Breathless Planet

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But at that moment, Zaiya was screaming into her pillow. Knowing her roommate Leanne would cajole her if she heard, Zaiya stopped. Lifting her tear-streamed face up from the pillow, she gasped recycled air for a brief moment. Out the tiny round window, space loomed. The space station had been orbiting Mars for two years now, with multiple trips to its barren land. Zaiya had spent her entire life training to be on this journey, giving up all semblance of “normal” life back on Earth. She had breezed through high school, earning scholarships and attending MIT at the age of 18, graduating at 22. She had done an internship with NASA for six grueling months, landing a job here on the SpaceX Station 10. It was 2042, and life in space was becoming a common occurrence for anyone with a science major.

Life in space was proving far more challenging than she had anticipated. Zaiya had trained for zero gravity and done every simulation exercise imaginable back on Earth, but nothing had prepared her for the mental aspect of being crammed in an 6x8 bunkbed room with another woman who simply just did not see you eye to eye. Leanne was raucous, loud, and arrogant. She was smart, but she was rough around the edges and at 32, much older than Zaiya and prone to bullying… which is why Zaiya shed her tears. She had requested, for what felt like the millionth time, to go on a voyager expedition down to Mars.

“No, you’re not ready yet.” Leanne had replied.

“When will I be ready then, if I’m not ready now?” Zaiya had asked.

“When you stop wearing diapers.” Leanne laughed coldly.

…

Zaiya attempted to shrug off her feelings and flipped her pillow over, to hide the wet streaks. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her unique hazel-orange eyes peered back; the outer edges red from crying. Her freckles were faint from a lack of sun, and her skin pale white. Her sandy blonde bob was messy, her fringe too long, getting in her eyes slightly. Her white space suit was fitted uniformly to her thin but strong body, and her space slippers kept her planted to the ground. A fascinating invention, which she often took off to enjoy the weightless feeling of floating. Zaiya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, watching for drops of water floating in front of her. None appeared. She sighed heavily, then pressed a button on the side of the mirror to activate the oral journal.

A robotic, sweet voice came over the small speaker in her room.

“Hello Zaiya. How are you today?”

Zaiya responded back robotically, “I’m good Voice. I have to enter my journal for Aug. 4th 2042.”

“Please go ahead.” Voice replied.

Zaiya paused for a moment, searching for the right words.

“Leanne has denied my request for voyager travel for the 12th time. I am going to speak with Commander. I am ready to go to Mars. All vitals normal. All daily duties onboard station accomplished. I will complete scan of damages to last voyager ship and report back by 17:00 hours. Close journal.”

“Thank you Zaiya.” Voice let out a slow beep, indicating it had powered off.

The Commander required every space station employee enter a daily journal entry. If one did not do it, an immediate meeting was called with the Superiors. It was a pain in the neck sometimes, as some days felt as if they were on repeat. The same old duties, the same old view – starry space surrounding them and the red glow of Mars below. Zaiya liked the Commander, he was kind and wise, but strict. She had found him fair so far and the employees respected him. The Superiors, on the other hand, were unnecessarily harsh and punitive in their meetings. Zaiya had no desire to speak to them and tried to avoid the three of them. There was Hamish, a tall, beady-eyed Swiss engineer, Meredith, a tired old mathematician from Canada, brilliant but nasty, then there was Marx, a bit of an oddball, Ecuadorian by birth, but American; he was a physicist and no-one knew what to expect in his rulings. All the employees on the station generally avoided the terrible threesome, so diligently completed tasks for fear of being sent to the depths of the ship or worse, home to Earth.

The Space Station was filled with optimistic hopefuls – the brightest and most ambitious students of space. All had worked tirelessly to be flown the 166.33 million km to board the SpaceX Station 10. The future was here, the efforts of humankind had reached its pinnacle, with the invention of the Super Craft in 2035. SpaceX had invented one of the fastest rocket ships yet, which used antimatter and magnetic shielding efficiently to power travelers beyond Mach10. It had taken a mere two weeks to arrive at the SpaceX Station 10. Zaiya closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the exhilaration of take off and the speeding light of stars as they travelled from Earth, closer and closer to “the Red Planet.” She opened her cabin door and strode down the hallway about 100 meters, passing by sleeping quarters and three bathrooms. She turned left at the end and came to an elevator. A laser scanned her eyes, beeped and the door opened.

“Fourth Level, door A, please.” She commanded.

The elevator was all glass-enclosed, with a wall of translucent buttons on the top and sides. It could do up, down and sideways. It zoomed off with an electric car sound and within seconds, she was let out into her destination. Zaiya walked calmly out and down another corridor, before it opened to a huge room, filled with screens and pew-like seats all facing the massive space viewing window. Mars was perfectly in view and emanating its typical red glow, warming the room slightly. In the front row sat the Commander. He was surrounded by his crew, all consumed by checking the station’s vital signs, some checking employee status, some reviewing past data from missions…. It was one giant hub of activity. It was Zaiya’s favorite place on the station.

When she entered, a drone flew up to her, scanned her, beeped and uttered “Zaiya Morgan” and beeped again, flying off.

The Commander was alerted, so he turned his head. He smiled slightly, and stood up, walking toward her.

“Sir. Commander Jackson, sorry to trouble you. Zaiya Morgan reporting for duty, sir.”

Communication on the ship was much like being in the army, you had to be direct and formal. Everything was regimented. Everything had a place, including the people.

“Zaiya, yes, I thought I might see you. I got your journal entry.”

Jackson was standing in front of her now, his hulking physique even more apparent at close range. At 6’7 he was the tallest astronaut, having specially fitted suit and boots for his long legs and big feet. He was in his mid 40s or 50s, no-one knew for sure. The crow’s feet around his eyes suggested he might be older, but the playful light in his grey eyes said otherwise.

“Your request to join Voyager 12 has been denied because I need you to finish the work on the Voyager 10. You are almost done, correct?” He was very matter-of-fact.

“Yes, sir. I only need one more day sir, to finish the calculations and submit the report. I was hoping….” She trailed off for a moment… “I was hoping I could have finished upon return to Station after the Voyager trip, sir.”

“Well, you know I like things to be completed before a new task is started. It is protocol. If anything happened to you, it would take days to get the next ‘naut to play catch up to your work.”

Zaiya smiled within as she found the Commander’s use of “naut” as a reference for all the employees, or astronauts, endearing. She nodded her head.

“Capiche?” Jackson said.

“Yes, sir. I will have that report to you ASAP.” She responded, but still felt the burn of not being able to get her wish.

“Good. Dismissed.”

“Sir.”

She turned and left the viewing room, feeling her sense of impatience rising, but with a sense of purpose, she scanned her eyes again and got back in the elevator.

“Level 9, door Y please.” The elevator door shut with a big of clang, startling her from her thoughts, but whooshed off anyway.

When the door opened, Zaiya stepped out into the dimly lit hallway. The area was not as busy, as the station conserved energy where it could. She strode down to the next door, scanned her eyes again, and the door opened, with a loud gasp of air being released. Inside was a giant chamber, and in it, was one of the Voyager shuttles. It had come back from Mars on its last expedition with some damage to the wires to the hatch and several dents in the exterior. The mission had encountered several space rocks on return during a freakish storm, but had landed successfully back on the station, with all crew intact. Jenn and Edwin had been the pilots. They had retold their story several times to her and other crew, despite all video records also being available on the shuttles’ manifesto.

Zaiya pulled up the stool next to the main computer beside the shuttle and opened up her file folder. The computer seemed to be running slower than normal…

ERROR MESSAGE. File is not available. came on the screen. Her heart jumped. What?!

There was no way the file was gone. Zaiya puzzled for a moment, took a deep breath, and opened the search window. She carefully typed in the file name: VOYAGER 10_ZM1

File not found.

The words stared out at her like shards of ice in her eyes.

This can’t be…she thought. Three months of work, gone? What happened?

Trying several other options, she failed miserably at recovering it. With despair, she put her face in her hands. There were no videos in this area, but she couldn’t control the rage she started to feel. Someone has sabotaged me! She thought.

Leanne…. It had to be Leanne. She is my nemesis on this damn ship.

Standing up abruptly, closing the computer, she marched back to the elevator, heading for Level 10, shuttle launch.

When she arrived, teams of crew were moving about the giant launch area. Three shuttles were being prepared for tomorrow’s launch. Leanne was talking to Edwin, leaning close to him, her shaggy blonde mane falling softly around her broad shoulders.

Without hesitation, Zaiya marched up to her.

“What did you do with my file?” Zaiya hissed.

“What file?” Leanne said innocently.

“My file for Voyager 10.”

“Oh, THAT file…” she laughed snidely. “I borrowed it. I wanted to check your work, baby girl.”

“Why didn’t you just leave it on the computer and copy it then?”

“Oh, OOPS. I am sorry! I guess I moved it to my flash drive by accident.” Leanne sneered.

“The hell you did. You did this to slow me down. To stop me from coming.” Zaiya choked back her words in anger.

“I don’t ride with babies, little Z.” Leanne taunted her again.

“Give it to me.” Zaiya said through her now grinding teeth.

“Oh, it’s back in our room. I wouldn’t bring it up here, this area is for adult work only.”

“Bitch.” Zaiya said softly, and spun around and marched out of the launching area.

“What was that?” Leanne asked, feigning surprise.

Zaiya didn’t say anything, and quickly exited. She could hear Leanne’s laugh in the background.

Feeling her rush of anger slowly subside, Zaiya took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. She’s testing you. She wants you to explode. It’s her way of saying I’m immature. It’s a trap…. Zaiya’s thoughts trailed off. She arrived back at her level and returned to her room. Searching for the flash drive, she found it in Leanne’s bedside drawer. She opened it, and put it in her computer.

The folder opened. She scanned the drive and found what she needed. She breathed a sigh of relief. But another folder called “Mission” caught her eye. Curious, she opened it.

Inside, were several jpeg files with numbers. She clicked on one. When it opened, she was shocked! She blinked twice, as she wasn’t sure what she was seeing on her screen.

On it, was a blurry image of a grey-ish figure. But it definitely wasn’t human…

Chapter TWO

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