ATALIS

CHAPTER 6: THE START

Over the course of the next month, things began to form a new kind of routine aboard the Godspeed. The crew of the Promise integrated easily into our ship and we used up spare room in the ship that desperately needed to be filled.

As a colony ship designed to initially hold 100,000 people, but with a 22-year planned journey ahead of them, there were rooms upon rooms of unused space intended to serve as rooms for growing generations on the journey. Even with the people from the Promise, there would still be enough room to fit everyone and more by the time we arrived at Proxima Centauri.

I stand in my room, doing a handstand on one hand and considering what I would do with the day while balancing a small ball on the sole of my outstretched right foot. I don't have class today to attend, though Candice did. I had yet to see Aizen since he had settled down on the ship. Despite our brief initial encounter, I had began to wonder if he would make a good friend.

The doorbell chimes and I kick the ball off of my foot and cartwheel onto my feet.

"Come in." I pull my shirt down over my exposed abdomen and straighten, and the door opens to show an empty hallway stretching out. I approach the door and lean out, looking for something in the hallway that could have triggered the doorbell. I see nothing. I look back into my room and see a single symbol on the wall of my bedroom, one of the same symbols that I had seen aboard the Promise. I hastily make my way across my room and raise a hand to brush against the wet paint on the wall.

"How?" I mutter, bringing my hand to my face. I turn around and look at the empty room in confusion. If something had entered the room, I would have seen it.

The doors hiss to a close.

DINNER

Four days later.

I raise the large piece of meat to my mouth and take a bite of it experimentally.

"It's good right?" Candice asks, watching me on her side of the table. I chew slowly, savoring the taste.

"Absolutely." I cut off another chunk of the meat and then put it in my mouth and repeat the experience. The meat is medium rare with spices and sauces used to augment and enhance the flavor. I take a drink of my water and look at Percy, who is trying the same meat. He is wearing a contraption on his face that looks like a dog cone after a dog has undergone surgery and is not supposed to lick or bite the wound, and it has a small sauce tray attached to the outermost lip of it.

"Gotta try this baby out. The guy who gave it told me said it was the real deal. So I hope this steak is like, extra juicy." Candice rolls her eyes at me and then sticks the fork with the piece of steak on it toward Percy, down the cone. He bites into the steak and seems to relish the flavor. Drips of meat fall from his lips and collect in the sauce tray.

"It seems to work." I note, watching it collect more of the sauce from his lips. Candice gives me a flat look which I return with a smile.

"I think it's stupid." Candice looks at the cone and Percy frowns.

"I think it's neat. And I want to support innovation." Percy folds his arms.

"How is that innovative! It looks like a cone of shame for a pet!" Candice gestures to it and then studies it closer. "It IS a cone of shame for a pet! That's the Pet Palace logo there on the side!"

"WHAT!?" Percy yelps, sitting up straighter and then undoing the latch to it on the back of the contraption. He takes it off and flicks the meat sauce directly toward me and I raise my hands too slowly. The grease splatters my face. I take the napkin and wipe it off my face while Candice laughs.