Space Sucks

Olli

Is the Government Telling Us Everything?
4/10/28
The impending "alien" invasion has led the government to shut down. The President issued his final statement on Friday before retreating into solitude:
"We have been alerted that there is an unknown ship coming towards Earth. We must have faith that NASA will be able to contact the ship and negotiate peace. We are doing all we can. Stay calm and continue about your daily lives. This issue should be resolved shortly."
There has been no word from the government since. Many other world leaders have also disappeared. We can only hope that NASA and the government will be able to protect us.
In other news, the Eagles have won the Super Bowl yet again and will be...

I reread the article on my phone once more before finally getting up. It was from a little over two months ago, published three days before we left Earth. It seemed silly that we ever believed the government or NASA could do something about extraterrestrials.
Yawning, I stretched and started to get dressed. I didn't have that many clothing options, but there was no reason to hurry. I had nowhere to be on this ship, though I probably had studies, something the adults had started to reinforce. There was a teacher on board, Mrs. Haler, but after being on a space ship for two months, she rarely ventured from her room. So, it was up to us kids to teach ourselves what we saw fit. Frankly, I didn't get much work done, but I also didn't really care. I hadn't been a great student back on Earth, and I sure wasn't going to become one now. Len, my now best friend, was a different story though. He was a model student back at school. With participating in Model UN, being president of student council, holding a straight-A average, and playing varsity soccer, he was the whole package. Me, not so much. I hadn't done any extracurriculars besides skiing. I now wish I would have tried out more stuff. Too little, too late, I guess.
After getting myself situated, I started to wander over to the rec room, hoping to see Len or Jakob.
"Olli!" someone shouted, startling me. I turned to see Mrs. Chapman, the sort-of declared leader of the ship, running to catch up with me.
"Are you heading down to the library for studies?" she asked, her red, frizzy hair askew.
Shoot. Mrs. Chapman was always adamant about the kids of the ship going to studies. She hated that we never seemed to be in the library.
"Uh, yeah," I lied. No way was I going to mess around with her.
After descending the stairs to the first level, we turned the corner, passing a row of doors. I didn't know what any of them led to, as the only place us kids were allowed on the first floor was the library and the medic bay.
"Well, this is where I'm going. Have fun with your studies!" she called, entering a nondescript room.
"Yeah," I responded, half heartedly.
I sighed and opened the door to the library. I was already down there. Might as well just get my studies over with.
As I entered, I looked around for a table. Len didn't seem to be there, and neither did Jakob. I passed a group of young kids, giggling at a cat video. Len's sister was among them.
"Hi Naya," I said.
"Hi Olli," she responded, not glancing up.
"Where's Len?" I asked.
"Probably the weight room," she said, waving me off.
"Okay, thanks," I said.
I didn't feel like going to the weight room. The only way I liked to work out was skiing and as far as I knew, the ship didn't have any ski slopes.
Oh well. I walked over to a shelf and grabbed an iPad. Part of our studies was keeping up on current issues back on Earth, so I opened a news article that had been published just that morning.
Nuclear Winter Begins!
6/26/28
After multiple atomic bombs were dropped throughout Europe in retaliation of the new dictatorship in France and Latvia, the world has been plunged into a nuclear winter. Temperatures are at an all time low in the East and Midwest. About 105 million people in the US have already become sick due to the air pollution, contaminated drinking water, and low temperatures. An estimated 54 million are already dead. In Europe, around 1.5 billion are dead, and 206 million are in critical condition.
At this point, a nuclear war is possible, and the new self-appointed officials of the US have declared that we will get involved if we have to.
We have had no word on how NASA is doing with the mysterious ship that has been circling the planet. We can only hope that the "aliens" are peaceful and that we are safe.
Wow. I'm glad that I'm not back there, I thought. I scrolled around on the iPad for a bit, not really doing much. I was probably an hour into my studies when my older sister, Lori, walked in. She was twenty years old and tall, about 5'8", with muddy brown, straight as a wire hair that hung just past her shoulders. Her skin was a bit lighter than mine, a tawny brown. She was wearing a lab coat, probably just coming from the hospital wing. Lori's plan had been to major in pathology during college, so she usually helped out down there.
"Can I have Olegario and Tessa in the hospital wing for their weekly checkup?" Lori asked.
A girl I didn't know stood up. I hadn't noticed her walk in during studies. She was pale in every sense. She had pale green eyes, pale skin, and pale hair that was almost white. A mysterious aura surrounded her.
I put the iPad away and went up to my sister.
"Can you not call me Olegario? You know I hate it," I hissed.
"That's exactly why I call you it," she responded.
She turned and started to walk out, Tessa and I trailing behind.
"Well, I don't call you Loreta," I huffed.
She shrugged. "You don't have to call me Lori."
Ugh. Older siblings.
We turned a corner and came to the hospital wing. Lori was about to escort us into examination rooms when the frazzled looking group of doctors gestured her over.
"Stay here," she commanded.
The doctors spoke in hushed whispers, glancing up every couple seconds to see if we were listening. We weren't.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Tessa asked me.
That was the first time I'd ever heard her speak. Her voice was quiet and raspy. It wasn't pleasant to listen to, but there was something about it that still made you drawn to it.   
"Um, I don't know. But they look pretty worried," I responded.
"Maybe there was a murder," she laughed.
I didn't think it was very funny, seeing as we were escaping from an alien invasion, but I laughed anyway.
"So, Olli," Tessa started. "Want to figure out what they're talking about?"
I shrugged. "It's probably just doctor stuff."
She shook her head. "Why would they look so worried then?"
I honestly didn't care. "I dunno."
"Well, I'm going to find out what they're talking about," Tessa flouted.
"And how are you going to do that?" I questioned.
"In the most obvious way," she said. "I'm going to walk over to them. But in a sneaky way."
I doubted her simple idea would work, but I decided to humor her. "Okay."
So, we tiptoed over. The medics were so engrossed in their conversation, it would have taken a hurricane to interrupt them.
"No one's seen her for about an hour and her heart rate monitor went offline a little while ago," a doctor, Dr. Dragan, said.
"Couldn't she just be holed up somewhere? Like in the engine room or something?" my sister asked.
Another doctor, Dr. Sesta, shook her head. "We've checked everywhere she could be. Her room, the labs... she's just gone."
"Let's keep this quiet until we're sure of anything," Dr. Dragan seemed to plead. "We don't want anyone to get worried. We're all frazzled as it is."
Tessa and I scurried away quickly as the doctors disbanded.
"Who were they talking about?" I questioned.
"Beats me," Tessa replied.
Lori came back over, a fake smile plastered on her face and her eyes lined with worry.
"Tessa, you go in exam room one and Olli, in room two," she told us.
Tessa leaned in and whispered, "We'll talk later."
A buzz went through me, one you only get when you feel like you're doing something wrong. I nodded to Tessa and stepped into the examination room.
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