LtCmdr Jovenan – Stargazing in nowhere
Jovenan
((Astrometrics, Deck 9, USS Artemis))
The artificial lights and the reflections from the closest star danced on the hull of the large space station. Ships and shuttles circled around, like fireflies in the night. All around the station, the dark emptiness of space was dotted by distant stars, seemingly immobile but constantly moving, distances beyond comprehension.
The view was like a section of the ship had been removed. Jovenan and Vitor walked the dimly illuminated platform to the centre, just under the station. They were holding hands, but Jovenan fidgeted with her free hand. She was beginning to regret bringing him here, since despite his smile and the look he gave to her and to the view, she was going to disappoint him. It had been her surprise to him, but she had failed in choosing what to present him. It made her feel selfish, actually, to expect him to be as excited about a thing as she was and make him come here just because she liked it.
Jovenan: Well, um, this is my surprise. There’s a low-gravity area above us, so we could have been floating in the space and see all sorts of things. It feels like actually being in space. But I don’t think it works after all.
He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. She felt awful for having to look at his face like this and say no. She had just wanted to make him as happy as he made her with the constant surprises, yet she clearly didn’t know him well enough. It made her almost cry.
Silveira: What? Why?
Jovenan: I’m so sorry, Vitor. I thought it would be exciting or romantic or something, but… But I didn’t know about your fear of heights. You won’t like it.
She had to fight the tears. It wasn’t just about a single ruined surprise, it was about her failures as a girlfriend. That had been exactly what she had said when they had started their relationship: he should find someone who could make him happy and whom he deserved. After all the nice things he had done for her, she didn’t feel like that person.
Jovenan: You always make me happy, and I can’t even get things like this right. I just don’t know how to be in a relationship.
Shaking his head, he took her with both his hands and pulled her closer.
Silveira:
No, no, no… Honey it’s awesome, it's the best surprise I could
have asked for.
It's okay… Please…
Jovenan: ::sniff:: Are you sure? How can it be okay if you can’t enjoy it?
He pulled her even closer. Although they were still inside and in a warm, artificial atmosphere, the darkness of the space around them and the cool light of the stars in the distance tricked her to feel colder than what she was. His closeness and his hold warmed her and shielded her against the imagined emptiness.
Silveira: Nan… Honey. It’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful, almost as beautiful as you and… Look its a bit hard to explain but this… ::he looked around:: This is okay, I can deal with this. ::he looked down:: There’s no depth.. I only get scared when I see the bottom… And even if we were on the edge of a clif…
Jovenan wiped her face – there wasn’t a tear on it, but it felt like there could have been. He was trying to console her, which helped her overcome her worst insecurity, but at the same time, she questioned if he was just saying it for her sake. He wouldn’t lie to her, would he, or would he lie, but to make her feel less sad? His kind words made her smile, but she also shook her head.
Jovenan: You don’t have to do this. But if you want to, all you have to do is jump. It’s okay if you don’t…
He smiled; she didn’t think he was going to say no after all. He held her close to him, and together, they jumped gently. The low-gravity bubble above the platform took engulfed them, and the jump lasted longer and longer, until they weren’t jumping any more but floating in the air, or in the space as it looked to them. The ship’s artificial gravity plating was no longer constantly pulling them down, but the rules of gravity still applied: the distant objects still drew them and vice versa, but this close, they attracted each other the most.
Silveira: I like it and I am okay. This is so beautiful.
He looked okay – more than ‘okay’, but he hadn’t yet expressed any of the symptoms of his phobia he described earlier. She couldn’t tell if he had agreed to this if he hadn’t wanted to console her with her rush of insecurity, but as for now, he hadn’t frozen or visibly feeling sick. She smiled; perhaps it was okay.
Jovenan: Promise to tell me if you want to go down? You might get some motion sickness later, even if the weightlessness is okay for you.
Silveira: Response
Nodding, Jovenan gently pushed him, and the low gravity did nothing to stop them from moving apart. The air resistance and other forces in play slowed them down, and Jovenan bent her upper body to the left and rolled her arms around her. Quickly moving everything to the right, she whirled around, like a dancer making a pirouette. After a full round – she used a little too much force – she slowed down and stopped, her back towards him.
Jovenan: Computer, centre us.
She felt a subtle tug of a weak tractor beam pushing her, and in a second, she felt another force behind her, that of Vitor gently colliding with her. Meeting in the middle made them turn slightly, although without the gravity, it was difficult to tell around which axis. There was no up or down; the lights on the platform were too dim for them to see unless they were specifically looking for them, and the holographic space station was at a mild slant in relation to them, as it had been previously upright. It was up to them to interpret if they were standing together, like when in his arcade, playing the game together, or if they were laying down, on a cloud or an ever-lasting black field, looking ‘up’ to the starry sky.
Jovenan: Still good?
Silveira: Response
She looked around for a few seconds, trying to locate a few spots around them. She could have asked the computer to name the stars for them, but this way was more fun, as it allowed them to suspend the disbelief of being actually in space. Extending her right arm, she pointed at the small objects the holographic display made look distant.
Jovenan: That’s the Paulson Nebula, and the Celendi and the Azure are over there. The Genesis planet is near that star, and Galaris is, um, somewhere behind us. And that small star, between those two bright ones, that’s Sol.
Silveira: Response
Jovenan: We can go to any point in the galaxy, as long as we’ve got data of it. Where’d you want to see?
Silveira: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11