Orpheus

5

An hour later they were at spitting distance from the Resilience.

"Beginning docking procedure." Owen anounced. "Pratham, go control the arms." 

As Pratham unbuckled and swam his way to the rear hatch of the Destiny, Riley couldn't help but notice how bi-polar Owen could be. Sure, he goofed around a lot, but when it came to his role in the mission, the funny mask he so often wore burned off to reveal a face stoic enough to rival that of Connor's.

Riley glanced out from the window panel on her right; all she could see was the inky black space surrounding them.

'Everybody here must have had something happen to them. Why else would they agree to this suicide mission?' part of Riley thought.

'Maybe they are just good people. Textbook selfless people, like the ones from stories.' part of her responded back.

'Funny, to think Owen be a hero in a bedtime story.'

Riley was jolted back to reality when there was a sudden jerk; the arms had grabbed the Destiny.

These 'arms' were part of the Resilience's sophisticated docking mechanism; 2 fifty-feet long claw-like arms of carbon-fiber and ceramic that could be controlled remotely by the Resilience, or any other authorized spacecraft to help align the docking hatch.

"Twenty feet out... Ten feet out..." Pratham called out from the back.

There was a slight jerk. "We're attached!" Pratham screamed out

"Alright then," Owen replied, "opening the hatch!"

There was a hiss as the cabin de-pressurized. Everyone unbuckled and swam their way into the Resilience.

It was abandoned, as empty as the space it was in, the silence calling out. When NASA was first shut down, the Resilience struggled on for a bit 'till it was decommissioned in 2098. They never bothered to bring it down because it was too much of a financial drag. Turns out it was the right call; in 2101 they re-commissioned it to remotely send the onboard probes to research the anomalies. Mission control kept remotely checking on the station's health (that was the reason it remained operational at all), but the crew still had to do some basic maintenance to get it going for deep space travel.

"I'm going to go check on the solar panels." Connor had seemingly taken charge.  "Olivia: check on the power cells. Riley: check if the onboard incubators work. Elise: recheck supplies and start unloading them. Call for help if you need it. Owen, Pratham: make sure the navigational unit is functional. If any part isn't functional, this is the only chance mission control has to send up spare components. After that, we are on our own. "

That last line set off a small wave of queasiness in Riley's stomach; she didn't like it.

They all parted their separate ways. Riley swam her way through zero-g towards the incubator chamber located in Sector 4. The Resilience was a circular, frisbee-like space station divided into 12 sectors around its perimeter. The arms were located at the dead center, called the Intersect, from where tunnels branched off to the different sectors. Aside from being connected via the Intersect, each sector was connected to its adjacent two, essentially making it a circular marathon track half a kilometer in diameter. The docking area and navigational console were located opposite to each other, parallel to the Intersect, making the Resilience look like some futuristic fidget spinner of the gods.

"Comm Check?" Connor enquired.

"Here."

"Check."

"Check."

"How much money are we talking about?"

The only response was the distorted crackle of Owen's laughter over the radio. It was pleasant to hear; no matter how bad his jokes were, Riley kinda liked them.

"Nobody's givin' you any money, stupid." And with that Riley completed her comm check.

She soon floated over to Sector 4. It was probably the most important sector in the Resilience to her; it was where the onboard incubators were located.

'These are big enough, I suppose.' thought Riley. 'Big enough to incubate a small colony. Let's just hope all the other equipment are in the right order.'

Riley floated around for an hour, checking on all the other components. They all seemed to be in order.

"Riles, could you come over to the Intersect?" Elise asked over the com. "I may need a lil' help unloading your equipment."

"'Kay be there in five minutes."