1.9.2

Farewell Endra, Hello Tetris

“That’s my cue.” Dell piled his collection in an arm and made for the stairs.

“Stations?” Astrid asked after Dell’s sudden retreat.

“The Bridge crew runs this part of the show. But Tilly and Dell are on deck to manage our systems,” Anders explained. “Some of the others prefer to be strapped in for ascension. Breaking the atmosphere barrier can be a little jarring.”

“Do I need to be somewhere in particular?”

“Come on.” Anders inclined his head toward the stairs. “It’s your first time. You should see this. Besides, the Bridge is furthest from the engine.”

Astrid chased him up the staircase to the windowed observation deck at the fore of the ship.

Captain London stood, arms poised behind his back, at the center of the room atop a rounded platform overlooking the stations below. Shaely and Hammond tucked in, at attention.

Ahead, their pilot, Ricks, wiggled in excitement. “Finally! I can’t wait to finally get moving again!”

Anders and Astrid flanked the pilot’s chair. Astrid took in one last glimpse of Endra.

A sea of stars beckoned from a stony flat anchor of land. From the height of the third level, she could see the Sanctuary in the distance. It seemed so small. The giant sculptures in the courtyard arched high into the air, higher than the buildings themselves, and yet already began to fall back into the vista, a mere feature to the landscape.

“Hey, Gorgeous! Welcome back to the party!” the pilot disrupted her thoughts. “You haven’t come to visit since you got here! What gives?”

“Eyes ahead, Ricks,” Anders smoothly redirected.

“Sure, sure. Fine, fine,” the man sighed.

“Pilot,” the captain called from overhead, “let’s rejoin that big black ocean up there.”

“Yes, sir!” Ricks readily agreed and rubbed his hands together before he seized an expert’s grasp on the controls. “Preparing for takeoff.”

“Everything’s good down here.” Tilly’s voice spoke through the comms.

“Gravity, propulsions, and dampeners are all a go.” Dell’s came next.

The floor shuddered under Astrid’s boots. She flitted her eyes to Anders, who gave her a little half-smile.

“Trust me, if you’re prone to motion sickness, it’s better to see where we’re going.”

“Uh, yeah. Also the puke bucket is over there.” Rick’s jutted his thumb over to the Navigator’s workbench.

The Aldebaran purred as it floated upward, so smoothly at first that Astrid didn’t even feel it. Her eyes widened as she watched the horizon line sink lower and lower from view.

Sanctuary Endra fell away, as the ship tilted upward, and the night sky flooded through the windows.

“Wow…” Astrid breathed.

“Just wait ‘til you get a closer look.” Anders grinned.

“Accelerating,” Ricks announced stoically, all business with the helm in his hands.

Astrid curled her fingers around the back of his chair, to brace herself.

The Aldebaran swam upward gracefully. Slowly at first, then faster, and faster, until the sky flashed by in a blur.

Astrid focused on a fixed point ahead, where they seemed to aim, and tried to ignore the blurring surroundings that indicated their speed.

The planet fell away below them, and it felt as though she’d left her stomach behind with it.

“This is the worst part,” Anders assured her.

“Says the man whose never had a crash landing,” Ricks muttered out of the side of his mouth.

“You’re not helping,” the lieutenant retorted.

“I’m just saying! Your first unscheduled landing is a rite of passage! You’re just not a space jockey without one!

“Don’t worry, babe,” Ricks comforted their newbie. “I’ve had two and walked away both times.”

Astrid bit back a remark on how little comfort that gave her as the ship rapidly raced into the sky.

“Bring us out, Pilot,” the captain ordered.

Ricks leveled his gaze ahead, and the Aldebaran pitched upward. Incline and velocity both steepened, and Astrid held her breath as gas and atmosphere flared past the windows in an orange glow.

The planet resisted, and it caused a roar that shook the vessel. Astrid held tight as her body rocked with each motion. Her teeth ground together, her knuckles whitened, and just when she lost all confidence in the healthiness of such turbulence, it gave way completely.

Serene stillness enveloped them in a blanket of sky and light. Nothing but stars filled Astrid’s vision from window to window, and though the ship never slowed, it felt as though they floated adrift in eternity.

Beneath them, the only home she’d ever known fell away.

~~~

It took days, even at their intended quick speed, to reach their destination. The Channeler spent nearly all her time in the hold, clumsily practicing her new skills.

Astrid was subjected to her first flight jump, and her first pre-op briefing, before she endured her first experience strapping up and arming herself with the others.

The Aldebaran drifted into a parking dock at the port of Tetris. Astrid assembled with Karth, Anders, Tenya, and Rue.

Each dressed in civilian clothes, though, some seemed to take to it more easily than others.

Rue’s clothes hardly changed at all save for the fact she dropped her military colors for a burgundy top and and khaki shorts. The men worked in tees and jackets, to obscure the protective layer beneath. And Tenya wrapped herself in a forest green blouse and black leathers.

The chief pulled her glossy curls behind her head into a poof of a ponytail, to keep them out of her eyes, and Astrid envied her forethought.

When the cargo ramp settled onto the ground, light flooded inward, and Astrid breathed the air of a completely new planet.

“We’re just looking today, not to cause any problems,” Commander Karth reminded them.

To the right, Rue settled her holster under her arm.

“This port maintains a Right to Carry, so they won’t hassle us over weapons, but let’s not make a show of it. Astrid, stay to the middle of the group. If you sense anything, let us know. We can work our way closer.”

She nodded and absently touched over her chest where her crystal lay nestled under her clothes.

Karth led them down the ramp, and into daylight.

He conversed shortly with the docking agent to pay their fee, and they were permitted access to the trade center beyond.

A massive site of stalls and shops, stacked against one another, filled what made up at least a third of the city. Storefronts resided within the surrounding architecture and formed the perimeter of an immense market.

The swarm of life that surrounded them made it nearly impossible for Astrid to focus on anything. Never before could she recall seeing so many people in one place.

Awestruck, her feet pled to wander. To dare herself to sink beneath the surface of the echoing static like a diver through a sea, just to see what it was like. If she could handle it.

The sound of them: a people, a civilization, was deafening. Astrid cared not for her gaping expression. For being among so many, simultaneously, offered her a wonder greater than her first flight.

It felt almost magical, the steady roar. And though the Statics could not tell, it hummed almost like the flow of energy among the Channelers in the Sanctuary. Astrid watched gazes, wares, and hand gestures pass between people. Heedless as they were how they all affected one another.

It swelled different than the small crew of the Aldebaran. On this scale, the energy signature of hundreds, maybe thousands, thrummed as though its own entity. And in that way, it was almost easier to isolate the rumble of static from herself.

An insurmountable roll of energy would have overwhelmed her if not so inescapably strange to her. Instead of a thousand on one, it felt as though one enitity on one. All of them, and only her.

“Kitten?” Tenya prodded, when Astrid’s eyes, and face, turned this way and that in the stream of voices and interactions. “What do you think?”

Astrid absently pressed her palm over her chest, and the pendant that lay between the layers of clothing.

“Remarkable…”

But their mission demanded alert vigilance. And once certain that the assault wasn’t too much on their specialist’s senses, Karth led a serpentine pattern through the bustling pathways, slow and steady, and the others weaved behind.

Barkers peddled their merchandise from all over the galaxy, boasting only the “finest” or “rarest” goods from the far reaches, or most proudly, from Earth itself.

Astrid’s eyes filled with beads, textiles, clothes, glassware, furniture, fruits and street food. A booming community of shoppers, keepers, and makers.

And none looked to her.

To be so lost in the crowd, so unidentifiable, nearly made her giddy. If she simply folded into the chaos no one would know what she was. And likely, no one would find her.

With a thrill, she briefly fantasized about how easy it would be to disappear. Freedom, true freedom, lay before her very eyes.