Page 11 of Across The Stars
“Yes, captain,” Atom said.
“Good.” With that, I slammed my palm on the panel in front of me and forced the ship to dart forward.
5: Innifer
“Exiting Earth’s atmosphere,” the computerized voice announced to the passengers.
I had been biting my lip almost the whole time. I knew there would be turbulence on the way up, but I was a little shaken by how much. When it was over, I found myself staring out the window across from me. My jaw dropped open and even though I noticed, I couldn’t close my mouth. I was in awe of what I was looking at. The expanse. The endless space where stars stretched out farther than humans could ever map. Where my father spent ten years of his life. A place I’d dreamt of going, even if the dream was only just realized. Now that I was there, my heart was beating so wildly that I was getting dizzy. Or maybe that was the flight.
“Wow,” Locket said, grinning with excitement. “We’re actually doing this.”
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Sam whined, her face a bit paler than it was earlier.
“Shuttle 4 will arrive at the Nexus docking bay in approximately one hour.”
One hour and my life would change forever. Or so I hoped. There was still the false identity to deal with. If I was asked to pilot a ship or speak to some alien race or do anything that my work papers said I could do, I’d be thrown in prison. Hell, maybe they’d just toss me into space. I leaned my head back on the cool interior wall of the shuttle and sighed.
Across from us, I heard someone heave into one of the puke bags and looked around for the culprit. I was distracted when Sam suddenly reached for her bag and ripped it from her seat. The sound of gagging had triggered her own nausea and she emptied what little she had in her stomach into her bag. I turned away, trying not to catch a whiff for fear of throwing up myself. The turbulence didn’t bother me so much. The sour scent of regurgitated stomach contents absolutely did.
The passengers were fairly quiet during the journey through space. Everyone was either looking out the windows in awe or closing their eyes waiting for it to be over. There was silence throughout the cabin until a man in a light gray uniform walked in with his hands loosely clasped behind his back. He had a dark complexion, a few age lines, and a shiny bald head.
“Listen up, recruits,” he said, stealing everyone’s attention. “We’re approaching the Nexus. Once we dock, you will walk to your designated work stations for briefing and living assignments. You will abide by strict schedules, which include eating, sleeping, and work shifts. You are important to us and the future of Earth. We thank you for your service.”
“Approaching the Nexus,” the computer’s voice said as the uniformed man walked away. “Please prepare for docking.”
I scanned every window in the cabin for a good view of the space station. I’d seen photos and video footage on media reports, but I was sure that seeing it first-hand would be much different. When the station came into view, I realized just how right I was. It was massive. No... titanic. Colossal. Any word that meant “big” described the Nexus.
It was a city in space. A giant, round structure with three levels shaped like rings that stacked on top of each other. They were all attached to a central assembly that looked like two cities that mirrored each other. One on top and one on bottom. The space city just kept getting bigger and bigger as we neared until its mass couldn’t be contained in one window. I could see small dots flying around the metropolis. Other spacecrafts. I imagined briefly what it would be like to fly one and the idea of my father doing so tugged at the corner of my mouth. I was... excited. My father loved to fly and there was a reason. In his messages, he always said it was freeing, and looking out at the endless unknown, I could see exactly how much freedom was out there.
“It’s huge,” Sam whispered, leaning into me with a hand over her sour smelling mouth. “A place this big has to be easy to get lost in, right?”
“We just have to lay low and try to land the simplest job we can find,” I whispered back to her.
Bordering the Nexus space station was a ring of ships. They were much smaller and shaped like black spheres with fins on the top and sides that gave them a little bit of a star shape. Blue lights shone brightly on the outward facing surface of each one. I furrowed my brows, trying to make out what they were.
“The blockade,” Locket said as if sensing our wonder. “Those are guard drones. That’s what I’ll be working with. Well, maybe not those. Those are automated in a formation. They’re notusually mobile unless they have to be. See how they’re blue? They stay that color when approved spacecrafts enter Nexus borders.”
I looked at Locket, hoping I could be as knowledgeable as him one day. It would take work, but I was determined.
“Sorry,” Locket said. “You probably knew that, but I like talking and I had to teach a couple classes at the base. Guess I’m just used to explaining things.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I can always use a refresher.”
“Um,” Sam said nervously. “What’s red mean?”
Locket and I both looked at Sam and followed her wide gaze to the blockade again. The drones were turning a frightening red color and even if we didn’t know exactly what it meant, the gasps from the other passengers made it obvious that red wasn’t good.
“Shuttle entrance denied,” the computer voice announced.
Sam and I immediately stiffened, wondering if we’d already been found out. Were we going to get arrested before even getting on the space station? And how the hell did anyone know?
“Detecting unknown spacecraft in the vicinity,” the voice announced, replacing my previous worries with new ones. “Blockade’s protective measures have been activated. All shuttles are denied entry until unknown spacecraft is outside detectable range.”
I braced myself as the shuttle made a sharp turn to veer away from the blockade ring. It began skating along the outside of the barrier like an airplane circling a runway before it was clear.
“What the hell?” Locket said.
“What? What’s that mean?” I asked.
