Tiny rays of light began to peep over the horizon as the Sun started its ambulatory course to the axis of the sky. Far off, Jinx and Maxell stared in utter fascination as the Atlantic Ocean caught the rays and sent them coalescing into the sky. The shaft of light was an amazing spectacle that could be witnessed from the port side of their craft.
They were in space.
The beeping of a control interface shattered the tranquility in the space shuttle. Shaken asunder from their reverie - a repose they hardly had during their rigorous aeronautical training - the duo pulled their way to the cockpit of the craft, bouncing and gliding due to their low gravity orbit.
"This is Command Centre over, please report on your progress, Apollo-11." droned a voice from a speaker on the dashboard.
"This is Apollo-11. ETA to Command Centre is one hour, over."
"Good, we'll see you there, godspeed. Over and out."
Jinx and Maxell had launched from Earth a month prior, en-route to the 'Cerberus'; a massive space station that was orbiting around Venus. Their mission was to map out the deposits of Titanium - a rare metal - and to determine if the planet could be Terraformed, just like what Mars was undergoing.
Jinx sighed and looked around the cockpit. Everything was working fine; control lights were green on all panels and auto-pilot was on the right trajectory.
He was bored.
Grabbing the cockpit chair as leverage, he pushed off towards the middle-section of the craft, propelling further than he anticipated. Propping his elbows on the ledge of the starboard portico, he stared out at the vast enormity of space. The view scared him, as it did every single time he looked. On the port-side, was home and warmth, yet just a stones throw away, lay the deep, dark abyss of never-ending space.
A disturbing thought flashed across his mind, as he stared out into the star-littered void. Images of an explosion on board and a gaping hole in the roof chilled him to the core. His forehead creased as he grimaced at that fate. Would the vacuum of space suck us out of the craft? Or would we just blow apart due to the pressure difference? He wondered how long it would take for his family to see the brief blast of light as it ambulated from the craft to Earth.
'Bah, paranoia,' he thought, leaving his mind's eye and again stared out of the window.
The warmth of his breath condensed upon the window, obscuring his vision as he was pressed up close against the reinforced glass. He reached out to wipe it away with the sleeve of his jumpsuit. However, he recoiled upon contact, as the chill of space seemed to permeate through the tiny pores of the window like a coiling miasma, sucking away his heat.
Who ever knew what space would be so intimidating, It was just like how he felt when he was a kid at the playground slides. The long voyage down, could he make it? And what awaited him at the bottom? That was just like how this void was like, but instead of a slide, it was a seemingly infinite stretch of emptiness and gloom. And however far he craned his neck, it would always be there, like a cold, heartless God whose omnipresence could be felt.
Someone was talking to him. It was Maxell.
"Hey, Earth to Jinx. You back from your voyage in space?" joked Maxell, an ironic chortle escaping his lips.
"We're reaching, so hurry up and get this heap of metal off auto-pilot."
Jinx held up his hands in mock surrender, nodding in reply he pushed off the portico, towards the cockpit,.
Sighing, he took one last look at Earth and its warmth, before turning away.
