Althea laid in darkness unwilling to get out of bed. There was no sun this morning, due to the ship’s rotation she saw it once a week. Instead of staring at her shadowed ceiling, she was looking out the small horizontal window. It was darker out there, absolute vacuuming blackness with stars littering it. Then she was blinded. Just like every morning, all the lights flickered on with her alarm. Blinking her eyes open she stared at the matte steel ceiling. Her mother bustled in trying to stir her out of bed chatting on about nothing in her broken English.
“It’s April 25th, three weeks until graduation!” Her mother reminded cheerily. Althea had to finish cataloging her research today, then she finishes her dissertation and defends it before becoming Dr. Althea Damaris Passierra, Ph.D. That is assuming there are no hiccups.
"Althea," her mother called in her French accent surrounding her in a warmth of words, shielding her from the cold steel she could never call home. "Why are you so glum, my dear?"
"I didn’t sleep well," Aly rubbed at her temples.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Fleur was brushing the hair out of Aly’s face. Aly loved how her mother was never in a rush. Then, her mother paused. "You are so much like your father. If you wish to talk about it I would like to be the first to know, yes?"
"Sure." Aly smiled into her mother’s eyes. It amazed her how calm she felt gazing into them.
"Get dressed, my child, breakfast is ready and it's off to class for you." Fleur smiled leaving the room. She smoothed on her uniform and pulled her hair back securing it at the nape of her neck. Glancing in the mirror she studied herself. The uniform was a formless dress that covered her neck, down each arm to her wrists and down to mid-calf. Over it, she donned a black open sleeveless vest that stopped inches above the hem of the dress.
Aly's father, Brian, was sitting at the white steel table eating eggs and toast.
“Ready to take on the world?” he asked. He was the head doctor on board. He oversaw births and surgeries while being the ships pediatrician.
“Not today.” She slathered her toast with jam.
“Maybe in a few more weeks when she graduates.” Her mother was the head geologist. She worked on the green deck, three floors full of dirt and plants. Her mother developed the hydroponics system they used in order to grow food.
“Maybe” Aly shoved the toast in her mouth walking out the door with an exaggerated wave.
Aly stepped onto the transporter and waited for it to fill. The transporter was a steel platform with a waist high railing. Here at the depot, transporters traveled to every level of the ship. This one is a direct line to her school. After it filled with people all similarly dressed a rail rose and closed the platform off, a slight shift and the platform was off to the school. It carried them up past multiple decks. She wasn't sure how many levels were on board, there were at least 76 she was permitted on.
"Don't look so devastated. I'm sure you’re doing fine." A handsome boy whispered to her. Tall, blue-eyed blonde, a relaxed smile, complete with dimples. For the life of her she couldn't remember his name.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your research." His smile brightened when she looked up at him.
"Oh, right." She didn't return his smile. She turned to the gate waiting for the platform to reach its destination. He chatted on and on not realizing Aly wasn’t listening. When the gate opened she started weaving through the mass of her peers. He kept up with her, still talking. Excessively. She spied an opening to duck through, but she hit something solid spewing her stuff over the floor. She fell to her knees defeated, grumbling about people in her way.
"Still talking to yourself?" Althea didn't acknowledge the man helping her. He shoved some stuff in her bag and held it out to her. She rubbed at her temples with her right hand.
"Thank...” the words caught in her throat, eyes wide as she stared into familiar eyes.” Don?" Her childhood friend was in front of her with smiling brown eyes and a charismatic grin.
"That color looks marvelous on you!" He teased.
"What are you doing here?" Aly asked sure she was hallucinating; she had to be for Don to be here. She wrote to him, but he never answered.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak she cut him off.
“Actually, I have to get to the lab.” Althea’s jaw clamped shut as she gritted her teeth and attempted to walk by.
“What? Can’t you say hi to an old friend?” he caught her upper arm. It was then that she noticed his uniform, the navy blue pants with the yellow stripe and the light blue long sleeve button down.
She rubbed her temples again, a friend would have responded to me nine years ago. She ignored Donovan. “I have very little to say to a cop.”
Donovan’s smile broadened. “Should I take you down to the station? Keep in mind if you swing at me while I’m in uniform I have to.”
“Why would you need to?” unlike her voice, she felt oddly unsteady talking to him, she couldn’t figure out what he was getting at.
“Well for questioning of course.”
“What for?” she cocked her eyebrow meeting his gaze as his grip weakens on her arm. “Are you taking me to the station or not? I’m going to be late.”
“I will pick you up at 8.”
“Pick me up? Yea. Right. Like I have any desire to go anywhere with you. And for the record, I won’t be home.” Her smile was full of acid.
Donovan smiled. “Another time then”
“Whatever makes you happy.”
