Page 39 of Between Earth and Eternity
We are assigned room 10-B-107, and apparently “first-class suite” means that Ori and I essentially have an entire two-bedroom apartment all to ourselves. The little girl in me wants to jump on the bed. Adult Skyler is more wary about the extravagance of it all.
Soft carpeted floor, plush furniture, and an enormous kitchen are just a few of the lavish amenities that come with the room. Off of the open-concept living space, there is a hallway that leads to two en suites, each with large beds and bathrooms.
Just as Runa promised, our bags are waiting for us. Each room has a slightly different layout, and of course, the room where my bag was placed is the one with the largest window. The bed is laid right beneath, and it doesn’t appear that the furniture is movable. Ori’s room has a much smaller window, and the bed is placed on the opposite wall.
I don’t share my irrational reason for wanting to switch rooms, but she agrees nonetheless. I’ll sleep better, even if the window is still mere feet away, as if size will make a difference if the window breaks and I’m sucked into the void.
Honestly, I could fall asleep standing right now with little rest I got the night before on top of this stress-filled day. I blame most of that on Vallen practically sucking the life out of me with that death glare.
Addnever ever piss off Vallen Mannox againto my list.
Ori is like a busy little bee, checking out every nook and cranny of our cabin. Not that I’ve ever seen a bee in person, but from what I’ve seen in movies, I feel like it’s a fair comparison.
I excuse myself to my room. I’ll have plenty of time to familiarize myself with our living space over the next thirteen months.
The door softly closes behind me as I take in my room, keeping my distance from the thick glass separating me from nothingness.
Space is the ultimate contradiction. It’s not the kind of darkness where you can’t see a hand in front of your face; it’s more like a veil over the mind that blinds you from reason.
It’s everything, but not life. Creates life, but not for the living; it's unlivable if you are made of flesh and blood.
I pull off my shoes and hat before plopping down on the annoyingly comfortable bed, soft and fluffy like a cloud. I hate to keep giving the Mannoxes credit for the true spectacularness of this place.
Somewhere beneath me lies Earth. I’ll cling to the hope of seeing the people I love every second I am away, with each mile that stretches between us. Earth is a different story, gone and always will be, but like a distant star, I still hold on to that hope burning inside me. It may only be a flicker, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s the last thought I have before falling deep into sleep and space.
I ignored the announcement for everyone to get to a window to watch Zenith pull away from Earth. I should behold the sight of it one last time, but I might as well be on the other side of the galaxy already.It sounded like a celebration, and I wanted no part in it, so I slept through disembark, lost in dreams of the night my name was pulled in the Lottery. The memory rewinds and plays over and over again like one of the old cassette tapes we would catalog at E.P.S. Played so many times, it was a wonder they still worked.
When I wake, there is a gentle, soft humming, almost like white noise, a practically silent indication that the ship is now flying through the cosmos. Nausea rises in my throat when I dare myself to turn toward the window and find we are indeed sailing through starlight.
I avoid the window as much as possible before heading to my bathroom to freshen up. The living room might be the most comfortable part of the suite since there are no windows. I’dhappily sleep on the couch every night, but the bed was so heavenly, it would be hard to pass that up. When I emerge from the hallway, I find Ori sitting on the couch, watching a movie.
“Oh, hey, you’ve been asleep for a while. You feel okay?” She pauses whatever she was watching as I sit beside her, pulling one of the large pillows onto my lap.
“Less tired, but still a little off.” I grab her hand and squeeze. “By the way, thank you for the emotional support. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I was happy to.” She squeezes my hand back. “Also, it’s not just me. Payson came by to check on you. I think someone is crushing on you big time.” She raises her eyebrows, making me laugh.
“Yeah . . . maybe.” There’s no denying that Pace is a handsome man. Still practically a stranger, but he has come to my aid. Even if the execution hasn’t always been perfect, the intentions seem genuine. “I wasn’t really planning to find a boyfriend during an off-planet expedition, but then again, I really had no idea what to expect.”
“That is an understatement,” she agrees. “Do you want to finish watching this with me?” She nods to the screen. “There are thousands of movies in the catalog. It took me a while to pick one.”
I immediately recognize it as one of my mom’s and my favorite rom-coms. I can’t help but wonder if there are any missing, but I store the thought away for now.
“Absolutely. I love this one.”
As always, it is warm and comfortable in Ori’s company. If living together entails lots of time watching movies on the couch, then this truly is a best-case scenario, an easy way to pretend that everything is normal and to eat up the time while we’re stuck here. Okay, not stuck; how did my mother put it?“The adventure of a lifetime,”not a prison.
Ori and I talk here and there as we finish the movie, and Ori fills me in on what she discovered in the suite so far. Our comm console is regularly updated with the happenings on the ship, such as shows, places to eat, and other entertainment. It reminds me of a cruise ship, something that people used to do for vacations back before the sundering. I only know about them from old movies and TV shows.
“And get this, we can have meals delivered right to our room! Can you believe that? We have to pay a fee of course, but it could be fun to splurge our monthly allowance once in a while,” she says.
Yep. Definitely a glorified cruise ship.
When the movie is over, we decide to head to the central dining hall for dinner. The tube is busy with passengers going every which way, stewards and badges mixed in with the crowds. The hall’s official name is Lunar Landing, and we are immediately hit with a blend of savory aromas when entering, but the moment is short-lived when I see the entire hall is surrounded by 360 degree views of outer space.Breathe, Skyler.
Lunar Landing is essentially a glorified cafeteria with a variety of cuisines to choose from at the ordering stations and tracked with our thumbprints.
After scanning, my options show up on the screen. Most of the options are colored, but some are grayed out asunavailableunless I want to pay extra, since they are not included with my food plan. I decide on spaghetti and meatballs and Ori gets pad Thai.
