Biosphere

Chapter 1

When you board a galaxy ship, you sign a document; a bill of vows. 

The vows are community guidelines; mandates. Vow eleven concerns passenger safety and I quote: 

I acknowledge the galaxy ship is a spectacularly advanced invention developed by the Javan Foundation. I understand the limits of my own mental capacity prevent me from understanding how complex and delicate the ship's engine system is. Therefore, and in accordance with overall ship health and passenger safety, I will never, under any circumstance, break into the ship's technician corridors, also known as The Pipes. 

Katie was born on the Galaxy ship, born into a one-way journey towards hope. Therefore, she didn't necessarily have a choice as pedigree grandfathered her into acknowledging The Bill. No passenger had ever refused to sign it; The Bill was just a life ritual all passengers went through - like puberty. So, like all the other kids in her school, Katie signed the bill at seven years old and even though it had been two years since the signing, she was still quite aware that she was forbidden from The Pipes.

Yet, there she was. 

The Pipes were grated-metal halls of snaking wires, and engine parts all working together to propel the ship through space at near-light speed. 

It wasn't as if The Pipes guarded some catastrophic secret from the passengers. 

Though Katie knew if she were caught there, or worse, if she broke something while trespassing, her fresh food privileges would be taken away for the remainder of their journey to planet of salvation, Exagora.  There were only a few weeks left of their twenty-year travel time, so Katie was willing to take the risk, however. The powdered meals (just add water!) weren't so bad - if you weren't that into food, anyway. 

The Pipes connected the entire ship, like veins pumping plasma to every organ in a body. Therefore, the Pipes offered shortcuts to get anywhere on the ship in a flash, especially useful when on a super secret spy mission. 

And Katie was the best nine year-old spy of them all. It was something she took pride in. Katie didn't particularly excel at communication, though she was great at listening. At a young age, listening proved quite beneficial. She learned to pick up on nuances, read body language, tones, and tune out distractions. She approached listening with an analytical lens, developing her curiosity for humans; creatures with public and private faces... Listening eventually led to hiding, spying, and learning the various secrets hiding beneath the surface of the Galaxy Ship...

She'd have told you it wasn't her fault she wound up in The Pipes, anyway. It was her dumb brother, Lenny's fault.  

Lenny was good-looking with golden hair that lay flat and glistened, a stark difference from Katie's mop of wiry brown tangles. His tan skin brought out his blue eyes and drew swoons from the breeder girls in their fourth-grade class. Boys hardly noticed Katie's brown eyes because she was always hanging her head, nose-deep in a book. 

Lenny was smart in Algebra, quick in dodgeball, and kind in community awareness club. He was popular with students and teachers alike. But they didn't know Lenny like his twin sister knew Lenny and Lenny was actually not very nice at all. Lenny was an evil robot sent by the gods of bad karma to inflict a life of suffering upon Katie, or at least that's what she thought. Lenny was her twin of nine years and arch nemesis.

"Why couldn't you be more like Lenny?"  Katie was asked on more than one occasion when someone would contrast Katie's erratic and rogue public behavior to Lenny's demure. 

Katie was sick of the pressure and felt compelled to hide away in the veins of the Galaxy Ship, as if she were consigned there by decree of General Stockett for being so detrimentally unlikable. She wanted to escape and didn't care if she was caught.  Danger sprinkled onto thrill proved a delicious dessert and she felt like binging. Besides, she wasn't that worried anyway. Katie knew technicians and engineers hardly ever hung around The Pipes unless there were an issue with the engine.