The five-person crew slept separately under strict orders. The sentence for co-mingling was death. Still, Annie and Louis persisted, furtive behind the commander’s watchful eye.

When the burgeoning beneath Annie’s spacesuit could no longer be ignored, Louis was summoned.

“You have a choice, Lieutenant. There isn’t enough oxygen for six.”

Clara Ray Rusinek Klein is bilingual in Spanish and English. She holds a BA magna cum laude in Political Science with a minor in Religious Studies. Ms. Klein is an internationally published creative writer and author. For more information and a full list of current publications, see clararayrusinekklein.wordpress.com.