The Spaceship

Here’s a 2nd short fiction piece inspired by my 2nd dream

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It was the middle of the week and Lucy had arrived to work expecting it to be like any other. Not expecting it to be different, but not really expecting it to be dull either. There’s never a dull day when one works for a team of developers that focus their attention on designing spaceships on a limited budget.

Up until recently, all the designs have been the traditional rocket like in shape, but this required excessive amounts of fuel to get it off the ground and once past the gravity pull of the planet, there was no guarantee it would keep on going, so they had to rethink their designs.

Various other ideas were thought up and cancelled out, including the disc like spaceships that Aliens are believed to fly. Although it’s been proven that these can fly longer distances, again, it’s the take-off that’s the problem as the magnetic power required to initiate the take-off hasn’t quite been fully mastered by the human race yet.

Arriving into work that morning, Lucy noted they were already onto a new design, a completely spherical design with clear walls and a solid skeletal frame.

“Oh for crying out loud! Who came up with that design?!” Lucy grumbled as she dumped her bag on her desk before sauntering over to the work platform.

“It was James’ idea,” Renee piped up, “but we all agree it could work!”

“It’s a fricken metallic and glass ball for pity’s sake! How is that supposed to work?!? How would it even fly, and how would you get it off the ground.”

From a shadowy corner of the room, Carol looked up from her calculations. “Gravity for starters. We need a ship that could run on.. for lack of a better term, pee-“

“So you’re telling me you’re designing a ship that runs on piss!”

“I was using that as an example. We could slingshot it out into space, past the atmosphere, then once it’s up in space, we could use any form of liquid to push it in the general direction of where we want it to go, be that water (which I wouldn’t recommend as we don’t wish to waste that valuable commodity), or the bodily functions of a human that can be stored for just the purpose of using it for propulsion or any other fluid you choose. The ship can then become a satellite to the planet as it slowly pulls further and further away towards other parts of space, if we set it at the right angular rotations.” Looking back down at her calculated diagrams, she continued, “We could build a large quantity of these for a price the average family could afford and because of the minimal materials used, we can also build them within a day. Even faster on a production line. Each spaceship could carry four to five people with minimal possessions and enough food and water supply to get them to the nearest habitable planet.”

“How do you know this would even work! I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

For the first time, since Lucy’s arrival, James spoke up. “Well the moon for starters, our own planet, the sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars….”

“Yes, I know the planets of our own solar system.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

“THINK! All planets are on a gravitational rotation around the sun and in amongst them are rogue asteroids and the like. Everything in space is spherical for the most part. Our mistake, up until now, is trying to go against nature. Why not work WITH nature and design something that nature has already designed, and for the record, this glass isn’t the average glass used in windows, it’s the toughest man made glass there is, withstanding extreme temps, double glazed and tinted so when approaching the brighter regions of space, like near the sun, the glass will darken to a comfortable shade so the passengers can still observe the space outside without being blinded.”

Renee grabbed Lucy’s hand and dragged her over to the test model. “We’ve been working all night on this and we’re about ready to test it, would you be interested in taking part in the test ride?”

“No thanks!” Lucy stepped back. “I’ve seen enough sci-fi movies to know that test rides into space can go horribly wrong. I”ll sit this one out thanks.”

“I’ll go!” Carol approached from her desk.

“What about your vertigo?” Lucy turned to look at Carol, “a ride in a sphere would be akin to riding a roller coaster I imagine… that’s if you even survive.”

Carol opened a large bag she was holding, “I come prepared.” Inside the bag were hundreds of packets of crystallized ginger, motion sickness tablets, and a collection of other medications one would need to prevent a person’s stomach involuntarily exiting one’s crevices.

Lucy shrugged, “You’re funeral.”

“Who’s with me?” Carol opened the glass hatch and secured her bag by one of the seats before hoisting herself up, placing her feet in the stirrups on one frame of the sphere, checking her harness and placing on her helmet.

A chorus of “Me’s” as James, Renee and a couple of the technicians joined Carol in the remaining seats positioned around the inside of the sphere.

Pressing a button on one of the front control panels opened a door beneath the sphere and the ship was pulled back into a two mile long tunnel before being released and sent flying full speed into the outer atmosphere.

Within seconds, the ship had escaped the Earth’s grip and was already halfway to the moon, a few seconds more had passed and they soared past the moon in the general direction of Mars.

Within the hour, the ship soared past Neptune and headed for the great space beyond.

“Ok, I can see one teensy flaw in this design” James piped up, “How do we do a U-turn?”

“On the upside,” Carol fished through her bag for some ginger, “At least we know it works, we just have to wait and see where we end up.”