“Catherine Watson, come in here please, thank you thank you very

much indeed.” Catherine Watson, a young woman, twenty- one years old, stepped

into the Grand Meeting Hall. She had tan skin, deep black eyes, wavy coffee-

brown hair which was left loose and she wore a blue blouse with a peach-coloured

skirt. She was at ‘STD’ which stood for Space Technology Department.

   As Watson entered the Hall there were many eyes

staring at her. The pair of eyes that caught her interest was those of David

Lewis.  He was a well-built man with broad shoulders, clear brown eyes,

fair and delicate skin, messy brown hair, side burns, and he wore a red- shirt

and grey- trousers. He too was staring deep into her. Catherine felt a cold

pickle rush along her back and scuttled away to sit down. The only empty seat

was the one next to David so that was where she sat. Onto her left sat Florence

Austen who had green eyes and short, blonde hair which fell down in perfect,

bouncy curls and William Jordon who had deep blue eyes and a tuft of messy

auburn curls. They were both her best friends. “I am sure that none of you have

any Idea of why I have summoned you here,” spoke Joseph Owens, CEO of STD, “My

dear scientists and astronauts, we, runners of the STD have come up with yet

another operation of building a space shuttle which is to be known as ‘Opollo

4.” There were cheers echoing all around the hall and then Joseph continued.

“It is said to take maximum four months to build so we are to come up with a

scheme consisting of which part of our universe to explore, so that we can

build it accordingly. I will dismiss the meeting for today and we shall have

another next Friday when all your plans are ready.” There was wild chatter.

   Catherine, Florence and William stepped out into

the centre courtyard. “I can’t believe it. A new space shuttle!” Florence

almost squeaked, twirling the end of her magenta skirt round and round. “Well

yes, I suppose it is exiting rather,” Catherine muttered. “You have gotten your

eyes on David haven’t you,” William remarked grinning all over his face.

Catherine spun around sharply sat this remark. She had been gazing at David who

was speaking with Joseph. All she wanted was for David to speak to her. “What!

Yes, I mean No.”

   “You’ve got to forget it. I mean that man has

got guts Cathy you know that. He only looks at those extra glamorous type of

girls, not brainy ones like you,” William said. Florence remained silent. There

was awkward silence for half a minute before it broke due to Catherine’s

increase in temper. “Listen up Wil, you cannot just tell me to forget it you

know. I mean it is not like you even care is it. And what do you mean by saying

not brainy ones like you! I am not a nerd you know.” Everyone around looked at

William in disbelief. Florence shook her head. It was quite natural for her

friend to explode easily.

   “Cathy-

   “Enough. Enjoy your afternoon… in peace. I am off.

Do not follow me.”

   Saying so Catherine stormed off past all the

whispering crowds into the quiet peace and freedom of the library. There she

grabbed a one-thousand-page book and began reading.

   “You should not have said that you know. She

really likes him,” Violet Dashville, a lady at about the age of thirty said.

   “How do you know that?” William said almost in a

whisper.

   “Saw them gazing at each other in the Grand

Meeting Hall.”

   “Oh, I see.”

   “Violet’s right you know they do seem to have a

liking for each other,” Florence began after Violet walked off. “Yeah. I

understand now. I regret what I just did,” William said as they entered the

Great Hall of STD where people ate, chat, held parties and just hung around.

“I’ll go apologize,” William declared in a soft tone as he turned to leave. “No

wait. Remember she told us not to follow her,” Florence said, grabbing his arm.

   The two of them blushed. “Three cups of coffee

perhaps?” William asked. “Yes, that would be marvellous. I’ll grab a seat.”

   Meanwhile, back in the library something struck

Catherine’s mind. Something that would change her life forever but the only

thing was that, to reveal it, she had to wait until the following Friday,

August eighteenth. All Catherine’s anger had disappeared. She ran down stairs,

past four large corridors, bumped into six people and finally found her

friends.

   As soon as Catherine entered the Great Hall, she

knew that her friends, and William would never be replaced by anyone else.

Sitting at one of the round tables were Florence and William. Lying on the

table were three untouched cups of coffee. The three friends ran and hugged

each other. “I am so sorry,” William said. “Oh no, Wil it is me who is supposed

to be sorry,” Catherine stated, “I am the one who shouted at you in the first

place and-

   “Oh, quit the fighting. Are you a pair of wild

cats or what? Let’s just drink our coffee before it cools shall we,” Florence

interrupted. So, the trio proceeded to sip their coffee. “Has any of you gotten

any idea about what we should with the new shuttle?” Catherine inquired. “No

why. Do NOT tell me that you have any idea because it is not due today or

tomorrow you know,” Florence smirked. “Well, it obviously does seem like our

brainwave has gotten some sort of idea doesn’t it?” “Oh, don’t embarrass me

William, or I shall simply do the same to you. And by Neptune! Why did you call

me a brainwave?” Catherine blushed. “Well, you do have some mind-blowing

thoughts, opinions and ideas sometimes you know,” William said. “Yeah, well I

do have an idea but it will definitely not to be exposed until Friday.”

   “There’s a good little astronaut,” Joseph said

smiling as he passed the friend’s table. “Coo, I did not notice him coming. Did

you? I almost spilt my milkshake when he spoke to me,” Rosa Parks said. She was

with her extremely smart husband, Hampton Parks. “Well Rosa he is something,

here isn’t he?” Florence giggled. “Am I not then?” Mr Parks asked.

   “I- I didn’t mean to-

   “Of course, you didn’t. Goodbye for now, the

three of you.”

   “Bye.”

   “Let’s eat dinner now and head off to our

dormitories soon. It is getting late. Look you can even see the sun setting,”

Florence said. “What do you want for dinner? I’ll order the food,” William

said. “I suppose we could do with some salad tonight,” Catherine said, almost

in a whisper. “Yeh, I’ll go order the food. Stay here.” So, Florence and

Catherine stayed back. “I jolly am glad that the boys’ and girls’ dormitories

are next to each other,” Catherine said. “What do you mean by that?” Florence

asked looking rather suspicious. “Well, you see we can communicate easily. We

do not have to walk a long distance to speak to them or tell them something

important you know.” “Are you still speaking about David?”

                 “What

does dormitories have to do with David… well yes I suppose I am.” “I have faith

in the two of you. I am sure that things would work themselves out towards the

end. Or look William’s gotten our food fast.” “Did I miss an important

conversation?” William asked as he laid the three food parcels on the table and

sat himself down between his two friends. “Oh no, you didn’t miss anything

important Wil,” Florence mentioned. They soon finished eating. “The food was

great,” Catherine remarked.

   “Let’s take the shortcut to our dormitories,

today shall we?” Catherine asked as the trio made their way to bed. “Okie. That

means that I get to go to bed before the two of you,” William said winking at

Florence as she winked back. Secretly the two of them knew that Catherine had

the intention of speaking to David on the way because the short cut would lead

them to pass the boy’s dormitory first. Eventually Catherine and Florence said

their goodnights to William as he entered his dormitory. Little did Catherine

know that her wish would soon come true. “Race you to bed then,” Florence said

as the two friends began racing past two corridors to get to bed. Very soon

Catherine had bumped into someone and both of them had fallen onto the red-

tiled floor. “Oh, I am so sorry. I really am,” Catherine mumbled noticing that

Florence had started grinning at her. She stood up and immediately found out

why Florence was smiling. She had apparently bumped into David and due to their

clumsiness, both of them had fallen.

   “It’s nothing really,” David replied. Catherine

tried her best to hide her embarrassment but was really bad at it. David

noticed that Catherine had started blushing. “I’ll head off then,” Florence

said and headed off to her dormitory. “It was nothing really. You did not push

me on purpose. Anyways Cathy, I received news that you, out of all others had

come up with an idea about the shuttle,” David said. There was awkward silence

for about five seconds before David and Catherine found themselves kissing.

David too had realized that he had a soft spot for Catherine. “Goodnight then

David. See you tomorrow,” Catherine said. “Goodnight.” Catherine skipped her

way to the dormitory. She was bursting to tell her friend the exiting news but

found Florence lying on bed fast asleep. Naturally she found herself doing the

same.

  In her dreams the day’s events all repeated itself

over and over again. Catherine even found herself smiling in sleep.

   The next morning Catherine poured out all her

news to her friends in the centre courtyard. “You kissed! Oh god,” William

laughed. This time even Catherine smiled. “The funny thing is they met by

accident,” Florence giggled. It was a beautiful day and the three friends were

sitting on a bench, enjoying the sun. “David told me too,” a boy named Flister

Roginston said emerging from behind a tree. “That was the first time we ever

saw him blush.” “I must have been asleep because he certainly did not tell me,”

William said looking disappointed. “Well yes you were asleep,” Flister said,

“Anyways I must be off now. Bye.”

   “Bye.” “See you soon.” “Bye.”

   Friday, August eighteenth

came soon. Catherine, William, Florence and all the others at STD had been

building up plans and schemes all week long. David was incredibly silent ever

since the night that he and Catherine had kissed. Many noticed this and

suggested that it was because David was embarrassed to show his face to Catherine

until she showed hers to him first. On the other hand, Florence and William’s

suggestion was the total opposite because they realized that their friend had

grown quiet too.

   Very soon the Grand Meeting Hall was filled with

chatter. “May I have your attention please!” Joseph called out. The hall

immediately quietened down. Florence, William and Catherine were seated three

seats away from David. “This is a day that we have all been waiting for,”

Joseph continued, “It is up to your plans in which Opollo 4 would proceed to be

built. Let’s begin with George Camburry, shall we?” And so, it proceeded. There

was pin drop silence as each and every person in the room spilt out their

plans. Soon it was time for Catherine to give her plan out. David, Florence and

William had come up with plans which were curiously similar. All three of them

had wanted to go explore Neptune as it was really nice in colour and texture.

Joseph had said that that was a great idea but it was not quite what he had

expected.

   All eyes were now facing Catherine as she

cleared her throat, “Ahem. I have come up with an idea from which we would

totally be able to learn something important as we explore the world around

us.” Catherine paused. She glanced at David. “You can do it Cathy,” he said.

The words had come out of his mouth even before he could stop it. Those words

of encouragement… Especially from the one whom she loved sparked her up a bit.

Catherine continued, “So I thought that we could spend a day on each of the

planets of our galaxy and collect something of importance from each of them. Rock

samples, for example. That way, on our return we could explain the importance

of that specific object. Um… That’s my plan. Thanks.” There was a humungous

round of applause. Even the people who did not get to give out their plan

started to shout, “Cathy, Cathy. Let’s do it her way.” Catherine felt herself

sink on her seat.

   “SILENCE!” Joseph declared. “How many of you

vote for Cathy’s plan?” All hands shot up. Some people like, Ginger Finnigan,

Preieta Rose, Lavender Dunkster and Harry Yeomen raised both their hands up.

“Alright then. It is decided. I shall send word of our plan to our astronautic

and aerospace engineers today. Congrats Cathy. We shall have our next meeting

in four months’ time. If anyone wishes to have a meeting beforehand you may

simply contact me and I shall organize a meeting sometime before. We shall

decide on which astronauts to send out of this earth during our next meeting

which falls in December. Meeting adjourned. You may leave.

   “We’ll meet you outside then Cathy,” Florence

whispered as she and David left the room. “That was great David,” Catherine

whispered. “What was?” David asked. “For telling me that I could do it when I

was ready to shrink into my chair with embarrassment,” Catherine said managing

to produce a couple of giggles. “Oh it- I didn’t know I was going to say it

either,” David laughed nervously. “Well, I had better be off then,” Catherine

said, “Meet you at the Great Hall for dinner then. See you.” “Bye Cathy.”

   Very soon William, Florence, Catherine and David

found themselves seated at one of the round tables in the Great Hall eating

spaghetti. “So, Wil I heard that you are very talented at poem writing,” David

remarked. “Oh well…” “Yeah he is,” Florence said. “It was nice of you to join

us at dinner David. Many have heard that you yourself is very clever at many

things,” William said. “Thanks Wil. You see, I would not have been here if not

for Cathy. She asked me to meet her here and I decided that I would then have a

little chat with you too.” The trio, who had now become a quadruple spent the

rest of the evening laughing and having fun. The four friends got incredibly

close over the next four weeks.

   “Want to go watch a movie in the common room

this evening you lot?” Florence asked her three friends.  “Yeah, how about

‘Sherlock Holmes’?” William asked. “Terrific Wil that’s-” Catherine began.

“Wonderful,” David finished. The next few weeks were happy and joyful but they

were definitely not relaxing.

   “Gosh when is this ever going to end,” David

moaned in the centre courtyard, “And how is it that the girls totally enjoy

doing this?” “Well David, naturally the girls do not like this either. Florence

does, but Catherine only pretends that she likes drawing graphs to keep

Florence happy. She told me so herself as we almost always get assigned to

spend our days drawing these irritating graphs showing the levels of humidity

in each planet of our galaxy and so on,” William replied. The two boys were

sitting on a bench and working on their graphs while on the other hand the

girls had finished theirs a long time ago and had begun skipping. “You done

boys? Florence and I were thinking of getting some ice-cream,” Catherine asked

as she and Florence walked over to where the boys were. “Why don’t you get us

some and we can eat it out here? The weather is rather refreshing today,” David

said. “Oh well alright you two. Continue on your graphs. Catherine and I shall

bring in some ice-cream,” Florence replied. “Thanks Florence,” William said.

   Very soon the four friends found themselves

sitting on the grass, licking ice- cream. “I can’t wait until our next meeting.

It would be really exiting to know who the selected astronauts are. After all

we have all been training for months,” Catherine almost squealed. “Well then

someone’s exited,” David said hugging Catherine and accidentally spilling some

of his ice- cream all over her. “DAVID!” Catherine shouted getting up and

wiping her blouse and skirt. Everyone including Catherine laughed.

   The next few weeks rolled on quite fast and the

meeting came soon. “It is nice to see all your welcoming faces again. And it is

my pleasure to tell you that they look even more welcoming since Christmas is

near,” Joseph spoke, “As you all know today is a very important day. Today is

the day when the shuttle’s crew are going to be announced so here goes.”

   The whole room remained silent. Many astronauts

looked very eager to hearing the news while some didn’t seem the least bit bothered.

“The pilot is to be… Egnus Hangern.” There were cheers echoing in the hall.

“The eight astronauts go as follows: Catherine Watson, David Lewis, Florence

Austen, William Jordon, Flister Roginston, Violet Dashville, James Kinnman and

Olivia Rogerz.” There were humungous claps, cheers, and praises. Then Joseph

continued. “There is also to be an honorary member joining us on our journey

and he is an android named Vigour.” There were gasps in the hall. Who would

have guessed that an android would be joining them? Joseph waited till the

excitement had died down and then said, “Vigour was supposed to be a surprise

but I thought that you lot would like to know of it before hand. These

astronauts will get regular training to help them on their journey. I wish you

all good luck and a very merry Christmas.”

   There was loud chatter as Joseph left the hall.

“Gosh congrats you lot. I obviously knew you would be chosen Cathy, but the

others! It is just incredible,” Harry cheered. “And to think, you’d be travelling

with an android,” Hampton said. “Well, I just hope the android’s good and

sensible,” Olivia wondered out loud. “It won’t be a murderer that’s for sure,”

Florence said. “But wait Joseph hasn’t told us the days in which our trainings

would be held,” Flister said looking worried. “I’ll go ask him,” Catherine said

as she exited the hall.

 “Enter.”

   Catherine walked into Joseph’s office. It was

massive. There were portraits of famous astronauts such as Neil Armstrong hung

on the walls. The floor had a glacial texture. There were millions of mini

rocket ornaments laid out in every possible space.

   “You wanted to see me Catherine?” Joseph asked.

“Yes sir, as a matter of fact I do.” “Sit,” Joseph said, beckoning Catherine to

a seat, very much similar to his. This chair was large, comfortable and had

many pictures of space shuttles printed on it, whereas Joseph’s chair had only

one space shuttle printed on it. Catherine sat. “Tea?” “No sir,” Catherine

said, “Thanks.”

   “What was it you wanted to ask me dear?”

   “Well sir… Flister had made note that you had

not told us the dates of our training sessions sir.”

   “Yes, well I am sorry,” Joseph said, “Every

Saturday at twelve noon.”

   “Thank you very much sir I shall tell the others,

but sir would you mind telling me the reason to why we, the chosen astronauts

were chosen.”

    “Yes, yes Catherine I shall tell you and

only you. Do you promise to keep it a secret?”

   “Yes, sir I will.”

   “Great. I chose you and David because the two of

you are seemingly good at everything,” Joseph said. Catherine found herself

blushing. Joseph continued, “Florence was chosen for her hidden talent at

driving.” “How do you know that sir?” Catherine asked. “Your friend has been

learning to drive space ships for years but unfortunately she needed to stop

her course because of some family issue. It’s not like I blame her or

anything.”

   Catherine smiled along with Joseph. And then he

proceeded, “William was chosen for his exclusive poem writing skills.” “How

would writing poems help us on our trip?” Catherine asked. “Well, everything

has its own advantages,” Joseph replied. “Flister and James were chosen for

their great strength and swimming skills.”

   “Swimming?”

   “Yes... Well holding their breath. You know, for

a long time.”

   “Oh. I suppose that is necessary.”

   “It very well is. Olivia was added for her great

sense of humour. Journeys would not be fun without jokes would it?”

   “Oh no. Not at all,” Catherine laughed. “But

what about Violet and Egnus?”

   “Egnus was obviously chosen for his driving

skills and Violet was chosen for her knowledge in how-to do-good researching,”

Joseph finished.

   “Gosh sir you sure know how to choose well.

Anyways I had better be going. Thanks for your time sir.”

   “No problem Catherine. Good luck.”

   Catherine left the office and started to look

for her friends in order to convey the dates of the training sessions.

Very soon Catherine found Olivia, William, Florence and David sitting on the

grass in the centre courtyard. “Hi Cathy!” Olivia said, “What’ s the news?” “Hi

Olivia. Do you mind letting the other chosen astronauts know that the training

sessions are held every Saturday at noon?” Catherine asked looking rather

exhausted. “Yes, I will go tell them right now,” said Olivia getting up.

“Great. Thanks.” Catherine sat with her friends. “Gosh Cathy you look

exhausted. Why did you take so long? Did anything happen? What’s wrong?” David

asked hurriedly. “Let the girl relax,” Florence remarked, taking Catherine’s

arm. “You’re just saying that because you are a girl,” William said. Catherine

smiled. “Actually, Florence is right. Do you mind if I tell you tomorrow?”

   The next day Catherine kept her friends in track

of all the news at breakfast.

   “So, you are keeping a big secret from us?”

William asked. “Yeah. I am sorry but I just have to.” David hugged Catherine.

“It is okay. I am sure that everyone keeps a secret anyway,” Florence said

reassuringly. “You lot are the best friends I have ever had,” Catherine

whispered. “Oh, we know that!” David laughed. “And to think. Our first training

session is in three days’ time,” William said, “I wonder how the others are

doing.” “I suppose they are doing fine… If that was a question,” Florence said.

“No, it wasn’t, but thank you,” William replied. Everyone laughed. Catherine

could feel David hugging her even tighter. They had a big adventure coming up

ahead.

   Saturday came soon. Everyone was exited. “I hope

all goes well,” David said. But unfortunately, David’s wish did not last long.

At three o’clock in the afternoon William, Catherine and David found themselves

on bed in the hospital wing. There had been an explosion with the ARED

(Advanced Resistive Exercise Device) and many were injured. David was injured

the most. The only ones who had managed to skip past this explosion were James

and Florence. David, Catherine and William’s beds were next to each other. The

news of the explosion had spread across the whole department and there were

many visitors in the hospital wing much to Madam Hilda’s dislike. Madam Hilda

was the department’s nurse. “Out of here you lot now!” she yelled, “Only one

visitor per person. Not TEN!” Soon the wing cleared out.

   “You three alright?” Florence asked her three

friends. She was extremely worried. Many would say that she was ill too

considering the way she looked. “Yes, we are fine Florence. Go rest. You have

been shocked to the bones in fact-” Catherine started. “In fact, you look worse

than us,” William finished. “Cathy is right. “You were lucky so be happy about

it. Go rest,” David said.

   It took a week and four days for the patients to

heal. And soon everyone was back to normal. But not everything.

   “When you were in the hospital wing, Joseph had

a total fit. He demanded a complete checking done on the machines and it was

discovered that someone had been meddling with the cords. It is all fixed now,”

Florence said. “Great,” William replied. The quadruple was in the common room

chatting away. “I hope the rest of the training sessions go on fine,” Catherine

said, “That is all I am hoping for.” Everyone agreed to that. Without proper

training they would not be able to proceed on the journey.