Delta Outpost

Chapter 1

 "You can see it out the window now!"

I awake to hear these words being shouted from the other side of the door. A pounding on the thick, metal surface follows. The sound echoes in my room, further jolting me from my drowsiness. I sit up in bed as the hammering continues, occasionally interwoven by shouts of 'Aunt Reyna! Aunt Reyna!' My neck pops as I turn my head slowly from side to side. I knew we'd be reaching orbit soon, but I was really hoping to get a longer nap in than this.

"I hear you, Danny," I reply. Hopefully, I didn't sound as groggy as I think I did. The cold air against my bare arms makes me long to pull the covers back over them. Space is always so cold, especially when you're traveling. Orbiting stations are usually big enough to let you forget you're off-planet, but transport ships are so linear and full of windows that the spell can never be maintained. At least this ship has private rooms with beds; perks of traveling for work I guess, even if it is for months on end. It's a pretty standard sleeping cell. The bed sits against the side with a large screen embedded in the opposite wall. A table and chair sit in the corner next to a small closet. The corner next to the door is walled off for the bathroom, which has just enough room for a sink, shower, toilet, and to let you turn in place in order to use one of the three.

"Let me in! I wanna show you!" he shouts excitedly. Soft impacts on the floor outside let me know he's jumping up and down.

"Fine," I say with a chuckle. "Command: release door lock."

"Door lock disengaged," a robotic male voice says over the speakers in the ceiling. The door slides open with a faint whirring sound. Danny is through the portal before it's even fully opened. He's a cute kid, with pale skin and the messiest mop of brown hair you've ever seen. He runs at me with open arms, tackling me back onto the bed. I laugh as I try to sit back up and eventually stand. The little munchkin only saw me a couple of hours ago, but that's when we were still in deep space with nothing to see around us but blackness and stars. Now that we've neared our destination, he's a bundle of energy again and I'm his favorite person to unleash it on.

"Come on, let's go!" he enthusiastically demands while tugging on my arm.

"My colleagues are out there and I'm in my pajamas," I reply with a laugh. Won't you at least let me get dressed first?"

Danny throws his hands to his sides and huffs. "But I don't want you to miss it!"

He really is too cute for words. "We're going to be in orbit for a couple of hours before we board the shuttle," I say. "We'll have plenty of time to look together before I head out." I remember when I used to find stuff like this so exciting. It would be nice to have that again. Maybe I can take some time to see the universe through his eyes while I'm here and get that sense of wonder back. "Now, let me get dressed."

Danny goes bounding out of the room again. A woman in the hallway yelps as he almost runs her over. I chuckle before commanding the door closed again. Reaching over to the small table by the bed, I find my hair tie and put my long, straight, brown hair back in a ponytail. It's not a long walk to the closet, but even with my socks on, I can feel how cold the metal floor is. I call for the screen to come on while I search for my outfit.

An image of the planet spins at the center of the screen while a stream of text scrolls by underneath. A large, metallic-looking "UHI" rotates slowly in the upper left corner. The same male voice starts reading off various pieces of information; our orbit height, speed, the conditions at the landing sight, etc. It's apparently raining pretty heavily where we'll be touching down, but I'm not surprised. From everything I've read this planet has some pretty wild weather patterns. I unbutton my pajama top and let it slide off my shoulders onto the floor. As I pull off my pants I hear another pounding at the door.