Smoke in the Sky // Linkin Park

Afloat

Writing in English is pretty scary... Anyways, here is the next part of Lp in space! I hope you enjoy it!

***

"Fuck you, Mike!" Chester wished there was a door to slam shut behind him as the quiet hissing he heard as the automatic door closed wasn't satisfying at all since he wanted the whole crew to know just how mad he was. At his friend that refused to help him, at all the people that had put them in this peculiar situation in first place. At Brad for not being able to change Mike's mind, at the others for not siding with him. At himself for too many reasons to name.

And here he was again, alone in the engine room, only surrounded by some of the machines his life currently depended on. The noise they made was nothing more than a faint ringing in his ears which reminded him a bit of the wind on a warm summer evening, as he crouched down on the narrow piece of metal that served as a path through the room, spanning from one end to the other and extending to all sides, and waited for the holograms to awaken before him.

The concept he had developed with Brad was groundbreaking in his eyes and in between all the formulas, sketches and paragraphs that were now floating around him he'd hoped to have found a solution for the world's problems. The problems they were currently running from. Scientist or not, the fact that he had to leave a dying planet behind was slowly but surely tearing him apart. And now that the thing he'd been working on for so long, had put so much hope into, even dared to call his masterpiece in silence, wouldn't be completed, he felt like a coward for not staying behind with the rest of the world.

When he'd first gotten the letter asking him to join the program that gave some of the most promising scientists the chance to help create a new start for humanity, he'd been running excitedly through the University that employed him, making sure to show the message to his five best friends. And when it became more and more obvious in the weeks that followed that they would be able to form a team and go on the mission together his excitement had grown beyond anything he'd ever felt before. After all, this was what they'd been dreaming of ever since they'd shared a little apartment, this was what had always given them the strength to study just a little more, to work just a little harder than the rest.

"Chester?" And now he was back on the ground, hovering slightly above the bottom on the narrow path with no railing to stop him from falling if he leaned over the edge. "I knew you'd be here."

"Leave me alone." From the day they first stepped aboard the spaceship as part of their preparation about a year ago, it was the engine room that had drawn him in as if there was an invisible force pulling him towards it. And as soon as they'd left everything they'd known behind, it had become his refuge. A place to think when he needed quiet to hold on to ideas that had flashed through his mind. A place to cry when the heartache he felt over not having his family with him became almost unbearable. A place to find himself again when he felt like he'd been lost between the stars.

"Hey buddy." Brad sat down next to him, the way he'd done it countless times when they had been trying to get their ideas to turn into something that could one day become reality. "I'm sure he didn't mean it like that."

"He didn't even try to act like he doesn't hate it", he grumbled before trying hard to compose himself and give Brad the best explanation as to why he was so upset that he was able to come up with. "You know, I've worked with this guy on so many projects and no matter how stupid my ideas sounded at first, we always found a way to make them work. And the same for Mike's ideas. We found the flaws in the other's way of thinking and pointed them out, yes, but we never treated each other like shit!"

"He didn't-"

"Yes, he did!", he snapped. "Mike knows damn well how to formulate criticism, but he chose to call us idiots!"

"Calm down!" Brad lifted his hands in an attempt to keep his friend from getting even angrier as he felt like sitting next to a bomb that was ready to blow up. "We know it'll work, that's enough for now, okay?"

"Except it's not going to without Shinoda's help." Hands balled into fists, he slammed them against the ground before getting up, unable to sit still any longer. "You know how the human part works and I can do the programming and set up most of the technical parts, but we need Mike to get those to work together and you know that!"

"Maybe we can ask Dave for help." Brad thoughtfully stroked his beard, the slow and steady movements a strong contrast to Chester pacing up and down the blank.

"When it comes to building the thing, yes." As the engineer specializing on space technology he was used to coming up with creative and long-lasting solutions, which made him the perfect companion for their journey. After all, he was the one who kept the spaceship from falling apart. "Still, Mike is our man. The knowledge he has about transferring data on tiny scales is crucial for us."

"You know what?", Brad suggested, now knowing what else to do. "Let's just give it some time. We're stuck in space anyways for another what? Six months?"

"I was hoping we could go straight into developing it as soon as we've landed." When Chester frowned Brad had no other choice but to silently agree with his friend. Dying or not, the Earth was their home and if there was a way to return to it and save it, he would rather do it sooner than later. Especially with everyone that mattered to him, apart from his five best friends, still stuck there. And thus, he understood the frustration that Chester was feeling when he finally calmed a bit and sat back next to him, still growling as he spoke. "It feels like we are wasting time that we don't have!"

"Like I said, we are stuck here and the only thing we're supposed to do right now is stay alive until we reach Ross 128 b." Ever since people had started flying towards the stars, death had been their companion. From navigating through the unknown in hope of not crashing into something to stepping onto planets that could potentially kill someone within the blink of an eye, the risks were almost too many to list. But even though they'd grown up with the news filled with the names and faces of those brave people that had given their life for a greater cause, the fascination for space never stopped. "Besides, we can still go through everything once more and who knows? Maybe we do find another way after all."

"I don't think there is another way to control your surroundings." Seeing Chester's focus shift from being angry at Mike to the hologram allowed Brad to relax at least a bit as it now seemed unlikely that there would be any serious fight on board this day. "Unless we discover an invisible force that holds the universe together or some shit like that, this is the best idea."

"You know what?" Brad stared at the image in front of him a moment longer before turning to Chester who looked at him curiously, already holding the device in his hands that would allow them to add more notes to the hologram. "The things that scares Mike isn't that we want to use and manipulate the already existing field of waves caused by all kind of transmitters in order to hopefully clean up the atmosphere-"

"But that we want to implant that power into a human being!" As if he'd been stung by something, Chester jumped up again, this time with a huge grin on his face as he pointed at his friend. "Brad, you are a genius!"

"I know." If there was one thing Brad wasn't lacking, it was confidence in his talents. A character trait Chester certainly envied at times, as he usually felt like he didn't have the skills he needed in order to complete a task given to him. Even now, part of him still wasn't convinced he was the right person to be sent to another planet. "What if we adapt it, then show it to Mike again, get him to help us and use the knowledge we get this way to work on the device that connects man and machine in secret?"

Even though Brad knew it was wrong to trick one of his oldest friends into working on something that he fundamentally disagreed with, it was the only choice he saw left for them. And considering how clever Mike was, he would probably figure it out as soon as they asked him anyways.

"Now that is a plan that could go terribly wrong." They could only hope that this idea wasn't met with resistance as well. "I'm in."