Among Stars

Old Times

Mizuni sat in front of her computer and was typing away when there was a soft knock on the door. She turned around and waved the door open. Kitten entered the room with a shy smile on her lips.

"Hi, Mizu," she said softly.

"Hi, Vivi!" Mizuni answered, her lips turning upwards into a wide smile. "Come on in. Here, sit next to me. You can use the desktop, I'll grab the pad as I don't need to actually do that much typing," she said and pulled a chair next to her and moved her own slightly to the side. She poked the computer a few times, and a different screen appeared.

"These are the things I'm supposed to work with, but I also need to finish the Polarizer data before we reach Helios-5 and it's taking me ages," said and rolled her eyes.

Kitten looked at the screen and put her index finger on her lips and pouted. After a few seconds, she nodded. "Yeah, looks fine. Like, the readings are a bit different from what I've used to, but so is the drive. But I can totally work with these, doesn't look too different from what I did at the academy with the ion generators."

"Yeah, there's just a couple of variables, and you have to adjust your algorithms every now and then, because the drive uses dynamic frequencies, rather than static like the ions do," Mizuni said and grabbed her datapad. She turned it toward Kitten and let out an exasperated sigh.

"And this is what I have to work with. Everything is changing at every line, so I need to adjust every algorithm and function each time. And there's no manual because I came up with the dang thing, so I just need to remember what to do at any given point."

Kitten looked at the datapad, shook her head slightly, and smiled. "Yeah, no, most of that goes over my head. You're very talented, Mizu," she purred.

Mizuni laughed gently. "Look who's talking, Vivi. I couldn't build a simple scanner to save my life, and you built the whole sensor array we're going to use. I have no idea how I would even start. Don't sell yourself short, Vivi. You're possibly more talented than the rest of us together. It's just that we work in niches and your field is so common," she said.

Kitten blushed slightly and smiled shyly. "Thanks Mizu," she said quietly.

"I'm not finished," Mizuni said, smiling. "Off-the-shelf scanners calibrate to the third digit, the Academy's top-of-the-line sensor array calibrated to the fifteenth. How accurate was your creation again?" Mizuni grinned.

"To seventy digits..." Kitten whispered, blushed, and turned her gaze downward. "Okay, I see your point," she said and grinned awkwardly.

Mizuni grabbed her datapad and pointed at her computer. "All yours," she said and started tapping the pad. Kitten nodded and started typing.

They worked in silence for what seemed like a couple of hours. Then Kitten turned towards Mizuni and smiled widely. "I've missed this, Mizu," she said fondly.

Mizuni blinked her eyes a few times, raised her eyebrow and looked at Kitten with a question on her face. Kitten laughed gently.

"This. Us. Just working together. Being close," she said with a sad smile on her face.

Mizuni's face softened, and she nodded. "Ah. I know what you mean. I missed it too," she said. "We used to be together so much back in the early days of the Academy. All those astrophysics lessons and Mr. Henley's famous demonstrations," she giggled.

Kitten laughed. "Oh hell no, not Mr. Henley's demonstrations! I can't take any more of those," she said. "And Mrs. Veta's speeches!"

"I know you'd rather go and just... frolic in the fields with nothing to do, but we're here to work, people. We're scientists here, not some lazy regular people!" Mizuni said, trying to mimic a stern voice and scrunching her eyebrows together while shaking her right index finger in the air menacingly.

"Oh no, that sounded just like her," Kitten said through stifled laughter. "It seems like that was ages ago and we were kids. But it was only like... what, five years ago?"

"About, yeah. But you're right that it feels like a lifetime ago. I spent the last two years with my nose glued to screens and books, so it kinda was for me," Mizuni said, sighing.

"That's what I mean, Mizu. I haven't really seen you in two years, other than the occasional chat while having lunch," Kitten said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Vivi," Mizuni said. "I just got so deep into it when I realized that I had in my hands. Like, the donut drive theory did that to a lesser extent in the years before, but actually calculating the routes and researching the areas was a lot of work."

"I'm not blaming you," Kitten smiled. "On the contrary, none of us would be here if you hadn't. They wouldn't have even begun the construction of Sunstar if you hadn't announced that you'd be able to do what you did. I still missed you a lot," she aid and grinned.

"Well, we can hang out again here, and much more when we settle on Sunstar. It's not like we'll be working through night and day, and there's not going to be fields to frolic in," Mizuni said and laughed.

"Too true," Kitten said, smiling. "I'm looking forward to our chats about distant stars and going out there and seeing things with your own eyes like we used to do."

Mizuni nodded. "Me too, Vivi, me too," she said gently. "But look at it like this: this trip is us doing exactly that. We're going to see things with our own eyes. We're traveling into deep space, beyond the Empire's borders," she added, then smiled widely. "We're going to the distant stars, Vivi. We made it."

Kitten smiled wider than she had ever before, then nodded. "That's true. We made it," she whispered. Her eyes glistened on the brink of happy tears. "We made it," she repeated. "Now, get your ass back to work before you make me cry, Mizu," she said and laughed.

"I'd never," Mizuni said, grinning, and grabbed her datapad. She smiled at Kitten and then turned her attention back to the datapad.