Killing Time

Posted on Wed Feb 28th, 2024 @ 3:36am by Sterre Forster & Major General Richard Lockhart (Raynor)
Edited on on Wed Feb 28th, 2024 @ 3:38am

Mission: Jumping Right In
Location: C-130 Bound for McMurdo Station Antarctica
Timeline: Another Day in Paradise
575 words - 1.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Sterre shivered slightly as she looked out the small window of the C-130 carrying her to her future job in the antarctic. She couldn’t quite believe she was actually going, it hadn’t sunk in. She had a feeling it might not ever feel completely normal but it was the opportunity of a lifetime and there was no way she could pass it up. And, as a result of taking the job, she had a feeling this wasn’t the first time she was going to shiver from both anticipation and cold.

“How much further?” She asked her companion. She certainly wasn’t going to bug the pilot.

“Another hour or so.” Captain Jason Cunningham replied, not giving an exact distance because he figured it would probably be meaningless to her.

As it happened Sterre was actually really good with distance but she let it go and instead decided to try a little chit chat since he’d barely spoken a few words to her since they had left.

“I take it you’ve been on this ride a few times?”

“Several dozen.”

“And you must not get tired of it?”

“It’s my job,” he replied simply and left it at that.

And in that time, Sterre thought, he hadn’t managed to learn a little bit about conversation. Not that she was an expert but she was so used to people chatting her up that it felt completely awkward to keep quiet nowadays. Still, he didn’t seem to want to give up any more information so she turned back to the window and thought about her reason for being here.

Sterre’s family was spread out all over the world, especially her mother’s family. Her mother had 6 siblings growing up and most of her mother’s siblings she’d never met, except for one uncle, the same uncle who was responsible for her getting into the program in the first place. At least, she was fairly sure she was in, as long as she didn’t throw up over any generals she should be fine. She knew her area of study well and she didn’t expect there would be a situation that she couldn’t handle. A naive opinion she was sure, but she would rather air on the side of confidence than doubt.

She remembered the day he had come to her and suggested that she apply. They were having tea at the Courtyard Tea Room in Boston and he’d simply let slip that he’d dropped her name amongst his colleagues. Up until that point she’d actually had no idea what her uncle did for a living. It had never occurred to her to find out. He’d left every morning for work and was home every night so she’d assumed he worked in an office or a lab somewhere. The truth was far more interesting as she’d later found out.

Sterre sighed. It would be all right. This was the right move and she was going to live the rest of her life with spectacular memories that she would no doubt have to keep to herself. Still, perhaps she could write a fiction book someday, change the names, the mode of transportation. No one would have any idea that she had actually lived it. But the point was, she would live it and she would never regret a thing. She shivered again.