James opened his eyes, for real this time, and peeked at the alarm clock standing on the right side of his bed. The red numbers blurred as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Almost seven. He tucked himself deep into the covers, savoring the warmth, while watching the features of the room which was now barely lit by the sunrise. He was going to get up, he just wanted to lie there a few more seconds, thinking about the weird dreams he had had lately.
Lately? More like three months.
Of course James had studied them. Him and his father had studied the dreams for several weeks, only to finally concluded that the dreams were in fact only exceptional lucid dreams, triggered by some kind of trauma or something. James didn't know if he should be disappointed by this or not.
They didn't bother him as much as they used to, in fact, during the last month he had just stopped caring about them. Or, that was what he kept telling himself. He was thinking about them now, wasn't he?
Suddenly, the alarm started it's hellish scream, snapping him out of his daze. He quickly smacked the large button on top of the source, putting it to rest, silently cursing the man who invented early flights. He groaned as the cool morning chill crept upon him as he got up, and he quickly slipped into the jeans and the shirt lying on his desk.
Clay was already in the kitchen when James walked in. He was watching the news while nibbling on ...a donut?
Great. Donuts for breakfast, does this guy even have a brain?
Clay Morpheus. A genius, really. At his best, he could rival anyone with his intellect. There was a problem though. People called him crazy. James liked to think of him as eccentric. Donuts for breakfast was to be expected from him really.
James had stopped calling him "father" a long time ago, back when he didn't want to be associated with him. Now he didn't care that much anymore, but he still called him "Clay". He didn't seem to mind it, anyway.
"Finally awoke?" Clay said, smiling. "Donut? I bought a lot for the journey." He pointed at a large pink box on the table.
James looked at the sugary treats, pondering his next move for a while. He decided he wasn't that hungry, and proceeded to sit down next to him, watching the news.
"...The newly discovered colonies, Ardor 34 and 35, has been marked contested space by the Federation as the Neoron Empire lay claim to having discovered them first..."
As the TV spouted its usual nonsense, James thought about the rest of the day. How his life would change, what he was going to do. It felt surreal. Apparently, Clay had discovered something awesome, and had gotten an equally awesome job as a head scientist on an obscure space station somewhere far away. What's more, James had the opportunity to go with him, to work as his assistant.
And he had accepted it.
He knew it was somewhat crazy. Work at some cramped space station several light years away from civilization? Wasn't too tempting. But then again, he really wanted to get away from his hometown, and this was a good opportunity to do just that.
At least it seemed like a great idea when I signed the contract.
James was lost in thought when he noticed Clay fumbling with the suitcases in the living room, before running outside with them. A quick peer out the window revealed that their transport had arrived.
"Donuts! Bring the donuts!" James heard Clay shout from the transport.
James smiled as he picked up the pink box and turned off the lights in the small house, before heading outside.
Sweet sweet home, may you burn in hell.
He threw the box at Clay before entering the transport, dropping himself into one of the comfy seats. Clay soon followed, with the box tightly clenched in his arms. Apparently he had crushed it while trying to catch it earlier.
James wanted to fling a joke about it, but the look in Clay's eyes made him think better of it. Instead he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the glare he knew was pointed at him.
As the transport lifted off James drifted away in his mind again. Living in space. Jumping around in no gravity. Meeting aliens. Working with Clay on his unknown awesome project...
That's right. I still don't know what Clay has discovered.
He was also pretty sure that he wouldn't be told until it was deemed necessary, but perhaps he could wriggle at least some information out of him at the ship. Now he was just too tired to even try, and was soon fast asleep.