a quiet moment in Outer Space

A wide, pale yellow land stretched further than the naked eye could see. City sized rocky debris gently flowed in orbit, masking its overwhelming speed and force. The atmosphere could hardly be seen, but without a doubt made a soft, and almost warming, presence.

Behind the field of debris, floated an impressive structure. Across its walls, it spelled, "KELLER SPACE VOYAGER II".

A jug sat underneath a coffee machine, steam wisps dancing above the surface of the fresh brew. Remaining drops from the machine broke the silence every few seconds. Across the room, a window stretching across the wall opened the view of the planet. And there, stood a woman with her hand against it. Her wavy hair sat in a subtle mess, making way for tired eyes staring into the distant lands with a mixture of awe and uncertainty. Suddenly, an automatic metal door opened with an slight flourish. And through it, walked in a tall, bald and stocky man.

"Good morning, Amelia" He greeted her in a polite, friendly way. His voice had a hoarse and somewhat intimidating touch to it, but was overshadowed by his conduct.

"Good morning. Coffee?" She asked, feigning a short smile.

"No, I'm OK. I don't drink coffee. Thank you though." The man continued walking.

She pours herself a mug and takes sip before following his lead over to an area with multiple machines and interfaces. After tying her hair back, she went to put the coffee down and sat on a chair.

"Come on, come on. Please." Amelia whispered to herself, starting up the interface in front of her.

The other member, with a mostly neutral expression, started his interface too. He cracks his neck a few times and lets out a deep breath. A blue screen shone on their faces as soon as the system booted up. Her eyes darted around, scanning the details of the screen. Before long, she closed her eyes and gradually leaned back on her chair.

"Shit." Amelia exclaims.

"It's OK" the man finally says. "It doesn't necessarily mean anything went wrong. For all we know, their equipment just went faulty."

"I know, I know." Her voice becomes more audibly worried. "But... Why wouldn't they use their emergency signal? Surely not being able to contact counts as an emergency, right?"

He looks towards the distant, massive world, pondering the situation for a moment.

"If I were there instead, I wouldn't have called it in. I would have continued with the objective and once I've gathered enough data, then I would call it in." His expression became more serious, but still reassuring.

Amelia stares into the ceiling, thinking it through. After a few moments, she softly exhales.

"Yeah." She replies, at last.

"Right? Let's give it another day or so, and I bet they will call it in. Let's just keep our heads in the meantime." He smiled.

"Thanks Donny. You're right, I gotta keep it together." She rubs her eyes roughly "I just hate the thought of losing any of them."

Donny paused for a moment, then turned back to his interface with somewhat of a frown.

"Me too."

Aside from the running engines beyond the walls, the faint sounds of typing and clicking were the only sounds that gave life to the room. The pair continued their daily assessments of the ship, sharing information every minute or so.

She continues, "...Pressure gauges look fine too. Though I should check them physically after I fin-"

The automatic door once again smoothly slides open, interrupting the conversation. Amelia glances over and ever so slightly shakes her head.

"Mornin' Petra." Amelia announced.

Through the double doors, walked through another woman. Her bed-headed platinum blonde hair hung much lower than Amelia's; with it going down to her waist.

"Sorry. I felt so fucking tired for some reason. Feel like I'm carrying weights right now." The girl managed to croak out, eyes barely peeling open.

"There's still no response." Amelia immediately voiced out, with blatant worry filling her words.

Petra instantly puts the coffee jug down she had picked up. Her faintly baggy, exhausted eyes blink hard in an effort to feel more awake.

"Can you check again?" She asks, calmly.

"It's OK. Their communications must have been dropped or something, knowing Travis. They must have decided to gather enough samples before calling in an emergency." Amelia responds, trying her best to seem relaxed.

She continues pouring her coffee in deep thought, purposely taking long to fill it. The typing continues, before Amelia stops, gets up and puts a KELLER jacket on.

"Alright I'm going to check the pressure gauges. Petra, come help me."

"Why? It's not my job." She mutters in a montone voice before sipping her mug of hot coffee.

"You got up late so I did your section assessment for you. That means you got nothing else to do right?" Amelia perked up her expression slightly.

The lagging woman, standing a few inches taller than her crewmate, rolls her eyes and takes a couple of large gulps of the coffee. After dropping the rest into a nearby sink, she affirmitavely replies,

"Alright let's go then."

They both make their way out of the control room, voicing out a "see ya" to Donny, who stayed behind to continue his virtual inspections. The two made their way to another section of the ship, towards the engine and general storage areas. They briefly checked the food stock and water tank before continuing their stroll.

"What do you think of him?" Petra breaks the silence abruptly.

Amelia thinks for a brief second, leaving her thoughts.

"Donny? He's nice."

"Nice?" She snorts. "...Whatever you say, ma'am."

"What?" Amelia stretches the word out.

"Nothing, nothing. I just think you're not telling me the full picture."

"Shut up. You got it wrong."

"Do I now?"

"Yes. Yes you do."

Petra laughs, then her crew partner punches her in the arm.

"Ow." She recoils slightly and rubs the sore spot.

"Well I know you're thinking of someone. 'the eyes, they never lie, chico.' "

Amelia shakes her head and stays silent.

"Unless..." She wraps her arm around Amelia's neck and draws her close. "You've taken a liking to me?"

She shoves her taller friend away from her, saying "Yeah, I'm madly in love with you and the way you leave your hair looking like an overused toothbrush."

"Hey, low blow. I braid it sometimes."

"Emphasis on the 'sometimes'." Amelia quipped.

"I can't do them like you can, so most days I don't even bother." Petra replied.

"Just ask me then, I'll be happy to do it for you."

She pauses, then looks over at her crew mate with a surprised smile.

"Thanks."

They make it to the engine area, which splits off into two hallways.

"Alright I'll go for southwest, you go for southeast." Amelia told her. She agrees and they make their way into their respective hallways. Petra, with an almost dance-like gait, walks on while humming a tune. It fades into the distance for Amelia as she draws closer to the cave-like room. The lights automatically turn on as she enters. For an engine room, there was a much more obvious silence ruling it compared to the control room. She continued towards a box-like machine stuck to the wall, making a soft echo with each step.

Once she got to it, she opened its protective lid and stopped to analyse some numbers on a screen. Then suddenly, something hit her senses. She took a few whiffs of the air and looked around, curiously. She then saw it in the far left of the room. It was something spilled on the floor. Amelia stopped what she was doing and gradually stepped closer to the cause of the smell. With every step, the smell grew more and more foul. At a certain point, she had to cover her mouth and nose. Once she got close enough, it was clear what it was. Vomit. It had a red hue and was riddled with what looked like minced meat and mucus. The putrid odour was so pungent that she gagged, even while covering her face. Amelia looked completely perplexed and had to leave the room to take a breath. Her eyes darted around, lost in thought, as if she were scanning her memories. As soon as she calmed down a bit, she covered her face with her jacket and went back inside.

It didn't matter how many hours had passed as there was no change outside of the walls to tell the difference between night and day. Things like 'night' and 'day' had no reason to exist in the endless void that is outer space. Lifeless rocks moved and time flowed, but a time to rest doesn't exist for the outside. Nevertheless, the updated digital clocks within the ship kept the crew's schedule somewhat intact. The day within their ship passed. The three crew members sat around a table, with opened packs of rations scattered around their plates. Amelia's face was lost in thought, eyes fixated on the centre of the table. She glanced briefly over at Donny, then at Petra, before looking back down at her food.

Donny noticed her worried conduct.

"Are you alright?"

She realises her strange behaviour and quickly shakes it off, continuing to pick at her food.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm OK. Just you know... A little..." She trails off, entering her thoughts once again, briefly. "I... Saw something weird in the southwest engine room."

"Was there a fault?" Donny asks, expression growing worried.

"You said southwest gauge was fine." Petra interjects, looking at Amelia.

"Yes, it's all fine. There's no faults, don't worry."

"So, what happened?" He questioned, curiously.

Again, she stares at the centre of the table with furrowed brows, trying to make sense of it.

"Actually, I don't think I should say it while we're eating-"

"Amy." Petra interrupted "Just say it. It's alright, we don't mind. Right Don?"

Donny shakes his head in approval. They both wait patiently to hear.

"I... I saw vomit on the floor." She shared.

"So, someone threw up?" Petra continued "Donny, did you throw up?"

"No." He said, shaking his head. "Not that I remember, anyways." He chuckled softly

She looks back at Amelia, "Well, one of the other guys must have done it before they left, right? I mean, we haven't done a physical check since before they even left."

Amelia's expression doesn't sway, and grows only more confused.

"There was chili in it."

Petra blinks rapidly, double taking.

"What?"

"There was chili in it, Petra. Minced meat, kidney beans. I saw it with my own eyes."

She stares at Amelia for a few seconds, before rethinking.

"Amy. We were saving it for when they come back. Both of us even checked the stock today and not a single chili ration was missing. You must have seen some other food."

"It was fucking chili." She looked up from the table and fixed her eyes on Petra. "Look for yourself if you don't believe me."

Donny immediately gets up and takes his plate to the sink.

"I'll check it out, don't worry." He says, before entering the hallways and walking towards the engine rooms.

After the doors slide close with a gentle hiss, the room is left with a dead silence. The room itself is lit up by a dim, power-saver light bulb filling the room with a dull yellow.

Amelia continues picking at her food, but not eating any of it. Tetra continued thinking, glancing over at her crew mate every now and again.

"Did uh... It wasn't you who threw up right?" Tetra questioned.

She puts her fork down in response.

"If I threw up, I would tell you. Why would I hide that?"

"Well, maybe because he was here. I didn't want to embarrass you by asking."

"I don't care that much!" Amelia exclaimed, growing frustrated. "I just want to know why the hell that is there.

"So what. You think he did it?"

"No. There's no way. He would definitely own up to it. …What about you?" She questioned Petra.

She scoffs at the question.

"I can throw up all over you right now and wouldn't have a problem."

Amelia breaks out of her serious expression and tried her best to stifle laughter.

"Look at that face" Petra says with a smile. "I almost forgot you didn't look like an angry pug."

Amelia then attempts to smack her friend's face but she leans back to avoid it.

"I'm joking, i'm joking. I take it back."

They sit still in silence for a while, with Tetra softly tapping a beat on the table with her fingers. After a long wait, footsteps draw close and the door opens. Big Donny walks through with a sigh.

"It was chili, alright."

"You are shitting me." Petra articulated.

"It wasn't particularly normal vomit, either." He continued. "It had a strange cloudy mucus that I've only seen with people who got sick from the high speed travel tests. The fat in your stomach starts to separate from the incredible speed and mixes with the extra mucus in your sick. It's awful stuff."

"As far as I remember, this ship isn't even capable of reaching anywhere near those speeds." Amelia finally mentions.

They stay where they are for a few seconds.

"You didn't puke, right Don?"

"Tetra!" She scolds her friend, muffling her own voice.

Donny laughs softly. "No, it's alright. Like I said before, last I remember, i didn't. In fact, I haven't thrown up the entire time I was on this ship."

"Alright. Look, it's getting late already so let's deal with this tomorrow. We'll brainstorm some ideas and figure out an answer." Tetra planned.

They all agreed and made their way to their rooms, shutting off lights on the way. The ship floated in pitch darkness, save for a room or two. Its presence continuing to be overshadowed by the still, looming round giant.

2:

Despite the stillness in its surroundings, the low hum of the ship's engines and vital mechanisms brings an air of life to its internal environment. The gentle white noise endlessly plays as Amelia sinks further into a deep sleep. Her eyes move rapidly behind her eyelids, beginning to slow down. The dark room, though rather small, boasts enough space to remind an astronaut of home. A few posters hang on the walls and a clock effortlessly ticks. Rather than keeping track of time, it serves a more sentimental purpose. The sudden thumping of rapidly moving footsteps soon cuts through the peace as it approaches her door. The door swings wide open and harshly smacks against the wall that limits it. Amelia jolts up and sees a silhouette before her bloodshot eyes.

"Amy! What happened?! Are you okay?" A recognisable voice yells in concern.

"What the fuck Petra..." She half-mumbles in her awoken state.

Her friend quickly walks to the side of the bed to examine her.

"I heard you screaming like hell and I ran down here. What- I mean- are you okay?" Petra frantically asks, with quite a disturbed expression.

"It's fine... Maybe I screamed in my sleep. Go back to bed Pet." Her slurred words managing to come out comprehensively enough.

"What? No. No. You- It was not like sleep talking. I heard you scream like-" She stops herself, choking up a bit and forcing herself to dismiss it.

"Like you were being tortured or something." Her pitch fluctuates, almost cracking her voice.

"What? Ugh..." Amelia tried to adapt to the shock of the situation, rubbing her eyes through her eyelids.

"OK. I don't know what you heard... but look. I'm fine, okay? The only torture I'm getting is having to talk to you at 3 o' clock in the morning." She remarked.

"But... I swear I heard you so clearly. It was so... You know I wouldn't make this shit up."

"I don't think you are making it up. I don't know why you heard that. And I appreciate that you felt the need to check up on me. But right now, I just wanna sleep. I am so tired. Please, let's do this tomorrow." Amelia's voice slowly began croaking and preparing to relax once again.

"You don't understand how horrible it was to hear that. I thought you were dying."

She sighs, falling back on her bed. "I certainly feel like I am now."

"I'm not laughing."

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Amelia slightly raises her voice while asking. "What, are you gonna sleep here with me? Come on."

Petra thinks for a moment. "Well that would help."

Amelia turns away from Petra, covering herself properly with her blanket. "Go to sleep, Pet. I'm so tired, it's not even funny. I promise nothing happened and nothing will happen. We're all stressed, so maybe you were hearing things. Let's talk tomorrow about it."

Petra stands there for a moment, looking at her friend and feeling confused. She then leaves the room, closing the door behind her, and walks back in a somewhat defeated manner. The mechanisms move. The white noise continues; its short life quickly being consumed by the void.