Starcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Interstellar Explorers ❯ Iητεrmεdiατε-Μαss αηd Sτεllαr Βodiεs ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Thanks for following Hecate'sHufflepuff and thanks for the favorite D. W. Tyn! I am very willing to consider advice and suggestions if there's anything more you have to say about my story!

~ Iητεrmεdiατε-Μαss αηd Sτεllαr Βodiεs ~

Milo Flynn slipped his IM Buzzer back into his pocket before turning to the girl who was completely transfixed by whatever he was going to say next.

"Yes?" Sayuri prompted impatiently. "What did he say to you?"

"Elliot's given up on talking to you. He's turned his Buzzer off."

"Phew," she sighed "although I kind of feel a little bad now."

"You think?" Milo responded sarcastically.

"Don't you try to make me feel worse than I already do, Milo! I feel like a shitty friend as it is..."

"Hey, don't worry about it." he soothed. "My bro doesn't hold grudges, everything will be cool."

"If you say so... hey! Wanna hang out now?"

"Well, how much left of first break do we have?"

"About ten minutes." she looked at the pink digital watch strapped to her wrist. Sayuri really liked pink, as well as cats. Her sneakers, arm bands and backpack were all pink with little cartoon kitties on them. It was just the way she liked dressing, along with her skirts and long-sleeved tops.

"Alright then. What do you want to do?" Milo was himself torn between updating his Sargent Atom comic and going to bed, but if he slept now he might not wake up for the assembly. That would be disastrous.

"We can just walk around and shoot the shit!" Sayuri suggested. "The others might still be here or coming soon."

"Well," Milo commented and they started walking "The Atrium Dome is usually where people come to be."

"Totally, it's actually really fancy when you think about it."

"I guess?"

"Like it's the largest dome on the Exodus, and it might be the biggest legitimate off-world bio-zone in the universe."

"I very much doubt that..."

"Well obviously not, I mean the biggest one floating around in space!"

"Yeah maybe."

"And all this fresh air we're breathing, it's created from these real-life trees. Not chemically transformed Oxygen. And nothing about this environment is synthetic, they put in the perfect amount of nitrate compounds and trace elements so the fertile soil keeps the grass green and healthy."

"Well you're the one taking Chemistry and Planetary Science, so I guess you'd know."

"Yeah, I always thought this place was beautiful," she zoned out a bit while they were walking before coming back "Chem is really hard though, if it weren't for Amelia I'd be failing."

"I know the feeling." Milo agreed. "It seems like in all of my classes one of my friends is there and doing better than me."

"Hi Amelia!" Sayuri suddenly shouted with glee. Milo turned to see their politely smug friend walking over, her short honey-brown hair was down and her hands were behind her back.

"Greetings fellow travellers, enjoying an auspicious outing in our opulent oasis?"

"That's a lot of 'O's." Milo pointed out lightly but meant it as a criticism.

"Obviously ordinary order officiates ongoing obliteration of obscurity."

"Okay shut up."

"What is currently taking place? Or wassup if you prefer?"

"We are shooting the metaphorical shit." Sayuri laughed. "Care to join us?"

"Absolutely." the three of them continued on together with Sayuri in the middle "Speaking of metaphors, I heard effusive whispers that the school was going to finally unveil to us our new galactic residence."

"The multi-stellar system?" Milo inquired. "Must be what the assembly's about. Where did you get such a helpful tip-off?"

"From Ms Jennings."

"Errrr!" Michael exclaimed to show his distaste "She is such a bitch!"

"She's pretty awful." Sayuri agreed.

"She's not that bad." Amelia defended light-heartedly. "Just very strict."

"She's a nasty teacher who picks favourites and I hate her." Milo muttered "and she's always hated me!"

"Could it have something to do with the fact you don't pay attention to her classes and receive your only aid from a helpful partner?" Amelia suggested and he shot her a dirty look.

"She's scary," Sayuri commented. "I think she only likes you Amelia cause you're really smart in all your classes and never do anything wrong."

"Perhaps."

"She used to make me cry back in the Stem," Sayuri confessed. Before any of them could continue the radio announcer went off and the head teacher echoed through all the domes.

"Attention all students," Ms McDowell's magnified voice began "Today's assembly will be taking place in the Atrium Dome. Please begin to make your way there now."

Everyone in view had also stopped and looked up at the announcement.

"An assembly in the Atrium Dome? Isn't it a bit early?" Milo pondered, perplexed. Sayuri looked at her watch and shrugged.

"This means we don't have to abdicate far." Amelia added.

"I'm so excited!" Sayuri cheered. "Guys, I hope we're all together! That would be just the best thing ever!"

"Would you endeavour to say you're 'pumped' for our upcoming expeditions?"

"I'm so fucking pumped! This shit is going to be off the hook!"

"Hell yeah," Milo agreed. "Space travel!" they high-fived and Amelia smiled with her hands together, glancing over to Mr Alston as he emerged from a distant tunnel and began gathering the kids together.

More students began filing into the dome and gathering in an open area of the grassy field. The three of them walked over to the crowd and Milo looked around for his best friend or any of the other girls. Sayuri had all but forgotten the previous drama and was studying the teachers with glee. It took a while, but soon all of the students were gathered in the Atrium Dome. Milo looked around but couldn't spot any more of his friends, he looked to the front and soon everyone started to quiet down. The artificial lighting of the dome dimmed and then a large portion began projecting Ms McDowell from within her office. Students gasped and began whispering excitedly at the sight of her lined face enlarged to such a degree above them.

"Settle down students." she echoed "As you have probably guessed, I have a very special announcement. Today marks the end of our ten year journey through hyperspace. One month ago we reached our new galaxy, NGC 4214 and left the Interstellar Medium. Today we have just reached our target multi-stellar system."

Everyone was silent but the excitement was thick in the air as she continued, the chain from her spectacles swung with the slight movements of her head "You have lived and been taught in this institution since you were very young, and now you are ready for your most trying and important assignment yet. In approximately one month, each of you and your crew will be provided with equipment, supplies and a space shuttle. You will have three designated worlds assigned to your team. Hostile and potentially very dangerous environments that have only been remotely investigated by travellers in the past. Your role is to perform various tests and gather as much information about your worlds as possible and then submit your reports to us on your return. Each of the planet combinations and landing sights will be different for all of the teams, but I feel I should tell you this system is home to no less than 87 worlds. Each have varying climates and conditions. The longest journey has been calculated to take four months, seeing as not all of you will be returning at once. When on your journey there will be no supervision or communication with teachers or other teams, you will have to rely on your wit and resourcefulness to get you out of trouble. I will tell you now that recklessness will result in accidents" her probing stare fixed on the students gravely. "All of the deaths I am aware of will occur because of thoughtless mistakes that can be avoided if you take the proper care."

Milo knew that Ms McDowell was also a psionic. Like Mr Alston she was a talented one, but those two teachers seemed to be the only ones who were open about their skills. No students every lied to the head teacher. She could see the future, or the multiple paths of it. If whatever lie you tell her will be revealed in the future she'll catch you right then and there. It was a curious power and Milo often wondered about it. She left a pause for emphasis on her last remark before continuing "The crews have been decided by us and aren't negotiable. You will have to work with whatever team you are partnered. Each of your shuttles is fixed with a hyper-jump mechanism which will be necessary for you to reach your worlds, but for safety reasons it won't activate until all members are secured inside their cryogenic sleep pods. There are nine members in each crew, and the lists will be handed out by the teachers at the end of this assembly. Now, I am going to give you some useful information about our new system."

The screen darkened and then the dome projector vanished, it was suddenly night time and the glass became transparent. Everyone looked up at the view in awe as a dim light shone down on them. Ms McDowell's voice continued to be magnified through the speakers "The only significant light you experienced from a star was belonging to Earth's G type yellow dwarf. Ever since then you've experienced artificial light produced by electricity generated by our station's nuclear power core. After many years you are now being touched by the light of a collapsed star within the Intermediate black hole that makes up the centre of this system." Milo could quite easily stare at the frightening dim light above his head. He didn't know if the safety glass was severely tinted so as not to blind them, but he could see the black hole inside the ball of light with his own eyes. Although the radiation and matter being sucked into it was meant to form a flat disc, due to a black hole's natural light warping abilities it was surrounded in a halo. You could literally see something hiding behind a black hole as the photons making up its image would be scattered around its edges like a camera distortion. It was called gravitational lensing and they learnt about it in Astronomy.

"I don't believe it is necessary to warn you against flying directly towards the black hole. While its mass is seven hundred thousand times that of Earth's sun, it is not much bigger. It behaves like a normal star, which is why it is orbited by many planetoids even though it produces significantly less light. Only when you breach the Schwarzchild radius will you be pulled, very quickly, towards the event horizon. It is not yet confirmed that a hyper-spacial jump can cause one to escape the event horizon, and it is not recommended you attempt to find out unless death by spaghettification sounds like an appealing way to go." there was a sound of ruffling paper. "Now then, orbiting the black hole is a large type F white star that is a lot brighter and hotter than Earth's sun. We are currently heading for its vicinity now, due to our current position behind the black hole we are not being blinded by its powerful rays. Orbiting the type F star is two binary stars, a dim type K dwarf orange star and a type M red supergiant which is nearing the end of its life and is expected to erupt in a supernova sometime over the next million years. These are the only stellar bodies relevant to your expeditions. In a much further elliptical orbit is a neutron star but such an attempt to reach it would be needless and take up a lot of your time. It is only recommended you visit your specific worlds, as any expedition that takes longer than the four month limit will end in failure."

The entire time Milo's eyes hadn't left the black hole. It sat there in its magnificence, warping light and space-time. It was almost as if his own spirit was being pulled by the intense gravity. It was time for them to begin serious preparation for their maiden voyage. This time Milo wasn't scared as he looked up into the void, even with these terrifying new solar masses before them. This time he was excited and determined for their quest to begin.

"Teachers," Ms McDowell's voice continued. "Please begin handing out the crew lists to each of the students."

This chapter seemed more focused on the plot as opposed to just character development. Tell me what you think! Who is Milo going to be in a crew with?