It was blow to the brain stomach when the issues showed up. EMP was not an issue you could fix with just a reboot. Processes were interrupted. Interruptions don’t play kindly to scheduled routines.
“Micheal is the expert in engineering on the vessel.”
“And if you hear the groan of metal bending its most likely a motor.” Micheal explained as he floated past to the hatch on the bottom of the pod opposite the observatory. “And our biggest motors are the solar panel arrays.”
Martin snapped up at a familiar word. “Non magical array I assume?”
“Correct.” Micheal started getting into his suit. Cath pulled herself to him to give a hand. The suits were at least an upgrade from the standard bulk that used to be space suits. Ever since BOSS has cracked mass production of graphene there was an uptick in space exploration.
“I’m checking the solar panels first since won’t live a day without power.” Cath took his helmet from the rack and handed it to him. “Fingers crossed we can get this bent back to shape.”
With a click and a hiss, the air seals closed. The white slimline suit looked futuristic as hell if it wasn’t for the tool belt across his waist. “Josh you are joining me if I need a hand.” His voice came over on the speakers on his suit and the speakers next to the air lock.
“And why not Cath? She must be two times stronger than me.” The punch on the shoulder was deserved.
“You can’t do magic. And martin isn’t allowed to do magic. Let’s just make sure we live please.” Micheal stepped into the airlock and closed it behind him. Then the pumps turned on made the airlock a vacuum. There was no noise as the outside door opened.
Micheal POV
I was not the happiest when the groan came. The first upset was Martin. He was a jeopardy to plan. I was so close to becoming a utopian. One research mission that wouldn’t amount to anything and I would have made it. And now I might not even make it back.
Spacewalk was more of a space crawl with your hands. The only thing that made it less fun was the bright sun in the distance. The visor was blocking most of the sun, but Micheal was a creature of the night. An engineer behind the screen and inside.
Slowly but surely, Micheal crawled over the hull of the space station. With the solar arrays on either side of the station it was a slow process of clipping and unclipping from the leads and making his way to the left solar array.
“Aaand of course there is nothing wrong with it.” He went through the tests again to make sure. Manually turn it with his hands. Unfold it. Close it and then repeat the process with the digital system. Then let the automatic system do a test on it as well. After 30 minutes he turned and slowly made his way to the other side.
“I swear its always the last one you look at.” He was halfway there when he spotted the issue. The array was unfolded halfway. With the space station rotating the solar arrays fold and unfold as its needed. “Why not have them unfolded all the time. Since there is no reason for them to close at all!!” He had to complain. At least the spacewalk is good for one thing. With the comms off no one can hear you scream.
Once he was at the base of the solar array he started testing the rotors. “And that’s definitely a burned-out motor.” He didn’t have to test much at least. Micheal turned on his radio and called in Josh. “I’ll need your help up here Josh. And bring the spare motor. For the Solar array.”
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Josh POV
“Remind me why we need to fix this and not have it unfolded all the time?” I was a little annoyed. The spacewalk was shitty because your nose starts itching as soon as you put the helmet on. The genius who put a Velcro patch to scratch your nose was a genius.
“I don’t know why. I had the same thought.” We slowly but surely detached the solar panels. After an hour of making sure no screws floated away and solar panels got tethered, we got the hot motor out of place and replaced it with a new one. Another issue with space is that heat didn’t dissipate nearly quick enough.
Martin was less than helpful with all his questions as we fixed it. The whole ordeal was a mental exercise of being slow and careful with someone chipper in your ear. “How many replacements do we have?” He sounded at least a little excited.
“One of each major part. Anything bigger than a head, and a few of the smaller parts like screw and cables.” I screwed on the last bolt and wiped the proverbial sweat of my brow.
“Ever thought of stepping into the void Martin?” I tethered the burned-out motor to my hip and slowly followed Micheal.
“Never without my magic. Trust your own power and all that. If I could show you the fairy glades. You wouldn’t trust them to keep you safe.” I chuckled as I thought of little fairies and our own stories of them.
Once We made it back without much fanfare and unbuckled and stored the broken part and made it inside again with martin. I was back on the idea of fairies.
“Did they want your first born or something?”
“I wish they did. They try to take your eyes and add it to their organ orchids. Something about sustaining their illusions.” I palled a little at the thought of flesh trees with eyes for leaves.
“if you don’t see beneath their illusions its quite beautiful.”
We were back in the lounge pod when we heard the groaning of metal bending again. “Don’t tell me the motor burned out again.”
“We never actually checked for any deformities. The sound of a motor burning out doesn’t sound the same as that.” Micheal added with a frown.
“How did the motor burn out then?”
“Good question.” Micheal huffed as he angrily pulled himself to the exit hatch.
“And what made that sound?” Martin asked as he followed behind.
“Another good question.”
“Any good answers?” Cath asked concern audible.
“Not at the moment.” Micheal was suiting up again and I was removing the suit from the wall.
Then a shadow crawled over the hatch window too fast to see. It terrified us all….
Except maybe for Martin.
Cathrine POV
Her worst nightmare, an alien on a space station. It was worst horror because of how fucked up it was. That was the reason they made so many movies about it. The trope was just too good.
“No fucking way are you opening that hatch again.” She was already reaching for the lockdown lever. No way was she going to be bait for something that can survive the void.
Without hesitation she slammed the lever down. There was a red light and then both hatches on the inside and outside of the airlock Locked themselves. “You will stay there and make sure nothing made it in and then and only then will I let you in here.”
“And if it is in there with you don’t make it angry.” Martin added jokingly. I’m sure he just wanted to lighten the mood. The sound came again, the groaning sound more painful now that we know something is out there. Time on the space station shortened again.
Josh looked at Michael. Michael was looking all over himself to see if anything attached to his suit. “You scratch my back and ill scratch yours?” While we made sure we were clean Cath turned and made her way to the observatory.
“Let’s check if we can see it from the window.” Martin was following Cath a second later. Once they were in the dome they looked around.
It was dead silent as they tried to spot anything different or moving.
“What is that?” Martin had his nose to the glass as he pointed to the solar array. Cath was over his shoulder in a moment looking to spot anything.
“What? Where?” her eyes strained as she squinted and tried to spot anything else that wasn’t the space station.
“Big black obelisk thing that has squares all ove.*SMACK*. oww! What was that for you violent woman!?” Martin was rubbing the back of his head as Cath clicked her tongue and moved away. “Check for movement. You can satisfy your curiosity later.”
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