by Jodie Kobe
A woman helps me with my suit. It just goes over my regular clothing. Once it has been slipped on, she ties a few straps, seals a layer of cloth, and zips up the back.
I start trembling once I finish putting the suit on. But I can't decide why I'm acting this way. Is it the cold material of the suit, the excitement in my stomach, or the fear of heading outside?
My head is completely surrounded by the suit's head cover. As I breathe in and out, the pane of glass in front of my face fogs up. The sound of my breathing bounces off the small space around me, hitting my ears and lingering with a ring.
An itch starts in my legs, and I'm tempted to get rid of it. But I only pat my torso, just trying to get myself comfortable in this heavy suit.
Then I notice the pocket. I slide my hand inside it only to find nothing. I shiver as the thought of where we are going enters my mind. I keep forgetting about the mission, and then I keep remembering it.
Rian and Fox are standing in their suits as well. Fox shifts his feet, pulling on the sleeves of his suit awkwardly.
A male voice starts talking somewhere in the room. The thick helmet of my suit blocks out a lot of the noise, so I almost miss the words.
“We’ve inserted communication radios inside the suits. They should be activated right about...now.”
I turn around, trying to locate the source of the sound. But the unknown man stops talking, and the owner of the voice remains a mystery.
There’s a small beep, followed by a soft static noise in my ear.
“Well.” It's Fox's voice from the unseen radio inside my suit. “This is interesting.”
Then there's Mr. Welds’ voice. “Yes, it is quite interesting. Ms. Clancy, how are you in there?”
I spin around, trying to find Mr. Welds. When I spot him, I see he’s speaking into a small object around his wrist.
Then remembering he just asked me a question, I answer with, “It’s not the most comfortable thing ever.”
“We apologize for that. You’ll get used to it,” Mr. Welds says. “Mr. Callum, how are you feeling?”
Rian's reply comes from the radio in my suit too. “I agree with Vivian.”
“Mr. Manson, how about you?”
“Great,” Fox says. He looks down at himself, seeming to notice the pockets at his side. He pats them in silence.
Mr. Welds exchanges a glance with his brother Welds. “Are they ready to go?” he asks.
Welds nods, saying, “Before we send you out, let’s review the plan. You'll walk out through an elevator. The GPS, the machine, and the chip will all be with you. Got that? The mission should take about an estimated time of an hour and a half. Possibly two. Just make you don't drag the mission out too much, all right? There is only a limited time you have available. The GPS is there to help you get around. You won't see anything around you because of the mist, so be careful. We will be tracking your location every step of the way.”
A man steps forward, pulling something out of his pocket. He tells me to stretch my hand out and I do. With a swift gesture, he drops a small object into my hand and backs away toward the computers in the room.
No one tells us what to do if we lose the chip. Will we be able to come back and get a new one?
I look down at the open palm of my hand, studying the small green chip that lays there. I slip it into the pocket of my suit and look around at the others.
“Are you ready?” Mr. Welds asks through the radio.
I nod. Rian and Fox agree with me.
What if we aren't ready? Will these people wait for us to catch our breath? Or did they wait long enough already?
A woman presses the palm of her hand against a wall and just like earlier with another wall, this one slides open, revealing a space big enough to fit approximately ten people inside. The inside walls are white and bright.
It’s an elevator. The woman gestures for us to step inside. We do, and two people push the cube-shaped machine into the elevator behind us.
Rian holds the GPS, I hold the chip, and Fox has his hands on the machine.
“You’ll get to an airlock,” Mr. Welds says quickly. “Then we’ll open the door. Good luck.”
He waves a hand just as soon as the elevator doors start to close. My lungs seem to shrink at the same time, but I force my fear down. Rian, Fox, the large cube-shaped machine, and I are the only ones in elevator.
It lurches upward, and that's when my legs start to tremble.
“You okay, guys?” Rian voices says from the radio.
I shake my hands a little. “Nervous,” I say.
“Just relax and it should all be good,” Rian says. There’s silence for a few seconds. Then he adds, “I’m nervous too.”
“We all are,” Fox says.
The elevator stops. We wait.
A static-filled version of Mr. Welds' voice enters my ears. “A hallway is in front of you. Go straight until you reach a door. We’ve already opened it for you.”
With a hiss, the elevator doors slide apart. Fox is the first one to move, then Rian.
I am the last. My entire body is shaking and I can't force it to stop.
“Come on,” Fox says as he starts pushing the large cube out of the elevator. Just like Mr. Welds said, we are now in a hallway. We pass through an open doorway, then reach a dead end.
A round, metal door stands in front of us this time, and I can't help but wonder what might be on the other side.
Mr. Welds’ voice comes from the radio again. “Airlock.”
Behind us, the door that used to be open fully starts to slide shut. With a loud thud, it closes any space that was left of the open doorway. Then there's silence as we stand in the now dark room.
Buzz.
I jump at the deafening sound, looking around for where it might have come from. These people built this room and this door and this elevator and this hallway and—
This needs to stop immediately. I have to concentrate on the current goal.
The metal door in front of us starts to open. I clench my fingers, pulling in as many steady breaths as I can get. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I think the temperature’s dropping.
And my heart is pounding.
Beep.
The round door has completely opened up, revealing what is in front of us.
I gasp at what I see.
The outside.
