Chapter 14

I opened the airlock, and the soft sound of the oud welcomed me as I stepped into the shuttle.

I walked towards the front where the pilot cabin was situated and sat in the co-pilot seat next to Amin. He didn’t interrupt his music, but gently nodded his head, welcoming me.

I smiled and looked through the window into the dark void of space and distant stars that shone in the darkness, switching off my cognitive systems and letting the music fill the space, uninterrupted by any need to analyse it.

I closed my eyes as Amin quietly sang the old Persian poems. They stirred my emotions, as they always had, even before I had fully understood their meaning. My systems slowly reset, and I relaxed in my chair, letting all my emotions flow through my systems without any need to do anything about them.

It was a strange feeling to just be and feel, and I never fully got used to it. It was unsettling to have my cognitive functions offline, and it made me feel really vulnerable. I never considered being this way around anyone except Amin, who, even if he somehow understood what I did, never commented on it during the time we shared in the shuttle.

The music came to an end, and I opened my eyes, watching Amin putting his oud on the console and taking two glasses and a thermos flask from his bag. I could smell the subtle aroma of roses as he poured tea and offered me a glass. I rarely accepted human food since it was very inefficient in restoring my systems compared with my nano drink, but on a few rare occasions, I made an exception. I knew real tea was one of Amin’s most precious possessions, so I appreciated his gesture and willingness to share it with me.

We sat silently, taking our time while sipping the tea and watching the stars unfolding before us. I felt calm and relaxed, but a part of me wondered why Eva's painting my nails had made such a difference in how much I liked it. I didn’t want to restart my cognitive functions yet, so I let the question flow through my systems and bring the memories of that event. I enjoyed the sudden surge of emotions those images brought, and even if I couldn’t understand what they meant, they somehow made me happy.

I smiled and handed my empty glass to Amin and got up. He nodded a goodbye and put his oud into his case, and I left the shuttle, knowing he would follow me soon after. I still had some time left before my evening shift would start. For a moment, I didn't know what to do, until my sudden inquiry about the next course of action prompted my cognitive systems to come back online and provide an answer.

I sighed. Of course, spending the rest of my afternoon in the biosphere wasn’t the most optimal course of action. All my systems had rebooted correctly, so I could use my time for something else. I walked to the command centre, intending to work on the algorithm and using the chance when Eva was in the gym and would not find out about my surprise for her.

Sven sat on his chair and sketched something in his pad. He looked at me with a smile and said,

“Early again, Rea?”

I nodded and sat at my console, looking around.

“Where is Nhi?”

“Doing maintenance on the air filters in the lab”

She seemed better after her birthday and hadn’t complained about being bored as often as before. The fact that she actually checked the maintenance log and found herself something to do, rather than spending her watch staring mindlessly at the screen and flipping her yo-yo, was a good sign. I had started to be concerned about her.

I don’t think I was the only one. We tended to look after each other, even if our natural instinct was to find some quiet place and sit alone for as long as possible. Even if we had prepared to live in such conditions before we took on this mission, six months spent in Antarctica wasn’t enough to really prepare anyone for this. At best, it gave you some basic idea about how it would be and a few tricks on how to cope with it. Back then, you never bothered to use them, feeling excited by the novelty and the fact that you were accepted to the space program.

From all of us, only Amin and Sven had prior experience living in space for a prolonged period of time. I could see how they handled the situation better than others, finding comfort in the few items they had brought from home and falling into the routines when boredom started to creep in.

I logged in and started working, hoping to finish it today. Then, after a few days of testing, and if everything went as expected, we could use it during the next recalibration and save some time. That would slightly increase our chances of detecting quantum anomalies in Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.