Fire and Ice

Chapter 24 [] Ender

I glance around the ship as I walk in. The seats all have comfortable looking cushions and rocket seat straps. Interesting. I plop down on one and pull my legs up. The cushions are extremely soft. Petra walks in shortly after, muttering 'comfy' before dropping onto the seat across from me and strapping herself in. I look at her quizzically.

"What?" She says. "Didn't your momma ever teach you it's rude to stare?" I stick my tongue out at her playfully.

"Why are you strapping in?" I ask as she buckles another strap.

"Didn't you read the specs on this thing?" No. "Hmm. Guess you're in for a treat, buddy." She buckles a final strap and reaches into a compartment under her seat, pulling up a blanket and a pillow. I don't move as she makes herself comfortable.

††

I jump on the wing of my ship and walk over to the cockpit. I pull myself in and strap in, flicking the control system awake. All diagnostics check out. I click to open the bay door and turn the thrusters on. My ship begins to hover and I direct it slowly to the door. As soon as I cross the threshold I turn the engines to full power, launching into space.

[][]

The engines rev. I glance around to see if there's a window I can look out of but find nothing. I scooch back to my seat and reach for one of the straps. Suddenly, I'm launched backwards, tumbling over seats and straps until I'm crushed against the back wall by the force of the take off. My stomach drops as we launch upwards and tears prick the corners of my eyes. I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe. I measure my breathing to calm myself. I don't know how long I stayed there, but it felt like eternity.

††

I'm flung back into my chair as we take off, and pushed down as I steer up through the atmosphere. I set the flight path I precalculated into the autopilot system. The path pops up on the display as we launch through the atmosphere, gravity lessening with each passing second. Autograv takes over and I pull the cams to check on Petra and Ender.

A large ball is located in the back and Petra, who is well strapped in, looks as though she is trying not to laugh at the ball.

Ender. I sigh through my nose and turn around, unbuckling myself.

[][]

Slowly, ever so slowly, the drop and pull lessen. I breathe deeply and start to untangle my limbs. Buckles click behind.... in front? of me and footsteps approach.

"Need.. some help?" Petra says, her voice sounding strained. She lets out a small grunt and coughs.

"No," I squeak out, pulling myself up. "I got it."

"Good," she chokes out, coughing some more. I turn around and make eye contact with her. She puffs up her cheeks, coughs, and then breaks down laughing.

"Wh.... What?" I stammer.

"I... pfft.. I told you that... that it would be fast.." The gears in my mind start turning, thinking back to our conversation earlier.

"You did not!" I declare indignantly. "You just asked if I had read the specifications!"

"I... meant to.... imply that with... the straps .." Petra says, still laughing. Well .

"Not good enough," I say, stalking past her to my seat.

"You looked so stupid... curled up in that ball.." Petra squeaks, her voice raising pitch on every word.

"Ha ha." I bite out, plopping back into my seat. I turn and face the wall as Petra wheezes behind me. My eyes squeeze shut as I try to block her out. A soft whirring begins to permeate my consciousness. It continues softly in my left ear for a few seconds before it clicks to a stop. I squint my eyes open, expecting to be blinded by the harsh lights in normal ships. Instead, I'm met with a soft glow from both sides. I shift my head slightly to the left and see stars displayed as streaks as we jet along at lightspeed.

"Wow," Petra whispers from behind me, seeming to have recovered from her centuries-long laughing fit. I hear her softly unbuckle her seatbelts and stand up.

"Sorry it's not a better view," a new voice chimes in abruptly. I jump out of my trance and my seat, stumbling and whirling to face the newcomer. I see jet black hair, and remember that this ship has a pilot, who probably saw my whole fiasco without the seatbelts during atmospheric exit. I groan softly.

"Don't worry, Ender," Kayleigh says gently as I turn to face her. Her mouth is set in a slight frown as she says,  "I already laughed about your acrobatics in my cockpit." I don't know why I thought I'd get sympathy from her. I shut my eyes and squeeze the bridge of my nose as Petra and Kayleigh both start laughing at me. Again.