First, congrats to you Pia on beating me to the punch - indeed, the "drifting" of science fiction is a myth.  Space is curved, an in essence everything in the vacuum "falls" through the curvature, once it's been sufficiently propelled through an atmosphere - ah, skip it...

There were hints throughout the story that we were going to see cannibalism, and that's what we got. No otherwordly presences, no deep inquiries into the human mind - so this ended up being not so dark for me.

More of a miss than a hit for me unfortunately. Good idea, but not very plausible she would eat someone with 5 days to go. Sector 2 is mentioned but never explored, which disappointed me.

I didn't like Kate one bit. She was all for herself as soon as she was introduced. Maybe you should have made the story last over a longer period of time so we see her changing from a good person to a desperate cannibal instead of her just being a bit*h from the start.

Personally, I would get rid of the timer that tells them when they will return to earth. Make that a mystery so the cannibalism is more plausible. Then, as soon as she kills/starts eating Henry, they make contact and the rescue ship is sent.  

Overall, good effort but needs some work on the rewrite.

Brian

I too had problems with this one.  Their being married (or divorced) with one kid was way too much.  That just could have been kept out of the script.  There is no way that NASA would risk orphaning children just for the sake of a mission.  After World War II, America's federal government officially keeps relatives from working the same dangerous missions (dangerous being the main word).

If a pipe had gone through the guy's chest, wouldn't water have leaked out somewhere?  Another problem with sci-fi and reality trying to be mixed together.

You should try doing another story.  This one was just too limiting given the space and time restrictions you placed on yourself.  Keep trying though.  We all get these negative reviews at first.