Planet Goiky: A BFDI AU

Chapter 1: Plunge into Space

"Hey, Andrew!"

The man turns around from a console with many switches, dials, and levers.

"Lea, yes. You're ready. Go ahead, and board the Grape."

Lea turns to a tall scaffolding that leads up to two spaceships which are nearly identical. One has "GRAPE" painted in green, and the other "CHERRY" in red. She climbs the stairs eagerly as the rest of the crew filters out of the backdoor and follows, each going to their respective rockets. As soon as the last astronaut enters the Cherry, Andrew sets his attention to two microphones, both different colors the same as the two rockets. The scaffolding rolls away from the rockets, and he speaks into the green microphone, "Lea Fir, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright. Take off in t minus ten, t minus nine, t minus eight, t minus seven, t minus six, t minus five, t minus four, t minus three, t minus two, t minus one..."

The Grape's engines suddenly spew fire and smoke, propelling the vehicle high up into the sky past the sun. The captain, Lea, sits at the top of the rocket, gazing out into the stars, keeping her body firm to push against the force being imposed on her. 9 more astronauts sit in a compartment below, also fighting against gravity. The rocket speeds past a satellite, slightly tumbling it, as another rocket escapes the earth.

The two rockets fly towards Mars, where they orbit for a short amount of time before slingshotting past the Earth. They are now close to the sun, staying in orbit but not close enough to become singed. The two captains operate controls on their respective ships, no longer being bolted to their seats by gravity. The rockets revolve around the sun while slightly drifting towards it. They make a full rotation, still slightly drifting. Another full rotation, now closer to the sun than Mercury. They move closer and closer until, instantaneously, both rockets accelerate away from the sun at a rate faster than light speed.

On the Grape, the cockpit becomes dark. In fact, everything becomes dark. Lea uses her right hand to feel around the armrest of her seat. Below it, she feels a round object and presses it. The cockpit is relit with light, and the console is visible once again. The outside, however, is pitch black. The stars, nebulas, planets; they're all gone.

Proudly, Lea takes off her helmet, letting her mint ponytail breathe, and talks into a microphone, "Good evening, passengers. We are now on route for the planet, Goiky. You may now remove your helmets and float around freely."

On the Cherry, the captain, Piper, also takes off her helmet, revealing her mocha skin and short, tomato-red hair. She, too, talks into a microphone, giving a similar message. The members of both ships unbuckle from their seats and hover in the air. On the Grape, a small woman with a face littered with freckles swims her way to a large man with bushy blond hair.

"Taylor!" she calls, "We are going to Goiky! We are the first humans to make it to an exoplanet! Are names going down in scientific history!"

"Yes, Gabriella, I know. I'm excited, too. In fact, everyone here is."

"I hope we can discover new species of foliage and fungus!"

"Ooh, do you think there will be a whole civilization on Goiky?"

"Hmm, I doubt it. None of our telescopes detected artificial material on the areas of the planet we observed."

Doors to the cabin connecting to the cockpit open, and a smiling green-haired woman hops through. Gabriella bounces off of the ground to float over to her.

"Oh, GB! Nice job designing this rocket."

"Thank you, I would've preferred to pilot the ship myself, but you did a decent job."