The whole car ride was silent. I leaned on the door, and rested my head on my hand hoping to fall asleep. It wasn't very comfortable I'm not going to lie, but even if I was I probably wouldn't be able to sleep. All these things to wonder about. Or to worry about. Why is everyone so worried about us? We shouldn't have a reason to not come home! Right? I don't know for sure anymore.
"Look buddy,I know it's a little scary considering this is your first mission in space and everything, but there is nothing to worry about. We'll be fine. Promise." My dad encouraged me, keeping his eyes on the road. He could tell I was scared. I can tell he is to.
"You're right, Dad. I am pretty scared. And even though I know I shouldn't be, I still feel worried that something might actually happen to us. Like some part of me is saying that for certain!" I began to rant.
"Hey, that part of you that's telling you that? That's paranoia. It's normal, kiddo. Just a quick mission to Kerberos and back! And hey, we'll get you and Katie some cool ice samples to play with in the house, ok?" He reassured me. That's what I told Katie to....
We pulled into the parking lot for the Garrison, and parked the car near the entryway. As soon as the car stopped, I had already unbuckled my seatbelt and grabbed my bags out of the rear seat. My dad did the same, and we slowly walked into the Garrison. Even from the front of the building, we could see the ship in the back. It wasn't a very big ship, just a cool little cruiser. And it would be just Takashi, Dad, and I going. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by Nadia Rizavi. She put one hand on my shoulder, and had us speed up walking.
"Holt, your late!" She reminded us, still in a hurry.
"I know Miss Rizavi, Sorry about that." I said, picking up the pace to get to our changing stations. We sped into a long hallway of doors when Nadia handed me and my dad our Garrison ID's, and told us to check the two numbers at the bottom right corner of or cards. Those were our rooms to change. My dad and I sped down the hallway of doors and numbers to find ours. I glanced at my dads card, his number was C4. His room had just come up, and he stopped me before he walked in.
"See you in a few kiddo. You'll do great." He gave me one last word of encouragement before we had to leave Earth. I felt like if I said anything I would start crying, because I didn't really want to leave. Don't get me wrong, I've never been more excited to go on my first mission, I just don't want to leave mom and Katie alone for a whole year. I just nodded, and continued my walk to my room. E1. I sped-walked down the long hallway to my room. Students were patting my back, and wishing me luck for my mission as I walked. The attention felt nice. My room finally came up, and I unlocked the door with my ID card. It was nothing but a small little square room, with a little bench and a mirror. Like a changing room at a clothing store. I opened my bag, and roughly pulled out my uniform. Apparently I pulled too roughly, since I had caused the bag to fall over. A little slip of paper fell out of the front pocket, which I didn't know where it had come from. I bent down to grab the small paper, and picked it up with my index finger and my middle finger. To my surprise, I unfolded the paper, there was a picture of Katie and I. This photo was taken a few weeks after we discovered I was going on the mission. At the bottom right corner of the photo, was some cute cursive writing in purple ink.
' I'll be missing you, meme man
-Small Sis'
I figured I should keep this, since I could use it for good luck. I decided to wear my body suit underneath my normal clothes so it would be easier to change, so I slipped off my loose jeans and my sweater. My space suit came on pretty easily, it was just really heavy. Once I had finished changing, I hung up my duffle bag on the hook that was on the door, and slipped Katie's photo into my pocket and zipped it up.
I miss her already. I unlocked the door and opened it, still trying to decide if going to Kerberos is the right thing to do.
I'll be back soon. I know I will. I can see K..Pidge in just a few months. Months....a lot of months. I thought to myself. I met up with dad in the hallway, and we both walked out to the main room where we would be escorted to the pod.
My heart raced in fear and excitement as I climbed up into my seat. I sat down and slipped my sweaty palms into my gloves, then buckled my seatbelt. I flicked a few flips an switches, and pressed a few buttons to prepare liftoff. The door latch to my left began to move, and signaled the door to open. The captive oxygen from the pod spewed out, letting new air in. I looked up and saw Takashi. He, with ease, slipped off his helmet and let loose of his flowy black hair.
"You excited?" He said with confidence
"You bet, how bout you?" I replied, attempting to sound as confident.
"Of course, a little nervous, but yes. Excited." Shiro explained as he put his helmet back on and hopped into his seat of the pod. He fastened his seatbelt and flicked some switches and flips. "Although, I did make a bit of a mistake coming here. But I'll learn the consequences." He said, sad at first, but then chuckling at his ignorance.
"You got someone your gonna miss...?" I said, in attempt to bring up Katie.
"Oh...yeah. My fiancé." He said with pride.
"Who's the lucky girl?" I asked in curiousity.
"His name is Adam. I'm sure you've met him." Shiro said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Ah, yeah. I've met him....wait!" I said realizing....the gay tension. Shiro chuckled once more, and the countdown began.
5
4
3
2
1
Kerberos
