Caught In Orbit

The Zodiac

"C7 to ground control, C7 to ground control, we're in position."

I'm not the biggest fan of the serious tone I have to take on the comms, It's no fun at all. I'm Daniel (Danny to my friends) Dubois, I'm the team leader for The Zodiac shuttle. The purpose of our mission is to track the flow of space, more to see if it even can be tracked.

The crew is extremely excited. Each of us was assigned a number and job, I'm cosmonaut seven (C7) and I'm the team leader. Cassie is C6 she is our in flight navigator, Jack is C5 he's on maintenance along with C4 Elliot, Madison C3 is supply management, C2 is Travis he's a psychologist, and finally C1 Abigail is only here for P.R. she's an actor who paid a ton of money to be on this ship, she practically funded the whole project.

"Alright crew, we've manually turned off your jets. It's smooth sailing from here on out, you all can move around freely now." That was ground control. As if on queue everybody besides me left their seats hoping to experience true zero gravity for the first time. Idle chatter bubbled through the small cabin.

The cabin is a small room with desks lining the walls, three on the right, three on the left, one in the center. There are small windows above each my crew's desks where everybody is currently trying to peak into space. We'll be floating in this tin can for a while so we'd better get used to the view.

I let myself drift from my seat towards the group, I don't intend to chat much but they like it when I'm at least present. They're all happily celebrating, laughing and joking, sharing stories from home. Cassie is talking about how excited her sons will be to hear about space.

I opt to hang out near the back of the group, it's my second time in space and while it's still beautiful it's not as exciting as the first time. I'm here cause this trip will give me enough money to retire. Soon it will just be me, my pets, and the North Carolina beaches. 

Jack and Madison are making their way towards me, trying hilariously to swim through the air. Zero gravity takes some getting used to and moving in it is like swimming in JELL-O.

"Was it this pretty the first time you were here?" Madi asks, the stars reflect in her eyes.

"I recall being stunned to silence, I was the youngest person on that team too so they called me 'starry eyed youth' or something like that." I chuckle, it feels so long ago but it was only two years.

"You're the youngest person here? How did we not know this? How old are you?" Jack launches questions at me faster than light.

"Yes, you guys never asked, and I'm twenty-three" I chuckled. It's true they never asked, granted I was never very chatty. I prefer peace and quiet, maybe that's why I liked space so much. There are no claims to land in space, no wars, no fighting, just calm.

"It's not like you ever talk to us much. Maybe now that we're finally able to chillax you'll open up." Madi smirks, she's about to batter me with questions I'm sure. I suppose I can talk for a little while. A well bonded team works better than one that doesn't get on.

"What do you wanna know?" I push myself to lay in the air. I remember doing that a lot, like some kind of ghost playing around. Madi and Jack hummed in unison before running back to the others. They yell something about how I'm finally talking and to ask me everything now before I go silent again. I'm not that quiet am I? "I'm not answering anything too weird, I know you freaks are gonna ask something stupid eventually."

"Let's start easy, what's your household look like?" Cassie chimes in, she's literally always talking about family, she just wants an excuse to talk about her kids more.

"Me, my cat Arlo, and my dog Ares."

"No kids or partner?" Cassie prods.

"No, what twenty-three year old has kids?" A realization hits everybody, maybe I wasn't the best choice for leader, nobody wants to be bossed around by somebody younger than them. On the other hand I've set the world record for youngest person to go to space and to return.