Launch Day
The ship Janos 13 was piloted by Jack Parker, an advanced pilot with a little over 10 years under his belt. Accompanying him was his beautiful wife of 5 years, Andra Parker, an expert in NASA shields and technology. Both of these geniuses were on a very important classified mission for the government, get to Neptune and recover a rare radioactive substance known as Promethium. The two were sent with the newest technology from a solar powered rover, exterior cameras on the ship, to a newly updated solar shield. When the two boarded the now famous Janos 13, the two did not know that they had signed onto a life changing mission, for them, and Earth.
The mission was already popular talk at NASA as it would just be the two of them travelling the 2.7 billion miles to Neptune. They were the dynamic duo, always in sync, always cooperating, and always surviving.
=Andra Parker=
On the launch day, I’d woken up hours before Jack. I couldn’t sleep, my nerves weren’t usually this bad, but so far, my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. So I had my last cup of coffee for who knows how long, and watched the sun rise on our horizon. When sleepy head Jack finally awoke, he wrapped his warm arms around my shivering body, and snuggled his face into the crook of my neck.
“Morning gorgeous.” His husky voice made me melt, I turned around and gleefully dodged his morning breath kiss.
“Ah, come on!” He scowled, scratching his gross hair, I stuck my tongue out at him and set my coffee mug in the sink.
“Go shower you gross neanderthal!” I joked, he scowled at me before stomping to the bathroom. While he showered I slipped into my assigned suit, its electric blue standing out, my name stitched above my left breast. When Jack came out of the shower, I was loading up the car with my science gear. He was already in uniform and the blue made his long black hair gleam, or that could've been the water, either way he was handsome.
“Hey sexy” I dramatized to him, which gave him incentive to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder. Which wasn’t hard as I was only five foot three, which his six foot three self never stopped teasing me about.
“Put me down!” I slapped his back, and as he chuckled and set me down, I managed to sneak a kiss in, which made him blush.
“Cheeky sphinx." He turned away, hiding his blush, I slapped his arm and ordered him to ‘get his princess attitude’ in the car.
=Jack Parker=
She loved car rides, they were her favorite things for some reason, she always insisted on the radio being turned on and the windows down. When the light caught her hair, it glowed gold, she was a beautiful, rare, gem. And when she caught me staring she never hesitated to embarrass me.
Today’s drive was a little different though, when she caught me she only smiled and grasped my hand.
“I’m going to miss home.” Her voice is like angel wings, not that I’d ever tell her that, she’d laugh at me.
“For me, wherever you are, is home.” I successfully made her blush, she had tears threatening to spill as she traced the wind outside the window with her hand.
When I pulled our black jeep into the large parking lot, she was the first to hop out and stretch her arms up to the sky. NASA personnel ran forward, Andra opened up the back of the jeep to allow them to unpack her science gear. We walked forward and were greeted by fellow pilots and scientists, the large port doors were wide open and there sat the gleaming Janos 13 in her port, the spectacle of space travel.
“You ready Jack?” A fellow pilot clapped my shoulder, I glanced back at Andra who laughed with friends while loading up the ship. I sucked in a deep, much needed breath.
“Another adventure for the books!” I cried up to her, which she responded to with a laugh. The people around us who had trained with us, laughed, while others just questioned our sanity, and why NASA sent us on the most important mission.
“So the future may have good reading material!” Cheers and shouts filled the space as I swung myself up next to Andra who rolled her eyes at me.
“For Asgard?” I whispered, to which she laughed and shoved me in the ship. I heard her voice outside the cockpit, it was full of excitement, she was talking to a fellow scientist. I prepped the ship for take off and checked the closed airlocks.
“Of course I'll keep my eyes peeled for irregularity, but my younger sister wanted another rock.” I smiled at that, the same promise, every time. Her younger sister, Maria, had a large rock collection now. When Andra finally straps in beside me, I rub the top of her head making her duck a little, her eyes meet mine and she shows a small glare.
“You care too much about rocks, angel.” I whisper to her as I prep the engine ignite, she tries to hide it, but I see her small smile at the nickname. The engines roar to life, turning the Janos13 into a living machine. As the famous countdown begins, I look over at Andra and her sweet smile lights up my world.
“Let’s go troublemaker.” My laugh is drowned out by the launch, thrusting us back in our seats, and the Janos13 into the cold grasp of space.
