1Levi
It occurredto me twenty minutes before our crash landing that the blinking red light above the console was probably a bad thing.
But the Levi from twenty minutes ago wasn't concerned with that. Whatdidconcern him was that he had to appear calm, cool, and collected to the other two men on board the ship. Because that's what captains did. Captains weren't supposed to botch their first big interstellar mission because they were afraid of looking stupid.
Unfortunately, crashing your spaceship on an alien planet very much constitutes stupidity. Good job, Captain Levi.
Before all hell broke loose, I was sitting in the cockpit double-checking the coordinates to our destination. Despite all the advances in technology, teleportation was still out of reach, so it would be a few hours before we reached the designated planet. My team was part of an ongoing correspondence with their leaders. Our job was to make first contact. We’d ensure their planet hadn't blown up, and that they weren't trying to makeourplanet blow up.
It was a simple job. That's why they only sent three men on the ship. Me, the captain; one diplomat; and one doctor, just in case. The ship was relatively small, and most of the upkeep was automated, including food preparation and landing protocols. In theory, all I had to do was steer.
Easy, right?
Haha,no.
“Hey, Levi?” Paz asked.
Great. Not only was the blinking red light situation happening, but someone else was here to witness it. I put on a confident smile that I hoped didn't look too forced and straightened my shoulders.
“Yes, Paz?” I said.
He gestured casually above the console. “That light's been blinking for a while now.”
Paz was our diplomat, and since his name meant ‘peace,’ I could only assume his parents had wanted that to be his future career.
“Yes, it has,” I replied. My smile didn't fade as I scrolled through some flight information on a separate screen in an attempt to look like I was doing something important.
Paz tilted his head. “It's not, like, a problem, right?”
His tone implied that he was trying his hardest not to offend me while hoping to sate his morbid curiosity.
“Oh no, not at all,” I said, giving him a smile.
God, I hoped I didn't just lie to him.
My response made his shoulders slacken. “Okay,capitão. Just checking.” To my horror, he sat down in the spare seat next to me and riffled through his pack before pulling out a stick of gum. “Want one?”
“No, thanks.”
He shrugged and tossed a piece in his mouth. The overwhelming scent of artificial cherry was a momentary distraction from the stupid light.
“How far away is this planet again?” Paz asked.
“A couple hours.”
Blink. Blink. Blink.
A bead of sweat rolled down my brow. I ignored it.
Paz yawned and stretched, nearly knocking his arm into me. “You'd think engineers could design faster ships by now, huh?”
I grunted in response. My stiff hands kept rooting through the information trees on the screen. I was trying to find out the light's purpose as discreetly as possible. At least Paz seemed more interested in reading the joke on the back of his gum wrapper than in what I was doing.
“Hey, Levi—”
“You know, it's Captain Levi,” I said before punching the troubleshooting menu.
“Right. Hey, what do you call a male alien who's interested in another male?"
