The music was loud in the girl's ears as she danced around the room. It made her sway back and forth as she mouthed the words along with the song. It always put her in a good mood when she had a bad day and helped calm her stress levels. Not that her job really had her stressed, she enjoyed it quite a bit. Working with apes in training simulations aboard a space station with her mother was actually her dream job. Gave them more time together and she got to learn a lot about the animals.
The thing that made her stressed was the man in charge. She always had a problem with authority figures, and always wanted to do things her way. Commander Karl Vasich, wanted things done his way, even if they were wrong. It infuriated her to no end. Her mother tried to calm her and tell her things would be easier if she just listened and did as she was told. But it just didn't work for her.
"Laura!"
She was suddenly pulled out of her dancing trance when her music was suddenly shut off. Standing in front of her was her friend and co-worker, Leo Davidson.
"Leo, how can I help you?" Laura asked running her hand through her dark hair and breathing slightly heavy from her exertions.
"Your mother has been looking for you, you know you can't keep Grace waiting."
Laura nodded and followed her friend out of her cabin and through the long hallways of the space station. It didn't take them long to get to where the chimps were housed. Her mother was busy checking over one of the young ones and taking notes.
"Hey mom, what did you need from little ole me?" Laura asked as she leaned down and placed her elbows on the table and holding her head up with her hands.
"Where have you been Laura?" Grace asked with a sigh as she looked over at her young daughter. "I need your help, Leo just got done with Pericles and another trainer wants to get Semos out and into the training pod. Can you grab him for me?"
"First, I was blowing off some steam and dancing up a storm."
Leo snickered and covered his mouth to try and stop himself from full on laughing. "Yeah, she was really into it too, waving arms and all."
Laura smiled and straightened up. "You know I dance great!" She winked at Leo and they both shared a laugh before she continued, "Secondly, yes, I will help with Semos."
Grace shook her head at both of them but couldn't help but smile. She loved them both. They acted like brother and sister half the time and the other half they spent trying to prove who was more right about the apes. The last time Leo had gotten frustrated over one of the apes, Laura had popped him upside the head and scolded him for teasing the poor thing. But Grace and her daughter both knew how much Leo really cared, especially for Pericles.
Laura walked over to the cage and kneeled down in front of it. Semos had always been a bit of a loner. He didn't really care much for people. It always made her wonder why. As far as she knew, no one had ever mistreated him. Maybe it's just how he was.
"Here Semos, you wanna come out for a bit?" She asked taking a treat and placing it between the bars.
Semos looked her over and then let out a small grunt of disinterest. Laura sighed and shook her head. "Look Semos, we both know how this is gonna play out, can't we just be friends. You know the sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can come back and be left alone?"
The chimp kept looking at her before lowering his gaze to the treat. He reached over and snagged it and ate it quickly. Laura let out a small chuckle. "Oh so your not too good to eat my treats then?"
He grunted again before lifting himself up and turning towards her. She opened the cage and reached in for him and he gripped onto her and allowed for him to be lifted into her arms.
"You know he shrieked at his last trainer everytime he tried to get him out," Grace said as she placed the young chimp back in his cage. "I thought it would be a while before he got back out."
"He just doesn't take other peoples bullshit that's all," Laura said as she handed Semos another treat. "Paul shouldn't have been stupid enough to yell at him."
"Yeah, well the captain has him in solitude right now. Says he needs to be alone so he can calm his nerves. I think he's going a little crazy from being in this station." Leo said folding his arms and leaning against the wall.
"Ah, the 'Station Craze' has struck again," Laura replied with a smirk and a raised brow.
"It's not a joke Laura, Paul was really starting to fall apart. From what the commander has said I actually think they are thinking of sending him back home." Grace looked up at her daughter with a serious expression. It never failed to make Laura rethink things she said.
"Sorry, mom."
"It's probably a good idea to send him home then," Leo said with a tight expression.
The conversation was suddenly caught short when the lights flickered and went out. The apes seemed to sense something and started to freak out. Laura held onto Semos tighter and the chimp seemed to do the same. It didn't take long for the lights to come back on.
"What in the hell was that?" Laura asked as Leo was suddenly called up to the deck. "Leo."
He turned back towards her as he was about to head up, "It's going to be alright, I'm gonna see what's going on."
Laura nodded but still felt nervous. Her mother came over and placed a hand on her shoulder trying to reassure her. It worked a little.
Leo then headed out. She suddenly felt a small tugging on her arm. Laura looked down to see Semos looking at her and then looking back at his cage.
"Yeah, you're probably gonna be safer in there for now anyway." She said as she went back over to his cage and let him climb back into it. Before she turned to stand Semos placed his hand over hers on the bars. Laura looked back at him and smiled at him. "It's all gonna be okay, don't worry."
He stared at her for a bit before releasing her and sitting back. That ape seems way smarter than the others. Laura thought as she stood up and walked back over to her mother.
It wasn't long before Leo returned looking quite miffed about something. He headed straight over to Grace and asked for Pericles. Laura looked at him with questioning eyes. He shook his head before speaking.
"There is some kind of electric storm and Commander Vasich doesn't want to send me first, said it was too dangerous. So he wants to send Pericles first."
Laura was about to protest but Leo stopped her with a look. "I already tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn't listen, trust me I don't want this either."
She believed him and yet still she didn't like it. But Pericles was still put into his suit and placed into his pod. Leo gave him a few reassuring words and Laura smiled and gave him a treat and told him to be careful. As the pod was pulling out he gave them both a thumbs up. It pulled at Laura's heart strings.
She followed Leo as he headed back up to the deck and watched as Pericles's pod headed towards the storm. It wasn't long until something went wrong. His pod started to veer off course. Leo tried to instruct him to get back on course but nothing was changing. Laura felt her heart sink as his pod suddenly disappeared into the storm.
"The heart rate is spiking, he's scared," Grace said, which didn't make Laura feel any better. She could only imagine how Leo was feeling.
"Sir."
"For now we sit tight and wait." The commander replied closing the subject. Leo didn't like that and Laura felt her fists tighten. She had never been as angry at that man as she was feeling now.
She watched Leo out of the corner of her eye. His body language was telling her everything she needed to know about what he was thinking. When he gave an excuse about running sequences she followed after him.
When they reached the pod Laura grabbed his arm. "You can not be thinking of doing what I think you are?"
"I have to go after him Laura, he's my responsibility. I'm not letting him go out like this." He snatched his arm back but Laura didn't take offense to it. She actually felt a smile tugging at her lips.
"Let me come with you!" She said as she watched him frantically get his suit on.
"No Laura, you stay here, Grace would never forgive me if I let you do this!"
With that, he closed the pod and she watched him leave. Laura tried to stay calm and think things through, but all she could think about was what if something happened to him and then both of them were lost. She clenched her jaw and flung open the pod that had been next to the one Leo had taken and stepped inside. Turning on the comm she could hear the Commander yelling at Leo. Once she had pulled on the suit her pod was heading out as well.
"Laura!" She could hear her mother shouting at her through the comm. "What the hell do you think you are doing come back here right now!"
"Mom, I love you but I have to bring Leo back. I'm not losing him to some stupid space storm!" She yelled back.
"Laura please!"
She had to shut off the comm at that point. Hearing her mom sound so sad was really hurting her, but she had to get her friend back. At that point, she was getting closer to Leo's pod, but it didn't take long for everything to go wrong at once.
Laura hit turbulence and the alarms started going off. She lost sight of Leo's pod and then came a blinding flash of light. Then there was nothing. She looked out her pod and turned the comm back on. "Leo! Leo can you hear me?!" She was met with deafening silence. "Mom! Are you there?!"
Lost. She was lost in space.
Tears started to sting her eyes and she bit her lower lip. "God Dammit Leo, you and your damn monkey love!" She yelled as she slammed her hand on the wheel.
Laura didn't really blame him or Pericles, but it made her feel a little better. Then came the vortex, it seemed to appear out of nowhere and engulfed her ship. Suddenly everything came back on and she realized what was happening.
She was falling. Fast.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!" She yelled as she started flipping switches and trying to make the pod fly again.
There were trees, everything was covered in green. It looked like a jungle. She pulled on the wheel and lowered the landing gear as she continued to free fall.
"I am not dying like this!"
She hit the tops of the trees hard but the ship seemed to take it a bit better then she thought it would, the last thing she saw was a marsh before the ship started skidding through the mud and water.
"Come on baby, you can make it, just come to a halt damn it."
Her entire jaw was clenched as she gripped onto the wheel with both hands. That's when the mountain appeared. Her heart fell right in her stomach and her eyes went wide. Without thinking she wrenched the wheel trying to turn it in some way but it wasn't budging. She squeezed her eyes shut and knew there was nothing she could do.
"I'm sorry mom."
