“A protein bar is food. I will provide you another.”
It kept walking away. Kat looked briefly back at her room, the door now closed, and decided that sleep could wait.
“Check my stats.” She stopped and reached out her arm. The robot came back to her. “I’m actually not feeling well at all. I think I need to go to the medbay.”
The Bin jerked and moved up to her. It took her hand and the metal of its fingers heated in her grip. Kat held still as something pricked her skin and the android beeped. She had encountered her fair share of the medical mech, it was easier and cheaper to employ an android than it was to find a human routine-care doctor. A series of lasers ran up her arm and the pinch on her hand released.
“You are not at optimum. You have higher than average sodium levels and are moderately dehydrated. I will take you to medbay.”
Kat hid her smile and continued to follow the robot. It led her toward the hull but stopped at a door opposite of the facility. One that had remained closed for her until now. It opened for the Bin, and just beyond was an elevator.
She stepped into the small dimly lit boxed lift, and immediately felt the temperature drop. The door shut as tiny butterflies fluttered her stomach and bumps covered her skin.
Maybe I should have gotten dressed.It was too late now. The lift stopped and opened to another dark passageway.
Kat fell in line behind the android. It looked like an exact replica of the floor they had just left. But as they turned the corner, an aura of light filtered through the hallway, she could see a view to the stars as they walked closer toward it.
Black and white starfields filled her vision off of a side alcove with plush chairs sitting in a ‘U’ shape for watching it. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her to seek the kitchen, but her feet were rooted to the floor.
She could barely take in a breath and the pleas of the robot behind her went unnoticed.
Kat had been out in the open before, living in the metal and cement cities of Earth, her grandmother’s sizable backyard filled with flowers and trees that glowed soft light at night. But this was different, almost painful, almost heart-breaking. She wanted to turn away and go back to her room but her body remained rooted in place.
Her muscles tensed and her hands became slick. She bunched them up into her night-shirt.
“Ain’t nothing good out there, Katalina, nothing but experience and space. Tried to tell your Ma that but she wouldn’t hear it. Young thing like her wanted to find her own way and she was determined that her ‘way’ was out there and not here on Earth.” Her grandmother sipped her sweet tea as she rocked the swing with her foot. Nothing but dirt lay below her rocker. The grass got squished away by the soles of her bare feet. They gave up growing long ago. “Ain’t nothing good here either. I’ll give her that.”
Kat found her footing just enough to flop into one of the plush chairs.
“Katalina Jones, you are not authorized to be there. I must insist we leave.”
She ignored the android.
“You are not authorized to be there. I must insist we go to medbay,” it repeated.
Stars flew by, and sadly she couldn’t tell if they were meteors or asteroids.
“All the good left Earth when your grandpa passed away,” her grandmother mumbled into her cup. “You’re here though, that says something.”
She never knew her grandfather. “I miss you,” Kat whispered to herself.
“The Earth will miss you too when you leave.”
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there but she vaguely registered that the android had stopped talking at some point. Her eyes were glued to the scene and her mind drifted. Kat needed to watch the universe.
It made her feel small, really small, and insignificant. And stupid. She didn’t know why she was where she was and couldn’t figure out the choices she made to get to this moment. But the one thing she knew was that it made her sad. She pressed her hands against her face and cried.
***
“Changing coordinates to Ghost City,” Dommik called out.
“‘bout time, I’ve only been waiting since our last talk,” Stryker’s voice came through the intercom.
“Had to make several stops on the way. You know how it goes.”
“No, I don’t, and I have far too much cargo that needs off-boarding than my ship can handle. I can’t work when I have no room for it!”
Dommik smirked. He leaned back into his chair. “Yeah, well, I would feel the same way if I were helping Gunner too.”
