A most unlikely adventure

Part of Flash Fiction February 2023, prompt was “Moving away from earth more swiftly than light”.

David looked at Herbert as he punched the bright chunky buttons on the control panel with aplomb and pulled antique-looking levers to make the ship fly ever faster. He might be famous for songs about the denizens of space, but a few choice drug-assisted trips aside, David had never thought he’d actually make it up here. And never this fast.

Already flying past the moon faster than anything anyone had ever experienced. Herbert glanced over his shoulder at David from the control panel.

“You ready, Mr Bowie?” He said. He was always so formal it made David chuckle.

“Ready Herb… I mean Mr Wells.” Said David with a curt nod.

Herbert cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath and thrust his hand hard onto the glowing giant yellow button.

The ship lurched forward, hurling them deep back into the leathery brown seats, and the sky outside shifted. The stars morphed from pinpricks of light into grey streaks lining the sky, and colours emerged out of space they had never seen before. Puce, magenta, and violet clouds wafted across the cockpit window, and the metal that held the remarkable vessel together rattled intensely. The speed dial rose rapidly, reaching its maximum velocity within 60 seconds, just as Herbert had planned.

“Far out.” Said David quietly under his breath, gazing at the scene unfolding before him.

“Indeed. Mr Bowie, we are, and it is, as you say, far out.” Herbert looked pleased with himself as he grew accustomed to the external pressure on his body and checked instruments with a sense of self-satisfaction. “In some ways…” Herbert chuckled to himself, “It is something of a space odyssey, is it not?”

David groaned to himself. He was getting used to Herbert’s bad jokes, but nothing would dent his mood right now. “And the stars look very different today…” He said whimsically.

“Sorry?” Said, Herbert.

“Ah, don’t worry, just something someone once said, Mr Wells.”

Herbert nodded. “So where shall we go first, Mr Bowie?”

“How about we go and visit Mars?” David said jokingly, “See if they have any spiders.”

“We can certainly go and see them on their new planet Mr Bowie, but no spiders, I’m afraid. Though some of them do have more than two legs.” He said matter-of-factly. David knew well enough by now that no matter how nonsensical something Herbert said was, it was almost always true.

“Err, sure.” Said, David.

Herbert punched a series of buttons with satisfying clicks, twisted two large dials, and pulled three levers, the ship lurched hard to the left, and they were off on another adventure.