Chapter 8

 

…[ JACY ]…

Jacy had been working for Mativo for four years, and she still had a hard time accepting that he actually invested in the construction of a building dedicated to housing parties. The absurd part was that it usually had bookings months in advance. Sometimes more than one booking per week. It had proved a worthy investment over the years. And it was where the go away party was held.

The main hall was filled with people. Most of the crew, their families and friends. There were people dancing in the middle of the hall to the beat of the music. The bars were along the walls of the hall with several rows of stools and tables right next to them. Those too were filled with people holding light conversations, or maybe deep conversations. Jacy couldn’t really tell. Jacy was surprised by the number of people that had decided to come. With three days to the big day, she had thought that most of them would want to spend time with their family and friends. I guess they are doing that. Just with other members of the crew too.

“You know, for a moment I thought he might come. It wouldn’t hurt to spend time with the crew, get to know them. And them him.” Mũsonde said. He was the Chief Medical Officer. A tall dark guy, though from Jacy’s perspective most people were tall. She didn’t know which part of the world he came from, it was no longer easy to tell just by the way someone looked or their accent, or even their name. And she had never asked.

Of course Jacy knew Mativo wouldn’t be here. He could come, but like he always said, ‘I am saving my energy for when it is absolutely necessary.’ She couldn’t argue with that. The guy’s blood pressure rose when he was around a large group of people. He suffered a mini heart attack once.

“He interacts with the crew enough. He just does it individually or in small groups.” Cindy always offered explanations for Mativo. That must be why she landed the Second position. She was also a great commander on her own.

“Cheers to our last day on earth for months to come,” Pon said, raising his glass of wine.

“It’s not our last day.”

“I was being grand, Andrew.” They laughed as they took sips, and some gulps, from their glasses.

“Do you think I could get someone to spend the night with?” Kalũki asked as her eyes roamed across the hall.

“In this group?” Andrew asked her, looking aghast at the question.

“What?”

“Yeah, Andrew. What is wrong with this group of people?” Jacy asked him. It was always fun to make him uncomfortable.

“They are like our fellow crew members. Their families and friends…”

Cindy turned to him askance, “Is something wrong with that?”

He looked around and found everyone there was staring at him. He raised his hands in surrender and said, “Just don’t go after my wife.”

“I’m only interested in men.” They laughed at that, even Andrew smiled a bit.

Mũsonde clapped Andrew on the shoulder as he said, “Don’t sweat it buddy, as long as you don’t give her reason to look elsewhere, you are fine.”

Kalũki quickly downed her glass of wine before taking two more from a passing server. Then quickly finished one of them.

“Slow down there, champ. The night is still young.” Cindy told her as she placed her finished glasses on another server’s tray. It looked like she had been about to take another one.

“I need the extra nutrients to get enough energy for all I will be doing tonight.”

“Don’t you mean liquid courage?” Pon asked her, causing some of them to laugh.

“No!” but Kalũki was quick refuse that as her reason. “I have courage a plenty. What I need is the energy to keep on going strong for a while.”

“Well, liquid courage is the only thing you are getting from those.” Mũsonde told her. It was hard to tell whether he was being truthful or not. As a Doctor, he would know best among them. unless there was a nutritionist around.

And it had Kalũki confused. “What? But they are made from fruits.”

“A fruit juice would be better for that.”

“Okay then, fruit juice it is.”

“Or sodas.” Pon added. “Those too contain energy in form of sugars. You just have to watch out for the peeing.”

To Jacy’s left, Kacy was whispering something to Frea. Who smiled at her before announcing to the group, “We are heading to the restroom. This talk of liquids and peeing has gotten to us.”

“Do you want me to come with?” Jacy asked her.

“No. We are fine.”

“Okay. Try and not be long then.”

The talk among them continued as Frea and Kacy excused themselves. Jacy tried keeping up with them, she easily found herself losing the flow of the conversation. Soon enough, she was wishing Frea and Kacy would hurry up with their business.

Finally, they made it back from the restroom. And they brought fresh drinks with them.

“I thought you might be done with that one. I guess I was right.” Kacy handed her one of the drinks she was holding. Jacy took it while placing her empty glass on to a passing waiter’s tray.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” she asked Kacy as she took a sip from her new drink. She must have being paying attention, because she got her her favorite drink. Or Frea had told her.

“I would never dream of it.”

“What did we miss while we were gone?” Frea asked.

“Nothing much.”

“Andrew warned everyone to stay away from his wife,” Kalũki commented, easily out voicing Pon‘s statement. Andrew just shook his head.

“I see some people have joined the dance.” Jacy followed Kacy’s stare to find Dominic, Matt, Park and Xhalo doing a weird circle dance. They were moving around each other, torsos bend at near a ninety-degree angle with their heads raised. Their hands were folded to their hips, performing flapping motions. They would dip their torsos below the waist, and then raise them, repeating it as they went for a whole revolution. Shaking their asses the whole time. Then they jumped up and turned around, and repeated the whole thing in the opposite direction. Honestly, it looked like a weird bird mating dance.

As they watched, a new circle was forming outside their circle moving opposite to them.

“Let’s go join them.” Cindy suggested, as she started moving towards a third circle that was starting to form, pulling Kalũki with her. “You might find someone here. Cause you won’t find one standing at one spot.”

“Oh no! Not me, I’ll go find my wife,” Andrew said as he started moving away from the dance floor. But Mũsonde stopped him and pointed to the third circle,

“Sorry dude, your wife is already in the thick of it.”

As the others left, Frea and Kacy waited for her to finish her drink. By the time they joined, they were on the fifth circle. They went through three different dance moves before the formations started changing. Jacy let it all carry her through those. She lost sight of Frea on a few occasions but Kacy stuck to her, and she was glad for it.

The formations soon dissolved and people went back to dancing with close partners. Frea and Kacy for her. She danced as hard as she could, flapping her arms, and shaking her whole body. She got really into it, eventually sweating so much she could see beads of sweat fly off her as she shook her head. She forgot about the issues with the nanobots, the attempted kidnapping on Mativo, their upcoming expedition of the Solar System, and even a little bit about her reservations with Kacy.

A slow song took over and Frea quickly excused herself in the guise of grabbing a drink. She made to follow her, but Kacy’s hand on hers stopped her. She convinced herself that it was only a dance, as she let her put an arm around her waist.

They danced slow, too slow it felt like they were just swaying left and right. Jacy’s breath was getting labored as the song dragged on. It had been a bad idea to agree to the dance. Her heart was beating faster, and she could feel the beginnings of a sweat at her hands.

She met Kacy’s eyes in the low light of the dance hall, feeling like she was going to drown in the emotion she found there. She knew those eyes and wanted them to know her. The smell of her perfume she could fell tickling her nose was tantalizingly familiar and gained her interest so. Her brain began to howl demands and it was all she could do to maintain control.

Maybe she had had one too many drinks. I can’t think straight. The alcohol wasn’t all to blame, the warmth that spread through her as she tightly held and moved across the dance floor with Kacy was far greater than anything she had ever felt before. Pon had been right, it was feeling like her last day on Earth.

Kacy looked so serene under the light, like an angel smiling down at her from the heavens above. She felt herself get pulled closer. Or was she the one doing the pulling? She couldn’t really tell. And she let it happen anyway. A small part of her was trying to stop her, but she couldn’t remember why.

She brought her face in close to Jacy’s, and Jacy knew she couldn’t kiss her. Her eyes flicked to her lips before going back to her eyes again.

Time slowed down and somehow it didn’t. Her senses were heightened. Heart rate getting higher and higher. And everything but them started to fade out. First the music, then the people. Until it was her and Kacy, in the middle of nothing.

Jacy reached out to caress her cheek. Grazing her thumb along the edge of Kacy’s jaw. The skin there was very soft. She traced it back bringing her hand to the back of Kacy’s neck. She stood on her toes and placed a featherly kiss on her lips, before dropping back down. They gazed at each other for a few seconds before she pulled Kacy in for a hug. And the world slowly faded in.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Slowly swaying with the music.

“I’ll go grab a drink,” she said as she stepped away from Jacy.

“I’m going for fresh air outside.” Jacy gave her a meaningful look and headed for the door. She kept looking at her as she walked outside, then located Frea at the nearest bar deep in conversation with members of the crew.

…

“I thought you’d never come,” Kacy said as Jacy made it outside. The cool night air a stark contrast to the sweat inducing heat of the party inside. The building had air conditioning, but there were a lot of people inside, more than a thousand, all moving about. It was cooler near the walls.

“That’s what she said,” Jacy told her as she sat at the bench. Which prompted Kacy to punch her lightly on the shoulder.

“You are perv.” Jacy feigned being hurt, both from the punch and the accusation.

Silence stretched between them. Minutes long. A very awkward silence. Jacy didn’t know where to begin. And despite all her bravado, Kacy was painfully shy and had a hard time starting something. It reminded her of the first time they met. They had been friends for months, and Kacy was still shy around her. Especially when it was just the two of them. With Frea around, she blossomed like a butterfly from a cocoon. Frea wasn’t around, it was up to Jacy to start up any kind of conversation.

“I didn’t mean to kiss you.” Kacy’s crestfallen expression made her backtrack that statement. “What I mean is, I wanted to kiss you but it wasn’t a good idea for me to kiss you. At least not now.”

“Why?” Kacy asked as she looked at her. Her voice strong and unwavering.

“What do you mean why?”

“Yes. Why is it not a good idea to kiss me now? And when will it be a good time?”

Jacy stared at her a few moments before breaking eye contact to stare at the sky. Seeing countable stars that could barely make it through the light polluted night sky of the city. “I’ll be leaving in a few days,” she looked back at Kacy again, “For months.”

“So?”

“Why do I feel like I’m on trial?”

“You are not. But you’re the one that kissed me, remember? Breaking our unspoken rule of pushing the boundaries of our relationship.”

“I got caught up in the moment. The anxiousness of the upcoming expedition, the dancing, the alcohol, the music,” she listed her reasons using the fingers of her hand to illustrate. She debated for a second and then added, “And you. You look beautiful tonight.”

“Not the other times you’ve seen me?” she asked with a smirk.

“You know what I mean.”

“Thanks.” She said, blushing a little. Maybe a lot, the low lighting outside could be hiding a lot.

“I don’t want to start something when I’m not sure I’ll be available.” At this, Kacy gave her a skeptical look. “Don’t look at me like that. There are lots of things that could go wrong.”

“Like what?”

“The ship is untested, it could break apart in space.” Even she knew that point was weak. “Okay, I could die out there.”

“All the more reason to give us a chance.”

“Fine. We both know that this won’t be the only expedition we go on. Mativo isn’t the kind of person who likes doing things twice, the next one…” she trailed off. Even thinking about it was scary. “It will take years, decades even.”

“You don’t mean…” Kacy suddenly looked scared and it had her worried. “You can’t possibly mean… I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“See, that’s why I didn’t want to—”

“No, you don’t understand. I was planning to surprise you when you got back,” she looked at her with a forced smile, “I’m training to be part of the crew on the next expedition. Yah…”

“Oh! I see.”

“Yeah.” She looked at her clasped hands, flexing them a bit. She continued, her voice forlorn, “I thought it would be another trip around the Solar System, or maybe one to establish bases in some of the places this trip will find worthy.”

“There will still be trips for within the Solar System.” Jacy tried to console her, but she knew that wasn’t the problem anymore.

“But which one will you be on?” And they both knew the answer to that. Mativo will go far out, and Jacy will be forced to follow. Apparently, Kacy will follow too. “I guess I will have to get over the several space phobias that I might have sooner than I thought.”

“There are space phobias?”

“You don’t know?” When she indicated negatively, “Go look them up online.”

“I want to try this, us. After the expedition. We will be around each other then. I’ll make sure that if there is a chance of us going together on the next expedition, that we’ll.”

“You know, you shouldn’t go just so you could be with me.” That made her pause. “Aaahh! That sounded so self-centered. Look at the things you are making me say.” Kacy just laughed at her.

“I want to explore the universe, Jacy. Or have you forgotten my area of research. I always thought that my work will be used by other space pioneers on some far away strange new lands. Mativo has upturned the world too much and people aren’t even aware of it. Four years ago, when he established his space company, those who heard about it said it was a waste of money. He should focus his money at the things he could do, they said. Four years later, he is going on an expedition of the solar system and no one doubts its success.”

“The protesters on the news would disagree with that statement.”

“What do they know of space travel?” She asked, then seemed to perk up. “Karaoke!”

“What?” Jacy was understandably confused. Karaoke had nothing with the topics they had been talking about.

“They just started up on karaoke.” She stood from the bench and pulled her up too. “Come on, there is a song I wanted to sing.”

That statement brought Jacy to a stop. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“What? For me to sing?”

“No. I’m sure you will do great. For me to be there when you sing.”

“We have already agreed that we are going to give us a chance. You can’t hide behind the guise of us being just friends anymore.”

“I don’t remember us ever finishing that conversation.” But her complains fell on deaf ears as Kacy forcefully pulled her back to the party hall.

…[ MATIVO ]…

I was anxious, and very angry at the same time. It was approximately twelve hours to our allocated departure time. And I hadn’t learnt anything about the guys that kidnapped me. Who had employed them? Why they had wanted me kidnapped? It was a lot of huge questions to be left unanswered at such a big day. I had spent the last two days at the space center. Security had been increased multifold. If anything, even an ant, moved within fifty kilometers of the space center, the security team knew about it. Be it above or below ground. All defenses were set at their maximum setting; there had been a close call when one of League of Nations satellites had deviated meters from its projected course. People at the space center and even the news channels claimed that the whole world, the whole human colonies, was watching. But I knew only a fool would believe that. By my estimate, quite possibly less than half the living humans knew of the trip. And even less than that knew that we were leaving in twelve hours. It felt momentous for those directly involved and affected, but there were a lot of people out there whose lives would never be affected by this event, one way or another. Well, unless the gravity device malfunctioned and wrecked Earth’s own gravity so bad that Earth was reduced to tiny rock fragments with no gravity to speak of.

The ship had been scoured clean of anything potentially dangerous. All living things aside from those found in the farming deck, otherwise known as hydroponics, had been removed in an effort to prevent the presence of stowaways. I still didn’t understand why the crew had insisted on live animals when meat could easily be produced in the fabrication room. Besides, it was only a months-long journey. What about a years-long expedition? Would they ask for bison and buffalos? At current, the ship only housed chicken and rabbits.

After the last simulation, the ship underwent a week long space capability checks before we flew it to the docking port. Hangar really, calling it a docking port was a stretch. It was the fourth time the ship had flown. The prototypes before it had gone as far as orbiting the moon. There were proponents for more actual flight tests, before going the whole way gallivanting through the Solar System. But the day had arrived, and the ship was as ready as it will ever be. Its name had been painted on its hull. MSE – 0001 on both sides, and ROBIN on the front. Its full name was: MŨTINDA SPACESHIP EXPLORER – 0001 : ROBIN.

All crew members were in the waiting room. They had already said their goodbyes to family and friends before they were thoroughly inspected. Then allowed into the waiting room, where they had stayed for close to six hours. They would start boarding at exactly twelve hours before departure. All the senior managers, otherwise called officers, were in the admission room. I had intended to establish something of a corporate hierarchy, but the more military aligned designation took hold nonetheless. The titles had devolved into a mismatch of names. But only the top levels were affected; in the lower levels of the hierarchy, it was all corporate.

“Boarding will now begin. When your group is called, please proceed to the admission room in an orderly fashion. Thank you. Deck Officers.”

The first people moved into the admission room, with nothing on them other than the clothes on their bodies. Nothing much would be really required. The crew would spend most if not all their time in uniform. There were three sets of pajamas. With over twenty different designs to choose from, uniformity for the crew couldn’t be guaranteed. Then came the space suits. Those had the same design for all crew members.

The crew uniform, or so called on-board clothing was where things got a little messy. There were a lot of options available, but they weren’t that available. The crew were each allowed three sets of uniform. Two sets were a standardized charcoal grey trouser; sky blue polo shirt with the collar and the top back of it showing the work area designation; and a charcoal grey jacket doing the same. For the last set of their uniform, the crew were allowed to personalize it as long as it maintained functionality and the ship’s color theme. Things like skirts, shorts, dresses, dress shirts, T-shirts, blazers, waistcoats, and even ties and scarfs. The crew had gotten their creative juices flowing with that allowance.

All their belongings had been submitted to the boarding office two days prior, who had then inspected them and placed them in the appropriate quarters. If there were any disallowed items, the boarding office would first alert the security office who would then bring the owner for evaluation. There had been no such incidences for the expedition.

They were checked against the crew roaster then inspected by the security officers before being allowed into the hangar. There were more security officers there too. And other security measures. They were allowed ten minutes to ensure that everything was as it should be in their respective decks. After the all clear signals were received, the next group was called up. The whole boarding process took two hours. We, the senior officers, were the last to board. All the security personnel not part of the crew vacated the hanger as the last of the crew boarded and the ship was closed from the inside. No one could go inside anymore.

The hangar was locked from the outside, sealing it completely and the hanger roof-doors opened. The hangar itself was built with the capability to contain the worst explosion humankind could offer. It wouldn’t do to kill people unnecessarily; I had told them.

It took more than an hour to perform ship-wide system checks. I used that time to get used to the bridge view of the outside. No matter how many times I had been in the bridge, I had never fully gotten used to it. The bridge had been designed to offer a view of the outside. Except for the floor and wall connecting the bridge to the rest of the ship, everything else was a series of screens designed to give the feel of being in a balcony. Of course, screens could be individually turned off to narrow the view as desired. During the early days of the simulations, people had fainted from the mere sight of the bridge.

The bridge was forty meters across, and stretched twenty meters to the front, of dull white floor and wall. It had the layout of a pressed semicircle at the front. At the center, offset near the wall, was a raised semicircle platform, five meters in radius, with the Commander’s and Second’s seats. Ahead of those on the normal floor was the Helms seat. To the left was the Navigation seat with the Engines seat farther left. On the right was Communications and Life-Support. Each seat had its own console and they were all located five meters from the raised command platform.

“The view from here still unnerves me.” Cindy said as she settled in her seat. There were murmurs of agreement throughout the bridge.

“Don’t worry, we will be used to it by the time the expedition is over.” I said as I tried to make myself comfortable in my seat. “Did they renovate the seats? It sure doesn’t feel like my usual worn in one. Where are my butt cheek impressions?”

“You feel it too?” Pon asked. “I was afraid to say anything. Didn’t want to come off nervous.”

“We are all nervous. This isn’t a simulation anymore.” The rest of the bridge agreed with Kalũki.

“Robin. This is Control Centre, respond.” A window showing a wizened chocolate skinned woman with greying hair popped up, front and center, grabbing everyone’s attention. It was Mutheu, the head manager of space center control room.

“Control Center. This is Robin. Mativo responding.”

“You left out your title. Why do I keep doing this?”

“You left out your name. Besides, you know I don’t like titles for myself. Mativo is a title, in and of itself.”

“Fine. I hope you meet hostile extraterrestrials out there. They might teach you some manners.”

“Fat chance of that happening. And I have manners enough. I answered, didn’t I?” I could hear background chatter through the Bridge speakers, probably someone reminding her that we were getting sidetracked. The bander was a welcome reprieve, it brought the old simulation mood to the bridge. I could literally see shoulders relaxing.

“Everything from our end is okay. Report on your end.” Mutheu said.

“Report.” I said after tapping at the shortcut for a communication line to all officers. After receiving the okay signal from all of them, I turned to Mutheu. “We are all good here, ready for ship startup.”

“Robin. You are go for ship startup.” Mutheu responded after close to a minute. What followed was a whole eight-hour session of back and forth between the Bridge and the Control Center, and the Bridge and the rest of the ship. The ship had been running on standby mode. The Engine Core was the first to startup. Then everything was checked to make sure it still operated; from the essential systems such as life support, the working of the shuttles, the gyms, the kitchens, and even the entertainment center.

By the end of the session, some of the crew where noticeably tired. There had even been a whole hour of microgravity when the Gravity Device had been activated and switched to microgravity. It was back on standby but still on. But the checks were complete and everything was fine. The ship was finally ready for departure.

“One hour to Departure. All crew to their departure stations.” Robin, the ship’s AI, had finally taken over the control of the ship. Mũsango at Helms could easily take over control, but we had agreed to let Robin do that. It was an hour wait to departure and the minutes it took to reach geosynchronous orbit. Idle chatter was held as the minutes trickled down, with Robin occasionally announcing what was happening and the ten-minute decrements. Then it was five minutes, and all chatter died down.

“Gravity set to microgravity. Anti-acceleration field on.”

“Robin. Have a safe expedition.” Control Center said with a minute to go.

“Fifteen seconds to departure… nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Departure.”