Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The near-textureless white walls and bright lights above my head brought both the open-lunged feeling of cleanliness and the warmth of an empty comfort. In my eyes, it stood as the nicest building here. 

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be here much longer. I had no choice. We had to be ready. Only a few days until the launch of the Skeld . Only a few days until we’d leave this Earth, this solar system, this galaxy, this reality. Forever.

As I leaned back in the waiting room chair, my brain couldn’t help but wander through all of the thoughts of what it would be like to be gone from here. I’d be in another world, with no way to get home. I’d never see all of the people I’d known and loved again.

But it had to be done.

It was for the good of all mankind.

“Zai Petrov, please step into my office,” the voice of the doctor finally heralded.

I arose from my seat, and watched as Estum, one of my fellow crewmates upon this journey, walked out of the room. He nodded at me, and I returned the gesture.

Feeling a bit of apprehension, I entered the doctor’s office. “Good morning, Dr. Cheug.”

She responded with a similar greeting, and then instructed me with, “Please sit down on the table.”

Even though I already had been inched forward to the table, white and with fake leather, I finally took the move towards it.

Sitting down, I watched as the doctor opened a couple of drawers, took things out, and turned on vital-scanning machines. She wiped down a surface with a wipe that had the faint smell of alcohol.

“So, it’ll just be a last checkup before you go off,” Dr. Cheug said.

“Ah, I’m surprised that we’re not doing this the day before I leave,” I half-joked, half questioned.

“Well, quite frankly, I’m not sure why. Maybe to give you as much preparation time for the launch as possible,” she speculated.

“That seems likely, somewhat. But we’re basically finished with everything at this point. Training, building, preparing. Hell, we’ve even had time to bond with our robots. Not sure why they wouldn’t have us do this until now.”

She looked at a tablet, and simply said, “Yeah, it doesn’t really make sense. But I don't know. I’m a doctor, not a planner to launch a spacecraft that leaves this universe forever.”

“Fair enough,” I concluded. “Anyways, other than a basic check-up, is there anything else you have to do?”

She scrolled through her tablet, checking things over and over again. She finally came to a stop and chuckled. “We forgot to give you one of your vaccines.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“It’s for an old disease - virus, actually - that might be present where you’re going. It probably won’t, though. I’ll give old humanity credit, they really got on that one fast,” she explained. “Which is good, because it’s downright destructive if not taken care of properly.”

“Oh, well that sounds pretty bad. What exact disease even is it?”

Dr. Cheug looked up to the side, trying to pull the name from her brain. “It’s an Old English word which I can’t recall right now - the common name for it - but the scientific term is Necrototic Esvestiulis . Basically, it makes your brain’s functions degrade. It’s a zombie virus.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Thanks for not forgetting that one.”

“You’re welcome. Let me get that vaccine for you,” she said. “Just wait here for a minute.”

She left the room, leaving me alone with nothing but the sterile office and the faint humming of a fluorescent light.

Sighing, I let myself lean back against the wall. Even through friendly conversations, through determined words, and through hopeful wishes, I still couldn’t shake the fear off. I had been trained for this moment for so long. I had been taught to rewire a central console before I could even drive, to feel comfort and companionship from only 11 other people and a personal robot for months.

So why did I still want to stay on the ground, even though staying on Earth is the last thing anyone wanted to do?

Dr. Cheug finally returned, the crisply silent door barely hinting her approach. She held something in her hand, a small white container of sorts.

I rolled up my sleeves as she took the small needle out of its box. Being rather tiny, the largest part being the translucent holding where the actual vaccine was in, it struck odd that such a small device had such a power to make a great difference.

She wiped off an area of my arm with a cold wipe, then a snip of pain nipped my arm. And just like that, we were done.

“Do I need a bandage for that? Or… it’s too small, right?”

“Exactly,” she confirmed.

“Alright. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Anyways, let’s finish your final checkup and you’ll be on your way.”

I nodded in agreement. Best I got this finished first, then I’d be able to get all of my things in order to leave.

As Dr. Cheug scanned my vitals, checked my temperature and heart rate, and made sure I didn’t have any possible amongus ailments or illnesses, she talked. “So, how are your cousins doing?”

“Heh,” I chuckled. “They’re alright. Rev’s pretty busy as of late, but Pavel’s being as helpful as he can, concerning this whole situation.”

“That’s good. They’re good kids.”

Oh, I had always forgotten that they were only kids. With Revenor having to take over a major section of the Mars military at age 19, and Pavel being thrown into this at only 15, it didn’t seem remotely fair. But nothing was fair in this day and age. We just had to get the jobs done, and then, maybe, we’d finally be safe.

I sighed. “They are. I’m going to miss them.”

All she said in a sad agreement was, “Yeah, I can only imagine.”

At this point, they weren’t just my distant cousins. We were practically siblings.

“I just hope that we’ll find a safe place so all of this suffering can be over. It hurts to just hear each new casualty or MIA count every day. Even the mere injuries sustained - even those that can be recovered in just a few days' time - still, it makes me so sad,” I sighed.

She frowned and her eyes became downcast as she poked a needle into my arm to draw some blood. “Will my vaccine taint the blood sample?” I asked.

“It shouldn’t,” she said.

“That’s good. I don’t want to delay this at all.”

“Neither do I. I’m not sure if anyone wants this to get delayed. Well… except for…”

“But they don’t know. And we’ve tried extremely hard to keep it that way,” I interjected.

She breathed. “Yeah, we have. I pray to whatever gods still exist that it works, and we - well, all of you on the Skeld can see if this is really possible. If it’s possible to leave, and to be safe from this.”

“It will,” I comforted, even though it was a half lie, for I barely knew if it would work. “It has to.”

She nodded solemnly, and after a moment of thick silence, words finally cracked it open. “You’re all done.”

“Thank you, Dr. Cheug.”

“No problem. I wish you the absolute best of luck on this mission,” she said, true hope and positive wishes filling her voice, but also seams of sadness.

I chuckled, though it wasn’t from happiness. “I hope things go to the best of luck too.”

With that, I left her office, very well knowing that this would be our final meeting.

Chapter Text

I sat at a table amongst my fellow crewmates, the ones who would journey with me for our flight into space. Only a few hours had passed since my last appointment with my doctor, a stark reminder of how close the clock ticked towards our leaving home.

Just three - well, more like two and a half - more days, and…

I didn’t dare speak of my fears to my crewmates, for the worry that they’d think I’d screw up the mission, or worse. Even though they’d treat me with respect, they’d speak of me in high regard, I still could sense their doubts about me. After all, in comparison to the ages of late twenties, thirties, and forties, a young person of just 25 might give off the aura of inexperience and possible failure, especially if I expressed such fears about leaving this planet.

I did want to leave, I did want to help people know if interdimensional travel was possible, and thus in return if it was possible to save the human race from destruction… or worse.

“Hey, Zai,” a familiar and friendly voice lifted me from my worry-plagued thoughts.

I turned to face him. “Huh? Yeah?” I asked.

The smiling face of Lifi greeted me. Other than me, she was the youngest that would ride the Skeld , her being only 27. “So, I have an idea,” she said, bubbly at the seams.

“Oh no.”

“So, when we get on the Skeld , I think we should call each other by the color of our suits and outfits. So, I’m going to be called Lime, Estum will be Red, Jakanop will be Black, and Tomir will be Purple! Along with all of the other crewmates being their respective colors, of course. So, whaddaya say, Yellow?” she pitched.

I let out a laugh - maybe a little too loudly. “Alright,” I agreed.

“Yes!” she exclaimed and pumped her fists with an excited slightness.

Turning back towards the side of the table I faced, my brain had finally decided I could eat my lunch. Before that, my stomach had been trampling and wrestling with my uncontrollable emotions, rendering me basically unable to eat food comfortably.

But it wasn’t going to be so bad, at least on the companionship end. These people who I called friends, some even family, would be here. And if, at the worst, I ended up loathing everyone on the ship, I’d have my personal robot companion, designed for simple tasks and humanoid companionship!

I nearly chuckled aloud, but that would’ve just been weird.

Instead, I focused on eating the food in front of me and hearing what the others had to say around me.

“What are you bringing on the mission?” I heard Tolos ask someone.

“Ehhh, probably just… some old books. Since it seems food can’t be brought aboard. Maybe I’ll bring some word puzzles… just crap like that,” the mumbling voice of Jakanop grumbled.

“Well, that’s pretty cool. Sure it’ll keep you busy for three months, though?”

“Oh, I’m sure. All I need to do is bring enough of them,” he assured.

“Eh, fair enough.”

Hmm. What would I bring to keep me busy on the mission? Maybe… maybe I'd bring something to sketch out designs with. Even though paper and wood were in tight supply - well, everything except rocks were short - I think they’d let it slide for one of their tech experts to bring one or two aboard to keep her from losing her mind in deep space.

I’m pretty sure the limit on the amount of items we could bring was 50 and under in total, so I’d be fine.

I finished up my food, and took my bowl and tray to be washed. Setting it in the sink, I walked off to discuss a few more preparations, and maybe snag a few sketchbooks along the way.

The time was 17:38 by the time I began to return to my room. Double and triple checking the technology, familiarizing myself twice more with the layout of the Skeld , and requesting some notepads and pencils - mechanical ones, they weren’t going to risk precious wood on normal pencils, and finally picking up my personal robot from her last checkover. She followed along, whirrs and cute beeps following me.

“So, Cattail, how do you feel about the mission?” I asked, silently hoping for a response similar to the feelings I had.

She thought for a moment, then said in a monotone but utterly sweet voice, “I’m curious, inspired, a small portion hopeful, and a bit worried.”

“How come you’re worried?”

“Well, the sheer immeasurability of what we’re about to attempt has so many possible outcomes. Nothing is certain, everything up to chance. But at the same time, the theories have been tested over and over again. The chance this will succeed is in our favor,” she explained.

“That makes sense. They’ve done a lot of work to see if this will work. They already sent someone into another realm - well, hypothetically, but they were never able to track him. All tracking devices just… died. But they’ve got it now, with the sheer size of the Skeld . A massive ship’s a lot easier to track than a singular man.”

“Very true indeed. And with such great distance between us and Earth, the invaders will most likely not be able to find, or track us. Add on to our encryption, and our safety to our destination is at least mostly guaranteed.”

“Heh, yeah. We’re prepared to our teeth. But… I still can’t shake a feeling of nervousness,” I confessed.

“Oh? How come?”

“It’s just that…”

I could barely find the words to express what I truly felt. “I’m… scared to leave Earth. I know it’s for the good of humanity, but I’m still so worried. It feels… it feels… I don’t know, nerve wracking?”

My breath felt ripped from my body as I tried to communicate my feelings to her. “Cattail, this feels so unusual, so strange and foreign. I’m scared to tell the others, too. What if they think I’m not prepared, that I’m going to mess this up for them?”

I stopped and leaned against a wall of the hallway. She stopped and looked up towards me, her blue eyes - well, vision receptors - expressing a sympathetic gesture. “That’s not just understandable - it’s downright normal. You’ve lived your entire life here. You’re going to a place no one living today has seen. You’re leaving behind all of your friends, all of your family. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to be unsure. There’s nothing wrong with that. And I can only imagine the stress of being the youngest on the team. It’s not exactly the same for robots. We’re all the same model, only a few minutes apart from each other. But you? You have to live up to expectations that could be a tall order,” she comforted.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“But I’ve known you for months now. I know you’re going to do well, most likely beyond well. You’re going to be a powerful step to saving humanity. You and your crew will be like the astronauts from centuries ago, making the brave steps to the moon. But this time, it’ll be even greater than that. But don’t worry too much about everything right now. We’ll focus on wrapping everything up and prepare for the launch.”

I nodded, and asked, “Anything you think I should do right now?”

“Have you talked to your cousins today?” she offered.

“When I get to my room, I’m gonna do that. Anything else we should do? Things to say? Debts to repay? People to say goodbye to? Other than my cousins.”

“No, you’ve handled all of your personal matters. To my knowledge, of course.”

Staring deep and hard at a white wall, I reached around in my brain for anything I could possibly be forgetting. I had said goodbye to all of my friends, said goodbye to all of my family except for my cousins - I could say goodbye to them at any day except for launch day, due to their intense military involvement - and I’d done my best to take care of all my personal matters. I had even paid back a debt of fifty credits I had owed since I was ten.

I shook my head. “Well, I think we’re done. I think I’ve got everything.”

“That’s good,” Cattail said.

“It is,” I replied, and started walking again. “When we get to my room, we can pack up any clothes I’ll need that aren’t supplied on the mission and get my personal belongings I’m taking with me.”

The sound of her robot amongus treads rotating to face me made me look back to see if she would need help, even though I already knew the answer. “Let’s go,” I said.

Chapter Text

I sat on my bed amidst a pile of clothes that I was in the process of sorting out. Cattail had decided to help out by picking out things that wouldn’t be useful or allowed, as well as folding anything within her capability. I knew that things such as winter jackets or anything other “heavy” clothing items were prohibited, due to the general lack of use they would have. At the worst, we could wear our spacesuits.

I had a few sweatshirts, t-shirts, and tank tops selected, but I could barely even think of what pants to bring. Maybe I could bring some comfortable ones, for the downtime in between our daily tasks?

That sounded good, so I folded up a few pairs and put them in my bag. I had picked my favorite ones, for all of my clothes would be donated to whoever needs them. It wasn’t like I was going to be using them anymore anyway.

“Cattail? They’re going to supply us with some pants we can work in, right?” I asked.

“They should. At least, pants that can be used to work in will be provided, if my knowledge base is correct.”

“Well, that’s good. Still, I’ll take some work ones just in case.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

I packed up a few more pants, them finally bringing my clothes bag to near-fullness. I sighed. My focus on technological work left me little time to bother with fashion, but it still felt a little sad having to leave some of the clothes I had known for years now behind. At least someone else amongus would get to use them.

A gentle ringing directed my attention away from packing and to the pillows of my bed, where my tablet lay.

I crawled over to it, and checked to see who or what caused the notification. When I saw who had decided to call, an unstoppable smile lit up my face.

Turning over as to lay down on my bed, I pressed the button to accept the call. Two familiar faces greeted me, along with their stupid - and unfortunately now natural, due to genetic modification - hair colors.

“Zai!!!” they shouted.

“Ah, hello there. I see my favorite idiots have decided to call.”

“Did you expect anything else from us?” Revenor chuckled.

“No, I did not. I’m just glad I get to see your dumb faces.”

Renevor and Pavel both laughed, and I couldn’t help but smile back at them. “So, how’s everything been going since… yesterday.”

“Well, we’re doing alright. Things could be better on the military end, though,” Revenor said.

“Eh, everything could be doing better on that end,” I agreed. “I’m just glad that we’ll hopefully find a way to help everyone and get out of this universe.”

“It’s kind of weird when you refer to it like that, when you talk about leaving the universe. And that we could all be doing the same soon,” Pavel commented.

“Oh, you’re just hearing about it. Imagine how weird it is on my end, with me actually having to go through interdimensional travel and all.”

Pavel’s eyes turnt to wide saucers. “That’s even stranger to think about. You’ll be gone. In another world. It’s such a weird thought.”

A sober look fell across my face. “It is, Pavel. It is.”

The joyous mood had been cut into pieces with a knife, but it had always been in the last week. Every single call always started, ended, or had one of these moments.

Trying to lighten things up, I reached into my pocket, pulling out a tiny pink hat with cat ears. Glancing over to make sure Cattail wasn’t being too observant, I held the hat to the camera. “For her,” I whispered, pointing and turning my tablet towards Cattail.

“Awwwww,” they both gushed, though Pavel hit too high of a note, and Cattail turned her head over.

Quickly hiding the hat in my fist, my brain jumped through fifty hoops at once trying to think of an explanation. “Oh, hello Revenor and Pavel!” she exclaimed, and wheeled over to us.

“They just wanted to see you and say hello,” I covered.

“That’s so kind of them,” she said.

I grinned, both at my coverup of my gift and the fact that it really wasn’t a lie after all. 

“Hello, Cattail!” the two exclaimed.

She made a gentle whirr noise, and asked, “How are you?”

“Now that we’ve seen you, a whole lot better!” Revenor said, a grin most certainly splitting his face.

Letting out a little laugh, I turned away and smiled. “Want to talk to them?” I asked Cattail.

She shook her head and said, “Oh, no. No, I shouldn’t. They’re your cousins. I feel you deserve more time than I.”

“Cattail, you’re practically family to us. You can talk to them!”

“Correct,” Pavel chided.

“See? They agree. Do you guys want to talk to Cattail?”

“Absolutely!”

“No, no. I really think it would be rather selfish of me. Plus, I’m just a robot, not even a flesh and blood human…” she insisted.

“Hey, hey,” I stopped her, making waving gestures with my hands. “Just because you’re a robot doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to be our friend, our family. I’ve known you for… almost a year now. You should get to talk to them.”

A slight whirr that told me of a word about to be uttered, then nothing. “Okay, I’ll talk. But only because of your request,” she finally caved in.

I handed her the tablet, and she grabbed it with a mechanical arm - well, more of a tool used for dexterous manipulation, but that’s a bit dehumanizing to refer to it like that.

Her wide blue eyes lit up immediately upon grabbing it, and she glided over to a corner of the room where she wouldn’t be in the way. I chuckled and turned to the side, finishing up the rest of my packing. Making sure Cattail was engrossed in conversation, I slighted over and swiftly snagged her portion of the packing. She’d protest when she found out, but she deserved to have a bit of work taken off her back.

Making sure her little hat hid away in a place she wouldn’t think of looking, I zipped up the bag and announced, “Okay, I’m gonna take this to get checked out, I’ll be back.”

Picking up the bag by its handle, the fabric abrasively rubbing against my hand, I opened the door and left the room.

My footsteps created empty echoes as I walked down the long corridor alone. A sigh escaped my lips as I went forth.

After delivering my bag - and its contents passed with flying colors - I started to go back to my room, hoping that Pavel hadn’t done something excessively stupid and accidentally traumatized Cattail Amongus.

Out of nowhere, someone slid into me. I turned, about to yell in protest, but stopped once I saw that it was Tomir. “Shit!” he mumbled. “Sorry, Zai.”

Recoiling from the blow, I brushed myself off and regained my footing. “Where are you heading?” I asked.

“Uh, they forgot to give me one last medical checkup. Sorry that I ran into you. I just wanted to get there fast. Because, you know, I don’t want to miss anything… I don't wanna get a virus from Old Earth… oh my god, I’m so sorry,” he apologized over and over.

“It’s fine, Tomir. I understand.”

His stuttering and constant apologizing had picked up even more in the past few months, but I couldn’t really blame him.

“Actually, uh, Zai?”

“Yeah?”

“C-can… can you walk with me? I’m so sorry, I’m just so nervous, I’m so terrified-” he began to sputter out, but stopped.

“Absolutely!”

He grinned, a small flitting one, but a grin nonetheless. “Alright. Thank you so much Zai. I’ve just been so nervous about this entire thing, and I just… I don’t know. I want to talk to someone. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. I don’t want anyone to think I’m not ready. I’ve trained for years for this, along with all of you.”

“Look, you’re just as deserving as the rest of us to fly aboard the Skeld ,” I began as we walked. “But if you want the truth, you’re not alone. I’ve been worried about this too.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” I confessed. “There’s so much to be worried about; your fears are completely and utterly valid.”

“Oh good,” he breathed. “I’m just glad to not be the only one.”

Suddenly, his eyes widened and a horrified downward glance spread across his face. “Oh god, that’s so selfish of me.”

“No, no, no. It’s not. To be honest… I think everyone feels the same.”

“Everyone?”

“Probably. Even Jakanop - well, I’d hope he’d have sense to be a bit scared.”

Tomir chuckled. “If he’s scared, then we’re really in it now.”

I laughed softly and smiled back. “Oh, we’re deep in our knees in it, figuratively speaking.”

“But imagine if it wasn’t figurative, and we actually were gonna be knees deep in, like… alien slime and space junk,” he brought up, making himself laugh.

I giggled and said, “Oh, that would bring a whole new meaning to this mission.”

“So our mission wouldn’t be about traveling to another universe, it would be about… uh… I don’t know… making the Skeld a hoarding base to show the aliens how bad we can get! It would further the cause and make them so disgusted at us that they’ll just straight up leave.”

“Submit that idea to the Superiors, that idea’s gonna save us all!” I said, and laughed.

Ah, Tomir. Always had something weird and funny to joke around with.

“Heh, if only that were the case. We could’ve kicked ass way sooner. Imagine if we used trash as a diversion to fight the aliens. Or even better - made trash guns and shot them down with the power of human refuse and quite a bit of plastic.”

“What should we call this new-found amongus weapon idea? The trash cannon?”

“No… the…the… Junk Jet!”

“Pffft,” I exhaled, and rolled my eyes. “Oh no. Look, when we get to the other side, I’ll promise to make you a Junk Jet.”

Giggles started to pour uncontrollably from him. “You’d actually do that?”

“Yeah, as long as we don’t end up in 500 B.C or whatever.”

He snorted a laugh, and I chuckled along. “They’d see us as gods.”

“Very true. Maybe we’re the gods of old.”

“Oh no… conspiracy time.”

“But maybe we really were!” I wondered. “Quite frankly, we have no idea what’s gonna happen. Maybe we’ll be the Athena and Apollo of old.”

“I’d make a great Apollo,” Tomir prided himself.

I sniggered. “I bet you would. You do know Apollo’s gay, right? I thought you were straight.”

His eyes grew wide and he smirked, shaking his head. “You thought wrong, Zai. You thought wrong.”

“You’re gay?!” I exclaimed, and turned to him.

“I mean, you’re the lesbian amongus. You should’ve known sooner,” he said.

“Well, that’s a revelation I couldn’t have expected…”

“Now you know,” he simply said. “Oh, and look! We’re here.”

“Have fun at your checkup,” I laughed.

He shook his head and sighed. “Oh, how I will.”

I started to turn away, but then something inside of me made me look back. “Oh, Tomir, by the way…”

Just about to open the door, his eyes flitted towards me. “What?”

“Everything’s gonna be okay, alright?”

He smiled back. “Thanks.”

Chapter Text

One more day.

One more day to be on the place I had known forever.

Twenty four hours. One thousand forty-four hundred minutes. Eighty nine thousand, four hundred seconds.

Then, I’d be gone.

Today, there’d be only a few things to do. All of our packing was done. All final debts done and repaid. All goodbyes said - well, mostly. Pavel would actually be there in person to say goodbye to me. He’d call up Revenor on the tablet too, so we could all say goodbye. After the launch of the Skeld , the aliens would be onto the skies hardcore. For the most part, it would be too risky to launch any more ships. The transport ship that my cousin was on would be the last semi-risk free flight to Earth. But I wouldn’t be there for the chaos that would follow.

And there was definitely going to be much of it.

Staring at the yellow astronaut suit, my stomach turned and jumped hoops. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to take in a deep breath.

This was it.

Grabbing the suit, I put it on slowly. It felt twice as heavy on my shoulders now.

Swinging the helmet under my arm - I prayed I wouldn’t need to use it more than twice - I took my final steps out of my room.

My mind couldn’t help itself, and my body obliged with the request. I took one last look at my room - one that perhaps was too long - before shutting the door and turning away for good.

I sat with the rest of the crew, waiting for our names to be called. Looking down the row, the colors of the rainbow all were in order. Oh no. Clearly someone thought this joke was amusing. I was third to front, with orange in my lead and lime to my left.

Rolling my eyes, I chuckled to myself. A bit of tension released from my body, like the overflow of boiling water from a pot. But still, the cooking pot of nervousness and fear rumbled in my soul.

“Alright,” I heard a voice from the door.

My head snapped to attention, along with everyone else’s. “Superior Kavstek,” we all greeted.

They moved to stand in front of us all, their gleaming silver build having clearly been polished for this day. “As you all know, you’ll all be leaving Earth on the Skeld , which is designed to take you all to another universe using the Reactor. It is a mission to see if trans dimensional travel and survival is possible. Only a large ship such as the Skeld could possibly even hope to be tracked at such a great distance - a distance between dimensions.”

“But… don’t we already know this?” Dahle, also known as Orange, interjected.

“It is required that I restate the mission,” Superior Kavstek said.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Dahle said.

“Mhhhmmm,” Superior Kavstek simply mumbled in agreement. “You will all have a three month long journey to the far reaches of our solar system, and even beyond that. This is to minimize the likelihood of being tracked or found.”

We all murmured and nodded in agreement and understanding. Even though we had all heard the mission statement at least ten times by now, it still sent chills of anticipation and duty to hear it one last time.

“Along the way, you will carry out ship maintenance as well as prepare for your arrival in another universe. Prepare yourself, for you may end up in a time not unlike ours, but without our current predicament, or you could end up in a time before people even had electricity.”

Letting out a sigh, they said, “Please, by any god that still lives, let this work.”

I don’t think that was part of the mission statement.

“Be careful. And before the Skeld propels itself into another universe, remember to get into the cryopods. It’ll give you an extra measure of safety from the transport to the zip back to Earth.”

“Understood,” we all said.

“Good. Please stay safe. We’ve planned for this for too long for this to fail. I’ve known you all too long for this to fail.”

I couldn’t think of anything to even say, much less try to speak in front of a Superior in a way. But at the same time, I had known Superior Kavstek since… God, since I was only a little girl. They were practically like family - if distant.

Silence froze the room, as if it were a steam and I tried to breathe it in, but my body didn’t dare allow it. Despite Superior Kavstek’s lack of any face, their hunched over position over their platform and the metallic ache that seemed to course their body told me all I needed to know.

My body craved to walk up, to comfort them, but that was not my place - maybe in private, but not in front of my crew. Not now.

Suddenly, my heart burned. I needed to show Superior Kavstek one last time that I cared about them.

Rising up, my brain urged me to sit once again, but my heart knew the truth of what I had to do.

Trekking over to them, I wrapped my arms around their suited metal body. It lacked the squish of a flesh-and-blood human, but it still brought me comfort nonetheless.

They put one of their hands on my shoulder, and I heard a sigh from them. “Thank you, Zai.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, yet tears still leaked out. “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me - for all of us,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome. I just… I just know that… you and everyone will succeed. I have faith. I’m so proud of you. I love you.”

With that, I let myself go. Sobs and tears cascaded without stop. “It’s going to be okay, Zai,” the voice of Lifi briefly startled me, but her hug calmed.

Burrowing my face deeper into Superior Kavstek’s neck, I sobbed, “I’m scared.”

“Kid, we all are,” Jakanop said.

I turned to face him. “Even you?”

“Even me.”

“Zai, I’m just as scared for you. But you’ll be okay. Your crewmates are some of the most capable and intelligent people I’ve ever met - and I’ve met a lot,” Superior Kavstek whispered.

I nodded, clenching my eyes.

“And out of all the people I’ve met, I think you’re the strongest one yet,” their voice barely audible.

Oh god, that just made me cry twice as hard.

Gentle sobbing, not of my own, made me turn. Kasarion, wearing a green spacesuit, had their face in his hands, softly shaking.

All the training in the world could never prepare for the grief of leaving the world we’d always known.

I took my seat once more, Lifi holding my hand and patting my back.

Superior Kavstek regained their composure, and let out a shuddering sigh. “Okay, let’s go. Did everyone get their bags? Their bots?”

“Uh, I think I forgot my courage,” Tomir nervously said, then let out a shuddering laugh.

We all chuckled back at him, eager to release our stress with a poor joke.

Truth be told, I think I forgot my courage back in my room the moment I put on my spacesuit.

I stood outside, a rarity in this day and age. I huddled in my spacesuit, it being the warmest thing around. Especially in the frigid upper reaches of Siberia, warmth was basically a requirement.

C’mon, please let Pavel be here soon. I want to say goodbye to him.

I looked around for the fourth time in the past minute. Almost the entire crew was inside - with good reason. The only one else that was outside was Tomir, attempting to relieve his ever-present anxiety with some fresh frigid air.

I mean, I don’t know how Tomir copes, but this air wasn’t cutting it for me this time.

I really wished Cattail was here, or maybe another crewmate. Or maybe just a technician, then we’d have sometime in common to talk about to pass time and take my mind off of this endless stress. Hell, I’d settle for anyone to talk to. Even one of the stupid stuffy assholes at the top of the chain - well, the Superiors weren’t that bad. I liked them. But everyone else just didn’t ever feel like they fit with me that well. Good god, if I felt like talking to one of them at this time, I really didn’t feel that good…

The cloaking force field that covered the entire base briefly flashed a soft purple, and I stood. My brain immediately feared the aliens got in, but the flash was so brief that it had to be the transport ship.

With a grin on my face, I started to speed over to the landing pad, eager beyond belief.

I didn’t dare break into a sprint, not willing to die of overheating in frozen weather. Still, I got to where I was going.

The ship had just landed, and the door started to slide open. Anticipation gripped my legs, and I ran to just outside the limits of where I could go. I eagerly stared into the gray hole, my eyes aching to see Pavel.

The first person to come out was a disappointment, being some random Martian. Augghh, why couldn’t it be someone interesting? Or someone I knew! I groaned.

Another military man unfit for Mars combat via injury, a mother and a child, a robotic one coming back for repairs, a rather buff mid-age teen with dark blue hair…

“Pavel!” I rejoiced, and raced over to him, my space boots weighing each step but unable to put a weight on my spirit.

Seeing me, all protocol was forgotten as he sprinted to me, blue shoes flying over concrete. We launched into a hug, and he grabbed me, spinning around. “AH! Zai, my favorite cousin!” he exclaimed.

Beaming, my smile hurt to wear. “Oh, a favorite, I see!”

Still chuckling, he set me down. “Zai, it is so good to see you! I was so frightened I would miss out on this monumental moment!”

I hugged him again. “Well, I’m just glad you were able to make it.”

“Zai, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Thank you. I love you so much, Pavel.”

“As do I, Zai.”

“Hey! Hey! You, blue hair!” I heard someone exclaim.

Letting go of Pavel and peeking over his shoulders - which proved to be a lot harder than I thought - I saw someone running up to us, clearly a ticket checker or whatnot. “Oh, Pavel. You dummy,” I sighed.

“Huh, what? Oh…” he said, turning around. “Haha, sorry about that.”

The man, major disapproval in his eyes, took a datacheck from Pavel and scanned it. Obviously green lights showed, and the man said, “Young man, do not disobey protocol like that again.”

“But, like, my cousin… she’s gonna go on the rocket…”

While a look of realization and forgiveness passed his face, he said, “Alright, but you still must follow protocol.”

Pavel sighed and agreed.

The man left back for his post, and Pavel turned back to me. “I’m just really glad I got to see you before, well, you know…”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’m really happy I got to see you too.”

A grin lit up his thick-set face, and he sat down on a bench nearby. I wanted to join him, but my spacesuit didn’t really permit me to. So, I casually stood next to him. “Is Rev going to make it?” I asked.

Pavel shook his head. “He’s required on Mars. From my knowledge, it’s for an indefinite period of time.”

A bit of hope I had fell off. Truthfully, I had wanted to see both of them, but I’d already been aware of the chances. That didn’t make it sting any less.

“Well, here. I can call him up real fast though.”

As Pavel pulled up his brother’s contact, I gazed out across the harsh Siberian landscape. Past the shields, walls, and invisibility borders, I could make out the remnants of a once-beautiful landscape. A sprinkling of trees - the conifer variety - stood in defiance over the brutal stones and biting winds. Snow ate up almost all of the ground, a white winter blanket. Granted, it wasn’t exactly winter, for it was early spring, but in the upper norths, it would never seem so.

“Ah, and here’s the dumbass!” Pavel announced, taking my attention away from the dichotomy of beauty and danger.

“Revenor!!!” Pavel shouted, and Tomir, still standing near, glanced over in confusion.

‘Sorry,’ I mouthed, and turned my attention to the datapad and Pavel.

Revenor’s ever-noble face, as if seemingly descended from the ancient tsars themselves, graced the screen. “Hello Zai, and… blue hair.”

“Okay green hair,” Pavel greeted back, and I simply gave a normal, average, human greeting.

“Ah, Zai. Zai’s off to see the stars. And more,” Rev chuckled.

I smiled. “No, no. Not quite. We’re seeing another dimension. Something, hmm, maybe more interesting.”

“Heh. Heh,” the smile fell off his face. “I’m gonna miss you. So much.”

I sighed, and tried to hold back tears for the second time today. “Me too, I’m going to miss all of you so much.”

Something then happened, a strange and unusual thing. Revenor started to cry. And so did Pavel.

“Zai, please be safe. You’re the best hope for humanity left. I don’t want you to fail- all of us want you to succeed.”

I could hardly help it. As tears dripped onto the datapad, I only chose to wipe them from my face. “I- I’ll do it for you. Both of you. And the families to come after us. And the families who came before us. And for every single sentient being - other than those asswipe aliens - who happens to live now.”

With that, we all came into a big hug - Pavel and I holding each other, and Revenor, maybe not there in body, but very much in spirit.

“You’re the bravest I know,” Pavel whispered, and I hardly agreed with him.

Chapter Text

The time had come.

As I trekked a path that could’ve been five miles into five meters, I would constantly look back and observe the faces of those watching us go.

Mothers, fathers, soldiers, children, wounded, brave, strong, sad, and fearful.

I related to so many of them. I was but a child myself, in a way.

Third in line, we all left in a rainbow file. Dahle, right ahead of me, seemed rather aloof. Par for the course.

The Skeld closed in our view, and my hands could hardly stop shaking. Breathe , I reminded myself. All you need to do right now is breathe.

The entrance approached, and I let out a breath. I saw the relatives of the departing - Pavel was there, making a commotion and being an idiot as always - along with the Superiors. An aura of proudness shone about them, and I could hardly blame them. And, strangely, pride started to fill my heart too. We had done so much, worked so hard, and learned. So much learning, so much time. And this was the fruits of our labor. Our chance at being the first.

Like the first fire, the first wheel, the first spark of electricity and the first trip to the moon, we were just like those brave men and women.

No, we were those brave men and women.

In that moment, I could hardly bear to murder my smile as it crept across my face.

Pavel caught sight of me, and waved like a lunatic, and I waved back. His face contorted stupidly, and I laughed.

We had finally come to the ship. Now, the real work would begin.

Superior Kavstek nodded, and I returned the gesture. Even without a mouth as I did, I could feel the smile radiating from his shining face.

Taking one last look back at all behind me, I took the steps forward.

“Okay,” I breathed, mostly to myself. “Now the fun begins.”

“Fun, you call it?” Estum - adorned in a bright red spacesuit - commented.

“Pfffft.”

I seated myself as all the others came aboard. Lime, Green, Cyan, Blue, Purple, Pink, Brown, White, and finally, Black.

“We’re all here,” Estum said. “Alright, get into your positions.”

Scattering, we sat where we were assigned. For once, it wasn’t ordered by color, but rather by where we could get to the fastest based on our expertise level. I was stationed right near the window, right next to the control panel - I got to watch us take off!

Estum, the pilot - or, the primary pilot, I should say, began to fiddle with the control panel, and I could feel the soul of the ship sputter and roar. Buckling in, the safety door sealed shut, and Estum buckled himself in. And suddenly, just like that, spaceflight was about to commence.

Having passed all the barriers and force fields, we now were just into space. The plan set out was to have a large group of combat pilots make a sudden attack, to catch the aliens off-guard and drive the attention away from the Skeld . Naturally, there was no way we were going to be able to see any of the action, but from muted radio calls, I could faintly make out how it was going. And it seemed to be managing just fine!

The Skeld was bulky, with no room for combat potential. The only hope we had if it happened to be attacked was a few defense cannons, and the massive build of the ship itself. Though, it didn’t seem like there were many, if at all, problems coming in from the radio - granted, it was hard to hear through a sealed metal and transparent reinforced glass.

With Estum’s composed body language, I assumed all was well as well.

Suddenly, my door opened. “What?” I asked to no one in particular, rather confused.

“Hey, Zai, can you… I don’t know, chill with me for a bit?”

“...Alright?”

“I’m… I’m a bit nervous. That’s all,” he said.

Oh, I understood that. I walked right next to him, and idly stood. After a good thirty seconds or so, I asked, “Uh… is there anything you want to talk about?”

Not looking back at me, he said, “Well, not in particular… but I’m open to talk about anything, really. Just… trying to get some ease from all of this.”

I looked out the window, and noted exactly what he meant. Off to the general side, I could see some of our fighters engaged in flashy combat with alien forces, shots fired of various colors from both sides. I looked away, not wanting to witness an inevitable explosion - and thus, death - of our own forces.

“Well… once we get into space, can’t you wait to see your robot?” I asked, hoping that would take his mind off of things.

Estum chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I already miss little Ostara.”

“And I miss Cattail.”

“What kind of a name is Cattail?”

Brushing off the bit of hurt I felt, I explained. “Well, they were plants that frequented ponds, they kind of looked like corn dogs if they were disgusting. I don’t know where the name came from, but I’ve seen pictures of them. They looked so cute, and Cattail is cute, so thus the name.”

“Oh, that’s actually a neat story. I just named her after my mom.”

“Well, that’s really heartfelt,” I said, a smile briefly brushing my face.

I couldn’t see his face, but I was certain he was smiling. As we pushed through space, I noticed we had already reached past the moon’s orbit location. “We’re close enough to almost be out of the immediate danger zone,” Estum commented. “But not far enough to be safe. We should get past the orbit of Mars, then we can be considered safe-”

“Oh, damnit, A ship’s following us,” Estum interjected in his own words. “Okay, I just have to…” he trailed off as he hit a few buttons and pulled a lever.

“We got it!” he exclaimed. “One less of those alien bastards!”

“On the stars, you actually shot one down?”

He turned to me, a grin splitting his face. “I did! It seems to be the only one to have followed us too, so I’ll say the plan worked!”

Well, we couldn’t be entirely sure of that yet , I mentally said.

But I held out hope for Estum to be right.

“Okay, Mars’ orbit, here we come!” he exclaimed, and with a few presses of some buttons, we were off.

Chapter Text

While we weren’t entirely in Mars’ orbit zone yet, it was still considered safe to let the others out now. Estum had me run around, opening the safety pods. From Jakanop in the Weapons room, to DJ Dahle in the common room (which kind of seemed like an insult), to Tomir in electrical, I got everyone out in, what I could only assume was, record time.

Everyone had regrouped in the common room, all except for Estum, who was still navigating the Skeld to Mars’ orbit. Once it reached beyond there, he could take a break and come with us.

“Who knew being stuck in a pod for such a short amount of time could cause this much stiffness?” Jakanop commented, taking a long stretch.

“Well… you are pretty old,” Lifi commented, making sure to stay out of his striking distance.

Instead, he opted for a glare, and said, “Wow, thank you. Making fun of the old man here.”

I tried to force away a smile but it came anyway, so I opted to turn from them, to face the brown outfit of Kerna. She seemed a bit on edge, so I walked over to her. “Hey, Kerna?”

“Yeah?”

She fidgeted with the brown sleeves of her outfit, and refused to look up at me. “Are you doing alright?”

“I… I still think we should’ve worn our spacesuits.”

“Whilst on The Skeld ?”

“Uh, yeah. I know I sound crazy, but…”

“No, I get it. You’re the oxygen manager, I can’t really blame you.”

She looked up at me. “Thanks, Zai. You’re… you’re always so understanding.”

I nodded. I tried to be, even if I didn’t really understand why a person would do something.

I turned back to the crew, recounting them via outfit colors. Discounting the red of Estum and the yellow of the colors I would wear myself, every person was here. I breathed a sigh of relief and ran back to the control room. “Estum!” I announced.

He didn’t turn around, but still addressed me. “Yeah, Zai?”

“I unlocked all the pods.”

“Uh… I can tell from here.”

Oh damn, that’s right , I thought to myself. Do I even deserve to be working with these people, when I forget something that quickly?

I mentally slapped myself for jumping to such ridiculous conclusions so fast, and said, “Oh, oops. Heh, my mistake.”

“It’s alright, we all screw up sometimes. Just… don’t screw up on the big stuff, that’s what I always tell myself.”

“Y-yeah, that’s… that’s some good advice,” I half-lied.

With no more response from him other than a mild chuckle that I couldn’t even tell was real, I turned back, making my way to the common room again.

While others had already left - assumedly for their own posts - a few others with less essential duties remained in the common room. Spotting Lifi, I made my way towards her. Somehow, in that short length of time, she had managed to grab her bag, and was already trying to turn her robot on. “Want a bit of help with that?” I asked.

“Oh, sure! That would be really helpful.”

I sat down next to her, and she handed me the robot. “What did you name yours, again?”

“Mango, because… well, I really liked them. I had one once, you know?”

I flipped over her robot and took some plastic off, little lights flashing up and on. “No, I didn’t. How have we known each other for so long, and I didn’t know that?”

“How have I not told you!?” Lifi exclaimed, only to get a loud and brash “Shhhhhhhh!” from Jakanop, sitting in a chair in the corner, reading something on a tablet.

Lifi glanced over at me, and sighed. “More like Jackassanop,” she whispered, and I put a hand over my mouth in an attempt to hide my giggles.

Taking my hands off of the robot, I looked over at her. “Just don’t tell him that,” I said, through a grin.

She smiled back at me, and I resumed my work. A few wires reattached and plastics pulled later, and blue lights signaled my work was over. Turning Mango back over, I handed her to Lifi. “They’ll take a minute to reboot, but other than that, they’ll be fully functional and just how you remember them.”

“Thanks,” Lifi said, taking back Mango with a smile. “You’re the best.”

“Pffft, noooo,” I urged. “Not in a million years.”

She glanced at me, and said, “Aw, don’t be that way.”

I rolled my eyes a slight bit and turned to the side. “ Alright , if you say so,” I joked.

She chuckled, and set down Mango on the table. “Oh, what do mangoes taste like?” I asked. “The actual fruit, not the flavoring.”

“Oh, like a ray of sunshine. Sweeter than honey,” she explained.

“Sweeter than honey?” Now that was something I had actually had. Only once, but I still had been able to have a little bit.

“Mmmhmm. There wasn’t even any sweetener - it was just… like that. Something the earth made… and it was that wonderful.”

I tried to even envision what that would taste like. I think I got close, but…

I couldn’t.

“That sounds awesome,” I said. How’d she even get a hold of that?

“Yeah, it really was. I hope, maybe, I can try another one. On the other side. Maybe… maybe there will be entire mango forests!” she joked.

“Stars, I hope. Don’t wanna eat another ‘meal’ again,” I said.

Damn those little white packages with the word on it - simply saying Meal. They tasted like water and air.

“Yeah, they’re not great…”

“Nope.”

We sat in silence, Lifi waiting for her robot to reawaken back to life, and me?

I didn’t know what to do next. I really didn’t.

Well… I’d help anyone who needed it. For now, at least. Just… until we got deeper into space. Until we got past Mars, past Jupiter, past Saturn, and…

One planet at a time , the words of Superior Kavstek came to my mind. One planet at a time, Zai. First? Earth. Once you get past that, only think of Mars. And after that? Jupiter. All the tasks we had talked about, for each planet. Don’t think too far ahead, or you’ll tear yourself apart.

Okay… my tasks for our path to Mars were simple. Repair all malfunctions in mechanicals - there wouldn’t likely be any, but it was still there. Help all crewmates reawaken their robots, if they needed help. Assist Estum with flight.

And that… was really it.

My mind was tempted to wander and think of the tasks that were to be done, but I forced them to stop. Not yet. Not until the next planet.

A hand graced my shoulder, nearly causing me to leap out of my skin. “Oh, stars, I am so sorry, Zai. I didn’t mean to scare you that bad,” the voice of Tomir broke the air.

My skin falling back into place after that fright, I said, “U-uh, yeah. Yeah. Hi Tomir.”

“Hi… can you help me with my robot?” he asked, handing it to me.

I examined the purple bot. He had already gotten most of the wires into place - considering his job was electrical, it made quite a bit of sense - but he hadn’t gotten the bits of plastic off. “S-sorry. My hands started to shake badly…”

“No, no. I get that. It’s fine. I get that one hundred percent,” I said, already making my work.

Just a couple minutes later, and the rest of the lights flickered blue, announcing a success from both of our works. “Aaaaand there you go!” I said, handing it back to him.

“Th-thanks, Zai. You’re the best,” he said, before taking off down a hallway.

Scooping up the bits of plastic, I breathed out a sigh. “Alright, I’m taking off. Have to help the rest with their bots too,” I explained to Lifi.

“Alright, you have fun,” she said.

“I will, don’t worry.”

Eh, it could be worse. I could be piloting a ship through the minefield called space. At least I just got to reattach wires and pull bits of plastic.

Chapter Text

“Okay, Med. Your robot is… and there we go! She’s done!”

“Thank you, Zai,” Med said, taking the white robot from my hands.

They flipped it around and set it on its treads. “Do you need anything else?” I asked.

“No, not currently. Though, I do appreciate you asking.”

“No problem. In that case, I’ll take my leave.”

They nodded at me, and I left the Medical Bay.

With that, everyone should have their robots working now. I made my way back to the common area to find no one was really there, save for Tolos, who was in charge of the nuclear reactor - something that didn’t really need management at this time, and I hoped never did outside of regular maintenance.

I made my way through Weapons, giving a brief nod to Jakanop as I passed into the Navigation area where Estum was on the controls. “How far are we?” I asked. “I mean, until Jupiter.”

“About an hour or two. Feel free to do whatever in that time.”

Taking in a breath, I decided to simply sit back and watch the stars as we passed through. Random bits of space debris would occasionally float on past, being anything from little rocks to chunks of metal. I wasn’t particularly concerned if one hit the ship, however. It wasn’t exactly like the Skeld was built of half-metal, anyways.

Hearing footsteps, I turned to be greeted by Tomir. “How’s it going?” I asked.

“Well… as well as it can be, I suppose, considering our situation. I’m just going to electrical to check on some things. Wanna come?”

“Of course!” I exclaimed, getting up from my seat. “Don’t send us into an asteroid field, Estum.”

He chuckled. “No, I’ll make sure not to do that.”

I started to follow Tomir down into electrical. “So… I don’t think I’ve ever asked. How far have you gotten through the solar system?” I asked.

“Oh, I haven’t told you? We’ve known each other for this long and it’s never come up?”

“Well, the reason I asked was because I remember you saying you’ve seen Saturn’s rings, but the conversation moved along before I could ask anything else about it.”

“Oooooh,” he said. “Well, yeah, I’ve seen Saturn’s rings, and, uh, they’re pretty amazing. Though, I… I don’t think we’re gonna see them this time. The planet’s not in alignment.”

“That’s okay. Can you describe them to me?” I asked.

We took a turn, ending up in electrical. “Y-yeah, of course! So, they were kinda layered. We had taken a vacation flight when I was young, before… everything happened. That’s how I got to see them. Anyways, we were above them, and there was an anti-gravity chamber with a clear floor, and we could see them through that. Zai, there were so many layers. All beautiful colors, too. I mean, to me, they were beautiful.”

“I’ve seen pictures of it before, I think I know what you’re talking about. I bet it was even better in person, though.”

“Y-yeah, absolutely. I just… I don’t know how else to describe it.”

Tomir kneeled to something, and fiddled with it. “That sounds so incredible. Also, what are you working on?”

“Just checking on this, making sure no one messed with it,” He looked up at me. “Not saying that anyone would, I’m just saying the electrical in this place has… look, they didn’t listen to me when I was giving them advice on how to build it. Bad cable management.”

I frowned, because I completely agreed with him. The cable management in this specific part of the Skeld was a disaster. “I’d fix it myself… but it’s serviceable until we get out of here,” he sighed.

“Well, I do not want you to die, so let’s probably wait until we… you know.”

“Yeah.”

Taking a screwdriver, he opened up a panel, and sitting down, he tried to organize some of the wires. “I mean… I remember where they all are, but it’s not the way I’d like them, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get that. Like when someone uses my tools and then puts them in the wrong order.”

“Kinda? Not quite, but I get where you’re coming from too. Anyways, this is basically hopeless right now. Let’s at least hope we land somewhere with other electricians so they can help me with this mess.”

He screwed back on the panel, and started to leave. I followed him, until he reached the common room. “Well, with that, I don’t have much else to do. They said there’d be a lot of waiting.”

“Bored already?”

He sighed. “No, just wanting to get my mind off this. Also, sorry I was such a stuttering mess to you the other day. I didn’t…”

“It is alright. You watched me cry in front of a Superior.”

He tried not to smile, but failed.

“Alright, fair enough.”

We stood in silence for a bit, me simply enjoying his company. This was going far better than I was worried it would.

“O-oh, did you have anything you needed to do?” he asked.

“No. Not until we reach Jupiter, anyway. Or… I should say the orbital path of Jupiter. The only planet we are seeing on our way is Neptune, I think.”

“Huh, I’ve never seen Neptune.”

“Neither have I.”

“That makes the both of us.”

“And me three!” Lifi’s voice came out of nowhere, causing me to jump.

“Got you!”

I placed a hand to my chest. “You sure did.”

“Hey, Tomir- I mean, uh, hehe, Purple? Sorry, I was looking for you. Can you come help me in communications?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. See you, Zai,” he said, and left with a wave.

I sat down in a common room chair, absentmindedly staring at one of the chairs. Deciding I’d have a lot more time to do that later on in deeper space, I got up and went back to Navigations. I sat down next to Estum again, and watched the blackness of space and twinkle of stars.

“Any progress?”

“On what?”

“Making it to Jupiter’s orbit?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah actually. We’ll be there in about an hour and thirty minutes.”

“Time went by that fast, huh?”

“I mean, unless me going fast counts as time.”

I wondered how much small talk I could make before we both got sick of it. I didn’t want to test that, so I simply sat in silence.

After an hour and a half of time, we were finally past Jupiter’s orbit. Finally, a task!

I got up out of my chair where I had been sitting for the aforementioned amount of time and made my way to the upper engine. Grabbing my tool box along the way, I came into the upper engine. I didn’t think I’d need my tools, but it never hurted to bring them anyway.

Now, time to align the engine output.

Using a dial, I rotated it back, then used my wrench to make sure a bolt was tightened. Thankfully it was, but it never hurt to check.

I layed on my back and crawled under part of the engine, fiddling with nonmoving pistons and gears. All of this was to help the ship conserve fuel as we traversed space.

After I had finished the upper engine, I sprinted down to the lower one and began the same process again. I couldn’t have only one engine on lower function for long, that would definitely be bad for the ship.

Just as I nearly finished it up, I thought I heard footsteps. Sliding out from under the engine part, I looked around for the source. Huh. Nothing.

Sliding back under the engine, I made finishing touches, but not before hearing the same sound again.

Coming back out, I looked around, concerned that I had seen nothing, but the weird footstep-like sounds had also stopped.

Pushing the exposed engine bit back in, and closing my toolbox, I made my way back to the upper engine to close it up too, when I heard the same damn sound. It was almost like footsteps, but it wasn’t quite.

“Uh… hello?” I called out.

Nothing.

Carefully, I made my way to the upper engine. Slowly, I set my toolbox down and pushed everything in.

I turned around.

“Holy shit! Myach!”

Dressed in a cyan shirt, the well-built Myach stood right in front of me, his sudden appearance nearly causing me to drop my toolbox.

“Whoa, I’m sorry Zai, I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” he said, putting his hands out.

Catching my breath, I looked embarrassedly to the side. “S-sorry, sorry about that.”

Our shields expert, Myach, seemed almost as startled as I did. “You okay?” he asked.

“Y-yeah, I am fine. Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, I didn’t mean to come and sneak up on you like that. Just makin’ my way to shields, that’s all.”

He walked past me, and I watched him go down the hall, before taking my tools back to my room.

“Zai!” A familiar voice I hadn’t heard in a while sounded out.

“Cattail! You’re awake!”

“Indeed I am. Anything you’d want at this time?”

I put my toolbox under my bed. “Not currently. But we are in space now! We are roughly - well, most likely - past Jupiter’s orbit by now. To be honest, it hasn’t been very eventful.”

“Well, that’s a relief to hear.”

It really is a relief, come to think of it. I agreed with her.

“Did you complete engine alignment?” she asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“Good, very good.”

I pointed towards the Navigations room. “I am actually about to tell Estum right now. You can come with me if you want.”

“Of course.”

The two of us set off for Navigations. I passed Jakanop, who was clearly busy blasting asteroids so they wouldn’t hit the ship. Not wanting to disturb him, I turned right.

Estum looked up from his controls to me. “Oh, thanks, by the way,” he said.

“Oh yeah, of course. I mean… it is my job.”

Estum chuckled. “Oh, and I see Cattail is awake. That means everyone else’s robots should follow soon, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I can’t wait to see Ostara. Thanks for fixing her up, by the way.”

“Oh, it is no problem. Part of my job, after all.”

Estum went back to focusing on the controls. “Also, we’ll hit Saturn’s orbit in about three hours.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Zai - Yellow,” I heard Lifi say from behind. “Wanna play a board game with me?”

I turned, then smiled. “Of course.”