The Starbird Contingency

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But if they could, I’m fairly certain that I just set off more than just a few car alarms on Mars.

Floating, spinning, turning…and panic screaming into my helmet, all the while grasping at nothing. Nothing…because the last thing that the glove on my spacesuit had come into contact with (the keypad on the airlock door) was now at least 100 yards away and falling fast out of sight. All around the side of the ship, shimmering like a halo, reflected an ever-expanding plume of debris in the sunlight, extending quickly out into space. Below that, the faint lights from the domed cities on the Martian surface illuminated across the vast the horizon of the red planet. And then, as I began to tumble 180 degrees, out of view it all went, followed quickly by nothing but stars…

20 seconds passed that felt like 20 years before a sound in my helmet began to crackle and buzz over the top of my cries.

“Lt. Avery do you read? Jason can you hear me? Over…”

“YES! AFFIRMATIVE...YES!” I yelled.

The shock of what had just happened began to be overridden by my training as I quickly regained my composure and began to assess my situation.

“Yes, Starbird, I read you…emergency! Sudden decompression Door 6. I’m off craft…need immediate assistance!”

More Crackling.

“Understood, we have a lock on your position…dispatching the probe now…”

I quickly checked the readout screen on my visor. No loss of pressure. No visible damage to the suit exterior. Everything read normal on the data screen, although my heart rate was understandably sky high. But other than that, I was essentially “O.K.”…I mean, other than of course the fact that I was now suddenly hurtling fast toward Pluto…

“Calm. Keep calm.” I told myself. “You trained for this. The probe will be here shortly to bring you back to safety.”

More crackling in my helmet.

“Jason we’ve got a lock on you, Everything reads fine on your suit and vitals. You are going to be O.K., We’re fine here too…damage appears limited to just the locking mechanism on number 6 door. We will have you back momentarily. Stand by for acquisition. Over”

“Affirmative, I read you, over”, I replied with as much confidence as I could muster in the sound of my voice.

Seconds passed by as I watched the stars spinning before me, then minutes. Even though I knew help was moments away, I never felt so alone or disconnected from the rest of humanity as I did in these last several minutes. Just floating by myself in space, waiting and trying to remain calm, trying to remind myself that I would soon be back on board the ship with a great story to tell when I got back down to Mars…

“The person who really should be most afraid right now is whoever the mechanic was that last serviced that airlock” I joked to myself in an effort to lighten up the situation. But the truth is, I don’t do very well with anxiety, a fact that I thus far had managed to hide effectively from my present employer. Hide that is, because I really needed this Job. But right now, I would gladly trade in my fat paygrade and spacesuit for a government assistance check if it meant I could get my feet back on solid ground again. In the meantime, just need to keep calm…and wait…

Finally, after several more minutes passed as I continued to spin and toss about in the black void of space, I noticed something metallic cross my line of vision every few turns, and it increased in size with each passing rotation. It was the probe, heading fast in my direction, its outstretched robotic arms extended and ready to latch on to the connector on the back of my spacesuit and drag me back to the safety of the ship. It wasn’t until now that I could finally see the probe in my line of vision that my fears truly began to subside.

And then after a few more rotations in the void, I felt the soft metal thud reverberated through my suit with the sensation of the arms of the probe latching on.

O.K., time to go home…

But then something strange…another flash. And this one was quite different than the original explosion that had sent me careening out into the cosmos. It was more electric, purple blue mixed with white. Everything was bathed in a soft glow and then suddenly, nothing. Not even stars, just…black…

“What the hell was that!?!” I exclaimed.

“U.S.S. Starbird, something else just happened, can you read me over?”

Silence. Not even a crackle.

“Starbird, come in, this is Lt. Avery, the probe has made acquisition but there has been another incident, do you read me, over?”

Still nothing. Still total blackness in front of me.

Then…slowly, faintly…tiny dots of light began to appear…

…the stars were back.

I couldn’t see the probe due to its proximity directly behind me but I could still feel the slight pull on the back of my suit indicating that surely I must be on my return journey now back to the ship. Something else though was a bit strange. A bit off. It was something…something about the stars, though I couldn’t quite figure it out.

Yes, I was sure of it, there was just something different about them…

“Starbird do you read me, over?”

Still no return transmission. Perhaps the airlock explosion had further damaged the communications. Or worse yet, perhaps the ship itself was worse off than I thought. I decided to maneuver myself around to get a better view. It was what I saw next that absolutely stunned me…

No probe…no ship…no debris field. All gone.

Now instead, filling up the entirety of the view before me, was a massive bright blue planet. This was not earth. This sure as hell wasn’t mars which was now nowhere to be seen. This was not anything to be found in our solar system at all.

Yet there it was, filling up the entire scenery laid out before me, and at that moment it suddenly dawned on me what was different about the stars…they were out of place. All the usual patterns and constellations had suddenly changed.

I don’t know where the hell I was, or how I got here, but suddenly I found myself in a place well beyond where I had just been only moments before.

And I was drifting again. Alone. With only about 2 hours of air left in my suit…

…and then the panic began again.