I turn to look at Sylvia and for a moment I can’t say anything. “It’s strange to think of her that way.” I shrug. “I don’t even know what to think. I left her. On the planet. And I can’t even remember what happened.”
Sylvia nods from beside me.
“And now here she is and I have to learn about her all over again.”
Sylvia smiles, staring at me until I meet her gaze. “Well, now is a great time to start. You did what she wanted, right? You brought her with you.”
I smile.
“In a seven-year-old’s mind, what more could you ask for?”
I laugh, biting back the comment that she’s a whole lot more than just seven, but understand what Sylvia is saying all the same.
“Speaking of kids,” Sylvia says, her expression changing to suspicion. “I’d better go check on them. I mean...who knows, they could be tearing apart the upholstery or something equally as mischievous.” She laughs, and I feel bad for Sylvia having to take on the responsibility of eight random children, but she doesn’t seem to mind all that much.
I’m waiting for a few days from now. I’m sure the task will be delegated to someone lower in rank. I’m thinking Gregory.
I stand alone in the hallway for a moment, going over my conversations with the crew, and then thinking about Win and our lives ahead of us. And suddenly I realize that Andrew wasn’t with us in the diner, and I haven’t seen him since I left the medical lab.
I head to the crew quarters, seeing Sylvia and the children through a few doorways before reaching Andrew’s. I knock a few times, but hear no sound. Normally, with any one of my crewmembers in the situation of emergency or duty, I would just walk on in. But Andrew isn’t one of my crew and this isn’t anything urgent, so I walk away. Back down the hall, and then make a left toward the cockpit. It seems to be my default place. Just like it was for my Dad. It makes me feel like I’m becoming more and more like him every day. I still wish he was here and his lack of presence still jabs me like a hole in the heart, but I’m beginning to feel okay. Like I truly can be a leader—a captain.
If I can defeat a bloodthirsty monster on a planet that acted like quicksand to me and my crew, I can tackle anything.
I walk through the door and into the cockpit and startle as I see a figure seated in one of the chairs. Andrew swivels around when he hears my footsteps and then smiles. He looks different and after a few heartbeats I realize it’s his skin, his eyes, the blackness, the vines that snaked across his skin—they’re beginning to vanish.
“You weren’t in the diner,” I say, sitting down in the chair beside him.
He shrugs. “Didn’t feel...” He laughs. “I don’t know, you had a lot to catch up on with your crew.”
I nod, biting the inside of my lip. I know it’s going to take a while for him to feel completely at home here. Caught between the kids, his childhood, and the ship and crew that will lead him to his future.
I follow his gaze to the screen and then my eyes wander across the control panel, checking things over as a force of habit. And suddenly, with a start, I realize that nothing marks the map where we had been stationed only hours before.
The planet is gone. Once again.
I can’t say I’m all that surprised. It’s what happened to Dad after he saved me from Prince’s grasp, and it only seems natural that it would happen again. I wrench my gaze away, pretending it doesn’t unnerve me as much as it really does. Maybe it’s best that it stays hidden. I hope no one ever finds it again.
Andrew shifts in his seat. “And besides, I’ve never seen stars this close,” he eventually adds and then all of a sudden he laughs. “It’s funny, but I thought they’d be bigger once we got to space. Like you could reach out and touch them...” He trails off for a moment, staring at the screen where hundreds of stars glisten like glitter thrown on a little kid’s art project. “But they’re still just as far away. Like you’ll never really reach them all.”
As I stare at Andrew only feet away, looking at the screen like it holds both questions and answers, he suddenly seems small for the first time. He’d always been large, towering over me, knowing how to get from place to place, saving me from Prince in the forest what seems like ages ago. But sitting here in the cockpit, staring into the void of space and wondering at the things that nobody knows, he seems like a little kid.
“You know,” I say quietly. “My dad used to tell me that it was okay to be afraid of space. When I was little it used to bother me how big and black it was.” I laugh a little. “He told me that the universe is bigger than all of us, anything any of us could ever imagine, that we would never truly conquer it.” We’re both silent for a moment while Andrew seems to be taking it in. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s okay to be afraid of the unknown. Remember when you told me it’s silly to be afraid of the dark?” I ask. Andrew’s face scrunches up, like he’s ashamed of the memory, but I only laugh and he seems to feel better. “Well space is a little bit like that. You can’t see what’s out there and you don’t know what’s coming...but you’ll find out eventually.” I smile at Andrew and he laughs, seeming to like the analogy.
He stares down at the screen for a moment and then looks over to meet my eyes, sending something in my heart flipping summersaults. I smile back despite the unease at this weird little feeling in my stomach, the way the corners of my mouth grin involuntarily—this is something I’ve never felt before.
“So where to now?” Andrew asks me.
I bite my lip in thought and then shrug. I point to the screen. “Pick a star,” I tell him. “And I’ll show it to you.”
Epilogue
104 years later
I like how it feels when ships land. The feeling of metal on soil, or cement—that feeling of freedom and excitement, like you’re going to enter a whole new world. The frenzied commotion as people bustle around, getting everything in order, readying everything for whatever adventure awaits. Landing has always been my favorite part of living on a spaceship.
And Hourglass takes the cake. She’s a pretty smooth lander compared to some ships, and believe me, I’ve been on quite a few.
“Jane Harrison,” I say aloud to the small computerized screen on my closet door—the one that will let me in to get my suit and the other various equipment I might need for this newest adventure. It recognizes my voice and the door slides open. My name is repeated back to me in a smooth, computerized, female voice and, not for the first time, I wince at the sound. I swore to myself a long time ago that once I was a legal adult, I’d change it to something more exciting. I mean Jane is pretty much the most plain and unoriginal name in the book. My parents claim it’s the combination of my great grandparents’ names—Judith and Andrew, the owners of the original Hourglass spaceship. But I mean, come on. Couldn’t have taken much effort to come up with a name as boring as mine.
I’m mentally going over fun and exciting names in my head as I climb into my suit – purely for precautionary reasons. My mom won’t let me come otherwise. As of this year, my favorite names are Evangeline and Astrid. I can imagine Mom’s reaction to either of them, and I smile. It makes the name change idea all the more pleasurable.
I meet my parents and the crew at the hull of the ship, right by the airlock and ramp. I fidget around while everyone takes a ridiculously long time checking and rechecking everything like they’ve got a compulsion or something. Apparently this planet-landing was a bit last minute and everyone’s been hyped up about it for some reason. But I don’t really care—I just want to get out there, run around, and take some pictures.
What feels like hours later, my Mom finally gives the go ahead and I’m nearly jumping with anticipation as we all file out into the open. I’m shocked at how Earth-like the planet appears and I’m itching to remove this helmet and suit, but I know Mom would flay me alive for it, so I refrain.
I see her and a few of her botanist crew go off in the direction of what I can only assume is some interesting flower or pla
nt. Like anyone cares. Dad’s busy with the rest of the crew and I wait around a little while before shrugging and beginning to wander around.
I can hear Mom and a few others off a ways away as I venture a little further into the trees around me. I flick at a small flower growing on one of the trees, watching as it falls to the ground. I wish I could feel it with my fingers and not have to guess through this thick beast of a spacesuit. I walk a little ways more, surveying the trees and shrubbery around me. I frown, continuing to glance around. Everything’s pretty much the same as on Earth. And the same is boring. Earth is boring. I want something new and this isn’t it.
I kick at a rock beneath my foot, biting my lip and hoping that everyone will finish up with this planet within a day or so, so we can get out of here and into the next planet or star. Hopefully with something more exciting than pine trees and moss.
I hear a rustling in the trees and I turn in the direction of the sound. “Mom?” I call and don’t wait for her response before continuing. “This planet’s a little boring,” I say in the nicest way possible, knowing she’ll probably just tell me to find something to entertain myself. I don’t hear her respond so I take a step toward her. “Mom,” I say, a little irritated this time.
I take another step, but then nearly jump out of my spacesuit when I see the figure in the trees isn’t Mom at all. My mind skims through all the faces of the crewmembers, quickly coming to the conclusion that this boy, this teenager, isn’t one of them. I open my mouth, shocked, the planet suddenly becoming a whole lot more interesting. Is the planet inhabited?
I stand still and watch him a little cautiously, tilting my head to the side. He just stares at me.
“Hello.” His voice is softer than I’d have guessed it was and I’m so enamored with this fact that I don’t even reply. His eyes dart to the side where we can both see the ship almost twenty feet away through the trees. “Hourglass,” he reads from the side of the ship. The corner of his mouth twitches. “It’s nice to meet you, Jane.”
I blink.
About the Author
Pauline C. Harris is the author of middle grade and young adult science fiction novels and published her first book at the age of fourteen. She's currently working toward a degree in English. Other than writing, her time is consumed mainly by reading, playing the violin, watching old black and white movies, and trying to survive her college classes.
Twitter: @PaulineCHarris
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Pauline-C-Harris/404821976275743?ref=hl
Website: paulinecharris.wordpress.com
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