Star Singer

Twenty Four

     Traveling in the Salam's Needle ship was an exhausting experience. Almost no sound could be heard, the strange echoing images made the humans' heads and eyes hurt, and the fact that they were in an alien ship at all was...almost beyond comprehension. The Salam were less affected by the pressure of travel, but neither of them were completely unaffected. Boy's wounds never healed and would occasionally re-open. The single time Anna saw Trash, he looked miserably pale and colorless, his movements slow and unsteady as he crawled across the hall to get Boy for something.

     The humans had to eat and thanks to the Salam's Connections with Anna they knew as much. The food they provided was near inedible, however. Kelly outright refused it; she seemed to have a secret stash of plain food hidden on her person while the others only ate when they absolutely had to. Time inched by, but when Anna tried to think about Star Singer and the event son the ship, she felt as if it had just happened moments ago.

     A week was just long enough for the humans to start to get used to the strange ways of fast travel. Boy came often and explained to Anna alone exactly how fast they were going, the status of the men, and when they would arrive. They would talk about light hearted things - usually Anna did all the talking, showing Boy her memories from childhood, her expectations for Blister, her dreams and ambitions. Boy would ask questions or make comments, distracting her from the heavy pressure that they had to deal with. Lauren and Kass often looked on jealously, knowing Anna was getting entertained somehow.

     There was a slow lifting of pressure. It was just fast enough to notice; Anna found she could breathe and move much more easily. Soon, her vision returned to normal, back to what she was used to seeing, and sounds could be heard. Lauren and Kass had been laying listlessly on the floor together when they realized they could speak and immediately jumped on Anna.

     "What was he doing?" Lauren asked.
     "What did you talk about?" Kass demanded.

     Anna stared at them in confusion for a few moments until she realized they were asking rather vague and general questions about she and Boy. She scratched the back of her neck, figuring they probably were starting to suspect her of something. Kelly was slumped against her box, appearing to be asleep.

     "We talked about Earth. He told me how fast we were going, the effects it would have on us, and stuff like that." She answered hoenstly.

     "Effects?" Both women asked in alarm.

     Anna nodded slowly and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position.

     "Technically no life form is supposed to travel so fast. We were going about 10 times the speed of life, a little faster at times. He said that his people have special technology specifically for keeping their bodies from falling apart at the molecular level, but there are still some issues after longer periods of time of faster flight," She answered.

     "Basically, our cells and DNA are a bit wonky now. We may become sterile, gain some sort of mutations, look older or younger, or stuff like that. He was not sure about the differences of the effects on humans versus the Salam, though." She finished.

     Lauren and Kass glanced at each other thoughtfully.

     "I want a third arm. How cool would that be?" Lauren hummed.

     "Are you insane?" Kass snapped and rolled her eyes.

     Anna glanced up at Kelly again and found the woman staring blankly at her. As their eyes met, Kelly averted her gaze and hauled herself up to her feet. Her knees nearly gave out, but she held herself up using the box. The lot of them had barely moved the entire time, so their limbs were weak with disuse.

     "I'm going to go find the others," she called out.

   Kass scrambled up, nearly falling as well, and unsteadily chased after Kelly. Boy appeared at that moment, but he did not restrict the two women. His eyes followed them for a moment as they move out of view before he turned his attentions to the two remaining women.

     "We've arrive, would you like to see?" He called as he entered.

     "We...are here?" Anna asked, her eyes wide in disbelief. 

     The alien nodded and offered both of them a hand up. Lauren hesitated but accepted after a bit of a pause. Boy simply wrapped an arm around Anna's waist and lifted her right up off the floor.

     Anna struggled just enough that Boy looked down at her with concern but then stopped.

     "You surprised me, I'm sorry," She admitted.

     Their time talking in each other minds and sharing emotions had made Anna start to become fond of Boy again. Despite everything, she trusted him. It did not matter though; soon they would be on Blister and joining the human colonies. If there were any left. A lot could happen during the long span of time since the crew of the Star Singer had left Earth.

     Boy led the two women back into the main ship and down several brightly light hallways. Lauren looked around with clear fascination; there were all sorts of technology that the humans didn't know and this would be her last chance to see it. They were not walking long before Boy paused in front of a huge sliding door. He flicked one of his tentacles at it and it slid open, revealing a large room with a window that revealed the scene in front of the ship.

    Bl1st3r was a dry planet. It was hospitable to humans only due to the atmosphere and temperatures. It was only thanks to water creating technology that they dared to try and inhabit it. Anna had been show photos and videos of the planet during her training, but seeing it up close was completely different. Various shades of brown, red, orange, and black could be seen. There were mountains and valleys. 

    But what Anna had not been expecting to see was a large, blue ocean or lake where a vast green forest reigned supreme. It looked like humanity had managed to bring water and flora to the planet without much issue. 

    "There are 33 human like lifeforms down there. There are 6,589 other life forms that we can detect." Trash called out weakly from where he huddled against a wall.

     "Only...Only 33?" Lauren asked in disbelief. 

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AWW YEAH we are gunna make it to 25!