CODE RED: Astralis

Alison, taking a break, noticed her from across the cabin. The soft glow of the console lit her features — her skin pale and flawless in the cabin light, her breathing calm, serene. She fell asleep, alone.

He thought to himself —only a few days left until our mission comes to an end.

He drifted toward her, silently, as if the ship itself was holding its breath. Slowly, almost reverently, he leaned in, his gaze locked on her, a hand brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. Their bodies floated together in the zero-gravity cabin, the space around them both intimate and infinite.

“Commander?”

Alison, quite taken aback by her quick reaction to their situation. He gazed into her eyes although startled and unintentionally mysterious.

“Right, I finished up my remaining work.” She spoke.

“Kate.” he continues, “Very good. We set foot on Earth within 7 days.”

Kate nods. She can’t quite pick it up yet, but there’s more. Before Alison headed back to the pod, she quickly grabbed his arm. She surprised herself with her gestures but couldn’t contain herself from the scene of them together. She felt a little idiotic because she made up fantasies beyond what happened.

“Ehem.” Clearing her throat. “I’ll miss the ISS.” She smiles. Commander Alison agreed.

Kate decides to look outside the window, down on Earth. “This view never gets tiring.” Alison across has him staring. Kate notices but changes the topic, “Want to listen to some music?” She grabs her iPhone and tunes in Eugen Doga – Gramaphone.

“Why the choice of music?” He asks.

Kate still couldn’t resist him. She says, “To dance.”

“If it’s ok—”he cuts her. “It’s okay.” and smile.

Shyly Kate hovers over him, and they danced to the music. Inevitably her heart raced like the whole room heard her fast heartbeat. What a thrill it was for the two of them and finally asks him, “I felt that earlier, why were you so close to me?”

Alison answered, “Being up here with you...”Kate blushed.

“...was the best choice I made.”

They stopped dancing but she didn’t leave him hanging. She thought he was joking and she giggled.

“Really.” He added.

She couldn’t believe her ears. The commander has a crush on her? Suddenly, she couldn’t move.

“Less than a thousand astronauts and you came out to be the one I gravitate to." he points.

She didn’t hesitate and pecked him on the cheek. He liked that.“Damn.” Looking at her from head to toe. He silently said in his head —how did someone so petite be so capable of engineering? Not to mention her scent. He positively praises.

“Astralis.” He uttered. Giving her a nickname for the crazy emotions he feels.

“It suits you.” grabbing her waist and melting onto her.

Staying with each other while intense tension surrounds them, they kissed. It was perfect. Their warmth hugged each other. She was indeed one of the stars he cherished.

Kate nestled herself closer, forehead resting against Alison’s chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of his breath. “I could stay like this forever,” she whispered — so soft it nearly dissolved into the music.

Alison tightened his hold, not possessive, just anchoring them in that suspended moment.

“So could I,” he murmured.

Outside, the stars glittered cold and distant. Inside, warmth wrapped itself around them like a cocoon — a quiet intimacy untouched by gravity, time, or the world waiting far below.

And in that floating embrace, Kate felt a rare, consuming certainty: that no matter the void, the distance, the danger — this was theirs.

This closeness.

This heartbeat.

This undeniable pull.

“I can’t believe we’re normal again, we could live like we did before.” imagining her youthful days on Earth, with her dog happily cuddling on her bed.

“Normal,” he echoed, “is vastly overrated.” He let his hand trace the line of her arm, steady and grounding. “Come here.” A shiver swept through her. “Yes?” she breathed.

“You’re incredible,” he said simply — as if it were the most obvious truth in the cosmos.

Her teeth sank gently into her lower lip, heat blooming under her skin.

Kate’s fingers traced slow circles across Alison’s chest, barely touching, weightless in the cabin air.

“Do you...”

She swallowed, voice trembling.“...want me?”

Alison’s breath caught — not from surprise, but from the fierce wave of affection that struck him all at once. He cupped her cheek gently, grounding her, steadying the electricity between them.

Silence wrapped around them.

Then—

“Will you marry me?”

Kate gasped, eyes wide. “Am I enough for you?” Her voice cracked, fear slipping through — as though he hadn’t already fallen, completely, devastatingly, for her.

“Hey,” he whispered, “look at me.”

She obeyed.

“I only see a girl chasing her dreams... with me.”

Her chest tightened.

“I do.” She replies. They both hugged each other, twirling around.

“Kate... I love you.”

The way he said it — it pierced her, melted her, steadied her all at once. “Me too,” she whispered.

The next seven days passed in a soft, suspended rhythm — as if the universe had slowed to make room for them. Kate traced patterns along Alison’s arm and whispered, “Do you think we’ll ever feel this... uninterrupted... again?”

Alison caught her hand, pressing it to his chest. “Maybe not. But I have my Astralis.”

They spoke of Earth — what they feared, what they missed, what waited — and of fragile dreams they never dared voice before. Outside, the universe remained silent and indifferent.

Inside the cabin, Kate and Alison discovered what it meant to belong entirely to one another.

A dust-gray dawn lay over the city — not the clean blue of old photographs, but a color born from survival. Muted. Stubborn. The kind of sky that belonged to people who refused to leave.

The landing shuttle touched down with a hiss, its plume curling and fading over cracked asphalt. When the ramp lowered, the air rose to meet them: iron, old rain, and something that made Martian lungs ache with a nostalgic sting.

Commander Alison stepped out first, suit calibrated for Earth’s gravity, boots adjusting to uneven ground. A crowd waited — survivors, municipal militia, ISS personnel, all wide-eyed. Cameras snapped as he paused for Kate, who followed him out with a grin that almost outshone the dull morning.

They greeted their fellow humans, then were ushered straight into NASA’s headquarters.

"Wow... gravity." Kate giggled, wobbling slightly.

After changing and resting, they prepared for their first full day of Earth-side research.

By morning, the conference room buzzed with tension. Before anyone could speak, a woman stepped forward, eyes narrowing immediately at Alison — curious, sharp.

"I’m Mara. Leader among my people, once united with Martians." She spoke with authority wrapped in elegance. “And you are?”

Alison introduced himself with a steady tone as commander of the vessel.

“We go as explorers,” Alison confirmed, “not conquerors.”

“And what,” she asked coldly,“ do Martians offer? After leaving us?”

Kate stepped in, composed. “Our team is small to avoid risking more lives. Returning to Mars afterward is easier if we don’t bring a whole fleet.”

“Selfish.” Mara remarked.

“Efficient,” Kate countered. “And realistic. We doubt additional Earthlings would be useful for our scientific requirements.” to add more tension, “We don’t owe Earth anything.”

Whether she agreed or not, morality if not always, was out of the picture. This wasn’t relationship, instead another calculated exploration, as if this was a habit, their hobby. Mara studied them both — alien, unfamiliar, strangely fascinating. She finally nodded.

“As leader of Earth’s sector, I’ll personally accept your sponsorship.”

Kate added, “Earth still holds many unique species. We want to document and extract DNA samples for experimentation back home. In exchange, we’ll sponsor any Earth personnel interested in assisting.”

Mara signaled her acceptance. “I’ll arrange helicopters. Begin whenever you wish.”

As the meeting closed, she lingered behind — only for Alison.

“Do you think Earthlings are beneath you?” she asked.

“It’s protocol,”he replied calmly. “Not judgement.”

Her gaze sharpened. “Was something... missing on Mars? Not the same?”Her tone dipped into something strangely personal.

“Our database requires the research,” he answered, refusing her bait.

She smiled — slow, deliberate.“I imagine your life up there must be brutal. Stark. Lonely.” She stepped closer. “If you ever want company... I’m always around.”

Then she left him in the echo of her intent.

That evening, Kate washed up and padded over to the bed where Alison sat. Her silhouette, small and steady in the dim light, tugged at him — his Astralis, his constant.

She crawled into his lap, laughing under the strange heaviness of gravity.

"Love..."

"Mm?"

“Your scent,” he whispered as he buried himself in her neck, breathing her in as if Earth’s air wasn’t enough.

Warmth bloomed between them, familiar and fierce, as they sank into each other’s arms.

“Hey," she murmured.

“Hi.” He winked, making her cheeks warm.

“I could use a kiss.”

He cupped her chin gently and kissed her without hesitation — soft, slow, claiming.

They slept wrapped together, exhaustion gentling every breath.

Sunlight filtered through thin curtains, brushing Kate’s face. Her eyes lit up.

"Vitamin D, at last!" she exclaimed.

Alison turned to her, struck. She seemed even brighter here on Earth — glowing, alive. His. Entirely his.

He stepped behind her, arms sliding around her waist.

“Love... take my heart ‘cause it’s yours.” he smiles.

And for the first time since stepping back onto Earth, Alison felt something like home.