Red stood back and allowed the doors to do their thing. The gears turned viscously and a mechanical whoosh and a gust of air greeted us as the two doors started to shudder and open up.
There, standing in front of the Polus crew, was two large white-suit-wearing guards and a small figure huddling between them with a glass enclosure in their arms. They seemed a little nervous to be around those they didn't know and hugged the enclosure closer to their body. That's when I took notice to the colour suit that they were wearing: pink.
This astrobiologist wasn't a man at all, but a young woman.
And I wasn't the first one to notice of the astrobiologist's femininity. A discussion wasn't long brewing between a few of my crewmates behind me.
"Wait, they didn't send a man?" One voice whispered.
"I wonder what she looks like under her suit." Another said suggestively.
"I'm so glad it's a woman, it's been getting so lonely around Polus lately. If you know what I mean." Another purred.
I snapped my head back and a gave a harsh glare to my friends. They all immediately stopped talking and looked ahead, blushing profusely for getting caught. How could they act so inappropriately? She was a part of our crew now, and must be treated as such. But still, even I wondered why did MIRA send a crew of all men a woman as the main researcher for this mission, and wondered what she did look like.
I shook my head and tried to look more professional in front of the MIRA guards and the small woman. Red must of noticed us talking among ourselves because he cleared his throat and glanced back at us.
"Excuse my crew, we are just all so excited to be part of such an important and interesting mission such as this," He smiled warmly to the guards and the woman. The two guards didn't seem impressed but the woman seemed to be more comfortable when she heard his voice. He did seem very approachable once he starts talking since he had a soft and quiet voice.
"So, to introduce myself," Red continued. "My name is Red R-8-2K7, but you can call me Red. I will be our Commander while on board The Skeld and on planet Polus. All of us on board only goes by our first names, so I'm guessing your name is Pink, then?"
The woman nodded her head. "Yes, my name is Pink P-3-828, but I guess Pink will suffice while with you and your crew."
"Perfect," Red replied. "Then welcome aboard Pink, and I hope you enjoy your time with us."
Pink turns towards the two guards on either side of her and gives them both a thumbs-up. This must of been her code for telling them that she is ready to board The Skeld, because she walked inside the cafeteria and stood next to Red as one guard retrieved a remote control from his pocket and pressed the big red button on it. Suddenly, the doors of the MIRA whirred to life and quickly closed, separating the two ships as fast as they connected. Red then also closed our doors and the sound of the connecting wires retracting could be heard from outside.
After a brief pause, Red turned his attention back to his new crewmate. She seemed to lose some of her confidence again, as she retreated back towards Red as all the other guys crowded around her to get a good look at her.
"Crew, c'mon now, that's no way to act." He scolded.
"It's okay," she says sweetly, trying to act more bravely than what she felt. "I already worked on a team of all boys before, and your crew is much more well behaved than they were." She giggled to herself, as if remembering something funny that had happened to her with her old crew. Her laugh was the most beautiful thing that I ever heard. I felt my face burn.
"Excuse me, Miss Pink," Cyan spoke up. He was a few feet away from me, shuffling in place awkwardly.
Her attention turned to her. I gulped, since I was standing near little Cyan, I prayed that she didn't notice me blushing. "Oh dear, you don't have to call me miss, just treat me like you treat your friends. I am you friend now, after all."
Cyan giggled excitedly to himself and squirmed in his suit. I guess we're all a little giddy about being in a presence of a girl, even someone who didn't feel attraction to them. I wonder how Cyan's partner, Lime, felt about his boyfriend getting worked up when talking to a pretty girl.
"Okay then, Pink" Another small giggle. I bet Lime is fuming. "I just wanted to know what's in the case you're holding? Is that the life-form we'd be researching?"
Pink nodded and held up the case so we all can see. It was a glass enclosure that you could not see through with a steel bottom. It also looked reinforced, to keep whatever was inside in and whatever was outside out. "One moment," Pink said as she typed a code into a screen on the steel. When the code was punched in and accepted by the case, the glass enclosure suddenly lost its opaqueness and became clear. We all gasped at what was inside.
Peering out at all of our crew and its handler was a small purple life-form. It didn't have a proper body, it seemed to be made of a goop-like substance. There was no eyes on its body, but there was a large mouth. It snarled at us, showing off its large and terrifying teeth. It looked murderous and blood-thirsty, but the life-form itself was no bigger than my toolbox.
"That's it?" Yellow roared. He marched his way forward and stuck a finger into the glass of the enclosure. Pink flinched back from him and his fiery behaviour. "We had to leave Polus and travel all this way here to take in this piece of garbage?"
"Please, Yellow," Red warned, putting himself between Yellow and Pink. She was shivering in fear. I wanted to kill Yellow for making her so upset when she first came aboard. There goes our good first impression. "This is our mission, no matter how big or small. You need to take this more seriously, and calm down, you are scaring our new member..."
"It's not a good idea to make the life-form stressed out either," Pink peeped from behind Red.
"What was that?" Yellow stuck his nose up at Pink. "Your little pet is scared of me?" He pushed Red out of the way, and since Yellow was bigger and stronger than Red from all the years of hard work, Red toppled over and fell to the ground. I gasped.
"I'll show it something it should be scared of!"
Yellow raised his fist in the air and came down with all his might, swinging his brute strength down toward the case glass and Pink herself.
My feet moved without me telling them too. I ran and pushed past Red's form on the floor and blocked Pink and the life-form from his wrath, closing my eyes to brace for impact.
Searing pain shot through my back and arms as Yellow's fist struck down between my two shoulder-blades. Everyone gasped as Yellow realized what he have done. I opened my eyes, seeing tears forming in the corners of my vision from pain. I looked down at Pink, who looked back at me in shock. Her eyes, too, were full of tears, but her's from fear, and her chubby cheeks were flushed.
I stepped back and turned back towards Yellow, who was already starting to retreat. I was breathing heavy, and so was he as he glanced back at the rest of the crew and Red still laying on the floor. He took off down the hallway and into the barracks.
"B-brown..." Pink whispered, still gripping the case to comfort the life-form. "You saved me." I was going to respond, but the crew seemed to come out of its stupor as everyone began talking at once about Yellow's outrage.
"What was that about?" Lime asked, holding onto Cyan's hand to keep him close to him.
"Yellow is so scary sometimes!" Cyan agreed.
"That is enough," Red said, getting a hand up from Purple and returning to his feet. "I don't know what gotten into our engineer, Pink, I promise he is not always like that."
"That's okay, he just frightened me is all," Pink waved him off. "I didn't want him to get hurt, we don't exactly now how this little guy responses to such stress." She points to the life-form who was backed in a corner of his cage, still snarling.
"He does seem a little hostile," Red said, concerned. "Do you want me to take it from you and place it in the lab?"
"No, thank you, I'd like to stay with him, he likes having me around. It helps keep him calm."
Red looked at her with a confused expression on his face, but he backed off all the same.
"Okay, you're the head astrobiologist for a reason. But if you need any help transporting or caring for... 'him'... please don't hesitate to ask."
"I'll be fine," she says, taking a few steps away from the group. "I would actually like to go to my lab now and get set up for research. I would like some time alone."
Red nods in agreement and leads Pink down the cafeteria and down to the storage room where her temporary lab was set up in. He glared at us as he left.
It was a while when they left before the others decided to go back to work. We were all shaken by Yellow's recent behaviour. What could of set him off like that? He had never hit anyone before, I don't even recall him raising his voice like that.
My body still ached from the hit I took to the back. I'm glad that I was the one who was struck, I don't know what I would of done if Yellow laid his hands on Pink. The very thought made me blind with rage.
No matter what, I decided then and there, I must protect that girl.