Stowed Away

Stealing space food was an activity that, years ago, Ren never would have imagined participating in every Saturday morning. At least, he assumed it was Saturday. He accidentally overslept on launch day and miscounted. It was either Saturday or Wednesday but there was no way to tell. He devoted all of his time and energy to staying hidden, an art that was proving easier and easier as the days went on. As things became routine. Nothing out of the ordinary happened - and he would know everyone on the ships whereabouts 24/7.

The ship being the International Space Station. A modern scientific beauty devoted to space and studying it. As well as being a global phenomenon. It launched only three months ago, on November 20th, 1998. Carrying a handful of well-qualified astronauts and scientists to pioneer the Earth's orbital space. Ren most definitely not being one of them.

He floated with practiced ease into the lower storage unit. It wasn't supposed to be used until the year 2015 - and by then he planned to be long gone. So no one would have a clue that he ever set foot on board. He grabbed a dehydrated beef stroganoff, tucked it into his suit, and pushed away. Back up the hall. He glanced at the nearest peek hole into the void of space. They appeared to be somewhere over Africa - which meant it was around 8 am. The crew would be doing fitness training about now. Perfect.

Ren found his way through the winding channels and halls, countless beeping monitors and gauges as the only decoration. He hadn’t anticipated how bleak and lonely his mission would be. How his only company would be himself. He didn't realize that days and nights would be spent tiptoeing around. Spying on people and gathering under-the-table data. He wasn't sent aboard secretly to be a tourist or have fun - no. He had a purpose. One he kind of regretted signing up for.

The training had been the same. He did the same exercises and lessons as the real astronauts. On everything but paper - he was an astronaut. But he would never get the recognition. Never get awards or fame or even a handshake.

And that was the worst part.

Before Ren knew it he was back in his little corner of the world. Or, his little corner above the world. A little room he made certain the crew would never have a reason to enter. Ever. Rearranged to have a small bed and cubby for his things. Nothing but a radio, a thing of Oreos, and several notebooks and pens. Notebooks containing quite boring research. Just as he suspected, the International Space Station was about as ‘not shady’ as it gets, much to the dismay of his superiors.

He prepared his 25th bowl of beef stroganoff in a row. Sighing as he poured the water, mixed it, and de-pressurized the meal. “Bon appetite,” He muttered quietly, digging in. It tasted exactly like the others, no surprise. Dusty and faintly of meat. Still, it filled him up and kept his body strong.

Suddenly he glanced up. Through the door and down his lonely hall. There was a light. Flashing and bright red. No alarm - not that he would hear it anyway. They only sound on the crew's radio frequencies. But the lights… the lights meant alarms.

Ren got up quickly, unstrapping himself from the floor and drifting down the hall. Everything was coated in red. His heartbeat crept up his throat. Faster and faster as he floated to the first hatch. He had never been on HT either side. Never gone into the labs but he knew he could see what was happening in there. Maybe turn it off…. It could be a false alarm.

For the first time in a very long time thoughts of not getting caught completely dissipated from his mind. He punched the button and the hatch drifted open. Pressure release valves hissed as he was met with the sight of the first and biggest lab of the Space Station.

It was almost unnerving how intense it looked. So many cases and tubes and pieces of technology he had never seen before in his life. He wished he could play around and poke at each one of them, but the light had begun to flash faster.

He found the control panel and ran a diagnostic. Nothing. He cursed aloud and ran it again, hoping something came up. A loose air hose or some other kind of easy fix. The crew was probably already on it too but the faster the problem was solved the sooner he could go back into hiding.

Suddenly, he got an idea. Ren paused, glancing around the room. Maybe, he thought, if I tune in to their radio station I can hear them when they find the problem. And get to it before they do - fix it. He nodded. Reaching up to adjust the dial in his helmet. He heard the static clicks until the frequency settled. He held his breath. And was met by a tidal wave of voices and information.

The first thing he heard was locations. Everyone stated where they were and where they would meet. Everyone was to head to the testing room directly next to where Ren was, which made him extremely nervous. There, someone mentioned something about cards.

“I'm sick of playing poker. We’re switching to go fish.” Came a rough older voice.

“What are you, five?”

Laughter. Ren hadn't heard laughter in months. He lingered for just a moment, savoring the sound. Until he snapped back to reality. How on earth could they be talking about card games when something on the ship was clearly wrong? It didn't make any sense.

He saw something move out of the corner of his eye - spinning around to see what it was. To his delight - it was a window into the next room. The testing center, now filling with people. He sunk low to stay out of their field of vision - but felt his own eyes widening. People! Smiling and laughing and slapping each other on the back…

Suddenly, something felt very wrong. His stomach turned in knots as they all sat leasurly on a long bench.

A countdown started.

Ren looked around wildly. The lights were still going. Alarms were sounding and he could hear them chatting about nothing! The countdown reached seven.

Six. Five. Four. Three. Two -

The red lights switched off. The alarm silenced as though it never went off. The cheery normal fluorescent lighting buzzed back to life - and a woman's voice sounded over the PA system.

“Missile Launch Succesful.”