The Soulmate Curse

Curiosity - Part 2

The two days of rest and relaxation were more bearable than Zhen thought they would be. She spent the first with her family. Her dad was still sober, which was wonderful. He was also still madly in love with Finn's mum, texting her through the day, which was more than a little awkward. Still, Zhen liked this version of him. Loved it. On the second day, Finn and her family joined the fun. After they spent the day doing all sorts of fun family-friendly things, Finn offered to drive with Zhen back to the base. On the way there, Zhen convinced her to take a detour back to Elk Grove High and let her sneak them into the batting cages.

"I still have no idea how you keep breaking into these places," Finn said, shaking her head as Zhen set up the pitching machines.

"That's not going to convince me to spill my secrets," Zhen said, putting on her most charming smile. She loved the little stumble from Finn at seeing the smile. She still had it.

"That's not fair," said Finn.

"I can't help it if I've got game," said Zhen.

Finn laughed and prepared to bat. Zhen had been so worried about not being able to be around her that she'd forgotten that they were friends first. That it was fun to just hang out with her. That she wasn't alone in all of this. And that she loved getting into trouble with her.

"What's it like, knowing that you are only hours away from this one thing you've wanted for so long?" Finn asked.

"Nauseating."

"It's difficult to imagine you being nervous," said Finn, lounging on the side of the batting cages.

"I'm human too, you know."

"I've always been doubtful of the fact."

Despite their frequency and loss of novelty, rocket launches were still kind of a big deal. There was a continuous live stream for the daily activities at the GSI compound, at least from those areas of the compound open to the public, but the rocket launches still captured the attention of most online content creators and streaming services. And while they weren't as celebrated as astronauts were way back in the latter parts of the 20th century and early 21st century, Zhen, her cohort, and commanding officers still had some celebrity status. Nothing close to what Finn had, but enough to mean that they had to spend the last few hours before the launch doing PR stunts for their carefully curated social media pages, which were used mainly as a marketing tool for GSI.

"Why do we have to do this?" Zhen complained after a particularly banal Q&A session with young fans. She was pretty sure Finn never had to go through this. "I'm mentally wiped by how tedious that was."

"I guess it's Mission Control's way to keep our minds from obsessing about the fact that we're about to strap ourselves to giant rockets full of explosives and purposefully attempt to blast ourselves off the face of the Earth, literally." Said Jo nonchalantly.

"Great," said Zhen. "Now that's all I'm thinking about."

"At least they love you," said Jo, a little too forlornly for her usually stoic nature. "You have a sense of humour and an unnatural charisma."

"Don't sell yourself short, Jo," said Zhen, wrapping an arm around her friend. "You're plenty awesome yourself. You wouldn't be here if you weren't."

They had their pilot's licenses, had flown some of the fastest aircraft on the planet and they'd experienced orbital flights, even circling Earth's lower orbit a few times, but neither of the younger candidates had truly been in space. And now they were headed out there for an extended period of time, embarking on a one month stay in ISS2. It was nerve wracking, but exciting too. After a brain-numbing number of interviews for the camera, they were finally allowed time to say goodbye to loved ones and then prepare to leave. Zhen enjoyed seeing Jo's dad. They were carbon copies of each other. It was fascinating to watch.

"She's your competition?" Finn whispered.

"She's training to be a pilot," Zhen whispered back. "Not a commander."

"Ah, so you're her boss."

"That's not exactly how it works," said Zhen, laughing. "We're all important."

"That definitely means you're her boss," said Finn. She gave Zhen a hug for the third time.

Zhen whispered into her ear. "If you keep touching me like this, people will start talking."

"I hate that I can't have you," Finn whispered back. She pulled out of the hug and gave her a sad smile. "Have a safe trip, Zhen."

Zhen took in those green eyes one last time. They were filled with unshed tears, which brought tears to Zhen's own eyes. She watched as Finn turned and walked away, to be replaced by both Akemi and Sorcha, both closer now than blood sisters. They trapped her into a tight embrace, full of tickles and giggles. The tears wear banished from Zhen's eyes, but her heart bled. There was a lot she was leaving behind that would be a tragedy to lose if anything went wrong with the launch. And for some reason, she didn't think she'd get it all back even if she made it back safely a month from now. She buried that last thought and breathlessly convinced the girls to let her live long enough to launch to space before she died of laughter.

Armoured up in their pressurised suits, they were driven out a few meters to the rocket, then left to walk up to it. Zhen took this chance to look up at the engineering marvel one last time. Her heart began racing. The launch was always the scariest part of the whole thing. A whole lot of stuff had to go right for this to work. She had definitely forgotten to pack something important. Soon, they were strapped in place in the cabin, ready to be launched into space. There was nothing to do now but wait. Wait and feel. Feel everything. The uncertainty, the fear, the excitement. Hope. Everything. The energy of their emotions was thick in the cabin space, floating through and around their suits. Everyone was nervous.

This was a major mission, with four of them on board the shuttle. Jo and Zhen were the astronauts-in-training chosen for this mission. They would hold mirror duties to their commanding officers to give them a sense of purpose and a taste of responsibility while on mission. Zhen would shadow the Commander, while Jo's duties mirrored those of the Pilot. It was only unofficially, during launch and landing, but it had weight to it. Their official rank and position on the space station would be Mission Specialists, each with a specific assignment to carry out based on their academic interests.

It was easier now than before to launch rockets when lunar and asteroid mining presented a near infinite source of rocket fuel and rare metals for reusable rocket building. However, despite the ease and frequency of launches, it was still fraught with peril and all launch procedures were tense. Failed and aborted missions were part and parcel of space travel. Like Russian Roulette, you could never tell what mission would end your career or bolster it. These were the thoughts whizzing through Zhen's mind as they listened to the countdown to launch, as the rocket rumbled beneath them, and as it finally exploded and lifted them off the Earth's surface.