Alpha Centauri

The Others

I followed the pulsating light through several doorways until I could hear the chatter of voices. My stomach squirmed with nervousness as I entered the Dining Hall. Weird smells hit me in the face, smells I'd never experienced before.

The Dining Hall was a vast space with sterile white tables and chairs bolted to the ground. The walls were plain, white and empty, apart from a large screen, with numbers flashing, at the end of the room.

Five people sat at a table near the front of the room, they shoved food into their mouths as they talked and laughed loudly, their back suits were a sharp contrast against the blinding white room.

I watched them with my head tilted to the side, curiosity taking over as their animated conversations sparked my interest.

"Please welcome your new crew member." Phee announced, causing everyone to jump, including me.

"Good Lord, Phee! How many times do we have to tell you to announce yourself?" Shrieked a tall girl with dark skin and curly black hair as she threw her hands up in the air.

"My apologies Lyra, I'll do better in the future." Phee said in her neutral note.

"Who do we have here?" A guy with short, slightly curly, brown hair looked at me, his dark brown eyes ran down my body making me feel very uncomfortable.

I wrapped my arms around my front as Lyra smacked the guy on the back of the head and he diverted his eyes.

"This is Nova, she has just gone through the Awakening, please make her feel welcome. My systems tell me more should be waking soon." Phee's voice floated around us.

I smiled a small, unsure smile. I felt happy that I wasn't alone but scared of all these new faces.

"Hey Nova, I'm Lyra and the creep here is Nev." Lyra smiled a warm smile that made me feel less nervous.

"I'm Phoenix, but everyone calls Nix." A guy with red, cropped hair smiled a goofy smile, stretching the thousands of freckles that were splattered all over his pale face.

I smiled a soft smile as my eyes darted to the others sitting at the table, waiting for them to introduce themselves.

"Estrella and Rosa woke up a few days ago, they are still adjusting." Lyra pointed to the two other girls sitting close together.

Rosa sat there silently, with yellow blond hair tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head, her blue eyes twinkled with kindness when she smiled at me.

I knew the feeling, I hardly wanted to speak. My brain felt so confused and fuzzy.

Estrella's milky white hair matched the same color as mine, and her pale blue eyes almost looked gray in the ships lighting.

"More girls?" Her catty tone was something new to me, everyone else was kind and welcoming, except her.

"Ignore Estrella, her hormones seem to be too high after her Awakening. Come and sit." Lyra patted the seat next to her and I quickly moved forward, but my foot caught on something on the ground and I nearly face planted into the table.

Strong arms caught me, and I looked up to see Nix, amusement filled his green eyes.

"We call that space legs." he laughed, and my face felt hot.

"Don't worry, things get easier, don't they?" Lyra looked at Rosa and Estrella, as I sat down, who nodded eagerly.

"What's that?" I pointed to a brown rectangle sitting on a plate in front of Nev, my voice coming out soft and croaky.

"That's food, and I know from experience that you are hungry, but don't really know what the feeling of hunger is yet." Lyra said kindly as she stood up and walked over to a wall with colorful buttons.

After pressing a few of the buttons, a beeping sound came from the wall and a hatch opened, expelling a plate of steaming hot food into Lyra's hands.

She walked back over to the table and put the food down in front of me. The smells coming from the food overwhelmed my senses.

"Why is this all confusing" I still couldn't fully understand what was happening.

"Everything will make sense soon. You need to eat." Lyra dragged the plate closer to me and I poked the weird food.

"You pick it up with your hands, put it in your mouth and chew." Estrella snapped.

Lyra raised her eyebrows at Estrella, and she shrugged and looked away. It made me feel even more nervous with her hostile nature.

"Go on." Lyra encouraged me.

I picked up the weird looking food with my hand and put it into my mouth. An array of flavors burst on my tongue and I moaned out loud, which made almost everyone laugh.

It tasted good, the texture was a bit funny but with every bite I started to feel better, but my head still hurt.

I sat there watching everyone, enjoying my meal, but now, every time I chewed, the food turned to dry paste in my mouth.

My lips felt dry and cracked. Lyra put a glass of clear liquid in front of me and I picked it up and smelt it.

It didn't smell like anything and the encouraging look on Lyra's face had me putting it up against my lips and letting the wet substance cover my tongue. It made me feel better, so I gulped down the liquid quickly.

I began to watch everyone as their mouths moved and their hands animated their speech. Estrella flicked her wrist when she was getting annoyed, Nix slapped his hand on his leg when he laughed.

Nev sat silently and watched me, making me feel uncomfortable, I tried not to look at him.

Lyra's laugh made me smile, her perfect white teeth almost glowed against her skin, and little crinkles around her eyes became more prominent when she laughed. It made me smile wide.

The feeling of skin being stretched over my teeth felt weird, I reached up and touched my face, it felt rather nice. Everyone watched me for a moment, then went back to their conversation.

"You will feel more adjusted as the days go on." Lyra whispered in my ear which made me jump. The tickle sensation raised bumps on my arms.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked her.

"A month. Nev and I woke up at the same time. We gave Phee a run for her circuits." she laughed.

"Do you know what we are meant to do?"

I still didn't fully understand Captain Herra's speech.

"Don't worry about that now. In a week, Phee will update your neural implant and everything will become a lot clearer." She patted me on the shoulder.

Something tingled at the back of my neck, like my body only just registered that something was foreign in my body.

I reached up and felt the back of my neck, a slight cut sat there, and when I touched it, another tingled rushed through my body up to my brain. I shivered.

Everything is weird here.