Eight Minutes

BEFORE <2>

When Serena wakes the sunlight is blinding. She has never experienced such dazzling light. She squints down into her pillow, gingerly opening her eyes a tiny bit so that she is aware of her surroundings.

Her bedroom seems to glow, the light bounces off the white walls, intensifying with every second. The shuttle has enough gravity that she can sleep comfortably in a bed, not standing up in a sleeping bag.

Jax and Asher stumble into her bedroom, one arm around each other and one covering their eyes from the light.

"Hey guys, you lost your glasses?" Serena asks from her pillow.

"No..." Asher begins, defensively.

"We just couldn't find them!" Jax finishes.

Serena reaches one hand to her table and grabs her goggles. As soon as they are over her eyes she blinks and smiles at her friends, she can see now.

"Did you see where I put our goggles?" Asher asks.

"That's the last time I trust you with them!" Jax complains, jokingly.

"I thought you left them on the shuttle controls."

"Oh yeah!" Asher says, staggering out of the room.

Jax almost falls over as Asher leaves him.

"Come on." Serena stands up and hooks her arm through Jax', leading him out of the room.

Asher comes running back, handing Jax his goggles. He immediately pulls them over his eyes and blinks a few times.

"I can see now!" Jax exclaims.

"Yay!" Serena Says, slightly sarcastic but only slightly. "You guys ready? We're almost there."

Asher's eyes widen with fear and he breathes fast through his nose as Jax smiles nervously, taking deep breaths. Serena smiles, eyes bright with excitement and anticipation.

They all walk through to the control centre of the shuttle. Serena sits in the middle, steering the shuttle towards the sun.

Without warning, a fiery mass comes straight at the shuttle. Serena steers them violently to the left, just missing it.

"What was that?" She yells, frantically turning them around to avoid crashing into the sun.

"I have no clue!" Asher yells back.

She frowns and keeps driving, their ship getting further and further away from their destination.

"Maybe we should stop here." Jax suggests and they are in between Mercury and Venus. Serena bites her lip then reluctantly nods. She knows they will have to wait for whatever was happening to stop before that can carry on with their mission.

Jax goes back to his room. Not to sleep, just to rest.

"Do you think we could call her?" Asher asks, tentatively.

"I don't know..." Serena replies, "maybe it wouldn't be a good idea..."

"Why not?" Asher moves closer to his wife, kissing her cheek.

"She just might be settling in well her aunt Dina. Maybe seeing us would just upset her. And besides this is meant to be a secret mission."

"But why? Everyone will have the alarms on their houses soon who cares how we got them there?" Serena's voice cracks halfway through the sentence and Asher hugs her tight.

"The Space Travel Society cares! I don't know why but they do! There's nothing we can do." Asher says, hopelessly.

"There's nothing we can do." Serena repeats, quietly, almost to herself.

Asher smiles sadly at her, containing his tears. Serena senses this and gets up to leave. Asher doesn't object but feels her absence when she's left.

Serena stands by the sliding door, her eyes closed. She thought the hardest thing about this mission would be completing her task but she was so wrong. The hardest thing was leaving her behind. Not knowing if she would ever see her again.

Asher guides the shuttle in slow circles, watching the sun grow and shrink as the minutes tick away.