MidReal Story
Stellar Secrets: The Alien Artifact Chronicles
Scenario: A Chinese little girl wearing a spacesuit roams in space
Create my version of this story
“Well, kid, are you ready for the big day?”
Captain Alexei Ivanov’s deep voice filled the room.
He was busy checking my spacesuit for the upcoming EVA.
I was standing on a platform in the airlock, with the space suit already on me.
The technician was doing the last check and Alexei was checking everything himself because he would be the one who would be responsible for my life, or even more than that.
“Of course I am, Alexei.I’m not a kid anymore.”
I said while smirking.
I could see his big figure was standing behind me in the mirror.
It was funny how I actually had to look up to see his face in the reflection.
To be fair, I didn’t look like a kid at all.
I was a fully grown 24-year-old woman, but still, I always felt like a little girl next to Alexei, and not only because he was so tall and had a rugged look.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he chuckled behind me, but I could see his amused features in my reflection.
“You’re a little girl next to me.”
“Yeah, yeah, you better stop calling me that when we get out there or else…”
“Or else what?”
He raised an eyebrow at me with a smile on his face.
“Oh, nothing.” I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what else to say.
Captain Ivanov was not only my mentor, but also a friend.
He was like an older brother to me and always made me feel like a little sister.
We’d been training together for this mission for more than two years and now we were only days away from the first EVA of our mission.
The Earth was visible in the background through the station’s windows as it flew past us at 17,000 miles per hour.
It was an incredible sight, but we saw it every day so we didn’t pay much attention to it anymore.
We were already used to living on the ISS and now we were about to start the most thrilling part of our mission.
We’d been preparing for this for so long that I couldn’t believe that it was finally time to go out there.
I took a deep breath and turned around to face his big figure that was looking at me with concern.
“I’m just a little bit nervous.”
“It’s normal,” he said while placing his big hands on my shoulders.
I smiled at him, feeling more reassured by his presence.
Alexei was the most experienced astronaut on board and one of the most famous cosmonauts in history, having made four trips to space and spent a total of 515 days in orbit, so I felt lucky that he was my mentor.
He was also known for being wise and calm in every situation, and that was exactly what I needed right now.
“So, are you going to keep calling me a little girl after I finish this mission?”
“Of course I will!You’ll always be a little girl to me.” He chuckled, and I playfully smacked his arm.
“All right, all right, let’s get started with this EVA already!”
We had some important tasks to do outside and we still had to get ready for it.
He nodded and after a few more checks we were ready to go.
We started the airlock depressurization while we were putting on our helmets and gloves.
His face showed no concern or fear, just like always, even though I knew that he had been through some really dangerous situations during his past missions, like when he almost died when trying to dock with another spaceship in orbit or when he had to make an emergency landing with a malfunctioning Soyuz rocket on reentry.
He was a true hero and a living legend that would never be forgotten in the history of space exploration, but then again, he was Alexei Ivanov, so why would anyone forget him?
“Now let me tell you a story about my second mission.”
He started while we were waiting for the airlock to completely depressurize.
That was one of his favorite things to do when he was around me; telling stories about his past missions and other experiences he’d had as an astronaut and cosmonaut over the years.
I knew this story already, but I liked listening to it anyway because Alexei’s stories were always exciting and interesting and they made this time pass faster.
Alexei broke the record for most moonwalks on this mission and he was still holding it.
He had landed on the moon five times in his career, and today he would have done that six times.
It was an incredible accomplishment for any astronaut, but especially for a Soviet cosmonaut, since only seven missions had successfully landed on the lunar surface and only twelve people had ever walked on the moon.
He was one of them, and I was proud that he was my mentor.
He was also one of only two astronauts who had successfully docked with another spaceship in orbit, and that was another one of his record-breaking achievements.
However, none of those things seemed to matter to him and he never bragged about it or showed off.
He was a very humble person and he always tried to make everyone around him feel better.
In fact, that was probably the main reason why he was loved by so many people around the world, and also by me.
“Are you ready, kid?”
I nodded and closed my visor before putting my helmet on.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
The airlock was completely depressurized by now and I opened the door.
I stepped out into open space and felt my heart racing in my chest as I saw how big this black ocean surrounding us really was.
It was amazing how it could be so intimidating and yet so exciting at the same time.
I took a deep breath and waited for my mentor to come out too.
He appeared at my side with his big figure after a few minutes and took my hand in his warm gloved hand.
“Let’s go,” he said with his deep voice through our radios.
We started moving toward our destination with him leading the way as usual, and I followed him trying to keep up with his long steps.
That was not an easy thing to do because his long legs allowed him to take much longer steps than mine, so I had to make two steps for every step that he took.
However, I didn’t mind it at all.
The last thing I needed to worry about right now was whether my big mentor could walk faster than I could.
I knew he could, and I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone.
Especially to him.
Or to myself.
Or maybe I did?
Maybe I needed to do this for myself?
Don’t be stupid, Mei!
I scolded myself.
You can do this!
Your mentor wouldn’t let you do it if he didn’t believe in you 100 percent!
And he would never forgive himself if anything happened to you!
So stop being such an idiot and just do it!
However, I couldn’t help it.
I’ve always been like this and I always doubted myself when things got tough.
I don’t know why and I don’t even know when this started happening to me.
It just did, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
But then I felt something warm on my shoulder and looked up to see my mentor’s gloved hand on my shoulder.
He looked at me with those kind eyes and smiled.
“It’s okay,” he said through our radios.
“You can do this.
Just take it one step at a time.
And if you get scared or start to panic for any reason, just let me know and I’ll help you.
I nodded at him and looked around.
I didn’t want to show him how scared I actually was because I knew he wouldn’t let me out here if he knew I was scared to death, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take this.
Not that it mattered right now because we still had a long way to go before we got to where we were supposed to be and we were still attached to the airlock with our safety tethers anyway, but I didn’t want to disappoint my mentor by not being able to make it for some stupid reason like fear of the unknown or fear of failure, but that’s exactly what I felt right now as we were on the verge of stepping into the void.
Fear of failure and fear of the unknown.
What would happen if I failed and did something wrong?
Would I end up killing myself or getting myself killed?
Or would my mentor be able to save me somehow?
And what if we found something out there during this spacewalk?
Something that we had not seen or heard before?
How would the world react to it?
Would they be happy that someone had finally managed to discover something new in this universe?
Or would they be terrified by it and try to destroy it before it destroyed them?
I didn’t know, and I wasn’t sure how well I would be able to handle it if we did find something out there right now.
I took another deep breath and tried not to think about it too much as I saw Earth from here.
We were over South America right now and there were some beautiful clouds beneath us.
The whole planet looked so beautiful from up here as we flew over it at an incredible speed of 17,500 miles per hour around the planet and 5.5 miles per second around the planet.
It’s almost impossible to comprehend how fast that is until you see it for yourself.
It’s also impossible to comprehend how fast we’re actually moving until you see how fast the planet is spinning beneath us.
But then you get used to it after a while and it becomes your new normality.
And that’s what this place does to you after a while.
It humbles you.
