Page 4 of When Eden Falls

“Eden, stop worrying.” He lent forward and squeezed my hand. The green in his eyes twinkled with reassurance. “If I knew you were going to be this finicky, I would’ve left you on Allura.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “You wouldn’t have dared.”

Pulling his hand away, Rooke chuckled, then glanced towards the doorway. “Speaking of seven, where’s number eight?”

“If you mean Troy, he’s saying his farewells to Cora.”

“Farewells?” Rooke rolled his eyes. “I’m planning on us being away for a day not a month.”

I pouted my lips to one side and shrugged. “They’re in love.”

“Having a quickie in cupboards and behind locked doors is not love.”

“I didn’t realise you were such an expert.”

Rooke threw me a glare, which made me laugh. “Oh, come on, Rooke. They clearly like each other. It’s been going on for months now…”

“Too long, in my opinion.” Rooke huffed. “Just because I’ve graciously turned a blind eye to it, does not mean I encourage it. Nux, if Solarfleet found out, they’d likely reprimandmefor allowing it to continue under my command.”

“Solarfleet do allow relationships.”

“Not quickies in cupboards whilst on duty.” He tapped the radio mic on the dashboard in front of him. Well aware he was broadcasting to the whole ship, he announced, “Troy, I don’t care what position you and Cora are currently in, I need you on the bridge. Now.”

I shook my head. “You are so mean.”

Rooke was grinning mischievously. He shrugged. “If they wanted to be discrete, they should’ve done so from the start.”

Two hours later, a blue and white planet filled the view of the outward windows. I sat at the driving screen, carefully guiding The Orka into orbit. Troy sat beside me, reeling off numbers to aid my task. The task itself was easy, but it had become far more demanding due to the number of old satellites floating across my path. Trying to concentrate, it was hard not to wonder where these satellites had come from. If they were from thousands of years ago, wouldn’t the Kessler effect have happened already?

Not taking my eyes off the screen, I asked, “Has anyone checked if those satellites are live?”

“They’re obsolete,” Rooke’s voice rumbled directly behind me. He stood, watching with his arms across his chest. “Most look damaged.”

Placing the ship at the correct angle, I locked the controls. We were in high orbit, floating around a world that shone with vibrant colours, different to those of Allura. I was in awe. It was beautiful, like nothing I had ever seen before. Earth.

“There’s life down there,” said a firm voice from the control panels behind us. I looked back at the ship’s scientific advisor, Kobe Chang. His tall, slim body was hunched over the screens. His almond shaped eyes frantically scanning the data in front of him.

“A lot?” Rooke asked, striding to his side.

“Yes,” Kobe replied. “I can’t determine what form from this altitude. The planet could be covered in algae for all we know.”

“So, we don’t know what we’re walking into?” I said sceptically.

Rooke shot me a nonappreciative look before analysing the information Kobe was referring to. “We’re still going down.”

Within an hour, we had packed and boarded the smaller, streamline ship attached to the side of The Orka. Parvos bore a sleek set of wings for atmosphere control, and a complex, durable, atmospheric thruster system for flight and take off. The flight deck was at the front of the vessel, sitting up high behind the pointed nose, where the upper section of the outer wall and curving roofspace were transparent. The dashboard spanned the width of the small cockpit, leaving only enough room for the two pilot chairs.

I sat in the confined area, initiating the engine start up, rechecking the atmospheric information Kobe had given me. The hubbub of activity and conversation resounded throughout the metallic ship, and I heard delicate footsteps approach. Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled at Zamya, our medical officer, as she emerged in the restricted area.

“I need to check your temperature,” she indicated for me to offer access to my ear, “just in case it drastically changes whilst on the surface.”

“Do you think it will be very different from Allura?”

She zapped my earhole with a gun like contraption. I watched her read and document the result in a handheld computer, pausing to push a strand of silky, black hair behind her ear.

“It looks as though the air will be a tolerable pressure and breathable, but it’s the bacteria that concerns me. I’ve told Rooke we should remain in our suits. I don’t want anyone picking up something I can’t treat.”

“Wise decision.”