Thou Spark of Blood

Gibson wakes to find Commander Lorenz asleep and Major Cappio dead, his throat slashed.  He considers whether to subdue or kill Lorenz to protect himself for the remainder of their flight to Mars.  Lorenz wakes and is startled by Cappio’s corpse.  

Lorenz accuses Gibson of murder.  Gibson draws a utility knife from the belt of his pressure suit, and Lorenz brandishes his own blade.  Each blames the other for Cappio’s death.  They compare weapons, finding both free of blood.  Lorenz charges Gibson with losing his sanity and laments the loss of their radio connection to Dr. Mann, the mission’s psychologist.

Gibson voices a bleak outlook, convinced that he and Lorenz will die in space.  Lorenz reassures Gibson that they are on course for Mars and proposes that they work together to dispose of Cappio’s body.  Gibson wonders aloud whether the red planet, visible through the craft’s porthole, prompted the violence. 

Lorenz suggests that they jettison Cappio’s corpse from the module.  Gibson and Lorenz don their spacesuits only to find the airlock broken.  Lorenz strips out of his suit, but Gibson, fearing an attack, remains inside his.