178
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Wakey wak-” Cyrus abruptly came into the botany study room where me and Robin were. He stopped his dramatic act as he realized me and Robin were both sitting at computers, zoned out and already awake.
“We’re already awake, Genius!” Robin shouted, swirling her chair around energetically.
“Yeah, We’ve been up since 4 am!” I shouted back doing the same, pulling my legs up to my chest.
“4 am studies, the best time of the day.. Am I right, Fae?” Robin elbowed me, smirking.
“Oh yes.. Absolutely.” My tone, utterly sarcastic.
“Anyways.. Just wanted to come say ‘Good Morning!’” Cyrus grinned. “I gotta go help Ash, she’s freaking out right now.” He chuckled.
“Good luck.” Robin waved, giving a stiff smile.
We both turned back and continued what we had been doing, constantly looking at each other’s screens. Robin had split her set-up so that we both had 2 monitors but it still seemed like we had 4.. Robin was more of a diagram person, I was more of mathematics, technical calculations and all that nerdy stuff. DNA sat on my desk, just like at home, usually playing music, correctly random errors and kinda just kept us company while being in here. Despite being here for a bit now, I still haven’t gotten used to the change between anti-gravity and the botany room with gravity. Robin had the same problem as well, so we practically lived here.
I glanced over to Robin’s computer; she seemed to be making something that looked like an animated model of some type of atom structure. I shrugged, honestly confused on what she was doing. I turned back to my own.
DNA trailed over to Robin and sat down by her mouse pad, tipping his head.
“AWW!! Hi little buddy!!” She squealed.
“Good Morning, Robin. May I be of any assistance?”
“Nope! Thanks though.. Oh my gosh you are soo cute.” Robin was smiling as I glanced at her.
“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, Robin. Gonna talk to my Dad.”
I trailed out of the room and went into the airtight chamber, stepping out into the hallways which started in a brief moment of light-headedness. I went to the control room, where Ash and Cyrus were doing.. Something? I couldn’t really tell.
“Hey, can I have the black box thing?”
“Oh! Hey, Fae. Yeah here!” Cyrus handed me the box.
I waved to Ash and gave Cyrus a quick thumbs up as a thank you, then left. I trailed into one of the hallways and turned the dials on the box until it came to life in static, my Dad’s voice on the other end.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hi, Fae! How are you doing this morning?”
“Good good, what about you?” I was already uncontrollably smiling.
“Doing alright! I miss you though.”
“Same here.” I shrugged to myself, unsure what else to say.
We talked for a little bit longer, just a short conversation, before I turned off the box and returned to Cyrus and Ash, who were still doing.. Whatever they were doing. I returned back to Robin who had gone back to typing on her computer. DNA was sitting back in the corner of my desk, he waved as I sat down and silently continued what I had been doing.
“OH! Welcome back!” Robin said after a few moments. I waved.
I spent the majority of the day in the botany room with Robin and DNA! Only coming out occasionally to see what Ash and Cyrus were doing. Me and Robin stopped a couple times, getting distracted by either DNA, random conversations or just utter nonsense. Over the month or so I had been here, we had become friends quite quickly and worked together easily which also helped our relationship. DNA seemed to enjoy being here as well so that problem was fixed as well.
Robin was now softly whistling, I tried to copy her yet I wasn’t the greatest at whistling, she turned to me and laughed.
“What? Whistling is not a strong suit of mine.” I shrugged.
“Wow. Just wow, Fae.” She teased, shaking her head. I facepalmed in reply.
We stopped, talking for a bit as the day flashed by and by the time we knew it, it was night time according to DNA. He kept track of MST time, my Dad and the control center being in Arizona. Around 11 pm, I decided to go to sleep as Robin continued what she was doing. Looked complicated so I didn’t even bother asking what it was. I laid my glasses to the side, put DNA in his charger, laid down and closed my eyes, soon enough falling asleep. Daily life was like this, of course it had interruptions, problems, yeah we were in outer space. Otherwise? There was a routine, fellowship and things of that sort. It was a nice life- at least for me, to be here, and helping to the best of my ability.
..Approximately 1 year and 5 months later..
Today was now my last day on the ISS, it had been just about a year and half and I was finally going back. I didn’t own practically anything so it was nice not to pack anything like a normal trip. I wondered what my Dad was currently doing as I patiently.. Okay impatiently waited for the control panel in the room where Ash and Cyrus were to come on, hoping to hear someone such as Casimir? My Dad? Honestly anybody that would give me news on what was going on. Robin came out and was waiting silently with me as well, surprisingly we were going back at the same time. She lived in California, so she had a couple hour drive to get back to where she lived.
Abruptly, the control panel’s screen came on as my heart jumped.
“The shuttle just launched, should be there within about 10 or so minutes.” Casimir was the one speaking.
“Alright!” Robin replied back.
“You will know where it is entering by the time it gets there.”
“Gotcha, thanks Casimir.” I said.
We waited around where me and Robin believed the shuttle would be connecting to the ISS. Despite how quickly a year and a half went, time now seemed to freeze and stop in its tracks just for this moment. This long moment.
“This is suspenseful.” Robin said.
“Yeah, I was just thinking that. Time is not on our side right now.” I said, laughing.
“Yep. Seems so.” She shrugged.
“How long have you been up here again?”
“Oh err-” Robin paused, seemingly thinking about what I had asked her. “About 3 years I think.”
“Oh wow, that’s double the amount I have been here.”
“Yep, it’ll be nice to go back home despite the fact I will probably be back here within the next couple of years again.”
“I will most likely be back as well, never know.” I shrugged, briefly thinking about what I had just said, realizing it was probably true.
“Definitely going to keep in contact, gonna miss you.”
“Gonna miss you too, Robin.” Robin abruptly hugged me afterwards, in which I hugged back.
The shuttle arrived, finally, about a couple minutes later as it connected to the ISS and opened for us to get inside. I waved to Cyrus, Ash and a few other people who I didn’t know too well as a goodbye. Soon enough, the shuttle door closed and we strapped ourselves into the chairs side by side, laying back almost completely flat. The craft then, out of nowhere, rocketed towards earth as the windshield and pointed tip caught fire as we entered the atmosphere. Just as when I had been in the other capsule, it seemed to last forever despite only being a few minutes.
I realized as we finished entry into the atmosphere that it had slowed down. I looked out the small window to my left, having a brief look at the earth. Unforgettable honestly with the clouds hovering above it, the continents seemed like they were just tiny pieces of land, oceans seemed small as well. It was quite interesting to see it from this height. I could tell gravity was now acting on the ship as we got closer, eventually the ship was manipulated to turn upright once more and come to a stop. I looked out the window, seeing.. Normal things. People, streets, houses and the space center.
“WE SURVIVED!” Robin exclaimed.
“See, Robin? You didn’t die!” I pat her head, smiling as a tease to her.
“That’s nice to hear from someone else that I did not perish, thank you.” She smiled back, laughing afterwards.
The control panel came on, Casimir’s voice on the other end.
“You can now exit the shuttle, Fae and Robin.” He assured us.
“Thanks.” I said briefly and slid down the metal ladder to get to the bottom of the ship, which was a small circular room with a large door- the way out. I glanced at Robin and she nodded as a gesture that she was ready. I opened it and there was my Dad, standing there waving. I waved back at him grinning as he ran up to me, I was a couple feet out now.
“Hi, Dad.” I said, burying my face into his shoulder, not knowing what else to say.
“Welcome back, Fae.” I could tell by his voice he was crying.
“Are you crying?”
“No.. not crying.” He said, laughing and then kissed my forehead.
“Breaking news, Dad cries? Who knew that was even possible?” I teased him, smirking with a mischievous expression.
“Yes Dad cries because he missed his daughter! And her help with chores and housework.” He grinned.
“Wow.. I didn’t know I was being used for your cleaning??”
“The truth is revealed..” He said, trying to sound ominous.
“I missed you, Dad.” I said, cutting the jokes.
“I missed you too, Fae. Not the same without you and I don’t like being by myself.”
“I mean you could have taken DNA! You didn’t HAVE to put him in there.”
“Technology is a wild thing..” He shook his head.
“Oh Dad.” I facepalmed.
“You want to go home?” He asked.
“Yep, let’s go.” I nodded as we walked to the car.
We eventually got home and afterwards, life seemed to resume back to normal. We continued our routine, I finished college and graduated with a degree in computer science and robotics. My Dad got promoted off just patrol for his job and I started to try and DNA a couple of upgrades that would help him more in the.. Real world. I attempted to try and change his monotone voice and give his visor more ‘emojis’ or pictures he could display instead of just a thumbs up. Despite being up on the ISS for so long, doing what I had always wanted to, it was nice to be back home with my Dad and life going back to what it was before. What seemed to be forever was just a moment in time, which made it all worthwhile.
Hello there! Thanks for reading the final chapter of Millennium. :) Hope you enjoyed and let me know if you have any feedback suggestions or comments for me!
| Tags |
6152540
6
Papa Enny
ashoklela
Ww2guru73
MSK-Fan
KRAZYKIEFSIMS
Ender Sparkle
ThatOneIdiotNamedGhoul
Skugi_Graffiti
IcedPenguin9808ALT
Deryn1
Create an account or sign in to comment.