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[foxxinxspace-blog]

Edge of Space: Chapter 2 Lilly

I smile sleepily as I look into the engine hatch, watching as the gears slowly turn as Lea steers us in the right direction, the radio static from the back of the ship where Ethan's messing around with the monitors slowly lolling me to sleep. Yawning, I stand up and stretch, "I'mma grab a food bag, want one?" I ask, pulling open the door to a small compartment. "Yea, grab me something sweet," Ethan says, still focused on his work. Lea shakes his head, "naw, I'll eat once we're clear of any debris fields." I grab two packets of sweet potatoes and toss one to Ethan who catches it and tears it open with a sigh, "I suppose they didn't stock us with any desserts, huh." I shrug, "maybe, I just grabbed the two I saw first, there's enough food to feed a good sized army in there." He leans back, "think we'll see any other life out here?" He asks. "Probably," Lea answers, sounding almost certain of it. When neither Ethan nor I  say anything, Lea turns to face us, the dark bags under his eyes from staying awake at the controls since we left Earth behind two days ago making him look even more pale than he was before, "I mean, we are looking for a planet simular to Earth, so there's most likely going to be some form of life already living there, right?" I nod, "I guess you're right," I shrug. "Could you toss me some food, anything's alright," he says, relaxing slightly, "it's going to be pretty much autopilot until we reach what's left of Pluto." I nod and toss him one. We sit around and eat, not really talking about anything personal, just plans for the mission and speculation about where we'll end up after the wormhole jump.

Eventually Ethan stands up, "I'm going to get some sleep, the two of you should do the same, I'm sure if anything happens the alert system will go off," he says, looking at Lea, "besides, none of us are of any use to humanity if we can't even keep our eyes open," he smiles before going into the bunk area at the back of the ship behind a thick black curtain. I get up and stretch, "he has a point, ya know," I say and follow him, unzipping my suit and stepping out of it, wearing a plain white t-shirt and shorts, the same as what the other two have under their suits. I get under the covers and close the privacy curtain. A few minutes later I hear Lea do the same before I drift off to sleep.

The next morning I'm awoken by loud sirens and my privacy curtain being pull back, "hurry and get your suit on and strap yourself in, we drifted into one of Jupiter's trojan asteroid fields," Ethan says, panicking, I get out and pull on my suit, following him to the main room and strapping myself in, "did we take any damage?" I ask. "Doesn't look like it," Lea says, gritting his teeth as he yanks the controls around, "I just hope you both have strong stomachs, it's about to get a whole lot worse." I spend the next twenty minutes holding onto my straps for dear life while Ethan has his eyes squeezed shut. When it's finally over Lea sighs in relief and leans back, "Alright, we're clear, but you'll need to check out the engine," he says, looking over to me. Nodding I open the hatch, "I can't really see any damage from here, but I'll need to check the outside," he nods, "Alright, Ethan, stay in here and check in with command, I'm going to go outside with Lilith to make sure she doesn't get knocked away by a stray asteroid," he says, pulling on his helmet and clasping it tightly. "Please, just call me Lilly," I tell him before going into the airlock and out into space, my tether keeping my close to the side of the ship. "See anything?" Lea asks through the headset, "not yet, there's a few dents, but nothing major." There's only silence between us for a few minutes before I decide to ask something that's been on my mind, "um, the day we left Earth, I saw you talking with the commander, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything, but, um...." I say awkwardly, not quite sure of I should just bluntly ask why he was trying to leave, if that's even what was going on. "I get it," he says softly, "I just didn't think I was a good fit for the mission, I didn't join the academy wanting to go on a mission, especially one like this, so I tried to slip out without anyone noticing," he says. "If you didn't want to go on a mission, then why did you join?" I ask in confusion, "it's kinda personal," he shrugs, "I guess I just wanted to know what's out there, or out here I should say, I guess." I arch an eyebrow, getting the feeling that he's hiding something. Getting back to checking the exterior of the ship, having given up on trying to figure him out, I sigh in relief, "there's a few dents, but nothing that would be something to worry about," I say as I start to head back in. Lea doesn't say anything, but I can tell that he's following me thanks to the way his tether's moving. Pulling myself inside and closing the door as soon as Lea uses the small overhang to pull himself in, I pull off my helmet and sigh, "honestly, I don't think I'll ever be used to flouting around like that," I smile and he shrugs. Once back in our seats Ethan looks over, "the radio system's up and running ok, how's the ship?" He asks and I smile, "she's still goin' strong," I respond as Lea tries to start us back in the right direction, "I'm just glad the controls held out," He sighs, "you'd think that command would spring for better controls for something like this." Ethan looks over confused, "what do you mean?" He asks, "well, the stick just feels stiff, I really have to put a lot of muscle into it," Lea explains before pressing a button, "I'm going back to sleep, it's midnight back on Earth," He adds, looking at a small wristwatch. I watch him as he goes back to the sleeping area and lays in his bunk without taking off his suit, "I'm going to do the same," I yawn, getting up and going to my own bunk, taking off my suit and falling back to sleep.

[foxxinxspace-blog]

Edge Of Space: Chapter 1 Ethan

Today started off like any other day, despite the fact that three of us might never see Earth again. I shake my head, trying to stay awake after a long night listening to my roommate snore, as the commander rambles on about deep space safety and navigation. He clears his throat, "I know that the majority of you are nervous, but this is what you've been training to do for five years," he pauses to clear his throat and pick up a sheet of paper, "today three of you will go out in search of a new planet that's suitable for human life, as you know, Earth's climate is becoming unstable..." I tune out the rest of his speech as I look around the room at the three sections of students, divided by our fields of study. "...on that note, it's time to announce the brave team of adventurers, the pilot will be Lea Walker, engineer is Lilith Clark, and communication specialist is Ethan Gibson." My eyes widen in surprise as I stand up, looking over at the other two, Lea with his shoulder length black hair tied into a short ponytail, and Lilith, whose light brown hair is thrown into a lazily styled bun. She smiles over at me, obviously overjoyed to be chosen for the mission, I smile back, curious about the two people I'll be spending the next three years with, that is if the mission actually goes well, if not, we'll probably spend the rest of our lives together adrift in space. "Once the three of you are ready, we'll meet in the command room and I'll give you more detailed instructions there, as for the rest of you, you'll be on small-scale missions, the team's are posted in the mess hall," the commander barks before turning and leaving the room.

About an hour later I'm standing in the command room, sweating in the heavy spacesuit and holding my helmet under my arm. Glacing around I see Lilith enter the room, she smiles and walks other, "you're Ethan, right? I'm Lilith, but just call me Lilly," she says, offering a hand. I take it, "yea, nice to meet you, any idea where the commander is? I though he'd already be here," I ask and she sighs, "you don't have to be so formal, we're going to be together for a long time and I saw the commander earlier, he was with Lea and he didn't look too happy," she shrugs. I arch an eyebrow, "what were they talking about?" I ask, curious, "I dunno, I wasn't close enough to hear, but Lea wasn't wearing a uniform or suit and he was carrying a duffle bag," she says quietly. I try to think of something to say to change the subject when a door opens and both Lea and the commander enter the room, neither looking happy. The commander stands in front of us as Lea stands next to me, looking at the floor angrily, "the three of you have already been assigned to the position that you're best suited for," he says, "however, in order for this mission to be a success, you need to work as a team," he clears his throat, "Once you lunch and get past the atmosphere, fly to the edge of the solar system, from there you'll enter in the coordinates given to you and enter into a wormhole. By the time you come out, its unknown how much time may have passed here on Earth, but we won't be able to directly contact you. The data you collect will be sent back here, and we'll analyze it, when you find a suitable planet with an atmosphere simular to Earth's with some sort of food and water supply, plant one of the sensors located on the left side of your ship," he explains, "now go get strapped in." I nod and turn to follow Lilly out of the room.

Once inside the ship I sit down in the seat at the back of the ship, next to the monitors and radio system, Lilly finishes strapping herself in next to the engine hatch and Lea sighs as he untwists some of the strapped before buckling them, "everyone finished?" He asks without turning around. " Yea, I'll send command the all clear," I say and pick up the radio mic, "this is mission one-two-eight, we are ready for launch," I say. "You are clear," a voice comes over the radio and a count down starts on the main monitor with a robotic voice reading off the numbers. By the time it gets down to one the sounds of the main engine is loud enough to drown out the voice. Lea visibly tenses as we launch, and I arch an eyebrow, a pilot should be used to the feeling of launching and know that it's not really enough to even warrant needing to be strapped down. "Lea, are you alright?" Lilly asks loud enough to be heard over the roar of the engine, sounding concerned, he nods, "I'll be find, just go ahead and put on your helmets," he says, putting his on. Pulling mine on and snapping the clasps down I watch him, wondering why he might of been trying to run away earlier and if it has anything to do with how he's acting now. "We've just left Earth's atmosphere, so it'll be smooth sailing for awhile," Lilly says excitedly when the noise finally dies down. Bitting my lip I think of my family and why I decided to agree with training for something like this in the first place. "How long until we get to the edge of the solar system?" I ask and Lea looks back at me, "I'd say about three or four days, give or take, it depends on what the limit is on this thing," he shrugs, "I'm guessing it's a bit faster than anything other mission's had to work with." Lilly nods, opening the engine hatch, "looks close to what the last mission had to work with, but with a few modifications, so you're on the right track, last mission took 'bout five days for them to reach it." I smile to myself, "well, what do you think they stocked for us to eat?" I ask jokingly. "Hopefully something better than what the cafeteria served," Lea answers, taking hold of the controls and steering us in the right direction.