Celeste

Celeste was following behind Hariette quietly. She didn’t know where they were going. Even after walking the halls so many times, she still couldn’t find her way around.

The lights were white.

So she knew she was in the Coordinators’ area. They walked into a room that had rows and rows of computers. When the lights turned on, so did the computers.

“This was where the Coordinators were when we had attacks.” Hariette said, walking up to the center platform. A few holograms loaded around her.

“Welcome, Commander Hariette.” The system recognized her passwords.

Celeste kept her gaze on Hariette for a second. She thought Hariette looked like she belonged in the center of the room. And she was right. Hariette was a good leader. It made sense that she was a commander. Celeste began to look around so she wouldn’t ask Hariette personal questions. She walked to one of the computers, the screen waiting for a password input. When Hariette finished disabling the security system, Celeste could see what all the Coordinators would see.

Except there weren’t any Flyers in their ships, so not a lot of information loaded on the screens.

“Coordinators could see things from in here that we couldn’t see out there.” Hariette said. “Without them, we’d have a hard time.”

“Well, that doesn’t make sense at all.” Celeste didn’t believe it. “I don’t understand how being inside the Mother Ship makes it easier to fight.”

“The fighter ships were equipped with all kinds of sensors.” Hariette explained. “As much as Flyers knew what was around them at a certain radius, Coordinators could see an entire image based on the location of multiple ships.”

Celeste didn’t like the sound of that. It was seen on her face, especially with the way her nose scrunched up and shrugged away from the computer. “Being able to read that must’ve been a nightmare.” she scoffed.

“I wasn’t a Coordinator often just because of that.” Hariette turned off her screens. “It’s a lot more information at once, then you have to process commands, then you have a bunch of officials yelling at you.” She listed the things that upset her. “I’d rather be in space.”

Hariette had a dual occupation. Celeste remembered reading that.

She also read that Aurora had one. “Was Aurora...did he go out there?” She asked.

Hariette turned to her slowly. She realized Celeste didn’t know how it was on the first day.

Celeste didn’t know both her parents crashed on to the planet.

“A few weeks before we got to the planet, we faced a massive attack that was hard to come back from.” Hariette stepped down and walked over to Celeste as she spoke. “There was an order for any Coordinator who was physically able to handle space to have a dual occupation.” She explained. “That’s how Aurora got his.”

She figured Celeste read about it.

“Hundreds of Coordinators and Flyers fell on to the new planet.” she leaned against the table and looked around, thinking back to more than thirty years ago.

Celeste didn’t know. She could only imagine what the deaths were like. She stared at Hariette, mostly because she didn’t have anything to say.

“I fell...Aurora fell, Sirus fell, too.” Hariette said. “The ships weren’t built for flying in an atmosphere or in constant gravity so everyone who survived was lucky.” She added, her voice going quiet.

She remembered that day. She had pulled herself out of her ship with minor injuries but she had many of them. All she could do was sit on her knees on the broken glass and watch as hundreds of ships fell from the sky.

“We won, though.” Hariette said though it didn’t make her smile.

“Won what?” Celeste didn’t understand.

“Oh, you thought we were traveling safely with other nations?” Hariette didn’t know that was the assumption they were teaching in school. “I can tell you right now, this voyage for however long it took was not a friendly one. We wouldn’t have had our army if we were going to get there together.”

Celeste looked away and thought to herself. Was she expecting it to be easy? No. But she didn’t know it was a race to get here.

“Why do you think our societal system is implemented in every country?” Hariette asked. “We got here first.”

“So it was a good thing you fell from the sky.” Celeste said.

“Actually, yes.” Hariette smiled.

It was a good thing. Who knows who would’ve been in charge if those Coordinators and Flyers hadn’t fallen. It was a little much, but they still won.

“Don’t be so hard on Aurora and Sirus for not telling you things.” Hariette took a breath and sighed to herself.

She realized how hard it was to talk about it, to relive that memory. It wasn’t the worst, but some things are just hard to forget. She’s tried, but she’s not lucky.

“There are things that happened that are better left unsaid.” Hariette put that out there for her.

“Hariette, do you...” Celeste didn’t want to be rude and asked if Hariette was battling with PTSD, too. “I mean, are you-” She stopped herself abruptly to try and find the right words to say. “You don’t get anxious?” Celeste asked.

“I did sometimes.” Hariette answered truthfully. “For me, it was just easier to accept that it was shitty in space. War happens. People die. We can’t change that.” She said.

Her attitude was always matter-of-fact. She never worried herself for the greater good. She did what she had to and that was that. She didn’t question authority, she didn’t try to get around doing her job, she didn’t think it was necessary to go about wondering how to save lives because she knew lives would be lost.

“I’ve had friends die, and nothing I do will change that it happened.”

And as strong of a person that she is, she was human. She had her moments, she would get upset too. She did her best to hide that side of her. Not a lot of people saw her weakness.

So Celeste was genuinely surprised to see Hariette so upset.

Celeste stood up straight and looked Hariette in her eyes. “I’m sorry all that happened to you.” She said.

She felt like someone had to take responsibility. Celeste knew that war was war, too. But maybe offering an apology might make things better.

She can’t imagine what Hariette went through, what all those people went through.

“It was three decades ago.” Hariette said.

“I’m sure that kind of thing lasts.” Celeste said. “And I’m glad that you’re commander. If I wasn’t so up tight about where I should be working, I’d work for you.” Celeste meant it.

“Why don’t you?” Hariette was curious.

If she had Celeste as one of the engineers in her department, the things that could happen would be incredible.

“I don’t want to say my anxiety is crippling but I don’t like putting myself in stressful situations.” Celeste admitted.

She felt it was easier to tell Hariette.

Hariette thought about it for a second, looking off to the side though she nodded with understanding. She figured Celeste was dealing with something that prevented her from doing what she wanted.

But Celeste preferred low stress and she wanted to keep it like that.

“Okay.” Hariette wasn’t going to stress her out. “I can’t exactly contract you privately.” She said.

“Trust me, the blue print you gave me has satisfied me for two years. You wouldn’t believe how many failed attempts I’ve had with that one.”

“But you finished.” Hariette was happy because of Celeste. “You’re smart, Celeste. And I won’t invalidate your anxiety, but I’d like to see what you can do even if your heart races a little.”

Hariette was always blunt like that. She’s been trying to get Celeste in her department for a while and has been unsuccessful. She wasn’t going to stop until Celeste said yes.

People always told her she was smart, that she had the mind for anything. She knew, she believed what people said. Now they’re saying that she needs to reach her full potential.

She was about to consider it.

But not quite yet.

Why leave a cushy life to be stressed all the time? Celeste had to admit that most of her time has been boring. Should she say she preferred it? Maybe she should be making weapons and new systems. Her work was always flawless.

“Give me a year.” Celeste would consider Hariette’s offer.

Weakly.

But she would still consider it.

“I like your optimism.” Hariette stood up straight. “Because of that, I want to give you something. Consider it a late birthday gift.” Hariette was leaving the room.

Celeste quickly followed because she wanted to know what it was.

Hariette took her to one of the launch pads, not for the fighter ships but for people who were leaving the Mother Ship. Coordinators often left to do maintenance.

She turned everything on as Celeste closely followed.

The area wasn’t that big, though it was enough for a group to leave in one drop. Celeste pressed up against the glass but she didn’t know what she was looking at from where she was standing.

All she saw was an empty room. She was standing behind the glass, she saw computers on that side of her as well, but that was it.

Hariette handed her something. “Put this on.” Hariette said abruptly.

It was a bright white suit.

“I don’t...” Celeste opened it up a bit to look at it.

It looked a little too small for her. Celeste was a bit skeptical, unsure if she would fit in the suit. Then she thought of why she would have to change her clothes.

“You don’t want to go out there?” Hariette asked since Celeste barely.

“Out where?" Celeste looked at her quickly. Hariette smiled. “Holy shit!” she shouted. “Hariette, are you letting me out into space?”

“Not if you don’t put that suit on.”

Celeste was already stripping her clothes in front of her so she could put the suit on. She didn’t care about finding privacy, she just needed to get it on as quickly as possible.

She yanked the suit up over her body, doing her best to fit in the tight fabric. Just looking at it, she knew it was small but Hariette handed her this suit so she was going to fit into it.

“Celeste, we have all day.” Hariette laughed at her, watching her struggle. “I’m not going to deprive you of the experience.” she said.

“You’re so nice to me, Hariette.” Celeste had stars in her eyes.

Hariette laughed to herself now. She moved behind Celeste, pushing her silver hair to the side and zipped up the suit for her.

“My boobs are making this difficult.” Celeste had to take a breath and hold it so Hariette could zip the suit up.

“It’s tight for a reason.” Hariette said. “The conditions in space are not favorable. The suit protects you.” she said. “It hasn’t been updated in a while, but it’ll function fine.”

Celeste moved her arms up and tried to stretch in the tight suit. She couldn’t move as freely as she would like.It clung to her skin. The conditions will be harsher in space, the suit will latch on tighter.

Hariette picked up a helmet on the table as Celeste tied up her hair. “The system will recognize you.”

“Oh.” Celeste swooned.

Was she one of them now?

“Despite what Flyers will tell you about Coordinators, they’re actually quite entertaining.” Hariette took a seat. “You’d be surprised by what they can come up with.” she said.

Celeste didn’t know what to do. She was holding the helmet in her hands, but she blanked. Her heart was racing with excitement, but she was lost in thought.

“Well.” Hariette snapped her out of it. “If you don’t get in there, you can’t get to space.” She urged for Celeste to get in the launch pad.

Celeste ran into the chamber and put her helmet on. It glowed when it was fastened correctly with her suit.

She was shaking from being so excited.

Then Hariette opened up the hatch, and Celeste was sucked into the darkness of space. She was weightless within seconds, floating aimlessly around once released from gravity. Her heart continued to race as she looked around. She was in a void of nothingness.

There was light coming from behind her, and she turned around to look.

She could see the planet.

It was immense.

Her eyes widened at the view. She could see all the water, the countries, the satellites in the planet’s orbit. It was beautiful.

Celeste couldn’t get out of her own thoughts. She was in awe at what she saw. Hariette said the system would recognize her. Celeste remembered. She took a breath hesitantly and closed her eyes.

“Computer.” She said quietly.

There was a light that made her open her eyes. Her helmet flashed blue. “Welcome, Celeste.”

Her heart fluttered.

For the first time in her life, she felt like she found where she belonged.

Hariette monitored Celeste in space. It seemed like Celeste was content with floating in the void. She had machinery at her disposal, but Hariette could see the direction she was facing, and that Celeste was happy with looking at the planet.

If Celeste could stay there for the rest of her life, she would.

She belonged in space. That’s how she felt.

She asked the system all kinds of questions. She asked about the solar system, the stars, the planet. And sometimes there wasn’t an answer since the system hasn’t been updated in a while. But she learned a lot of things from the Computer. She was so lucky to have the experience.

When she ran out of questions, she rested in silence. She watched the planet, and for once she was completely stress free. It’s been so long since she’s felt like that.

From where Hariette was sitting, she saw the astral projection.

A woman in white made of stars.

Celeste definitely belonged in space.

Dri saw the astral projection, too. He wasn’t nearby. He saw from one of the windows. He wasn’t sure if it was Celeste out there, but then he saw the projection and figured that it would be her.

It was an image he wouldn’t be able to forget.

Celeste looked unreal in space.

He wanted to see it again, and he could.

“Dri, you shouldn’t be using that here.” Celeste tugged on his arm to get him to stop using the implant but he didn’t. They were alone, and that was a good thing, but she didn’t think Dri would use it here.

His eyes had bright blue rings while he watched over and over the projection of stars.

“You’re heavenly.” he said.

“Dri...” she began to blush.

His hand pressed on his prosthetic forearm, and he was able to bring up the image he was looking at. His eyes still glowed bright blue, but Celeste was no longer looking at his face. She saw what he was looking at.

She had asked the system so many questions.

She wanted to know what Coordinators equipped the suit with and she found out about the projections.

She didn’t think it was that big, but then she saw it. The woman in white. There was a cluster of stars behind her showing the image of her. It was definitely her.

“You’re beautiful.” Dri said softly.

His eyes were far away, watching the woman he liked so much enjoy herself in space. He could watch that so many times and be content with the image.

Celeste tugged on his arm again. “Dri, we’re going to get in trouble.”

He turned it off to put her at ease. Clearly, he thought he could get away with it, but the rings glow a bright blue and that’s not something to hide. Celeste didn’t want to get in trouble, no one knows that Dri has her finished implant.

“How was it?” he asked.

“You should’ve came with me.” she said to him. “It was fun.” she enjoyed it for as long as she could be out there.

But her oxygen wasn’t unlimited. She couldn’t stay out there forever no matter how much she wanted to.

“I’m fine with watching you do it.” Dri wasn’t the one to enjoy being out of the safety of the Mother Ship. The last thing he needed was to be sucked out in space.

Dri could watch her.

He leaned his head on to his hand and did exactly that. She continued to blush, and her cheeks were getting darker because he hadn’t looked away.

“This would be a great time to actually fuck-”

“In a hallway?” Dri asked, but he wasn’t surprised. “I’m better than a hallway.”

“There’s plenty of rooms we could go to if that’s your problem.” she let go of his arm. “You’re really going to be all pissy about when and where we do this?” she wasn’t sure if he was going to be uptight about it.

“Uh, yeah.” Dri didn’t think it was shocking. “I have to be incredibly desperate to let you take me in a hallway, Celeste.”

She stared at him. She had that blank stare like all of his words went in one ear and out the other. She wasn’t listening.

“I’m suddenly no longer wet.” she got up.

“I can fix that if you want me to.” Dri suggested casually as he got up as well.

“Right now.” Celeste demanded.

“In private.” was the only thing Dri was asking for.

Celeste stared at him again, but she slowly gave in. “Fine, in private." she mocked him but she wasn’t going to say no.

They could pick any room they wanted, it’s not like there were others around.

It was time to leave and Celeste wasn’t too happy about it. There was no one that would willingly take her back to play around with all the systems she missed out on.

She downloaded everything she could, but in the end the amount of information she could have surpassed how much her tablet could hold.

She stood beside Sirus quietly. If she wanted to stay, she had to ask now. Hariette was just about ready, and soon they won’t be able to turn back.

“Can I stay?” Celeste asked her father dearly.

Sirus didn’t even think about it. Someone would have to be with her, and he wasn’t up for it again. “No.” he answered plainly.

“But I won’t do anything crazy. Can’t I just stay for a week-”

“No.” Sirus said again.

“But-”

“Celeste.” He warned her.

She mashed her lips together tightly and turned away. She didn’t technically need to listen to her parents anymore, but she was sure Sirus would drag her back to the new planet if she tried to stay.

“Did you get what Aurora asked for?” Celeste asked, changing the subject abruptly.

Sirus groaned miserably, his hand pressing on his forehead.

He forgot.

He cursed to himself.

“I’m making a doctor’s appointment.” Celeste said. “You’ve been more forgetful lately-”

“I’m fine-”

“If you were fine, I wouldn’t be making the appointment.” She said to him. “How are you supposed to take care of Aurora if you’re forgetting things?-”

“Why do I have to take care of everyone? Someone take care of me for fucking once.” Sirus was ranting.

“I will.” Celeste said kindly. “And first I’ll do that by making your doctor’s appointment because I know you’re not going to do it.” She didn’t find it bothersome.

She’s been saying that she would take care of her parents if she needed to. She was the one fighting so hard to get them to retire.

“I’m fine.” Sirus said again, grumbling to himself.

He has been a little forgetful lately.

“Hariette said you were smart.” She said to him. Sirus didn’t respond to that comment. “She also said you were pissy all the time.”

Sirus scoffed. “No one left me alone.” he just wanted time to himself and he never got it. “Hariette was a bi-” he stopped himself abruptly from cursing. He did that a lot around her and he got yelled at for it every time.

Celeste didn’t mind. “I’m a big girl. I know what a bitch is.” she laughed.

“Stop hanging around Hariette.” Sirus told her. “She’s crazy.”

“She let me in space.”

“You’re proving my point.” Sirus sighed, now annoyed that Celeste was going wild because Hariette thinks it’s okay to project onto her.

“I know this is a testy question.” Celeste started.

“Then don’t ask it.” Sirus didn’t hesitate.

“I’m going to.” She said anyway. “You don’t miss any of this?” she asked him. “I mean...you did grow up here. You’re telling me you were fine with not being here?”

Sirus remained quiet for a moment. He was staring at the floor, not because he was thinking, but because he remembered the feeling he had when he tried to come back.

He hated being on the planet for some time. It made him uncomfortable. His first experience was almost dying. Why would he want to stay for that?

“Aurora likes the sun and grass and all that other shit.” Sirus said.

“You stayed for him.” Celeste couldn’t hold back her smile.

Sirus didn’t answer for a second. He was almost tempted to keep his response to himself. “I did.” he said anyway. She was right, Sirus did stay for Aurora.

She continued to smile.

It must be nice to have someone to stay for. She wasn’t going to ask anymore questions, at least for now. As much as she wanted to see more, she got her answers for now.