Among Stars

Meet the Gang

The elevator doors opened, and Mizuni and Marco stepped out. There were ten people waiting for them in the room. It was an oval-shaped room that was about fifteen meters, maybe a bit less, long and six or so meters wide. It was lined all around by glass walls and you could see space everywhere. There was a large window in the ceiling, so it looked like you were in an oval-shaped aquarium on the top of the ship, looking into space.

"Hello people," Marco said. "I found our fearless leader having second thoughts and crying against a window, being so homesick already, and we're not even on the orbit yet," he said and grinned widely.

Mizuni hit his arm and stuck her tongue out. "Hello all. How's the ship running?" she said and walked to the group of people.

An older man, in his late 60s or so, approached. His name plate said "Dr. Stein." He cleared his throat and smiled at Mizuni. "Hi Val," he said. "The captain wanted you to know, that as soon as you're able, he wants to see you on the bridge."

Mizuni raised her eyebrow. "On the bridge? Me? Whatever for?" she said.

Stein smiled at her. "They want you to be there when the drive starts," he said. "Most probably to have someone to blame when it doesn't work," he added, and grinned.

Mizuni stuck her tongue out at him. "I didn't build it. If it doesn't work, it's the builders, not me," she said and very theatrically crossed her hands in front of her.

"Yeah, right," a woman from the group said. She looked to be in her 30s, maybe early 40s, had beautiful brown skin and her curly hair looked like a perfectly shaped cloud on her head. Her name plate said "Dr. Abebe." She laughed and then grinned at Mizuni. "You stared down the workers like a hungry dinosaur and raised a hell from every mistake," she said. "It's all on you, Valera. Distinction or dishonor, whatever it will be, it's all yours," she added.

Mizuni smiled awkwardly at her. "Thanks, Abebe," she muttered, then cleared her throat. "Anyway, all of you, about that," she said and glanced at Marco. "Marco already asked me, but I wanted to personally mention this to all of you."

Mizuni took a deep breath, held it in for a second or two, and let it all out. "As much as I'm playing jokes here, and as sure as I am of my own work, I need you people to understand, that this might not work," she said, with a serious tone in her voice. "We're taking supplies and making last-minute checks at Gamma Cygnus, and we make our last stop before engaging the Polarizer at Helios-5," she said.

Mizuni swept her gaze across the people and looked at each individually. "At any point after this, but before we leave Helios-5, if any of you want to leave for any reason, just walk. You don't have to tell anyone your reasons. Just make sure you log your exit from the ship," she said. "Or better yet, let's all get out in Helios-5 and have a last proper dinner together. Then, if anyone doesn't want to continue, simply never come back to the ship," she said and smiled.

"Yeah, right," a woman said from the group. She looked like someone's grandma, complete with her gray hair in a bun and a slightly rosy complexion. She was the shortest of them, and all that was missing from here were a set of needles and a bundle of yarn to complete the look. Well, maybe remove the science overalls and remove the nameplate, but other than that. Her nameplate said "Dr. Greenwood-Smith," and, unlike all the others, she had another plate below that one that was slightly smaller and distinct color. It had the text "Workplace Steward" printed on top of "Angela Greenwood-Smith."

She smiled at Mizuni and stifled a laugh. "Like you could keep any of us away, even if you tried, Val," she said and laughed gently. "We have all spent the last twenty years of our lives and careers to get here. There's no way in this world that I'd be left out from this journey."

There was a general nodding of head and sounds of agreements in the air. "Granny is right," a younger man said next to her. He looked to be in his late 20s, early 30s. His name plate said "Dr. Llainessa."

He had slightly longer ears than the others, and his purple pupilless eyes told tales about his heritage. His hair was the color of a bright and warm morning sun, almost luminously orange. His skin had a light blue-ish tint. A Tiel'illeaian. The oldest and most respected of the elven nations. One of the first people to colonize and explore the galaxy.

"I've spent the last two hundred years studying for this. There's no way you'll get me to stay off the ship," he said and smiled at Mizuni. "For what it's worth, I have no doubts it will work. We spent so much time going over it, you and I."

Mizuni nodded at him. "Yeah, I know," she said. "I'm not anticipating anything going wrong, but... I... I just don't want you to feel like I'm making you do this," she said and looked at all of them.

There were a few stifled laughs and many a grin were had. "Ha, you couldn't force us to have a sandwich, if you tried, Valera," Abebe said. "But we appreciate the thought. Even though we will tie you to the engines and feed you dried zhreill for weeks if you try to keep us away," she said and eyed Mizuni angrily, but failed to hide her smile.

Mizuni giggled. "Yeah, sorry. Sometime I forget we're all scientists here first, and people second," she said. "Any other news, people? Dr. T'hea-ik?" she asked and turned to towards a man.

He was middle-aged, looked to be around his 40s to 50s. He had dark brown hair, and his skin had this very pretty reddish tone. It made his bright green eyes look like they glowed. He was... sitting, for lack of a better word — in a floating device that kept him at the same level as others, as he had no legs. He smiled at Mizuni.

"Yea, actually, Dr. Mizuni," he said with a sing-song voice that made you think he was a famous singer, rather than a scientist. "The results of the survey from Urdian-A arrived just before we left. I haven't yet gone through them myself, but at a glance it looked promising."

Mizuni's eyes flashed open and her lips turned into a wide smile. "Really? That's great! I thought we wouldn't get them for weeks still, maybe not before we're at Sunstar. Oh man, I can't wait to get to them. Let me know when you have time. Let's go through them together. You're as interested in them as I am, if not more," she said.

T'hea-ik nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, let's do it. But first you should probably go see the captain, lest we be stuck here for longer," he said.

Mizuni laughed, nodded at them, and turned towards the elevators. "Yeah, I'll do that. The rest of you, get comfortable. I'll be back when we're underway. If we don't meet until Gamma Cygnus, let's gather here again. I really wanna see the Cygnus Cloud while we're there," she said, waved at them and walked into the elevator.