She smiled with her lips, letting out that silent nose-laugh—Nunes understood she liked it.
Nunes limped the whole way, but they eventually arrived. He pointed to a monitor different from the one she had been using. The PC was a good old '90s machine—slow, loud, and proud. When he turned it on, it made the classic Windows startup sound, followed by some crunchy, low-bit music.
Ketlen looked at Nunes, holding back a laugh.
"Woah... what is this goofy ahh song?" she said, pulling a face between surprise and amusement.
"Tsk..." Nunes smirked. "Goofy ahh sound—reminds me of that meme."
"Oh my God..." Ketlen rolled her eyes. "Here comes another weird-ass TikTok meme."
"It's not weird!" Nunes crossed his arms and pouted dramatically. "Now I'm hurt. I'm not telling you anymore."
She turned her head, visibly annoyed.
"Just spit it out, dumbass."
"Nope."
"FUCKING SAY IT!" She grinned, still half-pissed.
"...I remembered that audio..." Nunes said in a tired voice, almost whispering. "King owns this PC..."
She BURST out laughing, covering her mouth.
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"What?" He blushed, looking shy.
"You KNOW that audio?! Bro, there's no way you thought that'd be funny."
"But it IS funny!"
"That's from a porn audio, you absolute freak!" She laughed even harder, shaking her head in mock disbelief. "You're insane."
"You're the insane one."
She froze. Her playful expression suddenly faded.
"...Okay, fuck off, you idiot."
...
"Sit in that chair, I'm going to use a radio and talk to you from outside, it connects to this monitor's speaker." He explained. "It's a bit old-fashioned, but it's what we have."
"Hm, which app do I have to use?" She rested her face in her hand, elbow on the table, impatience beginning to show.
"I don't even know, to tell you the truth."
"Pfft, you don't know anything about your own ship, do you?" She rolled her eyes, incredulous.
"Almost nothing, actually."
There was a different application on the screen.
"It must be this one." He pointed to the screen, confident.
"That's Audacity, you dumbass." She corrected him, her voice impatient.
"Huh?"
"It can't be that, get away from it!" She pushed him, irritation exploding. "How the hell did you guys install this damn app if this PC is so old?"
He laughed loudly, shrugging. "Hell if I know! This thing's ancient. I'm surprised it still runs."
She laughed, putting a hand to her forehead, incredulous. He really could disarm her whenever he wanted, but it was fun to see her acting tough, and the shove made him laugh internally—those genuine laughs he missed giving, not just receiving.
"Er... wait a minute..." She looked him up and down, a timid glint in her eyes. "Go over there, stay away from me." The order came out more like a nervous request.
Nunes took a step closer to her, challenging.
"Why?" He smiled, amused by her reaction.
Ketlen grabbed the gun and pointed it at his face instantly:
"GO, DAMN IT!" she screamed, full of panic and fury.
He laughed and stepped back, crossing his arms, grinning like he just scammed the devil.
In a few seconds, Ketlen found the application.
"Where's your radio?"
Nunes tossed it toward her:
"Here, catch."
Ketlen tried to catch it, but the radio fell to the floor with a dull thud.
"Damn it, dude, be careful! What if it broke, huh?" She gave him a death glare, genuinely angry about something that could have been damaged.
She crouched down and picked up the radio. It was fine. She synced it with the app and handed it to him.
"Alright, now test it."
He took the radio and turned it on, a sound coming from the monitor's speaker.
"Copy that, militia woman Ketlen!" He spoke laughing, with the radio close to his mouth, the provocation evident.
"Militia woman is your ass, you jerk!" She showed him the middle finger, a fierce grimace. "How do I answer you now?"
"Look at the button on that part of the monitor. Just click it. Do the test."
Ketlen went to the button, pressing it.
"Hey, can you hear me, you scumbag?" Her voice came through the radio, her hand on her face, without a shred of serenity.
Nunes smiled, looking at her with a strangely mischievous gaze.
"Heard you." His voice came through the monitor, answering her.
"Alright, go on, get going." She pointed to the exit, impatient.
"Positive." Nunes advanced down the corridor to the manual exit to the outside.
......................................
CHAPTER 5: NUNDINAE
......................................
The first hatch opened with a brief, almost organic hiss. A puff of pressurized air escaped like a metallic sigh. The pressure stabilized. Nunes advanced with slow, hesitant steps, entering that tiny transition room—too white, like a hospital room abandoned in space.
Everything there was white, but not a single white. There were distinct, almost imperceptible tones: the lead-white of the hatch edges, the yellowish-white of the recessed lights, lazily flickering on the ceiling, the greenish-white of the floor stained with ancient rust. It looked like a surgical asylum, too clean, too dead.
There was barely room to move. The walls seemed to close in. The door behind him shut with a dry, definitive click. Absolute silence.
And then, a cold, light blue flashed in the upper left corner. A monitor embedded in the wall slowly awakened, as if forcibly roused from a distant nightmare.
He didn't remember that monitor.
The screen lit up with an icy blue hue, like the reflection of an artificial sky at dusk.
White lettering, in a clean font, floated gently in the center of the screen.
Further up, small figures of fish and bubbles repeated, side by side, a peculiar sequence.
"Fish Bubble Bubble \ Bubble Bubble \ Bubble \ Bubble Bubble Bubble \ Bubble Bubble Bubble Fish"
"Departure Date: September 26, 2027."
"Current Earth Date: October 8, 2557."
Nunes frowned, but then his eyes widened.
"Time elapsed on ship after undocking: 1 day, 14 hours."
"Time elapsed on Earth: 530 years."
"...What?"