Stellar

Part One

“So, what did you think of Mrs. Dewarno’s class today?” Julie Seroq asked Jonathan Kellroice as they walked home from school.
“It was pretty boring, but remember when she burped in front of the whole class?” Jonathan smiled as Julie laughed. One step closer to asking her out on a date. Jonathan observed his surroundings as they passed the scrap yard. “What do you think they’re planning to do with all of that metal?” he asked Julie.
“They’ll probably give it to the government to make more machines to keep the sky scorched.” Jonathan looked up to the sky. About a century ago in 2401915 to be exact, all of the presidents and prime ministers around the world agreed that the Sun was getting too hot, so they made the Sky Treaty. Jonathan looked down at his dirty Timberland boots, old ripped jeans and thick fleece. The world’s temperature had been this cold since the Sky Treaty. All the Presidents around the world launched probes called S.S.H.D., or Solar Saving Human Device. Their job was to fill the sky with very heavy clouds that had a special chemical in them. With the cloud and chemical combined they almost completely blocked out sunlight. Only about 20% can be seen now. Jonathan looked at his gray surroundings. Nothing had been the same since the Sky Treaty passed, or that was what Jonathan’s grandpa had always said about it, until he passed away in 2401907. Suddenly something caught Jonathan’s eye; it was a textbook. Jonathan abruptly stopped and looked down at it. “What is it?” Julie asked with concern.
“I think it’s a textbook.” Jonathan said. He bent down and picked it up, and the second he touched it, he felt a tingling in his brain which quickly disappeared. Jonathan opened the science textbook cover to the very first page. Inside the hard cover it stated clearly in thin black sharpie marker ‘By:’. The name that was supposed to be there was covered very thickly with a weird silver liquid.
“Whoa, what is that?” Julie rested her head on top of Jonathan’s right shoulder and looked at the mesmerizing silver liquid that bent and reflected their images like a curved mirror.
“I have no idea,” Jonathan said with a hint of curiosity in his voice. He looked down into the grassy corner of the Scrap yard’s fence where the book had been. Jonathan licked his dry lips.
“Anything there?” Julie asked as Jonathan bent down on his knees.
“I don’t think so.” He looked hard at the long grass that could hide only a push pin. “Nope,” Jonathan said with disappointment, “I don’t think so.” Jonathan got up and settled the book in his arms and tightly hugged it, for some reason Jonathan really liked this book, even though he didn’t know what was in it. He and Julie started down the block to Jonathan’s house. They had a project to start.

Part Two
Julie walked into Jonathan’s house. “So, what are we working on first?” Julie asked politely as she and Jonathan sat down at the kitchen table.
“Well, actually I thought we should look at the book a little more.” Jonathan responded in a raspy voice as he got up to get water for him and Julie.
“You mean Mrs. Shurlock’s five-page essay on Newton’s equations due next Thursday? I thou-”
“No, I mean the book we found at the junkyard today.” Jonathan drank a sip of cold water and handed the other glass to Julie. Julie liked it when Jonathan was serious, which he mostly was, but she loved it more when he cracked jokes and made her laugh. It made her feel like they were a couple, which she desperately wanted.
“Okay,” she said, “set it down on the table.” Jonathan took the book off the kitchen counter where he had put it and set it down on the table. He opened up the cover. Julie thought the silver liquid was very weird, almost like it was mercury. Since Jonathan had zoned-out just by looking at the silver liquid, Julie turned to the first page of the textbook. The page was filled with difficult equations and difficult descriptions for every equation.
“Whoa,” Jonathan said in awe, “this is nothing like we learn in school, and we have physics!” Julie could feel the excitement in Jonathan’s voice. He was always ready to learn more, since they’d met when they were four, he’d always shown his interest in physics and science. This year in fact, they had physics, which Jonathan loved. Suddenly Jonathan said something, “These are wrong.”Julie was confused.
“What do you mean?”
“These equations are completely incorrect.”
“Are you sure?” Julie was now concerned. She knew Jonathan was excited about the book.
“Well in school we learned that Einstein’s equation for the curvature of spacetime to define gravity had disjoint unions as one of the first properties. Here it states that metric tensors take the place of disjoint unions.”
“Oh, really?” Julie asked as she tried to sound interested. She had no idea what he was talking about, she was more a Language Arts person. Julie looked at the equation again as she drank her water. Something about it did look wrong.
“Do you think we should show it to Mrs. Shurlock?” Julie asked.
“Ya, she’ll know the answer to why this book and all its equations,” Jonathan flipped through the pages of the textbook, “are like this.”

Part Three
“YAAWN!” Jonathan let out a quick yawn. It was time to wake up. He got out of his laying down position and sat upright on the edge of his bed. He jumped down and landed on his blue slippers. Jonathan walked out of his doorway half asleep, which he quickly regretted. “Owww!” Jonathan screamed in pain as he lifted his right foot. He had hit his pinkie toe against the door frame. Jonathan got over it and walked to the bathroom. He passed his brother’s room on his way and peeked in through the door. He smiled, Henry usually didn’t sleep in this late. He suddenly heard someone snoring in his brother’s room, but Henry’s mouth wasn’t moving. Jonathan moved his head to the right, he spotted his mother Karen, lying down next to Jonathan. He probably had another nightmare, I hope it wasn’t the one with outer space, he’s never the same for at least a few days after having it. Jonathan made his way to the bathroom, where he vigorously brushed his teeth, and spit. Brush, spit. Brush, spit. Rinse. After the bathroom, he quickly walked to his room. What will I wear today? Jonathan walked down the stairs to get to the kitchen, where he found his father Rick, up bright and early. “How are you doing today son?”
“Feeling pretty good, but then there’s always school, y’know.”
“Hehah. You always know how to make my day, don’t you Jon.”
“Heh, yup.” Jonathan said with discomfort in his voice. Awkward. Jonathan thought. His father rarely called him Jon, and Jonathan never really did like it very much. Suddenly, Violet revealed herself from underneath the table. “Well look who decided to wish me a good morning,” Jonathan said in his puppy-like voice as he bent down to pet his lovely dog Violet. Although Violet could go on the occasional walk, she was very old. Jonathan’s parents had gotten Violet the day Jonathan was born. To be exact, Violet is 16-years-old. Jonathan got up and brushed dog hair off his jeans. He sat down at the dinner table and ate his toast. What will Mrs. Shurlock say? Jonathan thought to himself as he washed down his dry toast with milk. His nose wrinkled in disgust. “Dad?”
“Yes?” Rick replied with concern.
“Is this milk spoiled?”
Rick Kellroice picked up the container of milk from the kitchen counter and smelled it. His nose wrinkled, and he said, “ooohhh, yes. This milk is definitely spoiled. No wonder it was the last one at the supermarket.” Jonathan thought for a moment about how the supermarkets in his area were having less of everything every time they restocked their shelves. Jonathan Kellroice guessed if it was because the world was running out of minerals and resources, that probably was it.
“Alright, I’m gonna head out now okay dad?”
“Alright, have a nice day!” Jonathan’s father shouted as Jonathan left to go to the door. Jonathan opened the door and breathed in a huge whiff of the outdoors, before walking down his dusty and dirty porch steps that hadn’t been cleaned for months on end.
“What do you mean an old textbook?” Quinn Kim asked Jonathan and Julie as they entered second-period science with Mrs. Shurlock.
“I mean we found a textbook with different versions of Albert Einstein’s field equations that just, don’t make sense.” Jonathan responded, concerned of why someone would want to change a genius’s field equations.
“Oh, whatever. You probably just read it wrong.” Quinn told Jonathan as they entered the science classroom.
Part Four
Quinn looked at Jonathan Kellroice as he walked from his desk to Mrs. Shurlock. And watched in confusion. Quinn saw Jonathan’s mouth moving, which she obviously expected, but then she saw a bad side of her teacher. Mrs. Shurlock looked at the textbook cover and opened to the first page. Suddenly, her face turned into an ugly mask as she threw the book on the floor, grabbed Jonathan by the arm and rushed with him outside of the room. Quinn and Julie both looked at each other in confusion and concern.

Part Five
“Where did you find the textbook?” Mr. Rigbone questioned Jonathan.
“I do-I don’t understand?”
“It’s not that hard Mr. Kellroice, just tell us where you found the science textbook.”
“Probably found it in the gutter!” Mrs. Shurlock blurt out loudly from across Mr.Rigbone’s desk.
“Look, Jonathan, either tell us where you found the book,” there was a pause as Mr. Rigbone looked outside his office window, “or we’ll simply expel you from this school.” Jonathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. However, something inside him told him that he shouldn’t tell his superiors where he had found the book. Jonathan spoke calmly.
“I’m not going to tell you where I found it.”
“Godda-!” Mr. Rigbone sighed as he attempted to manage his temper.
“I really, didn’t want to have to do this, Mr. Kellroice.” Mr. Rigbone picked up his office phone and started dialing some numbers on the keypad. That was when Jonathan jumped to his feet and ran out the office.

Part Six
“What do you mean ran away?” Julie questioned Quinn as they walked outside the school’s main doors and put on their raincoat hoods.
“Well, when I asked Mrs. Shurlock what happened, she said, quote-unquote, ‘That boy fled like a pig on International Bacon Day.’ So my guess is that she meant he ran away.
“In this weather? With no jacket?” Julie was now very concerned for the life of her friend. The weather channel said that this storm would last for a few days with heavy rain. We need to find him, She thought. “We have to go search for him.”
“I don’t think that’s the best idea, I think I hear thunder.”
“I don’t think it’s the best idea either, but sometimes you just have to do amazing sacrifices for friends. Quinn sighed.
“Let’s look at the junkyard.”

Part Seven
Jonathan sat down near the junkyard’s side building and took out the textbook. Why is this book so dangerous? Jonathan thought to himself.
“All it has is messed up equations.” Jonathan thought aloud. “Unless, these equations are somehow right?” He got up and wiped the rain off his long brown hair. “What does that mean? All the science and equations I learned in school are wrong? Is this the only correct piece of information I have ever seen?” Jonathan knew it was like something out of a movie or a book, but still, he didn’t know the answer, he felt it. “Yes,” Jonathan said with a whisper. However, as he turned to the first page of the book, he remembered that paper and water didn’t mix well. TEEAAR! Jonathan felt a sudden pump of adrenaline. “Oh, shoot!” Jonathan put the book underneath his shirt as he ran out of the junkyards entrance at full speed, almost tripping. Suddenly, he heard his name being called.
“Jonathan!”
“Jon!”
Two voices simultaneously yelled. He turned around to see Quinn and Julie running towards him, book bags in hand.
“What are you guys doing, you’re soaked!”
“What about you, smarty pants?” Quinn said sarcastically.
Jonathan looked down at his shirt to see it was drenched, along with his pants and shoes.
“Love your enthusiasm!” Jonathan stated. Julie and Quinn had reached Jonathan.
“Why did you run away?” Quinn
“About that, we need to talk. In private”
“This is private.”Julie said.
“No, I mean not public.”
“Oh. Should we go to your house?”
“Um, yeah I guess. I was just going to go there anyway.”
“Yeah but why?” Quinn questioned.
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”

Part Eight
“You’re joking, right?” Quinn stated with concern.
“No. I just have this weird, and strong feeling that everything we’ve learned in school is a lie.
“How could that be?” Julie questioned.
“Well, this textbook doesn’t look fake, but it does look very old. My guess is that this is real science.”
“So what do we do now?” Quinn asked.
“We write a book.”

Part Nine
Julie got out of her bed as her alarm clock rang and yawned. She looked over her shoulder to see Jonathan groan. “One second…” Jonathan blurted out. Julie got up and went into her bathroom. As she watched her face, she looked in the mirror. To think that it had been six years since Jonathan said he would write that book, and now today is the big day.
“C’mon, get up smelly butt.” Julie stated as she sipped some of her coffee. Jonathan slowly got up and put on his glasses.
“Well, today is the big day.”
“Yup.”
“After five years, they finally noticed my work.”
“You deserve it.”
“No, we deserve it.” Jonathan smiled at Julie, blue eyes sparkling. The phone rang.
“I’ll get it.” Julie quickly walked to the phone placed on her nightstand and picked it up. “Hello?”
“Yes, hi, I am Carl Bolden, president of NASA. I am calling to ask your husband if he would like to command our expedition, Project S.E.D., or Save Earth from Dying. He can choose two qualified people to be two of the many astronauts on the mission. You have a week to answer, and if you do, call this number again.” At that moment, Carl abruptly hung up. Julie didn’t think that she should tell her husband about this. He was already so stressed about his speech for being the best-selling author since 2401902. She decided she would tell him on Wednesday, three days from now.
“Jules, should we leave now? It is an hour away, with traffic.”
“Better early than late, right?” Julie noticed Jonathan was already in his suit, and it made her smile. His tie was on backwards. “Your tie, it’s backwards. Here let me fix it.” Before Jonathan could say another word, Julie was on the other side of the bed and retying his tie. She closed the closet on her way out of their bedroom. Julie Kellroice and Jonathan Kellroice walked down the stairs, hand in hand.

Part Ten
“Next up, as Author of the Decade, we have. JONATHAN KELLROICE!” The whole crowd gave a round of applause as Jonathan got up from his front row seat and walked up the stairs of the stage.
“Thank you Charles. Now, a decade ago, I would never imagine I would even write a book, much less win this award. I thank every single person out there who read the book, and those who bought it. I would never had been able to get this big without you. Also, give a huge round of applause to my co-workers on this wonderful project, Quinn Brandilo and my wife, Julie Kellroice.” Quinn and Julie got up from their seats on cue, while the round gave a huge round of applause. Jonathan thought for a moment. All these scientists, physicists, theorists, astronomers. All of them look up to him. He felt some weight build on his shoulders, and then he started getting stressed. “Thank you!” Jonathan blurted out as he nearly ran off the stage. He sat down in his seat and looked at Julie.
“Nice job out there, Quinn invited us to dinner. Should I accept?” A head popped out from behind Julie.
“No pressure.” It was quirky old Quinn. Jonathan felt a little guilty if he declined because of his, disorder.
“Uh, yeah sure.” Jonathan smiled and stroked his scruffy beard, “We would be delighted to.” He looked at his digital watch to see that it was 1:36 P.M. *Sigh* About an hour and a half until this is over. Jonathan leaned back in his seat and got comfortable. And fell asleep.

Jonathan woke up in his bed. It was dark outside. He was very confused. Oh yeah, I fell asleep. Jonathan knew about his disorder, but he thought he’d kept it a secret long enough that he could control it. But, of course, he couldn’t. Jonathan Kellroice felt old. In an old house, with an old wife, and with an old car. Jonathan remembered Violet, his beloved Violet. He looked at his watch. 5:45 A.M. Jonathan thought. He would call his parents later on in the day to check on Violet. Jonathan got up from his bed cautiously and slowly. He looked down and noticed he was wearing his pajamas. He looked at his wife, who looked extremely tired. Jonathan noticed a paper she was holding in her hands. He gently took it from her hand and looked at it. It was a hospital note that read-Rare disorder- brain shuts down when stressed. Jonathan looked out the window of his bedroom and saw the moon, barely visible with the suburb houses surrounding him. He smiled, he had always wanted to work for NASA. He loved anything space related. Jon noticed his phones light was blinking, which meant there was a voice message. Jonathan took the phone and played the message.
“Hello? Hi, it’s Carl Bolden, head of NASA. I am calling to remind you that you have one week to seal the deal. Call me back on this number when you’re ready.” Jonathan looked over his shoulder at his wife, as tears started to fill his eyes.
“We did it honey,” Jonathan whispered with happiness, “we did it.”

Part Eleven
“Hi! Pleasure to meet you.” Carl Bolden extended his hand to shake Jonathan’s. Julie looked at her husband as he grabbed Carl’s hand and shook it firmly.
“Pleasure to be here.” Jonathan told Carl. Julie couldn’t believe how fast Jonathan wanted to go to NASA headquarters. It had been only two days since he said he’d want to say yes to Carl’s invitation, and they’d left the day of. She also thought back to when she found out Jonathan had a special disorder. She was in awe at the fact that her husband had hidden it so well over the years. However, she somehow felt betrayed. He had somewhat lied to her, hiding a side to him she didn’t know about. She dismissed the thought quickly, knowing that Jonathan only did the things he did to create a better future for himself and her. Julie snapped out of her thoughts to notice that Jonathan and Carl were beginning to walk towards a door labeled: S.E.D Carl started a conversation as they walked down the corridor.
“So, Jonathan, have you chosen your two apprentices?”
“Umm, well yes, I have one here with me.” Julie looked at Jonathan with confusion. “One of my picked astronauts for this revolutionary adventure will be my wife, Julie Kellroice.” Julie look at Carl then Jonathan. She has mentioned over the years that it had always been on her bucket list to go to space, but she had never really meant it. “And last but not least I choose my brother, Henry Kellroice.” Carl suddenly stopped and turned around with a smile on his face.
“Great. I’ll have their names on the remaining two astronaut suits. Let me just give the manufacturing department of NASA a call.” Carl pulled out a miniature flip phone, opened it, dialed a number and went to the other side of the corridor to talk.
“What do you mean ‘Julie Kellroice’ I can’t do something this big. When I said I wanted to go to space I didn’t mean something this big!”
“Look, Jules, I know you’re angry, but trust me, this mission will make both of us stronger. Inside.” Julie opened her mouth to say something when Carl interjected.
“Shall we continue on our tour?”
“Yes, we should.” Jonathan followed Carl Bolden to the end of the hallway, where he opened the door and went inside. Julie tagged along, and what she saw inside the room was unlike anything she’d seen before. Holograms showing models of ships, people working on parts of a robot labeled S.E.D.H, and even more.
“So, what is project S.E.D?” Carl stated blandly. “Project S.E.D is a project designed by the greatest minds in the world. Einstein started it, and now we’re going to finish it.”
“So, what are you planning to do to save the Earth?” Julie stated.
“Well, that’s when things get interesting. Einstein’s was to create a giant metal ball and slingshot it around the Earth, therefore slingshotting Earth and all its inhabitants towards another solar system.”
“What’s the closest solar system?” Jonathan interjected.
“The Sombrero. A galaxy mankind has known about for centuries. We’ve found out that there is a moderately large star there that can be our new sun.”
“What about trajectories, how will we get into orbit with the solar system?” Jonathan stated with curiosity.
“We’ve calculated most of that. But that’s why you’re here Jonathan. We need your brain and textbook to save the planet Earth.” Jonathan felt himself getting tired.
“Well, you have my full permission.” Jonathan gave a quick smile and tried shaking off the fatigue.
“Something wrong?” Carl asked.
“One sec!” Julie pulled out a shot with a brown liquid from her purse and injected it into Jonathan. After half a minute, Jonathan was awake.
“What-happened?”
“You almost passed out again.” Julie told Jon.
“Oh. Why didn’t I fall asleep?”
“The doctors at the hospital the other day gave me this shot that has extreme amounts of caffeine to snap you back awake when you’d get tired.” Jonathan understood and got up.
“Shall we continue?”
“I suppose so, yes” Carl replied.
Jonathan spent the rest of his day learning about project S.E.D., which he realized, was a project that they definitely needed him for. Carl had told him that NASA had only some of the real science and physics they needed to complete the exact trajectories. Jonathan thought the plan was crazy, but he did know it was possible. With a sliver of luck, five astronauts would be able to complete this mission. The only problem was recruiting the remaining one astronaut, Henry Kellroice.

Part Twelve
“*BURP*-Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Jonathan, you’re not going to believe this. I need your help to save mankind.”
“Wha- you haven’t heard the news?”
“What news?” Jonathan Kellroice questioned.
“Mom, dad, and Violet- they’re all dead.” Jonathan dropped his cell phone on the floor, which cracked and broke.
Part Thirteen
“He-” Jonathan hugged his brother as hard as he could and started crying. “I know, bro, I know.” Henry told Jonathan as he embraced his brothers hug, getting teary eyed. Jonathan pulled himself together and got out of the hug.
“Henry, that’s it. They’re gone. Forever.”
“I know brother. How about you come in here to get a cup of coffee to calm your nerves.”
“Thanks Hen, but I really need to get back home. I’m working on something. Something big.”
“You mean saving the world? Oh yeah, I accept.”
“You accept to being an astronaut?”
“Yes. I’ll do it for mom and dad. They always told me to get out of this dump and do something with my life. This is my chance.” Jonathan noticed a tear coming from his brother’s eye.
“Phenomenal, I can’t wait to have you on the team.”
“Can’t wait to be on the team.”
Jonathan hugged his brother said goodbye, and drove off in his old 4x4 truck.

Part Fourteen
“Have a good first day!” Jonathan yelled from the top of the stairs as Julie went out the front door of the house. Jonathan turned around and walked into his bathroom. Today is my wife’s first day of astronaut training, after all he had figured out and heard in his life, that was one of the strangest. Jonathan brushed his teeth and walked down his stairs. He poured himself some cereal and sat down at his kitchen table. Jonathan Kellroice pulled out his computer and started looking over the plans for S.E.D. He looked at step one. Astronauts will board the aircraft. Step two: Metal ball will be strapped onto the aircraft. Step Three: Aircraft will be sent up to orbit. Step Four: Astronauts will launch the metal ball with extremely accurate trajectories towards the horizon of the Earth. Step Five: Completion. Jonathan thought about how simple it sounded, when in actuality, it was extremely difficult. Jon reminded himself that he would have to pack caffeine shots on the launch day, October 30th. A problem suddenly occured in Jonathan’s head. His brother was afraid of heights. How would he go to space? Jon Kellroice dismissed the thought, knowing how determined his brother was to being an astronaut. Jonathan skimmed through the launches specific details, and he found out he was going to press the button to launch the S.E.D into space. Jon also found out that there was an assistant AI robot named S.E.D.A, which stood for Save Earth from Dying Assistant. Jon thought the idea ridiculous until he read that it would be there, if something went wrong. Jonathan Kellroice thought about that. Something going wrong. Losing his brother, and his wife, he would have no family left. “However,” Jonathan thought, “Earth needs saving. And it needs it soon.”
Just as Jonathan was going to close his laptop, he was reminded to send Carl Bolden the equations NASA needed to find the exact trajectories of where to shoot the ball. Jon got up and and walked into his living room, where he knelt down and looked under the coffee table. He took the book out of its hiding place and opened it to the first page. Jonathan Kellroice noticed the mercury on the inside of the cover, which was dented, scuffed, and burnt from all of Jonathans attempts to clean it. He wanted to find out the author, very badly. Jon Kellroice sat back down at his kitchen table and typed down the equations in an email.

Part Fifteen
“Launch in T minus 11 minutes.” Carl’s voice came loudly over the NASA loudspeakers. Jonathan repositioned himself in his chair and looked down at all the control room buttons. Red, blue, green, and even purple buttons. He looked down at the giant red button that said launch and pondered what his wife was doing.

Part Sixteen
“Launch in T minus 11 minutes.” Carl Bolden’s voice stated on the airfield loudspeaker. Julie Seroq looked at Henry, who was ahead of the marching group. They were all headed to the aircraft’s entrance. As the flock all looked at each other, Julie wondered what was going through Henry’s mind.

Part Seventeen
“Launch in T minus 8 minutes.” Carl’s voice seemed raspy and dry as it came over the elevator loudspeaker. Henry looked down at his astronaut boots. Who would have ever thought? Henry Kellroice thought to himself as he snickered. Suddenly he felt a jolt of downward movement as the elevator stopped. Henry could see that they had almost reached their destination, since there was a little bit of the entrance to the ship showing. Henry Kellroice’s astronaut crew were all looking at him, all except for Julie who seemed zoned out. Henry knew he was the youngest and smallest of them all. Without saying a word, he grabbed hold of the bottom of the entrance door frame and pulled himself up. Then, doing tricky manoeuvres, he squeezed himself through the entrance. “T minus 5 minutes.” Carl stated blandly over the aircraft loudspeaker.

Part Eighteen
“Ouch!” Jonathan whispered as he injected himself with a caffeine shot.
“T minus 5 minutes.” Carl Bolden said aloud blandly. Suddenly, another person’s voice came over the loudspeaker, it was Henry’s.
“Hello? Mission control? It’s Henry and um... we have, we have an issue.” Carl’s voice interjected.
“What do you mean issue?”
“Well, the elevator got stuck and I’m the smallest one on the team, so I- uh.” Henry gulped loudly. “I squeezed through an opening that led into the entrance of the S.E.D.A.” Jonathan heard Carl’s microphone come on air but only heard mumbling.
“You and your crew hang on, we’re sending men to your location to fix the elevator. Also, T minus 3 minutes!” Jon suddenly zoned out and thought about his brother, commanding a spaceship all by himself. He would never last, he didn’t even know how to-... Jonathan’s thoughts trailed off as he dozed into a sudden drowsiness. Jonathan Kellroice looked down at his empty syringe and read the label. Caffeine reduction shot, in case you take one before bed! Jon thought as his face moved slightly downward, and downward, and downward, and- click!

Part Nineteen
“T minus 3 minutes!”
“Mission control? Mission control?” Julie was very confused of what was going on. All she knew was that her brother-in-law was the only one who could make it up to the entrance. “This is ridiculous.” Melissa Lewis stated as she kicked the side of the elevator. “What kind of bad luck is this? Henry can’t even pass the simulator on easy and now he’s the only one on the ship?” “Calm down Lewis.” Julie stated boldly. “I can get up there, just give me some time.” With some help from her crew, Julie barely got through to the entrance. As she was getting into the ship, a large sound rumbled and shook her, almost making her fall down. Julie proceeded to enter the ship when it blasted off… with some of Julie’s remnants.
Part Twenty
“BEEP,BEEP,BEEP!” Red strobe lights shined everywhere in the control room as people shook Jonathan awake. “FSHOOOOMMMM!” Jonathan woke up abruptly and looked out the control room’s large window only to see the spaceship taking off at full speed. The button! Jonathan thought as he looked down in front of him. The bright red button was held down and glowing. “You activated it when you knocked out.” Carl said to Jonathan from behind. Jonathan knew how bad this was, and couldn’t stress how sorry he was. However, he knew one thing. His brother would have to pilot the S.E.D.A all by himself and manually.

Part Twenty-One
“What do you mean she’s.. dead?” Jonathan almost whispered to Carl.
“Commander Lewis stated that when the ship launched, she was stuck between the launch chambers exit to the ship and the entrance to the ship. She..was, umm. She got ripped up by the friction.” What a terrible way to die. Jonathan thought to himself. He was in complete shock. Jon needed to get his mind off of it.
“So, what about Henry, is he still commanding the S.E.D.A?”
“Yes, he is up in space right now trying to figure out the trajectories we sent him.”

Part Twenty-Two
“Mission control, what does the S mean on the formula?”
“It means the number that comes before it goes south that many degrees.”
“Oh. M’kay.” Henry stated through his radio as he entered the numbers and the rest of the coordinates into the ship’s keypad. “What do I do now?”
“Just press launch, turn the ship around and come back. Simple as that.” Carl responded.
“M'kay.” Henry looked down at the glowing green button, and pressed it. Suddenly, a huge silver ball shot out from underneath the S.E.D.A and sent Henry and this ship flying backwards out of control. “Missi- Mission Control, we have a- a problem.”
“What do you mean?” Jonathan responded.
“I’m-spinning ou-out of control I can’t-” Henry felt a bulge in his throat that he couldn’t swallow down. As the ship spun Henry felt nauseous, and then he threw up, but it didn’t go out his mouth. It was stuck in his throat from the bulge. “Houustoon!” Henry attempted to scream, but he could barely get a word out.
“Henry, what’s going on?” Jonathan’s voice echoed through Henry’s head as he choked, gasping for air inside his astronaut helmet. Henry Kellroice let out one small last breath of carbon dioxide as his body drifted around the ships irregular interior.
“Henry?” Jonathan’s voice echoed through Henry Kellroices head as he closed his eyes for the last time.

Part Twenty-Three
“Henry? Henry?” Jonathan stressed into the Mission Control microphone. “What happened to him?”
“I don’t know. But the ball launched correctly and very accurately. With extreme speed, also.”
“Do you think Henry...died?”
“There’s a huge possibility that he could’ve fallen out of the airlock during the spinning, or worse.” Jon was very confused when suddenly, someone ran into mission control calling Carl’s name.
“Carl!?”
“Yes?”
“We found out what happened to Henry from his radio, and it’s not good. He died from Pulmonary Aspiration, after choking on who knows what and throwing up, but choking on his own vomit in the process.” Jonathan felt as if someone had just punched him in the stomach twice. First his wife, then his brother. Jon got up and got in his car.
“Where are you going?” Carl asked.
“Stargazing.”

Part Twenty-Four
Jonathan looked up at the stars in amazement as he saw them drifting away. Ten years ago I would have never thought this would be my life. Jon thought to himself sadly. Jonathan looked down at his textbook and turned to the inside cover. And I never found out you either. Jonathan looked through his telescope to see the giant metal ball zoom across the sky. Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation on his fingers and looked down. The book’s mystery liquid was becoming water like and melted away like hot butter. “Wha-” Jon blurted out in astonishment. He wiped the liquid off the book with his sleeve. The moment of truth. Jonathan thought as he finished wiping off the liquid. Jonathan Kellroice looked down at the book in awe. “Stellar.” He stated as he smiled.