Orpheus

22

"Hey Riley!" Owen's voice boomed across the PA speakers. Riley hastily slapped the 'Stop' button on the treadmill she was running on and jumped off before it came to a complete stop. Panting, she scanned the ceiling until she saw it; a small camera.

There were small cameras like this on the ceiling of every sector; one could look at almost every single part of the Resilience from the Intersect (There were exceptions of course; bedrooms and washrooms were excluded).

Riley wiped the sweat off of her brow. 'Owen must be up in the Intersect.' She gave the camera a friendly wave.

"Yeah I'd wave too; just imagine me flailing my arms at the screen." Riley could almost hear Owen smirk at his own joke. Quality of the joke aside, but she couldn't help but think Owen's idea of humour was cute.

"Hey listen, by the way," the speaker continued. "I needed you to do me a favour. You free?"

Riley nodded back at the camera.

"Cool! I need you to walk over to Sector 7 and Sector 6; check if the comm. links on the docked ships are still live."

Riley nodded as she began walking towards the door at the end of the sector.

'Never saw the other two ships anyway.'

"Actually, do yourself a favour; the other way's shorter."

Riley nodded at the camera in acknowledgement. Signalling with her hand what she thought would convey a Thank you, she turned around and began walking in the other direction.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty space; each clomp of the foot biting into her ear canal. It was awkward, this silence. Riley wished it wasn't so awkward.

"Hey, by the way, here's some music to not bore you." Owen broke the quiet.

'Aw, this guy's a godsend.'

"Thank me later." He seemed to read her mind. Seconds later, an old song started filling the air. Riley smiled as she recognised the lyrics.

"It might seem crazy
what I'm 'bout to say...
Sunshine, she's here.
You can take a break..."

Happy was one of her favourite old songs; she pointed a thumbs-up at the nearest camera she saw, grinning ear-to-ear.

"Glad to see you like the song." Owen replied; hearing his tone Riley imagined he must be smiling.

"I'm a hot air balloon,
'bout to float to space..."

'Ironic, the lyrics.' she thought.

Riley plodded along, wishing she could dance along to the song, if not for Owen; that wouldn't be quiet dignified, now would it? She settled to synchronizing her steps to the beat instead.

She kept moving, brushing past the bunks and complex mechanisms of the power supply. By the end of the song, she could see the door some twenty feet ahead of her.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen for listenin' to Radio Owen!" Owen joked over the PA. "Com'mon Riles, I didn't see you dance; I'm disappointed."

Riley stuck a tongue out at one of the cameras and continued onward. Around her, Sector 8 was a boring palette of greys and blacks. She knew the power supply mechanics were all round her; the passage was narrow and shorter than all the others (to accommodate all the machinery), but she couldn't help but feel it all felt... anticlimactic.

She quickened her pace, and suddenly the narrow passage opened itself up to an expansive chamber; Sector 7.

Like Sector 6, Sector 7 was a mini hanger of sorts, albeit slightly smaller in comparison. Two triangular windows looked onto the jet black space outside, complementing the whites and silvers of the Sector's interior. But Riley didn't notice that at first; the first thing she noticed was the thick black line cutting across the floor, like a surgeon's mark across the length of the room.