Spaced Out

Chapter Four

Sasha leads me across a busy hall until we reach a door at the end.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask incredulously. Sasha completely ignores me, and puts her left hand hand up to a scanner. A loud click echoes before Sasha pushes the metallic door open walking in with me behind her. As I get a better view of the room, I see the walls lined with control panels, a space in the middle with a window, and chairs sitting in front of the window and desk panel. One of the chairs was occupied by a young man, clicking away on the desk panel. Sasha sat on the chair next to the boy. She spun around and said,
"Excuse my manners. This is Lucas." Lucas spun around as well and greeted me.
"So why am I here and what exactly is this place?" I asked confused.
"This my dear, is the control room. Only few people get assigned the job to make sure everything is working right on the ship and how to control it. We write reports of the ship's functions and also act as lookouts," Lucas elaborated. I noticed his accent for the first time. One that I recognized. I think it was called an English accent?
"When do I get assigned a job?"
Sasha piped up this time, "Well due to the fast pace you are starting to remember and your slight increase in cerebral capacity, not to mention that you woke up three days before you are supposed to, you are going to be collaborating with us on this job until we see different behavior exhibited." I stared at Sasha with wide eyes, questions flying through my mind as she reached for a paper beside the desk panel.
"Here is your daily schedule," she handed it to me. I read the itinerary to see how my day was planned.

7:00 am report to main room for your first meal
7:45 am report to the control room to start work
12:00 pm go to main room to eat lunch
12:30 pm return to control room for job
3:45 pm leave control room go back to compartment to change clothes.
4:00 pm run daily errands
6:00 pm you are allowed to do any recreational activity
7:15 pm report to main room for dinner, afterwards go back to job
9:00 must be back in compartment ready for sleep.

"Each day our schedules are different because we might get night shift," Lucas explained.
"So what time is it right now?"
"8:30 am," Sasha said. I slowly sat down in the last empty chair next to her and let her and Lucas explain to me how to control the ship and work the panels.

☪

I looked at the watch Lucas gave me to use for work. It was exactly 6:00 pm. I stood up from my chair and headed to the library, which I had never seen before. I looked at the ship map by the door and memorized the vast passage to the library.
Six o'clock seemed to be a busy time for the ship as people scattered across the halls rushing for their free time. I walked silently looking at each door until I arrived at two steel doors. I saw a sign at the side that read Library. I pushed open one of the doors and stood to look at it. One of the walls was entirely replaced with windows that held window seats like in the main room. The floors were carpeted with colorful squares, and a section of the library was completely lined with shelves. The rest of it consisted of tables and rows of research computers. There was one corner that was a slightly elevated platform where bean bags were scattered. My eyes followed a short metallic spiral staircase that led up to a second floor of the library that looked almost the same as this one.
As I entered taking slow steps, somebody crashed into me. Books went flying everywhere. I immediately knelt down to pick up the books, when I looked up. I saw a boy close to my age with brown ruffled hair and brown eyes, wearing a suit that looked like a cross between a track suit and a wet suit. His face radiated some pain. The strangest thing was, I felt like I knew him, as if he was part of my life at some point. I just couldn't recognize him. After I picked up all of the books, and handed them to the boy, I looked at him for a little too long. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to know you?" The boy said. For some reason, deep down, I felt like he just had hit me hard in the stomach. He should know me a little voice in my head nagged. I shook off the feeling. "No, sorry" I said as I looked down, embarrassed. I quickly walked away from the boy and ventured farther into the library until I reached the spiral staircase.
I rested my hand on the hand rail and looked around. I saw people clicking away on their computers, and reading at tables and the beanbag area. I also noticed how dim it was in this room. Not just this room, the lighting was dim almost everywhere, probably to conserve energy and electricity. How long would we take to get where we are supposed to? After I concluded my thoughts, I climbed up the stairs quickly until I reached the top. I raced to the book shelves, careful not to bump into anybody. I traced my hand over the books as I skimmed the titles. A book stuck out of the others and I took it out. I read the title under my breath. Pride and Prejudice. It looked like an interesting book, so I took it out and headed downstairs. I fled down the stairs and climbed onto the beanbag platform, plopping down on a purple one. I opened the first page and started to read.
My watch let out a loud high pitched noise, telling me that it was time for dinner. I folded the corner of the page I was currently reading, and shut it heading upstairs to put it back on it's designated shelf.
My eyes darted across the room in search for Sasha and Lucas's faces. As soon as found them I headed towards the table they were sitting at. Sasha stood up and walked with me to the food bar. She spoke up over the noise of everybody talking at once,
"I've got night shift today."
"Don't all of us?"
"No. I have to go at 2:30 am to 4:00 am with Alex."
"Who's Alex?" I asked.
"One of our work partners, but he's also our friend," Sasha explained grabbing a tray as did I. I wondered what she meant by 'our' as I scooped mashed potatoes onto my plate in silence. We quietly served ourselves steak and soda, too. Immediately, when I grabbed the can out of the ice, a vague memory flashed through my mind.

"What is it?"

"I found it at the black market," a familiar voice echoed in my mind.

"Try it."

I place the soda on my tray taken back by the flashback and continue to walk back to the table where another boy who I assume is Alex, is waiting for us with Lucas. Still shocked, I set my tray down next to Lucas and sit. I am almost paralyzed from what just happened.
"You alright?" Lucas asked, staring into my eyes.
"Yeah. I think so."
"You sure? You look pretty shaken."
I turned towards Lucas and looked back into his eyes. I saw concern reflect in his eyes.
"I think I just remembered something. Is that normal?" I saw Sasha glance at Alex who was silently chewing on his steak. Lucas looked appalled as he stared at me with wide blue eyes. I shoveled mashed potatoes in my mouth, questioningly looking at everyone. As soon as Alex swallowed his food he spoke up,
"With with such rapid increase in ability and comprehension this would be considered a normal pace of your awakening." My mind exploded with questions as he said these words. I slightly narrowed my eyes and asked, "Wait. I can get my memory back?"
"Not entirely. No, but bits and pieces."
"Well is that normal?"
"No it's actually quite queer. But nobody can know," Lucas said wearing a grave expression. Confusion wrapped its fingers around my mind, as questions flowed through like a river. If Alex said it was normal for me, then why did Lucas say it was strange? Is there a classification for people like me? I chewed on the last piece of steak on my tray, before I stood up and walked away towards the library. I still have time before I have to go back to my job. I raced through the hallways and burst through the steel doors, immediately rushing to a free computer. My fingers sped across the keyboard as adrenaline pumped through my veins. I had no time to delve into any of the other questions except for this one. What am I?