Keeping Watch [ Log 1 ]

Elsa

Sol stayed silent long after the blue lights had faded into the night and Li had gone to bed, exhausted, once the excitement of the day had worn off. I hesitated before I sat down next to her. I wondered what she saw when she looked at the starry sky that had been her home for such a long time, but I didn't dare to ask. Some things were better left unsaid.

The stars had always filled me with a strange melancholy. Even though it was my job to travel between them, they felt so different when you watched them stretching out above you. Sitting there next to her, part of me wanted to reach out, another was too afraid, and a third just wished Kai were by my side. So I was happy when I saw her leave the bed and join us, even if she sat down next to Sol, rather than me, making a compromise between all my wishes, as a good broker would.

Despite the time we had shared, I didn't know much about her. We were similar in that none of us liked to dwell on the past. I only learned as much about her as she did about us during her stay on Minerva. She had found her place with ease, despite her expensive clothes and perfumes that mixed with the scent of burnt oil and old machinery penetrating our ship.

“Sol…”, I whispered as I saw her get up, not wanting to impose on us any longer. “It’s okay, let’s keep the watch together…”

She looked at me, surprised, and a faint smile appeared on her face when she sat down, whispering “thank you” as Kai passed me a lukewarm cup of coffee. We stayed like that through the night, gazing up at the starry sky stretching out above us until the first rays of Elmir’s sun dispersed the night. I woke up Li and let her sit with us as we watched the myriad of tiny rainbows dancing in the sky.

After breakfast, we went for a guided walk around the mountains. Wearing vacc suit at this altitude felt like overkill. A respirator and thermic clothes would be sufficient, but it added an extra thrill for those who wanted to spend their holidays on the highest mountain in the sector. I smiled, watching Kai and Li racing to put them on as fast as they could. Part of me regretted booking the room for only one night, but I was still wary of spending too much money. I didn’t know what the future would bring, and I had my crew, not only Li, to look after.

The repairs on the ship were completed, Sol informed me when we came back from the walk. Her words triggered a myriad of calls and messages from Kai to organise the delivery of our cargo, but in the end, I dragged her to the thermal springs. We spent the rest of the afternoon there, watching the soft snow fall from the sky and melt in an instant when it touched the glass roof above us. As night came, we boarded the train, taking us back to the city.