Far from home

Chapter III

"Do you regret this yet?" Dante asked me in the hotel room that evening. I saw the familiar relaxed smile on his face. He wasn't so upset anymore.

"Not yet. The crew really seems nice, I think I already got a friend. But I think tomorrow I will. We have a press conference", I answered. I hadn't been on stage at press conferences, but I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it.

Dante laughed.
"Excuse me? If I was you, that would be the best part! You're going to be famous!" he said smiling. This was nice - and something I would miss.

"Well maybe I don't wanna be famous!" I said smiling too.
"You kinda chose to be when you signed up for this mission", he responded and then laughed. He leaned closer and tickled my stomach. I started to giggle and squirm. Then I managed to get away from him. I breathed a little while and then turned back to him tickling him everywhere.

After a few moments we were laying on the bed hands under our heads and both smiling widely.
"I love you sis", Dante said turning his head towards me. I turned my eyes towards him and realized my eyes were becoming wet.
Ugh, what a moment to cry, I thought annoyed.

"I love you too. More than you can imagine", I responded smiling a little. I blinked a couple of times, tears now slowly running on my cheeks.
"I thought I was the sensitive one", Dante said and grinned. I laughed little too and wiped my tears with my sleeve.

"Come here", Dante said and opened his arms. I smiled and hugged him. We just stayed like that for a while and then separated.

Then the door opened and dad came in.
"Hey! Where do you want to eat?" he asked from the door.

I rose in a sitting position and thought. What was the thing I wanted to eat before we left?
"Hmm... Is there any Italian places close?" I asked. Of course D.C. had Italian restaurants but how far were they and how dangerous were they with this virus.

"Italian? We're in America and you wanna eat Italian?" Dante asked unbelieving and shook his head.
"I'm leaving earth and some good pasta is something I want to eat before that", I responded smiling sweetly to him.

"I think one of the places in this hotel had Italian food", dad said.
"That sounds great", I answered.
"Tomorrow we'll eat something else", Dante murmured while grabbing his jacket.

We took the elevator down to the second floor and walked in the restaurant. It was nice and tidy, with cosy Italian decor.

We got our foods pretty fast after making the order. It was delicious! When I had eaten about half of my portion when I heard steps behind me. I turned my head towards Olivia.

"I knew it was you Fia!" she said happily and smiled friendly.
"Hi Olivia. Are you staying in here too?" I asked. Then I realized it was stupid, probably the whole crew was staying in this same place.

"Who is this Olivia?" dad asked politely from me.
"Oh, she's a member of the crew!" I explained. I hadn't realized they didn't know who my crew kept in itself.

"Yup, I'm an engineer", Olivia said still smiling.
"Is this your family?" she then asked from me.

"Yeah, my brother Dante and my dad Matteo", I introduced them smiling too.
"Cool, good evening Dante and Matteo", she said.

"Good evening, Olivia", Dante said smiling too. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Now his trying to hit on her, I thought a bit annoyed. But Olivia wasn't annoyed at all. She just smiled with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, I'm afraid I'll have to go now, but it was nice to meet you. See you tomorrow at the press conference Fia, bye", she said and walked away.

"Bye!" I said and turned back to my family. Dante was watching after Olivia with an amazed look. I rolled my eyes again and then waved my hand in front of his eyes. He turned his face to me.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to space with like the most beautiful girl I've ever seen?" he asked still amazed.
"Because of this!" I answered and laughed. Dante looked at me 'madly' but I knew he was just joking.

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The next day I was standing on the stage in front of dozens of reporters. Cameras were flashing and I tried not to blink all the time.

We were standing in a line. I was between Olivia and Oliver. Sergei was between him and commander Clearwater. On commander's left side were Myra, Lin Lin and Astrid.

"Okay, sit down everyone", the host said and the reporters sat down. We sat too at a desk close to a counter with microphones for all of us on it. The reporters waited for permission to ask questions.

Before letting them, the host gave a short explanation about what this press conference and this our mission was about.
"You can ask questions now", he then said waving with his hand to the audience.

All of the reporters started to yell questions at the same time and no one knew what a single one was asking.
"Lisa Hamilton from D.C. Ears", the host said and a young blonde woman stood up.

"Commander Clearwater, how do you feel when almost your whole crew is like ten years younger than you?" she asked with paper and pen ready. Derek cleared his throat.

"If I would've been choosing the crew, I would have taken more experienced members. But Nasa chose this crew, and I trust their choices, so I have good expectations for them", he answered.
I had known that he didn't like this young crew, but it was good to know that he had even some kind of trust for us.

The reporter nodded, wrote it up and then sat down again. Then everyone started to yell in the same time again.

Question after question was asked and answered. My name hadn't come up yet, and I wasn't complaining. I didn't want any more attention than necessary.

Then that situation changed. The host gave the next question for a dark brown haired woman, Mary Willson from Capital News. She rose and looked straight at me. I started to feel very uncomfortable in my seat.

"Fia Colombo, I heard from an anonymous source that your older brother got real mad when he found out about you leaving. Is this true, and if so, does it affect to your commitment for the mission?" the reporter asked with pen and paper ready.

I blushed. How did she now? I didn't tell anyone about it? Well, it doesn't matter now, I thought and took a deep breath.

"My brother is just sad about me leaving, that's all. It'll have zero affect to my work at the ship", I answered as shortly as possible. That went better than I had thought it would go. The reporter wrote it up and sat down. Still, I noticed she was staring at me for the rest of the conference.

I had to talk once more in the conference, when some reporter asked our opinion about the ship.

Our ship was called The Savior and it was built with the newest technologies. It had the best FTL (Faster Than Light) engines that had ever been built. It also had the best AI ever and comprehensive star map. It was also built with the most durable materials.

"I think that The Savior is the best ship we could have for this mission", I answered shortly again. The other's answers were pretty same. No one was discontent for the ship.

The conference lasted about an hour. Then we had dinner with the crew and went back to the hotel. Everyone seemed to be very aware of the fact that the launch would be at the day after tomorrow.