The Soulmate Curse

Curiosity - Part 3

Relief poured into the cabin as the sky turned from Earth blue to black and the rocket was released from Earth's gravity to gently float in the nothingness that is the vacuum of space. They would be docking with ISS2 in just under ten hours, an unusually fast pace. This was another attempt at breaking the speed record of reaching the space station, which was at a much higher orbit than the first International Space Station. Zhen let herself relax into the zero gravity. The others unbuckled themselves and stretched out, floating around the cabin in excitement. Doesn't matter how many times you experience it, zero gravity never gets old.

It was about two hours before docking when it happened. They had successfully gone past the first international space station, which was now a relic used by ultra-rich tourists with immeasurable amounts of money to burn and a death wish. Zhen and the others were discussing the incredibly juvenile, frat boy gags that went on in the ISS when the blaring alarms came on.

"Mission control?" called the commander. "We've been hit. A shower of meteorites. They were too small for the scanner to read at this speed."

"Zhen, Jo, strap in," said Corbin, taking the pilot's seat.

The commander, Corbin and Jo were strapped into their seats in seconds. The commander and Corbin immediately started going through the motions with Mission Control in the background talking them through it. Jo was focussed on what was going on, helping where she could. From the exterior scanners and cameras, there was evidence of a huge dent on the ship's hull. They were trying to determine if there was more damage to the craft that would compromise their ability to dock or to return back to Earth.

Zhen was trying to focus on what was going on. Trying and failing. She hadn't even been able to strap herself back onto her seat. Something unthinkable had happened. Sitting there, knowing that space was a ruthless mistress with no regard for their lives, Zhen had frozen. She'd aced every simulation of life-threatening danger during training, but at the moment when there was a possibility of danger to their lives really were in danger, she'd frozen. Images of shattered glass, the sound of loud screeching and the coppery scent of blood had taken over all her senses. Every single one of her limbs were locked in place and she couldn't do anything about it. And she couldn't utter a single word.

It took Zhen a long time to unfreeze and get past the horror of being useless. The others were still focussed on everything that they were discussing with Mission Control and Zhen was grateful for that. She floated back into her seat and strapped herself in. Jo answered a question from Corbin and then turned to look at her. Zhen's heart jumped to her throat. Jo's face was blank, but she gave the most imperceptible of nods. Before long, the Commander and Corbin had got everything under control and they were back on track to dock with ISS2, albeit slower and behind schedule.

Together with Mission Control on Earth, the two commanding officers worked to make sure the ship made it safely to the space station. The last part of the flight was unbearable. It seemed to take forever to arrive at the space station. However, they eventually docked the shuttle. The Space Station crew was already waiting, starting on repairs to the shuttle's hull as soon as they'd docked. Zhen's nerves were shot as she stumbled her way into the space station.

"Welcome to ISS2," said Christina Meir, famously named for two iconic heroines of space travel from the 2020s, making it even more insane that she did, in fact, end up becoming the youngest female astronaut ever.

"A bit of a bumpy ride, huh?" this time the voice belonged to Roy Cruz, CEO of the Corporation that acquired the Space Station a few years ago, MechSoft. He also just happened to be an accomplished astronaut commander and was leading the current space station crew.

"No bumpier than usual," answered their mission commander offering a hand. "It's good to see you again, Cruz."

"You too, Jax. Let's get everyone introduced and settled in," said Cruz, motioning to the others. "Come on in."