Andie

“Clear?”

“Clear.”

Flicking a switch, Andie stood up. Legs a bit weak, they’d been at the wheel for a bit now. A couple asteroid fields in succession made for a busy day. Stressful, maybe? Engaging, for sure.

“Bagel?” Andie yelled facing away from their copilot.

“Uh, nah. Coffee if you can.”

“Got you.”

Kettle. Andie opened the cupboards. They’d need to land soon. Food running low.

Click.

Andie poured out the water and placed a tea bag in to steep.

Grabbing a bottle of water, Andie began back to the cockpit. Mug in one hand, bottle in other.

Andie sucked their teeth.

Out loud, “Coffee.”

Andie walked back to the kitchen.

The cockpit was quiet with Andie gone. Well, it’d be quiet with them inside. The two pilots didn’t chat too often. But, the silence was more apparent. More palpable.

The door hissed.

“Beauty”

Andie didn’t say anything back. A smile was plenty.

Handing over the mug, Andie reached for the seat.

Eyes straight at the window. The amount of time spent here never detracted from… from its… Andie wasn’t quite sure what from. It wasn’t dark, per se. Andie knew dark. Dark was when you closed your eyes. Dark was when you turned off a light. Andie could make out the vast nature of it. The general shape of it. But couldn’t see anything beyond that. Or locate details within it. So, not dark.

“Andie”, placing a hand on their shoulder.

Andie noticed they weren’t fully there.

“My bad, what’s up?”

“Another field”

“Mhmm”

“Two klicks out”