HOME | DD

Description
Original photo was created by fellow deviant AEdwardBaker and used with permission www.deviantart.com/aedwardbake…

It was originally created for alternate history series here: www.alternatehistory.com/forum…

Here’s where my story and interpretation of the picture begins…

BZZZZRT! BZZZZRT! BZZ…

“Okay, I’m up,” I moaned as got my bearings. Sleeping in microgravity took a bit of getting used to, but you adapted.

I looked out the tiny window. This wasn’t a dream. I was actually in space. That was the earth below me. After a two weeks up here, I still had to pinch myself that it was real.

After a quick bit of hygiene and breakfast, I looked at my tablet to see what was on my schedule. Today was going to be a long one. I had MMU training in one of the empty cargo bays. That meant I’d be in my space suit all day.

What many people didn’t realize is that a suit is an entire system of garments that made it up. Due to the fact that I’d be in the suit for at least 10 hours without access to a restroom, that first piece had to be a diaper. All sorts of people wanted to be astronauts or go on a spacewalk, but very few could get past that little piece of required essential gear.

After tossing on my liquid cooling garment and grabbing a couple other pieces, I made my way to the prep area. My pressure garment, the outer part of the suit that kept the air in and vacuum out, was waiting.

I began checking every inch. They drilled into our head that “your suit was your life.” Space was risky enough. When you were careless, the results could be deadly in an instant.

It was about then when my partner and trainer, Thor Magnussen came up. The mountain of a main had barely squeaked into the space program, but he knew his stuff. He had a great way of making rookies like myself feel at ease.

“Alright Zach, you ready to go,” he asked as he began checking his own suit out.

“Ready as I’ll be. It’s going to feel weird flying around without being attached to anything,” I replied nervously as I completed my checks. “All green. Let’s get suited up.”

“You’ve done fine so far. The key, as always, is to take your time and don’t rush.”

I yanked on the pants and gently popped up into the torso. The life support backpack was already attached. That backpack held everything needed to keep me alive in the vacuum of the bay.

This next part always made me wince. I plugged the water connection from the backpack into my cooling garment. In an instant, chilled water began flowing around my body throughout the tiny tubes woven in. Another larger set of tubes drew the stage air from my arms and legs creating a continuous flow.

No leaks in that connection meant I could bring the waist seal together. My one man spacecraft was coming together. All that was needed was my gloves and helmet. Then I could begin the process of going outside.

Once everything was sealed up, Thor checked over my suit and I did his. We switched over to internal power and slipped into the airlock along with a few other EVA workers starting their day. We were one step closer…

In my time on the station and in training, I learned that the EVA worker community was tight knit. It took a very special breed to handle both the confinement of the suit and the vast emptiness of space. Once you joined it, you were part of it for life.

“How’s your greenhorn doing,” one of the others asked Thor as the airlock began cycling.

“Not the worst I’ve seen by a long shot. Better than the last one I got stuck training,” he replied. “She would get five klicks of the station and begin freaking out uncontrollably. It sucked to have to ground her. She had a lot of other solid skills.”

Before the other spacer could respond, the airlock was at vacuum and we could go outside. A couple of our colleagues had to inspect a set of malfunctioning solar panels. Two more needed to help dock an incoming shuttle. Last but not least, Thor and I headed for the cargo bay.

The bay itself was absolutely massive. One of the oldest parts of the station, it had originally been a fuel tank for the original Mark 1 shuttles. In fact, it had been part the first shuttle launched, the “Enterprise” and the old NASA logo. Since then, it had been retrofitted with big external doors and massive tie down points for the cargo containers that came in. Today was one of the rare days when it was empty, so full advantage was being taken.

Gently, I pulled myself through the door and hooked on one my tethers. I felt tiny inside the huge space. I was speechless. For a moment, all I heard was the suit fan and the gentle gurgling of the cooling system.

“Do you remember your earthside training,” asked Thor.

“I think so. I need to shove myself back and the pins will lock into my backpack, correct,” I replied.

“You got it. Show me.”

It took a bit finagling, but I eventually got myself lined up. Once I was in position, the pins slid in with a thunk. The arms rotated up into position at the same time and I plugged the small electrical connector into my control pack.

“Alright, running the systems check now. We’re green. Releasing docking clamp.”

Thor watched as his charge began floating free. He knew from experience that flying untethered in microgravity could be disconcerting at first. Thankfully, Zach appeared to be doing okay.

“Oh mama! This is insane,” I said as I began playing with the controls.

“Just remember to use small movements and short bursts,” Thor instructed me. “It’s a lot easier to cancel out small changes in velocity than big ones.”

I was fortunate to have Thor as a teacher. He let me explore by playing. Under his watchful eye, he made sure I didn’t do anything too stupid. Yet when I did screw up, he put my mind at ease.

“It’s going to take some time, but you’ll make a fine spacer,” he said to me as we wrapped up for the day.

Coming from his mouth, that was high praise indeed…

Description
Original photo was created by fellow deviant AEdwardBaker and used with permission www.deviantart.com/aedwardbake…

It was originally created for alternate history series here: www.alternatehistory.com/forum…

Here’s where my story and interpretation of the picture begins…

BZZZZRT! BZZZZRT! BZZ…

“Okay, I’m up,” I moaned as got my bearings. Sleeping in microgravity took a bit of getting used to, but you adapted.

I looked out the tiny window. This wasn’t a dream. I was actually in space. That was the earth below me. After a two weeks up here, I still had to pinch myself that it was real.

After a quick bit of hygiene and breakfast, I looked at my tablet to see what was on my schedule. Today was going to be a long one. I had MMU training in one of the empty cargo bays. That meant I’d be in my space suit all day.

What many people didn’t realize is that a suit is an entire system of garments that made it up. Due to the fact that I’d be in the suit for at least 10 hours without access to a restroom, that first piece had to be a diaper. All sorts of people wanted to be astronauts or go on a spacewalk, but very few could get past that little piece of required essential gear.

After tossing on my liquid cooling garment and grabbing a couple other pieces, I made my way to the prep area. My pressure garment, the outer part of the suit that kept the air in and vacuum out, was waiting.

I began checking every inch. They drilled into our head that “your suit was your life.” Space was risky enough. When you were careless, the results could be deadly in an instant.

It was about then when my partner and trainer, Thor Magnussen came up. The mountain of a main had barely squeaked into the space program, but he knew his stuff. He had a great way of making rookies like myself feel at ease.

“Alright Zach, you ready to go,” he asked as he began checking his own suit out.

“Ready as I’ll be. It’s going to feel weird flying around without being attached to anything,” I replied nervously as I completed my checks. “All green. Let’s get suited up.”

“You’ve done fine so far. The key, as always, is to take your time and don’t rush.”

I yanked on the pants and gently popped up into the torso. The life support backpack was already attached. That backpack held everything needed to keep me alive in the vacuum of the bay.

This next part always made me wince. I plugged the water connection from the backpack into my cooling garment. In an instant, chilled water began flowing around my body throughout the tiny tubes woven in. Another larger set of tubes drew the stage air from my arms and legs creating a continuous flow.

No leaks in that connection meant I could bring the waist seal together. My one man spacecraft was coming together. All that was needed was my gloves and helmet. Then I could begin the process of going outside.

Once everything was sealed up, Thor checked over my suit and I did his. We switched over to internal power and slipped into the airlock along with a few other EVA workers starting their day. We were one step closer…

In my time on the station and in training, I learned that the EVA worker community was tight knit. It took a very special breed to handle both the confinement of the suit and the vast emptiness of space. Once you joined it, you were part of it for life.

“How’s your greenhorn doing,” one of the others asked Thor as the airlock began cycling.

“Not the worst I’ve seen by a long shot. Better than the last one I got stuck training,” he replied. “She would get five klicks of the station and begin freaking out uncontrollably. It sucked to have to ground her. She had a lot of other solid skills.”

Before the other spacer could respond, the airlock was at vacuum and we could go outside. A couple of our colleagues had to inspect a set of malfunctioning solar panels. Two more needed to help dock an incoming shuttle. Last but not least, Thor and I headed for the cargo bay.

The bay itself was absolutely massive. One of the oldest parts of the station, it had originally been a fuel tank for the original Mark 1 shuttles. In fact, it had been part the first shuttle launched, the “Enterprise” and the old NASA logo. Since then, it had been retrofitted with big external doors and massive tie down points for the cargo containers that came in. Today was one of the rare days when it was empty, so full advantage was being taken.

Gently, I pulled myself through the door and hooked on one my tethers. I felt tiny inside the huge space. I was speechless. For a moment, all I heard was the suit fan and the gentle gurgling of the cooling system.

“Do you remember your earthside training,” asked Thor.

“I think so. I need to shove myself back and the pins will lock into my backpack, correct,” I replied.

“You got it. Show me.”

It took a bit finagling, but I eventually got myself lined up. Once I was in position, the pins slid in with a thunk. The arms rotated up into position at the same time and I plugged the small electrical connector into my control pack.

“Alright, running the systems check now. We’re green. Releasing docking clamp.”

Thor watched as his charge began floating free. He knew from experience that flying untethered in microgravity could be disconcerting at first. Thankfully, Zach appeared to be doing okay.

“Oh mama! This is insane,” I said as I began playing with the controls.

“Just remember to use small movements and short bursts,” Thor instructed me. “It’s a lot easier to cancel out small changes in velocity than big ones.”

I was fortunate to have Thor as a teacher. He let me explore by playing. Under his watchful eye, he made sure I didn’t do anything too stupid. Yet when I did screw up, he put my mind at ease.

“It’s going to take some time, but you’ll make a fine spacer,” he said to me as we wrapped up for the day.

Coming from his mouth, that was high praise indeed…