Airborne

by Kimberly P. Chase

  Kaylana’s eyes were closed when she pressed her nose into Akemi’s shoulder, apparently unaware of his struggle not to get sick.

  Zane started to un-strap himself in an attempt to get away from what he thought was coming. Before he could move, Akemi forcefully swallowed whatever was in his mouth.

  That was gross. But Zane supposed he should be thankful Akemi hadn’t sent chunks of vomit in his direction.

  Without windows in the room, they seemed to float aimlessly as the shuttle flew toward Aviary. While most of the cadets continued to struggle with zero gravity, Zane just observed them all, totally comfortable in this new environment. His stomach felt weird, but he kept total control of his body.

  He adapted.

  He survived.

  Space would be no different.

  Chapter 25

  Aurora

  Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

  The shuttle docked with Aviary, Aurora’s home for the next month. Tor moved out of the cockpit and pushed his way past the cadets waiting for the station’s door to open. In a way Tor reminded her of Sky—tall, fit pilot, with an ego the size of the moon. But unlike Sky, Tor had accepted her quickly into the pilot ranks. And yet for some reason, she still wished Sky had been the one to bring her here.

  Sounds of chatter and laughter echoed into the cockpit, pulling her from her thoughts.

  Jett remained seated.

  ‘Aren’t you coming?’ Aurora pointed toward the commotion as Aviary opened its door to the shuttle.

  ‘No, I’m flying solo back home. Can’t leave a perfectly good shuttle at Aviary for the next month.’

  ‘Oh.’ That made sense. ‘I’ll see you later then.’

  Jett waved over his shoulder. ‘I’ll be back to pick you up soon enough.’ He glanced up from his checklist. ‘You did great by the way. Most people puke.’

  Aurora couldn’t hide her grin. ‘Well the Lieutenant Colonel trained that right out of me.’

  ‘The centrifuge training?’

  ‘Yup.’ Once she’d gone through centrifuge training, her stomach had basically become a vault. Nothing could make her puke after that.

  ‘You better go before you miss the tour.’ Jett focused again on prepping the shuttle for departure.

  ‘Thanks.’ Aurora waved goodbye even though he wasn’t looking.

  Packed farther down the hallway were the class eight cadets, and Tor, Kaylana, Akemi, Zane, and Nathaniel laughed together as they waited. She couldn’t reach them without trying to get around Kylie, Reed, and Quinn. She felt a twinge of regret, wondering how they all handled the trip up. Truthfully the second she’d set eyes on the shuttle, everyone else had kind of disappeared.

  Wanting to be a good friend, Aurora waved her hand in the air until she got their attention. She put her thumb up, silently asking if everything had been all right. With Kaylana’s fear of heights, maybe her trip hadn’t been as fun as Aurora’s. But a grin stretched across Kaylana’s face as she returned Aurora’s thumbs up sign.

  A weight lifted off Aurora’s chest. Even though she knew Akemi would be there for Kaylana, it was still a relief to know their trip went well.

  ‘Alright, everyone come on in.’ Tor motioned for the cadets to go through the small hatch.

  Zane and Kaylana waited for Aurora so they could all file in together. She had to duck down to fit into the tunnel connecting the shuttle and station. They came out in what looked like the cafeteria, a small white room with tables and chairs strapped to the floor.

  Before anyone could ask why there wasn’t any gravity, a chipper woman wearing an Apollo Alliance cotton jumpsuit (that looked super comfy) called out, ‘Welcome to Aviary.’ She was cute and cheerful and Aurora instantly liked her.

  ‘Rules first,’ Tor barked out to the astronaut that seemed so happy to see them.

  Aurora frowned thinking Tor must have trained Sky.

  The woman’s smile didn’t falter, as she allowed Tor to take charge. As captain of the shuttle, he’d also remain captain while on the station.

  Tor flicked up his index finger. ‘First and most important, you follow my orders. You’re no longer at the Academy, but on my station. What I say goes.’ Tor stared around the room. ‘This is a space station and our very presence here requires work.’ He flicked up a second finger as he continued to go through the rules. ‘No excursions outside without an Alliance astronaut with you. Each of you will have your own schedule, and you will follow it to a tee. Eat when you’re told to eat. Sleep when you’re told to sleep. Exercise when you’re told. Got it?’

  Aurora found herself nodding along with everyone else.

  ‘You’re here to learn how to live in space, so that’s what you’re going to do. Don’t touch anything unless told to. We’re on a skeleton crew so that we can accommodate so many cadets. With this many people on board we need to make sure we keep everything sanitary.’

  ‘Why isn’t there any gravity right now?’ Kaylana spoke up, plucking Aurora’s thoughts from her mind. Professor Fontaine taught them all about Aviary. What each pod held, how the shuttles docked with the station, and where there would be a slight gravity. The cafeteria should have been one of them.

  Tor seemed to consider Kaylana before answering. ‘Aviary usually creates an artificial gravity by using centrifugal force created when the station spins. We’ve stopped rotating so that you’ll get to experience everything in zero gravity.’ Tor smirked. ‘You’re going to struggle. But if you all learn to cope, we’ll turn it back on in a week or two.’

  The woman who welcomed them cleared her throat. ‘Why don’t we have introductions and a tour?’ she asked politely.

  ‘Certainly.’ Tor raised a dark eyebrow at the woman. ‘This is Mercury. She’s been training cadets and Alliance personnel for coping in space for the past year.’ Tor nodded to a guy seated at one of the buckled down tables wearing a bored look on his face. ‘That’s Dr Shaffer.’

  Aurora did a double take. The guy so didn’t look like the doctors she was used to. He was dressed in the same comfy flight suit as the other Alliance astronauts, not in a lab coat.

  ‘And last but certainly not least, everyone say hello to Stella.’ Tor smiled wickedly.

  Aurora glanced around. She didn’t see anyone else in the room.

  ‘Hello, cadets,’ a female computerized voice announced over the station’s speakers.

  Right. Stella, Aviary’s artificially intelligent program, helped run the station.

  ‘Hi,’ Aurora muttered along with the other cadets unsure of what exactly to say.

  Un-phased Tor continued. ‘Alright, a brief tour.’ He pulled a flat screen similar to the one Ms Lovell used at the Academy from the sidewall. A few clicks later and a three-dimensional display of the station glowed in blue before them.

  Tor pointed to one of the attached pods. ‘This is where we are. As you can see everything is connected through this X, a series of walkways. Usually they have gravity, but like I said …’ Tor pointed to the rooms attached on the outside of the circle. ‘Cabins are here. Two beds to one room, but since there are so many of you, you’ll all be staying here.’ Tor pointed to a larger pod. ‘Sleeping units are secured to the walls.’

  Apparently this would be a virtual tour.

  ‘Exercise room, lavatory, medical lab, science lab, and the observatory.’ Aurora perked up when Tor pointed to the observatory. She couldn’t wait to get in there. The view from the small cockpit window hadn’t sated her appetite.

  ‘I know you’re all probably exhausted from the trip. So get settled and rest. Tomorrow we work.’

  Mercury motioned the cadets out of the cafeteria into the hallway. It was slow going as everyone bumped into each other and the walls. This would certainly be easier if the station was rotating, giving them a one third of a g. Oh well, Aurora thought. This would be way more fun anyway.

  That is if no one got zero gravity sickness.

  The room where they were all to sleep was basically empty. Sleep sack
s hung from the ceiling and sidewalls, all attached by ropes. They’d be sleeping upright. She hadn’t brought anything with her except the flight suit she wore, so there wasn’t really a way to claim a sleeping bag.

  There were no windows in this room … what kind of design failure was that?

  Kaylana moved toward Akemi where he was zipping himself into a sleep sack.

  Aurora followed, barely catching herself before bumping into Zane’s back. He turned around and steadied her. He’d picked a sleep sack near Akemi too.

  ‘Sorry.’ She giggled for some reason. They were all going to sleep in the same room. If this didn’t scream hook-up central, she didn’t know what did.

  Chapter 26

  Zane

  Zane tried to pretend like he didn’t notice when Aurora and Kaylana chose the sleeping bags right next to his and Akemi’s. Aurora seemed to reluctantly zip herself inside hers.

  Akemi was already encased in his sleep sack, the buckle strapped across his waist so he wouldn’t float away.

  ‘Tired?’

  ‘Exhausted,’ Akemi admitted. The yellow hue on his face seemed to fade as he got comfortable.

  Zane wasn’t tired but Aviary’s artificially intelligence system called ‘lights out.’ As the room darkened, Zane zipped up his bag. It felt weird sleeping upright, but it was better than sleeping outside on the streets. Trying to forget that Aurora was only a few feet away, he closed his eyes. When would they get to spend some time alone again?

  Time moved slowly as he lay there. Soft snores gave the room a comforting hum, but he couldn’t fall asleep. Probably because he didn’t really need much rest anymore. Hopefully no one would notice his irregular sleep patterns while he was here.

  Hours passed as he watched Aurora, giving him an unexpected comfort. She twitched every once in awhile like she was having a dream.

  Zane glanced at his techiwatch. 0300. Since he wasn’t resting anyway, he unbuckled from his sack and headed out to explore.

  He floated down the hallway and somehow managed to collide with two legs that seemed to come out of nowhere.

  What the hell?

  A grunt accompanied by a mumbled ‘shit’ came from above Zane’s head.

  ‘Need some help?’ Zane glanced into the uncovered paneled ceiling above him. He barely made out Tor’s dark hair.

  ‘No, man. Just trying to replace the bypass air filter. Didn’t think anyone would be up.’

  ‘What was wrong with it?’ This was the kind of stuff Zane would be in charge of when he graduated from the Academy. He moved closer to the opening.

  ‘Nothing. It’s standard procedure to replace the filter every six months. This new one came up on the shuttle with us.’

  Zane nodded, but then realized Tor couldn’t see him as he hunched over the air filter.

  ‘Who am I talking to anyway?’

  ‘Zane.’

  ‘Want to hand me that wrench?’ Tor’s hand indicated an area off to Zane’s right, which was now below him.

  He pushed himself toward the floor. ‘Sure.’ An equipment bag hung on the sidewall.

  ‘I’d get it myself, but since you’re already down there …’ Tor’s muffled voice called out.

  Zane grabbed the metallic end of a wrench sticking out of the bag. ‘No problem.’ He drifted back up and placed the tool in Tor’s outstretched hand.

  A moment later, Tor let go, falling slowly to the hallway floor. ‘Thanks.’ Tor glanced at his watch. ‘You should be in bed.’

  Zane shrugged. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’

  ‘The first time up can be a mind trip.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Zane agreed, knowing that wasn’t why he wasn’t resting but it was as good an excuse as any.

  ‘Big day tomorrow. No time for sleeping in,’ Tor said.

  Not wanting to cause suspicion or trouble, Zane dramatically yawned. ‘I guess maybe I am tired. See you in the morning.’ He pushed off the wall, turning himself in the direction of the sleep pod.

  Nights here were going to get boring if he had to pretend to rest every night.

  Much to his disappointment, Aurora—and everyone else—was still sleeping when he returned. Her red hair tangled in the air above her as she slept peacefully now. The launch had apparently been draining.

  With nothing else to do, Zane found his shoulder bag and pulled out his laptop. It had been a risk bringing it with him, but leaving it behind hadn’t felt safe either.

  He cracked it open. It wasn’t a surprise that the encryption still held.

  What was a surprise …

  The first letter of the password had been solved.

  H.

  Zane’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he tried every ‘H’ word he could think of.

  Chapter 27

  Aurora

  Brushing your teeth in space was weird. Not to mention a ton of work. Aurora manually pushed the toothbrush up and down over her front teeth, before venturing to the ones in the back. What century was this? Next time she came up, she was sneaking an electric toothbrush on board.

  Finished cleaning, she fought the urge to spit remembering Kaylana’s experience that morning. Which needless to say hadn’t turned out well for anyone. Zero gravity meant you never knew where something was going to end up. Aurora quickly swallowed the minty foam before her mind had a chance to protest.

  Yuck.

  After securing the brush in place with a velcro strap, she pushed herself toward the main sleeping cabin. The lights were dim and most of the cadets were tucked away for the night, tired after their first full day’s schedule. It was a little weird seeing them sleeping upright, but she had to admit it did conserve space. Kaylana’s blonde hair, even in a ponytail, stood straight up as she slept in the sleeping bag closest to Aurora’s and Akemi’s. Kaylana and Akemi were somehow managing to hold hands while sleeping.

  Aurora smiled. They were too cute.

  Wistful, Aurora glanced toward Zane’s bag. He wasn’t in it. She crawled into her bag and secured the strap across her waist.

  Hours must have passed as Aurora listened to the dull hum of the station. She should’ve been tired, but every time she’d closed her eyes, she felt like she was missing something important. Who wanted to be strapped into a cocoon, even a comfy one, when they were rotating the earth at a couple hundred miles an hour?

  Aurora unzipped and quietly removed herself from the sleeping bag. Not bothering to change or untangle her hair, she floated toward the observatory, using the shuttle walls to steer herself in the right direction.

  As soon as she glided into the empty observatory she felt calm and excited all at once. It was so quiet she could practically hear the stars scraping the outside of Aviary. The left and right walls were made of glass, allowing her to see everything outside the station. The left wall was black with the exception of what seemed like a million pinpricks of light. Stars that were light years away. The right side of the observatory was dominated by Earth. Brown, blue, white, and little flecks of green swirled in a live painting. It still struck her speechless.

  She was definitely moving her sleeping bag into this room.

  Positioning herself closer to the right wall, Aurora pressed her forehead against the glass. Its smooth surface felt cool. Right now, they floated over Eastern Europe at daybreak. It was then that Aurora realized why the station was called Aviary. They had a bird’s eye view of the world below.

  Beams of sunlight exploded from Earth’s east horizon as the sun rose for that part of the world. As the rays of orange, yellow, and red lit the world below, Aurora finally understood the beauty of home. And she hadn’t needed to do it with virtual glasses. Seeing it from the outside gave her a sense of self-awareness that most people never achieved. They were so naive. When would they wake up and realize that their beautiful world was dying a slow tragic death, while they pretended otherwise in an alternate reality.

  This was why all the training she’d been through and still had in front of her was worth it. She’d pr
ove to the people below—stuck in their fake world—just how wonderful the real world could be if saved.

  She stared out the window filled with a deep sadness and watched another sunrise and sunset. Every forty minutes a new light show would appear as Aviary rotated the planet.

  These precious minutes of her life were incredible. Tremendous. There weren’t enough words to describe the beauty outside these windows.

  All of her life, she’d dreamed of the stars. But Aurora wasn’t sure anything could compete with Earth. Even sick, the planet glowed with life. Resolving herself to help save it, Aurora pushed off against the window and positioned herself so that she was gazing out the other side of the observatory.

  A rich, endlessly black canvas of littered stars stared back at her. This side of the room had a completely different effect on her. It represented everything she had ever dreamed of—freedom, hope, exploration, purpose. The stars were her saviors, her ancestors.

  So focused on the world beyond her Aurora didn’t realize someone else was in the room until she felt the air stir behind her. She pushed back from the window, turning around. Whoever had entered was upside down. Or maybe she was the one that was upside down? The hair floating in front of her face wasn’t helping. As she struggled to see around the tangled mess in front of her, someone else’s hands scooped in and pushed the locks of her hair back. Hands she’d recognize anywhere she’d watched them so often, tucked her hair behind her ear.

  Zane was just as careful with her hair as he was when working with tech. Aurora remained mute as he gathered the remaining loose pieces in one hand, reached around her and tied them into a knot.

  ‘Better?’ His upside down lips tugged into a smile as he pushed away from her.

  ‘Yes,’ Aurora whispered. Stars, when he smiled like that she lost all train of thought. He’d been smiling more often, but not nearly enough.

  ‘What are you doing down here? I figured I’d be the only one up.’ Zane moved so he was looking out of the window beside her.

  ‘I decided sleeping is overrated.’ She still couldn’t believe it had taken her this long to come here. Aviary was rocking an intense schedule that kept her busy and drained by the end of the day. So it was either lose sleep or miss this—a no brainer. What Tor didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.