3…2…1…
A million different conversations immediately cease, everyone freezing in pace while staring at the screen. A loud crackle breaks the sudden silence, followed by a booming release of gas. Fire grows beneath the rocket, slowly pushing it upwards. The rocket is officially off the ground, but nobody moves just yet. This is the most dangerous part, the part where rockets tend to fail the most. The release of energy at the bottom of the rocket could cause structural damage, course misdirection, or at the worst, combustion.
Everyone sits or stands near a computer, quickly glancing at the levels of fuel, temperature, coolant, oil, wind resistance, along a thousand different calculations made over and over again.
The rocket leaves the stands guiding its path, now traveling completely on its own. Some of the interns start clapping, while the others are quick to shut them up. I find myself holding my fist up, shaking, sweat pouring my arm. “Not yet, we have to check in with Saheem.”
———————————————————————
I barely am able to clench my fist with the damn suit in the way. It’s uncomfortable, suffocating, sweaty — I feel every line of sweat traveling down my arms and legs, and I already feel like I need to piss.
The rapidly passing clouds against the sea of blue tire my eyes, yet I force myself to look out. This is what I signed up for, I need to see it through.
It’s only been a few minutes since I’ve hit that launch button, yet it’s strangely quiet. Most of the noise I hear is the sound of my shaky breath, with the ship’s low rumbling in the background. Shit, I wish I wasn’t here right now.
My headpiece crackles, a barely audible voice coming from it.
“Sa…m…you…copy?”
I put on the helmet, taking a deep breath. “I copy.”
“Good, Saheem. Good. Quick wellness check. Levels?”
I glance over at my panel. “O2 at 99%, fuel at 99%, fail safe active, no damage to the hull.”
“Copy.”
More clouds pass through the cockpit, zooming through without much of an effort. Slowly, all the clouds fade away into the darkening sky, the rumbling barely audible. Then, all is dark, and everything stands still. The silence grows, nearly deafening, each breath echoed ten times as louder, yet slower and heavier.
Yet, the darkness in front of me grows boundless. The expanse of the stars and near infinite void fill the crevices of my eyes, the corners of my mind, and the tight walls of my heart. The sea of dark matter is ever so still, yet my heart beats proudly, as many worlds are sprawled across, like little islands ready to be discovered.
The crackle on my helmet startles me.
“You’re breaking the atmosphere, you need to enter staging now.”
I flip various switches on the console in front of me, hearing air being released, then the cockpit moving a tad bit faster. Then back to silence. A silence that will linger for a while, until they send someone else up here.
At least I get a view of the black ocean, paired with the thought of everybody cheering on from down below, in the big blue world.
