Days became hours as they inched closer to their next destination. Each member of the New Genesis became more focused in their self-appointed fields. Inyanga tinkered with the ship's engine and shuttles. It was not uncommon to hear him snoring in the hangar or in some small crevices of the ship surrounded by tools during the day. Ayla had made the agricultural deck a second home with everything from food to herbs to the odd experiment or two blooming. Anan would frequently find herself polishing her sniper rifle and practicing in the simulator. If she wasn't honing her tools or her skills she was working on her mind. Patience had begun to teach her the fundamentals of theoretical physics and mathematics, something she found had a more natural affinity to than she had initially realised.
Nike had lost himself in the digital archives and worked closely with Inyanga in creating new medical tools. He obsessed over the canister and its contents that had seemingly brought him back to life. He wanted to know what made him click. Whereas Mwene couldn't sleep. Each hour in bed seemed to stretch on for an eternity. His unfocused malaise was only broken by his need to eat and even then, this soon became something he would neglect. Three meals became, two became one became only water for hours at time. If his mind wasn't blank, he was focused on it.
Its words seemed to linger and slowly chip away at him. At the self. He would feel its white heat in the pit of its stomach. Why did pessimism follow him like a shadow? Why did his father create it? Why was he paying for his sins? That last question was a specter that watched over him since he left Terra. Why did people have to die for him? What made him so special? Why was he the one to have these abilities? Why?
"You're in a prison but the door is right open." A familiar voice brought him back to reality. He looked to his door and found Ayla standing there with a green flower in his hand. Mwene turned away and placed a pillow over his head.
"I'm not hungry."
"I know but…."
"I just need sleep."
"That's all you've been doing."
"That's all I need."
There was a moment of silence before Inyanga heard the door slide shut. He thought he was alone again until he heard her footsteps approach him. She then moved away and sat on the floor in the far corner of the room and looked out at a narrow window. She could make out a gray planet in the distance with an even smaller black dot orbiting it.
"There was a time when my aunt died three years ago, I felt as if I couldn't keep on going. I wished for the end of the world with every waking breath I took. Every single day the mask I wore became a bit heavier, a little more impossible to take off my face."
Mwene turned around on his bed and watched her as she spoke.
"I was in the wilderness, a place where everything bleed into one until one day at the market I met your mother. I was at the stall looking at challah (bread). I was indecisive. I was starving but had no appetite. Then your mother stood by me and before I could greet her, she told me that I couldn't eat with my eyes. She then bought it and placed it in my hand and said there's a season for everything and right now it's time to eat."
She stood up and walked to the window and placed her soft hands onto the window. Her finger traced the outline of the gray lifeless world
"I don't know what is out there. We survived the disk and Chase. We'll handle what's to come because we have each other. Through all seasons."
She turned and headed straight to the door before stopping in the archway, her head halfway turned.
"It's time to eat.''
"A season for everything".
Mwene got up and met with his friends in the kitchen who were all geared up. Nike joked that this was their last supper much to the chagrin of everyone else. Mwene once again offered to cook the last meal next time. An offer none on the table were too keen on with Anan claiming that it truly be anyone's last meal. Mwene rolled his eyes whilst they all laughed.
They all stood outside the shuttle. It had been repaired and improved upon greatly since it was last used. Its engines were now an interesting hybrid of a rocket and a wheel, transforming whenever the need for one arrived. There were four cannons with two secondary ones on either side. They all stood, waited until Mwene arrived, freshly showered before them.
"Now let's get going and figure out the secrets of the universe."