To The Moon And Back

Chapter One

"Did you feel that?"

Sage sighed, a martyred sound that was totally at odds with the airy whisper she spoke with, "You're being paranoid again, there's nothing wrong." As a therapist, Sage was used to soothing the most frayed of nerves, but Selene wasn't nervous, she was fed up with being gaslit.

"Relax, this rocket is sound as a pound," Cosmo assured her, leaping in as always, convinced that if he said something, that automatically made it true.

Selene's disbelieving snort was less than enthusiastic. Sure, the rocket looked alright from the outside, a bit scuffed and dirty maybe but with enough shiny metal to look the part, but the inside left a lot to be desired and, as she was well aware, a pretty package could hide a multitude of sins. "This rust bucket is so old I'm surprised it even got off the ground. I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"You're too tense," Sage soothed, pushing her glasses further up her nose as she peered at Selene like she was trying to work out just which underlying trauma tick boxes she could check off. "Shall we breathe together?" She reached out and grabbed Selene's hand. "Deep breath, in..." She sucked in a breath, held it for a count of four and then exhaled noisily, reminiscent of a dragon trying to breathe fire, "And out. There, doesn't that feel better?"

Gently, Selene retrieved her hand. "I'm breathing just fine, thank you. But none of us will be if something actually is wrong."

"You can trust Cosmo," Meadow, who so far had said very little, butted in, rolling her eyes at her friends dramatics. "He's never steered us wrong before."

Selene begged to differ, she could name several times that he had steered them wrong and she was about to do so when she felt the same ominous shudder run through the metal under her feet.

"See? That! You felt that, right?"

"I'm sure it's nothing," Meadow started but cut short her arguing when the rocket jolted as if it were a car hitting a speed bump, which was ridiculous since they were in space with no such roads or even an air current to cause it. Something was wrong, really wrong, and Selene wasn't about to sit there and do nothing.

"Nope! Sod this, this isn't right." Selene fumbled with the buckle of her seatbelt, a stiff contraption that looked like it had seen better days. "Open, damn you!" The buckle gave up the fight and she got unsteadily to her feet, catching herself with a hand on the back of her seat as the rocket lurched again.

"Where are you going?" Rain asked, her fingers white on the arm of her chair as she gripped it tightly. "You should stay here where it's safe." Always nervous, with a permanent deer-in-headlights look about her, Rain had not been doing well on the trip before they had even left the ground, but now she was clinging to her chair like it was the only thing between her and imminent death.

"Don't worry, I'm going to talk to the pilot," Selene answered, already heading for the cabin door. "I want to find out if he knows what's going on. I'm sure there's a logical explanation."

"We aren't allowed up there," Cosmo called after her, fumbling with his seatbelt which had been shortened so much to fit snuggly over his narrow lap that there was no give in it.

Selene took advantage of his predicament, continuing without a backwards glance.

"Come back here!" Cosmo yelled, yanking at the stubborn buckle. "You can't do that!"

"Watch me," Selene muttered under her breath as she slipped out of the door, booking it down the centre aisle of the rocket as fast as her feet would carry her.