Popular Post Quentin Beck Posted February 19 Popular Post Posted February 19 Pressure. Enough of it on her inner ear to strike her momentarily deaf and dumb. It had all happened so quickly, her disorientation inevitable, but that thought provided little comfort as it was jumbled up with so many others at the same moment. She tried to close her eyes and found that they were already closed, but that didn't stop her world from spinning. Clenching her jaw, she tried to center herself. A long, deep inhale through her nostrils followed by a slow, shaky exhale through parted lips. It took two or three times before she could assert some order in her brain and the pressure began to abate. As she regained some measure of control, though, and her senses returned, she was thrown back into the chaos of reality and thought maybe she'd been better off with her brain scrambled. The display built into her helmet flashed red in time with the warning blaring in her ear and an alarmingly long list of damage to her EV suit started scrolling across her view. It would have been simpler to display a list of what wasn't damaged in the blast during the emergency beam-out, though it wouldn't have been any less concerning. Life Support in particular had been critically damaged, which meant… she didn't have long. She wasn't sure about her partner, the comm was down, and she hadn't yet made a visual confirmation on whether he'd made it out of the runabout or not. So she floated freely for a few moments amidst the scattered remnants of the runabout, unable to do much. The suit's thrusters were undamaged, but there wasn't enough power to actually engage them without venting the last of her good air. She bounced off the twisted material that had previously been the starboard nacelle, which rotated her through space a hundred and eighty degrees. That brought the mouth of the wormhole back into view, which looked immeasurably larger now that there was nothing between her and it except a thin plane of transparent aluminum and maybe a few thousand kilometers of empty space. She had never felt so small. Why it was still open she wasn't sure. The death of the runabout should have ended their experiment. Maybe it was still coasting on the tachyons they had generated to open it in the first place? She could only speculate without a scanner. It was possible the Kyoto had tried to follow them through when the distress call had triggered, but she didn't think the Captain would be that reckless even to save the lives of two of his senior staff and the prototype generator. That'd just strand the ship and crew in… where the heck was she, anyway? The stars were unfamiliar. The suit's scanners were limited but at least had enough capability to try giving her some idea where she was. She blinked at the result, her brow creasing. "Canis… Major? But that's…" The estimated range from their starting location was just under 25,000 light years. Their wormhole generator had not just allowed them to travel deeper into their own Galaxy… it had sent them to the next galaxy over! "Oh my god! Can you believe it, we–" Then she remembered her comm wasn't working. And she didn't know if her partner was even still alive. Her head turned in the helmet, eyes flicking rapidly through the space she could see, hoping against hope… and there. Another EV suit, though not free-floating like hers. His boots were attached to a larger piece of debris, and he was also looking towards the wormhole. What could she do? Without the comm, she couldn't get his attention. She didn't have any kind of sidearm, either. With a timed burst of her thrusters, she could probably at least get in range for him to see her, to know he wasn't alone. So what if it ate up the last of her oxygen? She was already living on borrowed time at this point. She had to wait until the right moment in her rotation, though, or else she'd go careening off the wrong direction. A count to five was just about right and she was coasting towards him. She shut off the power to the thrusters, which thankfully stopped pushing the oxygen levels down so quickly, and breathed a momentary sigh as she came up beside the debris he'd latched onto. He turned to look at her, eyes flooded with relief at her approach, and his lips moved. She didn't hear it, and she indicated as much. Frowning, he waved at her to come closer if she could, pointing at an open spot on the hull next to him, then at the wormhole. She thought she understood and triggered her thrusters one last time. She couldn't engage the magnetic locks on her boots. He held onto her instead. They both watched the mouth of the wormhole shimmer for a few moments longer before it snapped closed again, bathing them once more in darkness. And there would be no going back. At least it had been beautiful. 8
Haukea-Willow Posted February 20 Posted February 20 Quote At least it had been beautiful. Love your last line. ❤️ 2
Quentin Beck Posted February 20 Author Posted February 20 @Haukea-Willow Thank you 😊 I thought it was a good button 2
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