Chaos Walking Childhood One Shots

Viola - Passing Through a New Galaxy

I'm not really sure what it is about passing over a galaxy that's got everyone so excited, but there's been a specific buzz of energy throughout the convoy for nearly a week now. Maybe it's the colors we'll finally see against the black beyond, though it's the exact same blues and purples we've been getting closer to for days. They can't look too different up close, can they?
Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that galaxies contain the one thing that's kept everyone going for about sixty years now.
Planets.
As we pass over this galaxy, every planet and moon that we see along the way will be one rock closer to our destination.
And it is exciting, really, it is.
But we still have a couple years to go before we actually get to New World, so it's not like seeing this galaxy will change anything.
We'll still take the same classes, have the same jobs, see the same people.
But the buzz today has got everyone in a good mood. The narrow, windowed hallways against the outside walls of the ships are unusually harder to walk through because everyone wants to see the new galaxy with their own eyes.
Don't get me wrong, I want to see it too. But as we've flown closer and closer to the cloud of colors, I can't help but feel like I've seen enough of it already.
I haven't been excited about it as of late, that's for sure, but the thing that's changed my mind today is the call that I got from my mother after I finished my last class.

"Hey, Vi, do you want to see something amazing?"
She called me on my private comm while I was on my way home on a transportation shuttle after class.
"I'm looking at it right now," I tell her, which is true. The window on the shuttle between ships is giving me a great view of the colors.
"Oh, I promise you're not seeing what I'm seeing, sweetheart," she says, humor in her tone. "Are you alone?" She asks.
"No," I say quietly, looking around at the other people on the shuttle. Thankfully, they're all too busy at the window to have noticed my mother's question. "Why?"
I turn the volume down on the comm, and she looks thoughtful for a moment.
"I'm the only one on shift right now," she whispers, meaning her shift as pilot. "I know you're technically not old enough to be on the main deck, but I'll get in more trouble than you will if we get caught, and I don't really care about that." She pauses for a moment and looks around, even though she knows she's alone. "You want to come see the galaxy from the pilot's seat?"
I try to hide my smile in case someone around on the shuttle sees me and gets suspicious. I lean in closer to the comm.
"You mean right now?" I whisper.
"Right now," my mom nods. "I can't leave because I'm the only one flying the ship, but you know how to get here, right?"
I look around one more time to make sure no one's listening.
"Yeah, I'll come find you as soon as I get there."
"Awesome," she whispers, as excited as I've ever seen her. We say goodbye as the transportation shuttle lands on the ship, and I get off as quickly as I can.

I try to look as natural as possible as I walk in the direction of the main deck, and no one seems to notice me. My heart starts beating a little faster, and I hope that I haven't suddenly forgotten the entire layout of the ship I was born on as I head toward what's supposed to be off limits to me. But I find the elevator to the deck, and I ignore the Authorized Personnel Only sign as the doors slide open. If there ever was a time for someone to come and stop me, it would be now. 
But I close myself in the elevator and it starts up with no trouble.
There's an uncomfortable quiet on the way up, just the sounds of my own nervous breathing and the machinery working.
Finally there's a ding, and an identical set of doors to the first opens behind me.
I turn around.
"You made it!" My mom greets as I step into the room.
"If we get in trouble, just remember that this was your idea." I laugh to shake of the nerves as I hug her back.
"I know, it's just exciting to have you up here," she says, taking a step back to let me look around. "So, what do you think?"
I set my school bag down against a wall and take in the room. It's big, but not the biggest room I've ever seen. It's completely round; the door to the elevator behind me is built into the wall. Directly in front of me a few paces are the controls, like a giant desk that's built into the floor and rounding off against the wall. The longest window I've ever seen lines the room, minus a few feet on either side of the elevator. I could spin in a full circle and see space almost everywhere I'm looking.
"It's incredible," I say, feeling smaller than I ever have before.
"I know," my mom says, standing next to me and looking where I'm looking. "I get this view every day, and still today has been the best view in all my years of piloting."
I feel like I'm being engulfed by empty space, but it isn't quite so threatening now that the black beyond is riddled on all sides by the brightest blues, purples, and even greens that I've ever seen. It's like standing in one of the immersive vids, being surrounded by landscapes that I've always known existed but have never actually seen with my own eyes. The feeling is indescribable, especially now that it isn't an immersive vid. 
It's right outside the window.
My mom and I just stand there for a while, taking it all in.
"The view won't last forever," my mom says. "Once we pass through, eventually this will just become a black window again. But it will have been worth it to see this, even once."
"Yeah," I say, because it's all I can think to say.
I can feel my mom looking at me. She laughs to herself.
"Come on," she says. "Let me show you what I do up here."
I let my mom show me all the controls and gadgets of the pilot's seat, and as interesting as it is, I can't help but stay distracted by the window.
"You brought your schoolwork, right?" My mom finally asks, and I nod, my heart sinking a little.
Of course she would have made me work up here.
But instead she says, "Why don't you take a few pictures?"
My eyes dart up to her smiling face.
How did I not think to do that in the first place?
I rush to my bag and take out the tablet where we do our module lessons. The camera is supposed to be for documentation purposes, but none of the other kids use it that way unless it's for school. Everyone's tablet is filled with all kinds of memories, and this is one that I definitely want to save.
My mom helps me find the best spots of color out the window to save, and we take pictures every few minutes because the view is constantly changing.

After who knows how long, I'm sitting in one of the pilots' seats next to my mother as we scroll through our pictures. I could be flying this ship right now, from where I'm sitting.
It makes me feel powerful, which is a funny contrast to the smallness that the black beyond makes me feel.
"Just a few more years," my mom sighs once we've looked at the last picture. "Then we'll get to see colors like this outside our window every day."
I try to imagine a tree or a rock like I've seen in the immersive vids, but with the same vibrant blues and purples that I've captured on my camera. I don't think anything on New World could look as amazing as this.
"You really think it's gonna be worth it?" I ask. "Just us and five thousand strangers on an empty planet?"
"Of course I do," my mom says, almost shocked at my asking. "Us, five thousand people, animals and plants that we've never seen, the ground beneath our feet, water running nearby, the wind in our hair, the rain on our faces... What could be better than that?"
I follow her gaze back outside the window in the general direction of New World.
I think about family and planets and things that I've never seen. And then I understand what everyone's so excited about.
I've never seen colors as vibrant as the ones outside this window, and they're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
I've never seen New World before either. No one has.
And maybe it won't be exciting at first. Maybe it'll be like the galaxy, with everyone's excitement taking away from how wonderful it actually is.
Or maybe, just maybe, it'll be like the view outside the window. Maybe it'll have colors like this, and exotic animals and plants and maybe even people.
I know it's just hopeful thinking.
But what's so wrong with having a little bit of hope?