Space Junk

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. At the moment when the scream is manifesting, who 'they' are is the last thing on one’s mind. At least that was the case for Evan.

Evan had his hands full. He was tethered to the capsule like the spinner on a yo-yo gone berserk. Thrown like a rag-doll, he wanted to scream, but he knew no one would hear him and he knew that it would only make the situation worse. The auto retractor on his tether had malfunctioned, so Evan was desperately focused on trying to pull in the tether by hand. He was like a fish caught on the hook running freely until the line snapped tight. At that moment he flew like a homerun ball off the bat of a rookie.

All the tether that he had managed to collect was torn from his grip so that, once again, he gyrated wildly at the end of the tether. When the tether snapped tight, It felt like someone had just kicked him in the small of the back. In fact, it knocked the wind out of him. With a mighty groan, he sucked the air back into his collapsed lungs.

He screamed. “Fuckin Hell!”

But, he was the only one who heard his cry. Evan began to frantically reel in the tether again as he free floated on the next arc of his rag-doll ride. If he could loop the tether around itself and secure it with a bowline, He would secure the collected portion of the tether. In that way, he would be able to shorten his tether on each swing of the next violent arc. It took hours to reel in the 2000 meters of the tether. Eventually, Evan reached close enough to the capsule, that he was able to grab the door latch.

He pulled himself head first into the decompression lock. With some difficulty, he was able to release the tether from his spacesuit. He closed the hatch behind him and threw the latch into the locked position. He punched the decompression sequence switch. He settled back, he had a full half hour to contemplate how he got here.

Evan remembered the day when he first signed up to join a space freight crew. After successfully completing a month-long boot camp, Evan was assigned to the Federation Freighter, 72105. Its mission was to deliver a load of space junk from earth to mars. The return trip would bring a load of recycled space parts back to earth. In total, the venture would return a profit of $3,500,000. The pay for a crew member was a decent, $100,000 per trip.

Evan had been planning what he would do with his new wealth the whole trip to mars. He would be paid half his salary when they arrived on mars. According to his latest list, he would spend half of his first half salary on toys of space. Most of the toys he wanted were in the inventory of the Mars Trading Consortium. Evan couldn’t wait to play with his new toys.

He was most looking forward to unpacking the holographic VR device. He planned to spend all of his leisure hours on the return trip exploring virtual worlds. He had the idea of writing the great Intergalactic novel by becoming one of the characters of his holographic story. As one of the minor characters, he could observe the other players in the story. This was a writer’s dream. And Evan would soon be living it.

The equipment arrived on the second day of the crew’s layover. There was no assembly required, just plug in the power cord. Evan dawned on the VR helmet. He arrived immediately in his virtual world. He began observing the characters. There was a tall red-head woman who looked to be in her early forties. On the corner was a teenager selling newspapers. On the opposite corner was a street musician who played flute, saz, and keyboard. He also sang. The moment Evan arrived, the street musician, Rainbow Hawk, was on a break. It was early morning in Evan’s virtual world and Rainbow Hawk was around the corner having breakfast. The coffee was particularly good this morning or, perhaps, just particularly hot.

Evan decided to get some coffee. He walked around the corner and almost bumped into Rainbow Hawk in his hurry to get to the counter.

“Excuse me,” he said.

“No problem,” Rainbow Hawk replied.

“What do you recommend here?”

“The dark roast is the best,”

“Thanks, I'll have a large dark roast,” Evan was smiling in anticipation of his first sip.

“Would you like a bagel and cream cheese?”

“I think I’ll pass,” Evan responded after pausing to consider the offer.

Evan normally drank his coffee black, but every once in a while he loved to add half and half. That is what he did this morning. He pressed the cup to his lips and savored his first sip.

“Ethiopian Yirgacheffe?”, Evan inquired. The barista nodded.

‘Yes, we roasted it just yesterday.”

“I can taste the freshness.” Evan smiled broadly as he rubbed his belly.

Evan turned to Rainbow Hawk and extended his hand.

‘’M Evan,” he smiled.

“Rainbow Hawk.” he replied as he met Evan’s grip.

They shook hands both offering their firmest, most friendly handshake.

“Hey, thanks for your suggestion, it has been too long since I drank a great cup of coffee. And this half and half is a real treat.”

“I say my day has not begun until I get that first gulp of morning Java.”

“I hear ya,” Evan chuckled.

********

The warehouse crew finished loading Evan’s ship a day early, but the captain decided to give the crew an extra day off. They would launch on the original schedule. Evan decided to spend the night in his virtual domain.

He began to explore the neighborhood, looking for a hotel to spend the night. Two blocks down and 1 block over, Evan found an old hotel that had only four rooms for rent. He registered and then continued his exploration of the neighborhood.

Evan eventually ended up back at the original corner. The tall red-head was still there. She was listening intently to the music from across the street. She swayed in rhythm with the beat. Her eyes were closed so she did not see Evan approaching her. He began to dance with her in perfect coordination of her moves.

When she opened her eyes, she just smiled … She loved all kinds of music. When the music stopped, Evam bowed to her and said, “My lady, thank you for the pleasure of this dance. My name is Evan, and I am happy to make your acquaintance.”

She took his out-stretched hand and kissed it gently. “My honor to dance with you Sir Evan, I am Lady Dianne. “

Evan gently turned her hand over and kissed its back. “Lady Dianne, are you hungry … May I take you to lunch?”

“Why, that would be delightful,” she grinned.

“Great! What are you hungry for?”

“How about Mexican?”

“Perfect!”

Evan dropped a fist-ull of bills in RainbowHawk’s hat. Two blocks up, they found a small Mexican restaurant. There were two tables in front; they sat at the first table. Evan ordered two margaritas while they studied the menu. Evan ordered a chile relleno and Dianne chose a bacon enchilada.

By the time lunch was over, Evan felt like he had known Dianne all his life. Before lunch was over, Danne had agreed to accompany Even to his hotel for a drink. They laughed a lot. And, there were even some moments of tears and sadness. Ean left an exceptionally generous tip. This was no problem since he could create as much money as needed before entering the holo-world.

Evan really liked the virtual world he created. “This could become addictive,” he thought.

His room was hot. He had forgotten to turn on the air when he first arrived. Evan turned on the air now and set it to the max.

“What can I get you?” Jason queried.

“I think I’ll have a vodka Collins,” she blushed a little.

The liquor cabinet was fully stocked. Evan grabbed a top-shelf vodka and a bottle of Collins mix. After carefully measuring the shots, he headed to the ice machine down the hall. When he returned, he had enough ice for the entire evening. He dropped a few cubes into her glass and handed her the drink.

“I propose a toast,” he offered, “To our newfound connection!”

Their glasses clinked and each took a sip.

“My turn!” she practically shouted, “To the deepening of that connection.”

She took a sip; He, a gulp. And so the evening continued.

********

Meanwhile, in the real world, the third shift finished the final shipping checklist before the scheduled launch. At midnight, a siren sounded reminding the ship’s crew to return to their assigned stations. The launch countdown sequence had begun. Inside his virtual world, Evan’s smartwatch began to vibrate and ring. He rolled over and stared at the feminine form before him. Such beauty! Such Grace! Such Blessing!

Evan leaned in and kissed Dianne on the eyes. She smiled and opened them slowly. Before Dianne came to full consciousness, Evan was out the door. He removed his helmet carefully, respectfully. He was to be on the fire crew for the launch. Their job was to stand by in the cargo bays to make sure no fires were started by the launch flash.

Evan stood decked out in his fire suit, tethered to the as the final countdown began: 10-9-8-7-654-3-2-1- Ignition. The engnes roared to life. Something was wrong! The main engine exploded in a great fireball. Evan was blown out of a huge hole in the spaceship’s side. The momentum of the explosion shot him into space the full length of his tether. He wanted to scream, but nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

********

Even awoke in his bed back on earth. “Now, that was quite a dream!” he thought.