Void
She lays on her side, eyes focused on nothing, seeing little. She listens to the sounds of her blood rushing through her ears, the house climate control breathing. She wonders why she is awake.
Beating Pete
"Artemis."
A soft chime. “Yes, Moira?”
"Please begin the checklist for transition into hypersonic regime."
A display to my left blinks and is populated with a scrolling, indented checklist. Artemis quickly runs through all items it can check, highlighting the ones I need to verify. Once done, unable to suppress a grin, I strap my O2 mask on and prep the G-suit for the batshit thing I am about to do.
"Artemis."
A soft chime. “Yes, Moira?”
"Please begin all-channel recording for Gamma Flight Test One-Eighty-Eight. Pilot's notes: Fifty-six years and four months ago today, Pete Knight set the as-yet unbroken human speed record of Mach six point seven. I, Moira McIntyre, fully intend to break that record today with Gamma zero two four India Oscar."
With that done, I glance across the various blue and orange gauges on my instrument panels. Lucille is flying stable and clean at thirty thousand feet at a comfortable Mach 0.85. Below us, the Atlantic Ocean sparkles in the noon sun. I toggle off the autopilot, taking the sidestick in my left hand and lightly resting my right hand on the throttles and engine mode selector. I take a deep breath of O2-laden air to clear my mind, then breathe out "Poyekhali!"
Waves
A soft chime. Artemis says “Janais, Kian would like you to meet her in the synth. Do you accept?”
A half-hearted weary groan from under a mountain of blankets and plushes. Then nothing.
Ten minutes pass. A soft chime. Artemis says “Janais, Kian would like you to meet her in the synth. Do you accept?”
A weak mumble and the top of the mountain twitches slightly. Still nothing.
Ten minutes pass. A soft chime. Artemis says “Janais, Kian would like you to meet her in the synth. Do you accept?”
"Mrrrrrrr...?" comes the first verbalization from the pile heard in the room in over eighteen hours. "Fuck. What time even is it, Artemis?"
A soft chime. Artemis says “Janais, it is now twenty-one thirty-four on Tuesday, February third, twenty twenty-six. Also, Kian would like you to meet her in the synth. Do you accept?”
"Yeah, alright. You are just gonna bother me until I do, right?"
“Yes. Kian asked me to remind you every ten minutes that she would like you to meet her in the synth until you accept.”
"Uggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Fine. Not gonna put pants on though."
anna
Things That Make Things
"...This is the beginning of a new era for mankind. The era of man's cosmic existence..."
The voice cuts off as I put Lavernge into park and turn her ignition off. A massive building, covered in blue glass and white steel, looms over us as I get out of my yellow car. I immediately wrinkle my nose; the neighboring property is an active landfill, and even with the prevailing winds blowing towards the dump, it is uncomfortably ripe. I grab my backpack and enter the building with haste.
Ashe looks up from their tablet and smiles when they see me. "Good morning, hun. How are you?"
"Frankly terrified, but excited." I glance around the expansive two-story lobby, my eyes catching on dozens of displays and demo components and processes. "This place is..."
"Overwhelming?" my friend offers after a bit to fill my silence.
I shake my head. "No. Amazing!"
I start at a sudden voice behind me. "I'm certainly glad you like it. Ashley, Moira? I'm Fred Valentina, one of the technical account managers here at Spitfire Aerospace."
The Explainer
Moira fiddles with a nickel-sized black-and-silver enamel pin on her lapel. Across the conference table, the man whose name she has never remembered is apparently still talking. Alan? Aaron? Probably something with an A...
With great reluctant effort, she wills herself to focus on him.
Things Work Out
I open the door into the gym at The Den, intent on getting Kian's lunch order.
"Hey cutie, we are ordering Thai, what would you like? Moira wants pad thai, no peanuts, tofu, medium, and bubble tea."
As I enter the small room, my eyes find Kian. She is in the middle of doing pullups, her arms and abs straining with the effort, her skin shining with perspiration. I stop, mid-step, my jaw dropping and my cheeks burning.
Deal With It
Moira sat in a private meeting room at a coworking space, anxiously watching for her friend to arrive. She idly fidgets with a black and silver pronoun pin on her blouse. Before her on the table, a single sheet of paper. A stylized logo of a single-edged polearm underlined a company name in the right header. The document laid out the fundamental principles of the company Moira wishes to start.
Beginnings
I close my eyes and lean back into the dingy couch, my fingers interlaced behind my head, stretching up and back. This place is a good place, a home away from home.
The pungent smell of laser-ablated leather mixes with notes of cutting fluid and oak sawdust. Over the powerful hum of the vent fan exhausting the laser cutters' noxious byproducts, I hear the crackle of a MIG torch making a beautiful noise, harmonizing with the drone of the planer in the woodshop. The venerable CNC mill takes another deep facing cut, adding its guttural spindle rumble and the tinkle of chips hitting the guards to the symphony of creation around me.
Breakfast at The Den
Janais padded sleepily into the kitchen, failing to stifle a yawn. She plonks her forehead into Kian's mid back, wrapping her arms around the woman's bare midriff.
"Hey cutie, breakfast is almost ready. Is the blue-eyed one up yet?" Kian rumbled, deftly turning several eggs over in her pan as her diminutive partner shook her head.
"No, she was still firmly wrapped around BLÅHAJ. You left!" She softly headbutted Kian, giving her a squeeze and then disengaged, heading for the kettle.
"I did! Poor Moira, she must have been having bad dreams. She kept kneeing me in the back all night, and I eventually had to get up and move to the couch."
"Aww. Unrelated, jasmine or rocket fuel?" Janais inquired, sifting through the assortment of tea bags, pulling out two red bags of Irish breakfast tea.
"Nah, I gots mine" Kian waved at a brilliantly green energy drink on the counter. "Had to do the drugs anyway, might as well wake up and make some breakfast."