Crash Landing

the present

The Celestial was equipped with the latest technology on everything except meals and so, many of the lower workers, including myself as I was only a lower level mechanic of sorts, ended up eating the pureed leftovers of what the higher level employees were given.

It wasn't awful once you got used to it but boy, could it give you terrible stomach aches afterwards.

Suddenly, as I was just about to dive into my meal standing mere feet away from the table, I felt rather then saw a presence come close to my personal bubble of space.

Their breath washed over the back of my neck, the fine hairs upon my arms and neck rising up at attention as my breath froze in my lungs.

Until I heard a voice speak and startle the living shit out of me.

"Mmhhh….Looks delicious, doesn't it? Just a little midnight snack to curb the aching hunger, huh?"

The voice was masculine, deep but also a bit scratchy, like the man who spoke had been puffing on carbonated air particles over time and I turned around to confront the voice, my eyebrows raising up as I realized I had no reason to be afraid.

It was only an asshole higher level engineer who went by the name Kyle or maybe it was Keith, I couldn't quite remember since all of the douchebags tend to look the same after awhile.

This wasn't the first time I've confronted Kyle/Keith before but his presence was annoying, to say the least.

He was young, almost as young as I was, with light hair and even lighter eyes, with pale porcelain skin that anybody back home would've been jealous of and he was thin.

Thinner than most of the technicians that I often encountered on my respective work floor but his physique was by choice, not circumstances.

His features were beautiful, I'd give him that, but he was just a pretty boy, through and through.

He likely ended up here because of his parent's status and he usually hung out with the higher level physical trainers who manned the Explorer's physical and mental health status.

Clenching my jaw tightly as I watched his eyes scan me over once, his pretty white teeth curling up into a devious grin, I wanted to cross my arms to cover myself up but I couldn't.

I didn't want to put down my food and step back from this confrontation like an animal backing down from a fight with its tail tucked between its legs.

"What do you want, Keith? I'm starving and I need to get back to my quarters before the Commander is awake."

I said as I tried to sidestep him but he was quicker, one of his hands flashing out and grasping onto my forearm, locking me in place with a surprisingly tight grip.

But his jaw was clenched even tighter than his hands on my body.

"My name is Kyle and you shall address me as Chief Engineer--"

Blah, blah, blah.

Heard that one before.

"Ooh, my name's Kyle, I think I'm so important but I'm only here because Mommy and Daddy gave a big, fat, suitcase of money to the Commander."

Just shut the fuck up already, kid.

"--Or I'll be forced to report you to the Commander for breaking one of the rules. No leaving your quarters after the final bell, you lower level scrum."

His last sentence was spoken with a certain cockiness and arrogance that I just couldn't hold myself back anymore, because I either wanted to smash his face in or laugh hysterically until I couldn't breathe anymore.

But I opted for option C, which was a little bit of both.

I couldn't hold back the burst of laughter that came from my chest, just who did this idiot think he was?

Just because he has the title of Chief didn't mean he wasn't breaking the same rules that I was and what was he going to get for it?

A slap on the wrist?

A light spanking from the All High and Mighty Commander?

"Seriously? You left your quarters as well or did you forget that, Chief? Now, I kindly ask that you let go of my arm."

When I tried to tug away, he insisted on tightening his grip and I was forced to take drastic measures then.

My container fell to the ground with a clatter as I ripped his hand off my arm before slamming it down on one of the tables, holding it there with increasing pressure as he hissed with pain when the heat began to rapidly warm and start to burn against his skin.

"Don't ever touch me again, you got that?"

Kyle nodded with a pained whimper and I shoved him away from me, picking up my container before I started heading back towards my quarters for the rest of the night.

I could still hear him murmur an insult beneath his breath, something about me being frigid or cold but I ignored it, nonetheless.

Rumors like that spread like wildfire in this place and unless you had thick skin, not many survived the emotional difficulties that came with living on the Celestial.

Good thing I never bothered to feed into those rumors before but things were about to get tricky around here, as I would soon come to find out.

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-Ro♥️