"Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth ... ."
The words came to Maria Johnson's lips as her vessel turned slowly, sending long shadows across the cabin.
The radio speaker crackled. "Say again, Ares?" Mission Control asked.
Johnson pulled her gaze away from the vista of the world below her. "Nothing, control. Just wool-gathering up here. Enjoying the view," she corrected herself. She was sure that she heard a truncated chuckle as Mission Control responded.
"Roger that, Ares. Now, can we get on with the checklist?"
"Understood, control. Beginning checklist." Maria forced herself to focus on the procedure, passing instructions back and forth between her crew and the engineers hundreds of miles below. She understood the need to restrict the chatter, the back and forth, keeping the conversation to the essentials. But it meant that she was just a conduit for others, repeating their words without adding anything of her own. Maria's mind started to wander again.
The blue-white marble of the Earth was visible through the viewports in the bow of the spacecraft. There were no stars - the reflected Earthlight was too bright for them be seen. But the stars were not needed for now. There would be enough time to see them later on, during the months that their voyage would take. But Earth? As it dwindled behind them, Maria and the rest of the crew would only have memories of their home.
Finally, the checklist procedure came to an end. "Roger that, Ares. We can confirm that you are go for orbital insertion. You may begin insertion at your discretion."
"Understood, control." Johnson looked back from her position and nodded at the commander. "Control says we are good to go any time we want."
"Alright, then." The mission commander sat back in his acceleration couch. "We've kicked the tyres, let's light the fires."
As the vessel's main thrusters came on-line, the superstructure began to shake. Maria put out a hand to steady herself, and felt the cool plastic of the viewport beneath her touch. She looked away from her console, wondering whether she would be able to see any difference in the sky, yet.
"Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
