X

Enroute

"A few more burns we should be on the right course. Travel time is around 17 hours so we'll take shifts two or three at a time. Zack go ahead and rest. First shift's mine." Said Ryan.

Zack went to the back of the ship and fell asleep on the seats. He was the one flying while Ryan made the necessary calculations.

Ryan looked at the control panel and tried to figure out how they work. All he knew was the launch sequence and the fuel burns required to get into Terran orbit. After that he was clueless. This was the first time in his life where he did not know what to do. His father disappeared when he was five. Ryan was very close to his dad and his disappearance made him very closed off. He hardly talked for years. He shunned off anything emotional and relentlessly worked to find his father. He strung up images of possible locations, racked up an entire hard drive to hack camera servers and to store its output. His brothers had given up on him and stopped trying to talk to him. Jas especially took this as a very hard decision. But after a mysterious cylinder appeared in their lives, Ryan finally talked to his brothers again. And all of a sudden one of them was taken. He couldn't afford to lose anyone else. His thought was interrupted by Sam.

"Hey we want to help you get your brother back. So could you tell us what is the plan?"

"Why?" said Ryan.

"Zack said he is really important to you. So we'll help you out." said Alex.

"He really cares about how you're doing." said Sam. "So just don't be a jerk to him"

"Hey I'm no-"

"I'm just saying. You've been a jerk to him all these past years and he to you. But he wants it to end. So don't be a jerk."

"Umm... ok." replied Ryan.

"Cool. So what's the plan?" asked Alex.

Ryan tapped the screen on the control panel and opened a hologram showing two planetary bodies. He explained the fuel burns to get into Hadean orbit. To save on fuel, he planned to use an emergency landing pod to land on the surface of Hades. He also would be using the friction of the Hadean atmosphere to slow down into orbit around 10000 meters above the rocky surface.

"Ok. I definitely understood all that." said Sam, not understanding.

Ryan sighed. "Y'know, it's actually nice having more people around." he said softly. "So, we haven't talked much, Sam... uhhh... what do you..."

"It's hard to start a conversation sometimes, man. I get it." said Sam, smiling.

"Oh, thank god. I have no idea what to say." he replied, smirking.

"Look I'll tell you a bit about myself, then you, then Alex. Nice little icebreaker session." said Sam.

"Sounds good. All I know about you is that you're popular in our school and you hang out underground."

Sam laughed. "Look, I'm not that popular. I'm just someone who likes talking to a lot of people." she said. However she did not mention that she never felt like she fit in with all those people. "I like reading, and listening to music. Now you!"

Ryan thought for a moment. "I- I don't like being in crowds. I'm not too much into sports and I um... I love science, reading, music and programming."

"Nice." said Sam. "Now, Alex?"

"I play basketball, ride bike and love swords, knives and literally any kind of sharp object. I also like wearing black."

"I figured you like wearing black." said Ryan, looking at Alex who was wearing a black leather jacket over a dark grey T-shirt and black jeans.

"And?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ryan looked at Sam, worrying that he might have offended Alex.

"Hah! I was messing with you."

As talked, the ship slowly accelerated towards the lava moon, sucking in Hydrogen atoms, fusing and releasing their energy. The violent explosions happening during the process almost looked peaceful from a distance.