My contribution to the deadlinesforwriters short story challenge Septemer 2025. The prompt was „cup and saucer“ and the required word count was 1000.
Picture by Ruth Archer auf Pixabay
Team Theta Triangle
Jenny wakes up in the afternoon for Team Theta’s big day. Currently they are in a bit of a rocky patch, but today they might just about pull together.
She wrangles her red curls into a sleek bun, which she expects to unravel again soon. She checks herself in the mirror, hands on her hips, and wonders, again, why their uniforms have to be so tight-fitting. They certainly don’t do her body type any favours.
Jenny leaves her quarters for the mess hall. The other two are already there, heads tilted closely together. With her slim build, Helen is a much better fit for the uniform. Also, she has long ago decided to keep her blond mane unrestrained, whatever the official procedures demand. So far, nobody has ever complained.
Jenny and Helen have been friends for as long as both can remember. It’s Paul, who has been added only recently. Jenny has no idea what Helen sees in him and wishes she could switch teams. Unfortunately, that is not an option. Getting along is a main learning objective of their team exercises.
“Hey Jenny,” Paul says, “good to see you! Helen and I have agreed that I should lead today. Fine with you?”
Of course they have. Jenny nods, gets some food and sits down to eat. Helen leans over to bump shoulders with her.
In between bites, Jenny asks if Helen and Paul have read the mission brief. Helen grins.
“We are going to wing it. It’s a night shift, what do you expect to go wrong?”
Oh, great. Jenny chews the rest of her meal in silence.
The empty bridge looks bigger than they remember, now that it’s their responsibility. There’s the captain’s chair in the back and the stations for sensor screens and navigation control towards the ultraglass window. Jenny sits down quickly at the sensors so that she doesn’t have to watch Paul climb into his elevated seat.
“Oh look, new consoles!” he comments, “When did that happen?”
At this, Jenny does turn around and stares.
“What’re you talking about? The design changed ages ago! Are we really sure about our task assignments?”
Helen giggles.
“Ah, Jen! That’s the beauty of winging it! Chill out a little, will you? I spoke to Team Phi and they said the night shift is a breeze. We’ll just keep a steady course and be done in the morning.”
Jenny finds it difficult to resist her friend’s enthusiasm and decides to hope for the best. During the first hour or so, nothing actually happens, except for the occasional ping requiring some minor velocity or heading corrections. At least the speed dial and the directional control units haven’t been part of the design change, so Helen manages fine.
At the sight of a pink nebula, Paul jumps out of his seat and jogs to the front window.
He jumps up and down for a bit before he orders Helen to change course for the nebula.
“I’ve always wanted to see one from the inside! Can you believe our luck? And here I thought this exercise would be boring!”
Jenny clears her throat.
“Um, Paul? We’re supposed to reach Gerardi Station by noon tomorrow, and that nebula seems to require quite a detour.”
Helen pokes Jenny from the side.
“I wouldn’t mind a detour. Look, there is enough fuel, so we can just speed up a bit.”
This is exactly why Jenny keeps dreaming of switching with someone from Phi. They seem nice and organised. Instead, she throws back her head and grunts.
“Alright! Let’s visit the land of pink, why not!”
The engine hums at the course correction, and soon they find themselves inside the nebula. It is made of chunkier bits than expected. Paul’s eyes widen when the knocking sound turns louder and louder.
“Helen? Increase shields, stat!” he shouts.
Unfortunately, the shield buttons have moved around a lot with the redesign, and now Helen looks as if she isn’t so convinced of the magic of ‘winging it’ anymore.
Paul is at her side in a few short steps and starts pressing buttons, apparently at random.
Jenny hears herself shout “Wait!”, but it’s too late.
The ship makes a deep crunching sound, and under their feet they feel a heavy jolt.
Paul mumbles, “Erm. That was…”
To which Jenny replies, “Yup. It was.”
If they fail to take countermeasures now, it is only a matter of time until they will see the rest of the ship float past them.
Helen squeaks, “Do something! Reverse it! Why’d they have to remodel everything?”
Jenny watches Paul and Helen stab at the console as if in slow motion. She wonders who came up with the designations for parts of spaceships. And also what good a saucer can be without a cup.
Of course, all the fumbling with the navigational buttons only leads to more chaos and more beeping. The sensor array is close to overloading, and the bridge’s nice dark mood lighting has been replaced with red flashing.
Again, great.
Jenny closes her eyes, filters through her memory of the new button layout and stands up to push the other two aside. In a rush, she tries to undo the contradictory commands Paul and Helen have entered. The curls falling into her eyes just add to her frustration but things manage to do downhill even more.
Crack!
Three pairs of eyes land on the window to watch a spiderweb of thin white lines spread across it. They only have a few seconds to look at each other before the ultraglass breaks and opens to the vacuum outside. Helen breaks into tears as Jenny feels her face turning grim.
“End simulation! Team Theta, you failed your mission! Please see me tomorrow at zero eight hundred hours to discuss your repeat date!”
The lights switch on and reveal the simulation chamber. Next to a deflated Paul, two friends look at each other and wordlessly agree to cut back on winging it for the foreseeable future.
Like my contribution to the story challenge September 2025? On my blog you can find and read more of my stories!
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