Exploring Titan

~7~

For the next few days, I was left in a pretty foul mood. I'd reported what had happened to my livestream chat and, predictably, no one was helpful.

A fight broke out on whether what I did was smart or stupid, and Carol relayed to me the headache her bosses were giving her because I made first contact without their approval.

I pursed my lips at that notion.

As if I ever needed their approval to do anything before!

"It seems those old farts keep forgetting that this is my space mission. Not theirs."

"I've tried to make that point clear, but apparently I'm the problem." Carol bemoans, filling up one of her shot glasses with a large bottle of Jack Daniels and throwing it back immediately.

I sat on my space/streamer chair with one of my legs pulled up, and the other crossed beneath it. With my knee pointing up I rest my face against it and continued to twist sectioned-off strands of my hair into mini-twist braids.

I'd been doing this for 3 hours and my back severely protested my actions every step of the way.

Me and Carol were still on livestream, but I muted my microphone and audio so they could only visually see what was going on.

I tended to do that sometimes when I needed some level of privacy, but didn't want to completely end the livestream.

There were situations of some smartasses who would be able to read my lips and decipher what I was saying, or vaguely guess to it. But I wasn't going to let a few assholes ruin the experience for everyone by not doing silent streams altogether.

Besides, the people watching my streams probably didn't know it yet. But I needed them way more than they needed me.

They seek me out as entertainment.

I require them to maintain my sanity.

"You should've seen the look on their faces when I tried to tell them that you were preparing to leave Titan. Some of them looked on the verge of having heart attacks!"

I giggle at the thought.

"Let me guess, they want me to continue to stay for 'research purposes?'" I let go of the strand I was working on mid-braid to make air quotations.

Carol rolled her eyes and groaned in agreement as she waved around her 5th shot. The amber liquid sloshed inside, dangerously close to spilling everywhere.

"What do you expect from a room full of crusty old men conceived in an era when women consenting to shit was a myth!?"

"Carol!?"

"Whaaaat!?"

"Your man-hating side is showing!!"

"Is there any point when it's not!? Damn, divorce made me soft. I gotta pick my game back up." Carol said as she straight downs the last remaining drops at the bottom of her Jack Daniels.

"Forced into being friends with you is a cruel twist of irony from the universe," I pressed my hands into my face as I tilt my head back.

"That's what Lillian said about our marriaaaaage!!!" Carol wails and bursts into tears.

"Aaaand, she's fully drunk. Perfect."

I bring out my phone and shoot a message to Carol's landlord to make sure to check up on her after a bit to make sure Carol doesn't go streaking across the streets to go try and get her ex-wife back.

Again.

"How are you the best astronomer in your field and department?" I question her.

"The system is rigged Mel," Carol simply responds in a whiny voice with her head laid out on the table.

"Indeed it is," I confirm as I get up from my chair to warm up some can chicken soup for lunch, deciding to leave a fourth of my hair braided for now.

"You can bullshit your way into anything." Carol continued her philosophical tirade. "Just look at how presidents are voted into office!?"

"Carooool," I began to say in a warning tone.

"I mean, look at your situation! You were able to fundraise building a whole ass spaceship and take off into orbit with ZERO QUALIFICATIONS WHATSOEVER!? That shit is a Goddamn MIRACLE!!!"

Aaaand this was the point in Carol's drunken ramblings that I wanted to avoid.

Carol already lacked any sort of a filter.

Drunk Carol was a whole different beast.

And the divorce didn't make it any better.

I huff out a sigh as I poured in a cup of hot chocolate to calm my nerves and dumped the can of soup in a pot and let it simmer on low heat for a while.

At least one thing about talking to Carol could be slightly considered as a positive.

It distracted me from the general unease I'd been nonstop feeling ever since I realized I wasn't alone on Titan.

I was so restless with a burning need for dozens of my questions to be answered.

I'd even taken out my raft boat out into the open waters to try and see what I could find for myself.

Absolutely no one liked that idea.

I checked everywhere within a reasonable distance from my ship.

I even went to my usual spot where I'd recorded high levels of magnetic waves emanating from the water. But no amount of cameras I sent down in previous trips could capture anything in the vast unending darkness of the waters below.

Maybe something truly was hiding there? And I should focus more energy into exploring that area?

My computer beeped to life with some warning signals.

"Huh! What!? Whaz tha!???" Carol, who had dosed off into a light slumber, woke up with a snort and a dazed confused expression.

"Relax, Tipsy Queen," I brush off Carol's concerns. "It's just the warning alarm that a massive whirlpool is gonna be forming in my area in a couple of hours. Basically tomorrow morning."

I turn off (er, on) my mute mic so my chat could get in on the actions.

"Congrats guys. We're gonna be blessed with a whirlpool tomorrow morning. I know they're your faaaavorite. Wake up bright and early to catch all the action!" I said with a cheekily bright and sarcastic tone.

Already a flood of complaints filed through, and I laughed at all of them.

[A whirlpool!?!? Those are the wooooorst!]

[I'd rather die than see another one.]

[Why are you gleefully happy about staring literal death in the face!?]

My chicken soup was almost ready, so I brought out my dwindling supply of herbs to garnish it and pulled out a clean bowl and spoon to pour the finished meal into.

I have been craving the sweet flavour of chicken for a while now, and had been saving this can of chicken soup specifically.

I made a mental note to restock my herbs supply from my little garden before the end of the week.

"Waz da size of the ting gonna be?" Carol slurred. Drawing my attention back to her.

Even drunk she still manages to retain enough sense of duty to ask proper questions.

I hate-love her.

"Uhm..." I look at my screen and furiously type at my keyboard to get a quick answer.

"About 7km wide," I answer.

Carol sobered up at that fact quickly.

"Sweety, that's not a whirlpool. That is a maelstrom."

I shrug as I brought back my hot chocolate and bowl of chicken to the desk and continued braiding my hair nonchalantly.

"Potatoes, tomatoes" I cheekily reply.