Chapter 2: The Life Changing Voyage
Amelia stood near a monitor, studying the screen's contents intently. "The fuel in the second engine is about to be empty." She announced in a practiced voice.
"Good, good. It's all going according to plan." Rodger replied, pleased. Something on the computer he stood before flashed, and he smiled widely. "Engine three has successfully ignited and the previous vehicle has completed its separation. That's the end of stage two of the launch. Roxanne is flying out of Earth's atmosphere." He stated confidently.
He walked towards his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. They stayed silent as they stared at an unbelievably bright full moon though the gap in the roof, through which their child had exited. The light reflecting off of the satellite's surface was now intensified from the growing sun. The sky was no longer midnight blue, but a lighter shade. Clouds were absent and the stars twinkled down at them like curious eyes watching everything unfold. Suddenly the calm sky was interrupted by what appeared to be a shooting star.
"Did you see that?" Rodger asked, breaking the silence and pointing up. "That had to have been a sign, a good omen." He tightened his embrace and kissed the back of Amelia's head.
She smiled weakly, "Yes that must have been what it was," she agreed as sweat began to shine on her brow and neck in the foreboding moonlight. The temperature was already starting to increase. These were the first labor pains of the impending doom.
The shuttle was past Mars within seconds, and not long after was leaving Pluto behind it. Roxanne's terrified screams increased at the turbulence that came with the stages of the launch and leaving Earth's atmosphere and orbit, and only when a nursery rhyme started to play somewhere within the teddy bear she was clinging too did she begin to calm. She sniffed, silenced, and stared as the stuffed toy stood up on her lap and stared back.
"That is correct, Ms. Ritchi, it is alright to be calm now. My name is Abraham Inkling, and I am here to care for you," the bear spoke as the songs continued to play. "You do not need to fear, for I shall protect you. Now I believe it is time for you to be freed from your harness so that we may relocate to the internal room of this shuttle and activate the gravity." The child's voice it used sounded happy and enthusiastic.
Roxanne had not a clue what Abraham was saying, but was comforted by the music and his voice. She smiled and, after he had managed to unbuckle her by using robot fingers concealed within his cushiony animal exterior, took hold of the arm he offered her and floated through the door behind her seat and into the next chamber as the tune of Marry had a little lamb played. She giggled at the sensation of being weightless.
The room was large enough for an average adult to move around comfortably and not feel cramped, but more than one person would have made it claustrophobic. What appeared to be windows above the panels of buttons and knobs were actually screens on either of two parallel walls presenting a live feed of the outside of the shuttle via cameras. Abraham led the way with Roxanne being tugged behind him all the way to the opposite side of the room where a leaver was waiting to be pulled. Once it was pulled, the two slowly fell to the floor until the false gravity was equal to the gravity on Earth. What should have been a hard metal floor was replaced with cushion. The room contained everything the teddy bear would need to take care of the child in the place of a parent for the days they would be on their own in space.
Abraham was entertainment, mental stimulation, and caregiver all in one. This was how the pair lived during their journey.
Engine three had endured approximately five Earth days of extreme high speed space travel when it, although still containing fuel, failed. An odd conking-out noise was heard within the cabin and Abraham paused the game of peek-a-boo he had been playing with Roxanne to jump up onto the control panel and view the new information displayed on one of the monitors. Roxanne watched in confusion.
"The engine has died, Ms. Ritchi, but do not fear. We will continue at the same speed as long as we don't hit anything, which is unlikely for we are in space. Landing will be rougher, however." He leaped back down, kneeled in front of Roxanne and covered his face with his paws, "Now once again, Ms. Ritchi, where have I disappeared too?" After a pause he quickly uncovered his face with a "Here I am!" which was followed by a belly-laugh from Roxanne.
It was a pattern that Abraham would turn off the gravity and place Roxanne back into the seat of the cockpit to sleep after appropriate hours past. This was Roxanne's location on the eighth day when a star with five planets, one of them the desired destination, came zooming into view from the blackness. The teddy bear was viewing this through the small window, when a high-pitched Siren began echoing though the craft. As the baby started to cry he ventured into the cabin and watched the window like screens. The one on the right showed another, similarly designed rocket presumably from Earth coming closer at an alarming speed. It was slowly rotating as it neared, and revealed another infant's face peering through a tiny window – the face had rich brown eyes and a single wispy blonde curl sprouting from top of its head.
Tiny green ones and zeros danced across the bear's beady eyes as he quickly took in this new information and came to a conclusion, and then he propelled himself back towards Roxanne. He positioned himself above her protectively, his limbs bracing him there against the edges of the seat. "Prepare for impact, Ms. Ritchi," he said casually and as though she could understand.
When the two rockets collided, the one containing the brown-eyed child ricocheted into the opposite direction, heading straight towards the third planet; the planet was larger than the blue one and had a golden hued atmosphere. Roxanne's shuttle was rocked violently, and was redirected towards a field of medium sized asteroids of various shapes.
The ship was battered by the space debris continuously, testing the materials strength. It held out, but soon the teddy and child were left in darkness as the lights within flickered and died. By the time it exited the obstacle course, the only parts of the ship that were functioning were the ventilation system, which continued to filter breathable air though the cabin and cockpit, and the temperature regulator.
The pair were left stranded alone the open, so very close yet so very far from their goal. The shuttle orbited the large star as the newest satellite of the solar system. Roxanne cried incessantly. Abraham sat on her lap doing nothing to stop her.