Maria paced back and forth across the smooth hospital floor while eyeing her senior with worry. Her ill senior coughed before sitting herself up against her pillows
"Maria, did you get something for me?" said her senior in a hushed, monotonous tone that made Maria feel even more concerned about her condition
"Yes I did, your medication is on the table"
Her senior smiled after hearing that, but the smile died once she laid back on her hospital bed. Maria glanced up to the window while helping her senior trim her potted black dahlias, Maria was lucky the hospital room was on the top floor, or else she wouldn't have a good look at tonight's stars. Those little speckles of twinkle and gleam in the night sky seemed more alive than her own life, but she wouldn't have to worry because one day, she'd be up there too.
Maria mustered up her courage before speaking again "Do you think the stars are souls?"
No reply, it seems that her senior had already slept.
Maria was reminiscing about the past until a crew member tapped her shoulder and told her that the woman had already woken, she made her way to the sick bay and saw her sloppily sitting on the sick bay's bed.
Maria sat on the bed next to her, facing directly in front of the woman as she looked at Maria with a perplexed expression on her face. Maria smoothened the rumpled paper creases on her clip pad and professionally made eye contact "Hello, my name is Maria and I'm the commander of this spacecraft"
The woman quickly stopped fiddling with the bedsheets and exchanged glances with Maria but Maria would be lying if she wasn't slightly intimidated. The woman's face looked kind enough to give off all the right impressions but her eyes looked like literal windows to space, as if you could just reach in there and get lost...
Maria snapped out of her mind as she formally cleared her throat with a hand on her chin "Ah, right I'm sorry, I'll get straight to the point from now on"
"How did you get in this spaceship? As far as I know, you're not an astronaut like the rest of us"
Maria was expecting an answer, she knew the woman heard her but her perplexed expression changed to a deadpan one. They exchanged some mutual silence then after a while, Maria decided to not waste any time and hop into the next question.
"Where are you from?"
The woman gave some silent thought to this question, then gave Maria a slightly judgmental look that spoke 'Shouldn't it be obvious??'
Maria moved on to the next question "Then what's your name?"
"I don't remember..." replied the woman, her voice sounded sore and a little pained but her words sounded like someone who had almost forgotten how to speak.
Maria started to get a little worried now, "Do you remember anything else?"
"No," said the woman, in that same, pained voice
Out of consideration, Maria took a cup of water from one of the side tables and handed it to her. The woman skeptically accepted the kind gesture, she was a strange character because she stared at the water like she had never drunk any fluid in years, and then she proceeded to drink the water in one whole gulp. The woman had to admit though, that the taste was quite refreshing for water in a spaceship. Maria watched the thirsty woman gulp down her water, at that moment, Maria perked up at a fun idea.
"Since you don't remember your name, can I give you a new one?" said Maria excitedly, it was rare to see her this excited, especially since the spaceship was stranded in space
The woman didn't hesitate and nodded, even her excitement matched Maria's
"What about Astra?" Maria suggested
The woman nodded, with a glint of joy in her starry eyes
Maria chuckled "Then your new name is Astra!"
Astra smiled contently, Maria smiled too, she laid back in a more relaxed manner before getting onto her next point, the end of this short interrogation "Since this is space, you will be staying with us until we get help and with any luck, a bigger spacecraft will come to our aid"
Astra nodded cooperatively
Maria cleared her throat "As for where you will be sleeping, you will be sleeping in my quarters, since...well, the other crewmates don't seem to trust you"
Astra nodded again, in a way, she truly admired Maria's straightforwardness
Without wasting another minute Maria stood up, tossing the clip pad on the sick bay bed she sat on. Even her standing posture was confident and welcoming, with a hand on her hip Maria gestured for Astra to follow her "Follow me and I'll show you my quarters"
Astra did as she was instructed and hurried to walk next to Maria. The spaceship looked so industrial and futuristic in Astra's eyes. Its smooth grey floors stretched to the vanishing end of the spaceship, with so many windows to show off the void that the spaceship resided in, when she looked up, there were thin strips of lighting, alarm systems, public announcement speakers and some other systems Astra couldn't bother remembering.
There was something new in every corner yet Astra could not take her eyes off Maria, how kind her face looked, how her worried 'sunflower' eyes looked like they hid behind some thinning veil of determination, and how her loose ochre bun looked as if it defied gravity itself. Astra desperately wanted to stare at something else, however, that was seemingly impossible.
Before Astra knew it, they reached Maria's small room. She went in as Maria opened the door for her, Maria's room was neat except for the desk which was littered with written papers, pictures were unevenly stuck on the walls and on the right, there was a bed fit for only a single person. "You can take the bed; I can use the sleeping bag on the floor" suggested Maria
Astra nodded once more; she didn't like talking much.
Maria stretched her arms and yawned "Well- I'm off to sleep, you should take a rest too" She smiled at Astra who was too energetic to sleep at the moment, but even if she's nocturnal it wouldn't hurt to take a few extra hours of sleep.
Maria took a sleeping bag from one of the drawers and laid it on the floor, getting ready to sleep in it. Meanwhile, Astra curled up under Maria's blanket in a failed attempt to bore herself to sleep by staring at the empty ceiling, she was getting tired already but that's a good thing now. At least she finally has a bed to sleep in.
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Wait- when was the last time Astra slept? That's concerning. How long ago was it? Decades, perhaps...if Astra were to guess, maybe more than that. Time doesn't pass in the void anyway.
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YOU ARE READING
Astra & Astronaut
General FictionIf there were a few things Spacecraft Commander Maria Katz feared, it would be an unsuccessful mission, being forgotten and well...being left in the dark. All three of which are currently happening. A spaceship abandoned and stranded in space, the...
