Alitia: In Heavenly Light

XXXVIII: Pick Apart a Smile

The continued journey to Millennia was a much calmer one than past flights had been, and Luce was taking full advantage of the peace. Her head was propped backward against the window, and while it wasn't the most comfortable position to be in, she was fine with it. They weren't being attacked even if they were running for their lives, and that counted for more than anyone would ever be able to understand from outside the group. 

The others were choosing to enjoy the quiet as long as they had it too, and the ship was almost completely silent as a result. Even if they had all slept well during their time in Loduke, they were still tired from the constant movement that had taken place before then. It was already much too late for them to catch up on a past lack of sleep, but they were doing what they could to make sure they didn't completely fall apart. 

Because of the quiet that had spread throughout the area, Luce was able to hear it when people began muttering regardless of how much they whispered. She forced one eye open before glancing over in the direction of the front of the ship where Cryon and Lianna were exchanging hurried words of slight panic. What were they supposed to be afraid of? Why was Lianna out of the seat that involved piloting the ship? Luce rubbed at her eyes before rising to her feet and approaching them both, more than intent on getting answers. 

"I don't understand it," Lianna was saying when Luce arrived. "No matter how much I try to pilot the ship toward Millennia, it seems like the controls are constantly skewing the opposite direction."

"Do you think we're going to have to stop and fix it?" Luce questioned with a light frown. 

Neither Lianna nor Cryon seemed too surprised to see Luce there, so they simply continued their conversation with her newfound presence. Cryon hesitated before shrugging. "We may have to. I didn't think the controls were drifting though. I looked at everything while we were on Loduke to make sure the ship was in perfect condition before we took off again. We've been doing a good enough job of putting this thing back together after each attack, but I didn't want anything to slip through the cracks and come back to bite us."

"I guess that wound up happening anyways though," Luce muttered with a small shake of her head. "If you think it would be best for us to stop, we should probably do it sooner rather than later. I don't want this to complicate anything later on, so it would be best to resolve as soon as possible."

"I agree," Lianna nodded, her expression overcome with concern. "There must be some reason for all of this, and I don't want us to be left in a bad position because we didn't stop when we should have."

"We'll land on the next planet we reach," Cryon announced with a nod. "We're losing time because of how much the controls are drifting, so the closest planet right now is Fortunia. Aside from that, it's Amity. We don't want to land on either one of them though, so I guess it would be best for us to figure something else out. In other words, we're probably going to be flying for quite a bit longer."

Luce opened her mouth to say something, but she was immediately met with the ship lurching enough to nearly send her sprawling into the control panel. It was only thanks to Lianna holding up an arm to catch her that Luce didn't completely fall over at the sudden jerk of motion. Lianna was holding tightly to the back of Cryon's chair, her grip so tight it dyed her knuckles white. "Something is wrong," she murmured under her breath. "I guess we know what we're going to have to do."

"Land immediately," Cryon snarled. "Well, where do we want to take our chances? At this point, it's either Amity or Fortunia, and I hate the sound of both of those ideas."

Lianna made her way over to the seat where she had been operating the controls before beginning her conversation with Cryon, and she did what she could to try and jerk the ship in the direction of Fortunia. Unfortunately, the steering wheel didn't seem intent on listening to her directions, and the entire ship lurched once again as the steering wheel suddenly jerked its way over to Amity. Luce had grabbed onto the chair her father was sitting in, but she could feel her legs turn to jelly as a result of all the sudden thrashing. Luce liked to think she had a firm enough stomach to not get motion sickness, but she didn't think being in a ship suddenly gone haywire really helped much when it came to that.