Among the Stars

MIRAH, MIRAH, on the wall, who's most sus among us all?

My name is Purple. It's confusing because the color of my uniform is pink. But I suppose it was better that having no name at all. My parents had a sardonic sense of humor.

At least, I think they did. In all honesty, I never actually knew my parents. I was found as a baby alone on an escape pod with empty blue and red spacesuits and a note. It said, "Take care of purple." From that day on, I was named purple. 

I always  wanted to follow in my parent's footsteps and travel among the stars. Without my family and with the planet uninhabitable, I never had a place to call home. I dreamed of being captain or crewmate on a space fleet. Unfortunately, my written exam scores landed me on the local sky station Mirah HQ. 

For some reason, no one ever traveled to the surface of our planet. Even more suspicious, or sus as we like to call it, was that no one ever talked about why.  Growing up I used to pull out old history books in an attempt to learn more but the parts about what happened but the pages about the accident were all removed or blacked out. The only clue I have is a small white marble figurine carved to look like a spacesuit with a strange green chalk like substance on the bottom.  

I strapped into my chair on the transport and patiently waited while others arrived. Each crew had one suit of every color to distinguish rank and roles. As you might have guessed it, Red was the ship captain with black and white as their first officers. Blue and yellow oversee electrical. Green cares for the engine and reactor. Brown is in charge of plumbing. Purple works in med bay healing the injured. Orange takes care of communications and cyan is the chef for the ship.  As for pink? Pink uniform is the lowest rank in the fleet. We care for the plants. 

I sat quietly as the other members slowly filed into the transport. Red joked heartily with black and white, likely making fun of cyan's flower crown. Yellow and blue chatted about the ideal wire set up, with all wires parallel. 

Purple sat down beside me. "I was nervous my first time too you know"

I laughed anxiously. "I'm not nervous"

Purple patted me on the shoulder. "What is your name kiddo?"

I winced. "P-P-purple"

She looked at me skeptically. "But your suit is pink"

"Y-y-y-yes--"

"And my suit is purple"

"Yes. I know it's confusing"

She smiled. "No, you know what it is? Unique." She raised her hand in front of her face and stared intently at her glove. "Actually, now that I look at it, I'm really more of a plum. You should call me plum." 

A warmth of reassurance rushed over me. "Hi Plum."

"So why exactly did your parents name you purple? Did they want you to be a doctor?" She asked.

"I think so, but I failed them. I couldn't pass the written exam--" I replied softly. 

"Oh no one  cares about the written exam! It's about being able to fix up your crew in a time of crisis! And get your med scans done on time. Stick with me purple. I'll teach you every thing you need to know. Who knows? Maybe one day you will be wearing a plum colored uniform too."

I smiled. "I hope so."

The thrusters of our transport jutted us about before we landed in the dock. A loud voice boomed over the intercom and the hatch opened. "Crewmates. You have now arrived at Mirah HQ. Please find your way to your stations."