The Object

Alex had been warned his whole life against the dangers of space by both his family and peers. His brother cautioned him against how radiation would ruin him. His sister remined him of his fear of the dark. His best friend warned him about the impossible nature of space that made the simplest task unfeasible. His mother and father were most helpful in reminding him how terribly alone he would be up there.  Space was hard, terribly hard, that was why no human had gone there in two decades. But regardless, every night Alex dreamt that he could go.

Now he spent his last minutes praying to god that he may live and return home. 

To explain what happened to Alex, you'd have to go back to the day in which he signed up to go to space. He was 26 at the time, working a tiring nine to five job at a factory that would suck the years out of his life till he grew old and died. That's not to say he wasn't good at it, in fact he was great at his job, but it brought him no happiness. When a number of occurrences came to pass.

The first came through the news like a message from the heavens. A large unidentified object had been spotted orbiting around the planet with the appearance of an eighty-five foot rotating metallic tube. Every attempt to enter the object with unmanned International Space Agency drones was met with frustration. So the decision was made for volunteers to be taught and sent to investigate the object. Alex jumped at this opportunity without a second thought.

The second was a stroke of luck brought on by the opinions of the past two decades. After all the ISA said about how dangerous space was, Alex was not surprised to see that only four dozen people showed up for volunteering, of which only a baker's dozen were chosen for training. All Alex had to do was be the best.

He spent his limited free time after work exercising. In the mornings before work he filled out numerous test everyday. On Saturdays he visited an ISA therapist to prepare him for what it would be like on his short mission. On Sundays he visited a private therapist to get him over his fear of the dark that he's had ever since he was young. It was his own fault that he had a fear of the dark, he did something stupid, had to deal with the consequences. Those consequences being having to sleep down in a dark basement with loud machinery and no light. It was only one night, but a six year old's mind is very impressionable, especially with fear.

After 11 months of hard work Alex was prepping himself to enter the first ISA vessel made in a long time. He passed every test, both physical and mental. His fear of the dark was still a problem but he was confident that once he got up there it wouldn't be a problem and that all his hard work would be worth it. He would get to go to space.

He wore a puffy gray suit with red stripes, in his arm he held a black visor helmet. The vessel he would be operating had the appearance of a modified large drone, It had a spherical shape with six thrusters that could rotate around for increased mobility.

As he entered the vessel Alex felt a rush of adrenaline flow through him, he was going to operate a vessel, he was going to float in space, he was going to investigate the object. The doors closed shut behind him as he sat down, a hiss of air sounded as the vessel went air tight. The operator's console flashed on with a brilliant red light. A countdown began as his vessel was being prepared to be fired into space to avoid the atmosphere problem.

10...

9...

8...

7...

6...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Launch...

In seconds the machine had managed to fire him all the way past the atmosphere and into space. If not for the impressive cooling and protection system the entire vessel would have gone up in flames in mere seconds. Five of his six thrusters spun around smoothly, firing into space to slow down his rise. When he slowed down to a near complete stop all six thrusters spun around to the start position, allowing Alex to operate the ship towards The Object.

His fingers flew across the operator's console, spinning the thrusters about and piloting towards The Object. Operating his vessel was harder than it looked, and it looked pretty hard. If things were even a bit off one of his thrusters could send him spinning off into the void of space. If any of the thrusters failed it would take every bit of training to stop disaster. But Alex only paid attention to The Object which laid ahead, doing the complicated actions without even looking at his panel.

He was one mile away from it and approaching quickly. The power of the thrusters allowed him a powerful speed, but the speed was blinding. A small rock, the size of dice, traveling at 1,900 miles per hour smashed into his vessel. It hit only a minor part, nothing that would endanger the vessel, just a simple plug that one might connect a hose into. However this minor thing would soon become major.

When he came upon The Object his breath sopped in amazement. It was more magnificent then all the footage of it had led him to believe. If Alex had ever made it home, he never would have been able to explain the feeling that came from being twenty-feet away. However when he exited the vessel he was met with a very different feeling, fear.

After all his therapy he still had not shaken his fear for the dark. It twisted and turned into the faces of his past, terrible white eyes staring into his soul. Many of the faces were ones he never wanted to see again, a cruel teacher, a harsh boss, an ex-friend who spread lies. The faces never stopped twisting and twisting into worse and worse things. It took every ounce of his courage to continue on with the mission.

Turning about he plugged one end of a hose into the previously mentioned plug, the other went into the back of his helmet. The purpose of the hose being to pump vital air into his helmet and the rest of his suit, but due to the damage the plug took all the air that show have gone to him hissed into space. Alex, having already wasted time with his little freak out, was on a death clock.

he floated forward, his breath heavy, his helmet fogged up, his brain growing dizzy. His vision began to blur as his eyes started to close. Fumbling about he reach forward hap-hazard like for the entrance. It was a smooth, four foot diameter indented circle, with no clear way to open it. Wasting more and more air he felt around for a way to open it, eventually finding a button the slid the door aside reveling another. It was then that his suit issued it's warning.

| ERROR | OXYGENE LEVELS DANGERESLY LOW | PLEASE CONNECT HOSE |

At this, he saw out of the corner of his eyes the faces coming back. They laughed at him, his failure, their white eyes holding nothing but hatred. His suit started to beep in a steady tone, like the noise the machines in the basement use to make. On his wrist monitor it read that he had only one minute left, not enough time to make it back to his vessel. He was going to die at the doorsteps of what could be the greatest find of the century. No, if he was to die---he prayed desperately that he wouldn't---he was to at least get one look at the inside of The Vessel.

The second door had a simple large button in the center, impossible to miss and easy to take care off. A beautiful light shined through the no open pathway, the light was visible during the day and was the most amazing thing Alex had ever seen. It shined non-stop during his final moment, staying right beside him, protecting him from the dark.

He smiled.

And then he died.

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Part two?

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