A Stroll Amongst the Stars

Posted on Thu May 21st, 2015 @ 12:21pm by Lieutenant JG Mallow Darby

Mission: Beyond The Wormhole
Location: Exterior of the Ptolemy

One thing about space was that...living in it was very hot. While people always suggested that it was cold in space, the light from a nearby star could really heat up a pressure vessel and the fact that his environment suit couldn't exhaust that heat anywhere seemed to increase just how hot it was inside of it. Fog started to grow uncontrollably across the faceplate of his helmet as Darby struggled to look through it to no avail.

Instinctively he started to try and wipe it away, but of course there was nothing to wipe from his point of view. Vapor that bothered him was actually on the inside of the transparent visor shield, and therefore he couldn't do anything but return his hands to the work.

Naturally this was all quite ironic. Vacuumed areas in space were of course quite cold, and he surely would have froze up in seconds if he removed that helmet, but having sat inside of the spacesuit he was struggling to remain lucid from just how hot it was getting.

That being said, there was nowhere that he would have rather been than right here out in space. He loved the feeling of weightlessness and gentle rolling motion that occurred when you were away from things like artificial gravity fields and gravimetric particle generators. This was real freedom, and he loved it.

Despite what he was saying before on the bridge, Darby had been of the opinion that Starfleet personnel had slowly gotten rather soft when it came to this kind of thing. They never wanted to get their hands dirty or have to work outside of a shuttlecraft, but he was actually excited to no matter how he might have responded before.

Sighing once again, he soon realized what a bad idea that was as it only increased the amount of vapor on the helmet. Nevertheless, he figured he wouldn't have seen anything scenic anyway. Whenever you were close to a single star that one star's light blocked out everything else so space took on a relatively dim appearance, but this was in spite of how so many artists had depicted the background of space as having been illustrated with numerous stars.

Smiling then internally, he finally finished up putting the repairs on everything before stretching a bit more within the suit. Releasing his feet from the bonds that kept him to the hull of the ship, he activated his communicator by tapping a pressure panel on the front of his spacesuit.

"Darby here - requesting permission to egress."

"Permission granted. Airlock four is now engaged to vacuum."

A bit more of a retrospective flashed through his mind as he gently and slowly floated in through the airlock, finally returning home. He was, admittedly, a little sad to leave. Darby figured that just meant that he was going to have to volunteer for the next opportunity that gave him a chance to go out for an EVA!

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Lieutenant (JG) Mallow Darby

Going Out for a Little Walk