"What was that?" I definitely heard someone.
"What was what?" Major Chang tilts his head and raises an eyebrow.
"You didn't hear someone crying for help just now?"
"Um...no?" His eyes get wide and the other eyebrow follows the first one. He ponders for a moment, then shrugs. "Might have been a glitch in your system. In any case, your suit is done...why don't you try it on and test it out?"
"You mean...outside??" I'm not sure if I want to go back out there. Can't we just stay in this warm spaceship where it's safe?
Major Chang nods and tosses me the suit.
I don't have a choice, do I? And maybe if I do go out there...I can find out if someone else needs our help.
"Okay fine." I struggle to pull the suit on over my regular uniform, just like I did back in the capsule.
After Major Chang also suits up in a much bulkier ensemble, complete with a round helmet, he twists the latch on the door and yanks it open. We jump outside together.
I feel the impact of the wind, but not the cold...so far, so good. Instinctively, I signal to Major Chang with a thumbs up that all is well. He responds with another thumbs up.
The landscape—despite the harsh, cold air—is absolutely stunning. We're surrounded by mountains of shining icebergs, and the ground is covered in glistening blue-white ice. In the distance, the ice gives way to a huge body of liquid water that reflects the orange sky overhead.
No signs of any other life...Maybe Major Chang was right.
"Now listen, Xiao...be careful where you step," he says to me through the wireless communicator built into both of our suits. "Not all the ice here is solid. Some of it is quite frail, so you have to pay attention to the patches of thin—"
**CRACK**
**SPLOOSH!**
Too late—I step right onto a patch of thin ice and get swallowed by a hole of slushy, freezing cold water.
"XIAO!!"
[[TO BE CONTINUED]]
YOU ARE READING
I Am XIAO: An Inktober Story
Science FictionFirst published on Instagram under the username @leilacreatesthings as a response to Jake Parker's "Inktober" art challenge during October 2019-January 2020. PREMISE: In the year 2520, on the space capsule "Blue Dragon", the sole passenger, a NASA...
