Airborne

by Kimberly P. Chase

  He looked like some sort of sex god.

  She was still staring.

  Aurora snapped her mouth closed.

  ‘I … I called to say goodbye,’ she finally blurted out.

  ‘What?’ Sky’s eyes transformed from smoldering heat to ice.

  ‘Not like that. I—’ Aurora let a huge smile sweep across her face. ‘—I won the jump seat!’

  Sky leaned forward like he wanted to touch her. ‘Of course you did.’ His smile matched hers.

  ‘I leave tomorrow,’ she continued.

  ‘I knew you could do it.’ Sky’s smile turned mischievous. ‘Though that might be because you have an awesome instructor.’

  ‘That’s definitely it.’ She chuckled. ‘Thank you,’ she added more seriously.

  ‘Anytime,’ he whispered.

  Before things could heat up like they usually did when he started whispering that way, Aurora said, ‘Look, I need to tell you something.’

  ‘Okay,’ Sky replied cautiously.

  ‘My dad’s been having Rowan followed.’

  ‘Good.’

  Aurora glanced at Sky surprised, but didn’t add to that comment. ‘He’s up to something, but we don’t know what exactly. I’m going to forward you the investigator’s report. Maybe you’ll be able to figure it out?’

  ‘Why? Because we’re related?’

  Aurora sighed. ‘No—’

  ‘Sorry. Sensitive subject.’ Sky ran a hand back through his hair, ruffling it further. ‘I’ll look at it. If I figure anything out, I’ll let you know. Though it’ll be hard to communicate with you on Aviary. The Alliance monitors all communications.’

  ‘Right.’ Aurora glanced away from Sky. This was harder than it should be.

  ‘At least we’ll be closer to each other.’

  ‘True.’ Aurora chewed on her lip before meeting Sky’s gaze again. ‘We’ll talk soon.’

  She ended the call; unable to voice everything she was feeling. Every conversation they shared seemed to send an arrow through her heart. If she weren’t careful, falling for two guys at the same time would kill her.

  Chapter 21

  Aurora

  The Spaceport glowed with pale blue lighting as the hoverbus pulled through the gates.

  It was the day.

  The day Aurora had waited her whole life for. The day she and all the other class eight cadets had been training like crazy for.

  And best of all, the day coincided with her birthday. No one knew this besides her dad, Kaylana, and maybe Ms Lovell because she’d probably seen the date on Aurora’s application into the Academy.

  At age nineteen Aurora Titon was going to space.

  She was eerily calm while Kaylana rambled on at an incredibly fast speed beside her. She missed every word, but knew Kaylana was speaking more to let out nervous energy than to actually have a conversation. Without saying a word, she placed her hand in Kay’s.

  The doors to the hoverbus opened and everyone filed out. Kaylana continued her chatter. ‘Aurora, are you listening to me?’

  The gold Apollo Academy logo swirled over Kaylana’s chest. Using the hand she still held, Aurora turned Kaylana so that she was looking at her back. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. She traced the gold wings spread along her back. ‘Today, we’ll finally get to fly,’ Aurora continued. Maybe her calmer demeanor would help.

  Kaylana turned around to face her. ‘What are you talking about? You get to fly all the time.’

  ‘But this is different.’ She pointed up. ‘I’ve never flown way up there.’ Excitement burned Aurora’s words. Sometimes she just felt so out of place in this world that it had always seemed obvious she needed to leave it.

  The shuttle was massive. Its beauty breathtaking. Even though it was a big, bulky vehicle, the wings tapered sexily from the center of the fuselage. Six engines that a hoverbus could probably fit in, steamed in preparation for launch.

  ‘Well, I think that’s about to change.’ Kaylana motioned to the cadets lined up beside the elevator that would take them up to the shuttle’s main hatch.

  Aurora twirled around not wanting to miss the ride up. She pulled Kaylana along behind her as they ran. Kaylana spotted Akemi a few steps later and she let go of her hand probably wanting his instead. Good, Aurora thought. She wouldn’t have to worry about Kay during launch, knowing Akemi would be there for her when she couldn’t.

  Zane was also waiting outside the elevator doors. She ran over to him, grabbed his hand, and tugged him into the elevator with her just as the doors shut.

  ‘Excited?’ she asked, squeezing closer to him.

  Zane nodded, his eyes cautious. ‘Sure. You?’

  ‘Yes.’ Aurora beamed.

  The elevator began to ascend. The dizzying pace of traveling so far upward quickly disoriented her. Unlike the elevators in Titon Technologies she couldn’t opaque them. As the ground dropped out from beneath her feet, Aurora reached out for the wall.

  Zane circled his arm around her waist, steadying her.

  ‘Thank you.’ She pressed a hand to his chest, loving how his muscles flexed in response.

  ‘I’d never let you fall.’

  Holy wow. Speechless, Aurora stared into Zane’s beautiful gray eyes. He leaned down, whispering in her ear. ‘Happy Birthday.’

  ‘How did you—?’

  ‘I have my ways.’ Zane shrugged. He pressed a kiss to her cheek as the doors opened.

  A metal bridge connected the elevator to the main hatch. The door to the shuttle was propped open, waiting for them to board. Puffs of smoke from the propulsion system drifted around the platform in a fog-like dance. The shuttle’s nose faced upward ready for their trip to the world above.

  Hesitantly stepping away from Zane, she headed for the shuttle. Before she ducked her head through the hatch and headed for the cockpit, she turned to face Zane one more time.

  She blew him a kiss and entered the shuttle.

  Chapter 22

  Zane

  Zane shook his head as Aurora ran toward the hatch of the shuttle. As soon as the doors opened, he knew he’d lost her attention. He didn’t mind. This was the moment Aurora had been working so hard for.

  When she reached the opening, she twirled around as if she’d remembered she’d left something important behind.

  Zane felt his lips form a small smile.

  Aurora returned his smile, but hers was wide and full of glee. She blew him a quick kiss before ducking through the door. It hit him then that Aurora would never really belong to anyone. Her heart was already taken—with flying, with the heavens above. Zane wished he’d get to be there with her.

  Unlike Aurora, the other cadets walked toward the shuttle at a normal pace. They were herded to a lower section of the vehicle where two rows of eight seats faced one another.

  Akemi was strapped in beside Kaylana and holding her hand when Zane entered the room. Quinn and Reed had taken the seats next to them, so he strapped himself across from them on the opposite row.

  ‘Sit down, shut up, and hold on!’ someone yelled over the radio, followed by a chuckle. ‘This is your captain speaking. I need you all in your seats and buckled. We leave in ten.’

  Since there weren’t windows to look out, Zane found himself observing Kaylana. Her face was pale. He hadn’t seen her so subdued since the initiation skydive. He leaned forward, so he could more easily speak to her. ‘Why are you afraid of heights, Kay?’ Aurora’s nickname for Kaylana felt weird coming from his lips.

  Maybe if she talked about it, she’d realize there was nothing to fear. Shuttles launched to and from space daily.

  Kaylana swallowed and licked her lips before answering. ‘I don’t know.’ She looked around as if to make sure no one was listening. ‘Do you think everyone will be okay? After Brianna …’ Kaylana’s voice trailed off.

  Everyone in class eight had probably thought this same thing at some point. Would they survive the launch? Or would their bodies fail like Brianna’s had?

  ‘Eve
ryone’s been tested. We’ll be fine.’ Akemi patted Kaylana’s hand.

  ‘Why do you want to be an astronaut, Kaylana?’ Zane asked again. It seemed obvious to him that someone who was afraid of heights shouldn’t become an astronaut. So there had to be a driving force behind this decision. Or maybe, like Zane seemed to be, she was following Aurora?

  Kaylana leaned forward and her eyes momentarily lit with something other than fear. ‘Where else would I learn how space travel affects the human body? Did you know that our bone mass will deplete at ten times the rate of a seventy-year-old osteoporotic woman? Or that space travel ages the human body more in a one week trip than it would over fifty years on Earth if we don’t exercise properly?’

  Akemi smiled. ‘No, why do you think that is?’

  Zane scooted back in his seat, as his attempt to distract her worked perfectly. Akemi mouthed ‘thank you’ as Kaylana rambled on.

  Wow. That felt surprisingly … good. He’d actually helped someone.

  The engines rumbled beneath them.

  Chapter 23

  Aurora

  ‘Aurora, right?’ called a twenty something guy with black hair seated in the cockpit. He was buckled into the Captain’s seat, but he’d turned around at the sound of her approach.

  ‘Yeah.’ Aurora moved closer, rocket ships taking flight in her stomach. She was really going to do this.

  ‘I’m Tor, the captain of this baby.’ He pointed to a guy with dirty blond hair, seated in the co-pilot’s chair. ‘That’s Jett.’

  ‘It’s nice to meet you both.’ Aurora stood awkwardly half in the cockpit, unsure of what to do. It was weird not being the one in control.

  ‘You can sit in the jump seat behind me,’ Tor said, thankfully saving her from thinking too hard about it.

  As Aurora hastily strapped herself into the seat, Tor continued to talk. ‘I guess you’re the best pilot in your class, huh?’

  Aurora only nodded, uncomfortable with the thought. Rick and Nathaniel were damn fine pilots. She’d barely beaten them for this opportunity. She tried to don a cocky pilot face, but her nerves were starting to get the best of her. Even though she’d done this a hundred times in the sim with Sky, her body somehow knew this time it was real.

  ‘Well, aren’t you a shy one? Normally we have some hot-shot pilot sitting up here.’

  Aurora could definitely believe that. Especially knowing that Sky had won the jump-seat slot as a cadet.

  ‘Watch and learn. One day you’ll be doing this yourself,’ Tor prattled on, making up for the silence on her end. He briefly glanced over his shoulder, verifying she was properly strapped in.

  ‘Helmets on,’ Tor instructed.

  A glass helmet was seated next to her, so she reached over and picked it up. The helmet was heavier than it looked. When Aurora had stuffed her hair inside and activated the mic, she heard the control tower calling out instructions.

  ‘T-Minus three minutes and counting,’ a male voice spoke over the radio. ‘Clear Caution warning memory. Verify no unexpected errors.’

  Tor and Jett flicked switches as they went through their pre-launch procedure. Aurora kept up, picturing herself doing this on her own one day.

  ‘Verified. No unexpected errors,’ Tor replied to the control tower.

  ‘Copy that.’

  ‘Close and lock your visors. Initiate O2 flow. Comm check around,’ Tor called out.

  ‘Loud and clear,’ Jett responded.

  Since Aurora was the only one left in the cockpit, she spoke into her mic. ‘Loud and clear.’

  ‘You got a girl in there with you guys?’ the guy from the tower called out.

  Tor barked out a laugh and Aurora wasn’t sure if she should be offended or not. And was that really important right now?

  ‘Yeah, we do!’

  ‘Put her back on the radio. She sounds nicer,’ the tower called back. Apparently dealing with men all the time was getting repetitive for this guy. Aurora smiled and for once felt pretty cool about being the only girl in the cockpit.

  Tor chuckled into the radio. ‘Maybe next time. I’ve gotta teach her a few things first.’

  ‘Alright. T-minus ninety seconds and counting,’ the guy from the tower responded, back to business.

  ‘T-minus one minute.’

  ‘Ignitions lit,’ Jett called out.

  ‘Prepare for departure,’ the AI system announced.

  Aurora felt vibrations travel up her legs, slightly shaking her whole body. She felt like she’d just chugged ten energy drinks as she convulsed in her seat.

  ‘Thirty seconds.’

  This was surreal. Aurora wanted to pinch herself as Tor and Jett continued to prepare the shuttle for departure. Their call outs echoed in the cockpit.

  ‘You’re cleared for auto sequence depart.’

  It was a little frightening leaving the flying to someone else, but Tor was a pro.

  ‘Fifteen.’

  ‘Ten.’

  Aurora’s heart beat in time with their call outs. ‘Nine, eight, seven, six, five …’

  ‘You’re go for main engine start.’ What sounded like thunder reverberated throughout the shuttle. As Aurora’s body shook violently, she gripped the straps over her shoulder.

  This was it.

  ‘Three … two … one …’

  ‘Rock and Roll,’ Tor yelled out as they left the ground.

  It felt like her heart exploded with joy as they ascended. A huge smile swept across her face as they rocketed upward.

  ‘Over first stage,’ Jett called.

  ‘Guidance looks great,’ Tower confirmed.

  It was amazing watching Tor and Jett work together. Aurora could tell they were a team, their movements synchronized in perfect harmony. Aurora wondered who would be her flight partner and if they’d ever move so smoothly as one.

  ‘Throttles back to sixty-seven percent to reduce stress on the shuttle as we break the sound barrier.’

  ‘Roger,’ Jett responded to the tower’s instructions.

  ‘You can open your visor if you want,’ Tor called back to Aurora.

  Aurora slid the shield covering her eyes, even though she couldn’t see much sitting behind Tor and Jett.

  ‘Throttles back to normal.’ From her studies, Aurora knew they were traveling over five thousand miles per hour right now. And gaining. She was smiling so hard her cheeks hurt.

  ‘Forty degrees. Looks wonderful,’ the control tower called out. ‘At negative return.’

  ‘Roger at negative return,’ Jett confirmed.

  If anything went wrong now, there was no turning back. They were headed out of Earth’s atmosphere whether they wanted to or not. They were halfway into orbit and probably going eight thousand miles an hour now. Weirdly, Aurora couldn’t tell they were moving that fast. Everything was calm, cool, in control.

  Her earlier tummy rocket ships flew smooth and level.

  This felt right.

  ‘Roll to heads up.’

  ‘Initiating roll and pitch,’ Tor responded, his hand moving to the control lever.

  ‘Two minutes of powered flight remaining.’

  ‘Standby for throttles,’ the tower called out.

  ‘Throttles in,’ Tor responded.

  ‘Throttles idle. Main engines cut off.’

  ‘Welcome to space, guys,’ Tor turned toward Aurora, grinning.

  I’m finally here, Aurora thought. She sent Tor a grin of her own and quickly unstrapped herself from the seat, ready to experience true weightlessness for the first time.

  Her body lifted in the air. The cockpit window hidden from her view during launch floated into sight. At first all she saw was blackness with a soft glow coming from the world they’d just left.

  And then the shuttle turned …

  Aurora forgot how to breathe, as a piece of her soul seemed to click in place. They were coasting over the edge of Africa. The entire world lay bare before her. The place she’d called home for the past nineteen years hung there like a liv
ing, breathing jewel.

  Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to describe how she felt.

  The sims didn’t do it justice.

  As the shuttle moved, twinkling lights caught her attention. Stars were still tiny in space, but without anything to prohibit their brightness, they looked so close. She seemed to have an out of body experience—the molecules in her body, everyone’s bodies, even the ones that made up the shuttle had been first created from ancient stars. From stardust.

  Aurora Titon was a descendant of the stars.

  No wonder she’d always wanted to return to them.

  Chapter 24

  Zane

  If possible Kaylana spoke faster and faster until the force of launch physically kept her from speaking.

  An explosion of fuel and power happened right underneath him. The rumbling, booming roar carried them upward like … well, like a rocket.

  As the shuttle left the ground, Zane thought about what a huge mathematical feat this was. The shuttle’s escape velocity relied on gaining enough kinetic energy to propel the shuttle’s massive body out of the earth’s atmosphere. If he knew the shuttle’s exact mass, he’d compute the number himself. KE= (1/2) * mxv2

  They needed to crest over twenty-five thousand miles an hour to break the Earth’s hold. If they didn’t break that speed, Earth would just pull them right back down.

  They rocketed upward at seven miles per second all the while trembling in their seats. He heard several gasps, but most everyone remained quiet.

  A second later, the shuttle won the fight against gravity. Groans filled the room as the cadets were thrown from four g’s to zero.

  His stomach felt like it was in a permanent state of free fall. All of his hair stood straight above his head, floating.

  ‘Damn’t, Reed! Where’s your sick bag?’ Rick yelled.

  Vomit chunks floated by.

  Rick yanked a bag out of the seat in front of him and threw it in Reeds’ direction. ‘If you’re going to be sick, do it in a bag!’

  Zane glanced at Akemi and wished he hadn’t. Even Akemi’s dark skin couldn’t hide the green tint it had taken on. Sweat gathered on his temple.