KYLIE'S SONG #SciFriday

Chapter 2

Kylie had lost everything and it didn't scratch the surface. She felt so alive even though her father was a liar and a murderer. One more week and she would be released from her solitary confinement.
A noise in the bathroom caught her attention, then a loud crash and the familiar whining of Victoreen. He crawled into her room trailing some wires he'd cut to get through the ventilation shaft.

"I think I broke my arm," he stared up at her with pleading eyes and she almost felt sorry for him.
She knew the diameter of those ducts and realized he was skinnier than she thought. Not that she thought about him much because he was annoying.

"Look at the vent, you destroyed it." He got up on his own, not hurt as bad as he claimed.

"Hey, I would have come sooner but I had to tend the hydroponics for a week while my mom dealt with the psychological trauma down in the Trench."
"What are you doing here?" She scolded, "You're going to get me in trouble."

"You haven't gone stir crazy?"
"I'm fine you idiot, get out." Ignoring her, he walked over to the desk where charts and note books were mixed in with half eaten sandwiches and old cups of coffee.
"Don't touch that stuff," she screeched defensively.
"What are you up to?"
"Just some calculations in regards to the gravity drive."
"What do you know..." he saw the blueprints and complex algorithms for inertial deceleration. "You hacked the mainframe again?"
"I'm trying to save a life."
"Who's?" He followed her to her bunk and sat right next to her. She moved over, irritated he smelled so good. Despite his thin frame he was sixteen, one year older and he had the prettiest green eyes and sandy brown hair.

She usually wasn't so superficial, but it had been a long week and even annoying was better than solitude. Kylie noticed how Victoreen's breathing came in quick gasps when he was sitting this close. He leaned in, almost touching her shoulder, invading her bubble and something cracked inside. It wasn't an injury but a chink forming in her armor. She wore her rude indifference well, but he was the most attractive boy on the ship. Besides there wasn't much to choose from.

Peter was an eighteen year old jerk and not even a consideration. And why was she thinking of this anyway? She could go her whole life without talking to Peter. Then there was Samuel, a good Christian boy and game nerd, he was boring. She realized she knew too much about them, even more than the other ninety eight people who lived in the hold of the ship. She realized they were like cattle or breeding stock rather than people.

"Get away from me," she snapped out of her daydream. Her and Victoreen had been together almost every day preparing for the mission. Not because they wanted to, but out of necessity. The eight officers and their families were segregated from those in the Trench, and now she knew why, because they were planning the destruction of Earth.

She knew Victoreen well, but there was one thing she'd missed. From the very first day they met he was smitten with her.

She had been fourteen then and life was simple. She was in love with the wonder of it all and used people when needed. She couldn't help people naturally threw themselves at her, always pawing and fawning as if she might lose her joy and the world would end.

"Tell me what you're planning?" he said.

She had been over all this in her mind, every scenario worked out in precise detail.

"It's complicated."

"Try me," he said.

"As it stands, our destination is Dog Star Reboot, where we will use the planet Avalon to slow and catapult the ship to the neighboring system known as Wolf Arliss 375."

"So, that's common knowledge."

"I'm going to convince my dad to use the slowing momentum to move Avalon further into the goldilocks zone instead of destroying it in order to take us to our final destination.

"What if he says no?"

"I'm going to kill him.