The Lone Survivor

Chapter Six: Welcome To The Waterdrop Galaxy

I awake from my slumber. If you could call it that. I slept horribly last night. I take my hand-held mirror out on my pocket and looked at my tired, almost bruised eyes. "Good God...." I groaned. Everyone else was still asleep. Or I Thought it was everyone. I eased out of the living quarters, a food pack and drink in hand. "Morin'..." Stuart blurted, making me jump. "Stu! You scared me!" I whisper shouted. "Sorry." He stood and walked towards me and examined my eyes. "I didn't sleep well either..." I yawned. "I'm hungry.." I sat against the wall, Stuart sitting by me. I opened my pack of artificial astronaut food. "You know what time it is, huh?" The Brit asked me. "Uh..." I looked at my watch and took a sip of my bottled coffee. "Six fifty eight..." I took a bite of the 'food'. "Jeez ... It's early back home. About this time, I should be walking with Sydney to school..." I chuckled a bit. "Yeah, and I'll still be piled up in the bed." Stuart let out a laugh, a little louder than he should have and he hushed his voice. "Or on your couch watching either Spongebob or The Lord Of The Rings trilogy." Stuart snorted, once again a little too loud. But this time he woke Violet up. "What are you two burnt chicken nugget lookin'.... You woke me up. Hope your happy." She turned her nose up and sat in a seat. "Someone's in a bit of a sour mood this fine morning." Stuart joked. "You think I'm sour? You should see how Chris is this early in the morning." She said, probably over exaggerating. "That man can be violent. He demonstrated it on Stuart. Say Stu, did he knock your bottom teeth straight?" Violet snorted. I watched Stuart's smile fade. He cleared his throat. "I, uh, I'm going to the bathroom..." He stood quickly, and rushed to the bathroom. I glared at Violet as she threw her head back in a fit of laughter as she said, "He's gonna go look at 'is teeth!" Stuart looked at himself in the mirror. He pulled his bottom lip down gingerly and examined his teeth. They aren't that bad though... He thought to himself. He released his lip and let out a deep frustrated sigh. Ya know, other than the fact that I smoke... I'm trying to stop but the craving is too great.... I hope this will be what makes me stop... I can't smoke on the shuttle... But... I have a daughter and I don't want to die anytime soon.... Stuart shakes his head, clearing his mind. He creeps out of the bathroom, goes back to the seating area. "How's the chompers, Blue Boy?" Violet laughs. "Actually, I think I'm gonna go get some more sleep..." I could hear the anxiety and sadness in Stuarts voice. "Whatever, Pray to the tooth fairy and maybe your teeth'll get straightened!" Violet doubles over in laughter, slapping her knees. Stuarts face softens, as if he was about to cry. He scurries quickly to the living quarters. Christopher enters the room and takes a seat in the pilot seat. He checks the radar and says quietly to himself. "This is a new Galaxy... Not the Galaxy itself but the shape..." I quietly stand over Chris, examining the radar. "Waterdrop... We should call it Waterdrop." I smile to myself as the words escape my mouth. "Yea... Let me page the captain back at Nasa..." Christopher presses a button and a facetime like screen appears on the dashboard. I listen to Christopher explain to the Captain in great detail. "Captain Christopher signing off." He turns the screen off. "We should get there in under thirty minutes. "Hey, wassup with Stuart?" Alexander asks as he enters the room. "Wattcha mean?" I turn and look at him. "He seemed pretty upset when I woke up. "Something about his teeth?" I glare at Violet and go check on Stuart. "Stu?..." I look at him. He was lying down and looking at the ceiling, or whatever you want to call it. I reached out for him but he turned over, facing away from me. "Your teeth don't look that ba-- It's not about my teeth!!" He yells. "I'm so tired of bein' bullied all the time! Just,.... Leave me alone...." I sigh deeply and leave. "I love you..." I say quietly back at him. He either didn't hear or didn't care. "Guess you could say he's... Busted and Blue?" Amelia joked. I rolled my eyes at her wacky comment. "We're almost there. Just a few more minutes." Christopher announced.

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"Welcome to Waterdrop, guys." Christopher grinned as we flew past dozens of moons and planets and asteroids. We stared in awe at the rocky bodies. We passed by planets that had characteristics like Saturn and Jupiter and Neptune. I had my sketchbook and pencil in hand so I sketched one of the planets quickly. Because We went past it slow enough for me to gather some of the minor details. Stuart still hadn't came back to the seating area. I wasn't necessarily worried about him. He used to do it all the time when we were younger. I knew he'd come back around sooner or later. I just didn't know when.