The Core

A Dream Come True

Mr Dawerton tucks in his chair and begins his speech.

“Well as you all know,  we have been working with scientists to see if we can discover a new element. We think there may be one, as lots of research has shown there must be,” I take a deep breath. I guess I’ll be keeping my job a few more weeks. “This supposed ‘element’ is presumed to be a type of gas. We are in no rush to discover more about this, however it could help us here on earth with whatever function it has; possibly a new source of energy. Therefore, for the first time, we are sending a shuttle to the planet of Jupiter.” My heart starts pounding in my chest, anticipating whatever is coming next. “This shuttle, The Jupiter 013, will carry 50 astronaughts. They will stay on the shuttle close to Jupiter as Jupiter is made of gas, we can’t physically land on it. A few astronaughts will be released into space to take some samples of Jupiter’s gases; where the element is possibly concealed in. The shuttle will have on-board pilots. I will read the list of people selected to go on this research mission.” I ball my hands up into a fist and squeeze harder and harder, trying to make the fuzziness in my stomach go away. What if I am selected? I have been an assistant to Mr Dawerton for years now, and I completed my space training course a month ago. My mission seems overdue. “Piloting the mission is Bradley Boice, Jack Darton, David Lattener and Trent Silverice.” David! He’s going. I’m so happy for him. But hearing his name makes me want to go even more. Knowing that my best friend would be there with me makes me wish I was going too. I tell myself that even if I don’t go, it’ll be alright; to get myself prepared for disappointment. I listen intently on what Mr Dawerton is saying. “The astronaughts going on this mission will be: Thomas Cotton, Daniel Culic, Isabelle Dernat,” I listen as he calls out more names. Then he says it. My palms start sweating and my heart suddenly hits my chest with such force, my breath is taken. My brain goes warm in my skull and I can hear my pulse.  The rest of the meeting is a blur, I don’t even know what to think- I don’t know how I feel. I come back to the real world when David grabs my arm, pulls me up and hugs me. I look over his shoulder, around the room, and everyone is getting up, some have left all ready. The meeting is over. David holds my shoulders, he has a wide smile on his face, which emphasises his white teeth.

“You did it, you got promoted! You’re going to Jupiter with us!” The pressure and shock of the moment have gone and pure ecstasy fills it’s place. I smile back at him. Our lips match. I make a weird noise that sounds like a chuckle or a laugh. I hug David, taking in this moment. He laughs too.

After a while we decide it’s time to get back to work. I start towards Mr Dawerton’s office and David pulls me back.

“Ouch!” I yell, rubbing my arm,

“Where are you going?”

“To Mr Dawerton’s office to do my job,” I say in a tone full of attitude. Trying to sound smart and stating the obvious.

“Weren’t you listening, we have to go to the training centre to practice if we’re gonna be ready to leave in two days.”

“We’re leaving in two days?”

“Yeah,” he answers casually, starting to lead the way to the training centre.

“How long will we stay there?”

“four weeks,”

“four weeks?”

“Yeah, could you stop repeating everything I say?”

I follow him all the way to the training centre. During the day, we run laps, do a climbing course and crawling course- where I had to crawl under wires like they do in military training. I didn’t find it that hard, I had already done this at astronaught training.

At the end of the day, at 5.00pm, David tells me that he’s going out with some friends to a bar and I say I don’t want to go, so I drive home on my own. Trent will drive David home.

…I’m finally going into outer space…