Seeking An S.O.S.: Behind The Scenes

35. Apolloyan

Entering the prisoner's negotiation area, Mr. Keith Anderson and Mr. Jason Neiman sat on the opposite side of the room where the inmates already were situated. The men dressed in black showed no emotion and went straight to business removing paperwork from their briefcases. Moving simultaneously, their joints moved as if a mechanism controlled them.

Martina looked at them oddly wondering if they were actual robots or artificial intelligence that came from the Space Agency rather than normal lawyers that they pretended to be. But she also remembered learning about a prosthesis, an artificial limb that could help a person perform daily activities. In her mind, she proposed that was what she might be seeing and was proposing to ask the lawyers if they were soldiers before they joined SPANA.

But a stern look from Mr. Anderson made her uncomfortable, as he asked her to stop staring at them.

"Miss Wade, is there something bothering you? You are looking at us like we have spooked you. Please know Mr. Neiman and I are only here to gather your signed contracts and we will read you your extra rights to this agreement with SPANA Headquarters. Then we will be on our way."

Embarrassed after hearing the comment, Martina nodded her head as if she was defeated and briefly looked away.

"Very well, shall we get to business as we were called by the security guards that all of you have now signed SPANA's contracts."

As she took over, Harley intervened.

"Just a freakin' minute here Mr. Anderson, why does SPANA HQ want us to fly right away? We don't have any training either. What if we die? Wouldn't someone be responsible for that?"

Knowing he had his hands full with another tough question, Keith pleaded for help as he gawked at the wall and hoped that his partner could answer Harley's question instead.

Jason, I'm leaving this up to you!

Mr. Neiman noticed his colleague's actions and knew it was time for him to take over.

"Miss Grendel, I think I can answer that question for you. It is not clear to me why our boss, Garreth Lewis wants this space flight squared away, but I do know he made a deal with an observatory where the astronomers would like to acquire evidence as soon as possible."

Cutting in their conversation, Martina chimed in with a question of her own.

"Mr. Neiman, then why couldn't those astronomers travel to space themselves? Why ask us? I mean it's their ideas to investigate, not ours!" Leaning on the table with her arms stretched out, Martina scowled.

"Good question. I really don't know as I don't have the answer to that. As Mr. Anderson said yesterday, we only represent SPANA HQ. We do not deal with any of our client's other legal settlements."

Facepalming herself, Martina couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Were they programmed not to tell us the truth? Please! I find it so hard to believe Mr. Neiman. I think you and your friend know more than you are telling us. Harley is right. As we are inmates, you want us to die in space, don't you?

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Handing in all the forms together to the lawyers, Martina sneered. She didn't feel this journey was the right choice to make, but what other choice did they have? As leader of the quad, she persuaded her crew members to 'just go with the flow'. What else have they got to lose? Martina even convinced herself that maybe it's a good gesture to know that the five of them will be the first to set foot on Decaorb.

Martina  believed that if her parents even knew she'd made this milestone, they'd finally accept her for who she was. All Martina needed was their love because they haven't done that ever since she started her sexuality. Were they homophobic? She believed so. In truth, it seemed that there wasn't any love in their relationship, but they were still her parents.

For both Harley and Roman, they were thankful that the warden allowed them to meet Ronnie before they left. At least, the two knew if something wrong were to happen to them, Ronnie and his family would take over the Grendel traditions. Both sister and brother didn't want to believe the worst wouldn't happen to them, but anything in outer space is possible.

As for both Bonnie and Clyde, the young couple just knew that being together was all that counts. Bonnie hated her parent's rich lifestyle and wanted a normal life, but living on rags and leftovers was torcher. For Clyde, he wanted to be accepted for a change. And for the first time, being part of this crew was like a family to him. He wanted to be there for them as they were for him.

Therefore, the 'family' the inmates made amongst themselves in such a short amount of time was what they all signed at the bottom of the final sheet.

I, Martina Wade, Harley Grendel, Roman Grendel, Bonnie Ackles and Clyde McCarthy accept the space voyage to seek to observe any evidence of human life on Decaorb. We as a family will document our findings in the daily journal that SPANA has given us.

Despite the jitters amongst the five, they knew that they did the right thing, and as the lawyers read them their rights in order to know that they understood what they agreed to, the men left.