- A Journey Begins -
There was an irony to hyper-sleep, or so Natan thought, it isn't possible to dream but he felt that if he were to spend the years of travel inside his own subconscious, he would imagine precisely that, years of drifting through the abyss. Dark and silent. The sea of tranquility was aptly named. It's hard to believe that something so beautiful, something so simple, could end your life the second you fell into its clutches.
The Aphelion, the ship tasked with this voyage across the stars, was hardly visible against the allure of a gas giant. It seemed so...insignificant, infinitesimal. Prone to this feeling of meager importance, Natan was never one to exaggerate his part in the grand design, but he could not deny that this mission was critical to humanity. Being only the second time a journey this long had been attempted, it was only green-lit because the first had seemingly met its end. Natan often wondered what could have befallen the Prometheus, did they find something? someone? he would find out soon enough.
LV-223, as it was so precisely named, was close. It was strange to think that after so long aboard the Aphelion, its crew were only just beginning their expedition. The easy part as it seemed, was over.
- -Surging from his hyper-sleep chamber, Natan was overcome with the need to vomit. Before he could gather his senses, his body had already lent to one side. A sickly deluge of green bile splattered into a carefully placed bucket, just below him. It took a few moments, his head was spinning. Glancing around the glaring white room he saw the others, in equal distress.
"It begins."
After a few more attempts trying to empty his already vacant stomach, Natans body settled. An unintentional crash circled the room as he dropped the bucket to the floor.
“This is the captain. Wakey-wakey, and all that. There will be a briefing in the cafeteria in twenty minutes. Be there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed…”
Dressed in the same uncomfortable skin tight garments as the rest of the crew, Natan was met with the realization that he actually had a duty to preform. Placing one foot in front of the other, a task he didn't expect to relearn so soon, he approached the wall. Pressing on a seemingly invisible pad, a slight hiss released a storage box. His regulation clothes its contents.
“…And don’t forget to drink plenty of water, alright? Captain out.”
- -Various clicks and beeps served as the only sounds on the bridge. Looking through diagrams and simulation tests, Natan was assuring himself of the Aphelions position.
"Everything seems...fine."
It was a satisfying thought that the journey had not run into danger, yet perplexing, as he thought with the entropic nature of space, some form of curve-ball would have been thrown in their path. Picking up the steaming cup of tea he managed just one sip before he realized the time.
"Svoloch'!"
hastily gathering a file in one hand whilst balancing his tea in the other, he left the bridge. It was time to meet in the briefing room.
