Nyx (Complete✅)

Chapter 10

Liam followed Beth as she got in line. He was so glad that she was okay, he didn't mind the horrible taste of the food as much as usual.

When they were done, Liam said: "Hey Beth, today is my day off. Do you still want to hang out?"

After his question, Beth was silent for several minutes and Liam started to worry. Had he said something wrong? But Beth snapped out of it and replied with: "Sure. Where to? I've been meaning to go and sign up for job training, but that can wait." He was relieved that there was nothing wrong with her.

"Well, I don't mind going with you to the application center. We can just hang out afterward."

She looked thoughtful for a minute or so and soon reached a decision. "Well, okay. But if you get bored, you can leave."

Liam grinned. "That's fine with me."

They brought their trays over to the washing station and were soon on their way to the job application center.

Beth entered first and got in line behind an old lady while Liam went over to and sat in one of the hard, plastic chairs that lined the wall.

Although there were quite a few chairs, there were only five people in the room, other than him and Beth. The people who designed the ship obviously thought there were going to be more people awake. Beth walked over and sat in the chair next to him. She started to fill out the application.

After a few seconds, her pen stopped moving and when he looked to see why she had a quizzical look on her face. She chuckled and said: "Liam, look at these questions. Aren't they weird?"

He read the first few and didn't see anything very strange, but once he read the fourth question, he almost burst out laughing. The questions were mostly things like: "how many times a day do you look at your hands?" and "please name your favorite color and give it a personality."

He was instantly glad that he had already gone through training on earth. He was an architect.

"Oh well, might as well answer them," Beth said with a grin, and her pen started flying across the paper. It was only a few minutes before she stopped writing and said: "There, all done. Now we just have to give it to the lady at the window."

With that, she got up and walked over. Liam also got up and followed. When he reached her he said: "That wasn't too boring."

"I know. But the boring part is waiting for the test results." She suppressed a giggle."I wonder how they pick a job for you with those questions."

"They probably play rock paper scissors," Liam said, almost exploding with laughter.

They could hardly contain themselves as they walked to the door. Liam was slightly behind Beth and, when he rounded the corner, he found her breathlessly giggling out in the hallway.

He started laughing too and soon they were laughing hysterically with tears streaming out of their eyes.

"I don't understand why that was so funny," Liam said, finally able to get his laughing under control.

"Me either." Replied Beth, still laughing slightly.

Just then, a high pitch and annoying voice from the application center called Beth's name. "Well, time to see what my job is going to be," Beth said.

"Yup. And you can never change it," Liam said, pretending to be serious but failing badly. He pushed himself up and offered his hand. Beth took it and he pulled her up. He held on to her hand a little longer than necessary. But on their way to the window, he wished he had held on longer. The lady behind the desk gave Beth a piece of paper. She snatched it up and started reading.

"It says: 'the recommended job for Beth Fields is: exploring and classifying life forms when we reach the planet Nyx, and helping to determine uses for such life forms," Beth remarked.

"Hmm, I wonder if they used rock paper scissors to figure that out." He said, almost breaking out in laughter all over again.

Beth only chuckled and continued reading. When she was done, Liam asked: "Now what do you want to do?"

"I really don't know. Do you have any ideas?" Beth replied.

Beth shrugged. "I guess so."

Liam walked out of the door and Beth followed.

They ended up at Beth's door. She palmed the door open and went inside. Liam waited a minute before following.

Her room was exactly like his except for a small picture on the bedside table. When he got closer he saw that it was a picture of Beth and her family.

Her dad was big and burly with leathery skin, light brown hair, and green eyes. Her mother was sandy blonde with light blue eyes. Beth had a younger brother and he had dirty blonde hair and green eyes, very similar to their parents, but Beth looked like she wasn't even a part of that family. Her hair was far too light and her eyes, a vivid shade of violet.

He began to wonder if she had been adopted but his train of thought was interrupted when Beth said: "So much for hanging out, it's already way too late. I didn't realize that applying for a job would take so long." She frowned at the Clock, "Sorry Liam."

"It's fine. There's plenty of time for us to hang out."

"Time just flew by. We should hang out more often."

"We definitely should." He headed for the door. When he reached it, he turned "Good night, Beth."

"Good night." She replied as he walked out of the door.
_____

Officer Carter walked into the room, looking at the two men. "Aaron Smith and Jacob Bridger." He said, glancing down at the file he held. He continued: "Why did you capture Beth Fields?" everyone on this ship was tested and checked to prevent exactly this kind of thing from happening. So why would two normal, honest, hardworking men decide to do something so wrong?" as always, his inquiries were met with silence. "The longer you refuse to cooperate, the more severe your punishment will be."

They looked at each other. Aaron nodded and Jacob looked suspiciously at Carter. "We'll only talk if we can have a private conversation with the captain." He said, adding emphasis on private.

"Very well then. I'll ask the captain if that's all right with him." He looked at them both before he left. As he walked he thought: "I sure hope that they can explain themselves."