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This is a joint effort between Dave Curtin and Brad Rousse. Roughly, Brad did the first half and Dave did the second half of the story.
"It is supposed to be very powerful and romantic, we'll leave that up to you to decide - we hope the best of our respective different writing styles shone through.  "
Floating images in a fog of dreams. Leela's face smiling at
him from the other side of the mercury lake. A deep thud upsets the tranquility
and creates ripples in the shiny surface. Everything hazes into the dreamy depth
of the subconcious were it came from, and Fry slowly awakes to become aware of
his surroundings....
It was that deep, dull thud that woke him from his deep
sleep. He rubbed his eyes wearily as his mind tried to register what was happening...
Oh, that's right. He was on a romantic cruise with the lovely Toronga
Leela. Things had changed since their last trip. Everyone they knew -- Amy, Hermes
and his family , Zoidberg, Nibbler…. even Bender.....weren't on board this time.
Besides, his nephew died this fall. They were the only ones aboard, at 29 each.
Fry lied in bed for a moment, gazing at the ornate detail of the
ceiling above them. The lights somehow flickered although they had been off for
an hour. Fry shrugged as he brushed it off. Flickering lights are the last thing
on his mind right now.
He heard the voices in the corridor; they were aroused with some
problem. Fry silently leaned over and turned on a bedside lamp, revealing his
most loved treasure: Leela, curled up against the indent of his body in the bed,
sleeping an adorable, peaceful sleep. Her eye clenched for a moment as it responded
to the sudden brightness....then relaxed.
Fry wondered whether to wake Leela or not, but her breathing began
to become irregular, signaling she was waking up. Fry immediately crawled back
into bed, and waited for her to wake up. With a soft yawn, she opened her crystal
eye, hazy with fatigue. She registered Fry, and slid over to him.
"Hey, beautiful", Fry cooed, raking his fingers gently
through her un-done hair.
“Hmm….” Leela rests a hand against Fry's chest before her face
shifts into a confused mask.
"Fry...I don't feel the vibration of the engines...have we
stopped?"
"Yes...we just stopped. I'm going to find out what it is,
OK, sweetie?"
Leela nodded lazily and drifted back to sleep.
The movement of the ship stopped long ago. It was of new design,
the kind that can both fly through space and actually float on water, the newest
fashionable nostalgic trend. She bobbed silently in the seemingly infinite waters
of the Planet Oceania – a huge ocean with some holiday islands spread across the
surface. The beauty of this alien night sky of a world that was situated within
a vibrant nebulae amazed him as he trod out on deck. Smoke drifted lazily from
the three reactor exhausts, the fourth silent. Fry, shuddering against the biting
cold, walked along the deck, unaware that he was looking for damage. Nothing there.
He crossed around to the other side, and found a crewman looking
over the side.
"What's happened...why have we stopped?" Fry asked.
"Talk of an iceberg, sir' The crewman replied
"Did we hit it?"
"No sir.....it hit us."
Fry bit his lips together, and asked one of the toughest questions
he had in recent years:
"How badly damaged?"
"Oh, not to worry" the crewman replied. "Everyone
knows the Titanic is unsinkable, especially in our day and age"
Fry descended that big staircase he saw in that stupid movie a
millennium ago. "They should have show more nude women, and less shipwreck!"
he mentally mumbled. "Oh well, I assume it's not that bad....I feel
bad I've woke Leela...I'll just say it was a slight accident and that everything's
fine"
"Sir, wait!"
Fry was broken out of his thoughts by the same crewman he was talking
to a minute ago. He looked embarrassed, shocked, and scared. "What up?"
"Sir, I've just gotten word from below...."
"What is it?"
"We're taking water, and it's coming in fast. The core exhaust
chambers are already flooding. We may have a breach in hours."
Fry looked at him for a minute, stunned.
"Then you mean we're sinking...."
"Yes, sir. We've got an hour, maybe two. Get your wife up
top NOW!"
Fry nodded, and gave his thanks as the crewman rushed off.
He gently opened the door. As he did so, Leela nearly jumped on
him, but restrained herself. Her eye was dulled by fear.
"Fry...I've been hearing rumors out in the hall.....are we
in danger?"
Fry looked at his beautiful, loving woman. He didn't want to scare
her, but had no choice...
"Yes...yes Leela, we are. There's been a hull breach, and
we're taking water. Someone told me the reactor chambers are under water.. we
need to get to the escape pods now. Just dress warmly and take your life-belt..."
"Fry...this is making me nervous...."
"Hey, where's that kick-ass, take-no-prisoners woman I knew
a while ago?"
Leela looked him the face with a child-like innocence.
"She died when she opened up to you.”
Fry and Leela shoved their way through the building crowds in the
corridors. They were no longer deserted...they were crowded with people in various
states of emotion and distress. Leela held on to Fry's hand like a vice, fearful
if she lost him, she would be swallowed by the crowd, engulfed and isolated from
him.
The crowd pushed them down different hallways but never seemed
to get anywhere.
Leela was getting nervous. “Where are we going? Why can’t we just
go out on deck?”
“I dunno… lets leave this crowd.”
They parted company with the mob and slipped into a sideway, waiting
a few minutes for the people to pass. Then they were alone in the corridors. “Do
you still remember how to get out on deck from here?” Fry asked. Leela nodded
her head. “Yes, but everyone else seems to have forgotten.” They arrived at the
door that was supposed to lead out on deck, but found it closed. “Why are all
the doors closed? They were open ten minutes ago!” Fry called. The corridors answered
his question with his own ghostly echo and a change in pitch of the engine noises.
They sounded sick, a whinny hum that would make your nose bleed if it would be
any louder. “The security locks must me malfunctioning”, Leela said, her old reason
returning under these pressing circumstances. She didn’t like acting like the
old Leela, it always felt like a lie, unnecessary now that she found Fry, but
she had useful properties for situations like this. Leela opened the door in her
mind, allowing that part of her to temporarily take some control. Only a little.
Leela took Fry’s hand. “Quick, we have to find another way”. They
ran back past their old quarters when Fry came to a skittering halt. “Hang on,
I just need to get something I forgot.” – “Please Fry, we haven’t got much time”
– “I’ll just be a second”. Fry disappeared in their quarters and emerged out of
them after 5 seconds. “Lets Run.”
The whining engine noises were replaced by a deep roar that made
the ship vibrate disquietingly. Various items in the quarters were falling down,
the sound of glass breaking dominating the scene before the engine quieted down
a little, allowing the vibrations to stop. There was a deep clonking sound, as
if something that was still functioning was damaged beyond repair and would function
for not much longer.
They came past a map of the ship’s outline. “We’ll need this” said
Leela as she ripped it of the wall. It showed several doors out to deck, two nearby,
all of which they found locked.
“What’s wrong with those security locks?!” Fry was getting seriously
frightened. Leela as well, and she didn’t bother to hide it, but she had to act
reasonable. Only for a while longer, then things would be OK. “We still have a
chance Fry – look, here”. Leela pointed out a manual emergency exit, half way
across the ship. They tried all the doors on the way, and found all to be locked.
The emergency exit was a trapdoor in the ceiling. Fry lifted Leela up so she could
undo the hatch and open the hole in the ceiling which would save their life. Leela
pushed open the trapdoor and emerged onto deck, finding it to be totally deserted.
With growing fright, she helped Fry up, who was also registering the situation.
There wasn’t the slightest breeze.
But there was something different.
“No-one here”… Fry’s glance shifted to the reactor exhausts. Two
were now dormant, the other ones exhaling thick black smoke in irregular bursts.
But the smoke looked weird. Not like it did before, somehow. “This doesn’t look
good…”
“Are there any escape pods left?”.
His question was overpowered by and immense explosion that luminated
the entire back half of the ship. They both ran to the reeling to view the damage
and found why the smoke looked different then before. They were in deep space.
The ships autopilot was damaged in the explosion and, besides locking
all security doors, it left the planet’s atmosphere with what engine power it
still had left. But even this was faltering quickly. The atmospheric containment
bubbles had drawn themselves up around them like the roof of a convertible. But
the explosion damaged part of it, and as air escaped into nothingness, total tranquility
turned in to a noticeable breeze.
They were paralyzed by the sight of no water below them, just emptiness – Oceania
was a blue sphere behind them, still shrinking with the increasing distance.
“The ship took off!”
“Worse – the ship blew open!” Leela pointed to a massive hole in the hull that
was visible even from their limited view.
The ships PA system sprung to life and sent bailing messages out into the empty
ship. “Core Meltdown in 8 minutes, 45 seconds, evacuate ship” The autopilot said
this with a cheerful female voice, as if to mock them.
“We’re gonna die” Fry said unbelievingly.
Leela and Fry stood together, arm in arm, on deck, pondering about the simple
statement that Fry just said. There was nothing more to it. They walked up to
the tip of the ship.
Fry looked Leela in the eye. The sight of her beautiful eye made him forget
everything. The explosions damped into insignificance. “Leela, I have something
for you”. Fry took out what he almost forgot in his quarters, unbelievable for
himself. A little purple case. He opened it as he showed it to Leela.
It contained a gold ring with a single purple stone set in the middle.
“I should have done this a long time ago. But that doesn’t matter anymore”
Fry slowly took the ring out of its case and took Leela’s hand. He chucked
the case over his shoulder and stuck the ring on Leela’s finger, looking at her
questioningly. Leela said the one word that was most important to him.
“Yes”
Fry and Leela kissed for the first time as a married couple. It was good to
be together in such a way, and the ring on Leela’s finger seemed to glow with
an almost unusual warmth as she held her lover on the empty deck.
Already the ship is noticeably tilted to the right, and deep down below deck
damped explosions can be heard as the last of the generators spills its metallic
interiors into deep space.
The PA system wails on. “Core Meltdown in 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Please move
to the rear of the ship. Escape pods 1 – 398 unavailable. Escape pods 399 – 400
available for evacuation. Please move to the rear of the ship. Core Meltdown in
5 minutes”
Fry looks at Leela. “Two pods are left”. Fry sees in her face what manifested
in his mind before he even spoke the sentence. No.
Leela's hair becomes undone and flows with the wind. A purple ocean of love,
drowning Fry’s face. Never felt he love this strong. The anticipation of their
upcoming end changed into something that almost had physical reality inside of
him. Stronger then love itself could ever be, an outsider might think.
Leela feels safe for the first time since she woke up this night.
She too can feel the almost physical reality of their love inside her, a feeling
so powerful it consumes every other thought. Time seems to slow down. Two minds,
two lips, all as one.
As the breeze combs through their hair they look out into the alien sky. As
if to consulate them for the misfortune it brought the ship, space seems to
unravel its most spectacular displays in their incredible beauty, like to put
a fitting finish to the eventful journey. Fry and Leela felt it was a worthwhile
journey to come to an end. As they hold each other under thousands of alien
sun and colorful nebulae, a feeling of total peace settles in them. They are
together. They will be forever. Nothing matters anymore, nothing can rip them
apart. As they kiss for the last time it was the deepest and most meaningful
feeling each of them ever felt in their entire life, a sense of total contentment,
love and fulfillment. They are one. The explosions become quiet. The PA system
of the ship stops sending its barking warnings into deaf ears. Debris starts
to slowly rain down on them like snow. An eerie silence. A final view at the
immense beauty that space has prepared for them. Not a sound, just the countless
suns and each others love and warmth as they stand at the tip of the crippled
ship, engulfed by that feeling which now has physical reality, like an invisible
glow, bonding them with love as one.
The end comes painless and soundless, only warmth and love, pure happiness,
as they are evaporated together in the meltdown. But they died as one, and space
appreciated their love, and death, as one, with silent acceptance, as it always
does. They have found their haven.
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