A sight of a ceiling came to him as he opened his eyes slowly. It was dark, dim, and purply. He noticed that his body was still wrapped with a blanket. It's thin, but it gave him the best comfort that he can get. With his half opened-pupils he began waking up his body and start sitting on the top of the bed. He looked to his left side, when he found a clock with a complicated mechanism was put on top of the end table. It stated that it was early in the morning. He then looked to the right. Where he can see all the stars and far-away galaxies, motioning into the same direction. It was that time again when he comprehended where he was, and he already have this realization from day to day, yet he always seemed to lost a chunk of his memories every time he woke up.
The time that was stated in the clock was irrelevant, as the boy was going through a journey, exploring galaxies to galaxies, where there was no point in finding out whether it was day or night. Many people envied the boy as he had the chance to look at the beauty that a vast space can provide. While the boy enjoyed it in the beginning, things becoming dull after knowing that there's more void than matters in space.
He dreamt of seeing a lot of different constellations, but the infinite number of stars makes it harder for it to be distinguished. He dreamt of observing various planets and galaxies, but all he can find was emptiness, and even if he found something, it was most likely broken asteroids. It's an inevitable destiny that he needs to accept. He was still young, and have only lived for 14 years, by New Earth's calculation, a planet where Elio originated. Part of him was rebellious, he just wanted to pick a planet that was seen from the window and just go settle there. It's been a long time since the boy live in a certain planet enjoying a routine, seeing sun revolving, and making schedule for himself on what should he do in a day. But for now he has to wait.
He stepped his bare feet on the floor that was covered by a warm wooly carpet. He looked at the door which is in his front and right side of the room. He walked there with his loud steps until he was interrupted by a small snore. Near the door and planted to the wall is another bed, with another person sleeping on top of it.
It was another boy, who was relatively smaller than him. A 10-year-old in New Earth's age, his little brother, Gian. His brother's pose was as stiff as a stone, and there's no motion at all in his slumber. There was not many things to do as a child traveling in space. The brother usually went to school at certain hours, an online school where he was taught by a single private teacher. I guess if you were always in different timezone every time, it's really hard to match schedule with anyone. There was a digital clock beside him, that was left disconnected with any kind of signals, with time always refer to one planet, a planet where Gian's teacher came from.
After a long pause wondering about his little brother's education process, the boy went out to the hallway. The colors are transitioning from neon purple to pale grey. The room has no natural light at all, and the lamp shine so bright to give a clear look of all the details in the hallway. There are pipes, cables everywhere near the walls and the ceilings, but it still gave some space for the boy to walk in in the middle. The boy walked slowly, the path was clear and visible, but because he just woke up, his eyes was not open fully. Even if they were, a percentile of his soul was still probably left on the bed.
He looked left and right, there were many small rooms, kitchen with a small dining table, bathroom with four smaller containers inside, special room for showers which looks like it's not only letting out water, but disinfectant as well. Some of these rooms actually have a window connected where the view of space can still be seen, but the room doesn't absorb the purple light just like in the bedroom. These rooms were used for the dwellers in the ship, and they don't cater for that much people, only five at max.
The boy continued his journey, walking until he stumbled upon a big metal door on the hallway. He couldn't see any handle or anything that can pry open that heavy door. But there was a small panel on the left side of the door. The color was white with some green digits on the display. It also has normal keyboard from 1 to 9, a four digit codes that need to be put in. The boy reached closer with his face so he could take a closer look and started inputting the PIN. "7128" he slowly pressed the small keyboard with his tiny fingers. A small click came out from the door, and it started to open slowly.
******
He peeked from the door it's moving, a big room with a lot of equipment was there. The machines were light grey but they look clean, like they are being maintained carefully by the people every day. Everything was so organized, on the right side of the room, there was a rack containing a lot of archives in a form of tablets. Each tablet contains an electronic service manuals for each tools that was installed in the room. The rack was not simply a furniture to put the tablets, but it's also a charger which automatically turned off when the tablets are already in the full battery. There was a big monitor inside the room facing the heavy door that the boy just opened. He looked at the monitor. Green texts were coming out and changed every minutes. He understood some of the words generated there, but there are also some words he couldn't comprehend. Some are using the same alphabets as the boy's language, but it didn't communicate any meaning to the boy. Some are a totally different alphabets an clearly have a different structure. The boy couldn't read or spell the words, but some symbols, he understood the meaning even though he couldn't say the word. Based on the environment, everyone will know that this room is the core, the control room of the ship.
Under the big monitor, there was a person, wearing a light spacesuit. He wore big glasses that nearly cover all of his face. It's a bit of a weird sight, because in front of him is actually the front window of the spaceship, where you can see the small chunk of asteroid coming, facing the direction of the spaceship. If you look at the window, you can see that the spaceship is actually moving at a high speed, but it doesn't really felt fast when you're standing inside the spaceship. The man with the glasses has tanned skin, and a not-so thin buzz cut on his hair. He didn't have big muscles, but it can be seen from behind that his shoulders were pretty broad and lean. It seems like the glasses that he wore was not blocking his vision at all, it actually helped him navigate the ship and avoiding bigger chunks of asteroids on his way.
On the left side, there was a woman in her 30s, wearing a headset and a mic, sitting in an office chair with wheels that can move in every direction. She has a tan skin as well, but a bit brighter than the man in front of the window. She has a long hair that was tied in a bun so it doesn't block her view. She looked kind, with the face that says she can be chatty but can be reserved as well. Her eyes was sharp, and when people see her, they can assume that she's intelligent and well educated. She sat in front of the desk where a smaller monitor was present. The display was the same as the bigger monitor, but it's easier to look from the lady's side. And above the small monitor, there were more monitors which display various things, one of them shows communication lines that hasn't connected yet. There's also the one that shows the interior of the ship in a detailed and structured view. The others, the boy looked at them, and he didn't know what they tried to explain. The lady however was not observing those monitors, she was writing down some things on a small tablet that she was carrying in the palm of her hand. God knows what she's writing in her notes, but the boy assumed that the lady listened to some information through her headset.
The boy took a small step, not wanting to interrupt their work, but both of the people looking at him soon as the light in the room became brighter because of the intense lighting on the hallway. The lady looked at the boy with a warm and calming smile, even though from her eyes, it can be seen that she's still focusing on her previous task. The man who was driving faced the window just a bit to make sure there were no obstacles in front. Then he pressed the auto-pilot button and release his hand from the handle. He turned his chair so he could face the boy, and took of his glasses. His eyes were green and he had a cheerful smile surrounded by thin beard. Then he shouted to the boy ,"Hey, my boy Elio just woke up, how do you do?"
YOU ARE READING
Void and Voices
Science FictionA boy who was wandering in the space along with his family, passing through constellations, planets, and galaxies. A journey that was supposed to be adventurous was not as pleasant as it seems, especially when he begin to understand the real story b...
