The Search

I took a deep breath, triggering the oxygen sensor to express more into my suit. They said the air from the tank was cold and would feel good on my lungs but it doesn't. The suit is stuffy, and I'm fairly certain I can't breathe but the oxygen monitor says otherwise. It smells faintly of sage and manure. It's possible I'm wrong, but those are smells I still remember from our home planet.

I shuffled my feet closer to the door, watching my two birthday twins standing in line ahead of me. I'm happy they look just as uncomfortable as I feel, but the silence in these helmets is deafening. We can't communicate with each other until we are fully outside and all systems are live, so we can hear the instructor over all of our "chattering". They call the three of us the "Charleston Chatters".

That's our new planet, Charleston. It's really small, we could only fit about forty thousand people when we first got here, but Mom says it looks just like Earth did when I was born. I wish I could remember Earth from sixteen years ago, but my earliest memory I was four years old and we could only see grass and trees in Canada, which was usually covered in snow. Population fluctuates now, it fell pretty quickly right after we landed but it has been growing steadily over the past five years.

I watched Stevie step out into the void and gasped. Her transportation pack triggered and she floated up slowly, trailing green flames behind her. She spun around and gave us the "thumbs up". I exhaled in relief. Jerrica was next. I watched her nodding as the instructor ran through safety precautions for the four-hundred-sixty-fifth time.

Whenever I talk to Mom about our home planet, she gets pretty sad. She tells me to just look forward to the interesting life we have now. The space walks we start on our sixteenth birthday are meant to build a better community. We search nearby planets for sustainability, existing life, and mostly water. It's been difficult growing fields on Charleston because there's only a one way wind, causing everything to lean and not properly grow to the fullest potential. The planet we're walking today has been dubbed Raleigh. From the walkers last week, we know there is water but only under rocks, which are covered in a fine coating of piercing sharp crystals.

I watched Jerrica step out, her pack fire on and her thumb's up motion. The instructor turned to me and pressed a small button my right arm. I heard a small click followed by a short burst of static.

"Can you hear me, Tori?" His voice blasted into my helmet and I jumped.

"Geez, yes! Why are you so loud?" I put my hands to the sides of fishbowl helmet, trying to cover my ears.

"Oh, sorry! Just say the phrase 'audio volume' and pick a number between one and ten. It's probably on ten."

I chose level six and asked him to say something. Once the volume was adjusted, I gave him a thumbs up.

"Okay, the girls have already safely landed and are awaiting your arrival. You did great in practice this week, so just remember what we've talked about."

"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes.

"Are you ready?"

I frowned, I didn't know how anyone expected a sixteen year old to be ready to explore a planet. I wish I could just be driving a car to high school.

"Oh, she's got the look. It's going to be okay! Everyone else has survived so far." I could see him grinning through the large reflective glass on the front of his helmet.

"You're the worst person for this job, Benny."

"You're just mad they let me be in charge of you."

"Get a real job," I sneered.

He laughed and winked at me through the glass, "But then I couldn't witness the monstrosity of your first walk, babe!"

"Stop, you're only a year and a half older than me. You don't deserve to be in charge."

"Yeah bring that up with our dads. Okay, we're wasting too much time, get out there. The girls are probably getting worried."

I took a deep breath, "Okay."

He held up two fingers in the shape of a V, (or as Mom calls it, the "peace sign"), and repeated,
"May your ancestors be your guide in the Search."

I signaled back to him and replied, "May the Search liberate us."

I inhaled, stepped, and began to drop. For a moment, I forgot everything from class. My oxygen monitor began beeping and I exhaled, then pressed the yellow button on my chest until it turned green. I felt my transportation pack ignite and I slowly floated upwards. I spun around to face Benny on the ship. I could see him recording me on the screen projecting from his arm band. He waved to me, and I waved back, giving him two thumbs up.