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“The feed will cut in a few moments, we’ll see you on the other side” Simon’s voice crackled for the last time on the radio before the ship travelled into the far side of the moon, the furthest any human had ever been from planet Earth.
“Copy that, Simon” Anthony said into the microphone, flicking various switches on the dashboard, meticulously following through with the updated instructions mission control had sent him. This was it. The radio and laser signals were lost and he was completely alone in space, cut off from the rest of the world.
Well… not completely alone. His shipmate, Kate Sharma was currently gazing out of the window in complete and utter awe of the view before them. He couldn’t blame her. It was spectacular. The surface of the moon was spotted with thousands of craters of varying sizes, the small marble of blue and green he called home slipping behind the lunar landscape.
“It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?” She whispered, her breath fogging up the cool window.
Anthony glanced up from his completed checklist and he found he couldn’t deny it. Kate was floating directly above him in zero gravity, her curly hair spread out in every direction, the smooth, flatness of her stomach peaking out from underneath her t-shirt. It was true, he had never seen a view more glorious. But he couldn’t say that out loud, it was too cheesy, and there was the minor issue of him feeling slightly scared of voicing his feelings, so instead he forced himself to say: “Well, it would be if you weren’t hogging up the window.”
Better to stick with the light-hearted banter they had developed over the last year, he thought. After a rocky start, their friendship had been developing slowly but surely. Days upon weeks upon months of memories spent in her company going through simulator tests, engineering training and quarantine flooded through his mind. He found that he could be himself around her in a way that he couldn't around everyone else. He felt more clear-headed, lighter as if she had freed the weight of grief that had been dragging him down for so long and now he felt like he was walking on air. Which technically he was.
He tugged her leg, pulling her away from the window and watched her float to the far side of the capsule before he lifted himself up to the window. Breathtaking wasn’t a big enough word to describe the beauty that lay before them, nor were the thousands of photos that he and Kate had already taken. It was so close he felt as if he could reach out and touch it, this silver satellite that he had dreamed about since he was a child.
He could hear the sweet tinkle of her laughter from behind him, “I guess I am the furthest human from Earth now!” She had tucked herself into the small crevice of the module that Anthony had pushed her towards, unable to contain her glee.
“Hmm, I think Apollo 13 trumps you by about 2000 miles” he mused as he checked his watch, before continuing “but in about 4 minutes…” he suddenly lunged towards her, but the lack of gravity slowed down his movements, making his playful attack look especially comical.
“Oh no you don't, Bridgerton.” Kate had plenty of time to fortify her position, her competitiveness gearing up ready to defend her prime spot of being the furthest distance away from home, even if it would be record she would only surpass Anthony by about two metres. His arm managed to snake behind her, touching the back of the module as her arms remained outstretched, denying him entry into the small space.
Now they were caught up in what could only be described as a cat fight, in what was an already tight space, vying for a record that would easily be broken in a year when the next moon mission would take place. In the kerfuffle, Anthony had managed to squeeze himself into the crevice beside her and they were sitting shoulder to shoulder as Anthony counted down the seconds on his watch, “six, five, four, three, two, one… we did it, we are the farthest anyone has ever been from home.”
Anthony watched as Kate hummed contently, closing her eyes to take it all in. “Yet, here we are squashed together like sardines in a tin.” Her eyes snapped open, gleaming with barely contained mirth.
“What?”
“Anthony, I think I am stuck” she giggled, trying to pull herself out, gripping the handlebar above her, “shift over a bit.”
“I can’t, you’re sitting on my arm.”
“Use your other arm, for god’s sake!”
“There’s no space, I think I am stuck too.” He caught the glimmer of Kate’s eye and couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation they found themselves in. It wasn’t the worst fate, floating through space in perpetuity beside Kate, but he guessed that mission control would not be amused by that proposal. “What are we going to tell Simon when we regain the radio signal?”
“Technical difficulties probably” she deadpanned.
Anthony couldn’t help but grin at her tone. “Hmm, I don’t think it’s quite believable, perhaps we should go with ‘have you tried turning it off and then on again?’”
“Well, at least I have your endless humour to entertain me with for the rest of eternity.”
“You think I am entertaining?” Anthony asked, glancing over at her, trying to keep his voice light.
“Well…” Kate trailed off, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. “You’re bearable. For now.”
The banter fizzled out, and a small silence stretched between them. In the cramped space, their proximity felt different now, more charged, as if the air had thickened. Anthony could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and the weight of what he had been holding back for far too long suddenly felt too heavy to ignore.
“Kate…” He paused, then went for it. “I… I think I like you. More than just as a friend.”
Kate’s gaze snapped to him, eyes wide in surprise. The words hung in the air, heavier than he’d anticipated, and Anthony immediately regretted it. But before he could take back what he said, Kate blinked and looked away, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“What?” she finally said, her voice quieter, a little unsure.
“I… I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately,” he continued, his voice coming out softer now. “Being stuck here with you made me realise that I can’t keep pretending I don’t feel it.”
“We’re not really stuck out here Anthony,” she confessed quietly.
“What?”
Kate grinned and nodded toward the loose panel she’d been working on. “Yeah, I unscrewed that panel ages ago. It’s been open the whole time.”
“Wait-” Anthony blinked, surprised. “You mean we could’ve gotten out this whole time?”
Kate shrugged, still smiling. “Maybe. But I think I was just enjoying the company.”