Young Writers Society

Jason tapped the arms of his seat rhythmically. It was quiet in the silver can. Too quiet. Jason stuck his head to the side and peeked around the back of his seat, peering at his companions. Avery was sitting in his seat, to the left behind Jason, staring straight ahead. His gaze was blank and if not for his slowly rising and falling chest, Jason would’ve assumed he was dead. Leaning to the other side and looking back, Jason found Jasmine staring out the small window a ways behind her chair. Or, at least, she was trying to stare out it.

“That’s a window, right?” She asked, pointing and glancing around the cabin.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jason replied, spinning his chair around to face her.

“It’s really… Dark. What’s it made of?”

“Well, it used to be made of window. Now it’s made of steel door,” Jason said matter-of-factly. Jasmine gave him a look, as if asking if he was serious. Jason nodded, as if to answer that he was, indeed, quite serious.

“And how,” Jasmine began,” did this window, previously made of window, come to be made of… Steel door?”

“Easy,” Jason said. “You try flying a ship with a madman stowaway punching your window. You’ll find that it’s very easy to turn that window into a nice, thick, steel door.” With that, he kicked at the ground and spun his chair back to the controls, leaving Jasmine looking on blankly, a good amount confused.

The can flew on for a while. Avery hummed a bit. Jason ground his teeth. Avery hummed some more. Jason slumped in his chair, tapping his foot on the ground. Avery hummed a lot more. Jason had had enough. “Avery!”

“Wha-?” Avery looked around, jolted from his thoughts and daydreams, probably about tea or something rather pointless. “What?”

“Stop. Humming,” Jason pointed threateningly, shooting figurative needles with his eyes. Avery mumbled apologies and stopped humming momentarily, starting it up at a lower volume a short while later. Jason slumped back in his seat and wondered what being able to shoot actual needles from his eyes would be like. Probably very painful, he eventually decided.

The can flew on some more. Jasmine began twirling the end of her long, dark braid. Jason glanced back through his otherwise pointless rear-view mirror he’d taken from a car somewhere a while back. He saw Jasmine twirling her braid and rolled his eyes. Then he saw Avery watching her twirl her braid, almost admiringly. Jason rolled his eyes and ground his teeth again.

The can flew on a lot more. The whole crew was getting restless, Jason visibly so, as he was kicking at the control panel. Avery and Jasmine watched him do this for a while before interjecting.

“Jason-- Jason, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Avery spoke sheepishly. Jason rolled his eyes at Avery’s shy demeanor and ignored him, continuing to kick the panel.

“Really, you’re like a child,” Jasmine spoke up. Jason clambered to his knees in the chair and glared over the top of its back at Jasmine, then, very dramatically, he rolled his eyes at her.

“Oh, aren’t you a charmer?” She said sarcastically. “What if you break something?”

Jason fell back in his seat and spun it around, still glaring at the woman. “I got tools,” he said simply. Jasmine couldn’t think of what to say to this.

“Fine,” she sighed. Jason turned his seat back to the panel once again and resumed kicking it. Suddenly, with a loud “OH!”, he clambered back to the top, fell over, landed on his back behind the seat, and sat up, rubbing his head whilst spewing curses. Avery winced, both at the fall and some of the words that flew from Jason’s mouth.

“I know what to do!” Jason said, standing and pointing a finger upwards, as if he’d discovered something and had to tell the world.

“Oh? What’s that?” Avery asked.

“Ask you,” Jason aimed his finger at Avery, then moved it to Jasmine, and then back and forth, “what you want to do.” Avery and Jasmine stared at him blankly. Jasmine blinked. Avery coughed.

“Sorry, what?” Avery asked.

“Yeah, what?” Jasmine agreed.

“Goddammit,” Jason shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, I don’t have anywhere to go in a hurry. Sure, I’d love to stop somewhere to eat, but I doubt there’s anywhere good nearby. So,” he grabbed his chair by its back and spun it around, collapsing into it when it came to face him. “What d’you two wanna do? Avery first.”

Avery glanced at Jasmine, then back at Jason. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, so he resorted to mumbling stutters. Jason watched him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Yes? Where shall we go, Avery?” Glancing down at his wrist, he added. “I don’t have a watch.”

Jasmine gave him another look, this time she seemed to be asking if that was really a necessary statement. Jason looked at her, eyes widened, and nodded.

Avery watched the two making eyes and faces and, in Jason’s case, noses, at each other. He gave a little cough to break the silence that had overtaken the can. Jason turned his attention back to Avery, looking as though he’d forgotten he was there for a moment.

“Ah, yeah, sorry.” He stretched in his seat. Silence. “Avery!” He snapped. Avery jumped and stared at Jason, wide-eyed. Jason took this as a look similar to Jasmine’s and began making noses at Avery. When Avery didn’t continue Jason realized that he hadn’t challenged him and coughed awkwardly.

“Sorry. Again. Anyway, where do you want to go?”

Avery felt very pressed for time and frantically brainstormed for a place, any place, to go. Unfortunately, the only places he knew were Earth places. He didn’t know if Jason would know any Earth places. Then it hit him.

“Home,” he stated. “I want to go home.”

Jason suddenly broke out laughing so hard that he rolled out of his seat, crashing to the cold floor below. Jasmine watched him, shocked, then gave Avery an apologetic look of sorts. Avery felt quite bad and embarrassed. Jason stopped laughing, sat up, and looked around. Noticing the two’s faces, Jasmine’s of frustration and Avery’s of not-so-happy-ness, Jason hit his palm to his tall pink forehead.

“Sorry, I was thinking of a joke,” he said as he rose to his feet. Jasmine rolled her eyes, but Avery looked less crestfallen and turned his eyes up to Jason.

“So, Avery, you wanna go home? Cool, dude, don’t worry. We can work that out.” Avery smiled, thoughts of home now stealing his attention from the rest of the conversation. He placed his gaze on a distant star outside the window and zoned out.

“Now, you,” Jason turned to Jasmine.

“Yes, Jasmine. My name is Jasmine.”

“Yeah, cool, that. Look, I don’t know why I agreed to let you come along--”

“Because you’d have been killed by a bunch of pirates, otherwise,” Jasmine pointed out. Jason squinted at her with dislike.

“Yeah, that. Not cool. So, you got us out of that, but you didn’t explain exactly where you wanted us to take you.”

“Yes I did,” she replied.

Jason sat on the edge of his chair, hands clasped, elbows on knees, eyes squinting. “Did you?”

“Yes, pretty clearly, I think.”

“You did?” Jason stopped squinting, looking more surprised than disliking, now. “‘Cause I didn’t catch that at all.” Jasmine rolled her eyes.

“Of course you didn’t,” she muttered. “I told you I want to go with you two. Tag along, wherever you go.”

“Ahh, I see,” Jason nodded understandingly, focusing on a square panel in the floor. Then he jarred his focus back to Jasmine. “Wait, what?”

“I want to go with you,” Jasmine said slowly, emphasizing certain syllables as if she were speaking to a very dim child. Not very far off, she thought.

Jason shook his head. “Nope. Nuh-uh. Not happening. How did I even agree to that?” He stood and started pacing, shaking his hands around his face and antagonizing himself. “You idiot! You absolute--” The rest of the words were all very typical of Jason.

Jasmine watched this charade for a short time before interrupting.

“Hey, Jason, yoo-hoo!” She waved a hand to catch his attention again.

“Huh? What?” He stopped pacing and stared at her.

“So, I’m coming along, right?” Jasmine asked.

“What? No. No, you’re not ‘coming along’--”

“Please, Jason. I’ve been alone for too long.”

“We just saved you from a moon covered in pirates!” Jason exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Actually, she saved us," Avery pointed out. Jason squinted at him menacingly.

“Thank you, Avery,” Jasmine said. Avery nodded, grinning slightly before returning to his stargazing. "Besides," Jasmine continued, "pirates aren’t exactly good company. Not much company at all, really.” She crossed her arms. “So, let me tag along?”

Jason sighed and tapped his foot on the ground, thinking. He glanced at Jasmine, then at Avery, who was lost beyond their reach, in his own little world. Jason looked back at Jasmine. With another, much more stressed sigh, he replied.

“Fiiine! You can come along.”

“See? It wasn’t that hard.” Jasmine said with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. One thing, though.” He said, leaning down to her ear. “Don’t get any ideas about Avery,” he whispered.

“What’re you talking about?” Jasmine whispered back.

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know. ‘Jasmine is my favorite tea’? It’s obvious,” Jason replied, trying to sound intimidating and smart, but just sounding grossed out and confusing to Jasmine.

“What in the universe are you talking about?” Jasmine asked, shaking her head.

“Look, I’m taking him home and that’s it,” Jason said, pointing a finger in her face. “Don’t try anything funny.” Standing at his full height again, he looked up at Avery, gave Jasmine one last warning look, and went back to his seat. Spinning to face the control panel, he raised his voice, hoping Avery would hear him through his daydream.

“Lady and gentleman - and robot arm,” he added, nodding to Dorothy’s arm on the floor. The arm shot several sparks, as if in reply, then returned to its dormant, spark-less state. “Buckle your seat belts. We’re going to Earth!” Tossing a bright orange lever forward, he laughed excitedly.

Nothing changed.

“Well, that was anti-climatic,” he thought aloud.

“Something broken?” Jasmine called from behind. Jason didn’t reply, but it was clear that she was right. “Whelp, that’s what you get for kicking the panel.” Jason narrowed his eyes and pulled the lever back.

“Looks like we’re going the slow way,” he sighed.

The silver can flew on at its usual pace of ‘not hyperspace’.