Biosphere

Chapter 1

Everyone knew everyone on the Galaxy Ship and if you were unpopular, everyone knew that too. It was nice to escape to a world where popularity didn't exist. Portholes dotted the walls and offered the only chance to see like a pilot would: the vast expansiveness of the cosmos through which the ship traveled. 

Here, there wasn't anyone to knock you down, throw you shade, or compare you to an overachieving sibling. It was daunting and humbling to look out into space and dream of people outside the ones on the ship. It gave Katie hope. She was hopeful to start a new life. She was hopeful about growing up and having her talents appreciated. She was hopeful for Exagora. 

Katie pressed her hands against the porthole and widened her eyes to take in the darkness, searching for even the faintest of lights. But there was nothing. It was as if a vacuum sucked out all the light, debris, planets and moons from the space around them. Of course, the ship wasn't flying into a black hole or anything, it was just moving close enough to light speed that Katie's brain hardly had time to recognize the light emitting from stars in the distance.

After a moment of peace, Katie continued down the ventilation corridor, dodging wires sticking out of the walls and making her way toward Gladys's Garden. 

Gladys Fiore was a round, stout woman with a jolly laugh, rosy jowls, and buckets of brio. Fiore alone was the caretaker of The Garden, the galaxy ship's farm - yes the ship had a farm, how else would it feed its 10,000 passengers? Here, one could pick avocados from tall trees as you swung from its branches, only to land in a cabbage patch, but Katie's favorite thing to do was pick strawberries from the bushes. The tiny ones were especially tart. 

Fiore was a stern woman with a good heart and she turned her head the other way when Katie would show up, having broken into the greenhouse from the ventilation halls. Fiore recognized the same fiery spirit in Katie she once possessed as a little girl and therefore would allow Katie to stay in the greenhouse and even play with her dog if Katie would assist her with some gardening. 

A fair trade, both thought. 

This time, when Katie burst through the loose panel near the corn fields, Fiore couldn't be found anywhere in the Garden. This wouldn't have been completely out of the norm, it was entirely possible Fiore was with the animals in the barn. Katie slowly made here way there, her Galaxy sneakers clanking on the metal grates below her feet. 

But a quick gander there proved Fiore was not in the barn. 

A sense of alarm struck Katie. A grating, cracking sound quelled behind her. She turned around, horrified. A door was beginning to appear on the wall across from the cow stable, almost as if it were pushing itself through space and time. Katie covered her mouth to silence her shriek and deftly glided out of the barn, into the thick copse of corn stalk, near the loosened panel. 

Voices carried in the distance. 

"... I need to know, if we herd the animals onto a Life Ship, how will they react, especially when our Galaxy is being attacked by aliens?"

The next voice carried the unmistakable gilding of Fiore's wisdom. "They're animals, General. How do you expect them to react?"

"I need you to tell me they'll remain calm and not cause any ruckus when they're being transported." 

"I could but if I lied about the animals, I could lie about anything and our conversations would be meaningless. We wouldn't want to have that, would we, General?" 

"Damn you, Fiore. This is no time for your sarcasm. We are in grave danger. How do  you think our passengers are going to take it?"

"Take what, exactly?"

"The truth."

"Ah, the truth, a subjective thing if I ever heard of one."

"Well it's pretty objective to me that the inhabitants of our salvation planet want us dead. We're in close enough range to hear the radio waves of distress. Our forefathers are warning us, Fiore."

"What would you have me do? I'm just a farmer." 

"I'm warning all Captains aboard tonight. We have about a few weeks until we're in shooting range from Exagora."

"I'll begin packing sprouts that can be easily transported. We'll be thankful we took the precautions."

"Anyway to do that to a big ol' hog? I prefer bacon to Brussels sprouts."

Katie gasped quietly and shuffled back, deeper into the thicket of corn husks. 

"Who's there?!" yelled Fiore. 

But it was too late, there was only the rusty sound of a wall panel locking back into place and faint thrumming sound of Galaxy sneakers pounding along metal pipes.