Imagine this:

A cloudless summer morning that held a certain crispness, vaguely reminiscent of the coming fall. It was unseasonably cold, but not an unwelcome change from the sweltering heat.

Launch day.

In a hall extending from the Mission Control building stood the nine cosmonauts and one of their physical therapists, Luvenia Valentine. All were anxiously awaiting the signal to head outside.

Luvenia, one hand on the door's handle, the other absent-mindedly tapping her clipboard, scanned the heads of her colleagues and friends. For the last eight years, she'd helped prepare every one of them for hostile space environments that they might encounter, growing to care deeply for them all.

Lost in thought, she snapped back to reality as her walkie-talkie crackled to life, the staticy voice of Mission Control telling her to bring them outside. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open, engulfing them in bright sunlight.

Ayelen, situated towards the back of the line, squinted in awe as she stepped out of the doorway to stare into the heavens above. Towering above the group stood Artemis, glinting in the sunlight and dwarfing the nearby buildings. Despite having been in and around the ship for a good portion of her life, the thought of actually leaving the planet with it made her hands and feet numb with excitement; she shivered from the lack of blood flow.

… Twelve years.

Everyone had already held their sob-fests of goodbye parties with their loved ones and friends, but it was still a massive struggle to come to terms with the fact that it would be twelve years before they could see them again. Dwelling on this, Ayelen noted Luvenia's tense body and cracking voice as she triple-checked that everyone was ready to go; she was desperately failing at controlling her growing sorrow.

Aw, babe, don't cry… You're gonna make me cry, her throat catching and already fighting tears before the thought finished.

Everything was good to go.

Wiping a hand across her face, her smile warped by tears, Luvenia's voice cracked as she spoke into her shaking walkie-talkie, letting Mission Control know they were all set; she was given the approval to open up Artemis.

Taking a steadying breath, she lead the group up an angled ramp to the base of the enormous ship, punching in her confidencial code before forcing the heavy door open with her shoulder. Inside, a metallic ladder was centered in the small room, leading all the way up into the control center of the ship. Before following her colleagues, Ayelen was suddenly yanked to the side before stepping into the ship and fully wrapped in Luvenia's arms, her face pressed into her shoulder. A great sob from Luvenia shook them both as they gently rocked back and forth, living only in the moment.

"S-so…" Luvenia pulled her head away, holding Ayelen's in her hands. Her broken smile absolutely tore her heart apart. "See you in… in twelve years…"

Without another word, she pulled Ayelen close, kissing her with a tearful, passionate fear that screamed, "don't you fucking dare think about not coming back." She tasted the salt on their lips as her heart became more and more hollow, never wanting to leave this moment. Never wanting to say goodbye.

With a last peck on the lips and tight squeeze, Ayelen tore herself away from Luvenia's warm, exposing herself to the chilly air once and restricted blood flow once more. Luvenia smiled weakly as she jogged back towards Mission Control center, readying herself for launch. One hand on the door handle, the other on the ladder rung, Ayelen looked back towards the building and saw, through the glass of the hall they'd just come from, Luvenia frantically waving her arms in goodbye and mouthing the words "I love you". She smiled meekly and waved back before latching the door behind her.

Looking up the ladder, her colleagues were far ahead of her, prompting her to scale the ladder as quickly as she could in her bulky space suit. Dubstep music suddenly filled the vertical tunnel, completely catching Ayelen by surprise as she slowly recalled that Cecelia, the group's rocket scientist, had a Bluetooth speaker installed into her helmet for reasons unknown. The music, though very uplifting and energizing, did nothing to help Ayelen's nerves - it really only made her more anxious as she climbed, her heart beating loudly against her ribs, and hands beginning to shake, making it very difficult to hold onto the rungs.

Calm down… You're fine.

Though her body wouldn't believe this. She could feel her hands and feet turning white from the lack of blood, despite her many layers of clothing, and her chest hollowing and aching from nerves; the closer she got to the control center of the ship, the worse she felt.

Having caught up to the rest of the group, she heard the door to the controls open, and people began climbing again. No one spoke as the air was thick with apprehension - they were all nervous. Once inside, nine padded seats were positioned vertically, facing the blue sky above. Ayelen felt as if she were going to throw up.

Having successfully clambered into her designated seat towards the back (unlike poor Kwynn, who'd lost her grip and falled into the wall behind them), she stared off into space, desperately focusing on calming down as her brain blocked out all external stimuli.

"... T-minus ten,

"Nine,

"Eight,

"Seven,

"Six,

"Five,

"Four,

"Three,

"Two-"

Something's wrong.

"One."

A massive explosion suddenly forced time into overdrive, launching bodies and shrapnel towards her.

She was falling. Backwards. Blood, guts, and limbs fell wither her as the comfortable chair that she'd just been sitting in fell further and further away.

The ground was getting closer.

Forty feet…

Thirty feet…

Twenty…

Ten.

Nothing.

Ayelen snapped her eyes open, heart pounding.

She was still inside the pod.

...What?

Shaking from the adrenaline, she shouldered the door open; the dimly lit aisle of cryostatic pods surrounded her.

"Good morning, Ayelen," suddenly cooed Artemis' soft, mechanical voice from above. "You have been in cryosleep for three years, nine months, and eighteen days. How are you feeling?"

"Uh…"

Was that a dream?

"...Fine, I guess. What happened? Why am I awake?" she responded distractedly, leaning against the pod across from her to steady her shaking body. Looking around, hauntingly still outlines of bodies were vaguely visible through frosted-over glass. What little light there was carved recognizable features from unwelcoming shadows.

"From your elevated heart rate and increasing restlessness, my sensors detected that you were having a nightmare; I decided to wake you. I've also discovered some abnormal plant growths in the greenhouses, but have no means of dealing with them myself - you're best equipped to deal with them."

"Okay, uh…"

Sliding a hand across her face to be rid of her weariness, Ayelen shuffled over to the entrance of the aisle and rounded a corner to the main area of the ship, mind completely elsewhere.

That felt so… real, though.

Artemis called after her: "Your friend, Cecelia, is also awake. I've waken her for my yearly inspection. Perhaps you should check up on her as well?"

"Uh, sure," was the half-hearted response.

The fluorescents of the greenhouses were the only things lighting the rest of the ship, creating grotesque doublicates of the things that were once familiar and welcoming. Using the now-horizontal ladder centered in the room to guide herself to the planters, Ayelen squinted as the lights forced her eyes to adjust. A small scoff was the immediate reaction to the plants' inspection.

"They're just weeds, Artemis," she sighed at the ceiling, crouching down and retrieving a pair of gardening gloves and sheers from a compartment built into the wall beneath.

Having removed the unwanted growth, Ayelen realized that she didn't really have a place to put them. For the "time being", she haphazardly shoved them in with the rest of her gardening tools, hoping that they would just shrivel up by the time they'd reached Callisto. The sound of a pounding fist, quickly followed by a frustrated sob, brought Ayelen's attention to the slightly ajar door to the ship's cockpit. Slightly worried, she jogged to the doorway to find Cecelia slumped over the main controls of the ship, arms wrapped around her head and crying.

"Hey, uh… you okay?"

Cecelia snapped her head around, red eyes widening in horror before quickly contorting back to their original frustration. Running a hand along her face, she shook her head.

"We've lost connection with E-Earth… a-and I don't know why!" she cried, face a mask of absolute misery as the self-hate for not understanding began to overwhelm her. "I've been w-working on this for two h-hours… and nothing! I've tried e-everything!"

"Hey, it's okay," Ayelen said without much confidence, going up to try and comfort her colleague with an awkward pat on the back. "You'll figure it out. You're our computer person!"

Though well intended, Ayelen's encouragement didn't have the desired effect: "But what if I can't!" the absolute fear in Cecelia's voice as she began crying anew made Ayelen realize that this was maybe a bit more than she could handle.

A heavy silence settled in the air, save for the occasional muffled sob or sniff.

"Wait… why are you even awake?" Cecelia sniffed, red, puffy eyes inspecting Ayelen.

"'Cause Artemis woke me up!"

"...Oh."

A grimace sprawled across Ayelen's face as she cringed at her very obvious answer.

Trying to think of something witty to make up for her incompetence, Ayelen said the first thing that popped into her head:

"FUCK!"

Cecelia, completely taken aback by the sudden outburst, just stared as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Knowing that she'd ruined all chances of redemption, Ayelen began backing up slowly towards the open door.

"I'm, uh, sure you'll fix it!" was her last remark before quickly stepping out of the room, leaving Cecelia alone with her confusion and misery.

Yep. That just happened… I'm a fucking dumbass.

Not being able to force herself to go back to that mess of a conversation, Ayelen briskly walked back to her pod to sleep off her embarrassment and hoped that neither of them would remember it, despite her mind continuously playing the events on a loop and already having internalized what had happened to use against her in the future.