Stardust

Chapter 2: Space Walk

            Fenala had already changed into the much bulkier Mk. II spacesuit that is rated for venturing into the emptiness of space. She pressed the door unlock on the pad mounted on the outer wall of the ship. As expected, nothing happened and she sighed heavily. This was going to be a long day. Positioning herself so that she could press her feet against the door frame, she pulled on the handle manually sliding the inner airlock door open. She pulled herself inside before having to do the reverse motion to close it once again. Fenala pulled herself along the side wall, keeping one hand grabbing one of the many handles protruding from the ship for just this purpose. About halfway towards the other side of the small chamber she stopped in front of some cases mounted on the wall. Slowly she freed one of the cases from the wall and pried it open, which proved to be more difficult than she had thought using the bulky gloves of the Mk. II suit. Once open, she grabbed the contents which consisted of one long and thick ropelike material with metal carabiners at each end. She pulled at a few spots along the length of the material making sure it was structurally sound. Satisfied after a few moments, she clipped and locked one end onto the harness around the waist of her suit. Holding onto the bundle of rope, she closed the empty container and placed it back into its previous location on the wall. Fenala pushed herself from the wall and floated to the door at the other end from where she entered landing with a soft thud as she used her boots to stop herself. Locking the untethered end to a small ring at the base of the door frame, she readied herself for the task of opening the outer airlock door which would cause all the air to rush out into the vacuum of space. 

             She pressed her feat firmly against the frame and undid the locking mechanism keeping the door from being able to open. Then she heaved as she tried to slide it open. As soon as the smallest of gaps appeared between the frame and the sliding door, the air from inside the cabin began to rush out. This unfortunately created a very strong suction against the gap. Fenala and to strain to keep herself from being pulled against the door as the air rushed to leave the cabin. After a short while of this struggle, her muscles began to ache and she thought surely she would end up stuck to the airlock door. Finally she could feel the pull of the vacuum lessen as all the air had dissipated through the small gap. She let her body relax slightly as she sighed in relief, allowing herself to float next to the airlock door. After she had regained her strength she got back to her task of opening the door completely. She heaved and strained herself probably more than she should as she slid the door open revealing the dark emptiness of the space outside her ship. 

           Under different circumstances Captain Fenala might have looked on at the scene before her in awe and wonder. The deep blackness that consumed the universe, the bright pinpricks of light that dotted the canvass of shadow denoting distant stars, and there it was, the veil surrounding her home star system. She could see it appeared to be a sheet of some kind of particles rippling in an invisible wind. Along the surface of this veil, light seemed to reflect and refract in different colors as it floated in space. The curtain of particles rippled and moved slowly but did not seem to be gaining in size or getting any smaller. It simply existed, stretching into the vastness of space and she knew that it surrounded her entire home. Many probes had been sent to seemingly every edge and direction of their star system to see if there was an end to the veil, but none could be found. She knew she was on the other side of it, for there through the shimmering colors and dust, she could see the brightest pinprick of light around her which she knew to be the star Vedra. 

           Shaking herself from her thoughts of the veil and her home, Fenala looked back down to make sure her harness was secured to the frame still. She tugged on it firmly to test it before pushing off gently with her boots to float into space. Quickly grabbing onto a handle just outside the airlock, she swung around to smack against the ship as she got her bearings. She knew that she had to make it to the underside of the engines which is where the engineering controls were linked to the outside of the ship. She maneuvered herself to slide along the ships exterior, tightly gripping the handholds through the suits gloves. Slowly but surely she made her way to the underside of the ship, fumbling a few times as she struggled to keep her grasp of the handholds mounted to the exterior. She finally was able to get to the compartment underneath the rear engines, a small panel protruding just slightly from the ships underbelly. She reached to her harness belt and grabbed the multi-tool which would allow her access to the panel. Slowly undoing the locking mechanism with the tool she carefully placed it back into the holster at her waist. 

             She swung the panel open to reveal the engineering compartment and was shocked at what she found. A soft glow was emanating from within the electronics. The ship's main power was knocked out but this weird glow surrounded the wiring and computer block associated with the life support  systems. She tried to lean in closer, the suit's bulk preventing her from being able to fit her shoulders through the small panel opening. AS she leaned in as close as she was able she could see that the glow surrounding the life support systems was eerily similar to her, like she knew what it was. She stared on in confusion at the pulsing lights as they faded and into new colors moving through the complete spectrum of light and then seemingly creating new ones right before her eyes. As she became mesmerized by the lights, it suddenly struck her. This glow, and the colors were the same as the veil! Fenala gasped as she realized that what was keeping her alive on the ship was the same source of... something that was surrounding her home system. 

          Fenala wanted to be able to inspect the lights further but her suit was running out of air reserves and she needed to get back to the safety of the ships life support. She wondered to herself as she carefully made her way back to the airlock opening if the ship wasn't so safe after all even if this weird source of power was keeping her alive.