The Babysitter II: Happy Halloween

The Skeld

Indigo's PoV:

I'd just been talking to Mango when we finally arrived at The Skeld.
"Oki, I gotta go back to my mum now" she told me, waving before running off.

Mango was nice. She had tried talking to Snow but he was a little nervous and didn't want to speak, so we were chatting instead. It's really cool because she loves lots of the same things as me! Out of all the new crew, Mango was definitely my favourite. Sorry to the others, but it's true.

"Come on, Snow. Let's go!" I exclaimed excitedly and we ran over to Lime.

"Heya" Avocado greeted.

Oops, wrong Lime. "Sorry Avo" I laughed, "gotta get to Lime"

"...Avo?" He asked

"Yeah! Avocado but shorter." I explained, "Do ya like it?"

He thought for a second then nodded. "See you later Indigo!"

This time we went up to the real Lime. Most of the original crew was here already, we were waiting to board The Skeld.

So it's like the place where we did training? But real? And bigger?

Wait... Black was missing. I quickly glanced around and then saw him stood next to Purple, talking about something or other.

It hurt that the new crew were called by their colours... and Violet's mother has to be called Purple. My dad was called Purple on the missions. This just felt weird and wrong.

And I think Peach felt the same about Mango's mum... called Orange like her dad.
Teal definitely didn't like people calling her dad Cyan. That name was for her mother and her mother only, that's what she said.

Anyway. Forget about the names. We're here now, and that's all that matters... right?

Teal's PoV:

"And you're not to leave my sight, okay?"

"Why?" I groaned.

"Because I don't trust the others" my dad muttered bitterly. "Least of all, that waste of space Lime"

My eyes narrowed slightly at that, but I didn't respond. Ugh, since when did I care anyway? "I have my own tasks to do" I mumbled. "Different tasks."

"Well you didn't have any problem staying with your mother on your last mission, so you shouldn't have a problem staying with me." He sighed as we turned on our tablets. Then we began walking around the corridors to do tasks.

Things are done a little differently now. We each are assigned a new set of tasks every day, rather than getting one long list for the whole trip. Kids now have tasks. We also have shared rooms; I don't know who I'll be sharing with just yet though. Hopefully Scarlet? She's the only one I remotely care about any more, even though I don't know why.

My father stopped in the storage room to fix some wires, I sat down on a box and glanced around. "Hey mom?"

Dad immediately whipped around, sighing "Teal, it's not going to work. You've been trying for the past five years and you haven't even gotten close, what makes you think that it'll work here anyway?"

"I think it'll work anywhere. She's following me."

"This..... this fantasy has to stop now, okay?" he softly murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder which I quickly pushed away.

"She's here. My mom is here. You can't even say her name any more! It's like she never existed!" I yelled, I could tell my father was about to say something else but then Orange came in with Mango skipping along behind, so absorbed with observing her list of tasks. My dad turned around and continued with the wires, so I wandered over to the trash chute and gazed out of the glass window out into deep space.

Heh, we were finally here, out in space... just like mom always promised. Mom, are you out there? You probably can't hear what I'm thinking... but just in case you can, I love you. And I'm not going to stop trying. I'll find a way to talk to you, properly. I really want to see you again... it's been too long... I'm not the same without you...

Emerald's PoV:

"Where to first, Peach?" I asked, happily reading off my new tasks.

This was nice. (Not to brag, but) I was the best in our group at doing tasks, and Peach was the most motivated, still wanted to make her father proud by being as good at asks as he once was. Well... the point I'm trying to make is that we're the best team.

"Admin" she shrugged. "Swipe card. You'll have that one too?"

I glanced down once more at my own tasks in confusion "how do you know that?"

"Obviously" she laughed, teasingly shoving me a little, "because it's a common task"

"Oh yeah. Guess it is" I replied. The pair of us aced the machine, getting a good read on the first swipe.

"Hey... check the hallway is clear" she whispered, and I was confused but did so anyway.

"Yeah nobody is here - why?" I asked, turning around to see her climbing onto the admin table. "Wait... no don't-" I squeaked, but she ignored me, and proceeded to do a backflip off the table. It was good until she landed, slightly twisting her ankle and falling backwards. With speedy reactions, I sprung forwards to catch her, but we both ended up collapsing in a heap on the floor anyway.

I was worried until she burst into a fit of giggles, then I began laughing to. "Dang, I've been practising that for so long... thought I'd nail it this time" she finally managed to say, pushing herself off me and standing up, before reaching out a hand, which I took and she pulled me to my feet.

"Ya sure you're okay?" I asked, she jumped a few times and nodded.

"Your turn! What's your next task?"

"Scan" I read off my tablet, Peach declared that she had to test some samples in the same room. "Cool, let's go" I declared, leading the way, but Peach pushed in front and raced there. "Wait up!" I wheezed.

By the time I got there Peach was doubled over in laughter once again. I laughed too as we walked into the room, but abruptly stopped when my eyes fell upon the medbay scanning machine. "You okay?" Peach asked in a concerned voice, then also looked at the machine. She shook her head and took my hand, gently pulling me out of the room. "Let's just go to reactor instead."

"Okay" I mumbled, gripping her hand tighter.

Why? Why had it been me first? I hate that stupid room... stupid medbay scanner.

Once, I'd found the sound of the machine relaxing. Now the beeps sounded... evil.
Okay, I can't explain it... but it's just bad. I'll never look at that room the same way again.