30 Days a Soldier

Chapter 2: Black Knight

Chapter 2

Black Knight

8th June 1963

Earth Orbit

Destination Codename: Black Knight

Voskhod 3

Cold sweat dripping down his face, ragged breath after ragged breath competing with the constant hiss of air into his almost mediaeval suit, Colonel Alexei Abramov fought down the urge to vomit in his misting helmet as he struggled with the tight confines of the inflated airlock and the even tighter confines of his spacesuit. What was really making him want to let loose was the lack of gravity, something which for the past day had made his stomach feel like it was doing somersaults while being simultaneously massaged.

Struggling with the pressure inside his suit making it difficult to move his arms, Alexei finally managed to get hold of the airlock hatch and pull it open. Before him unbounded beauty lay as the limitless blue Earth hung in the night sky. It was as if he could just reach out, as if into the most tranquil water, and run his hand through his homeworld. He was no lesser man, he had beaten all others back home at Military Unit 26266 in Star City, he had proven that he had what it takes both physically and mentally and he knew that he was what the Brits referred to as a Brick Shithouse. Yet as he looked down upon his homeworld, he was utterly in shock at how serene it was and could almost forget the true state of affairs on the ground.

All at once his radio crackled, "Alexei, are you ready old friend? We will be in range in 20 seconds."

Ensuring his tether was attached properly, Alexei almost nodded before realising that would likely make him throw up, "I am ready..." grabbing tight hold of a safety bar, he waited.

Ahead of him, slipping into view like a shadow over Earth, an almost pitch black object grew larger and larger as they closed on it. Unlike anything the Soviets had been able to send into space – nor the Americans for that matter according to intelligence – the dark object had two almost wing-like protrusions from the side of a boxy fuselage and a bulbous shape towards the rear of the dorsal section. Unclipping a flashlight from his belt, Alexei turned it on and shone it ahead of himself and onto the object. Straight lines met his beam and the rectangular bow of the object was shown to be partly recessed. As a burst from the reaction control jets brought Voshkod 3 to a halt relative to the object, Alexei couldn't help but stare in awe and fascination at what he was seeing; this was no natural object. From a range of only 30 feet, he could see that it was symmetrical and with the amount of straight lines and flat panels covering it, he had to believe that this was definitely artificial, and if all the intelligence they had gathered was to be believed then this object was at least 65 years old.

"I can see it clearly now. I estimate it is at least 15 metres in width and 10 metres high, I am unable to tell how long it is but it will be at least more than 15. Object is definitely artificial but I can't see any identifiable markings, lights or windows and it isn't making any hostile movements. I stand ready to leave the airlock."

"Hold one." The crackle of the radio was much more intense now and Alexei could almost swear that he felt his arms tingling and his teeth felt like they were buzzing. "I am getting some interference over the radio the closer we are to the object...you are safe to proceed."

"I am leaving the airlock." Pulling himself free and being careful with every movement, not that he could move much due to the 4psi pressure inside the suit being like he was covered in cement, Alexei homed in on the vast object, his tether uncoiling behind him. He should have been in awe at that very moment, he was only the second man to go on a spacewalk, but, in truth he was terrified. They all knew the dangers of a spacewalk, now especially after Leonov almost died in space after struggling to get back into the airlock on Voshkod 2. Leonov wore the very same type of suit and just like Alexei, struggled with the high pressure making the suit rigid. While work was underway on a new one, it wasn't yet ready, but this mission was deemed of paramount importance and so they had been forced to use the Berkut yet again, despite its flaws.

His tether nearing the end of its reach, Alexei looked out upon the vast flat nose of the object before him; as close as he was now he could see hundreds of pitted markings covering its surface – obvious evidence of impacts with micrometeorites over a long time (which made Alexei curious as to the material if it was able not to be holed by the ballistic rocks), and he felt that he could be mistaken, but he thought he saw some tiny amount of stratification along the flat surface. Calling this out, Alexei drifted closer to the object, and as he rocked side to side, he saw a grill over the front of one of the wing-like protrusions and – barely discernible within that grill – numerous spikes and circles of possibly glass.

All at once, a line split down the horizontal axis of the rectangular nose of the craft revealing a pitch black interior with the barest glimpse of an aurorae and sparks of electricity darting between the two before they were wide enough apart.

"A door is opening, I am holding position..." more like he was almost peeing himself.

"...y...gain...you're bre...ing up."

As the doors swung wider, Alexei's flashlight caught the interior and seemed to reflect off a thick black, tar-like liquid. It was like looking at glass but it seemed to defy the known laws of gravity by rippling, and if that wasn't strange enough it was rippling outwards from wherever his flashlight was shone upon. For the first time in his life, Alexei was unable to speak, his body feeling like it was being stroked by a thousand tiny feathers and his radio fluctuating in its interference. For a moment it seemed like his brain itself was being massaged and squeezed all at the same time, but that moment passed almost as soon as it arrived, and then, he was only left with the sound of his suit's mechanics pumping its air around his squeezed body.

In the back of his mind, he suspected that Pyotr was screaming into the radio for him to respond, but as he looked upon the tarry black liquid, Alexei heard another voice. No, he didn't hear it, he felt it like a half remembered memory.

"We mean you no harm."

Man was not alone.

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