Star Dust

Chapter 5 ~ Dylan

 Earth is but a spec in this black sea of tiny dots sparkling bright in the dark. We are far enough out that we can begin to relax. "So... where exactly are we going?" I ask as she continues to push buttons and flip switches some far across the console.

 "We're going to Brail, then Androl, Vodra, and Narkadia" I remember something from my old teacher a few weeks ago. "Second and third earth?" nodding more to the controls, she stops pressing buttons and flicking switches to turn and look at me. "We have a lot of things to do before we get there". 

 Mystery gets up from the chair she had just sat down in and leaves the cockpit, so I follow her glancing back at the controls uncertain that they should be unmanned. The ship is large but can only carry about two dozen or so people, it had decent rooms that reminded me of my brief time in the nurse's office at my new school, all except that room was too small to even be up to code. 

 That all seemed ages ago but was only yesterday, so much has happened in such a short time that it already surpassed all the other things in my life. And you know what I like it. The thought of leaving was exhilarating and once we got our feet off the ground the feeling only got better. Freedom was a thing of legends that only came from illegal aliens who took sanctuary on earth even if it meant hiding from it's inhabitants.

 Earth is my prison, no, was my prison. I am Dylan Swrip no more, from today on i am simple Dylan, free and happy for the very first time. no more shall I listen to parental rubbish, but live free to do as i wish. The adventure of going out into the great beyond exploring other planets and following stars, leading a life of adventure instead of being stuck in a rut. 

 "Hey! daydreamer go into the back and take inventory, call if anything needs attention" Mystery had snuck up on me, I pant, she looks me in the eye "I'll be checking the extra rooms" then turning she walks out of the small room that I had claimed earlier.

 A bland very boring room with plain grey walls and four beds of the same grey, two slits on either side of the small space. The only storage areas were under each stiff mattress, if you lifted one you would find a pocket of space large enough for someone to hide in. Luckily though we never found anyone inside those storage spaces.

 I sigh and pick myself up off the hard mattress, the movement putting more creases in the once pristine and well made bed. Poking a tentative head out of the small room I find one of the other bunker like rooms door ajar. A moment more passes before I drag myself out into the vacant hall and head over to the back of the ship where the storage area is.

 The back takes up most of the ship, it's about the size of four large class rooms with the ceiling nearly ten above my head. The loading bay was originally used to store and transport earth bound military vehicle's, explosives and mostly more weapons. Today the the inside of the ship looks as if it's seen better days, the walls dented in a random fashion each dents about the same size and shape of a human. Most of those dents were hidden by boxes, large boxes, much like the ones we were hiding behind back at the military base.  

 Obeying the new captain of the ship I start to check boxes "do these people ever eat?" I whisper after checking the few metal boxes that rest up against the slightly rounded walls. The boxes ranged from two to four feet high and wide, they were stacked in a small pyramid against the east wall containing explosive material or batteries for the laser guns packed tightly in another crate. 

 Mystery comes in disheveled, bedraggled hair and rumpled clothing "what happened to you!" I asked a little startled. 

She breaths deeply "tripped on my own two feet and accidently made some boxes in one of the rooms fall". I smile "you look terrible, do want an explosive?" our laughs eco off the walls making it sound metallic in the rounded metal space.