Mongoose Among Us...

HYPER-SLEEP

I swallowed my pride and took a seat at Sophia's table. I couldn't be upset that the pilot called me out because, after all, I did call him out first. 

The pilot cleared his throat, "Now we are going to monitor the ship while you all are in hyper-sleep. Doug here has a folder for each of you which includes detailed directions on how to enter this state. The hyper-sleep cribs will automatically wake you up once we are one day away from Saturn. Xavier will escort you to the cribs." The man on the left started handing out the folders to the astronauts, which meant that he was Doug. That leaves the man on the right's Xavier, who headed towards a doorway opposite of where we came in. The pilot gave one last look at all of us and walked out of the doorway where Xavier was standing. My eyes followed the pilot out of the room, but I noticed a dark blue band tied around Xavier's arm. I looked over and Doug had one too, except it was dark green. The new crewmates having their own color made everything seem so much more official. 

Plop. Doug dropped a thick folder in front of me. I opened it up and found a page containing a crude diagram of the pod with notes scribbled all around it. Another paper behind it contained step-by-step instructions on how to enter and activate it. The rest of the papers in the folder included the updated mission debrief. I didn't believe that Space Z was telling us all the information they knew, but if I wanted answers they definitely weren't going to be in a bunch of paperwork directly given to us. I sighed. There was no point. What was done was done, and there was no amount of digging I could do to change that. 

"Are you mad about this too?" Sophia whispered to me from across the table. I wasn't mad, but I was frustrated. 

"I just don't understand why this is so last minute, and it makes me wonder if we are being put in actual danger," I replied. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, for starters, Space Z is a private organization, it's not like NASA. Space Z just wants money, and I don't think they care about endangering a few astronauts to get their hands on what they want."

"So your saying we're disposable?" Sophia creased her eyebrows. She didn't believe what I said.  

"Well yes, if they need more astronauts, they can just hire more. They only thing they would really be loosing from a failed trip is money, and even then, the ship we're on is one of their least expensive models"

Sophia seemed to consider this and said, "They would lose time too." I had forgotten about that. Rumors were flying around that the new elements we were supposed to look for on Saturn's moons were going to be sold to private militias all across the world. If Space Z had a deadline, it would put the company in a dangerous situation if they missed it. 

"Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing," I said as I put the papers back into my folder and grabbed my helmet. I only made myself more nervous after talking to Sophia, and I think I made it worse for her too. I don't think anyone else heard our conversation, thankfully. I looked around the room and saw Aubrey and John David hunched over their folders at a table near the kitchen entrance, Sira sitting at a table by herself looking as hers as well, and Madison and Moira were sitting at the last table looking through theirs. I just wanted to leave this room before I chocked on my anxiety. The sooner I was in hyper-sleep, the sooner this whole ordeal will be over. 

I stood up with my things and walked over to where Xaiver was standing. I met his gaze.

"Did you even read the papers?" He said in a disbelieving tone. His voice was deep but not raspy like one would think. 

"That doesn't concern you," I deadpanned. I started to walk past him, but he grabbed my wrist. My mouth gaped open as he turned me towards him. 

"It does concern me since I'm the one making sure you don't kill yourself on this little trip of ours." He was still holding onto my wrist as he closed the gap between us. Our noses were inches away from touching. 

I narrowed my eyes at him, "So what exactly is your job then?"

"The mechanic." He was being completely serious. I couldn't help it, I started laughing. 

"The mechanic? You're going to save my life because- because you're the mechanic," I managed to say through my laughter. I think that pissed him off more. 

He put a fake smile on his face and whispered, "At least I'm not some egotistical 'astronaut' that barely made it through school." I stopped laughing. This situation had suddenly gotten very un-funny. How did he know that I barely made it through school? It's not like I'm not smart, but I completely bombed my finals because I never studied. 

He had gotten to me. I didn't want to show it, but I needed to know, "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." With that, he let go of my wrist, pulled away, and turned back around to face the cafeteria. The conversation confirmed that Xavier was trying to mess with me from the start. I didn't know why, but he was trying to get under my skin. And he succeeded in doing so. Not to mention the tingling sensation that covered my entire body. I didn't even want to know where that came from...

He's not worth stressing over, I thought. I shook my head and turned towards the corridor. It was short and led to another junction. A door to my right had the words SLEEP CHAMBER  written above them, and the door to my left had MED-BAY written above it. I used the right door and entered a room filled with seven egg-shaped pods. The room itself had a blue tint to it and dim white lights covered the ceiling. In the back of the room, I saw a pod with the word "Cyan" printed on it. I decided that now was a good time to read through the directions as I walked over there. 

1. Click the button on right-hand side

2.  Lay top to Bottom

3. Click the "Close" button

4. Click activate

NOTE: TAKE SUIT OFF FIRST!

I saw a machine behind the pod that looked almost identical to the one I used before I boarded the ship. There was even the same pedestal as before. I stood on it and the machine took apart the suit and placed it on the ground beside me. Apparently, Space Z already stored our personal belongings on the ship before we boarded, but I didn't feel like finding where they put everything. So instead, I placed my folder on top of my suit and walked back over to the pod.  

I clicked the button on the side and it made a hissing noise as it opened. I ran a finger through my curly hair and retucked my cyan Space Z shirt back into my pants. Before I slid into the pod, I looked around the room. I'm first this time, I thought. Once I was in the now-open pod, I hit the glowing red "CLOSE" button. Once the pod made another hissing sound and closed, the only thing lighting up the pod was a flashing green button that said "ACTIVATE" in bold letters. I closed my eyes and thought about everything that had gotten me to this point. I sighed and pressed the green button.