A hand raises up as the whispers rise.ย
โJisung, you donโt have to raise your hand. Just speak.โ Renjun sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Jisung lowers his hand and looks to Mark, voice wobbly and barely there.
โI was assigned to repair the reactor three days agoโฆ So, if Iโm correct, that meansโฆ Donghyuckโs rotation should have been today.โย
At the mention of this, all conversation is siphoned into silence faster than oxygen being vacuumed out of an airlock.ย
Mark stutters back like heโd been struck, lips immediately parting to rally in Donghyuckโs defense before he realizes he hasnโt seen much of Donghyuck lately. At all, actually. Each morning his sleeping quarters were vacant, and his door always was locked by lights out. Mark had been too busy to think much of it between trying to get their comms and ai navigation back online. But what ifโฆ
A wave of uncertainty passes over Mark and leaves a sour taste on his tongue as he tries to recollect the past few weeks before they fell into the orbit of this unknown exoplanet. Donghyuck wasnโt the only one who had changed. All of them had. Nothing had been the same since they touched down on its surface to collect those samples.
Searching for Donghyuck, Mark watches as everyoneโs gaze falls like dominoes across the mess hall until Donghyuckโs smirk is the last one standing. His body tucked by the entrance and guarded with everyoneโs attention planted on him.ย
When Mark meets his gaze, itโs cold and challenging. His tongue stuck into his cheek as if daring Mark to look away, to second guess him too. Mark holds his breath under the heavy weight of it, trying to see past the wall Donghyuck had put up since their fight. To locate anythingโhurt, resentment, fearโbut only his indifference washes over him from across the room.ย
Mark is the first one to break away when Jenoโs voice cuts through the sudden quiet.
โActually,โ Jeno starts from beside Jaemin, wringing his electrical gloves. โI was with Hyuck earlier today. We cleaned 02 filters and diverted the power. We havenโt been anywhere near the reactors.โย
Mark tries not to let his relief show, but Donghyuck must sense it anyway because he storms out from the mess hall and towards their sleeping quarters, his boots stomping over the grated floors.
With no answers as to who mightโve sabotaged the reactors and Chenleโs disappearance overnight, among the growing list of everything thatโs gone wrong with their mission, Mark doesnโt chase Donghyuck this time. Instead, he turns to the rest of his crew members and assigns new tasks. If this mission failed, none of them would make it home.ย
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