The Final Expedition

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five

I looked up from my e-book at Natalya, who was sitting opposite reading her own paperback. We had settled into the vacant Columbus lab, away from the others.

“Look at us.” I smiled. Natalya looked up from her book. “We’re like an old married couple, sitting here together and reading in silence.”

“It’s nice.” Natalya replied. “I think it shows how comfortable we are together.”

“I don’t know.” I feigned a grimace. “Perhaps the romance is dead…” Natalya’s eyes widened in mock horror and she hurled her paperback at me. In the zero gravity environment, it spun towards my head in a dead straight trajectory. I quickly threw up a hand and caught it. “No need for the domestic violence!” I quipped. I glanced at the book. The title was in Russian so I couldn’t read it, but judging by the picture of a man and woman in a passionate embrace on the cover, it was a trashy romance novel. I spun the book back towards her, Natalya catching the book and glancing at the cover for a moment.

“Do you think we would have formed a relationship if everything had continued as normal on the surface?” Natalya asked me. I considered for a moment.

“I’d like to think so.” I finally replied. “Personally, I was certainly attracted to you even before everything went to hell.”

“Well you certainly made quite a first impression on me.” Natalya raised an eyebrow. I winced, remembering the day I had first arrived on the station. The hatch between the Soyuz capsule and the station had opened and Natalya, Karpov and Flynn had greeted us. I had pushed myself through the hatch, but my inexperience in zero gravity had told and I had propelled myself straight into Natalya, sending us both careering across the FGB module and ending up in a tangled heap against the ceiling.

“Not the most auspicious of arrivals.” I replied wryly.

“I think to begin with, I certainly found you intriguing.” Natalya replied. “I suppose I found you good looking and charming but the stronger feelings followed later. Honestly, as you were scheduled to leave the station after a couple of weeks, I think we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to become more than friends. So I suppose you could say we caught a break with the world ending.”

“It is strange how things have worked out.” I nodded thoughtfully.