Hiya, this is an idea that follows on from a thread I made on the discussion forum, as I thought it might be fun to have some writing prompts!

The prompt is a one-word one, as I find those to be the most versatile and interesting.

The word I picked for this thread is 'vessel'.

I'm going to post my interpretation of the prompt below this as a 'chapter 2', so that my submission doesn't sway anyone's ideas on what to write, and hope you guys will get involved with your own takes on the prompt by adding new chapters/story paths below! Credit to SepiandDust for the general idea of how this is all set out :)

• Riot45

Emilia had never expected to end up in a place like this. She didn't even know that stuff like this even existed yet, but here she wad, preparing to undergo some kind of freaky hypertech cryogenic freezing before being ferried into a space shuttle and shot off into the great unknown aboard one of the most advanced spaceships of her time. The tubes in her arms felt unlike anything she had ever felt before, and she had felt a lot through her veins over the years: the cool flow of saline, the steady rush of a stranger's blood, the gentle hum of whatever drugs she could find to funnel into her body. This was different, this was so incredibly different, and though the liquid moving through the tube was clear, she could only describe the feeling as yellow. Like sunlight, neither warm nor cold. Like the itch of dandelion pollen against her nostrils in late spring. Like the jagged edges of a cracked open lightbulb.

She watched in wonderment for a moment, the steady hum of the machines behind her lulling her into a sort of stupor, before the heavy metal door before her banged open. In stepped her silver-clad officer, her supervisor as they had called themself, as if feeling like an employee in training was any less suffocating than being stuck with a jailer. The figure had called themself Cy, though they called Emilia by her number: Cosmonaut 3, and so Emilia vowed that Cy did not deserve a name either.

The figure said something about preparation, about half an hour to launch, but Emilia only found herself fighting against the liquid, blurring the world at the edges. The figure turned, showing the Acanthis Programme logo emblazoned on the back of their uniform. She remembered watching the recruitment video long aho, when she had been rotting in that women's prison facing a life sentence for compounding armed robbery and drug charged. The video had been bright and smiley, taking on prisoners as an alternative sentence, as part of a trial run in the 'newest frontiers of space exploration'. Emilia had jumped at the chance.

Become a vessel for a new humanity, the voice had said, female and cheery. Earth thanks you.