Stars Above The Willow Tree

Chapter 2 - Tears Can't Fall In Space

A sound came to her ears and she held her breath, tilting her head and listening.

It was the steady comp and hiss of magnetic boots as they engaged and released.

Suddenly lightheaded, Willow exhaled a slow, shaking breath and slowly breathed in. She hadn't realized she'd been holding it.

The footsteps drew closer, louder. Her entire body was shaking and she pressed a hand over her mouth, afraid she might puke or cough or breathe too loud.

It walked right by her. All she saw were the hoof-like feet in their silver magnetic boots through the blurry pools her eyes had become.

In space, tears don't fall. They just pool in your eyes, so she had to wipe at them with the back of her hand to clear her vision.

The footsteps faded as the alien moved away from her and she fought the urge to sniff. Her nose wasn't dripping, but her brain told her it should be.

Finally, she heard a door open and close somewhere in the vast room.

She didn't move though. That could have been the alien leaving. Or it could have been another one entering.

A minute passed, two minutes, then three. She counted the seconds, straining to listen for any sign that she wasn't alone.

Finally, after ten minutes, she had to admit that she was just scared to move. So she pushed herself out from under the machine and oriented herself. Which was hard when your brain kept trying to flip which was up and down on you. The human brain wasn't meant to exist in a place where there was no actual direction. That was her opinion anyway. She was sure people born in space didn't have that same issue. No, they had other issues. Like their spines not forming correctly or their bones being brittle.

Licking her lips, she swallowed her nerves and maneuvered around, looking for a door or hallway or window. Something.

Carefully, she made her way to a crate beside the thing she was clinging to, from there, she moved to a barrel. Then to some kind of vehicle.

Willow spider climbed her way around the cargo hold until she found something that looked like a door. It had a little yellow circle beside it so she figured it would open like the other door did.

When she made it to the door, Willow hesitated. There were no windows. What if there were aliens on the other side? What if it opened to space?

Looking behind her at the massive cargo hold she wondered if she should find a different door. But she bet all the doors looked the same.

With a gulp, she shored up her courage and reached out a trembling hand. The button beeped when she pushed it and she flinched hard, tightening her grip on the strap she held to as the door slid open.

Heaving a sigh of relief that she didn't just get sucked out into space, she leaned out and looked into what appeared to be a hallway. A sound came through it like a low reverberation that came and went. Came and went. Came and went. As though something huge and mechanical was revolving around it. But still, no windows.

Luckily, the hallway had rails she could hold onto as she made her way through it.

Pressing the button on the other side to open yet another door nearly gave her a panic attack. It was the not knowing what was on the other side that twisted her guts up. But when the door slid open, there was just more hallway. Except this one was long and looked like it curved upwards toward the end, from what she could see. And it was lined with doors. These ones did have windows. Long, thin ones with wire mesh not unlike highschool classrooms.