I open my eyes, blinking several times to adjust to my surroundings and get the sleep out. It’s dark in here, but as my eyes adjust I notice a dull light, enough to see by. As my eyes scan my surroundings, I see blinking red lights and hear a quiet beeping. Remembering where I am, in a cryotube traveling through space on an important mission, I remember training for this and start to go through the checklist of things I need to do.
I slowly turn my head in each direction and start to wiggle my toes and fingers, gently shaking my limbs out, waking up each part of my body. I look up at my reflection in the glass. My hair is still as perfectly short and styled as it was when I stepped in, resting just above shoulders in a beautiful blonde color. My bright green eyes look wide and excited as I think about the adventure I’m about to embark on. My full lips tilt into a smile, lifting my cheeks and making my lean face look a bit fuller.
Once I’m feeling good and awake, I press the button down by my hand to open the tube, the glass door sliding up and out of sight. I slowly step out, testing my balance. I’ve been asleep for 6 years and even though it only felt like a normal night of sleep to me, my body still needs to adjust. The other tube opens as my colleague steps out slowly and stands in place. We look at each other and smile, feeling excited and triumphant for successfully completing the first small part of our mission. We’re the first team to test this new technology and we weren’t 100% certain that this would all work out perfectly.
“How are you feeling, Jeff? Like you’ve been asleep for six years?”
His smile widens, showing more of his pretty white teeth. I don’t date colleagues but I can admit to myself, if we didn’t work together, I’d definitely agree to a date with Jeff. He’s tall, right about 6 feet and he’s got perfect light brown hair that always looks styled, even when it isn’t. His skin is slightly tanned, making his hazel eyes stand out, the green really showing through. His face is oblong but he has strong cheekbones and a square chin, making him incredibly handsome. He reminds me of Captain America, just a little less buff.
“I thought I’d feel more rested after six years of sleep. It feels like I took a power nap and I’m right back to work.”
His voice is deep but smooth, the chuckle at the end of his sentence making me smile. He’s so sweet, and incredibly smart, which is why I really enjoy working with him because he gets the job done and he does it well.
“You are back to work.” He rolls his eyes at me as I laugh at my own joke. He chuckles lightly but tries to pretend that I’m not funny. “I’m funny and you know it. Stop fighting it.”
“You’re funny lookin’. That’s for sure!” He bops me on the nose and laughs as I squint my eyes at him, crinkling my nose and lips into a toddler's angry face. My cheeks heat just a little at the light gesture and I turn away, looking down the halls of the ship.
I’ve kicked myself several times for being attracted to him because I’ve been single for so long now that I don’t even really remember what it’s like to be in a relationship.
I’ve always focused on work and got myself ahead in life. I’m pretty young for a space captain, but being a genius and graduating at such a young age intimidated everyone around me. You wouldn’t think the older people around me would be bothered, but they were, so I spent most of my time alone. I had few friends and even fewer dates. No one wanted to date the kid in their classes, even if she was a genius.
I’m fine with that now though. My career really took off and being able to prioritize that has furthered it faster than I ever thought possible. The only thing I care about is finding out what’s out there in the universe, to know everything there is to know about space and its inhabitants.
“Let’s get to the cockpit and see how close we are to our first drop site. I’m ready to get this mission underway!”
I turn and start to march out of the room, Jeff close on my heels. The ship isn’t big, the hallways just wide enough for one person to walk through at a time. The lack of space is part of the reason it’s just the two of us. The technology is new, the craft is new, and this is the first mission that’s sent humans this far into our solar system. Having a whole team to help me gather all the samples and data we can would be nice, but it would also be much more difficult to manage and a lot more expensive, so I chose the best guy I had on my team and we left.
Most of the ship is white, the buttons and dials all black. It’s a little blinding under bright light, but it’s a contrast to the vast blackness of space. I guess that’s why they make everything white. The hallway isn’t long and there are only 3 doors leading off to other small rooms, a bathroom, and quarters for each of us. We keep walking straight ahead to the cockpit, my eagerness growing with every step.
We’re going to step onto the surfaces of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons, the ones we know have water in some way or form, and collect samples and data. If humans ever needed another home in close range, these moons may be the best bets we have because of their water content. Water usually means that life can be sustained, ergo, they are our best chance at survival out here.
We’ve been able to learn a lot over the years with probes and satellites, but imaging and scanning can only tell you so much. Actually setting foot on these frozen moons and getting samples will help us collect personal data as well as something to put under the microscope. Obviously, gravity and atmosphere will be a problem, but knowing how it affects us on this mission will be detrimental in solving the problem for the future. The fact that we’re finally able to reach this far in the solar system is huge in itself. In time, we could be traveling the entire universe unimpeded, and I hope I’m alive to see that day.
Finding other life out there, that is what I am interested in. Discovering new things in the universe and finding possibilities is amazing, but I would give almost anything to be able to travel to another Earth-like planet with multitudes of life growing. Each organism flourishing and thriving. It would be a dream come true to get to study it all, to travel to all the planets out there, to learn everything.
This is the best I can do for now, but I love doing it nonetheless.
I step into the cockpit, falling into my seat. Jeff sits beside me and we start to go over the instruments, figuring out where we are and what to do next. We go through our checklists, calling out to each other as we go. Everything is good, we’re in close range and all functions are working perfectly.
I start to turn on the radio equipment, flipping switches and pressing buttons. We’ll need to check-in and let Earth know that we’re awake and getting started. I notice out of the corner of my eye that Jeff is sitting very still, his hand on a dial. I shrug and keep moving, getting things ready. I just assume he’s second-guessing himself or trying to remember what he’s doing.
“Kari, do you hear that?” Jeff lifts an eyebrow, turning to look at me before looking out the windows of the ship to the vast emptiness of space around us. I give him a questioning look and turn my head to look outside as well. I look around but don’t hear or see anything.
“Wait…is that…music?”
We sit in silence, listening to this strange sound. It’s quiet for a long moment and then we hear music, high and strange like nothing we’ve ever heard before. I start checking the instruments, but nothing is registering anything out of the ordinary.
“Where is it coming from? I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
Jeff is leaning forward, staring out the windows, trying to find a source for the sound. I slowly twist the dial on the radio as Jeff leans over to increase the volume. The sound begins to come through clearer and we pause, holding our breath.
We stare at each other with wide eyes as it sounds again. The curiosity I feel in my own heart is reflected in Jeff’s eyes, bright and eager. My heart is beating incredibly fast and despite the curiosity, I am most definitely scared, unsure of what to do next. I have never dealt with anything like this on any mission before.
“It’s getting louder. Whatever it is has to be close enough for us to pick up on the radio. It’s not coming from the moons or the planets. We would have known about it before now if it was. We aren’t close to anything else. There’s nothing nearby on the scanners…”
My voice trails off as I spew my thoughts to Jeff, who nods and starts going over the instruments again with me. When the music sounds again, we both jump up, searching the space around us for the sounds. There’s nothing, no comets, no asteroids, no satellites, or even strange debris. It’s empty out there.
We stand there together, our hands on the wall as we lean toward the window, looking out. Our heads turn this way and that, but we see nothing. Turning to stare at each other with twin expressions of bafflement, we wait for it to sound off again as the silence stretches between us. Jeff opens his mouth to speak and I relax my shoulders, ready to try and explain it away with some nonsense when suddenly, the ship shakes, knocking us both off balance. We try to keep on our feet, grabbing for anything to hold us up, including each other. There’s a loud groan, deafening, as if the entire ship is being crushed. We fall to the floor, tumbling over each other, trying to hold still in the chaos.
I manage to get on my hands and knees and crawl for our chairs. I holler to Jeff, telling him to stay close and grab onto something. I reach my chair, grabbing onto it and trying to pull myself closer, before turning and reaching a hand out to him to try and pull him close so we aren’t separated.
The ship tilts severely and Jeff slides away from me, hitting his head on the far wall. I call his name several times as I start to panic and worry that he’s seriously injured or dead. Thankfully, I have a strong hold of the bottom of my chair, keeping me in place. From here, I can’t see him well enough, but I don’t see any blood, so I assume he’s alive. I keep calling his name, though, as I adjust my grip, wrapping myself around the metal bar under my chair.
The ship tilts again, faster and harder in a different direction. I lose my grip on the chair this time, screaming as my body slides across the space. As I flail and try to grab onto something, my body rotates, spinning me around and I hit the wall with my back, my head whiplashing into the rock hard surface.
I blink, trying to stay conscious, but the world is spinning like crazy around me. Agony blazes across the back of my scalp, threatening to cause my stomach to empty its meager contents out onto the pristine white floors.
I try to lift my arm, but it’s like it’s completely disconnected from my body. I manage to roll my head, looking toward Jeff - the only thing that matters to me - when I notice the blood on the floor, most likely coming from my head. With what little energy I have left in my battered body, I manage to whisper Jeff’s name before my body gives up and my world goes black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My head is throbbing and pounding. Moving my head from side to side as I wake makes it hurt worse, bringing nausea with it and I swallow to keep my stomach down. I struggle to open my eyes, unable to find the right muscles to lift my lids. Taking a deep breath in, I register a strange new smell and a new humming noise in the room that our ship doesn’t make. Am I dead?
I hear a groan next to me and my eyes flutter as I remember what happened and how Jeff had been hurt. My priority as a Captain is always to my people, I have to take care of him. I try to reach a hand out for him, he sounds close enough to touch, but my arm is pinned down. I find my voice and manage to say his name as he groans again and starts to move.
“What the hell? Where the hell are we!?”
I finally manage to get my eyes open and I see exactly what he’s talking about. We’re no longer laying on the floor of the cockpit of our space shuttle. We’re in a medical bay of sorts, strapped to tables and there are countertops around us that are covered in shiny instruments and vials of strange colored liquids. The big white room is square, with counters running along the walls around us. Our beds are two of four in the room, the other two still vacant.
I look down at my body and everything seems to be intact. I’m not missing any limbs and my clothes are whole, but my ankles and wrists are pinned to the bed, preventing me from moving. I turn my head and lock eyes with Jeff, obvious fear in both of our gazes.
“I’m so sorry, Jeff. I tried to reach you, I tried to help you after you hit your head but the ship…I couldn’t hold on and I was flung into the wall…this is my fault. I missed something…”
My eyes start to fill with tears as I panic. In all the years I’ve been an astronaut and studying space, I’ve never panicked on a mission or broken down. I’ve never been kidnapped by unknown offenders in space either, so I’m totally overwhelmed and a little out of my element.
“This isn’t your fault, Kari. Neither of us saw anything outside our ship. Neither of us even knew there was other life out there. We’re in this together, a team, no matter what.”
He gives me a stern look and I nod, trying to wipe my tears with my shoulders as I get a grip. He’s right, this isn’t our fault. This is a freak situation that no one could have seen coming. I need to focus and take in as much information about our surroundings as possible, so I can at least try to figure out what’s going on.
I let my eyes circle the room, taking in all the instruments on the counters, the vials and beakers, bottles and jars. Some things are familiar-looking - scalpels, cotton balls, wraps, and scissors. Some of the liquids look like they might be familiar but most of them are strange colors or consistencies, and nothing is labeled, making it even harder to determine what it is. The doors to the room, big sliding doors the same color and material as the ship, are directly in front of us. If anyone walks in, we’ll be front and center in the face-off.
“Kari, your head. It’s bandaged in the back...“
I turn and look at Jeff, his eyes wide with surprise. I try to reach up and touch my head, but I only strain against the soft restraint around my wrist. It looks like a leather of some sort, but the inside is lined with a softer material that feels like memory foam. Whoever took us fixed us up to make sure we weren’t hurt and restrained us with things that wouldn’t cause more damage.
“I guess they don’t want to kill us if they’re willing to fix us. These restraints won’t even hurt us, they’re clearly designed not to. If they don’t want to hurt us or study us, then what do they want?”
We stare at each other for a moment and then go back to looking around the room. It’s eerily quiet in here and I strain to listen for any sounds, even footsteps outside in the hall. The only thing I manage to hear is our ragged, nervous breathing.
“Shh, do you hear that? It’s that music again. It sounds different this time.” Jeff whispers, cocking his ear toward the doors.
I turn my head, straining to listen. It’s silent for a long moment and I give him an exasperated look. He raises his eyebrows at me, silently telling me with his expression to keep listening. That’s when I hear it, high-pitched and changing in strange ways. A small silence, and then a lower pitch, closer to us, louder.
“What is that? It sounds more like…communication.” I whisper, afraid to speak too loudly.
The sounds continue, bouncing back and forth, high and low, loud and soft. It’s like nothing we’ve ever heard before, beautiful and complicated. It gets closer and closer to the doors. Whatever is making that sound is coming right this way. I glance over at Jeff as he looks back at me, his eyes showing panic but his expression is set in determination. I harden my expression to match his, nodding at him as we mentally prepare ourselves for whatever is coming this way.
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