Orpheus

10

"Alright! Everyone ready?" Owen asked over the comm.

"No." Olivia said.

"Riley, have you finished securing the fertilized eggs and incubators?" Pratham asked.

"The rest of the crew's waiting for you here." Connor added.

"Yeah, I'm done. ETA: three minutes" Riley answered as she swam her way up the tunnel from Sector 4. "Why'd you disable gravity again?"

"Owen claims it'll help him nail the trajectory." Elise said. "But I'm pretty sure he just wants to feel like Superman."

"Can't deny that." Owen quipped. "Who wouldn't want BALLS OF STEEL?!"

Riley could hear the distorted groan of the others over the comm. "I really can't complain" Riley joined. "It's helping me reach there faster. Could you imagine trying to climb your way to the Intersect?"

It was true; the long climb up to the Intersect would have been a pain in the arse otherwise. She soon reached her seat and buckled up. It seemed everybody else was already in place.

"Connor, ETA to optimal slingshot location?" Owen enquired, his tone shedding it's jovial nature.

"Two minutes."

A silence filled the room; everyone holding their breath for the moment to arrive. Riley saw from the window the blue mass underneath; the one they'd abandon for good.

"Why aren't we letting mission control do this remotely from Earth?" Pratham had raised a valid point.

"Because after the launch the government can't afford to have any prolonged contact with us. We are, for all intents and purposes, disowned." Owen replied.

The fact that Owen just raised sent cold shockwaves in Riley's stomach; it had just cemented the fact that they were well and truly alone from this point on.

"Besides," Owen continued after a pause "they have no other pilot like me." A ghost of a smile played on his lips.

"Thirty seconds to location!" Connor cut in. "Cut the bullcrap; window comes only once in twenty-four hours."

"Starting main engines!" Owen announced.

Riley began to feel it, at first small, yet growing, until it felt as if somebody were stretching her apart, like an invisible chord pulling back at her navel from the inside; the feeling of going against gravity. It was almost as if the Earth were holding on to her, like how Ethan used to from behind her, trying to convince her not to leave. That analogy didn't comfort her.

"...3...2...1... GO!" Owen screamed as he pushed the engines to full capacity. There was a sudden jerk, as the pulling arms of gravity now transformed into a noose around her neck; she was having trouble breathing. The thrusters were deafening; like a thousand explosions and rattles a second. She looked around the crew to see how they were taking it: Pratham had closed his eye tight, while Olivia's were wide open in fear. Outside her window, she saw the giant blue shrinking in size, like a ball deflating.

"KILLING ENGINES!" Owen screamed from ahead and the sound of the engines ceased to exist. "TILTING THE RESILIENCE!" The Resilience's secondary thrusters came to play as it tilted forward. Soon the chocking on her throat transformed into a sort of pseudo-gravity.

Riley heaved as she looked out of the window, the Earth now just a fraction of its size in the lonely dark; a blue pin-prick in the vast onyx. A silence filled the cockpit.

"Thank you for flying Air Resilience, hope you'll be flying with us soon!" The joker had replaced the stoic within Owen.

For everything, Riley felt relieved that Owen was trying to make light of the situation.

"Asshole."