Author : Philip McNeill

Kris looked out the viewport into the void of space. She hated it here. She hated space, she hated the ship, but most of all she hated the engineers who still hadn’t got the gravity turned back on.

It was like a prison.

There was a small hiss as the door behind Kris slid open.

“Ah, here you are.”

“Commander,” Kris gave a salute.

“Hah, at ease. And quit acting like I’m the Captain. I work for a living,” Calvin said.

Kris said nothing, and stared back out the viewport.

“Hmm, you’re pissy. Let me guess, Bolaski and Grangerson stole your clothes while you were showering again?”

Kris turned and glared at Calvin.

“I, um, guess not. Sorry for bringing that up.”

“Is there something you need, Calvin?” Kris said.

Calvin floated back a little, getting out of Kris’s striking range. “Right, um, we’ve got a sortie in an hour. Just came here to remind you. You know, just doing my job.”

“That’d be a first,” Kris said turning back to the viewport.

“Ok, not going to lie. That one stung a little, Kris.” Calvin crossed his arms. “It was supposed to sting, wasn’t it?”

“Figure that out all by yourself, did you?”

“Oh come on, what did I do?”

Kris’s eyes flared. “Goddamn everything!” She slammed her fist into the metal wall of the ship. A resounding thump that echoed through the room.

“I hate this ship, this pointless mission, everything. There’s no goddamn point of us being here, but everyone acts like there is. There’s nothing in this sector: no planets, stations, or even asteroids. What the hell are we guarding? And why the hell haven’t they fixed the fucking gravity?” She slammed her fist into the wall again.

“Stop doing that.” Calvin held his hands up in panic. “Please, don’t rupture the bulkhead. The engineers would be very upset – and we would both be very dead.”

There was a long silence. Kris brought the hand she had struck the wall with to her chest. The side of her hand was already beginning to turn black and blue.

“You really didn’t want to go on sortie today, did you?” Calvin joked. He floated over to Kris to examine her injury. “Looks fractured. See why you don’t punch things, especially a metal wall in zero gravity?”

Kris looked away. “I’m sorry, sir. That was completely unprofessional of me.”

“I was going to say scary, but I guess unprofessional works,” Calvin said. “So, about everything you said. Did you mean it?”

“I – don’t know,” Kris said. “I guess I did. I was angry, still am. Don’t you ever get frustrated being stuck here?”

“Oh yeah, all the time. It absolutely sucks out here.”

“But you’re always so – so bubbly.”

“Bubbly?” Calvin said. “Well, now my confidence is just going through the roof. Look Kris, all us have our ways of dealing with being on this ship. We just need to find you a way that doesn’t involve – breaking it.”

Kris chuckled.

“See, you’re already starting to feel better. Guess my bubbly personality is just what you needed. Now, how about we get you to the med-bay to get your hand looked at?”