Chapter 4
15:38 NST
Neopian Senate Leader's Office, Neopian Senate Building, Neopia central
"Absolutely out of the question!" shouted the normally calm and collected
senate leader. "Preposterous! You, young lady, cannot just barge in on a mission
and force someone else out!"
"Well sir," said the program director, "we did say 'anything'…"
His anger subsiding into frustration, the aging Blumaroo politician turned
to Strella and said, "So be it."
Not waiting for him to change his mind, the program director ushered Strella
out to the Senate Leader's office. Once safely outside, she said, "I hope you're
happy!" and walked away, furious. Strella was too happy to notice all the trouble
her request had caused. She skipped blissfully down the hall and bumped square
into Shipos the yellow Chia astronaut she had displaced. He was knocked back,
and so was she, then both fell down in a tangle of arms and legs.
"Hey! Watch where you're..." his voice trailed off as the realisation of just
who had bumped into him sank in. "YOU!" he pointed accusingly, "This is all
your fault! Now you just gotta go and make it worse!" Strella was getting worried,
because the normally yellow Chia could now be easily mistaken for a red Chia,
he was so irate. "YOU…YOU'VE!" he was lost for words, then, to Strella's surprise,
he broke down and started to cry. "Oh, what's the use anyway?!"
Strella felt as though someone had suddenly dropped a three ton weight on her
as she was hit with the consequences of her selfish act. She thought a moment,
then asked to use a phone. Shipos saw an odd light in her eyes, and after a
moment of deliberation, handed her a small cell phone. Strella punched a few
buttons and then had a hushed conversation with the person on the other end.
Shipos couldn't make out what had been said, but he knew the program director's
voice on the other end. Strella handed the phone back to Shipos, who immediately
noticed that she hadn't hung up yet. He put the phone to his ear and asked,
"Hello?"
A familiar voice came over the phone: "Strella has requested that you be placed
back on the team…" Shipos didn't hear the rest as he jumped for joy. He hugged
Strella, thanked her, and ran off to catch a flight to the Space Center. Strella
flew and caught up with him, then lifted him off the ground, headed in the direction
of the Center.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, but she just smiled and said:
"I'm going that way too."
When they arrived, the other astronauts gathered around to welcome Strella
to the mission. Shipos looked around in confusion, "What's goin' on here anyway?"
he asked.
Strella replied, "I'm coming with you!"
Chapter 5
14:27 NST, T - 00:00:15
Three Months Later
Pad 3, Neopian Space Center, Neopia Central
Sojurner1 sat glistening in the sunshine on launch pad three. It was a beautiful
spring morning. A gentle breeze was blowing, birds chirped softly…
RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!
An earth-shattering roar split the air, accompanied by a brilliant flash of
light. Sojurner1 slowly lifted off the pad into the sky, accelerating ever faster.
Inside the cockpit, the crew was pulled back by three times their normal weight
as they left Neopia's atmosphere. Strella looked around at her companions whom
she had come to know during their three months of training. In the forward part,
on the left, sat Uno the Shoyru commander. To his immediate right was Zyral,
the Kacheek pilot. A few steps behind them were two little alcoves to the sides
of the command deck. On one side sat Infiniti the Jubjub cook (his suit was
almost nothing but helmet and tiny boots), Davix the Lupe first flight operator,
and Helen the Zafara second flight operator. Opposite them sat Sally the Kyrii
engineer, and two observers, Ben the Kougra and Salchicha the Poogle. In the
back there were five seats against the wall, two on one side of the door, and
three on the other. Vincent the Blumaroo, and Shipos sat on one side, while
Nivara the Usul, and Yen the Lenny, along with Strella herself, sat on the other.
A frenzied checklist ensued:
"Flip the pressure to loop B," Uno called out.
"Solar panels deployed," reported Zyral.
"Throttle to full," read Vincent.
"Maximum velocity," Zyral yelled over the roar.
Even with the computer doing most of the work, there was still a lot that had
to be done by hand.
"Bringing engines on line…NOW!" reported Sally, punching switches over her
head. The engine thrummed to life and the entire ship pulsated. The roar had
ceased once they cleared the atmosphere, and now they were in orbit.
"Deploy communications array," ordered Uno.
Ben flipped a switch and outside, the ship opened up like an umbrella. This
served a double purpose, to radiate excess heat and to serve as a giant satellite
dish that could contact Neopia from another solar system. They unbuckled and
moved around, performing some pre-takeoff adjustments. Zyral was busy punching
buttons on the computer up front, programming in their course.
"We have you on scanners, you'll be correctly positioned in 45 minutes," came
a voice from ground control over the speakers. After a tense half-hour, everything
was ready. So, decked out in space flight suits, the crew buckled in again,
for even without gravity and with inertial dampers, the kick on the engine was
not to be underestimated. After what seemed like an eternity, Strella heard
Salchicha announce:
"Neopia, we are go for engine start," Zyral relayed the transmission to ground
control, and received an affirmative.
"Engaging in 5… 4… 3…" Strella braced herself in her seat just as she had
been taught. "… 2…" she tensed every muscle "… 1…" she took a deep breath and
shivered with excitement "… ENGAGE!" Uno reached up and punched a glowing green
button, and like an arrow of green light shot from a bow, Sojourner1 leapt into
the heavens faster than an old man very, very far away named Einstein had ever
thought possible.
Chapter 6
8:09 NST, Day 1
0.05 light years from Neopia
Strella sat by the window, gazing into the endless starry void. Well, not exactly
sat, but rather floated in the absence of gravity. She found herself both hypnotised
by and drawn to them.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, and looked up, only to see an upside down face staring
back.
"Are you all right?" asked Davix, who had tapped her on the shoulder.
"Yeah, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to people talking to me upside
down."
"Well, I kinda enjoy finding new perspectives. Was I interrupting anything?"
"No, I was just stargazing. I get so lost in them that I could stare forever!"
she said.
"Just be careful. Y'know, someone once said: 'Be careful when looking into
the void, lest the void look back into thee', If you'll pardon the paraphrasing."
"I'd never heard that before," she replied. "Who said that?"
"Umm… well, I can't seem to remember now!" Both started laughing.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" she asked.
"Oh yes, there's no doubt about that." He gently took her hand as they gazed
out the window together.
11:32 NST, Day 4
0.54 light years from Neopia
Strella and Yen were eating lunch. By the third day, everyone had pretty well
re-mastered the art of dining, which was a whole new experience outside the
influence of gravity. Liquids floated in little globs, solids flew every which
direction, and many meals came in a tube like toothpaste like on the space station.
Many had, in fact, been donated by Grundo's. It was often a messy business.
But now, with nine meals of varying success, well, under her belt, Strella considered
herself an expert. She and Yen took turns squeezing out the little drink packets
and floating around crazily, collecting the drops on their tongues. In the cockpit,
Davix and Zyral heard mingled laughter as red drops of cherry-kiwi tang floated
by.
17:44 NST, Day 12
1.81 light years from Neopia
"Y'know, you're really starting to get on my nerves with that!" shouted Sally.
Salchicha drummed his fingers on the bulkhead as he handed her a 14mm wrench.
"It's not really hurting anything," he whined.
"Keep it up, and you'll find out first hand," Sally grumbled.
"Let's just concentrate on fixing the re-hydrator unit," suggested the blue
Poogle, eyeing the subtle crowd waiting for their meal in the next compartment.
"Wait, what's that?" Sally interjected, "Do you hear Uno?"
"Of course I do." Salchicha shrugged. "It's pretty easy to hear anyone talking
in this ship."
"No, that's not what I mean. Listen to what he's saying."
Salchicha cocked his small head and perked his ears ever so slightly. After
a few moments of straining to hear the faint, one-ended conversation over the
radio, he slowly turned to look at Sally with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah, I do hear him, but does that mean what I think it does? And what are
'the signals' he keeps talking about?"
To be continued... | 
