Interstellar Breakup

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the phrase: "I'm tired of your games."

Interstellar Breakup

Jason stood in the airlock, staring at the Atmosphere Evacuation button. It was big, red and tempting. Just below it was a small warning sign that read, “Ensure suit is functioning properly before pressing.”

He let his eyes shift to a window, through which he could see the locker where his “properly functioning” suit hung, unused.

Back to the button . . .

One tap and it would all be over

“Jason, come back in. I promise to behave. We can do whatever you want. I’ll cook something special. You like goulash right? I’ll make some for dinner. Just come back in.”

Jason tried to ignore her voice. He knew going back inside would solve nothing. He would still be Jason and she would still be Vicky. It would only be a matter of time before she drove him back to the airlock and freedom – from her. It had been more than a year since they’d been paired up for this trip. By Jason’s reckoning, that had been about eleven months too long.

“I know. How about I repair the hibernation chamber. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately and there is a good chance that I can get it working again. Then you can take a nice long sleep. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m tired of your games,” Jason said; unable to completely ignore the promise of hibernation. He knew that she was just being her same old manipulative self. Still, hibernation would solve a lot of problems

He reached for the button.

“No! Wait! I just remembered that your wife sent you a vid.”

“Nancy . . .” he whispered. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

Jason pushed the button.

Vicky watched Jason float away. Faced with unbearable loneliness, the Artificial Intelligence began powering down.

Word Count 300