TS 5

TS 5 was not a hard ship to sneak onto. People tend to think that getting aboard a spaceship would be really difficult. The truth of the matter is that government workers, even those on spaceships, are overworked, underpaid, and bored. The workers at TS 5 were no exception.

I’d seen ships like this one before. Government funded, one of many. It didn’t have a real name, so the people on board were just everyday people. Which would also explain the lack of security. They’re all made up to look and feel like you’re living in the suburbs�"blue ceiling, potted trees, fake grass all over the place. I’ve heard that on some they even have recordings of bird chirping that they play in the morning. These kinds of ships only come back to earth every two or three years, which means I just had to hang around long enough for it to take off.

A few people were scurrying around the lobby with clipboards, taking names and checking them off their lists. I tried not to look nervous and hoped I could become invisible.

“Hi!” a woman said as she suddenly appeared next to me. “Name?” She asked.

S**t.

She was young, but older than me. Blonde, perky, seemed nice enough. “Olivia Harding,” I lied. She began flipping though the pages on her clipboard. I waited until she seemed distracted enough, and then I walked back into the mass of people.

By the time she realized that there was no Olivia Harding on the list, I was long gone.

Another girl came up to me not ten minutes later. “Name?” She asked. She didn’t seem nearly as nice as the girl before. “Oh, someone already got me.” She nodded. “Right.” And walked away. I mentally kicked myself for not doing that the first time.

I made sure to avoid clipboard-girl. Maybe she’d just forget about the whole thing. But then, I’d never been that lucky.

I tried to guess how long I could stay here before anyone figured it out. In the next two hours, we’d take off. TS 5 would be in space just seconds after.

The ship wouldn’t go back before schedule for anything, not even to bring someone like me back to earth. (At least, I hoped.) But that didn’t mean this would be easy. If and when they found out that I wasn’t supposed to be on board, all bets were off.

I wondered what it’d be like to be a prisoner on TS 5.

Suddenly the room grew quiet. “Alright, everyone! We’ve got one hour until the launch. You all got your house numbers. Most of you are on Lauren Street.” The speaker gestured towards a hallway that had gray, rough-textured mating to look like a street with strips of fake grass on either side. “The rest will be on Renai�"it’s right next to it. Follow me.”

This was bad. Really bad. We hadn’t even taken off yet, and they were going to figure it out. I was screwed. My mind was reeling. I began thinking of possible excuses. “I was a late edition,” might work.

“Hey, “ someone said. I looked over. Don’t be talking to me don’t be talking to me don’t be talking to me�"“hey, you! Olivia!” S**t. Again. My heart sank and I was sweating bullets.

It was clipboard-girl. 

“You’re Olivia, right? Olivia Harding?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said. “I was a late recruit, so�"”

“You’re not on the list.” I could tell she wasn’t going to budge on this. I tired anyway.

“Well, that’s�"WOW, really? I mean, I guess I didn’t�"”

“Are you Brandi Ordell?” She asked gently. She’d leaned in really close, like she was telling a secret. I sighed.

“Yes.” 

She seemed to just melt. She put a hand on my shoulder and her voice was riddled with sympathy when she said, “it’s okay. You don’t have to lie here.” She smiled and pointed. “23 Renai Street.”

And then she walked away. I headed down the hall (street?) in the direction that she pointed and made a mental note to figure out where they put all the flies on this ship. I wanted to know how to spell my name.

Brandi Ordell spells her name B-R-A-N-D-I O-R-D-E-L-L. Which is weird�"I would have thought Y instead of I. Brandi’s not short for anything. She’s three years older and two inches taller, though that’s close enough to not be a problem. There’s no picture in her file, but she has brown hair like I do. I didn’t get too lucky, though: she has blue eyes. I have brown. I prayed that no one look into it.

I also just so happened to figure out what happened with clipboard-girl. Apparently Brandi Ordell had an abusive boyfriend, who swears he loves her and he’ll find her. Where better to hide then space, right?

It makes me wonder why she wasn’t here. But I guess that’s one mystery I just won’t solve.

Other important things I have to remember: my birthday is now April 16th, my dad left when I was born, and my mom’s name is Jodi Ordell. She got pregnant with me when she was 16. I was born and raised in Bear, Delaware. I have no kids. I’ve never been married. The ex-boyfriend’s name is Jon Muller.

I learned all this wonderful information while in a small office that is, thankfully, not very far from Renai Street. It’s probably just being used temporarily until they move everything…the sign on the door said something to the effect of “do not enter.” I figured that might be it. I was close enough to where I was supposed to be that if anyone walked in, I could say I got lost. They’d think I’m a complete idiot, but they wouldn’t think it was too suspicious. At least, I hoped not.

I shoved everything back into its place and left. Once I was outside I was already on Renai Street. I was right by the 30th house. What number did clipboard-girl say? 24? No, I remembered. 23. I looked at my watch. It was almost 7:00 PM. I just wanted to go to my new house and sleep. I had an interesting road ahead of me.

Author's Note

I wrote this a really long time ago, let me know if you think it's worth continuing.

Reviews

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Not exactly sure about what to make of this as there appears to be no plot so far but nonetheless a good read :))) Can you help me out a bit and review my stuff or something? DX I'm new :P I'm sure you can continue it to make an interesting story