From Outer Space

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

''Hey,'' Camila greets with a yawn before exiting the bedroom and entering the main space of the station.

''Hi, did you get some sleep?'' Lauren asks, turning towards her with a gentle smile.

Camila smiles back at her before moving to grab a small can of astronaut food for breakfast. ''Yeah, it was alright. You can't really have a great night here I guess. It's not completely comfortable.''

Lauren nods and smiles at Camila's groggy morning voice. ''Well I slept great last night..'' She mutters, remembering how she fell asleep in her ex-girlfriend's arms and a big grin immediately appears on the brown-eyed girl's face.

''Well, that's good to know.'' Camila answers, pushing a straw into her can to start drinking her breakfast.

''I can't believe you've been drinking those for two months..'' Lauren mutters while she watches Camila drink the astronaut food without a problem.

''You don't like them?'' Camila asks with a raised eyebrow before taking another gulp.

''They're as tasteful as a shoe. It's horrible.'' Lauren states and Camila chuckles at her.

''Well you'll get used to it eventually.'' She replies and Lauren shrugs.

''Hopefully.'' She mutters before turning back to her laptop that is connected to the oxygen installation.

Camila tilts her head slightly, waiting for her body to finish the circle it's making before pulling herself towards one of the chairs to strap herself down to it to be able to sit and drink her breakfast easily.

''How's it going with the system?''

Lauren sighs loudly. ''Not that good..'' she answers and Camila can hear the frustration in her voice. Lauren turns back to her laptop and stares at all kinds of numbers and letters while Camila continues to drink her breakfast.

''Why?''

Lauren shrugs. ''I can't find the problem. I managed to turn the system back on again, but the numbers are wrong. Like, it says here, we only have enough oxygen for a little less than two months, while with the new tanks we're sure to make it for another five months.'' She answers and Camila frowns.

''That's weird..'' she mutters and sees Lauren nod. ''So then the problem should be in the scanning right? As in scanning how much oxygen there's left in the tanks?'' she wonders, trying to help Lauren out with her technical abilities, though she is far from Lauren's level.

''That's what I thought too, and I'm trying to figure it out now, but I can't find anything.'' Lauren says frustrated.

''Alright,'' Camila mutters, unstrapping herself from her chair and moving over to Lauren after throwing her empty bottle away. She moves to float behind Lauren's chair and grabs her shoulders gently to start rubbing soothing circles on her neck-muscles. ''Why don't you take a break? How long have you been working for?''

''When did you go to bed?'' Lauren asks back, retreating her hands from her laptop and letting them rest in her lap with closed eyes.

''No... have you been working all this time? I slept for 7 hours!'' Camila exclaims, but Lauren quickly shakes her head.

''No, no. I think I worked for four hours then.'' She replies and hears a hum in approval from Camila.

''Alright you workaholic. Just take a break and try again later. We have a month so you don't need to be fixing everything in one day.'' Camila tells her, gently massaging Lauren's shoulders and neck and she feels her ex-girlfriend slowly relax a bit more.