Rise of the Grox

On My Way

As they made their way to the space station, he felt an itch to open the escape chute and jump out of the shuttle. This, of course, would result in his infinite drifting, and death. It would be fun though. Just imagine feeling weightless in a never-ending space with nothing to stop you, not even death. There he was, unconsciously drifting toward the escape hatch.

"Austin! What do you think you're doing? You open that, we all die." said Lala, the captain.

"Give me a break, would you?" he said, becoming himself again, and pushing hard off the wall to get back into his seat.

"Why are we going to the space station anyway?" Austin asked. "What could possibly be so urgent that we had to rush to the shuttle for a launch that no one had even told me about."

"I would tell you why we are out here, but it's 'top secret'" Lala said with air quotes, teasing Austin. NASA told Austin he would be at the space station to do some repairs, but everyone on the ship knew Austin didn't believe it. He thought that he was up there for some unexplained reason.

"I lost my marbles just looking at the dissipating planet the human race has done such a bad job taking care of. This better be worth it," he teased back.

"Oh trust me, it will be the biggest waste of time. You're not the only reason we're going on this mission you know," she was teasing at first, but then her tone got really serious.

It was the middle of July, so Austin could see America as clear as fresh ocean water. "I swear I can almost taste the cotton candy at all the summer fairs," he said under his breath, slightly regretting taking the job that NASA had offered him.

As he drifted off into a daydream about Ferris wheels and hot dogs, spending time with his mom and girlfriend, all hell broke loose. Lights flickered red, and the sound of sirens rang all throughout the shuttle. It looked like he would be performing space surgery a little earlier than he expected. It just so happened that he knew how to fix a gaping hole in the side of a spaceship. Who knew why there was a hole, but it was there, and he was the only one who could fix it.

Austin put his gear on and got ready for the repair. As he put his clothes down in a sealed cubbyhole, a picture drifted out of his pocket. It was a picture of his mom and Kylee, the girlfriend he was dreaming about earlier, all at the last dinner he had on earth until he got back. The second he saw the picture tears came to his eyes and he started twitching like crazy. What would happen if he got hit by drifting debris; if his helmet broke and he died a long painful death of suffocation. He clenched the helmet that he held in his hand and attempted to throw it at the ground. It was quite ineffective, but it was what he felt was right at that moment. What if he wasn't ready for this? He wouldn't be. Not now. Not ever. He had too much to lose... didn't he? If Austin died in space, nobody would ever see his body again, even if it was pale and bloated. He took off the rest of the heavy space suit and let it float around the capsule he was in.

When the crew arrived at the airlock, where he was. Austin, curled up in a ball drifting naked and bawling his eyes out. They need me to, but I can't do it, He said in his head. Then he actually started thinking. If I don't do this, none of them will ever see their loved ones either, and it would be all my fault.

He got up and start putting on his gear for the second time that day, wiping tears from his face as he did so. He got hooked up. A carabiner tied to a steel cable hooked to a harness around his waist and legs. Austin walked into the airlock and tried to calm himself down to a comfortable point. He grabs the toolbox that was waiting for him. As they lock the inner door, the outer door opened. Austin starts to tremble once again. He definitely wasn't ready, but there was no going back now.

There it was; a huge hole in the side of the ship. There was a giant rock sticking out of the shuttle. The team sent a big piece of sheet metal Austin's way. He pulled clamps out of the toolbox to unhinged the rock from the metal. Next, he took out a welding rod and puts the sheet over the gap. The sheet was just large enough to fit. As Austin finished putting the tools away, he asked the team to pull him back in. As they did this, he prayed he wouldn't get snapped away from the rest of them at the last second.