Violet.html The ship is turning... Why is the ship turning?
"Mom? Dad! What's going on?"
The ship turns. Run to the back window. A glowing blue ship hovers over home. A flash of light. A silent blast, inaudible in space. Pieces fly towards us, but they disappear into nothing as the ship goes into hyperdrive...
*
Violet Conner awoke with a start on her small cot in Unit 688C, Galactic Relations Division. She hugged her pillow and looked around the small room, filled with the few belongings she had left. Most of her stuff had been left on Earth.
Earth... Earth was gone. A planet, a home, so immense in size it could never be considered possible, especially in this day and age, the year 3028, that such a thing could be so fragile, so vulnerable to attack. At least from the perspective of a twelve-year old girl. One who in this case, had long black hair and black eyes which were still filled with a fading state of panic.
For the last week, that scene had replayed itself in her head every night... She managed to block it out during the day with her parents being so busy and all, but every night it was back in full force, as vivid as the first time she saw it. Earth being destroyed by the Drej.
Violet sighed and loosened her grip on her pillow somewhat. It seemed odd, now that she was reflecting on it, that she was able to block it out at all... Most of the work being done by her parents recently was with humans stranded in their area, with no clue as to the whereabouts of others and no plan of survival... At least until the Titan could be found, which was God knows how long. What the Titan was Violet didn't know; she was only going over what she had picked up listening to the grown-ups as they discussed various things. Karen and Jonathan Conner- Violet's parents- had been given the assignment of assisting in the plans for a sort of space community. In fact, a lot of Galactic Relations Officers had been given that duty, since they were the ones always out in space and were easy to contact.
Now fully relaxed but still unable to sleep, Violet sat up. Her hair felt a bit knotty, so she walked over to the table at the other end of her room and took her brush off it. She sat back down on her bed and continued brushing her hair, still thinking about things. Nightmares can make you think an awful lot, and Violet's thoughts did not go to waste. She was intelligent for a girl her age; you've got to be pretty smart to be a Galactic Relations Officer, which was precisely what both her parents were. Under her mother and father's guidance, she had also learned how to be assertive in a tough situation. They often had to deal with things like that, and it was a good thing, too, because that was the only thing that was keeping Violet from bursting into tears at this very moment. She knew she was alone, and she would have very much liked to cry, but the fact that she had never seen one of her parents break down gave her a reason not to... She wanted to be like them... Smart, talented, clever, and assertive.
But maybe they cried when she couldn't see them. Maybe they had nightmares, maybe they were crying right now, and here she was sitting like a fool, not letting her feelings show.
Violet sighed. Maybe the problem was she was too alone. All this flying around, she hardly ever met anyone her age, and when she did it was so hard to keep in touch because she didn't have a communicator, even a short-range. All she had were her parents and a few friends scattered throughout the galaxy, whom she hardly ever talked to or saw. She was indeed a loner.
She was done brushing her hair, so she walked over to put it back on the table. She wondered what time it was, and looked out the window out of instinct. Nothing but stars- it's impossible to tell the time in space, unless you have a clock. Which she did.
But she didn't check the clock just yet. She liked looking at the stars, and trying to guess which ones were planets. It was hard to do, and she got bored of it after a while, but just yesterday they had passed by a gorgeous nebula- Violet loved nebulae, and this one had been a shining purple shade- the color of her name. Violet smiled.
Perhaps space could someday feel remotely like a home. But whatever and wherever the Titan was, they would have to find it quickly... Space was large and vast, and humans need a sense of security, a knowledge that they have somewhere to belong.
Right now, they didn't belong anywhere. They were drifting on liferafts, afloat in an endless sea of nothing.