Oren & Coreen's Cosmic Adventure

The heat of the sun radiated through the glass dome, and Oren raised his elbow to shield his eyes from the glare. Two and a half days in space was enough to make anyone restless, even one who spent the majority of her life in orbit. She fidgeted with the sleeve of her jumpsuit, twisting and pinching it between her fingers as she turned to look at Coreen.

"Oren," she said, "I'm getting bored."

He exhaled a breathy chuckle and looked over at her, unamused. "Well... duh!" He tossed his arm back down onto the empty seat next to him. "You're always bored."

"No, I'm serious this time," she replied, and sighed heavily. "We've got eight months left before we get to Putonia." She pushed off and floated behind him in their small capsule, crossing her arms. Her eyes followed as he swiveled his torso around to face her. She was never without a sour look on her face when he was around; perhaps it was because he kept telling her he didn't want children. Yes, that must be it. He knew she had been trying for years. The thought made him smile again.

Oren replied with an amused grunt, which seemed to be his only reaction to much of anything lately. That's why Coreen was so *tired* of his attitude - or lack thereof - toward everything they did together up here. But then again, he wouldn't have it any other way; if she wanted to be angry all the time, she would have stayed on their home planet, while he pursued more lucrative work in the senate on Earth. No, it wasn't that he wanted to be miserable; it was just that matters like this were too trivial for him to care much about anymore.

A muffled voice suddenly spoke through the small speaker near their heads. It startled them both, causing them to bounce toward each other before catching themselves and stopping short; they floated, suspended by their belts. "What's going on?" Coreen asked Oren frantically as he reached for the small receiver on his armrest and brought it up to his ear. "Yes?" he replied with a calm demeanor despite his rapid heartbeat and wheezing lungs from the sudden effort it took to stay at rest without gravity's aid. "I don't know... uh huh... okay." He shrugged at Coreen with an expression of confusion before slowly sliding out from under his belt and drifting toward the center hatch door that separated them from a hallway into their sleeping quarters directly beyond; Coreen followed close behind.

The voice came back over the speaker again: "Report immediately to sector 4-D." Then it clicked off abruptly again before either one could respond. Oren looked over at Coreen with a knowing look upon his face, then took a deep breath and gently pushed off from where he stood against the wall. He turned around slowly in midair and began floating forward down their hallway toward sector 4-D within their section of Gemini Station; Coreen slowly drifted along behind him.

Coreen shook herself awake as she heard Oren's voice calling out loudly above her somewhere. "Coreen!" His voice sounded urgent. Everything seemed mixed together now – hours had passed since waking from slumber beneath Oren's hand earlier. She was disoriented, unable to determine where the voices were coming from – there wasn't anybody else here except for herself and Oren. They were finally able to retreat to their quarters after completing their work yesterday evening. Strong winds sweeping across Earth's surface had made working outside impossible today. Coreen needed to regain her bearings and figure out what was causing such commotion aboard Gemini Station.