Blaeyde Flynn has always considered herself a black sheep, an outcast among so many people, with an abrasive personality that tends to annoy people and rub them the wrong way with her hyperactive tendencies. She is more than thrilled when she gets a...
"And here we are alone in space like sparrows among the thousands of stars, but who shall tread on the soils afar where suns of another color do shine? Away to the sky, winsome sparrows. Fly into the great emptiness, ever wandering to seek your home. And pray that whoever watches over this place will surely guide your flight with their steady hand. For if there is no God among these stars, then surely we are lost in a forsaken land. So pray to the God who holds the heavens, and he will surely hold you. But if there is no lamp to light your way, then you will surely be swallowed by darkness. Hold fast to the truth little sparrow, and find your perch among the stars. For fleeting time will come and go, so make your mark within the inky pool of space. If there is no God to hold the world, then we surely are as lost as sparrows among the stars." –Sparrows among the stars by A Bleeding Heart
The ball snapped back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, hitting the paddle on each return trip. It kept a steady methodical beat, back and forth. Each time the small rubber sphere bounced off of the wooden paddle, it reached escape velocity and would have rocketed off of the surface if it wasn't attached to the string. While it seemed as if she was focusing intently on the paddleball, Blaeyde's mind was entirely someplace else.
She had agreed to join the other girls for Breakfast, but she was bored out of her mind with their useless pleasantries and small talk. She listened as they told their stories, where they came from, and how they had wound up working for the Iron Sparrow fleet. And while it seemed like she was off in her own little world staring at her paddleboard, she was really listening intently to the conversation despite the low level of interest she had in what the other girls were talking about.
"Ugh! Will you stop that? Some of us are trying to have a conversation here!" Sterling snapped, and Blaeyde just ignored her.
"Hello? Are you even present and accounted for?" The doctor said. Blaeyde turned and glared at her, the ball still bouncing back and forth on the board.
"Heard every word." Blaeyde said with disinterest.
"Well then why does it look like you're off in your own world?" Sterling replied impatiently.
Blaeyde tilted her head and smiled before saying, "Well, maybe I am. What does it matter to you?"
"Never mind." Sterling grumbled before returning to the conversation with the other girls.
Blaeyde suddenly put the paddle ball toy down and said, "Hey doc, what did I ever do to you to make you so angry? It's like every time you ever have anything to say to me, it's always angry, insulting, impatient, or degrading. So, what do you have against me? Is it that you just don't like me or something else?"
Sterling looked at her in shock and said, "Um, Excuse me? Don't I have a right to have my reasons? Look...Blaeyde...it's not you personally. It's just well...what you are."
"And what exactly am I that gives you a right to hate me? I'm human. You're human. So are Glacier and Scarlet. But I've noticed that you don't rip into them like you rip into me. Why is that exactly?" Blaeyde said calmly and with amicable curiosity. Inside she was furious, but she hid her anger with a honey sweet tone that was too innocent for anyone to suspect what Blaeyde was really feeling.
"You're not acting like you're human." Sterling muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Blaeyde replied, her interest immediately peaked.
Sterling put her hand over her mouth and said, "Nothing. Never mind."
"What did you just now say?" Blaeyde probed.
"It's nothing." Sterling said.
"Um...It's got to be something for you to be trying to cover it up like that. So what did you just say?" Blaeyde asked.
Sterling clenched her jaw and stirred her cereal, before Glacier Breeze spoke up, "So, Blaeyde, how did you come to work for the iron sparrow fleet?"
Blaeyde froze, thought for a moment, contemplating what she wanted to tell them and what she didn't want them to know. She decided that she would be spending potentially the rest of her life with these girls, and they probably would never return to Earth, and so it would be fine to tell them the partial story. If she could trust them in the future, she might tell the rest.
But for now, she decided to say, "I really wanted to get a job away from home and so I did some research and found the Iron Sparrow fleet, and it seemed perfect. My parents loved the idea and supported me going to space so much that they signed for my emancipation at sixteen, and I worked hard ever since and yeah...that's my story."
The other girls looked at her with admiration, and she hoped that they wouldn't pry for the rest of the story. She had left out how her parents were so eager to get rid of her that once she had enlisted in the iron sparrow fleet they did everything they could to never see her again.
Glacier looked at her with interest and said, "So...Your parents signed for your emancipation just like that? No questions asked? I mean...I grew up in the Iron Sparrow fleet. I lived and breathed this stuff, and it was not until I turned eighteen that I was promoted. I had to graduate at the top of all my classes to even be allowed to go on missions."
Scarlet spoke up and said, "The only reason I'm on this trip is because I was an orphan, but because of my exceptional intelligence, the fleet took me in and I passed all the courses necessary and so they decided that it was better to use my education now than to let me waste away a few years. Technically I am Iron Sparrow property, and so they do with me as they please, but I guess that all will change on this mission."
Sterling then said, "I got my medical degree early because I skipped a few grades and so I qualified for the mission, but there is a lot I'm leaving behind."
"Okay, so maybe I didn't train all my life for this, but I still qualify, right?" Blaeyde said.
"You had to qualify somehow for you to be promoted to such a high importance mission." Sterling grumbled.
Blaeyde rolled her eyes and stood up, saying, "Well, this was very nice, but I've got some things I need to attend to. So if you don't mind..." And with that she walked out of the dining area and to her room on the ship, where she shut the door and locked it behind her. Once she was in her room, she began to bat the paddleball once again as she thought and thought about all sorts of things about her life.
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