Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

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  Gloria felt her lifeline to the ship tighten. She looked back toward the station. She began to move further and further away from it. She could also sense the shuttle picking up speed because of her focal point on the station. She just prayed that the lifeline wouldn't rip her suit, which would expose her to the vacuum of space.

  She continued to drift. The station was now fifteen feet away, then twenty, then twenty-five, and so on. She could hear the despair in Adrian's voice as he rang out orders and struggled with the decision to shut the bay doors. Don yelled at Adrian. She knew what she had to do.

  "Adrian ? have Scott detach the cable from the winch and shut the bay doors, so you can attempt to escape."

  Adrian replied, "No! I won't let you go!"

  "You have to. If you don't, we're all dead."

  "No!"

  "Adrian, listen to me. There might be a chance I won't even go into that thing if its gravity doesn't catch me. My momentum might carry me over it. If you can maneuver the shuttle out of the way, you can swing around, Scott can extend the arm, and I could try to catch myself on it."

  "And if that doesn't work?"

  "I don't know if it will work, but it's the only option we have." She waited for Adrian's reply. She could hear him discussing it with the other members of the crew. "Adrian, you better hurry. You're getting closer to that thing!"

  Adrian finally answered with fear in his voice. "Okay ? Okay. Scott, detach the cable from the winch. Once it clears the bay doors, close them. And, Gloria ? I love you!"

  "I love you too, Adrian."

  She heard Adrian through her comlink, with dread in his voice. "Gloria," he said. "I won't let you die."

  "I know," she said as tears began to stream down her face.

  She heard the click of Adrian's comlink and saw her cable detach from the winch within the payload-deck.

  She felt the terror of not being attached to the shuttle surge through her body. Who knew how fast she was moving? The thought of not being attached to the shuttle and flying through space at an unknown velocity terrified her.

  She also worried about another scenario. What if the shuttle was able to stop its momentum? There was the possibility that she could slam into it. She continued to watch as she saw the lifeline clear the bay doors. The doors closed. She saw the reverse thrusters firing, but the shuttle wasn't stopping or slowing down. In fact, it was picking up speed. Without the reactor running, there obviously wasn't enough power to stop the shuttle's momentum. It was moving farther away.

  Adrian shrieked through the comlink. "Gloria ? it's not working! Glor-"

  With horror protruding throughout her entire body, Gloria watched as Mars I vanished through the ripple. She turned and looked at the large space station behind her. It hadn't moved. It was as if the ripple had locked on to just the shuttle itself.

  She turned back to the ripple, but before it engulfed her as well, it closed, leaving her all alone and traveling at an unknown velocity toward Mars. She screamed with terror. "Adrian! Adrian! Adrian!"

  But there was no answer. She was alone.

  She contemplated her situation for a few moments. She didn't know what to do. The thought of killing herself terrified her. But she knew that her doom was near as the red planet grew larger and larger before her eyes.

  Closing her tear-filled eyes and with her body trembling with fear, she slowly bowed her head and prayed to God. Just after ending her prayer, she felt the most glorious and incredible feeling enter into her body. She was no longer shaking. She slowly opened her eyes and there, directly in front of her, was her maternal grandmother who had passed away nearly five years before.

  Her grandmother was beautiful and younger. Her spirit gave off such a glow that Gloria almost had to close her sun shield to protect her eyes. Her grandmother's beautiful long, blond hair seemed to flow along with her white robe in the vacuum of space.

  She smiled at Gloria as she reached out her hand and said, "Fear not, Gloria. I have always been with you. God will not let you suffer like this. Take my hand."

  Gloria, feeling a sense of calm and love, reached out and grabbed her grandmother's hand, feeling its smooth touch. She wondered how she could feel it through the glove of her spacesuit? Looking down, she noticed that her hand was bare, reflecting the same light her grandmother radiated. She turned her head and saw her body in its flight suit enter the atmosphere of Mars.

  The two, floating in space, watched until Gloria's body was no longer visible. Her grandmother knew what she was thinking and said, "Fear not, Gloria, for Adrian has been called to his mission."

  Gloria gave her grandmother a smile of love and happiness, a smile that told her grandmother that she was ready to join her in the spirit world.