In The Orbit (Part I)

50. Harold

I am still in the pool when the siren blares. Thanks a million to whoever pushed me into the pool. I struggle to swim in my clothes towards the edge of the water to get out. By the time I have managed to get out, everyone else is out the door. As I am shaking myself dry, I see a door next to the lifeguard's office that has lit up in red. I open it, and see that there is a long staircase, going up many flights. The siren suddenly stops, so I close the door, and look out of the pool room to see everyone leaving through a few doors in the hall, all marked with red.

So I use my common sense to figure that all doors marked with red must be where we should go, so I go back into the pool room, open the red-marked door, and start my long ascent up the stairs.

I reach the top, and it isn't a lot of stairs. There are two doors. I choose the red marked one and continue down a long hallway. When I open the next door, I see Fifi and Hower climbing up the next set of stairs.

"Hower!" I shout. He spins around. Fifi does too, and she looks around, and upon seeing that only Hower is here, she runs down and hugs me.

"What's this for?" I ask, pleasantly surprised. Fifi and I aren't close at all. This sounds weird, but hugs are one of my favorite things in the world. There isn't much that can make you feel better than a hug.

"I am just a little nervous, I guess. This helps," she says.

"Do you know what's going on?" I ask her. We start to ascend the stairs behind Hower.

"Something about Ruv-Kne?" she replies. "No clue."

The small knot of guilt in my stomach is causing a cramp. Or maybe it's all the stairs. But the guilt is making it's way up, clogging my throat. I stop for a minute on a landing. I should have never let Khan deal with the Ruv-Kne. He had said he would deal with it. I was to relieved not to do it myself, that I just let him. How could I have been so stupid? Khan just doesn't have the sense of logic that I have, or Strom does.

"Keep going, Rolder," Hower says, not unkindly.

I start to tread up the stairs again. We catch up with a group of people, all more overweight than I am. All are panting heavily and sweating. It makes me think about how much more fit I have become. I still do not have Khan abs, or biceps like Karma, but my pants are all a little looser and my thighs don't chafe as much.

We awkwardly pass them and reach a huge group of people slowly entering a door. As soon as we get in, we see the rest of the crew, including the officers.

"All of you link arms, and follow me!" Kesselhof snaps. "Took you all way too long to get up here, do you see this crowd?"

"Are we in Kindergarten or something?" Khan scoffs.

"Shut up and do it!" Kesselhof yells. "You do not leave anyone behind!"

Fifi links arms with my on one side, and Azalea on the other. Strom and Khan start to move towards each other, then they catch each other's eyes and jerk away from each other.

We shove through the crowd and exit through a door and onto a ship. We feel it start to move, and we all crowd around the little window to watch the place we called home for all those strange months slowly recede into the sun's glare. Then the ship turns abruptly and we are off.