Snippet #930113

Nick was taken aback by her nervousness and sudden excusal. Her tray had hardly been touched, Nick noticed. It had started from his question about projects, innocent enough. Several other Runners Nick had met in training had told him about projects they had, things they wanted to work on besides just learning and keeping fit for exploration; Jackson had wanted to write a book, Michele Holland was going to compose music, Ryan Peirce had said he'd be borrowing the labs on occasion to run his own tests. However, none of them made the cut. Maybe it was because of their split objectives, the Board had weeded out the ones that would've been distracted or moody, preferring hardasses over intellectuals. They thought they would get the job done better apparently. Nick didn't much look forward to working with the other Runner Teams in other ships.

Somehow though, people like him and Sophie had fallen through the cracks, which gave Nick a spark of hope that the rest of the Corps might be bareable. If, they didn't all suffer from disorders, which Nick was beginning to suspect Sophie might have. He was unsure of the nature, but her actions were hardly normal. 'Or maybe she just has a lot of things on her mind,' he thought.

Some of the crew seemed distraught, suddenly realizing they were in space and then caught under the enormity of our mission. Some visibly, others not so much. 'Perhaps that's what is bothering Sophie,' Nick thought. 'Why am I not affected the same way I wonder...' His mentors would point to a strong fortitude, enemies would say he was devoid of feeling, apathetic. At that point, watching Sophie's back retreating out the door, Nick was prone to believe the latter.

He sighed. If Sophie wanted her space he'd let her have it. Obviously Nick had been the cause of some of her stress, so chasing after her, asking what was wrong, would do no good. Not that he considered it. The choice had already been made without him really thinking about it. Instead, Nick gazed out the window at the passing gas giant Saturn, appearing no bigger than a basketball.

And then it quickly disappeared behind the ship, the last of the major planets they would pass on their way out of the Sol system.

Nick quietly finished his meal and remained sitting at the window, gazing out into the vacuum, where far more stars were visible than any had been from Earth, filling the darkness like nothing Nick could compare them to. Silently he sat, ignoring the departure of the other crewmen, the gradual quiet that took over the dinning hall. The purring of machinery and humming of the ship's STR-Lite engines echoing through the stillness.

He eventually used a penlight to navigate back to Room 10 and roll into bed for a troubled sleep, but on a whim, decided to check the door to the gym. It was open. Inside, the lights flicked on. "Strange," he muttered, "A bug perhaps?" It didn't matter, Nick was elated that the gym was open. He quietly retrieved his bag, cautious not to disturb anyone inside, and slipped into the gym to exercise.