Chapter Text
“I’m glad we could all gather here today. This is a matter of utmost importance.”
The NSR artists and Bunkbed Junction had received a call from Tatiana mere minutes earlier, informing them to gather some overnight belongs and arrive at the tower immediately. Her voice was urgent, a mixture of unease and uncertainty lacing her words. It was a shock to them all, but here they all were in her office, exchanging questionable glances and frustrated looks as she spoke.
She caught wind of the anger in the room, continuing with her thoughts. “I understand that I have probably dragged you away from something that you need to attend to, but I cannot trust too many people to do this mission, and I know you will all be the very best option at succeeding with this matter.” She flicked on a projector in the centre of the table the artists were gathered around, the box shining to life and displaying an image of a space craft on the bare wall of the room. She raised a laser pointer to the screen. “As some of you may know, just last week NSR produced and set up a new space station into the atmosphere, in order to replace the recent satellite that met an unfortunate end due to…” She paused, glancing to Mayday and Zuke, the former of which was using her plaits as a moustache on her face. “Some interference.”
Upon the mention of the Station, DJ Subatomic Supernova’s ears pricked up, worry settling inside him. “Is something wrong with the space station? I designed it to be impeccable and impenetrable; a formidable steel beast circulating around our beloved planet. If something is wrong it must be someone else fault, for I would never make such foolish mistakes as to damage my craft.”
Tatiana nodded, bring her hands up in defence. “You have nothing to worry about, Supernova. My team have informed me that the station is working mostly as planned.” She flicked over to another picture on the projection. “We have however been informed that there are minor faults that prevent the ship from working at full capacity; things such as faulty wires, failing waste expulsions and the charted courses for the craft malfunctioning. These are rendering the station expensive to run, as well as virtually pointless in our objective to bring more power to Vinyl City.” She sighed. “It’s just one step forward and two steps back…”
Yinu put her hand up, her body nestled in her mother’s lap. “But Miss Tatiana, isn’t there some way we can fix those things from here?” She motioned over to Supernova and Neon J, the main tech people of the NSR group. “We have people who know this kind of thing, and you also said that you have a team working on it, is there something they can do?”
Supernova adjusted his tie, before replying to the pianist. “Unfortunately, no. The space craft is designed to not be interfered from the ground for safety reasons. In case you don’t remember, we recently had a satellite de-orbited by someone hacking into it. With this one, I sought to minimalize the possibility of anyone getting access to its workings and causing another disaster.”
Finally paying attention to the conversation, Mayday stood up from her chair in alarm. “Wait, does that mean you want us to go up there to figure things out? Like, into space?! Is that why you told us to get some stuff!? I thought we were having a sleepover!” She trained her eyes on Tatiana, waiting for a response. Tatiana steeled her expression, before pressing a button to take the projection to the next screen where images of the artists were neatly arranged in rows with medical information by the side. “To answer your question Mayday, that is exactly what I would like all of you to do.”
The majority were startled by the outburst, the idea of sending themselves into space something so absurd to them. Other than maybe Supernova, they weren’t astronauts in any way and had no experience dealing with the things of outer space like zero gravity or lack of oxygen. In fact, now that they thought about it, surely there had to be someone better than them to do the job.
“I’m sure you’re questioning why I have asked you all to do the job,” Tatiana said, seemingly reading their minds. “I know that a lot of you are not suited for this job, but if I’m being honest with you, I do not trust many people to do this.” She smiled. “You have either all been working with each other for years or have adapted fast to the way NSR works. You may not have the experience with this mission, but I know that you will all be capable of working together to solve this problem.”
The artists exchanged glances again, prior to Tatiana looking to Eve and nodding, prompting the designer to leave the room. After a while, she came back in with a rack of clothing, spacesuits to be exact, each in their respect colours for each artist. Tatiana spoke up. “I have asked Eve to make these for herself and the rest of you. You should find them plenty comfy when you put them on.”
Mayday gasped, and sped towards the bright orange suit, pulling it off the hanger and pushing it against her body to size it up. It suited her perfectly as she squished its fabric to her chest, feeling the pillow-like cushioning inside. She hummed her liking to it, announcing, “I love it! If we get to wear these, I’m am all for it!” The others hesitantly joined her, picking up their individual costumes and admiring them.
Team Sayu stared at the rack for a while, a little confused. “But… none of these are our size.” Tila reported as she picked at a bright pink costume still on the rack. A similar complaint came from the 1010 bots, White saying, “There isn’t enough for us” ♪Oh No!♪. Tatiana hummed in agreement, explaining “That is because you will have different roles on the ship compared to your co-workers.” She pulled a wireless connector from a draw in her desk and handed it to Tila. “Since the four of you work better as Sayu, I will provide our… ground team, so to speak, with a device to connect your persona with the ship. You should be able to provide support to the team, just in a digital way.”
Tatiana then turned to 1010, “As for you five…” She pressed a button on her desk and activated the comms, asking the person behind it to “bring them in”. It was quickly met to an assistant coming in through the door to the office with a tray in her hands, small colourful robots standing tall on it. The head of NSR chuckled a little at the sight of them as the assistant placed them onto the meeting table and left. “Since the ship is only designed for so many people, I had my technical team make these small simple robots for you.” She picked up the red one and flicked a switch on the back, the rectangular screen on its face lighting up. “They should be connected directly to you, so should you want to talk or follow Neon J whilst he is up there, you can.” Red spoke and his voice came out of the tiny robot. He then moved it with his thoughts, the small legs hopping the toy across the table and to the edge. They wowed in autotune, yellow adding to it by saying, “If we’re 1010, then they’re Tiny 10!” Needless say, both Team Sayu and 1010 were happy with the decision.
“Umm.. Tatiana…” Yinu’s mother got her attention, indicating to her daughter who had a small suit in her hands. “I do not appear to have one.”
“That’s because you will be with me, communicating with the ship from here.” Tatiana saw the look of sorrow on Mother’s face and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Do not worry. Your daughter is safe with the others. Yinu is already well acquainted with Neon J and Supernova, I can give you my full assurance that she will be looked after either by them, or one of the others who are part of this trip.” Mother still seemed unsure but put her trust in Tatiana; she had never let her down before.
The artists got into their suits; Mayday as orange, Zuke as green, Supernova as dark blue, Neon J as white, Yinu’s as yellow, and finally Eve’s, whose costume was designed the fanciest with pink on one half, and white on the other. The artists noticed the difference, leading the Eve rolling her eyes. “Did you really think I would just wear bland and uninteresting clothes like the rest of you?” She flicked her hair. “If I’m going to wear a bin bag, I’m going to make it the best bin bag you have ever seen.” They couldn’t really argue with her; she did make the bulky suit look like a piece of art on her body.
Zuke looked back to the rack, a red suit, a purple suit, and a pink suit still on the hangers. “Hey, if no one else here needs a suit, why is there more?” The group looked to Tatiana for answers. She cleared her throat, before pressing the comms button on her desk again and saying “Please send our guests in.”
Through the door walked three familiar face: DJ Zam who Bunkbed Junction knew well, having allowed him to work in their sewer hideout, Chef Sunshine who while many of the artists didn’t personally know, they recognised her from her cooking shows on TV, and finally, an unexpected face, whose mere presence was enough to agitate the people in the room: Kliff.
Mayday exploded in outrage, pointing a finger at Kliff. “WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!” Zuke had to hold her back as she attempted to bolt for him with her fists ready to punch him into oblivion.
Tatiana kept her composure. “He is here on community service. He will be doing cleaning on the ship to make up for part of what he did. I trust that you can keep him under control should he do anything antagonistic.” She saw Mayday shake her anger off, a pout still on her face. None the less, Tatiana continued, “As for the other two, I have asked them here for their particular skills: DJ Zam uses communication equipment frequently, so will be the one to contact us down here about anything that happens. As for Chef Sunshine, she will be working in the kitchen and providing meals for you. I can imagine you will need your energy in space, so having a great chef there will be of use to you.”
Chef Sunshine smiled from ear to ear. “I can’t wait to work with you! You’re going to have some of the best meals of your life!”
Zam gave finger guns to the group, punctuating them with “Likewise, my fellow musicians! I’m gonna make sure that were having an out of this world experience doing our jobs.” Supernova facepalmed from the pun, but let it slide for now.
Kliff said nothing, avoiding eye contact with the lot of them. It seemed he didn’t want to be here, but of course was forced into helping. Mayday and Zuke weren’t sure if the service was going to make them forgive him for his betrayal, but at least he was doing something for his mistakes. The remaining three got on their suits as well with Sunshine in red, Zam in purple, and Kliff in pink, much to his embarrassment.
“Well,” Tatiana clapped her hands. “It appears that we are all ready for departure. Shall we make our way to the launch point?”
Neon J raised an eyebrow at the remark. “Launch point?”
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Neon and Supernova didn’t expect their boss to have a rocket prepared to take them to the Space craft, but here they were, staring up towards the sky at this massive structure that was almost as big as NSR tower itself. One thing they did know, was that they weren’t the ones commissioned to build such a marvellous ship, which both amazed them and unsettled them; the thought of someone other than themselves making something they we’re entrusting their lives to a horrible one.
“I’ve had my staff put your belongings on the rocket already. All that’s left is for you to board.” Tatiana announced, stepping out the way to reveal the lift to the cockpit.
Their final moments on the ground was filled with tears and happiness. 1010 couldn’t cry, but that didn’t stop them from whining with their arms wrapped around every part of Neon J that they could get to. He tried to order them to calm, but it fell on deaf ears. He sighed and began to pat all their heads, reassuring them with an unemotional “There there”. It was hard to believe they weren’t supposed to be the ages of children, because they certainly acted like it sometimes.
Mother gave Yinu as many kisses as she possibly could, covering her face with little pecks whilst mumbling out rules of safety and caution to her, which Yinu was replying back to her with a red face, embarrassment rising to the surface. She was just as sad as her mother in reality, but to say that would make her worry, and Yinu didn’t want that. Truth be told, she was excited to go to space, but that didn’t make her physical parting from her mother any less heart-breaking to her.
Chef Sunshine, Zam and Supernova were already on the lift, anxious to go. They were making small talk with each other, Sunshine gushing over the space man and complimenting his work, to which he did the same to her, saying that he frequently watched her shows to make delicious recipes. Zam didn’t get involved, merely commenting in his head that the interaction was somewhat cute.
Mayday stormed up to Kliff, pushing a finger to his chest. “I’ve got my eye on you, pal. If you so much as breathe funny, you’re going to be experiencing what you did to the satellite, got it?” He nodded fast; his eyes wide from fear as he gulped hard. She nodded harshly back to him, then made her way to the lift. Zuke lurked behind, eyeing up the man with uncertainty before going to join his band mate.
After several minutes of Neon prying 1010 off him and countlessly showing them that they could talk through Tiny 10, everyone headed up on the lift to the cockpit. The entered the vehicle, some looking behind them to see the people on the ground waving goodbye. Once everyone was in, the door was closed behind them and they took their seats in front of the large computer console. Supernova flicked a switch and their surroundings lit up around them, a soft glow radiating from all the lights and setting a calming mood.
Tatiana’s voice came over the speaker. “We’re going to count you down, okay? Get ready for blast off.” They all voiced they understood, buckling up tight in the seats. After a beat, Tatiana came back on the speaker, her voice filled with confidence. “Good Luck, artists.”
The countdown began, counting down from 10, each number bringing up an edge of suspense for the artists as they waited. It felt like it took forever for it to get down to the last three numbers, their heads filled with so many thoughts. The only person who seemed to be content was Supernova, who was having a field day with the idea of going into space, but safely this time, unlike when Bunkbed Junction had yeeted him into space.
3
2
1
GO!
The engines in the ship kicked on and the place started to rumble around them, their body’s feeling like they were in an earthquake. With that, they were off on their mission through the stars, the days before them seeming simple and uncomplicated. It was only to be a week up there, they could get their tasks complete and come back down, ensuring that NSR could provide the city with the power they needed.
If only it was that simple.