III


"We will be jumping to FTL shortly, please remain in your seats until after the jump. Once we're at FTL, feel free to walk about the ship." The GTA agent assigned to this room drones on and walks out the door, probably in search of the next room to lecture to.

I'm sitting in the farthest left seat in the fourth row, so I have a clear view of the large window to the outside, to space. To think that just on the other side of the glass is a subzero vacuum that would kill anyone and everyone aboard should a seal or an airlock shut incorrectly.

The dark beauty of its deadliness matches the scene outside the window. We've gotten far enough from Aoria's surface that I can see the curvature of the planet. The planet as a whole simply looks like a muted blue marble. The majority of the planet's surface is water, then the atmosphere is so opaque that all you can see of said surface, is a dull blue coloration.

Soon, the dull blue of the planet expands over the whole window and becomes more vibrant as we jump to FTL. I can briefly feel the push on my visceral organs to the back of my body when we first jump, but the feeling dissipates quickly and the sound of clicking seat buckles fills the room.

I flick the latch on my own buckle and rise out of my seat, ready to leave the room in search of a vending machine. The door to the room glides open as I approach and my eyes scan down both ways of the hallway. The hallway looks the exact same in both directions, the way I should go confuses me.

I purse my lips and grab my Link out of my back pocket. Flicking on the display, I pull up a simulated map of the large shuttle and my current location is indicated by a small blinking red dot. We boarded through the aft entrance of the shuttle and down the first corridor, if I go the opposite way than when we boarded, I should find a vending machine.

I adjust the map on my Link's holographic display and hold the cylinder between my teeth while flipping through the cash I have, counting how much I have left while occasionally looking at the map to make sure I'm moving in the right direction. I've counted eighteen Aorian dram which is equivalent to roughly twelve GTA dollars and am counting a second time to make sure I'm correct when I bounce back off another person.

I take a step back to steady myself and raise my gaze, looking through the map to see a tall GTA agent standing in front of me. His skin is dark and matches his equally dark eyes. "Sorry, not many people walk around the shuttle during FTL so I wasn't watching where I was going." His voice is deep and gravely. He's definitely not from Aoria.

"Uhm, hi," I speak around my Link and he grins. I quickly fold my cash, placing it back in my pocket so my hands are free to grab my Link. I clear my throat and subtly wipe the saliva off my Link as I talk. "I wasn't watching either, so you're not the only one at fault, mister..."

"Lieutenant Marks." With the map no longer in the way, I'm able to meet his eyes completely and smile, seeing a curious light in their dark pools.

"Well Lieutenant, I'd say we're at a bit of an impasse, so if it's no trouble to you, I'll be on my way." I move to walk around him but he holds up a hand, stopping me in my place.

"You know my name, don't you think it's only fair I know yours?"

"If we were to see each other again, I would say so. However, I highly doubt that to be the case." He stops me again and I give him a playful look, he's not going to let me go. "Barringer."

As he takes a moment to process my last name, I sidestep him and move down the hallway, holding my map up again. "That sounds like only a last name!"

I turn to look at him and start walking backward. "That's all I know of you, Lieutenant." I return to walking straight and can hear his chuckling down the hall as I turn the next corner.

The rest of the walk is uneventful and I don't see anybody else. I guess, there aren't many people who walk the halls during FTL after all. After a few turns and a couple of straight-stretches, I finally find the vending machines, one with snacks and one with drinks.

I'm contemplating which snack to get when my Link chimes. I answer without looking and continue to look at the machine. "Hey girl, perfect timing, I need your help with a decision."

"Sure girl, shoot. How serious are we talking?" I look at her projection and meet her eyes.

"Chips. Sour cream and onion or flaming hot?"

"Okay, super serious. Let's see. Price?"

"They're the same."

"Hmm. Size?"

"The labels say they have the same number of ounces."

"Ugh!" She drops her head back and sets a palm on her face. "I'm trying to help here!" Astrid huffs and looks at me again. "Do you have enough for both?"

"Not if I want to get something to drink and possibly have money for the rest of the flight, keep in mind our flight to the substation is a day and a half GTA standard, whereas yours is only eight hours."

"Okay, pick a number between one and ten, it can't be five."

"Uhm...six."

"Get the sour cream and onion now, then get the flaming hot later."

I drag in a large breath then slowly release it through my nose. "Sounds like a plan." I type in the number for the chips and insert my money, the machine recognizing the dram and giving me the respective change in GTA dollars.

"What are you going to do for your actual meals if the flight is so long?"

I quickly grab my chips and buy an orange soda before heading off in the direction of the room I had come from, feeling confident in my directional skill now. "The ship has a mess on the port side, near the bow. We are provided our main meals, but are expected to provide anything further that we want, which makes sense." I raise my eyebrows and shrug.

"Gotcha."

We're silent for a moment as I walk the halls. My eyes scan the grey walls, occasionally following bundles of wires when they come out of the walls, lay transversely, then disappear back behind the walls. "Hey, Rina?"

"Hmm?"

"This is the first time I've seen you in your robes."

"Huh?" I look down at myself and the dark blue cloth that surrounds me. "Oh, yeah."

"Why is that?"

I look back at her and see that curious, need-to-learn-more light in her eyes. I sigh and sway my head. "We only wear our robes when we are in or could be in the presence of someone higher in authority or status and because of how cold it is. When I'm in my bungalow by myself, I don't wear them."

I frown at the reminder that it's no longer my bungalow. "When I was in my bungalow."

Astrid visibly cringes, teeth briefly flashing against the light in the room where she's at. "Rina..."

"I'm fine. I've been looking forward to this for the past four years."

"That doesn't make it any easier."

I meet her eyes, almost missing a turn. "I guess you're right."

"You guess?" She scoffs at me and places her hands on her hips. "You sure as hell better know I'm right!"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're always right Astrid."

"Damn straight!"

I start to laugh and she joins in, our laughter filling the halls. "I'm going to need to transfer you to audio only in a second, I'm getting close to my assigned launch room."

"Sure, sure, no prob."

Holding my Link out in front of me, I pull up the control center, Astrid's picture blurring into the background while the main focus is on the center. I select the audio call option and Astrid's figure disappears altogether. Now that the display is gone, I slide the face of my Link until it locks in position six centimeters down. Holding the display to my ear, I wait a second for Astrid to do the same, then speak. "You still there?"

"Always."

"Great." The door to the launch room opens and I walk in, looking about the room to learn what I can while on the Link with Astrid. "When does your flight leave?"

She groans, the noise rattling in my ear. I can hear a crackling sound at the noises loudness and have to hold the Link away from my ear for a moment until she's finished. "We've all been here for an hour and a half, but we don't actually board and leave for another eighteen hours!"

"Ouch, why did you all have to show up so early?"

"Eh, okay. I guess we're not technically at the shuttle yet, it's actually about five kicks away. It's just that, right before each shuttle, the town meets up to throw a big party at town square as a going away slash have-fun-see-you-soon-thing."

"Hold up, let me get this straight. So, you're saying that your town has a big party every two weeks?"

"No."

"Okay, because I thought-"

"I'm saying that the whole planet has a party every two weeks."

My jaw drops and I notice a couple a few meters away shoot me a look, whether it's for looking surprised or for being on my Link while in a large room of people, I don't care. I close my mouth and narrow my eyes, giving them a solid glare, one that I've been working on for the past nine years. They see my look and turn away, seeming to mind their own business, so I return to listening to Astrid.

"...and you know it's kind of like a right-of-passage thing, just like the trip to your choice of volcano on your eighteen birthday. The whole planet does it."

"I'm sure it's great, Astrid."



As fatigue and sleepiness begin to pull at each of us on the shuttle, a bell tolls over the PA system and a voice speaks. "We've hit the twelve-hour mark, making it twenty-three-hundred hours Aorian standard time. Each person will have a sleeping tube with their name in their assigned launch room, so if you've wandered since we jumped to FTL, please make your way back. You will all be woken up at zero-eight-hundred. Have a good night." The speakers crackle as the pilot finishes speaking and shuts off the PA system.

A loud buzzing sounds on the far side of the room and we each turn to see what the source is. The wall on the other side of the room starts to slide down into a compartment in the floor and a second hidden wall emerges from behind it, entering roughly two and a half meters into the room. The new wall is studded with large circles that pull out for a person to get in, then close again for sleeping. Thank God I'm not claustrophobic.

Slowly, people in the room start to migrate in the direction of the sleeping tubes. I notice a few people hesitate, almost afraid that if they go in, they'll never come out, but eventually, they join the rest of next to the wall, the pull of sleep more powerful than the push of fear.

Once next to the wall, I can see small digital placards displaying our names, just to the right of the corresponding sleeping tube. It takes a moment to find mine but I finally do, it's the second one up, all the way on the end. There next to the tube, is my name in the computer script that I imagine a monotone voice paired to.

Serina Barringer

I wave my hand over the display and the screen asks me to place the tip on my Link against it in the area designated by an outlined circle. Curious, I retrieve my Link from my back pocket and hold the indicated end to the display. The screen flashes green then the words "Identification Authenticated" appear, after a moment the words disappear, and the sleeping tube begins to slide out of the wall.

The air fills with sounds of talking and buzzing as more and more tubes are opened. I can hear bits and pieces of conversation but push it to the back of my mind and focus on getting in my tube. I press a small button above my head and the tube begins to shut. Once the tube is sealed, all the noise in the room outside is cut off and I release a breath, glad for the quiet.

A small light illuminates the tube and I see a small charging dock for my Link to my right. The dock is raised on the side of the tube enough so that if someone moved a lot in their sleep, they wouldn't hit or disrupt it. I set my Link on the charging dock, then press the light button above me, plunging the tube into darkness.

When my eyes have adjusted to the lack of light, I stare up at the "ceiling" of the tube and twist the ring on my finger. Hopefully, I won't be looking up at the curved carbon fiber covered metal for long.

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