SOLAR STORM: Moon Base Delta by GERALD M. KILBY

Author:GERALD M. KILBY [KILBY, GERALD M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Outer Planet Media
Published: 2022-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

THE WAITING GAME

Matteo paced up and down, ranting and raving at the sheer arrogance of SINO, and that this affront to international treaties would not go unpunished. Yuna, who was sitting on the edge of a bunk, periodically nodded in agreement. But the person Renton was most concerned about was Alice. She had withdrawn into herself and sat on the floor in a corner of the room, arms wrapped around her knees.

For Renton, acceptance of their current situation came sooner than any of the others. The moment when they stripped off their FISA EVA suits and donned the jumpsuits that their captors had provided, that was when Renton had fully accepted his situation. Matteo, on the other hand, was still in the anger phase, Yuna in transition between anger and acceptance. But Alice had slipped straight into depression.

He also realized that he was probably better equipped to deal with this trauma than the rest of the crew. After all, he had a lot of experience in dealing with loss. When his parents died in a car crash five years ago, he went through the full range of emotions: anger, guilt, despair, depression. Bizarrely, he only arrived at acceptance after watching an old, twentieth-century martial arts movie one night alone in his room at his aunt’s house. The hero, a combat master, was battling his way through the evil lord’s castle, dispatching the hordes of feeble fighters with ease, only to walk straight into a trap as a steel cage sprung up around him. Realizing that he was now trapped, with no possible way out, did he react with anger or descend into despair? No, he simply sat down cross-legged on the floor of the cage, conserved his energy, and waited.

This scene was a revelation to Renton at the time. The hero had accepted his situation, yet he wasn’t powerless, he wasn’t without agency. He had a choice, he could sap his energy through rage, or anger, or despair. Or he could conserve his physical and mental self and wait for an opportunity to present itself for escape. He would be ready for when that opportunity occurred. Renton had instantly understood the lesson; perhaps his mind had been ready for it at the time. Nevertheless, he too realized that he had a choice. Acceptance of the hand that fate had dealt him or shrivel up in self-pity and despair. He chose the former, and it became a kind of mantra for him for a time. Yet somehow, he had forgotten the lesson and had been slipping back into his old self-deprecating ways—like when he was on the FISA maintenance ship, letting doubt creep in, letting the captain get under his skin. Now, here he was, trapped in a cage, no way to get out, nowhere to hide, and like a switch going on inside his head, he had to accept it, conserve his energy and marshal his resources. He also felt he needed to pull the crew together somehow, starting with Alice.

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