Mission: Paradise

Three

The next few days were a blur for Penny. A blitz of sculpting different images around her to practice for the first time in four hundred years. Hours scrubbing the same clay out from under her nails. Reading until early in the morning until exhaustion won over her. Waking up around ten am. Immediately checking the news on Earth, reassuring herself that all was well. And then repeating the same cycle. She never encountered anyone else. She locked eyes with Noah across the hall once, before turning and ignoring his calls completely.

Penny didn't allow a single thought of people to cross her mind, whether it was past or present people, male or female, loved or hated. She kept her mind on her work, and kept the tears that threatened to disturb her locked securely under lock and key. No, she never thought of how all her friends would be long gone by now, or how they'd all begged for her to stay. Not once did she recall the shocked look on their faces when she revealed her decision, the sound of their voices as they refused to believe that she wasn't joking. She certainly did not make several sculptures of her past life, featuring all of her friends at some point.

At long last, the official "waking up" day arrived, albeit rather slowly in Penny's opinion. She an Noah were sure to stand in the pod room fifteen minutes prior to their crew mates' awakening , waiting with chewed fingernails and bitten lips. A droplet of blood danced on the tip of the young woman's tongue, filling her mouth with the metallic taste that had become oh so familiar these past few days. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a surprising spectacle. Noah was glancing at her every few seconds, as if to check she was still there. She shook her head slightly, finding that he cared for her well-being despite the fact she had yelled at him rather stupid.

Penny stepped forwards towards the sharp lines of pods, the clock on the wall showing her that there was still ten minutes left until all the others woke up. She was nervous, her fingers shaking as she wandered around the room. A girl with teal hair and a lip piercing, two pods containing people with flawless skin and sleek brown hair, one male and one female. Penny assumed they were siblings, as their labels both had the same last name 'Bryant'. She moved on to the next few pods, a ginger, slightly chubby girl, a dark-skinned, brown eyed girl with a judgemental look in her eye. Tan skin, brown hair, blonde hair, dark skin, green eyes, tattoos, piercings, rings, no metal to be seen. Every single one of the crew was unmistakably different, in their own way. 

Three minutes left on the clock. Penny hurried back to her spot by the wall, dragging a chair from a nearby stack. She sat far enough away from the clusters of pods that she wouldn't frighten anyone who woke up feeling as disoriented as her, but close enough to see what was going on. Two minutes. A sigh from Noah's corner. One and a half. A flashing blue light on the pods. One minute remaining until she met her crew mates. Whirring echoing around the room. Thirty seconds until every pod would open simultaneously.

Penny suddenly felt quite nervous, pushing her chair backwards, getting as close to the wall as possible. The loud screech directed Noah's attention to her, and she concentrated on watching the last few seconds tick down on the timer. 5...4...3...2...1... The pods let out a small whine as they slid open, fully revealing all of the people inside. Slowly, eyes blinked, bodies sat up. The ginger girl held a shaking hand to her mouth and promptly dashed out of the room, stumbling as she attempted to keep her balance and run in a straight line.

Penny stood up, knocking her chair to the ground as she rushed after the girl. A couple of others managed to get out of their pods, but simply sat on the ground. The siblings seemed to have faces completely devoid of any emotion, and their movements seemed forced and sharp. However, Penny paid little attention to anyone else as she caught the elbow of the girl, tucking her hair over her shoulder as she leaned over to hurl her guts up.