Among Stars

Fill Her Up

"At this rate, 3.1 radians and the fuel reserves are above the recommended line, 9.2 and they are full," Quera said as the Travelstar hugged the star as close as Naina dared. The alarms were blaring left and right. The ship made sounds that you'd associate with old wood floors and broken windmills.

"At this speed, about 20 minutes? We can't last for five! Why is the stupid scoop acting up again?" She yelled. She moved her hand slightly and tilted the weird controller on her right arm away from the star. The Travelstar's nose turned away from the star and distanced itself from the killing heat.

"472 radians at this distance to fill our fuel reserves," Quera said.

Naina closed her eyes and scratched the tip of her left ear. "So about 19 hours?", she said.

"Correct, Captain Melcey," Quera announced. "18 hours and 37 minutes."

"That's not that bad. We've definitely held up longer. This is nothing," Naina said and managed to summon a tiny smile to her lips. "Alright, Quera, hold her steady," she said and punched a button that said "AUTO" on it.

The ship shivered slightly as it adjusted to a perfectly generated orbit. Screens turned off here and there and lights dimmed. "Autopilot Engaged" displayed on the main screen. Naina rose up from her pilot's chair, pushed it back, and walked out of the cockpit. She sat down on a chair in the common area and leaned against the table. "Quera..." she said.

"Yes, Captain Melcey?", Quera said.

"Bring all the information you learned about the Sunstar Installation to the common room's screen," she said.

The screen flared to life, and Naina turned her attention to it. She was reading through pages and pages of old press releases and grandiose plans of revelation and parties of congratulations. She was absentmindedly scratching the tip of her ear and mumbling to herself as she went on. She found the proposed blueprints, the plans for expansions. The pictures of the first construction crew, the first delivery crew. And finally, the first group of scientists.

"There you are,", Naina said as she zoomed into one picture. It was a young looking-woman, younger than the rest of her crew at least. She looked no more than a 19-20 years old human with her large eyes and exaggerated facial proportions. Naina looked at the image for longer than she expected. The girl had a slightly teal or turquoise skin, her hair looked like a flaming bush with its spiky, bright red locks going every which way. She looked absolutely stunning in Naina's eyes. Naina swiped the picture off the screen and grimaced.

"I'm a god-damned scientist!" she exclaimed loudly to herself and scrunched her nose a little. "I don't have time, nor do I care about things like that!" she said, and her hands brought back the image of the crew.

She was designated as the head scientist, leading a group of five, all of who were at the top of their fields. Peers, coworkers, associates. Naina had heard about all of them. Well, explorers and scientists did talk an awful lot together on account of both being interested in the unknown, and more often that not the careers crossed enough that an individual would call themselves both, like it was the case with Naina.

Besides the gray overalls she was wearing, there was another similar suit in her wardrobe. A bright white one, with "DR. N. MELCEY" embroidered on the left side of the chest piece. Naina chuckled and wondered if she would have been excited about the launch if she were there seeing it. Probably. But after spending ten years out in the unknown, some things out there stop being unknown and start feeling like home. She scratched her ear tip and zoomed in on the picture again.

"Dr. Valera Mizuni will lead the expedition herself," she read under the picture. "Being the youngest scientist in this group at the age of only 42, Dr. Mizuni has been studying the sub-space phenomenon for more than a decade, and..." Naina left the sentence trail out of existence. "Mizuni?", she said and rose up.

"Why does that ring a bell in my head?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Valera Mizuni attended Frontier Academy at the same time you did, Captain Melcey," Quera offered helpfully. "She was on another program, but you read her paper on Hypergate Propagation Theory."

Naina sat down on a random chair and scratched her left ear absent-mindedly. "I did, did I?" she muttered under her breath. "So Mizuni was a Quasarian? Well, I never did actually see her..." she continued, and then suddenly stood up, her eyes open.

"Ok, hold up," she said and lifted a finger. "If it was Mizuni who wrote the paper on HPT, then she was also the one to come up with the theory about sub-space tunnels, too? The one thing I've been primarily studying for the last ten years or so?" she continued excitedly.

She walked back and forth across the room, deep in thought. "I really would like to meet this Dr. Mizuni. We might have so much to talk about," she muttered.

She plopped back down on the chair, but this time with a smile on her face.

"Quera," she said with her eyes looking somewhere in the distance, "Let me know instantly when our fuel is at 99% and calculate the jumps to Sunstar." "Of course, Captain Melcey," Quera answered.