Rashi stared at Sae. What the fuck, indeed. Biting her lip, she looked around the room. “Sae… What’s going on? Like really…”. Her voice trailed off as she lost her train of thought. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, making her jittery. She was still in full on fight-or-flight mode, and her brain had chosen flight, making everything cloudy.

Sae looked into the distance, eyes fogged over and fingers tapping empty air, as she jumped from one system to another. Her body went still, almost rigid, as she said, “This is getting weirder and weirder. Some guy called Smythe, one of the security guys, just released a statement saying that Nick isn’t here on Deimos. Calling for them to look elsewhere, and to release The Pegasus for departure. That makes no kind of sense.” Sae looked up at Rashi.

In shared confusion, they both looked towards the room where Nick had disappeared a couple of minutes before. It was surreal; all around them people were moving around, talking, as if nothing had happened while the drama was playing out behind the scenes.

When they thought things couldn’t get any weirder, the door in the far corner suddenly opened up and Nick stepped back out as if nothing had happened.

Rashi was about to run forward to Nick when someone touched her on the shoulder. “Oh, sorry!” Alice said, when Rashi spun her head and almost stumbled. “Jumpy! Anyway, let’s go! Engineering is on the first shuttle flight over.” Oblivious to the expression on their faces, Alice looked up at Sae and added with a smile, “And I think the geek squad is on the flight too”.

Rashi found herself led towards the docking bay and sent Nick a message.

“Nick! What’s going on? Where did you go?”

“Oh - it was just some astrogation stuff to clear up. Apparently, the last batch of VISION data failed a checksum fidelity test, so we had to recalculate part of the TOI 700 dataset. All ok now!”

Something about that rang false to Rashi, but she couldn’t put her finger on it and before she had a chance to think it through, they were passing through the airlock and into the shuttle. Finding a seat next to Alice, Rashi saw The Pegasus floating outside the windows. Almost glittering as it hung in space, the vessel invoked a sense of serenity that clashed with Rashi’s internal state. The feeling of adrenaline leaving her system felt like an approaching hangover, and Rashi was already closing her eyes and trying to breathe when the shuttle was suddenly released from the docking bay with a loud clang. Sudden vertigo and residual panic threatened to overwhelm her. Breathe, she told herself. Breathe. It will all be ok.

Alice gave her a concerned look. “You ok, Rachel? You look… grey?”

“Just some sudden space sickness, “ Rashi tried to give Alice a confident smile, but could see in the other girl’s expression that she had failed. Instead, she added, “I’ll be ok in a second.”

Changing the topic, Rashi pointed out the window. “Wow, will you look at that? Isn’t she beautiful?”

As Alice turned her head to look out the window, Rashi let her head fall back in the seat.

-

Stepping out of the shuttle and into The Pegasus was like stepping into the future. A future in carefully chosen pastel colours and elegant lines, with ambient classical music playing in the background. If she didn’t know better, Rashi would have guessed they were in some kind of high end spa or treatment centre. She looked around, appreciating the thought that had gone into making this place livable for a very long time.

Around her, crewmates were floating around, getting used to the lack of gravity. Some were clearly more adept at others, moving with skill and determination from handhold to handhold. Others kept bumping into bulkheads and other people as they failed to estimate their trajectories.

Rashi was soon gently nudging the walls to give herself momentum as she moved down the corridor. The experience was calming, and she was smiling when a message from Chief Greta appeared in her mindpal.

“All engineering crew: Please confirm that you have boarded The Pegasus. Please proceed to your quarters and be ready for pre-flight briefings at 12:00 in the main engineering hall in Section 45”.

Rashi had made it to the central spine, which ran the entire length of the vessel, a tunnel three metres wide that served as the main transportation corridor for crew and cargo moving through the ship. The shuttle bay was located around the middle of the vessel, and from her vantage point, she could see the spinal corridor running away in both directions. Looking down the long tunnel, Rashi appreciated the size of the vessel. Even without the people in the tunnel partly obstructing her vision, she would be hard pressed to see the end.

Pulling herself quickly to the side as two men were hurrying past where she was floating, Rashi decided to try the elevators. Narrow corridors bisected each sector, and at the end where the corridor met the hull, there were elevator shafts running the length of the vessel.

Rashi soon found herself in a small queue, waiting her turn as people got onto small platforms that appeared and disappeared through the elevator shaft. Soon it was Rashi’s turn, and with more confidence than she felt, she pushed herself onto the moving platform. Soon, the platform gently pushed up at her, and she braced her legs against the slight gravity.

Let’s see… Rashi checked a message again. Room: S43/1/A. So, 43rd Section. She watched the Section numbers going past. 24, 25, 26… The elevator continued at a careful pace, and Rashi noticed the platform made small velocity adjustments at what seemed irregular intervals. Soon she was getting close. 41, 42, and… 43! She pushed herself off the moving platform and crashed straight into a man who had been standing next to the elevator shaft.

He smiled at her. “Hey Rachel! Careful there!”

Blushing, Rashi answered. “Oh, sorry… Rick is it? I guess these elevators take some training to get used to!”

“Sure, but… did you forget to push the exit button?”

“The what?”

“There’s a big button marked ‘Exit’ at the side of the elevator. If you push it, the platform will stop at the next level and not move until you are safely off.”

Ahh! That’s why the elevator platform kept changing velocity, Rashi thought.

Rashi was blushing even more deeply now. “Uh… I guess I forgot that from training. Thanks!”

“No problem. I guess I’ll see you later in the briefing?”

“Sure!” she said as Rick got onto the next platform. Turning to the corridor, Rashi thought, this place is confusing, and pushed herself in what she thought was the right direction. Soon, she was floating outside a door, with R. Patel, Engineering (Drives) (2) displayed on the digital screen outside. Approaching the room, the door sent an authentication query to her mindpal, which she accepted, and the door clicked open.

Inside, she found a neat and surprisingly large room. The walls curved slightly with the shape of the vessel's hull, and the bed was folded down and already made! Another bed was folded up higher on the wall. A desk ran the length of one wall, with high-quality screens already lit up with a welcome message from the captain. This place is like a hotel! She thought as she unpacked her belongings before grabbing a quick shower.

While she was getting dressed, she sent off a quick message to Nick.

Hi! How’s it going? Found your room ok?

Yep. It’s right by the Bridge, towards the front. Super convenient. Engineering is all the way in the aft section, right?

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Yeah. Far away!

We’ll meet up later. I think Section 15 is a large bar. When is your shift over?

Don’t know yet! Will let you know when I do.

Alright!

Rashi was soon heading for the main engineering hall, two sections further back. She soon found a room occupying the entirety of section 45. The large room was filled with chairs, distributed in concentric circles. Small handholds were attached both to chairs and walls to accommodate zero g gatherings, and all the seats were equipped with harnesses for use if the situation called for sudden changes in acceleration.

Rashi looked around and appreciated how much of a skeleton crew they were. The room could easily accommodate a hundred people, ‌but the current engineering team could fit in the room four or five times over. Rashi knew the design profile called for the vessel to operate independently for several years, but she couldn’t imagine how crowded it would be to live and work in this place with three or even four times as many people around.

Rashi pushed her way over to the ceiling, just because she could. She was definitely getting over her initial disorientation from the lack of gravity and was starting to appreciate what a completely different environment it made everything when you had to think and move in three dimensions.

Soon, the room started filling up. In one corner of the mindpal viewscreen, Rashi kept a watch on the engineering roster as people joined the crowd and marked themselves as available. Soon, the only person missing was the Chief.

Alice had found a chair just below her, and Rashi pushed herself down. Looking at Rashi, Alice asked. “How’s it going, Rachel? Gotten over the space sickness?”

“Yeah, much better now, “ Rashi gave Alice a huge grin. “Isn’t this just spectacular?”

“Well, it’s certainly… something. Honestly, Rachel, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to moving around in zero g. I almost didn’t make it here in time. Can you imagine, somehow I ended up floating in the middle of my room - I couldn’t reach any of the walls. I even made swimming motions! It took way too long before I remembered to just throw something to one side to create some momentum.” Alice gave a small laugh. “I can’t wait until we have some acceleration to bring back up and down.”

Rashi smiled at Alice and nodded. At the same time Chief Greta shot across the room below/above them, thumping into the wall on the other side of the room and making Rashi wince. The Chief grumbled some curses, and she heard Alice whisper, “Looks like I’m not the only one struggling with zero g!”.

A moment later, the Chief had turned around and grabbed onto a handhold. Facing her department, she had somehow collected herself and appeared back in complete control as she announced with a rare smile, “Welcome! You’ve all heard enough speeches, and since I’ve given you all some entertainment, let’s get down to business.”

Rashi heard smiles and muttered agreements as the Chief continued. “I’ve just posted the shift schedule. There’s 18 of us. Each shift will comprise five people. Three people are kept on standby to fill in where needed. Each shift is six hours long, and will be led by a shift leader. First shift is on duty as of… now, 12:00 ship’s time. I’ll lead that team. Second shift goes on at 18:00, and Mr Terrance is their team leader. Third shift goes on at midnight, led by Ms Patel.” Rashi gulped as she processed what the Chief had just said, and when Chief Greta asked the room if there were questions, Rashi gave a small hesitant wave.

“Yes, Ms. Patel?”

“This is probably a stupid question, but what will the team leads do? We didn’t cover this in training, did we?” Rashi looked around, hoping desperately that this wasn’t another thing like the elevator Exit button that she had forgotten about.

The Chief looked at her for an uncomfortably long time, before saying, “Ms. Patel… Thank you for asking the obvious question.” And looking around at the rest of the people in the room, she continued, “Everyone, let this be a lesson. We’re not on station any more. We are in space. Ask if you don't understand something. Ask if you're unclear about my orders. Ask and clarify if anything is ambiguous. We cannot afford any mistakes. Our mistakes will translate into situations that put the entire ship and crew in danger. We are the engineers who are tasked with keeping this ship running. Everyone trusts us to do just that. Respect that trust.”

Chief Greta paused, looking at everyone in the room, ‌waiting for them to give her a nod to confirm understanding. She finished at Rashi, looking at her.

“To answer your question, Rachel. No, we didn’t cover it in training. The shift leads will direct operations to ensure that the shift runs well. Problems that arise during their shift are to be reported to me. Also, each shift will get a little… project to keep them busy during downtime, and the shift lead will function as the project manager.”

Rashi looked over at Robert Terrance, the second shift lead, and gave him a smile. This almost sounded like fun. And the Chief had used her first name! Even if it was a fake name, it gave Rashi a warm feeling!

“First shift, that is my shift, will spend our time putting together an operational run-book.” Rashi heard a few silent groans. “Yes… I know we’re all sick to death with documentation. We want to get our hands dirty. But the moment we are underway, we can throw out most of the documentation that we have. I will say it again: space is different! Every little thing that we learn must be registered, considered, and acted upon.”

“Second shift”, the Chief looked at Robert. “Mr. Terrance. Since you seem to love data so much… You will review all sensor data from the drives as we are underway and try to correlate against anomalous behaviours that we observe in vessel performance. Your goal is to identify future problems before they become current problems.”

Rashi watched Robert and could see his normally dour expression light up at this challenge. Her respect for the Chief went up a notch. These assignments weren’t just random - they kept the crew busy during downtime. There was nothing worse aboard a space vessel other than a bunch of bored engineers with nothing to do! She wondered what the Chief had thought of for her…

“Lastly. Third shift. Ms. Patel, since you seem to have a gift for serendipitous insight into our plasma engines, I have a special little project for you and your shift.” Sending Rashi a smile that wasn’t altogether reassuring, the Chief said, “As we fire the engines up and start collecting data, you will review the data and see if there is anything we can do to increase performance. Either fuel or mass efficiency, or even speed. The captain…” the Chief hesitated in a way that was out of character, before continuing. “Well, let’s just say the captain wants us to explore the possibilities.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rashi responded, just as a klaxon sounded throughout the ship. A second later, a message appeared in their mindpals.

“All hands, all hands, this is the captain. Departure in 30 minutes. Active shifts. Please find your stations. All other crew, please assemble in the nearest mess hall!”

Everyone around went quiet, looking at each other. Eventually, the Chief said, “Well, you heard the man. Move it, people! Shift 1 stays here, shifts 2 and 3 move to section 35!”

-

Section 35 served double duty; both as another common area, but most importantly, it was a secondary area for off-duty crew when the vessel was undergoing acceleration.

She was not looking forward to prolonged periods under two gravities or even more, but at least these chairs looked comfortable. This was also one of the few places she had seen in the ship with windows, and she was about to drag herself over to one to look outside when she heard her name called out.

“Hello Rachel,”

Sae had found a seat nearby, and Rashi moved over to her. “Hey Sae!” Pulling herself into the seat and fastening the harness, it surprised her to see a small smile playing on Sae’s lips. When Sae turned to look at her, Rashi noticed a spark of excitement.

“How’s it going?” Rashi asked.

“Can you believe this?” Sae said as a grin broke through. “We are… on a spaceship! We are going to travel to another star! This is crazy!”

Rashi smiled back. “No. I can’t really believe it. It’s too… weird. Sae - this is us! Two normal girls who lived on a space station only two months ago, just going about our lives.”

Sae nodded and smiled as she looked around the room, but when her face turned back to Rashi, the smile was gone.

“I am really worried about Nick, though. Something is off.”

“Yeah…” Rashi started, remembering her intuition, which had been trying to warn her earlier. “I’ve been thinking the same. Earlier, Nick told me they pulled him aside to confirm some astrogation calculations. Apparently, it wasn’t anything serious, but there was something strange about it.”

“Really?” Sae looked dubious. “They locked in the astrogation numbers yesterday…”

Rashi saw Sae’s eyes fogging over as she accessed her mindpal. While Sae worked, Rashi looked around the room, which was now filling up. Apparently, engineering shared a common space with the geek squad, as the computer people were called, as well as… Huh. Who are those people??

Sitting around a table not far away were six large men, as well as a woman that looked more or less exactly like what Rashi imagined a werewolf looked like when in her human state. She hadn’t seen them before, which was really strange - Deimos wasn’t a large station, and over the last few weeks, she thought she had met everyone.

Even more strange was that they were all dressed in black! Everyone else was wearing the red and gold uniforms. Also, was that… firearms?

“Sae!” she whispered. “Who are they?”. Rashi tilted her head towards the group.

Sae looked over at the group. “Who? Oh… it’s them. A last-minute addition. A team of twenty marines joined the mission last night. I was going to investigate, but with everything else going on, I haven’t had the time yet”.

“Huh, “ Rashi looked perplexed. What would we need marines for?

“But nevermind them for now, “ Sae said. “Are you sure Nick said he needed to work through the astrogation data?”

“Yeah….?”

“It’s just… As I said, ‌the data was locked in yesterday. Since the warp drive depends on accurate astrogation data, there’s this whole protocol for locking them in. The captain needs to sign off with his codes, and… There’s really no sign that there was anything wrong, or changed with them today…”

Sae looked at Rashi. “What is going on?”

Rashi’s intuition was practically screaming at her now. Something was wrong.