I snuck out of my small, windowless room later and wandered carefully into the main observatory. I wasn’t dressed properly, and didn’t find anything in the locker-like closet, so I was hoping very much that I wouldn’t run into the captain. 

 

I sat myself on the floor, right in front of the large, pressurized glass window. The bit of space I could see was outstanding. Three rivers of gases flowed out from a singular point, twisting and turning similar to how my hair moves in this no gravity spacecraft. 

 

"Have you ever seen a billion stars being born?" a voice said from the door behind me. I jumped, trying to pull my hair down to cover myself. He walked closer and handed me a long sweater. 

 

"Captain, I…" I started but he cut me off.

 

"Will you stop with that? We grew up next to eachother, Nora. I’m the same Austin you knew back then.