last cheap lay i'll ever have. *ven if we somehow, by some miracle of the niverse escape from this% even if" It'll never be the same for me, after her. Once again the lover's eyes gla+ed over with that look. The other two co ld see that he was somehow looking straight thro gh the windowless alloys of the pod's shell into space% wistf lly boring his tho ghts into the nknown. I'll never love a woman like I did her, he said. Then the tallest of the other two la ghed. ,ome on man, yo met this chick less than a week ago. $o barely know her" The tall man said. The third man looked at him and then back to the lover as if to say that he shared the same sentiment. The talker shr gged it off. He was confident" #oesn't matter. -ane was different. .rom the min te I saw her getting off of the sh ttle from *arthside, I knew it. I co ld & st tell from the look in her eyes that she was incredibly smart. /othing got past her. I p rs ed her for several days. (he was there with another g y. )oyfriend from planetside, I think. His name was !rt. /ice g y. I felt bad for him, b t I co ld not pass this p. The first time I f cked her was in the pool that third night, after everyone else had gone back to their rooms, and it was & st so m ch better than anything i'd ever e0perienced. Her energy was electric. We both came at the same time, and then we did it again" 1ight there in the deep end. Her with her lags wrapped aro nd me, and me barely holding onto the edge of the pool. (he let me come inside her witho t even knowing me. ,an yo believe that2" He shook his head. 3ater I fo nd o t she wasn't even on the pill, the cra+y bitch" ) t she was smart abo t other things. (he & st really liked se0. He shr gged. He had the other two's attention now, that was for s re. ) t he had to keep it p, so he did. !nyway we hooked p for a few nights. I'd go down to meet her after she got done fooling her e0. Ha" That's what I call him. *0. )eca se he seemed that way to me already. We were close I tell yo " !nd yeah, we'd only known each other for a few days, b t we & st clicked, yo know2 We wo ld talk for ho rs. (he made me feel yo ng again. 4ore than

that even. (he made me feel like I was worth something again. We walked and talked for ho rs at a time after making love. It was like, when I was done with her body, I wasn't done with her. $o know what I mean2 (he was from ,alifornia. (he had gotten some time off work and convinced her boyfriend to go on this trip to55 !nd" ,ontin e" The tall man snarled.

!lright, alright. (o we were spending so m

ch time together by that third or fo rth night that the g y !rt, he got &ealo s. He ended p b ++ing my door, for christ's sake" (cared the hell o t of me. I had & st finished with her in fact. I was covered in sweat. !nd she was sitting there on her hands and knees on my carpet in front of me, and the b ++er goes off, and scares the hell o t of both of s. 4akes me feel g ilty, and i'm s re she did too. !nd then she checks the screen and it's him" !nd we both get all ' iet, even tho gh of co rse he can't hear s. !nd so then of co rse we come to o r senses and & st ignore him, and he goes away. !nd then when she had to leave later I was concerned, even tho gh she said he'd never been violent. I still don't know how he fo nd s55 !lright already" What happened ne0t2" The tall man insisted.

Is that the last yo saw her2 The third man inter&ected. /o. In fact, after that, she came back an ho r or so later, this was
aro nd midnight or one in the morning by that time, and she said she was done with him. - st like that2

$eah, & st like that. -ee+. $eah, and the g y & st disappeared after that. What2 He didn't come back pissed off as hell2" /o, he & st disappeared. Hmm. I wo ld have been pissed as hell. 4e too. The third man agreed. $eah, so anyway, we kept it p all day and night friday and
sat rday. It was like the best vacation I ever had. We spent time on the loading docks makin' f n of people, and she even told me that she wo ld pay for my ret rn trip with her. (he wanted yo to move in with her2 !sked the tall man.

$eah" ,an yo believe that2 !ll three of the men shook their heads in astonishment. He had them hooked. ) t then he inevitably sighed deeply, losing the look of happiness that the three of them had been sharing over the past few min tes. It had seemed to make the time pass by, distracting them from their ncertain fate. ) t now the gloom began to settle back in on them again in their small, cold metal chamber, h rtling thro gh the stars. When he spoke again, it was horrifying. That's when the first shakes started, and the alarms went off. The tall man sat back and p t his hands behind his head, looking off into nothing, and sighed ncomfortably. The third man closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. He contin ed. The talker% the lover. !t first we tho ght it was a drill like everyone else. He said, swallowing nervo sly and shaking his head in little &erks, as if to shake off the tr th of what had happened. Then the first &erk happened. The third man said coldly, lifting his head o t of his hands and ga+ing straight into the lover's eyes with a look on his face that implied he knew all too well what came ne0t. They all did. $eah..... The lover contin ed. He sighed painf lly as he slid back into his own world of deep tho ght and despair. The air in the chamber ' ieted to one of sadness and pain, as the three middle aged men

shivered like kids at a memory they wished desperately they co ld forget, b t knew they co ld not. (o we were in the dock when it started, and we were scared as everyone else, b t she was really calm. He spoke slowly, lost in tho ght. (he was an ama+ing woman. (he grabbed my hand and said that we needed to get to an escape pod, and she knew where they were. I had no cl e. I g ess she'd been o t here a few times before. !nyway she didn't even think abo t going back for !rt. I felt terrible abo t it, b t I didn't say anything. I wanted to live like everybody else. He shook his head. His hands were shaking now. He wr ng them to gain compos re. That's when the first e0plosion happened. It was so lo d. !nd everybody getting thrown everywhere. The woman in front of s freaked o t, and t rned aro nd real ' ick and slammed into s, knocking me down. -ane picked me p for christ's sake, and practically carried me to the hypertracks. That was when the hypertracks were still working. We got to the other side before there were too many people. We heard one of the ships start to leave, and then there was another e0plosion. That's when we saw it. Thro gh the observation deck. 6od...... The tall man shr nk back in fear, gritting his teeth and blowing air between them as to fend off some nbearable memory. 6od I can't handle this" I'm freaking o t. !h" . ck" The third man had stood p too ' ickly, slamming his head into the ceiling of the pod. He winced, d cking and r bbing his head. He was sweating prof sely, clearly in a state of distress. ,ome on, yo 'll be alright. Take deep breaths. The tall man said, leaning p and p tting his hand on the third man's sho lder, g iding him back into his seat. The three of them sat in silence listening to the breathing of the third man ' iet down as he regained his compos re. Then the lover contin ed. Then we fro+e p like everyone else. That was when people started screaming. ) t we were l cky eno gh to make it to the top deck before the lift sh t down. He sighed, barely able to contin e. We were r nning then. We heard the screaming from the end of the sector, and we heard the breaking glass. We knew...... god we co ld tell from the screaming and the stillness that something was happening. !nd we & st co ldn't shake the image of that thing. He shook his head, and stretched backward, popping his chest. The tall man e0haled deeply. . ck" e0claimed the third man, tears beginning to stream from his eyes.

We forced o rselves to move on. We were both scared shitless. 6od that fear, it was nlike anything i've ever.... ) t I forced myself to move on. The pods were filling p fast. 7eople were starting to acc m late. '#on't look back"' I yelled at her, grabbing her arm and practically dragging her. -es s. The tall man said, p tting his hand over his mo th. 8I don't know if I even want to hear this. The third man was lost in his own world, hands covering his ears, m mbling to himself. It was cra+y by then. We were only abo t twenty or so meters away from the pods. There were a few left. We co ldn't hear m ch, over the beating of o r hearts in o r ears, and the sirens, and the people, b t god..... He shook his head as if to try to t rn back time. His whole body was shaking. We co ld hear it, man. We co ld f ckin' hear it. 6od damn..... The tall man said, his hand shaking over his mo th. The lover co ld barely contin e, shaking in fear. He trembled as he spoke, tears r nning down his cheeks. He choked back a sob, forcing himself to go on. Those last few moments feel like an eternity. 6od..... I don't know

if i'll ever forget the image of that thing...... l rching across the floor...... covering so m ch gro nd so fast. . ckin' christ, man..... The tall man said, his hand over his mo th.

I tho ght it wo ldn't get there in time. Oh god...... I tho ght it wo ldn't get there" !ahh.. ha....h g" He co ldn't help it anymore, he leaned forward, breaking down in g rgled sobs and rocking forward with his hands on his knees. The two men sobbed for a time, together in their misery, while the third man shook, o t of it, his eyes gla+ed over in a kind of mad hysteria. !fter a time, the two of them having gained a bit of their compos re, the tall man finally spoke. What f cking happened man2 Then the lover, the talker, sighed and looked directly into the tall man's eyes. It was a look of a kind of detached madness% the look of a man who has gone too far and will never be coming back. Ha" He started to shake ncontrollably, his eyes going wide with madness, and his nostrils flaring ncontrollably. I left her. He said with a detached calm, nodding his head rhythmically in an effort to avoid going berserk. 8I threw her to that thing to save myself.