Space Crazy

by K. Rowe

transmission.

  “I’ll help you,” Dar said. “He was my friend too.”

  “You don’t have to, Dar, it’s okay. I’ve seen my share of death on this ship.”

  He fought back the lump forming in his throat. “It’s part of my life now, too.” Pausing for a few moments, he took a deep breath, and began to help Jartis. “Are we going to take him back to Gundis?”

  “No, he’ll be buried in space.”

  “Why?”

  Jartis laid Rokit on his back and began to furl his ears up so he could be wrapped in a shroud. “Because it was his wish to be buried in space.”

  “Oh…If I died, Gwog said he would’ve taken me home to my mother.”

  “Because you’re still kind of a youngling. He’ll always take you home.” He went and got a sheet out of a cabinet, laying it on the floor next to Rokit. “You’ll reach a time when Gwog will ask you…As it is now, you’re not a youngling, and not really an adult.”

  “How long must I live in this ‘in between’ life?” Dar asked. He helped lift Rokit onto the sheet.

  “Until Gwog feels you are ready.” He carefully folded the sheet over, and took some straps to secure it. “Come, help me get him to the weapons bay.”

  “Yes, sir,” he said softly, grabbing Rokit around the waist. The Gundin’s hollow bones made him lightweight and not much to carry; Dar could’ve managed on his own.

  Twenty minutes later, the entire crew of the Cunik was in the weapons bay. They stood around the shrouded body of Rokit. Gwog stepped forward. “My friends and crew, we all know space is a dangerous place…And there are times we’ll go out and not come back…This is what has happened to our friend Rokit…He died doing what he loved…So, we will follow his wishes and send his body into space.” He motioned to Ethoic and Pthoic to place the body on the torpedo loading ramp. They gently lay Rokit down and slid him inside the large tube, closing the breech. Everyone was silent while Gwog pushed the button, sending Rokit into space.

  After, they went back to work. Gwog walked along with Dar. “Are you okay, little one?”

  “Yes, sir, I’m fine.”

  “Have you seen death before?”

  Dar shook his head. “No, sir.”

  “What are your feelings?”

  “Confused and a little angry. Rokit was my friend.”

  “Understandable. But you know now what it means to be part of a freighter crew…Not all is Kruelian roses in this job.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We’ll be putting into Cataris, and they have a pretty good shopping area…How much drig do you have?”

  Dar cocked his head in contemplation. “About five hundred.”

  “Enough to get your Catarin hide clothes you’ve been wanting.”

  “Yes!”

  “I’ll take you ’round to the place I get mine…He’s a good friend, and I usually get a deal.”

  “Thank you.”

  Gwog stopped for a moment. “Continue working with Jartis. Now that I’m down an assistant engineer, he’s going to need help.”

  “Yes, sir, I will.”

  Jartis hurried toward them. “Captain, we have a little problem.”

  “What?” Gwog replied.

  “I tried to bring the warp engines on line and I got nothing.”

  “Think it was from the asteroid hit?”

  “Probably,” Jartis said. “May have damaged the external flux intake.”

  “Well, can you go out and have a look?”

  “I was hoping to avoid that.”

  Dar looked at Jartis. “Out?”

  “Yes, out looking for damage to the ship.”

  “A spacewalk?”

  Gwog studied Dar for a moment. “Might as well take him, he’s gonna have to learn some time.”

  “I get to go out in space?” Dar said excitedly.

  “Yes, yes—and it’s not just fun and games, this is truly dangerous,” Jartis stated. “Come on, let’s get going. I wanna get to Cataris.”

  Dar followed Jartis to the crew equipment room. Jartis dug around until he found a spacesuit that would fit Dar. He helped him into it, then dressed in his own. They clonked along the catwalks, heading toward the shuttle bay. There, they would leave the safety of the ship via the containment field, and make their way to where Jartis suspected damage.

  “Mark my word, Dar; one wrong step and you’ll be floating lost in space…The Ontarrin solar winds are strong in these parts, no wonder we ran into an asteroid belt, probably got blown off course.”

  “It can do that?” he asked.

  “Yes, it can. A really strong solar eruption can even knock a planet off axis or out of alignment.” They stopped in the shuttle bay and Jartis put on his helmet. “Come on, let’s go.” He helped Dar with his helmet. “We have quite a walk ahead of us. There isn’t any place to run a safety line, so you better be careful with your magnetic boots—they are your lifeline.”

  Dar nodded. “Yes, sir.” He followed Jartis to the edge of the shuttle bay. Ahead of him: the blackness of space. A few stars shined, but mostly it felt like a piece of black cloth had been draped over his face. He reached down and switched the electro-magnets on his boots.

  “Ready?” Jartis asked as he checked Dar over one more time. It was bad enough losing one crew member today, he didn’t want to lose another. And he liked the youngling anyways.

  “Ready.”

  “Let’s go.” He stepped outside of the protective force field, his boots making loud clacking noises as they contacted the metal hull of the ship.

  Dar waited a moment, watching Jartis. He didn’t want to make any mistakes. Taking in a deep breath, he stepped out. “Oh,” he said softly.

  “Feels funny, huh?”

  “I’m floating in my suit.” He took a few steps toward Jartis.

  “As long as you’re not in your suit and floating away, we’re fine.”

  Dar laughed, it felt strange. “This is so cool!”

  “Ah, ah, remember, we’re here to work.”

  “Yes, but this is really fun.”

  “No it’s not. One wrong step and you join Rokit in the frozen depths of space.”

  “I’m being careful,” Dar replied. They walked along for quite some time. “Do we have enough air?”

  Jartis looked at the gauge on his wrist. “Yes, about half an hour left.”

  “And that’s okay?”

  “Yup.” He stopped near a large dent in the side of the ship. “Well, that’s what I thought.”

  “That’s a huge dent!” Dar watched Jartis descend into the crater made by the asteroid.

  “Stay here, I’m gonna check the external flux intake—if I can find it.”

  Dar turned around. He didn’t realize it, but behind him was a large moon, probably Zerkin 3 that orbited around Uyoninis. In the distance, he could see the parent planet. An eerie purplish nebula stretched across that part of space. It was beautiful. He found a hefty bolt head to hang onto with his right hand, his left, he stretched toward the stars, Dar wanted so badly to touch them. In his dreams he’d touched the stars. They were shiny, warm, and tingly to the touch. But right now, they seemed to be just out of his reach.

  “Dar!”

  “Yes, sir?” He snapped out of his trance.

  “Can you come down here?”

  Dar peered into the sunken metal crater. “Uh, okay, I’m coming.” He carefully made his way down. “Yes?”

  “Look,” Jartis said, pointing inside a warped hatch. “See that?”

  “Sorry to be ignorant, but what am I looking at?”

  “That’s the external flux intake. And it’s not supposed to look like that.” Jartis shifted around, trying to get inside the hatch. “I got a spare, but I don’t think I can get in there to fix it.”

  “Do you want me to try?”

  Jartis looked up. “Think you can fit?”

  He moved closer. “Maybe.”

  “All right.” He moved aside. Dar worked his way carefully into the
hatch. “Be careful, Dar, don’t let the jagged metal tear your suit.”

  “Okay,” he replied, feeling like he was climbing into the jaws of an Erotin sand snake. All around, jagged metal, torn apart by the violent impact of the asteroid waited to slice him.

  “Easy, easy now. Can you reach that long tube over there?”

  Dar strained. “Uh, er, ah, yes, I can barely reach it.”

  “Good. We need to get back and refill our air. Then we’ll return and see if you can get the part installed. If not, Cataris won’t be a three day journey; it’ll be a thirty day or more day journey on impulse power.”

  “Oh, that’s not good.”

  “Well, right now, you’re the only one small enough to squeeze in and fix it. You get us up and running, and Gwog’ll be quite proud of you.”

  9

  “Well, how does that feel?” Gwog asked as Dar came from a dressing booth.

  “Nice, very nice,” he replied, running his hand over the smooth, black hide that covered his body from neck to ankles. “So soft.”

  “Very durable too…The Catarins breed some bovidis just for their hides, the rest of their parts end up on our dinner table.”

  Dar looked at the price tag on the jacket. “Two hundred drig.” Then he checked the tag on the trousers. “Three hundred and ten drig…I won’t have enough to get any boots.”

  “Find a pair you like, little one.”

  “Are you going to advance me some pay?”

  Gwog tapped his finger against his chin. “No, think of it as a gift. You’ve more than proven yourself a good crew member, and I certainly appreciate your help in getting the external flux intake fixed.”

  “Really? Thanks!” He began to look around. One pair in particular caught his eye. They were black, knee high boots with laces that ran up the outsides through shiny silver eyelets.

  “You like those?” Gwog asked.

  “Yeah.” He