A week had past since that day at Rombulous. The crew had swept down onto Taris, and bought the hyper drive before they could be ID’d by the police. They spent three days in space watching Vida install the complex device. On the fourth Vida emerged oil stained, and covered in cat urine.
Scipio sniffed the air.
“Was there a cat in there?” Vida gave him a death stare. “All right…. All right… I’ll just drop it shall I?
Vida turned to Adam.
“Well, the hyper drive should work. So why don’t you go ahead and start her up, I’ll go and take a wash. And don’t tell Jones or Scip, they might “accidentally” wander in, and we certainly don’t want any “accidental” concussions.”
Adam nodded to her and turned his attention to the control panel. He drew up a screen and saw a new bar indicating the state of the hyper drive.
“Scip, Jones, get in here!” Adam heard the shuffling of feet.
Jones and Scipio stood on each side. Scipio tapped Adam on the shoulder.
“Did you know that Vida is taking a shower right now?”
“Uh, yeah. She said to keep out or she’ll kick your ass. Anyway, Scip can you punch in the coordinates for Erandor?”
“Sure thing capn.” Scipio waddled to his station and punched in the coordinates.
Adam turned to his left where Jones was standing.
“Uh, Jones, can you check the maps for any maj-….” Adam looked around the small front cabin for him. “Jones?”
Adam looked at Scipio who shrugged in response. Just then a ruckus broke out from beneath the trap door, which Adam now realized was open.
“JONES!” Came the shrill cry of Vida.
“What? Oh, sorry Vida, I didn’t know you were taking a shower.”
Adam counted down in his head ‘….3….2….1….SLAP.’
The sound resounded around the ship, and Adam grimaced at the noise. Moments later Jones came crawling up the ladder with a large soapy handprint on his cheek. His arm was half wet, and he had a wiry smile on his lips.
“Was it worth it?” Adam asked.
“If only you knew….” And Jonah sat down at his station, dripping water all the way.
“Hyper drive is turning on now. Brace yourself.” Scipio called out.
Adam jumped into the captain’s seat and strapped himself in; the others did the same. Alright, thought Adam, were all set, all three of us….. wait… three? Oh no!
As the hyper drive kicked in Adam was thrown against his seat. He felt the pressure against whole body, as though he were being sucked through a straw. Somewhere in the back of his mind he faintly registered the scream belonging to Vida, who was no doubt having the worst shower in history. Moments later the feeling of being sucked through a tiny tube had vanished, and in front of them floated a planet. Though this planet was no beauty. Although it should have had orange skies, and blue grass, the planet was desolate. Adam could see the ruin from thousands of miles in space; it must of looked even worse up close. Adam could see that that everyone on the planet was either dead, or had evacuated. Apparently the planet had been hit by more than one meteor. Its whole entire east hemisphere was pockmarked like the side of TheShepard. The blue grass had gone to a dead black. And the once orange sky had dissipated and left only the dank pollution from fires and any debris.
Vida had come up from the trap door looking very annoyed, and rather ticked off.
“What the hell what that?” She demanded, her icy voice killed any other emotion in the room. And her cold stare stopped the hearts of the men.
“Well… uh… you see… the uh, the hyper… hyper thingy…. It came on and….. lots of shaking…. Defiantly lots of shaking…..” The two other men nodded at Adams shaky statement. Vida was shooting knives with her eyes.
“Did any of you guys think, that maybe telling me, or even shouting it just loud enough so I could hear, was a good idea?”
Jones felt the pinpricks from her icy glare as she passed it over all the men.
“I am going down to change, and if anyone of you thinks about taking a peek, I will stick their head so far up their ass, they’ll be eating shit for the next two weeks. Is…that…clear?” The three men nodded hastily. Vida whipped the hair out of her face and descended the ladder once more. The men could feel the heat slowly and cautiously entering back into the room. Neither of them talked until Vida came back up again.
“Uhhh…. Vida, this is Erandor.” Adam pointed out the window.
Vida nodded. She had apparently gotten a hold of herself while she had been down there. The three men had heard her cursing, and swearing the entire time she had been changing. Scipio could have sworn that there was a very hand like looking dent in the metal floor.
“So where’s is this thing your looking for?” Vida asked in a disturbingly calm voice.
“It’s not so much of a thing…. As much as it is a person.” Adam looked sheepishly.
“Oh?” Vida seemed intrigued. “Was she your one true love? I bet you two were madly in love, but you left the planet in search of fame and fortune, and she has been awaiting your return since. Am I right?” She looked at the three men. “What?”
“Vida, you read way too many romance books.” Scipio snickered at Adams answer.
But an icy glare from Vida shut him up quickly.
“Who then?”
“My sister”
There was a trio of gasps.
“You have a sister?”
“Yeah, well, not technically. She’s like a sister to me. She was an orphan on Erandor. I found her scrounging around through my trashcan. Her name was Abella. I was going to take her to one of the orphanages, but she told me she had runaway from there, and that she didn’t want to go back. So I took her in. I worked, and she went to school. She was a bright kid. But when I left three years ago, she was only fifteen. They found that I was living on a Trader’s License and they booted me off the planet. Before I could explain the situation with me and Abella, they had shipped her off to another orphanage.”
Vida was looking at Adam, and for the first time, he realized how blue her eyes were.
“You know, she had the same eyes as you do.”
Vida blinked and seemed to catch herself.
“Why do you keep talking about her in the past tense.”
Adam Shrugged.
“I don’t know where she is. I don’t think ill ever see her again.”
Vida’s eyes slowly left Adams face and made their way too the window.
“It’s horrible what happened to the planet.” She whispered. Only Adam heard her. He had gotten the feeling that only she had wanted him too.
“Well, while you two were having a moment, I was making some calls. As it would turn out, all the survivors were moved to a nearby space station.” Vida and Adam turned to see Scipio holding a data pad. Looking at the duo. Adam took the data pad from Scipio’s hand and looked at it.
Scipio Smirked.
“So, do you want to sit here? Or do you want to find your sister?”
Adam nodded at Scipio and jumped into the pilot’s seat. Vida stood next to him as the ship lurched to life.
Only she saw the crystal tears falling from his eyes
YOU ARE READING
Space is Vast
Ficțiune științifico-fantasticăFour friends pilot their mediocre ship across the galaxy in the hopes of finding fortune, adventure, and family. (This was written in high school)
