Stomaching the Consequences

The ship shuddered as it readjusted is flight path towards Central and broke my trance. I could feel the color draining from my face and my skin becoming clammy with nausea. I shifted a cuff further up my wrist and gripped my wrist tightly. I had heard there was a pressure point that relieved stomach upset there, and I was willing to try anything.

With each passing second Central became larger, and I counted the time with my rhythmic tapping in attempt to soothe myself. Just a few more minutes, I'd tell myself over and over. What felt like forever was probably only a couple minutes, but we finally made it into the dock. I could feel my body settle deeply into the seat as we entered Central's artificial gravity and tried to get up from my seat.

"Sit down!" a guard snapped. I lifted my cuffed hands towards my mouth to cover it but hit my helmet instead. "Please," I begged, "I need to get out."

"What did she say?" another guard asked the first. "It doesn't matter. Sit down!" the first barked.

Geo looked at me with concern, "She needs to use the head. She isn't well."

"We aren't making any special stops," said the guard. "We have orders and we are sticking to them. She will be fine."

I could tell I was going to lose it, and I started to panic that it would be inside the helmet. My trainings back on Earth began to flash in my mind about the dangers of vomiting in ones helmet. It could easily clog the air pipes and make you suffocate. I could hear the rushed whooshing of my heartbeat in my ears as I started to paw at my helmet with my tied up hands.

Seeing what I was trying to do the guards in the ship began to panic. "She can't take off her helmet! She could infect us!" they shouted. "Who knows what disease she's carrying!" They turned to Geo, "make her stop!"

"Get us to an isolation room immediately!" Geo snapped. The guard who had been yelling at me earlier suddenly became quite accommodating. "There is one right over there," he said while pointing to a door just a few feet away. Being such a large station it wasn't unusual to have isolation chambers at the dock for compromised travelers or goods. The guard released the straps holding me down and hoisted me to my feet. He nearly dragged me to the isolation room where he pushed me inside and Geo ran to follow. I lost my footing and stumbled to the ground.

The doors slid shut behind us as I quickly pulled off my helmet and crawled over to the trash bin a couple feet away where I promptly spewed out my insides. When I was finally done I just sat there for a minute trying to recollect myself and settle my mild shaking. I felt a nudge on my shoulder and saw that Geo had found a towel for me. I took it and wiped away the trails of spit and tears from my face.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," I said embarrassed.

"Are you ok?" he asked as he took his cuffed hands and placed one on my forehead. I pulled back from his touch and looked away, "Yah, I'm fine. Just space sick."

"Space sick?" he asked. "What is that?" I looked at him in disbelief, "you know when you get nauseous from traveling in space? From the change in pressure and low gravity?" He considered it for a second but shook his head. "I don't know anyone who gets that. We've always traveled through space, so maybe we are all just used to it?"

A bitter little laugh escaped me, "well you are all lucky then. This is only my second time in zero gravity and I've gotten sick both times." He tilted his head and smiled at me, "you mean your second time while conscious because you've floated in zero gravity for thousands of years." I laughed softly, "well apparently that matters."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady myself when I suddenly felt Geo's hand on mine. He looked at me closely, his eyes full of concern. For a moment I forgot about our argument earlier, about my promise to leave and hearing that I was a mistake. It is odd to say, but time felt soft for just a moment. Until a series of loud thraps at the door startled me back to reality. I pulled my hand away and stood up with my helmet in hand.

"Let's get this over with," I said with as much confidence as I could muster as I placed the helmet back on my head. My heart began to race and adrenaline course through my system at the thought of going to trial. Inside the helmet all I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat as I turned towards the door. "I don't want to be the cause another mistake by making us late," I tried to say jokingly, but my voice cracked a little. Geo blinked, "Flora, that's not what I-" I couldn't hear what he said because the banging on the door became even louder. "We need to hurry," I urged. The sooner we leave this room the sooner we can be done with this trial. You can get rid of this mistake, and I can live for myself without guilt.

Geo nodded and placed his helmet on his head. He opened the door and we both stepped into the decontamination chamber before once again entering the guards' custody. We were led to a small hover car and shoved into the backseat. The back was completely encased in metal walls breaking any illusion of escaping- you weren't even going to have a view. The car began to move and I could feel us twisting and turning down pathways. I wondered what it must look like outside of the car in such a large station. I turned to look at Geo, but his eyes were focused on the floor of the car. His body seemed to become even more tense the closer we got to our destination.

It wasn't too long before I felt us come to a stop and the door to the car was flung open. A guard grabbed me by the arm roughly pulled me out and dragged me down the hall. I groaned in protest, but the sound was caught in my throat as I looked around the circular-shaped room. It's metal grey walls made the space feel cold and harsh. The light came from a single source directly above me, casting its harshest light on me and Geo in the center. My eyes followed the light as it slowly softened near the edges of the room. It was there in the soft dim light where I discovered the council watching me with cold eyes.