Across the Stars (Atlas and the Stars + NB!Reader)

Chapter One

I fly my ship to the loading dock and check on Atmosphere. He's gripping his seatbelt as if I've been hyperspeeding to the space station rather than my brother being stressed about his new job. It didn't take long to go to and from the Asteropaois Space Station, but Atmosphere didn't exactly have a ride. Or any friends willing to take him to and from work twice. I did help set up a room for him here, though, so he'll hopefully not be weirded out so much. 

As I'm landing, I try to think up why he'd get a job here. I know he's been having some trouble finding a place lately, but ship inspector gets you just as much as a fast-food worker does on our home planet. It's just a seasonal job, it's nothing that permanent. Then again, he wouldn't think that long ahead, so maybe he just took up an offer and all of a sudden thought it'd be nice to go off-planet for the major inspection season. 

Atmosphere immediately hops off the ship, and I switch it off before going after him. I note that I have to get some fuel before I forget. 

He sticks next to me, looking at just about everything near us. I show him to the floor he's going to be working at for two or three—maybe four—months. It's not far from the parking I landed at. We walk over to the manager, who I keep forgetting the name of, and help give him a rundown on what's going to happen in the job. 

"I'll just look over you and make sure you do everything right, you won't even notice I'm there," I say. 

"Sounds easy enough!" Atmosphere claims. The manager just rolls his eyes and hands him the clipboard he had in his hands for who knows how long. He pulls my brother aside and says something that rips the optimism right off his face. 

Now I remember why I don't talk to that guy.

He comes back, and I look for the line he's been assigned to. 

"Okay, you're set over... there," I point at a line on the leftmost side of the floor. I take out my mic and set one part of the piece in my ear and the actual mic beside my mouth. I hand him a mic that has his name taped on it. "A few ships are already waiting there, so just go ahead. I'll be right behind you. If you need help, just call in and I'll get you in the right direction." 

I walk over to a computer desk near Atmosphere's station and try to get some work done. I still take some glances to see how he's doing. He's already finished the first ship and is about to inspect a shiny red ship that, even from here, looks brand new. I don't get why the human piloting it looks like they're as stressed as Atmosphere was a few minutes ago. Obviously, they aren't doing something wrong... Unless they are, then we'd have to call the cops. That would be another mountain of paperwork on my end. 

The human steps out and Atmosphere inspects the ship. I go back to working, looking over some reports, complaints, and just about everything related to this space station. A problem with one of the hatches has been addressed about five hours ago, and absolutely nobody has responded to it. 

I wish I went to college. I wish I learned anything useful. But the job's pay is decent, though, and I have a pretty consistent place to live. It's not my favorite job in the galaxy, but someone's gotta do it. It can be fun, but the people I work with can also suck. And make my job suck. And suck the joy out of my life. Then again, I have absolutely nothing better to do other than help Atmosphere through whatever issues he has today. He knows very, very well how hard it is to visit our family, even if it was just one day. 

Suddenly, a scream derails my train of thought. 

"What did you-" 

Everything feels like it has gone silent. I just watch my now blindfolded brother go into a panic and slip into the ship. The human hops into the ship and decides to start flying off with Atmosphere still in the back. 

With absolutely no thought in my head, I get up out of my desk and run straight to the dock my ship is at. The ship has already gotten out of the station by now, but running to the dock is faster than walking to it. All the way to my ship, I'm trying to speak to Atmosphere. Where are you? Are you okay? But he doesn't answer. I just hear people yelling in and out of the speaker.

He just had to drop his mic. Of course he had to drop his mic.

I hop into my ship and turn it on. I fly out of that dock as fast as I can and try to catch up to them.

Red and blue reflects onto the windshield. I'm close behind the red ship Atmosphere and that human is in, I'm just a smidge below them. They speed up, and I try to keep up with them. 

I am not going to willingly leave my brother with a stranger. It could all just be a misunderstanding, and I won't have that much paperwork to do. The human might be questioned, though. Sucks for them. 

The ship does not stop, and neither do I. I start getting messaged by someone back at the space station, but I just ignore them and try to focus on keeping the ship near me. The police are not as close as I want them to be, but at least they're here. 

A crack appears right in front of the human's ship, and, before long, it is an entire open wound in the middle of the dark space. I can't move my ship left or right, it's moving itself. No. 

I'm getting sucked in. 

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." I repeat out loud, trying to fly in reverse until I realize Atmosphere is still in the ship in front of me and the ship is also getting sucked in. It doesn't look like the crack is going to shut in the next three seconds, so I speed up into the crack right under the human's ship. "Ohhhh noooo..." 

Purple is basically all I can see around my ship. My skin burns and it feels like I'm shifting in and out of reality. 

And then the ship stops, and I smack my head on the steering wheel. 

*****

Word Count: 1149 

Yes hello I love the show and wanted to write fanfiction about it. That's my love language for fiction apparently. 

I watch episode one more times than I've read To Kill a Mockingbird and that is a big thing to say. I'm ok I swear 🤭