"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."

Lao Tzu

The silence was broken by the opening of the hatch. Van was looking at the metallic door moving painfully, the hinges protesting loudly under the pressure. They arrived. Finally. Where?, was the question.

He looked at his friend, Gauguin, strapped in the seat beside him. They had been stuck in the same position for some time now, probably days, after the explosion. Their spacecraft was supposed to have reach Europa, one of Jupiter's moon, a week ago. The Sun decided differently. One of the biggest flare completely messed with the navigational system and the ship entered in collision with some space debris.

Following the shock, Van believed he would live his last moment in a shameful position, stuck in wires and metal, parts of the cabin that went free following the impact. However, he just blacked out for a moment before realizing, when regaining consciousness, that the suit he was wearing had absorbed most of the blow. It had been the case also for Gauguin and the other passengers sharing the space.

The suit had also proved lifesaving during the followings days, sustaining him with the recycled fluids and nutrient injections. Although his body was sound and maintained, he still felt exhausted from the confinement. Few days of immobilization and he started to lose faith in their adventure. Yet, the noise from the hatch opening was restoring his hope.

Two silhouettes appeared in the circle of light inside the hatch as it finally opened. Van surveyed their progression through the confinement of the overturned cabin. They stopped near an old woman, visibly dead, her limbs not responding to their pocking and picking. Then, they moved on to Gauguin, his friend. He observed anxiously if he would respond to their stimuli. One of the after effect of the accident that happened few days earlier had blocked all communication between the passengers. The device embed on the spacesuit had been unresponsive since then. Van just hopped it was only due to malfunction, not that his friend had passed to the afterlife.

Relief came when he realized Gauguin was moving and seemed to be answering to questions the two newcomers were asking him. They started to untangle the other man, set him on his feet, then directed him through the hatch. Would they be coming back for himself? Van hoped they would not forget him. The doubt was short as he saw the two figures crossing again the opening. They repeated their dance, from one body to another, leaving some there for later retrieval, setting other free from their seats, until they reached him.

"Can you hear me?" The muffled sound was coming from the taller one, his face hidden under the helmet covering the entirety of his head. "Nod if you can't talk."

Van dipped his head slightly and moved his arms to signify he heard them. They removed the cables strapping him to his seat and helped him standing. He was wobbly on his feet after staying so long in the same position. The weakness in his legs could also be explained by the lack of food. His spacesuit provided him with the basic nutrients during the long hours of immobility, however, the function was supposed to maintain only the body's integrity, not to provide for nourishment for a healthy young adult; it was only supposed to sustain the person inside it until help came to them.

Van followed the two through the hatch. On the other side, he found himself on a corridor under white neon lights. There were no windows. He wondered where he was, as there was a good chance they did not land on Europa, as was the original flight plan. They had been in space longer than the time it shall have taken them to reach the Jovian satellite. Where could they be now? It was the question that kept rolling in his mind.

Weak as he was, Van felt the walk through the corridors to last an eternity. With his two rescuers, he finally reached a space where all the other had been already set. He saw his friend and stepped into his direction, seating beside him. On one side of the room, along the walls, were aligned lockers and benches, similar to those Gauguin and himself sat on. The other side had two doors, each with the universal signs identifying the gender. Through those doors, the newcomers would find showers and cleaning facilities, along with some change of clothes.

Everyone in the room started to remove their suits. Van followed suite and put his on a pile already building. Obviously, others of his travel companions had already removed theirs and went through the cleaning process. No much sound came from the weary travellers. Small words were ushered here and there, though nothing really understandable. Looking to the people around him, he could see the common relief of having been finally safely removed from the rocket, and feel the anticipation laced in fear and question for what would happen next.

A petite woman clad in white came out of nowhere, or more likely, from a side door Van did not saw earlier. She looked tired. She sounded tired also when she welcomed them, as if he had repeated the same words over a good number of time before to saying those to them.

"Welcome aboard, travellers. We will answer your questions later. For now, you just need to know that you are on NOVA. I am Nic, I'll give you a check-up after you'll have cleaned behind these doors. The two guys over there," she pointed to the two silhouettes that opened the hatch earlier, getting everyone efficiently out of the wandering rocket, "are Leo and Vince."

After those few words, she went through the same side door she came in from and closed it. The room returned to the previous silence, people looking each other as to confirm they heard the same things. Leo and Vince, as they were presented, helped the weakest to finish removing their space suits and into the shower room.

The two friends were the last ones to enter the male bathroom. Van had more difficulties than his friend to walk and move around. This would need to be checked after he would have washed and changed into clean clothes. He hoped he would regain the full flexibility in his legs and that it was just a temporary painful limitation due to the prolonged compression of his lower limbs during the few days after the accident.

The shower was not of the watery type; rather, it would have had its place in a decontamination procedure plan. Van and Gauguin ended up being sprayed by chemicals, powdery stuff, acrid smelling. Nothing similar to dip in the blue lagoons as they used to enjoy back home. The two friends shared the same depressing thoughts. They had no choice but to leave Earth for good. Nothing remained there for them and, ultimately, for all humanity. They were among the fittest to try for the long journey. The others, older and frailer, decided to remain and to see the End of times. They resigned to their fate but wanted the two young men to leave so they could perpetuate their traditions in the stars.

The short woman they had seen earlier was waiting for the two friends when they entered the infirmary. She seemed tired and did not talk much as she took blood samples and other fluid sample from the men. While she was attending to Gauguin, Van perused the room, letting his eyes take the full extend to the place. He approached to some diagrams on a wall when their situation. They were not where they shall have been. The drawing was an emergency response plan showing the position of the evacuation pods. They were on a space station on Neptune's orbit, the Neptune Outpost Vanguard Astroresearch centre. The collision few days earlier had sent them further at the end of the Solar system while they shall have been securely under a dome on Jupiter's moon.