Chapter Thirteen
Leaving the space station behind, the Phoenix was guided to the correct path by Shale's skillful hand. But after that, the experimental craft would glide toward the comet with only occasional course corrections.
For a while they tried to relax as best they could. They could take off their helmets and gloves, but that was all. They practiced going outside and getting to the rocket that would propel the bead and putting hands on it. Everything seemed to be in order.
But high spirits and excitement don't last forever, especially on a trip where things don't seem to change.
To say they got bored on the trip is to say they were traveling fast. Six girls, five of whom weren't yet twenty years old, cooped up in a cabin together and unable to take a bath or change clothes was a particularly explosive mix. Especially considering these were the Ancients. They couldn't even leave the room, unless they went into the tiny airlock.
Shale was used to long periods with no duties, and had brought her own amusements: she had a tPad and was reading journals saved up for just this purpose. She tried to stay out of the way, but there was no place to go in the cabin farther than ten feet from everyone else.
Sapphire was in her element, watching the stars, moons, and comet, and working on various projects with her notebook she had brought with her. Since there were only a few data channels aboard, no bandwidth could be spared for phone calls except for an occasional twenty-minute window. During the phone connections, she used a portable wi-fi connection and exchanged data with Jade. She wasn't bored at all.
Onyx liked boredom and down time. She had brought her notebook as well, and was spending the time reading the Ancient's journals that had been scanned, and working on her book.
Amethyst and Topaz made the best of it. The blond troll's cheerfulness and the pink-haired troll's calm worked together and kept a lid on things. For a while.
And of course it was Ruby that started it. The most physically active of the five she got bored the quickest and hadn't brought anything with her for a distraction except her tPhone.
It was four days into the trip, and tensions had been steadily rising. Finally it came to a head.
Ruby gave a loud sigh and put down her tPhone. She glared at Amethyst and Topaz, who were talking quietly about plans for the next BFFL Anniversary Party.
"Will you two hold it down? I can't concentrate with all that yammering!" she said in a loud voice.
The two immediately stopped talking and looked at her. "Something wrong?" asked Amethyst, knowing quite well what it was.
"You're driving me crazy! If this doesn't work, there won't BE a next party! Why don't you wait until this is finished to talk about it?" Ruby replied.
Topaz glared back. "Because we want to talk about it now! It's not like we don't have time!"
"Well, you're distracting me! Thanks to you, I missed playing a card and lost my three hundred forty-third game of Solitaire!" she complained.
Topaz and Amethyst looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
Sapphire, who was looking at the comet through the binoculars, said "Ruby, I told you before, if you're bored, play some of the games on my notebook."
"I tried, and they don't make any sense!" said the redhead, "All you've got are these dumb memory games and puzzles! Why don't you have anything fun?"
The blue-haired troll turned and glared. "They ARE fun! You'd think so too if you were smart enough to understand them!"
"ARE YOU CALLING ME STUPID?" yelled Ruby, taking a step forward.
"You think you're so smart, you figure it out," answered Sapphire, and returned her attention to the comet.
"You know what I want to do?" asked Topaz. She took a whiff of herself. "I want to get out of this space suit and take a shower. And go to the bathroom in the normal way."
"Well, duh!" said Ruby, throwing up her hands, "We all do! But it ain't happenin' so get used to it!"
Topaz stood up. It showed just how bad things had gotten when she got angry. "I KNOW THAT! DON'T TALK DOWN TO ME! I'M TRYING TO DO MY BEST AND YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"
The other four stared at Topaz, stunned. Shale sat in the pilot's chair and tried to ignore the rising voices behind her.
It took Ruby a second, but she found something to say and opened her mouth to do so.
"GUYS!" said Amethyst in a loud voice, getting everyone's attention, "I know we're in tight quarters on a very dangerous mission, but we can't afford this! BFFL, remember!"
"I was just waiting for Little Miss Diplomat to speak up!" said Ruby, turning her attention to Amethyst, "Mind your own business!"
"This IS my business!" Amethyst retorted. "I'm going to school for it!"
Just then the Phoenix gave a shudder.
The argument was dropped and attention turned to Shale, who put down the tPad and started typing. Ship's status came up on the screen. She sat back, watching the status board as it checked systems.
"What happened?" asked Ruby.
"I'm not sure. Display doesn't show anything, but we all felt that," she answered. She turned to the camera system and looked at the ship through every angle available. Nothing seemed out of place.
"What do we do?" asked Sapphire.
"I don't see anything TO do," answered the navy-blue haired troll.
"Shouldn't you call the station?" asked Topaz, "That's what I'd do."
"If something was wrong, they'd have called us by now," answered Shale, "Besides, what could they do? We're here and they're there."
"Oh, THAT'S reassuring," muttered Onyx.
"Maybe it was some kind of gravity anomaly," ventured Sapphire.
"Maybe..." said Shale, and pulled up a representation of their course, "But that would affect our course and it hasn't."
"Guys..." said Amethyst, "I just had a thought... I think I know." She looked around at her four best friends and one new friend. "It was a warning."
Everyone turned their attention to her.
"Remember what happened on Trollhiti when we were fourteen?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah," giggled Topaz, "We were fighting after being cooped up in the house and... made... that... volcano..."
"Got it in one, Tope," said Onyx. Chagrinned, Sapphire and Ruby nodded.
"What are you talking about? What volcano?" asked Shale.
"Shale," said Amethyst, "There is a down side to being an Ancient, to using the Magic of the Five, and we forgot about it."
"We found out that if we argue too much, let our emotions get out of hand, bad things can happen," added Sapphire. "We once started a volcano without meaning to. We got off lucky just now."
Shale looked puzzled. "I've never been there, but I do know there's a volcano on Trollhiti. Wait a sec... are you telling me you made that volcano erupt?"
"Yeah," nodded Onyx, "Our magic can affect stuff it shouldn't, and if we hadn't stopped it, it would have destroyed the entire island and killed everyone there."
"You... started... then stopped... a volcano..." said Shale, stunned.
"Yep," they answered in sync.
"Remind me not to get on your bad sides," she said, and turned back to the controls. "If I'd known you could do that back in high school, I'd have been a lot nicer to you from the start."
bffl bffl bffl
The remainder of the trip was spent in better harmony.
Finally Shale slowed the Phoenix and it came to a rest at the distance from the planet where they planned to activate the spell bead in front of the comet. Sapphire really wanted to take a trip to the surface, but that was vetoed from the station and by Shale.
Among the supplies was a canister that could be sealed, and they would grab a piece to bring back if they could.
The sensors hastily mounted on the ship were being used to their fullest, as this was the closest any troll had been to a comet. The nucleus was somewhat larger than earlier measurements indicated, and Sapphire crunched the numbers again and proclaimed the portal should handle it.
They had to wait for several hours for the comet to arrive at a distance the portal bead could move the comet to the other side of the world, and they used the time to check out their suits and get ready to go out.
Finally everything was in place. They left the Phoenix to float nearby, staring at the white mass just miles away with fine dust being blown off by the sun.
"That's pretty," giggled Topaz, but nobody answered. The full impact of what they were doing, and what rested on its success, had finally really hit them.