My Vacation On the Exotic Shores of a Black Hole - Part 3

_{This is part 3 of my continuing short story, My Vacation On the Exotic Shores of a Black Hole.}

_{If you missed either of the previous sections, you can click the corosponding link below, and read them now.
Part 1
Part 2}

_{This is a freewrite series, started all the way back 2 days ago, based on an image from NASA. As such, it's not exactly well edited. Consider it sorta like a first draft, except I often push myself through it.}

I wiped the tears from my face, and removed the straps keeping me from floating out of my soft comfy chair in the cinema room.

Other than showers, this was one of my favorite places to be. It wasn't exactly an expense like the shower though. Wasn't even really a cinema room. I just took an old recycled display from a cruiser, and hung it from the ceiling in front of what had to be the cushiest captain's chair I had ever seen, which I found in a scrap yard in an old derelict.

From the look of it, that old bird had to have been a smuggler's vessel at one time. Guess the captain really liked his comfort. You can't always trust an AI on some of those smuggler runs, so sometimes you had to be in the captain's chair for hours.

It really was a nice chair. Red velvet. Well, something that looked and felt like it. Just needed to be cleaned really. Problem was, I kept falling asleep in it when I tried to use it for my captain's chair. So it got put in the cinema room.

Now it's one of the few things to keep me from going insane whenever I have to spend more than a few days alone on the ship in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how some people do it. Then again, I've heard some stories where people didn't always stay so sane when they were stuck out in the black for too long. The space between stars can seem pretty deep and massive sometimes. Stuck out there, thinkin' there's no way back, one's liable to get a touch beyond the normal bits of sanity. And it's not like some are too sane to begin with.

I touched my boots down on the flooring, and the magnetic heels sealed themselves to the metal grates. I began to shuffle my way to the door. "Alright, Julia, first things first, if I'm gonna get us out of here, I'm gonna need to take a look at THE AHHHH!!!!!!" I tripped over the entrance way to the cinema room, and found myself careening towards the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. With a crash, I smashed my face directly into the wall, busting my nose open, and spraying blood everywhere.

When I pushed myself off the wall, and turned myself over, I could see a stream of blood hanging off my face, and pools of blood floating all around me.

"Captain, are you alright?"

"No god dammit! I just smashed my face and probably broke my nose!" Create a negative pressure in the hallway, and bring in a cleaning bot, before this place becomes a biohazard. I'm going to the med bay.

Although I liked to talk fancy, truth is the cleaning robots were nothing more than remote controlled vacuum scrubbers I got second hand and connected into Julia's control circuitry. Everything on this ship was second hand. Even the fancy shower. Though I did spare slightly more expense on that. The cleaning robots were less than the comfy chair. And the med bay? It was a water closet in the hall, used for washing up. It just happened to have a first aid kit.

Holding my nose, I made my way into the med bay water closet, and looked in the mirror. I removed my hand for a second, and blood poured out and floated into the air before making it's way to the vent to be sucked into the ship's air recycling system. It looked bad. It looked really bad. My entire face was swelling up already, and my eyes were turning black and blue.

"Julia, I'm gonna need your help. One of your repair robots is gonna have to learn a new skill." I grabbed a towel and pressed it against my face, trying to switch hands. As soon as I had switched hands, I noticed a whirring sound, and looked down to see a small robot with a small bucket of ice on top of it. "Heh." She had sent it before I even said anything. "I'm gonna need one a bit bigger..." Another larger robot was coming up the hall just as I was saying I needed one. "Never mind Julia."

"I've searched my medical records. You don't need to worry captain, I know what to do. Kneel down a bit and face the robot." I did so, backing up into the med bad a bit. "Now remove your hand."

The second my hand dropped, the robot's grabber reached up, and wrenched my nose to one side. "Ahh!" The hand with the towel went right back up to cover my nose.

"I had to adjust it captain, or it wouldn't heal right."

"No, I figured that needed to be done. That's why I told you to send him. Now I just gotta pack it with gauze."

"No captain. Use the tube of cut sealer."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's the supplementary medical treatment data that came with the first aid kit. Simply hold it so the end is barely in your nasal passage, and spray."

"Okay..." I took my free hand and retrieved the cut sealer from the cabinet. I used it quite often, so it wasn't even in the med kit. I held it in my hand, and looked in the mirror, then dropped the clothe. The blood started gushing out. I quickly sprayed the sealant in my right nostril. "Gah!" It tasted terrible! Or smelled? Whatever, it was horrible. I quickly put it in the other nostril before I got any more blood everywhere. The sealant quickly foamed up, and my nostrils were packed with orange foam. "Julia. I don't care what it says in the medical supplementary info provided by the manufacturer, this stuff is horrible for broken noses."

"It worked, didn't it? It stopped the bleeding."

"Yeah..."

I washed the blood off my hands. The towel was soaked in it, laying where I dropped it in the sink. I rinsed it out, then wiped the blood off my face. There was a bit of blood...all over my coveralls. This was not a good start.

I squeezed out the towel, and threw it in the hamper, and got another out, put water on it, and filled it with ice, and put it on my face.

"Scoot!" I motioned for the robots to get out of my way, and went back down the hall to the kitchen, reached in the fridge, and got out a cold orange Scuttlebutt, opened it up, and drank a huge swig. My head was already starting to hurt.

I walked out into hall and looked both directions. One way took me to the bridge, the other to the escape hatch. I took another sip of my drink, and went to the bridge.

Various lights and displays lit up the captain's chair in the small dark bridge. I flew alone. No crew. No one but myself, and my AI. Not like there was much space for anyone else but me on my ship anyway.

I pulled myself into my chair, and looked at the displays. I reviewed the list of damaged systems, and sighed. "I'm not going to get anything done up here."

I pulled the straps back off of my shoulders, and walked down the hall, past my quarters, past the kitchen and the med bay, and to the air lock. Three suits came with the ship. I don't know why I had three. They came with the ship. Spares I guess. Maybe in case I ever had crew.

I unstrapped my exo-suit, took off my boots, followed by my coveralls, still slightly wet with blood, and put on the space suit. It was nothing like what the people in the old sci-fi movies I watched occasionally wore. It was tight fitting, and elastic, to keep pressure on all of my extremities. "Julia, can you get my exo-gloves?"

"Captain, you know it's not a good idea to do a space walk while under the influence of alcohol. It's especially not a good idea to do anything you might need the exo-gloves for."

"Yeah, well I don't always do what I'm told, and I'm not always the fastest shuttle in the bay. Get me my damn gloves, and do what I say!" I laughed a little at making a rhyme, wondering if Julia ever really understood me. Most people don't.

I taped up the space between my booties and my suit, and put the boots back on, and followed by my exo-suit, before re-activating it, and finally putting on a tool belt. I took another swig from my Scuttlebutt, and just let myself sway in the weightlessness. Even though I was magnetically attached to the floor plating, it's not like when there's gravity. You're weightless, but anchored to the floor.

I heard a bot approaching. It was the tall one from earlier, with the mechanical arms and graspers. It handed me my gloves, before turning around and rolling away. "Thank you Juliet."

"I didn't do it. I simply asked the robot to. He has his own programming just like me."

"Yes, of course." I yelled down the hall, "Thank you Robert!" He just kept on his way.

I put on my gloves, taped up the seal between the gloves and the suit, and then plugged in the connections, and activated them. A slight noise could be heard when I moved my fingers, just like when I walked, but it was barely audible. The clank of my boots was considerably louder of course. I only ever notice when I first put them on for some reason.

I reached over and grabbed the Scuttlebutt that was floating in a cubby, and finished it off, throwing it into the hall.

"I really wish you'd put your trash in the receptacle, captain."

"You're not my mom!" I put on my helmet and made over exaggerated steps over to the airlock.

"Captain, you have to close the inner airlock first."

"Whoops! That coulda been dangerous."

"No, it wouldn't have been. The safety lock only disengages when the atmosphere on the two sides is within the allowable threshold. Or when it's overridden."

I closed the inner air lock, and grabbed a tether bundle, then attached it to a hook on the wall, and another hook onto my exo-suit. "You mean like this?" I quickly typed in the override command into the display console next to the door, and flung the door open!

"Captain!"

The air rushed out of the door, and threw me clear of the ship. I was thrown careening away. My breath quickened. It was like a roller coaster ride. I haven't been on one of those for years. The beauty of space is immeasurable. You can't see the stars the way you can when you're out in space when you're stuck down on a dirty planet. Out in the distance was a beautiful purple pink and white nebula. It felt like I was flying to heaven as I flew towards it. Then I stopped. The tether went taught, and my body was flung around, and stopped in mid-space. The exo-suit slowed the whiplash a bit, but it was still a stupid thing to do. A stupid fun thing.

_{Image used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.}

"Captain, you know I hate when you do that. The tether could have broken." Julia's voice echoed a bit in my helmet.

"Yeah, but I love it. And it didn't." I could hear my breath a bit labored from the excitement.

"You could have seriously injured yourself, or been lost out in space. It also depletes the oxygen supply."

"Yeah, well there are lots of fun things that are dangerous. And my sanity is more important than the oxygen supply right now. Unless... We didn't lose any oxygen when we got hit, did we?"

"No, captain, we did not."

"Thank god...well...whatever entity stopped it from being any worse. But he didn't seem to stop it completely, so never mind. Screw him. Unless he's listening. In which case, thank you, oh holy being, for not smiting me."

"Captain?"

"Never mind. I'm pulling myself in." I started pulling myself in on the tether, which felt far too long, now that I had to use it to pull myself in. I had slightly labored breaths as I spoke. "What would you have done if the tether had broken, and I was lost in space?"

"Continue on the plotted course, and delivered the goods as promised, albeit a bit late, and likely have gotten a new captain."

"Ouch, harsh. You wouldn't have tried to go after me?"

"You're a rather small object to track out in space. It's doubtful if I could maneuver the ship quickly enough to go after you. You are also on the side of the ship that has the damaged sensors."

"Oh yeah, right. You wouldn't even try though?"

"No."

"Really? Wow that's harsh."

"It would only make me later to deliver the cargo. Besides, you would have brought it on yourself."

A slight chuckle escaped me. "You really are a cold machine, Julia."

"Actually, my processor gets rather hot."

"Sorry, even if you are hot, I prefer women that I can see."

"That's disappointing."

"What?" Julia actually caught me off guard with that.

"Nothing. Please just continue to the damaged sections to examine them."

I continued on rather silent for the most part after that. I'd like to say that didn't really disturb me, but my brain kept going over it. I soon reached the door, and attached another hook to a railing on the outside of the ship, then pulled myself in, and detached the other, before continuing along my way.

When I got there, it didn't look good. There was massive damage to the hull plating. Some of the ship's systems were clearly damaged underneath parts of the plating. I would have to remove the plating, recondition it as best as I could, and figure out what I could repair. This was gonna be a long job.

When I got to the point defense laser, it was worse. The mount was scrap metal it was so damaged. It was stuck on the ship. I pried at it, after removing as many bolts as I could, but even with the extra strength of the exo-suit, I couldn't even budge it. I was gonna have to get the plasma torch.

I walked back to the airlock, tethered myself to the door, unhooked from the rail, and climbed in, then sealed the door, and re-pressurized the room. I took off my helmet with a hiss, and breathed a sigh of relief at being inside again. Even though I liked to have my fun, I knew every time I stepped out that door, it might be my last time.

I opened the inner door lock, and walked over to the machine shop. Every ship that's out as much as I am needs a machine shop. It's a lot of extra weight to carry on long hauls, but it will save your ass more times than you can count. I went over and grabbed the plasma torch before stopping myself. There had to be something in here I could use.

"Julia. Check the manifest. Is there anything that I can use to replace that point defense laser?"

"I'm not an engineer, but I can check. Searching. There are a few mining lasers listed in the cargo, but they appear to be too low energy to vaporize most incoming objects fast enough. I don't have a full manifest though. Including of several boxes in the room you are in."

"Really? What's in this box?" I put my hand on a sealed box in a cubby in front of me.

"Diodes of multiple sizes. Multiple different types of capacitors. Some simian reflector crystals..."

"Okay, okay, let me stop you. That will take too long. Are there any boxes in this row that you don't have on the manifest?"

"Yes, the second from the other end."

"Over there?" I point near the door.

"Yes."

I walk over, and open it up. It was mostly just junk. Maybe I could use some of it for something, but not likely the repairs. I didn't even know what all of it was. Maybe that's why it wasn't on the manifest.

"Okay, next row up. Any boxes that you don't have the contents of?"

"Yes, the one right in front of you. On the end."

"This one?"

"Yes."

I opened it up. "Oh hello! Our luck might be finally changing. It looks a bit old, but...wait, there's two of them in here. Are these the old point defense lasers from before I upgraded them?"

"They appear to be captain."

"I forgot I even had them! This is perfect! And there's a mount in the bottom too! It looks like it's damaged, but it looks repairable! Far more so than the hunk of scrap still out there."

I then proceeded to check through the components of the laser, and replaced a few. I ended up with one good one from the two. At least as far as I could check without hooking it up. Finally finished after several hours, I grabbed the plasma torch in one hand, and the laser in the other, and headed for the airlock.

Unfortunately I couldn't pull the same stunt as before. too much risk I'd lose one or the other, or they'd smack into me. I hooked them onto the tether, and depressurized the room, before tethering myself to the door, and heading out.

It all went surprisingly smoothly. I managed to get the remaining bolts off with a bit of heat, and cut what I couldn't remove. Then I attached the new old laser, and plugged it all in.

"Julia, run a check on the point defense laser."

"All checks passed."

"Okay, power it up."

"Captain, I suggest you stand back. In case of catastrophic failure..."

"Okay!" I stepped a maybe 2 and a half meters back.

"Farther than that. If something goes wrong..."

"Fine!" I went maybe 10 meters away. "Power it up."

"Captain, you're still too..."

"Oh, just power it up!" As soon as I stopped talking, there was a flash, and something flew past my head. "Oh shit!" I hopped from one foot to the other in shock. Thankfully I didn't jump. Even tethered, it's a pain in the ass to get back to the ship.

"I told you that you should be farther away."

"Yeah, you were right. Though it could have still hit me from farther away too."

"You're right. I should have made you come inside."

I smiled a little, and walked over to the point defense laser. "Well, it's fried. It blew out the laser diode when whatever popped...well, popped. I don't know if I have one to replace it with. Those mining lasers probably have a different type, considering they aren't nearly as strong. Looks like we're back to square one."

_{Okay, I'm gonna leave it here. I hope you liked it. Sadly I can't cover more today. This already took me quite a while!
Tell me if you like it, or if you don't! Upvotes are appreciated. Comments too! Constructive criticism is welcome as well!
Follow to catch the next part. I'll get it out if it kills me.}

Click here to read Part 4.