Angelus Mute

Endless space. The darkness shines like a beacon into the soul. Simon slowly breathes in. And out. The white opaque of tiny water drops forms a translucent blurred circle on the round window that allows him to receive the frontierless view into the blackness of the universe.

He observes how the tiny drops of mist gradually vaporize again, letting the glass regain its flawless transparency. Breath. Breath is the sign of life. That is how it is written in the old scriptures. Old, muffled, ancient. And yet, accurately enough to appreciate the value of breath.

I am still breathing. I can still do it.

He closes his eyes and feels the warmth of his eyelids enclose his own windows to the world. How well this feels. There is still some warmth in these tiny chambers of the space capsule where he and his colleagues reside. He opens his eyes again.

Somewhere, out there, lies the answer.

The answer to everything. The answer to the history of humanity.
Or just the answer that he is a bottomless fool.

“Hey, Simon, ya’ still brooding?”

Jenny gives a small laugh while approaching the side. She is always the one to cheer Simon up. All the others keep their distance with him, consider him to be spooky, weird. But not Jenny. Without a sound, she floated through the round tunnel, leading up to this tiny place with the round window. The gravity panels are turned off.
 
Hesitantly, Simon turns his face towards her and remarks solemnly, “Just fighting a cabin fever.”

Jenny shrugs. “Well, duuh, that’s the high price for us all having grown up in a society of individuality and privacy: cabin fever!”

Now, Simon is nearly on the verge of laughter. That’s just Jenny! Sometimes, one might think that she is superficial due to her constant humor but actually, she bears a lot of knowledge behind the comedy. And maybe that is also the reason why she is not set aback by Simon’s weird theories. She is clever enough not to condemn him completely.

“Well, uh, I guess you are right.” He replies shyly while smiling and gets hold of the nearest handle for getting ready to return to the control room with her.

##

The team of the ‘Hakhoqer”, a formidable scientific spaceship equipped to endure long in-depth travels, has its good routines to tackle everyday tasks in the control room. Far away from earth, they still keep the schedule of day and night. Though here, in the void, there is no rhythm of life detectable in the endless space outside. So, it’s morning where it is not. After the refreshing breakfast from the lush rations of the ‘Hakhoqer’ it’s a good change for everyone to work through the checklists quite quickly before the next rest phase begins.

“The graph shows no intrusion in the radiation range. Seems safe,” utters Daphne in her grumpy throat voice while looking at her work tablet and crossing the room freely with a gently float. She is the captain and she fills this role with professional severance that keeps each member at a respectful distance while soothing everybody in fair neutrality and competency.

“We will remain unintruded, I am pretty sure. This is a daydream’s exploration and all we have to do is observe black with black and black,” scoffs Gerry as he types something into one of the terminals.

Daphne glares at him like a hawk. “You hold it down! We got a job to do and that is all to contemplate about!”

Simon has heard the conversation while he and Jenny are about to enter the room. "Stop it, Brian! I know that is not your favorite mission but one tiny sloppiness can cost us all!"

All 6 members of the crew turn towards Simon, while Brian mumbles. "We fear ghosts. That's all that it is. Ghosts!"

With a deep sigh, Simon goes on, addressing the whole crew. "We went this far and here we are. This is not the right place to doubt my research. You can scold me when we return and found nothing. I don't mind. But until then, you need to believe this. Because.... because if you don't, and if I am right with my theory, it will cost all our lives."