Birth of a Pilot

Mia sits in what she assumes to be the captain’s chair. The camera panel in front of her is the only source of light in the dim, crimson room. It displays the complete scope of the ship’s camera angles. She feels a sense of power, being able to view every room on she ship from the comfort of this chair, being able to see everything going on, while not having to interact with anyone. No wonder the captain spends all his time in here! There are blind spots, of course, the bathroom stalls being the only previously known ones. Among others are behind the generator, behind some of the gym equipment, the bottom of the staircase in the airlock, the back of the hallway, and behind those boxes in the kitchen that tend to serve as Angelo’s hiding spot.

Speaking of him, Mia finds herself unable to believe what all happened today. It feels like some sort of strange dream, as if everything would already be solved if she just wakes up. He didn’t say yes, right? He’s still here, doing his strange little Angelo things, right? One particular question about it all lingers in her mind. She could ask Leon. 

On one of the bottom-right screens, she sees him sitting on his bed, quiet. Too quiet. Normally, Mia would welcome this with open arms, but she finds it hard not to feel bad for him. If she’s right about them not being twins, that means his kid brother is trapped in a dangerous robot by some strange man. Even if she’s not, his brother is still trapped in a dangerous robot by some strange man. It’s probably best to give him space, she convinces herself.

Though…

She admits that she’s telling herself that because she wouldn’t know what to say to him. Cheering people up has never been one of her strong points; she’s not really the nurturing type. Mia hopes he’s not the type that requires help because she doesn’t know how to provide it. Plus, if he decides to tell her about that oh so obvious secret he and his brother are hiding, she could risk getting wrapped up in their problems. She would rather not.

Mia looks through her phone. According to Emil, Jun and the captain’s investigation went well enough for him to convince his father, but he’s trying to find the Martian base’s head commander so he can intervene. Roxie sends a picture of herself, Aiden and… a patient?

“It’s us with the guy from Romero’s video! X3” reads Roxie’s caption.

Oh, so that’s who that is. 

Roxie looks so happy in that picture. Mia wonders how she’s really taking things. She could ask, but Roxie is probably doing important doctor things right now. Besides, what would she even say to her?

Hey, are you freaking out right now? Yes? Okay, bye! Mia plays out the fake conversation in her mind. 

Heck, knowing Roxie, she wouldn’t even tell anyone if she’s panicking. If Mia hadn’t seen her slip up once, she wouldn’t have known they have that in common. The differences between the two are so stark that Mia finds their similarities even more strange. With that in mind, what should Mia say? Acknowledging Roxie’s emotions might put her on the defensive, but Mia still wants to show that she cares. Should she say anything at all? It’d be in bad taste if she didn’t, seeing that Roxie is her first, best, and only friend.

Mia puts her phone down. She’ll think of something to say. Later. For now, she can…

What can she do? Is she even supposed to be here right now? The captain told her she could stay in order to let Leon and Aiden into the ship, but Aiden already left, Leon doesn’t seem to be leaving, and Mia doesn’t plan on leaving the ship, either. He never said she had to leave, so she assumes she can stay. Maybe. She wishes she had brought a book with her. There’s some on the captain’s desk, but she can’t imagine he’d be thrilled about her going through his things. This room is under surveillance too, after all.

She isn’t the type to go out of her way snooping through people’s things, anyway. However, much like herself, the captain is reclusive and closed off, and she’s always been curious about how he lives his life. Mia takes a look around. On the wall is a timetable of some kind. It’s labelled ‘Current Sleep Schedule.’ The captain’s sleeping period is outlined in brown marker, while Emil’s is marked in red; underneath reads ‘Remember it. Live by it. Don’t let them know we sleep.” That’s pretty… intense. Mia guesses Emil wasn’t the one to write that. She turns around to look at the beds. The left one is somewhat tidy with a few wrinkles here and there. A mountain of CDs tower beside it, and a guitar peeks out from underneath. That has to be Emil’s bed. The other bed shows no traces of coming into contact with a human being. That must be the captain’s. If she hadn’t seen the sleep schedules, Mia would’ve questioned if he actually sleeps. While most people would find that disconcerting, she considers it a level of privacy she aspires to maintain. 

Though…

She wouldn’t be as close to Roxie as she is now without opening up. Not everyone needs a friend, Mia has lived most of her life without them just fine, but at the same time she couldn’t have imagined how much better Roxie’s presence made her life. Even if she could go on without her, Mia would be sad to see her go. She wonders if the captain has anyone he feels like that towards. Maybe he’s closer with his family? He and Emil seem to be on good terms, despite their differences, and--

“Mia?”

The unexpected voice jolts Mia out of her thoughts.

“Mia? Are you there? Where are you?” Mia watches the different screens as Leon goes from room to room, searching for her. He’s walking upstairs toward the observation deck. The redhead grabs her phone and takes one last look around the room. She exits. 

She steps out of the captains’ room only to be greeted by the dizzying, shining floor of the observation deck far below her. Cautiously, she descends the spiral staircase. It’s about the same height as the one in the airlock, but the amount of wide open space below her makes it feel more dangerous. Do the captains really have to climb up and down this thing every day? She’s glad she’s not them.

The door below her opens. 

“Oh, hey Mia! You were up in the captains’ room?” Leon asks. He hasn’t even changed out of his jumpsuit yet.

“Y-yeah.”

“I was wondering if I was the only one here.” His voice doesn’t have as much pep as usual. Mia wonders if she should bring it up. She decides not to.

Leon remains by the door as Mia finally makes it to safe, solid ground. She doesn’t really know what to do, now that he already knows she’s here. 

He walks over to the curved window. “It looks so different in here now that we aren’t in space.”

“Yeah.”

Silence follows.

“Everyone else sure is busy today, huh?” He asks, listlessly.

“Yep.” Mia taps her legs.

“They’re doing a lot of good work so far!”

“Yeah…”

Mia watches as Leon continues walking along the window. He looks back at her occasionally.

He stops. “I wish…” The rookie trails off. “Mia, did you say you have siblings?”

“Yep.”

“Younger or older?”

Mia hesitates. “...Younger.”

“Oh.” Leon nods. “Do you understand them?”

That’s… an interesting question. Leave it to Leon to throw out weird curveballs. How is she even supposed to answer that? She has to think for a moment.

“I… don’t.” Mia answers honestly. We’re not very close, she almost adds, but he doesn’t need to know that much information.

She can’t tell if Leon laughs, sighs, or does a combination of both. “Sometimes I think I understand Ángie but… I... I really don't.” He sighs this time.

“Um, Leon. Are you okay?” She finally manages to ask.

“Well,” The brunet shrugs. “I’ve been better.” 

“I was just. Wondering. Since a lot… happened today with your brother and everything.”

“Thanks, Mia.”

Mia wonders if she’s doing this correctly. She’s at a loss for words right now, not that she had many to share in the first place. Then, she remembers that she had a question to ask him.

“I don’t know if this is overstepping my boundaries or anything, but why didn’t Angelo mention that he was worried about the medical classes?” Does that sound insensitive? Shoot, that sounds really insensitive, doesn’t it? “I-I meant--”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about this whole time!” Leon runs his hands through his hair. “Why didn’t he just say something? I think I know him, I think I know him well enough to know what he will and won’t do, and he just does stuff like that without warning!”

Mia wonders if this is a reoccurring thing between the Summers. To her, Leon has always seemed like more of the risk-taker. She would’ve pegged Angelo as the more responsible of the two, but looking at Leon now, he seems a lot more mature than usual. Mia… understands him. She understands why he’s so frustrated and confused. She could easily see one of her brothers making the same choice as Angelo and she would be just as upset. Also, if her theory is correct, Leon is basically raising his teenage brother while barely being an adult himself, which is something all too familiar to the freckled ranger. 

“I just want to know… why?” He looks pitifully at Mia, as if she has an answer. She doesn’t. He turns back around, shaking his head. “...And now everyone else is working their butts off trying to keep him safe, and I’m just… I don’t know what to do right now. Cry about it?”

“I wouldn’t know what to do either.” Mia reassures. “I’m… sorry.”

“It’s okay… I mean, you’re okay. This situation… is not okay. I don’t even know where he is right now or if he’s safe, or… I just wanna see him again.”

After a few moments, Mia has an idea. 

“You know… we could always go down to the geoprocessing plant. If Romero’s still interested in collecting rocks for them, Angelo could show up there. Since you’re still in your jumpsuit, we may be able to convince them to let you go out to ‘help them search for more rocks’” She puts the last part in air quotes. 

It takes Leon a second, but he catches on. “And then I can keep tabs on Ángie!”

“Yeah!”

“Mia, you’re a genius!”

She fans away the compliment. “I-It’s nothing.” she tells him, when in actuality, Mia lives for being called smart. She also feels glad that she could help him in some way. “We should get going as soon as possible.”

“Good idea!” His spark returns almost immediately. “I’ll go get my helmet!”

Mia looks up at the staircase. “I guess I’ll go open up the loading deck, then!”

A few spiral staircases later, and both complete their tasks in record timing. They exit the ship through the loading deck.

“Leon, make sure you have everything you need, 'cause I’m going to text the captain so he can close the ship after we leave.”

“No problem, I got my helmet, my phone… do I need anything else?”

“That should be good.”

With that, Mia texts the captain, he receives the message, and the ship closes behind her and Leon. The duo quickly makes their way over to the front of the geoprocessing plant, where they almost bump into a ranger with dark, wavy tresses. She’s around Mia’s height, taller than Leon.

“ ‘Scuse me~!” she chimes. 

“Uh, um, me and my--” Mia waves over in Leon’s direction.

“Friend?” the ranger guesses. Mia’s not sure if she’s ready for that kind of commitment with Leon yet, but she doesn’t know if she should correct the stranger in front of him.

Leon blinks. “Wait… Have we met before…?”

The ranger squints at him, wagging her finger. “I don’t think I’ve seen you, but I feel like I recognize your voice from somewh-- Are you that guy that got lost yesterday?”

“Yeah! You’re the one that guided us back! Ranger Kay, right?”

“Just call me Misty.” She fans out her hair. “And you two must be Leon and...I’m sorry sweetie, but I forgot your name.”

“Oh, we haven’t met before.” Mia is flattered by Misty calling her sweetie, but she feels like it’s a little bit soon. “I-I’m Mia, by the way.” She offers her hand to shake, then realizes how weirdly formal that is. But none of that matters, because Misty goes in for a hug instead. Caught off guard, Mia hugs her back awkwardly, before Misty moves on to hug Leon.

“So, what brings you two here?”

“He wanted to, um, offer his services by helping you collect more rocks.” Mia explains.

“Yeah!” Leon adds on. “Since me and my brother kinda dropped the ball yesterday, I thought I’d make up for it today!”

Misty begins to laugh. “Pfff! How cute!”

Mia and Leon look at each other, confused.

“You guys really think one less bag of rocks set us back?”

“I… thought… Staff Major Romero told us you guys needed more.” Leon stammers.

The long-haired ranger tilts her head. “I know your crew was supposed to show up today, but we were just gonna tell you we’re good. We even told Romero we didn’t need more help, but I guess he wanted to play around with his robot, so we let him!”

“When was this?” Mia implores.

“Uhhhh, like early, early this morning. Eight, maybe? I don’t know why he would say otherwise. Unless he was sleepy. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t function at 100% when I just wake up.” She chuckles. 

“Excuse me for a moment.” Mia can think of a reason he said otherwise, and it doesn’t involve tiredness. She whips out her phone and starts texting the others.

“Romero said we needed more rocks for the gp plant, right?” she sends to the group chat. 

Emil is the first to respond with a simple “yeah?”

“Me & Leon are there now. They said they already had enough this morning. Before we saw Romero. 8 to be exact.”

“who” asks Jun.

Captain Galhardo joins in. “State their full name, rank, the room you’re in, and what time this was said.”

As Mia texts the information to the others, she overhears the rest of the conversation taking place between Leon and Misty.

“If I still wanted to go out and bring back more rocks, could I, or is that not allowed?”

“You coooooould.” Misty places a finger on her cheek. “But um, since the little incident yesterday, the higher-ups told us that someone needs to watch the monitors whenever someone goes on the surface.”

“Ah… sorry.” Leon looks away in embarrassment.

“Oh, it’s no problem, buuuuuut the problem is, it’s pretty close to my lunch break, soooo…”

“I’ll do it.” Mia volunteers. “The monitors should be similar enough to the ones on the Moon base, right?”

“Yeah! There’s a couple differences, but I’d be happy to teach you!” Misty clasps her hands together, whispering something about a longer lunch break.

“Thanks, Misty.” Mia smiles.

“Thank you~!”

“Thank you both!” Leon nods toward the other two.

Misty leads them into the first part of the geoprocessing plant, a small, but wide room made up of cream-colored walls, and a tiled floor. Some research equipment and a few computers occupy the left half. The right side is barren, save for a glass entrance taking up half the front wall. It leads into the sprawling grey interior of the rest of the plant. Misty takes them to a screen right next to the glass window.

“So this is my computer, in all its beauty!” Ranger Kay waves a hand towards it. “I like this spot because I get to be nosy and look at what everyone’s doing in the next room. But still!” She sighs dramatically. “I missed the big robot! Of all the times to take a break! But. I’m sure it’ll come back soon.”

And soon it does. A few moments after she says that, the huge doors on the far end of the other room open to reveal none other than the Starwalker. In its claws is a huge boulder, which Angelo manages to set down a little roughly, but safely.

“Ángie!” Leon squeaks. He presses himself up against the window to wave at his brother. “Misty, can I go in? Please?”

“I mean, yeah, as long as you put your helmet on!”

Before she even finishes, he gives Mia his phone and begins donning his helmet, quickly making sure it’s secure. Within moments, he’s out the door.

Mia can’t help but smile, mostly glad that no one got hurt so far. She stands by the window to wave at Angelo. He uses the Starwalker to wave back. With quick thinking, she snaps a picture of it to send to the rest of the group.

They rejoice.