"Final approach. In stable position, on your go, Issac." WREN said rather dryly. Issac had decided to call the ship the Sprint. He had heard the small speech that Joseph Cooper gave about life on the Endurance before he "mysteriously" disappeared, and decided to make a play on words of the famous ship.
"Alrighty, let's nose her in." Issac clutched the control stick and gave a short burst of the RCS thrusters. The ship entered the wormhole.
The Sprint started to shudder and shake rather violently. While it was known that the structure could handle the stress, Issac was still on edge. The ship shuddered violently as magnificent purples, blues and reds streaked by the dozens of small windows in the cockpit, and the helpless pilot could do nothing but wait. Issac was mesmerized by the light show above his head and before him.
Nearly five minutes passed, but finally, the shaking subsided. Issac's tiny ship was spit out into another Galaxy, nearly instantaneously by cosmic standards. His only response was a relieved exhale, and gentle removal of his suit's helmet. A bit of nervous sweat dripped down his head, and he unbuckled the harness.
Truly, it wasn't necessary to wear the suit at all, but, Issac decided it was better to be safe with this new form of travel for now. Issac placed WREN's wrist band on the connection/charging base, and gave her full control of the ship, while he changed out of the clunky suit into a comfortable, albeit, baggy flight suit.
Back on Cooper station, things were getting heated. This being the second ship stealing in two months, action had to be made. Ms. Haviland decided that the valuable ships needed to be locked up with tighter security, and, the runaways with their ships had to be rounded up. Three people, an advanced AI and a robot had left the station under her watch, and the people were getting jumpy. And she hated these "press conferences"
"Were these "departures" planned by the council?", one civilian asked, his eyes tired from a long day at work. Hands dusted with dirt lay on the stage, leaving a noticeable smudge on the shiny faux-wood. "In other words, were they scouting missions to Edmunds? If so, are we leaving the station?"
"We are still reviewing the circumstances of TARS and Joseph Cooper's departure, he may have been under orders of his daughter, the late Murphy Cooper", Haviland frowned, and noticeably looked more nervous, "however, the departure of Issac Bishop and Rachel Timars, along with an AI nicknamed WREN, is disconcerting. The rumor that they are teenage lover runaways is highly unlikely. Their friends and families acknowledged that they have nearly no contact, and few classes together."
The crowd erupted into chatter and frantic guesswork. The words "...kidnapping...murder...rape..." stood out in the yammer. Haviland sighed and walked from the stage, with only a few people taking notice.
"WREN, could you tell me where the jumpsuits are?" Issac yelled.
"Accessing... Locker F-7. It's the big one on the left, in case you can't count." Her sarcastic inflection broke through the robotic monotone.
"...F-5...F-6...F-7!" Curiously, the lock wasn't closed. Issac cracked open the case. The stack of clothes shifted and Issac, swept a jumpsuit to see what it was.
A girl, vaguely familiar, but generally unknown, peeked out from the mass of blue clothes and excitedly said, "Oh! Hello there!"
"WHAT THE SHIT!" Issac exclaimed. In the presence of gravity he would have fallen, rather comedically, on his rear. But, in his present situation he drifted away in a slight tumble. Then he realized what he was wearing, or rather, not wearing. Issac's cheeks ran flush with embarrassment, as he rushed a hand to his bare crotch.
"Oh, don't be such a damn baby, it's not like I didn't know you had one." She chucked a jumpsuit bundle at him and added, "don't worry, I won't look."
Issac scowled and grabbed the bundle with his free hand. The suit had a pair of socks, some underwear and a shirt wrapped up inside of the roll. He sighed, and slipped on the collection. "Ok. Done."
"Oh good! My turn!" The strange girl said rather suddenly, and she suddenly slipped off the tee-shirt she was wearing. Issac, turning flush again, turned away in shame. "You're such a damn baby! Most guys your age would stare at any girl stripping her shirt off!"
"Well, I have some respect, and I'm not some permanently horny teenager." Issac stated plainly. "What's your name anyway? Mine's Isssac, Issac Bishop."
"Rachel Timars, and I'm done by the way." Rachel had her jumpsuit's top half tied around the belly of her shirt. Issac quickly examined his new cohabitant. The first fact he begrudgingly noticed, was that she was slightly taller than his short, stocky, 170cm frame. Rachel was undeniably beautiful, not a supermodel, and a bit on the stocky side of body shape as well. But her eyes glimmered a deep shade of green, with a brown border, almost rivaling Issac's full Heterochromia. Her long, dark hair flowed in the air around her head and showed the slight breeze on the cabin. "Are you gonna stop staring at me and tell me, firstly, when we're going to go back to the station, two days? Three? Secondly, how you're gonna bail us out of the trouble we're gonna get into. And finally, what the hell was that roller coaster ride from Hell? "
"Yeah, about that, this isn't a joyride. We're on a landing course with Edmunds, and we can't go back." Issac said softly.
"Why the hell not?" Rachel asked, slightly panicked.
"The Delta-V required to go back is higher than this ship can handle. We are on the other side of the wormhole, hence the HellCoaster, and traveling in a velocity much too high to negate."
"So, you're telling me, we're not going to go home"
"Yep"
"And the only company I'll have for six months is a socially awkward guy and his little AI pal"
"Yep"
"And when I get to Edmunds, there'll just be two space crazy astronauts and a pair of giant metal rectangles with voices to add to the mix?"
"Yep"
"Shit! The one time I think some nerd is going to do something fun, he goes off and inadvertently kidnaps me"
"Hey! It wasn't my fault you stowed away"
"I guess, but you're still crazy for running away..."
"Yep"
Sorry about not posting for a while, finals at my school took up time.
