The sky was blue and beautiful as it should be.
Above an orbital launch site, a few clouds could be seen drifting across the upper atmosphere.
But down below on the ground level, there was a long chrome transport shuttle which looked not only beautiful but also like a silver arrow ready to be loosened into the stars.
However, there was an handsome young man standing near the open boarding ramp.
He had blonde hair, hazel colored eyes and his name was Drake Sullivan.
He seemed to be around 25 years old, but even though he was just an engineer, his body didn't look out of shape at all.
He was tall and muscular, so it was hard for the ladies not to be attracted to him.
However, Drake cared little about those things right now, because he was more focused on his job than looking for a woman to build a family with.
Pushing this thought aside, Drake folded his arms as he stared at the ship, almost as though he was sizing it up, but then a beautiful pair of hands covered his eyesight from behind before whispering cutely into his ear.
"What's got you so lost in thought now huh, Drake?" A beautiful voice asked and Drake didn't even have to turn around before knowing who had spoken.
It was Tessa Monroe and she was like a friend to him.
Tessa removed her hands and stepped back, allowing Drake to glance back, seeing her smiling with the most beautiful smile she had ever made.
Tessa was dressed in the standard deep blue jumpsuit issued to all crew members, including Drake.
She had a white utility belt slung low on her hips and a stylus tucked behind one ear as well.
Her beautiful obsidian hair was long enough to reach the middle of her back, making her look extremely beautiful, along with her milky white skin.
Seeing all these, Drake couldn't help but smile at his beautiful friend in front of him. "I wasn't lost in thought. I was just preparing my mind, that's all."
Tessa arched a brow and folded her arms underneath her chest. "Oh really? So you were preparing your mind huh?"
"Yep."
"So, you're telling me, you were preparing your mind on how to board a shuttle you've already trained ten months for, huh?" Tessa asked sarcastically, clearly not convinced by Drake's words.
"Yep."
"And you expect me to believe that?."
"Yep."
"You're such a dork." Tessa jokingly teased while rolling her eyes with a smile on her face.
They both giggled a bit before silence reigned between them, but Tessa noticed the troubled look on his face again as Drake stared at the large shuttle.
"You nervous?" She asked but Drake didn't reply.
Instead he glanced down at a small object in his hand.
He was holding a small blue crystal, which wasn't larger than a coin.
Tessa followed his gaze and tilted her head to see what he was holding. "You're still carrying that thing around huh?"
"Yeah, it's a family keepsake."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah."
"Why? Because it was left to you by your parents before they vanished into one of their galaxy hopping expedition?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"But don't you think it could be some kind of alien tech or something?"
"Nah, I doubt that. It's never done anything weird since I've had it with me, so I doubt it's alien."
Actually, a part of Drake really believes that the crystal might actually be from an alien world because he could still recall his parents being obsessed with it when he was still young at the time.
Back then, he recalled seeing the crystal glowing whenever his parents held it but ever since they went on their last expedition a decade ago, the crystal had never glowed since then.
And to be honest, even Drake was beginning to feel like maybe the crystal glowing was just a fabricated part of his memory he had made up to make his parents seem cool.
After all, wouldn't it be cool to say that your parents had an amazing alien item from a planet no one had ever heard of?
This was the lie he had used to impress his friends when he was younger but when his friends began to seek proof of what the blue crystal could really do, everyone became disappointed in it because it had never glowed and it doesn't seem like it ever could either, so Drake decided not to make such unnecessary claims anymore.
Now, he just tells everyone that's it's something his parents really cared about.
Pushing this thought aside for now, Drake suddenly shoved the crystal into his pocket when he heard heavy footsteps approaching his direction, causing him and Tessa to turn around in surprise.
"Just why are you two loitering around here like its prom night? We're scheduled to launch in forty minutes, so get your gear in place or we're leaving you two lovebirds behind, understood?" Commander Mason Hale ordered.
Commander Hale was tall and muscular.
His buzzed silver hair made him appear older than he was and he had a stiff expression on his face which made him look somewhat intimidating as well.
"Understood Commander, it won't happen again!" Drake instantly saluted and Tessa did the same as she watched the commander walking up the boarding ramp.
She poked her tongue out cutely to tease the commander, knowing that he couldn't see what she was doing behind him, then she turned towards Drake and winked.
"So, we're seen as two lovebirds huh, I wonder what would have given him that idea," Tessa purred as she leaned closer to Drake, but he rolled his eyes and smacked her soft behind while saying
"Focus Tessa, everyone is waiting for us inside." Drake walked into the shuttle but Tessa remained still.
Her eyes were still wide as she tried to comprehend what had just occurred.
Even her hands were still holding where Drake's hands had touched and a pink blush appeared on her cheeks.