Valentia

Eldrid stared blankly at the 3d diagrams that popped out from the top of her consol. Having been sitting at her workstation for almost 8 hours, her mind was as numb as her crossed legs. The idea that an exploratory voyage to the outer rims could be boring would have been unthinkable 2 months prior, but now, slouching in her chair and sighing from discontent, she understood the pain all too well.

“Mister Kim!” the captain shouted from his command chair, startling the entire bridge awake. “Get me the latest readings. I want to know exactly where we are.”

A wiry, inscrutable man hopped from his seat and turned about. With his right hand resting firmly against his forehead, he gave a soldier’s salute. “Right away sir!”

Mister Kim, also known as the first mate, scurried around the bridge in his bright red uniform, chatting with the other ensigns as they shared their station's latest readings. He was currently speaking with Sherri, a crass woman who never stopped complaining about how hard her station was despite having the easiest job on the ship. All she had to do was watch a star map and make sure there weren’t any warnings flashing on the screen, a position Eldrid envied greatly.

Unfortunately, her job was just important enough that she couldn’t daydream like Sherri, but not so difficult that she could maintain her focus for any length of time. She had hoped to be positioned in the lab to put her degree in Biology to good use, but she was beaten out by Kenny Ford, an overachieving know-it-all who liked to rub his intelligence in everyone’s face.

The clanking of Mister Kim’s boots against the metal floor approached from behind. With a mischievous smile, she swiveled in her chair and turned to face him. The smell of his heavily applied colon agitated her nostrils and tempted her to sneeze. “Good day, Mister Kim.”

He gave her an emotionless nod. “Good day Eldrid. Could I have your latest readings?”

She always liked to tease the man for being so stuffy, a practice Mister Kim resented to no end.

“Hm, let’s see. My most current reading is a story about a girl who grew up in a colony on the moon and falls in love with an Earth boy. They end up getting married in the end.”

He scowled at her witty remarks, his eyebrows narrowing in contempt. “Please Eldrid…Not today.”

Having achieved her mission to irritate the man, she snapped her fingers and complied. “Oh, you mean the ship's readings. Sure! Give me just a moment.”

She turned back to face the console and examined the display. “Looks like shield integrity is at 99.9 percent, reactor efficiency is at 98.9 percent, and artificial gravity pumps are working at nearly 100 percent of their expected levels.” She turned back around and shot him a witty smile. “Anything else Mister Kim?”

He sneered with unhidden disdain. “That will be all.”

Turning about, he walked to the captain and read the report aloud. “All is well Captain Cassian. Aside from some minor interference on the long-range scanner, all is ship-shape.”

Rising from his chair, the captain slapped Mister Kim on the shoulder. “Excellent! Keep me informed of any changes.”

Captain Cassian then approached the observation window and stared out into the void, sighing longingly as he watched the stars flash by. Then came the tapping. He would get into a rhythm with his foot, bouncing it like a caffeinated child until it drove the crew mad. Everyone knew that when he got like this an announcement was sure to follow. Good news or bad, these were the warning signs.

“Attention!” He shouted to the bridge.

Everyone stood up and swallowed a lump, eager to hear his latest commands, commendations, or condemnations. Standing in a closed circle, he walked the inner length and stared the crew down, his roman features and thick, black brows commanding respect even before his booming voice echoed forth.

“My friends,” he addressed the room with a pensive tone. “I want to thank you for all the long nights and hard days you have spent keeping this ship, this marvel of modern engineering in working order. It has been over two months since we left charted territory and made our way to the outer rim, and I know it’s been a struggle to keep positive.” He turned around and began walking counterclockwise. “But in just a few weeks we will finally bring that journey to an end and be the first humans to start mapping the very edges of our galaxy.”

Muffled whimpers and misty eyes took hold of the crew. Everyone was a mix of stressed and emotional and the captain knew how to wield it.

“So don’t give up,” he cried, clenching his fist to convey strength, “and don’t give in to despair. Keep that spirit of adventure alive because who knows what awaits us out there? Who knows what challenges we will be forced to grapple with once we touch down?”

People began to nod and murmur in agreement as smiles and grins grew alongside the excitement.

Finally, standing in the center of the group, the captain raised his fist in the air and shouted, “Who are we?”

“Andromeda!” The crew cried back.

“Who are we?”

“Andromeda!”

“And what will Andromeda do?”

“Reach for the stars!”

The entire room erupted in applause. It wasn’t just because of the captain’s rousing speech. It was the anticipation of finally reaching the planet the first deep-space colony would be established. It was a lonely, barren rock that couldn’t support life on its own, but the rotation and gravity were prime for the human body. That’s why it was selected by the private exploration conglomerate the world knew as Andromeda.

Eldrid spent her nights dreaming of the day when she would finally be able to step off this ship and make something of herself. It was a hope shared by all those on board the S.S Frontier. Over one thousand crew members, all dedicated to the pursuit of scientific discovery and exploration in uncharted space, a feat only recently made possible by breakthroughs in spacetime manipulation that would have been nothing more than a madman’s dream not 100 years ago.

At the captain’s command, she and all the other crew members returned to their assignments until their shift reliefs came to take their place.

“Eldrid!” a handsome young man shouted from behind, pulling her chair's backrest down and scaring her half to death.

Once the shock wore off, she found herself looking up at her replacement. “Ugh! Come on Sirus. That wasn’t funny the first time and it’s not funny now.”

He giggled wickedly as she left the chair, one of her fingers toying with her long, copper locks. She would never admit it, but she always had a bit of a crush on Sirus, all through schooling and up to that day.

He slid by her and took a seat, spinning around in the chair like a child. “Oh, come on Eldrid. Can’t you take a joke?” He flashed her a smile; the kind where the corners of his mouth bunched up and little dimples formed on his cheeks.

Her heart fluttered in her chest, but her face remained unchanged. “I might find it funny if was. You need some new material buster.”

He waved his hand at her, playfully dismissing her jab. “I’ll have you know my material is quite popular, especially with the ladies.” Forming his fingers into a handgun, he shot her a wink with his crystal-blue eyes.

“Huh, right, because you’re just drowning in women, aren’t you?”

He adjusted one of the holographic knobs on his screen and chuckled. “Well, maybe not drowning but...yeah”

She chuckled back, wondering if he was flirting or just being dumb. With guys like Sirus, one could never be too certain. “Right, I’ll request a security outfit to stand beside you and fend off the mob, shall I?”

“Better sooner than later,” he joked.

Her growling stomach interrupted their playful banter as tantalizing smells from the cafeteria wafted through the vents.

“Woah,” Sirus remarked. “That was an unflattering sound.”

Eldrid smacked him upside the head. “Shut up dork. I haven’t eaten since my shift began and I’m starving!”

“Well, whatever you do, don’t get the synthetic chicken. Last time I ate that I got so sick I had to go down to the med bay. Doctor Sinclair really needs to work on his bedside manners. He stuck me with a needle without so much as a warning.”

She shrugged her shoulder and activated the doors that lead into the hallway. “Are you sure it wasn’t from all the other junk you eat? Just be glad diabetes has a cure now.”

As she exited the bridge, she could still hear Silas laughing up until the doors sealed shut. She was now walking through the corridor that connected the command bridge to the rest of the ship, a long metal walkway that had windows on each side allowing you to admire the long stretches of empty space. Somehow the parade of lights flashing by at hyper-speed always put her in a reflective mood and each one she watched fade away added to the feelings of isolation she was actively repressing at any given time.

A cold sensation began to form in her fingertips, slowly traveling up to her hands and wrists. Steady breaths turned into erratic huffs as goosebumps broke out across her pale skin. She was glad to be alone in the hallways so nobody could see her quivering lips as an overwhelming sense of dread gripped her body.

P-pacing…I need to pace.

Eldrid walked back and forth in the hallway in an attempt to gain control of her anxiety, a technique she learned as a young woman when her disorder first manifested.

J-just keep breathing. Just keep pacing.

That was the only way to keep herself from spiraling when a panic attack would arise. But so long as she kept moving and breathing, she always managed to calm herself back down.

You’re okay Eldrid. Just don’t think…just don’t think about what could go wrong and everything will be fine.

Reaching into her coat pocket, she took out a syringe full of blue liquid and removed the cap. Aiming the painless micro-needle at a vein, she pressed it into her skin and let out a relieved, “Ahh.”

Stop forgetting to take your meds ya bozo.

With her nerves settling she left the corridor and made her way to the main section of the ship. It was a 2-mile-long cylinder that contained the living quarters, labs, greenhouse, and secondary power systems, the primary core being down near the thrusters. The moment she stepped left the command corridor she was hit with a wave of activity. From one end of the ship to the other was a large highway of sorts. Like an artery, there was a constant stream of movement as people went about their business. To her left was a team of engineers sprinting by, one of the lead engineers was shouting about a plasma filter needing to be replaced in the cybernetics lab. To her right were a group of worker machines loading and unloading cargo from a hover lift onto the ground. She smiled gleefully at them as she passed by. The bots were entertaining, to say the least, a cadre of unique personalities programmed into every one of them. While not AI per se, they had a degree of self-awareness that made them endearing to be around and she did indeed have a bot of her own back in her quarters to keep her company.

She walked until reaching the chrome-like doorway to the cafeteria, its metal doors swooshing open after briefly scanning her identity. The moment she walked through the door a wall of delicious scents flooded her nostrils. Hurrying to the back of the line, she practically made a puddle on the floor from drool, her eyes dilating as she thought of the culinary possibilities. Chef Marcel, as the crew called the robot that worked in the kitchen, was a master at flavoring food to your distinct preferences. With some chemical additions and a reading of your DNA taken from the ship's database, he could always manage to turn even the most mundane dish into an explosion of taste bud-tingling delight.

“Hello Eldrid,” Marcel greeted in his mechanical tone. “What can I get you on this fine day?”

She leaned over the glass and cooed with delight, breathing in the heavenly aroma as she stood on her tippy toes and ogled her limited choices.

“What’s that green stuff, Marcel?” She pointed to a container of goo that looked completely unappetizing.

“Spaghetti and meatballs,” he answered as he changed his arm from a hand into a scooper. “Shall I make you a plate?”

Eldrid scrunched her mouth against her cheek and looked up as she deliberated. “Mmm sure! Let’s try something new.”

With that, the robot took a large scoop of green gelatin and opened its chest. Placing the blob on a tray resting inside, it closed it shut and began whirring and humming. A short moment later it let out a ding and reopened its chest.

“Here you go,” Marcel announced with mechanical gusto.

What was once smelly goo had been turned into a dish that resembled spaghetti with uncanny accuracy.

She took the plate in her hands and skipped to a table. “Thanks, Marcel!”

Without responding, the machine scanned the waiting area and, after seeing it had no remaining customers, moved into the corner of the kitchen, and powered down.

Eldrid wasted no time and made short work of the reconstructed meal. It tasted like spaghetti, it looked like spaghetti, it even smelled like the real deal and that’s all that mattered to her. She twirled the noodles into a wad on her fork and slurped them down, taking bites from the meatballs until there was nothing left but a sauce-stained plate. Having eaten, her mood improved. There was, unfortunately, still something bothering her deep down, something pushing her fears closer to the surface.

Taking her fork in her hand, she toyed with one of the leftover noodles still on her plate and sighed. The truth is she was running. Running from her parents. Running from her friends. Running from her failed life on Earth. A stack of debt and hurt feelings was all that remained back home which made the long journey appealing. It was the biggest reason she volunteered for the position. At the same time, every mile she moved further away felt jarring. It was like there was a cord running from Earth to her heart and it was getting stretched to its limit. Now inside her own head, she didn’t even see Marcel rolling up the table.

“All done?” he asked.

She was startled by his intrusion. “Goodness! Don’t sneak up on me like that.” She pushed the plate to the edge of the table and nodded.

The robot bowed its head and apologized, taking her plate and rolling over to the dishwasher bot.

“Wake up!” Marcel shouted, bopping the dishwasher on the head, and forcing it to come to with an angry raspberry.

“Wash,” he commanded, extending the plate toward the bot’s face.

Sneering, it tossed the platter inside and filled its body with water, vibrating as a torrent of soap and bubbles churned within its body.

She chuckled at their antics. It had succeeded in helping her to forget the strange pain building in her soul and reminded her to pick up an eye lens for Gizmo, her personal bot, before returning to her room.

Waving goodbye to Marcel, she exited the cafeteria and continued down the busy hallway, passing a group of Trongels as they scurried underfoot. Eldrid’s nose scrunched up as their unique smell struck her. Trongels were cute little creatures, and harmless as aliens go, but boy did they smell. She often compared their odor to a fish that had been left in the hot sun and covered in garlic. Most treated the small creatures with contempt, but she enjoyed their adorable nature. They were employed on starships mainly because of their miniature stature. Being around 2 feet tall, they worked and lived in a series of small tunnels that ran the length of the entire ship, keeping the miles of electrical systems in working order and doing the vast majority of vermin extermination.

She also waved at some of the techs walking about. She recognized some of them from the academy and always tried to keep in touch with her colleagues but was admittedly bad when it came to socializing. Ducking under a robotic arm carrying a load of bolts, she ducked into a less-traveled hallway and stopped outside a semi-hidden door. Looking both ways, she gave it a rap with her knuckled to the rhythm of shave-and-a-haircut.

The door opened a crack and a large mass of eyeballs peered from within. “Yes?” a voice called from inside.

“Krog, it’s me, Eldrid. Lemme in!”

The door slid open, and Eldrid jumped inside before it could close. Once it had shut behind her, the room lit up, a massive chamber of scrap parts littering the floor, shelves, and tabletops.

Clearing a path through the debris, an alien with a stalk of eyeballs jutting from its slug-like body reached from under the counter and placed a parcel on its surface.

“Eldrid!” it shouted joyfully. “So good to see you again.”

She smiled and raised her eyebrows in agreement. “It’s good to see you too Krog. How’s business?”

He raised one of his tentacles and waved it in frustration. “Bah, I got the chief of security breathing down my neck, trying to throw me in the brig every chance he gets, but nothing new I suppose.”

She made her way to the counter, kicking empty metal cylinders and springs to the wayside. “Garlin’s still trying to shut you down, eh?”

“Trying, yes…doing, no. That smorph couldn’t find his own flacta if you handed it to him on a silver plate.”

She laughed at his barbs. From context, she could usually deduce what he meant. “And how’s K-7 doing? Still working out the bugs from his memory drive?”

Krog began tinkering with a motherboard, tightening the screws that held it in place. “Yeah, he’s been a little runt. I thought I had em fixed but as soon as I let him off the leash it wound up chasing a Trongel up a vent and stealing all its silverware.”

Eldrid snorted as the image played in her head. “That bad huh? Where do you get these bots?”

Krog shrugged and went back to work. “Here and there. I try not to ask too many questions. It’s the only way I can find new parts outside of stealing from Andromeda. Speaking of…” He nodded at the parcel and motioned for her to take it.

She picked it off the counter and unwrapped it, revealing a pristine lens. “Yes! This is exactly what Gizmo needs. Thank you, Krog!”

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

She held it up to the light and gave it a look. “How did you manage to find one in this size?”

Krog hesitated to answer. Being an underground scrap dealer, he wasn’t fond of divulging needless information. “Don’t worry about it. What’s important is I found one and now it’s yours.”

Eldrid shot him a curious glance. She felt uneasy taking a potentially stolen part, but she figured the less she knew the better. “What do I owe ya?”

The alien made an odd noise and waved a tentacle in the air. “Consider it a gift. Were it not for your help I never would have been able to keep this shop going as long as I have”

“C’mon. I have to give you something! I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t.”

Krog tapped an arm against his gelatinous body and let out a high-pitched squeal. “I tell you what. Deliver this ion battery to Kess and we can call it even.”

He threw her a bag containing the component in a high arc. She backed up and reached her hands into the air, catching it just before it flew overhead and out of reach.

“Woah, nice arm! Should I say something to her or just hand her the bag?”

He rubbed his head and turned one of his eye stalks in her direction. “Just tell her I say hi.”

Eldrid nodded and made her way into the hallway, hiding the bag in her pocket and acting as innocent as possible as she rejoined the traffic on the main drag. Passing by a peace officer, she avoided eye contact and fought back the urge to whistle. He stood there stoically, muscled bulging from under his uniform. They had a reputation for being rough and she was in no mood to confirm the rumors.

Keeping to the right side of the hall, she made it to the Robotics lab where Kess worked and entered, breathing in the smell of motor oil and copper tubing. There was a wall lined up with various kinds of robots, all out of order. A tall and lanky worker bot was missing an arm, a dishwashing unit looked to have malfunctioned and ruptured its water line, and a floor cleaner was moving in manic circles, periodically smacking into the wall and sputtering robotic curses in binary.

“Here to help or just stand around lookin stupid?” Kess announced as she approached from behind.

Eldrid turned to face her and laughed. “Looks like you got the looking stupid part covered. Assuming this is all your handiwork of course?”

Kess snickered and picked the floor sweeper from off the ground, flicking a switch on its backplate and shutting it down. “Poor thing only had one working set of wheels. Not much I can do until its parts arrive.” Putting it on a shelf, she let out a sigh and wiped her hands on her lab coat. “So, what brings you to the lab today, Eldrid?”

Taking the bag from her pocket, she tossed it over and watched as Kess removed the battery from within.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, holding the blue and green tube in her hands with relish. “Where did you get this?”

“Krog says hi.”

Kess nodded and snapped her fingers. “Ah, that makes sense. There is no way the commission would have come through that quickly.” Placing the battery inside a locked container, she sat on a stool and held her head up with her hand. “So, what’s new with you girl?”

Eldrid shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the desk. “Nothing much. Still wasting away on the command deck endlessly staring at a screen of never changing numbers. How about you? What’s happening in the robotics lab?”

Pointing to the robots lining the wall, she shook her head in contempt. “Nothing but minor fixes and requisition orders to pass the time these days. At least when we first took off there were more significant fixes to make but now that the ship is running smoothly, we basically sit around all day.”

“I hear that. I haven’t had an error flash by my station in over a month. All I do is wait for my shift to end to Silas can take my place.”

Kess raised an eyebrow. “Ooh, Silas huh? How is that walking hunk of good looks? Have you asked him out yet?”

Eldrid blew a stream of breath from her nostrils and acted like she had no interest. “You kidding me? I like my men with a little more…substance than flash.”

Kess nodded along but could see through her ruse. Were it not for knowing Eldrid’s true feelings, she would have already asked him out herself. “Right, right, how silly of me to forget. Was that Jakes issue too?”

There was a pause as the room fell silent. Jake was her ex on Earth and the wound was still open. Eldrid’s eyes dulled and her smile drooped as memories came flooding back. Kess could see she crossed a line and felt awful.

“I’m so sorry Eldrid. I completely forgot how messy that whole situation was for you.”

“It's fine,” she insisted, wiping her misty eyes, and fighting back a wave of pain. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

Kess reached her hand out and put it on Eldrid’s shoulder. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it's cool.”

An alert sounded through the lab, drawing Kess’s attention to the speakers.

Attention. Unit delivery is due in 5 minutes. Please deliver unit 1342 to room 808.

Eldrid used it as an excuse to leave. “Well, hey, it looks like you got stuff to do so I’ll leave you to it. I gotta get back home anyhow.”

“Okay…sounds good. And again I-I’m sorry.”

“It's fine,” Eldrid repeated. “I’ll see you around Kess.”

“Yup. See ya.”

The door shut and Eldrid made her way to her living quarters, ignoring the sullen spirit hanging over her head as she passed by the blur of other people. Inserting her personalized key into the door, it flashed green and opened, sliding to the side and into the wall.

Now was her favorite time of the day…relaxation time. She unlatched her boots and flung them against the wall. Opening her closet, she changed from her work clothes into her loungewear and poured herself a glass of wine.

Smelling the bouquet, she sighed with delight and tasted the bitter, yet tangy vintage. The label read Joie Rouge, 2340, and was one of the few remaining bottles of the brand. Had it not been a gift from her mother she never would have brought it along but every now and then she liked to have a glass to remind her of one of the few people left in her life she didn’t find revolting.

As she sipped the crimson liquid, she looked about her quarters. All the crew members had the same exact cabin save for the captain and first mate. A basic domicile about 15 feet in diameter with a small bathroom and bedroom branching off on the left-hand side. Most added their own personalized touches such as posters or paintings, but Eldrid took more of a traditional approach to decorating. Wooden bookshelves lined the walls, covered in classical volumes from the 20th century. She loved to read, especially about that period. Aside from curling up with a good book the only other thing that has kept her sane is her pet project. Back when she was in the academy, she took a course on robotics and had to make her own assistant for her final. At first, it was just a passing fascination, but soon her project had become so important to her that she continued working on it for the past 5 years. She named it Shakey after one of the first robots to have ever been invented and loved it dearly.

As she finished the last sip of wine from her glass, a mechanical chatter came from her bedroom. Flying out from under the covers came Shakey, an enthusiastic raspberry erupting from his vocal unit. His shoulder plate hit the edge of the table and he spun around before wiping out onto the floor. Pressing his tiny hands against the metal, he flipped over and got back on his wheels.

“Woah there!” Eldrid shouted as he leaped onto the couch and into her lap. “Where have you been? I got home over ten minutes ago.”

“Charging!” He replied, hugging her arm and cooing.

“Charging, eh? How has your battery been? Still holding a charge?”

Shakey nodded and zoomed about the room in a display of strength.

“Glad to hear buddy! Guess what? I have a surprise for you!”

The robot spun about and followed Eldrid to the table she set the new lens on.

“Shiny? Shiny? Mother has shiny?”

She giggles as he clamored at her legs like a cat begging for treats. “No, it’s not a shiny. It’s a brand-new lens!”

Shakey gurgled with joy and spun in a circle, leaving little tire marks on the floor and bunching up the rug sitting in the middle of the room.

Eldrid waved her finger and called the robot over. “Let’s get this installed so you stop running into the table legs, okay?”

Shakey sputtered in agreement and rolled up beside her. Kneeling, she popped out his old eyepiece and placed it on the table.

“Dark. Dark. Is dark.”

“I know buddy. Just let me get this new lens in and you will see better than ever.”

She fiddled with the component, doing her best to align it with Shakey’s custom face plate. She giggled inside when she looked into his glossy mechanical eyes. He was by most accounts an ugly little thing. Being welded together from a hodgepodge of random parts, he had an asymmetrical body and mismatching limbs, but he had always been there for her during her most difficult moments in life and she would trade him for the world.

Snap.

It locked in place and Shakey hugged her knee, thanking her incessantly.

“Okay buddy, you're welcome. Now, go and give it a test drive!”

Shakey flew around the room with expert precision, weaving in between the table legs with newfound confidence.

“Shakey is all better!” he exclaimed.

Eldrid picked him up from off the floor and carried him into bed. “Yes, you are! Now, it’s time for low power mode Shakey. I have to get some sleep and that wine is making me drowsy.”

He condensed into a ball and sat beside her pillow, silently awaiting her presence. Brushing her teeth and changing into her P. J’s, she gave the inky black void of space one last look before resting her head against her pillow and closing her eyes.

With one hand atop Shakey’s dingy frame, she held him close and sunk into a blissful dream.