A gush of liquid down towards the end of a metal junction could be discerned. Inside this compact room a copious amount of steam had blanketed the area to a stifling degree; there was someone behind the obscured glass-encased unit. Judging from the person’s relaxed stature, they seemed to be not bothered in the slightest.
With a squeak the sound had stopped, and the steam began to dissipate over a matter of minutes as the ventilation system kicked in. More of the bathroom revealed itself, a lean-muscled man emerged, bald, clean-shaven and had one or two wrinkles here and there. His blue-eyed gaze landed upon a pile of clothes on the floor; a navy vest, dark beige industrial trousers multilayered with pockets and dog tags hidden between the folds.
A hand reached out for one of the towels, and with swift strokes and gentle pats he dried himself, got dressed, then proceeded down the metal junction lined with pipes and data terminals.
The door he approached slid open, before him was an array of consoles from left to right, a couple seats as well as a canopy. The cockpit. Beyond the glass of the cockpit was a view of extraordinary proportions; mass fields of giant grass, curved beech-like trees with leaves of a turquoise nature, stalks that hanged weird fruits or flowers of small to humongous sizes, rivers that flowed with a distinct red or dark pink water, and vast mountains in the distance. The sky was also of an odd purple hue decorated with long strikes of white clouds, and a gas-giant up high that swirled with a concoction of dark brown, white and a minty tone. Like a mint chocolate, though not to consume as it coursed with storms of untold magnitude and not of the creamy, sugary taste one might desire. Ironically, a stark black cup situated on a blank space amidst all the buttons and dials was half-empty, with a brown liquid that bubbled.
As he’d looked at that gas giant, it prompted him to finish the drink. A warm sweet, milky chocolate tone stimulated his buds, followed by an aftertaste of a fresh, revitalising kick of mint. He took a seat and tapped away on a keyboard, connected to a computer that was integrated into the vast console of the cockpit. What came up was in a format of an email:
From: OutWay Expeditionary Initiative (HQ)
To: Callsign Galileo
Reply to: Help! Hydroplasmatic harvester broke
Hello Callsign Galileo, we have received both message and triangulated your distress signal. Your request for emergency repair has been forwarded and a repair technician will be dispatched to your location.
If you have not performed any of the following steps prior to this message, we urge you to do so; please find a suitable landing zone, if available, if not then these next steps still apply. Turn off all major systems such as the engines, hyperdrive, shields (if safe to do so) and defensive armaments. Shut off any lighting or keep to a minimal level, reduce sensor power distribution or turn off entirely (we recommend keeping it at minimal levels in case of any passing ships or impending risks). Lastly, keep life support active, reduce to minimal levels in case of desperate measures. We warn you that reducing life support is a last resort and urge you to operate within an environmental suit and use support packs as specified.
Any further support or advice, please refer to OutWay Expeditionary Initiative Support Centre (OEISC)
And he did all those things listed except for the lights, yet they were at a dim degree, it was enough light to make his way throughout the ship. Fortunately, he had landed on a planet, so no extensive measures were required. He then looked for any other messages, hoped even, yet his eyes glimpsed a soft sadness followed by the heart that felt a familiar, blue. However,it did not stop him from his listed goals.
-Repair external hull damage/routine maintenance
-Set up tether networks to viable resource deposits
-Survey geological and biological features of the planet
-Create reports
Upon the cockpit’s screen shuffled in a corner were tally marks, black-inked, contrasted against the summery abode outside. His fingers plucked a marker from its tin box that was filled with other pens and markers alike, unusual in those days, a rarity amidst such technological marvel. Though sometimes, particularly when it’s needed…old is gold.
From this section of the story, we will be referring to the man with his callsign, Galileo.
Galileo struck the marker across the screen and added the next line of the tally group which there were four of. Four lines that stood vertically, one tally went through the four horizontally, and one other vertical line that appeared alone from the group; that as he drew, it was not alone anymore as another vertical line stood next to it. Seven, seven days had passed.
Once that was done, he placed the marker back into the tin box and headed down the corridor of pipes, gauges, terminals and a consistent flow of steam that clung to the floor for dear life; only to be disturbed and forced apart as he stepped through. At the back of the ship were the doors to the engine room and airlock.
Before the airlock he entered the changing room, in where hung a silver space suit embedded with pumps, tubing, dials, interlocking mechanisms with a giant backpack that laid next to it. Several lockers lined the wall that held an assortment of tools and gear. But Galileo had everything ready on a bench. On there was a spanner, plasma torch, sealant, a rack of rods and a ball-like helmet. The man checked every piece of equipment to see if it was up to par and they were, aside from the suit that seemed a bit dusted up with dirt and the helmet’s visor was cracked, he wasn’t sure how that happened either. So, he searched for a tool that specifically fixed glass. The damage wasn’t bad, an easy fix. Once done he dusted off the suit and got into it. Then he attached the equipment to his suit’s straps and belt and with the rack of rods, he’d connected them onto the backpack; like a quiver, he could pull them out as if they were arrows.
Inside the airlock, a small, claustrophobic one at that, he had put on his helmet and initialised the de-pressurisation sequence. Oxygen left; in turn it allowed all the elements of this world to enter. A ramp extended from the ship in which Galileo was able to use this to traverse down onto the surface. The soil, firm, the wind, soft with occasional gusts, gravity, light yet relatively close to Earth’s, atmosphere, mostly nitrogen with little hints of oxygen and higher traces of neon; the sun was just above the horizon line.
He got to work on the ship and performed maintenance on its outer hull by cauterising any tears or openings with the plasma torch. Galileo encountered ones that were too large for the torch to fix which was why he had the sealant on him. Then he screwed and hammered, dun dun dun, any loose panelling. Roof was finished, he had gone to wipe his brow though realised he couldn’t because of the visor, this gave him an idea. Galileo took to one of the dials upon his chest and twisted it a few notches into the blue. A cool wave of air permeated the inside of the suit. Content, he carried on with the work till that sun became a bright spot nigh high in the sky. That was the daily repair out of the way, next on his list was surveyance.
At the back of the ship was a tether line that had already been set up from Galileo’s earlier ventures. Strange, he hadn’t the foggiest idea about it. Maybe he could use a dose of civilisation after all.
This tether line was linked to the ship and carried on down a path attached to rods that were the same on Galileo’s back. Before he ventured further, the man checked the tether cable that was connected to the ship. Everything seemed to be well positioned and adjusted, no issues glared. The auxiliary oxygen generator remained at one hundred percent.
Galileo pulled a nozzle from out from the side of his backpack and clipped it onto another nozzle, one that was secured onto the tether line. A steady flow of oxygen was established.
He then ventured out over steppes, hills, rivers and through forests. Mid-way on the journey he stopped and turned his head towards the sky, in where the sun lied way above the horizon, yet the gas giant merely peeked over, and the stars bore a prominent shine. This was all confined to the tether line. Galileo could still go off path although that would have him to rely on the life support within the backpack: which was finite. The tether line whilst connected to the auxiliary oxygen generator it was able to convert any atmospheric variable into a source of consistent, breathable oxygen.
Under the sun and near the gas giant, amongst stars that barely sparkled…a storm of cosmic magnitude.
‘There it is’, Galileo said.
The storm that brought his ship down in the first place. Nothing came up on sensors despite that the ship was at warp speed. Navigator-classed ships are designed to scan and prepare for any hazards that may lie ahead in their trajectory. It could be several reasons for that; one, the sensors were not scanning efficiently, two, it was a new type of cosmic storm not encountered before, three, the ship could not disengage properly.
Since Galileo has been an explorer, he had never encountered this type of storm before yet aside from its mass electrical discharge, his ears were sure that they’d heard whispers. As he peered it seemed the storm was headed for the system Galileo resided in.
‘Not again! That repair guy better get here fast’, he thought.
Then again, he understood why it took so much time, the message he’d sent had to have travelled millions of light-years for HQ to receive it. By the time Galileo got the confirmation, repairman was likely very close, or at the least within the same galaxy Galileo was in. The OutWay Expeditionary Initiative was one of many organisations, a well-known one, that has pioneered space exploration for Humankind; in which has continued and prospered for many millennia. Oh, how Humanity had prospered, at every turn you made in the Milky Way their would be a Human to greet you…or kill you. Except for the dark spaces in between galaxies, they were relatively remote, apart from those old, lonely stations that acted as bridges and served weary adventurers as well as their ships; for a modest price. In Galileo’s time however, they’ve mostly been abandoned or lost to time. Mankind had spread to galactic frontiers and maintained a steady hold on several galaxies within the local cluster via great gateways capable of hyperspace travel and of course, nigh endless resources from an innumerable amount of worlds. But throughout it all their has been a puzzling enigma that no one had an answer for. A question to when we had set our eyes upon the universe and wondered.
“Are we alone?”
It appeared to be a yes in this Human-dominated society of extra-galactic proportions. No signs of ancient civilisations were found nor any lifeforms to harbour sapience. Yet despite that, the question remained unanswered. For we existed in but a small corner of an incomprehensible universe.
OutWay kept that as one of its core principles: to search for life. Whilst any potentially habitable world was to be next on the list of Human expansion. Both were important endeavours, for Galileo, it was the core principle for why he’d joined. Ever since he was a child, amongst many of his fellow explorers, their minds were tethered to finding the answer.
The edge was a steep drop-off, a tether became a support crutch as Galileo’s heart skipped a beat and sweat proliferated his entire body. It was not enough however and the man’s hand lost grip, gravity took hold, and as he screamed the ground screamed back as it drew close…
Once his eyes had opened a black sky met his gaze with a plethora of shining stars. Then as he moved an ache shrieked across his body, a pain that was an all too familiar feeling, yet he didn’t know why or how. Vision on his right side became blurred and a mark stayed consistent as he motioned his head in all manner of directions. A dash of panic had set him to find out the level of oxygen in his suit. The explorer turned on his helmet lights which revealed a wide path of dirt, rocks and cliffs before him. As he looked down at his wrist-pad:
42%
It read, it was low but not critical, then, Galileo realised that the pipe he had attached to the tether system was no longer connected, fortunately, it remained intact on the side of his backpack. Something, a faint colourisation yet still held a contrast within the light had caught the man’s gaze. Curiosity took precedence and he proceeded to examine this peculiar texture, that, upon closer inspection; seemed to be of a dried-up liquid. Bio-analyser in hand, he scanned and received data of something surprising and out of this world…Human blood.
As his eyes followed the trail, it led to a cliff that stood tall close behind him, and a rope that hung in a gristle manner. Galileo tugged to test the strength, it proved stable, he then used it and traversed up the cliff to the edge from where he had fell, and that familiar blue light that the tether system emanated magnified by the night, brought relief. He had climbed out what was rather a steep canyon.
With the intact pipe on the side of his backpack, Galileo attached it to the tether line and his suit’s oxygen levels skyrocketed to a hundred percent and stayed. The trail carried on and strangely followed the tether line, puzzled and confused, Galileo vied for answers.
‘Are there other humans here? How? Same as me, exploring perhaps, did they come on another ship??? Why is there a blood trail leading all the way to the ship? How did I not see this before? Is it…mine!?’, he thought and checked himself, of course, no puncture existed on his suit otherwise it would have leaked and depressurised, and even if it were an internal bleeding that was caused from a different circumstance- it would have not rinsed through the suit’s material, unless it was heavy, which in that case Galileo would be in a critical condition.
The man could verify the DNA further once back onboard, which wasn’t far as just over the mounds and light shrubbery, the ship was in view. A slow steady wind crept around Galileo, one that grew in paces then faded and then grew again. A light rain pitter-pattered across the ground and his suit. As he reached the mounds, a heavier downpour ensued, and inside his helmet became a plethora of drumming that placed him on the verge of being deafened.
Upon the wet ground there was no longer a trace of the blood he had followed. Back to the ship, he twisted and unclipped the nozzle of his pipe that was connected to the tether system and headed for the ramp that led to the entrance of the vessel. Wary that something might be nearby or within. He did not see any blood on the ramp or door. Carefully he proceeded into the ship. Galileo decided to keep his suit on for cautionary reasons, and his weapon of choice was one of the tether rods.
Down the corridor no one could be seen, neither the trail of blood. He then checked the bathroom and its shower, no one there either. Next was the engine room, shadowed and quiet but small and his helmet lights unveiled a completely empty room. Galileo moved on to the cockpit and found no person and no indication of blood. Back down the corridor on his right was the man’s bedroom. Odd, he felt a shiver down his spine and an irrational sense of not going into that bedroom. Possibly nerves, yet something, intuitively told him otherwise. The explorer’s hand shook as it reached for the access panel, as he dialled in his code the door swooshed open and revealed an empty bed, a lonely table with used plates and empty glasses on it, accompanied by an equally lonely chair. In a corner sat a desk with a computer on top, and another chair though this one had wheels. On the wall near the bed were lots and lots of photos of many worlds, cities and people, some included Galileo. Strange, another shiver ran down his spine followed by a daunting chill that in turn developed the room into a freezer. Even his helmet’s visor misted and froze, which forced him to remove it. When he drew breath, a sharp coldness filled his lungs, and as he exhaled, that icy vapour whispered from out his mouth, startled at how it was so cold, he left and locked the door.
Heating should be operational in all areas of the ship, unless it was a fault- which he checked on the cockpit’s consoles. No fault could be found. Bewildered from such an anomaly, was he hallucinating? Perhaps severe exhaustion?? Though he didn’t feel exhausted. Mysterious indeed, but he concluded the vicinity to be safe. Galileo went back outside to shut off the auxiliary oxygen generator in case the tether system was disrupted due to extreme weather. Despite the endurance of all tethers, which from testing and observation; quite endurable, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Once back inside, he stripped and headed for the cockpit to rest, clearly repulsed from the bedroom for strangely obvious reasons. He listened to the rain as it pattered upon the surface of the ship. Until he received a message from somebody he was eager to hear from. It was a subtle bling but noticeable.
From: Callsign Lalande
To: Callsign Galileo
Reply to: Got stranded by an electrical storm, Waiting for repairman
‘Hey, just got your message, don’t know how long its been but I hope everything is ok? Took me a little longer to as your message came in weird, was all glitched, but got software to undo that. Probably because of that storm you went through, one that I haven’t come across. Would have come to you to lend a hand but, you know us explorers, we’re always somewhere out in the vastness of space…I’m currently charting systems in the Bode’s Galaxy. That repair guy better be there by now, or already fixed and you’re back home?
Let me know how things go’.
Callsign Lalande was one of the people he knew well, unlike the others, they had formed a bond. Though because of the work they had done, Galileo found it difficult to remember her face, her voice even. When you’ve spent so much time away from someone, least for someone you cared about, the heart becomes fonder. He thought to write back but chose not to, instead he would wait till the repair was done and be on his way back home. As the still crashed against the ship and the night grew darker, Galileo settled to sleep on the chair he sat on, within the cockpit, it was warmer than that freezer of a bedroom. The ambience drifted as his eyes remained shut and his consciousness waned…
–
DUN DUN DUN!
DUN DUN DUN!
It was still night and quiet, their was no pitter-patter against the hull of the ship anymore. Except…DUN DUN DUN!
‘What the hell is that!?’
Galileo stood up carefully and peered through the cockpit to see if anything was outside, yet, no one was there.
DUN DUN DUN!
It sounded from the roof of the vessel, but on the other side. He entered a command on the console that initiated a widespread scan around the ship’s vicinity for any lifeforms.
NO LIFEFORMS DETECTED, it read.
DUN DUN DUN!
The man went through the ship and checked every single pipe, every room (including the bedroom), every panel where a vital component would be located, the non-burning engines and deactivated warp core. Still bewildered, he went back to the cockpit to engage a full-system diagnosis. Everything was in the green or yellow except for the hydroplasmatic harvester, which was in the red.
But it couldn’t be that, and he wouldn’t dare go outside, even the thought of it caused him to sweat and breathe heavily. In the corridor he slumped and laid against the wall, his head cradled between both hands. Eyes squeezed shut. The man’s head shook at every noise.
DUN DUN DUN!
DUN DUN DUN!
DUN DUN DUN!
‘Stop it stop it stop it STOP IIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!’, he screamed!
All became silent.
Minutes passed, hours passed, no noise arose again, and in the same corridor, his head cradled between his knees. Galileo snored softly.
–
Steam filled the bathroom to a stifling amount, though again that didn’t bother Galileo. He got out, put on that navy vest and dark beige, industrial trousers multilayered with pockets. A door ahead of him slip open and an array of consoles flickered and bleeped in front. The cockpit. He took a swig of his mint hot chocolate he had made earlier this morning followed by a quick read of the emails he’d received, their was the Help request he sent to HQ and then Lalande’s message from yesterday. As if it were the first time reading them. His heart didn’t feel as blue once he’d read Lalande’s, and thought about writing back but chose to wait instead once everything was fixed. Then there were the black-inked tally marks on the cockpit’s screen. Strange, he didn’t remember what happened yesterday, nor all those days before. Except for that storm and having to land here to wait for repairs.
Why couldn’t he remember?
Galileo drew the eighth mark to represent the eight days that had gone by. The daily checklist:
-Suit/equipment check
-Repair external hull damage/routine maintenance
-Set up tether networks to viable resource deposits
-Survey geological and biological features of the planet
-Create reports
That was what he decided to do, examined the equipment first, all good, next was to put on the suit, the backpack, grabbed those tethers and headed outside.
On top of the ship, he used his plasma torch to cauterise any breaches, screwed and hammered any loose panels, dun dun dun. And the sealant for any large ones. After that he eyed up the existing tether system, odd, he hadn’t the foggiest setting one up. Galileo made sure to turn on the auxiliary oxygen generator and then proceeded to follow this tether line. As he ventured over steppes, hills, rivers and through forests he was once again halted by the sight of the storm. Which fully dominated the background behind the gas-giant.
He reached that ominous edge and again a tether became a support crutch, but it was to late as gravity prevailed and he fell. Then night came, the stars shined, and Galileo awoke in the same position where he had fallen prior, the same crack on the visor and the same percentage of oxygen as it had been yesterday.
42%
There was the blood trail again to. Galileo climbed out of the canyon with the rope that hung in a gristle manner, followed the trail back under wet and windy conditions; all the way up to the ship in where the trail vanished at the ramp. The man prowled through the vessel to find the person but discovered no one, only that familiar chill in which still resided in his bedroom. Then to be safe than sorry Galileo went outside to turn the auxiliary generator off. Back inside, the suit and helmet came off and he proceeded to rest in the cockpit. No new messages were received.
DUN DUN DUN!
DUN DUN DUN!
His eyes flickered open and the whole ordeal of what happened last night, happened again, exactly. The sheer panic, the checking, the excruciating noise.
DUN DUN DUN!
DUN DUN DUN!
DUN DUN DUN!
The plea, oh the plea to stop: ‘Stop it stop it stop it STOP IIIIIITTTTTT!!!’
And it did…
The steam settled as Galileo finished with the shower, walked out dressed in his navy vest and dark beige multilayered industrial trousers, reached the cockpit with the array of consoles and took a sip of the mint hot chocolate that was made earlier this morning.
Before he could mark down the ninth tally, a ringing sound caught his immediate attention. It came from the communications console. Galileo darted for it.
‘Hello! Hello?’
Kzzzzzk
‘Anyone there? Hello??’
Kzzzzzzzzzk
‘Hel-kzzzzzk’
Galileo turned a set of dials and pressed buttons to account for any disturbances that caused interference.
‘Hello?’, another person said.
‘Hey! Hey I can hear you’
‘Hi Galileo, I’m the technician to help repair your hydroplasmatic harvester, as well as any other potential issues. You’ve given me quite a run, being out this far in uncharted space, let alone the Whirlpool galaxy. We better make it quick to, looks like I arrived in the nick of time, that storm you encountered is almost upon us’
Galileo peered through the screen and looked outside; indeed, he was right. The storm filled the entire sky.
‘Looks like it, right I’ll lower the ramp for you, c-can you find me alright?’, Galileo asked.
‘Yep, I’ve got your signal, entering atmosphere right now. Might lose communications but should be there soon’
The repair man arrived in a few minutes after they lost comms and landed near to Galileo’s vessel. A tall man dressed in a black suit walked over with a large metallic case that likely carried his tools.
Galileo picked up a headset and found the repair man’s local channel.
‘Hey, gonna open the airlock for you now’
‘Thanks pal, hold on whilst I drag this…thing…up here’
BANG
‘Damn!’
‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, don’t worry, just this thing is heavy. God, I need to go gym more often’
Galileo chuckled and turned to go meet the man, it has been a while according to the tallies, but not for him.
‘Hi, so good to meet someone. Guess dire moments do make us, desperate’, he lent out a hand for a handshake. But the other man did not reciprocate, he even looked from right to left.
‘Yeah…where are you, at the cockpit?’
‘N-no, I’m here in front of you’, Galileo replied, confused.
‘Are you joking with me right now?’
‘Seriously, I’m here’
‘Look man I don’t know what prank you’re trying to play but it ain’t funny, not this far out and I ain’t in no mood for one either, so, let’s get this done’
‘What the fuck, why can’t you see me!? I’m right here!’
The repair man dropped his case and cracked his knuckles.
‘Where are you, really? This is pissing me off!’
The man took his helmet off and sat upon the ground. It was a middle-aged man with short, brown hair and a moustache. He powered through the ship all the way to the cockpit and found no one there.
‘Stop hiding from me, I’ve came here to do a job!’
‘I’m not, I’m right behind you’
The guy turned and saw no one. Bewildered, pissed, anxious even…he pressed forward, so forward he could bump into Galileo, yet he didn’t, instead he went through him. Wide eyed, mouth agape, his arms wide open and he stood as if he were on an edge and that the ground could swallow him whole at any moment.
‘H-how did you do that…you walked right through me…’
The repair man turned back round, his face was angry, mixed with the constant bewilderment.
‘Stop this! No more games’, an idea then occurred to the repair man, he looked to his wrist-pad and commanded it to do a scan.
No Lifeforms Detected
‘What the hell! Are you an AI?’
‘W-what makes you say that?’, Galileo asked, partially offended.
‘My scanner detects no life signs…wait, how didn’t I notice this before?’, the man knelt and examined the floor and found a trail of blood.
That ran throughout the entire corridor, to and fro the cockpit and airlock. Maybe it was due to the dim lighting and the state of tunnel vision he got into, though it also led into a room nearby, the one where it retained an unusual coldness, the cold that Galileo had felt.
Swoosh
Horror dawned on the repair man’s face, and he himself felt the chill.
–
There, slumped against the wall was a man’s body, his head cradled between his knees, and wore a navy vest along with dark beige industrial trousers, multilayered. His skin appeared to be an icy pale and covered in a strange crystalline growth that occasionally sparked.
He scanned the body:
Human
Male
Thirty-five
Callsign: Galileo
Deceased
Unknown substance detected
‘You’re…dead?’
Galileo, shook, peeked over the man’s shoulder and saw his own body, dead on the ground with that crystalline material which grew like a feral infection.
‘I-I can’t be…this isn’t happening………why couldn’t I see this?’
For a time silence ensued.
‘I’m talking to a ghost’, the repair man came out with. Then a slight regret arose in him, the realisation that this was a person, or at the very least, once a time ago.
‘Sorry, that was insensitive of me…I’m not sure how this happened, but it seems connected with that storm, I don’t know how, but it’s the only plausible answer my mind can think of’
Galileo slumped down next to his lifeless corpse; his head cradled between those frigid knees.
‘Not sure how I can help anymore, came here to fix a ship…I’m sorry Galileo…got to go’
‘Wait’, Galileo’s head lifted and looked at the man, who had his back turned upon him.
He paused in the doorway.
‘Their may be a way to help, it might not work but what’s to lose at this point? Erm…the self-destruct…would you be kind enough to do that for me?’
‘Sure’
‘What’s your name?’
‘Jack’
‘Thank you, Jack’
–
Jack left and headed for the cockpit to prepare the self-destruct, and as he loaded up the initialisation something blocked further access.
‘Do you know the code?’
Galileo got up and performed a sullen walk to the door. He saw Jack at the array of consoles, waiting.
‘Er yeah it’s er, 21…21457 Galileo’
Jack entered the numbers and key word though before he could confirm, Galileo interjected.
‘Before you do though, tell callsign Lalande it wasn’t her fault, and take any readings my ship got from that storm. Whether it helps or not…it’s proof that this galaxy is dangerous. Don’t know what kind of report you’re going give to OutWay’
Jack chuckled.
‘They probably won’t believe me and think I’m crazy. But if this gives you comfort, it’s the least I can do’
He did what Galileo asked and downloaded all the data from the ship’s records onto his wrist pad. Then proceeded to confirm the self-destruct sequence with an allotted time of ten minutes.
SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED; YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO EVACUATE.
Jack turned and faced Galileo directly, his intuition told him he was there and for a moment, Galileo felt he could be seen.
‘Thank you…now…you better go’
Jack nodded, then hastened for the airlock, he picked up his helmet, locked it in place and grabbed the heavy case of tools; he looked back, thinking Galileo was there. Rather, he stood inside the cockpit, with eyes upon the oncoming cosmic storm. He felt a minor tremor underneath, followed by a sudden distant roar…Jack’s ship came in view as it flew up into the sky, the roar grew quieter the further it went.
FIVE MINUTES UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCTION, PLEASE EVACUATE NOW.
Red lights started to flicker throughout the ship as well as an alarm. As Galileo looked around, things appeared differently than he’d realised. The interior of the ship seemed not as polished as it once was, akin to very early state of disrepair. The dried blood trail was still there, and in the corner on the array of consoles was a mug that had seen cleaner days. On the cockpit’s screen, only one tally mark stood there. God knew how it looked on the outside. As Galileo discovered the truth, reality filtered back in, and as with any trauma, obstacle, truth, or denial…we go into a bubble to not face them. Whether intentionally or subconsciously.
Though whatever that storm was, with such anomalous force, a force capable of duplication, for both living things and non-living things, and to create a separate space from the one they were in, possibly? However, remained intertwined to one it had duplicated. Tethered.
Such a grim fate indeed. But what marvels could be created from that, and would it do any good??
Ten
Nine
Eight
Seven
Six
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
…
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