Tiny rays of light began to peep over the horizon, as the Sun started its ambulatory course to the axis of the sky. Far off, Jinx and Maxell stared in utter fascination as the Atlantic Ocean caught the rays and sent them coalesced into the sky. The shaft of light was an amazing spectacle that could be witnessed from the port side of their craft.
They were in space.
The beeing of the control interface shattered the tranquility of the space shuttle. Shaken asunder from their reverie - a repose they hardly had during their rigorous aeronautical training - the duo pulled their way to the cockpit of the craft. The weightlessness of the two astronauts, as they bounced and glided, could be accounted for as they were in space, slightly off the Earth's orbit.
"This is Command Centre over, please report on your progress Apollo-11." beeped a voice from a speaker on the control.
"This is Apollo-11. ETA to Command Centre is ten minutes, over."
"Good, we'll see you there, godspeed. Over and out."
Jinx and Maxell had launched from Earth a week prior, en-route to Command Centre; a massive space station that was orbiting around Venus. Their mission was to map out the deposits of Titanium - a rare metal - and to determine if the planet could be Terraformed, just like what Mars was undergoing.
Jinx sighed and looked around the cockpit. Everything was working fine; control lights were lighted green on all panels and auto-pilot was on the right trajectory. Jinx was bored.
Grabbing the cockpit chair as leverage, he pushed off towards the middle-section of the craft, propelling further than he would have due to the lack of gravity. propping his elbows on the ledge of the starboard porticle, he stared out at the vast enormousity of space. The view scared him, as it did every single time he looked. On the port-side, was home and warmth, yet just a stons throw away, lay the deep, dark abyss of never-ending space.
A disturbing thought flashed across his mind, as he stared out into the star-littered void. Images of an explosion on board and a gaping hole in the roof chilled him to the core.his forehead creased as he grimaced at that fate. Would the vacuum of space suck us out of the craft? Or would we just blow apart due to the pressure difference? He wondered how long it would take for his family to see the conflagrant blast of light as it ambulated from the craft to Earth.
'Bah, paranoia,' he thought, leaving his mind's eye and again stared out of the window.
The warmth of his breath condensed upon the window, obscuring his vision as he was pressed up close against the reinforced glass. He reached out to wipe it away with the sleeve of his jumpsuit. However, he recoiled upon contact, as the chill of space seemed to permeate through the tiny pores of the window, sucking away his heat like a coiling miasma.
Who ever knew what space would be so intimidating, It was just like how he felt when he was a kid at the playfround slides. The long voyage down, could he make it? And what awaited him at the bottom? That was just like how this void was like, but instead of a slide, it was a seemingly intraversible vast stretch of emptiness and gloom. And however far he craned his neck, it would always be there, like a cold, heartless god whose omnipresence could be felt.
Someone was talking to him. It was Maxell.
"Hey, Earth to Jinx. You back from your voyaage in space?" joked Maxell, grunting an ironic chortle.
"We're reaching, so hurry up and get this heap of metal off auto-pilot."
Jinx held up his hands in mock surrender, nodding in reply. As they turned to the cockpit, Jinx pushed off towards the portside.
He took one last look at Earth and its warmth. Sighing, he made his way to the cockpit.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
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