Alone ...

Haiku

Jedi Master
Dreams can be a window into another reality. Typically, they no more than a moment or an hour in this reality. Sometimes they fill the entire night with streams of another world, another life. I have had many dreams, definitely more than the common soul. I have lived whole lifetimes of another reality in a single night. Emplacement shift is a term that I use to justify these dreams. Most if not all dreams that I have had completed in a single night.

It is not that I have not had repeating dreams, I have. Some even were repeating and giving me a longer look at the reality, a little more every time I had them. But none were ever like the one that I am going to present to you today.

This story is based on a series of dreams that I was having over a time period, of roughly six months. The fact that it was the same dream would not have bothered me as much. But with this series, I continued on from a previous point. It was a whole other lifeline of which I have nothing to compare. And it progressed, as in the next time I dreamt it, it took over from a point after the point in which I left it. It was like time in this reality/dream progressed in time the same as it is in this reality. If a day passes here on our planet, it also passes the same in the dream. If I did not have the dream in consecutive nights, the next time I entered the dream the same amount of time had passed.

It was a parallel timeline/reality that I was experiencing, here in this reality while I was awake and in the other reality while I slept, I was there. Real Time! It was not compressed into a single dream.

I regress …

Since this dream fascinated me so, I kept tabs on it. I wrote as fast as my nimble fingers allowed me to. I tried very hard to document each and every item as I found them, so I could use this information later. But that was not all. I did research in between each dream session. Sometimes it was minor, but as you will find out as you read, I find out many fascinating facets of what I am dreaming.

I will not go into any detail at this time, but this is for you to know, in between each chapter of the story has my research/blurb that I preformed, here in this reality, using the internet.

I fell asleep one night, and this is what I dreamed …

Chapter 1

Here I am! Hey, where is everybody!​

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are somewhere, but you have no idea how you got there? And I am not talking about that short-term memory loss like when you have been driving too long and can’t remember the last few miles. No this is more serious in the manor that you can’t quite remember the last thing that you do remember. This is one of those moments.

My eyes open, awaking for the day. I am lying on the firm and hard floor, on my side, as if I was sleeping. I have had to do this on a camping trip or two when I forgot my air mattress. Always waking up sore and aching even after a few minutes or an hour. I was young, and my stature would regain quickly. I was not this way here, and it led me to believe that I was not laying like this for long.

I sat up and immediately felt dizzy, kind of fuzzy, not being able to focus on anything yet. Clarity came to me and I find myself in an odd shaped room, of a sort. No, wait, it is not a room but looks more like a chamber of a ship.

Now, I never go into a situation where I do not have some level of control. And it is not like me to not understand where I am.

The chamber was not like a room with square corners and flat walls. The chamber flowed together from floor to wall and then onto the roof, curves transitioned each face of the chamber. Some even look like they were possibly hand formed to make the curvature that I was seeing.

The chamber was twice in length than in width. It had some kind of doorways in each end of it. not a common door either, they looked more like something that I saw on military ships. The closer doorway seemed to have a visible sealing edge around the door, possibly capable of withstanding different pressures on both sides of the door, I suspect. It could have been a watertight doorway to contain different chambers inside the ship. Something like these could be closed and secured if they started to take on water, I was pretty confident of that.

The fuzzy feeling is calming down now, and I can see clearer now. This place…this place, it is not right for me. I mean this place is not like anything that I would call normal, I think. I should not be here, wherever here is.

I gave myself a quick scan to make sure that I am not injured in some way. No, arms are moving… hands can flex… I do not see any problems down my torso… hips and legs look fine… feet, yep I can wiggle my toes…no issues here. So, I stood up.

Where am I again? I do not like this not knowing!

I turn toward the opposing door and it is unlike the first doorway. It was more robust, and there was a small round window, a portal I suspect. The framework around the door was built up more than the opposing door, this must be an exterior door, to the outside out of the ship.

Down each side of the chamber were several alcoves, possibly some sort of staging area. I can see what looks to be full body suits and helmets hanging in each alcove. The helmet was very robust looking, I would say that they are some kind of deep-water diving suits, but nothing like I have ever seen before.

Wait a minute how did I get to be here… I must have come through the door behind me… I do not remember that.

I turned toward one of the alcoves. The step felt weird, almost as if I was in a different gravity that was normal to me. Made my knee feel like it was soft, a different barometric pressure maybe, I was not too sure. With each step feeling strange, I was kind of bouncing with each stride.

In the alcove was the helmet, a suit and a hard backpack, of a sort. The backpack had a solid exterior, looked kind of like an inside out abalone shell, shimmering as I changed my viewing angle to it. I reached out to it to touch it and got a static shock off of it. Then it started humming, almost like a soft purring of a cat. My hand pulled back instinctively.

“I must be under water,” I murmured softly.

The shock brought my senses to full alert. I would never put myself in a place like this… then who did? And for what purpose?

I turned my attention to the suit hanging in front of me, roughly measuring myself up against its size. Laughing to myself, “It doesn’t look like I will be able to put this one on” I said softly to myself. The suit looked like it would fit a three to four-foot tall individual, a child sized suit. Unfortunately, my physique was heavy set and six foot, two inches tall.

So, some petite midget has kidnapped me and left me here. Somehow that does not seem very likely.

I stepped back a little and examined the other suits in the rest of the alcoves. They were all the same size.

“Well no more desserts for me anymore” I exclaimed to myself.

I am not fitting in this suit. It seems my captor did not want me to leave this… place… where ever that is.

I counted the alcoves around the room, there were ten, twelve, sixteen, no twenty stations in this room, ten on each long wall. All of the stations had their equipment, none of them were being used.

It dawned on me that I was in some kind of changing chamber where you could put on one of these suits and go outside of the ship. I have seen something similar on submarines. Although this was a grand sized one to have a setup for twenty people at once.

So, I could be dealing with twenty or more captors… child-sized captors. What if they are not my captor but having saved me instead? I am starting to confuse me… Do not get too far ahead of yourself.

I stood back, righting my mind. I was in a chamber, possibly inside of a ship. A door that leads outside the ship at one end and the opposing door that looks to leads deeper into the ship. The door that I suspected lead outside of the ship had the only interface that I could see. A small control panel on the side of the heavy doorframe.

“But outside to where” I exclaimed aloud. My gaze was fixed on the doorway with the small portal at far end of the chamber.

So here are the facts. I have been put in a chamber that it does not look like I can get out of. The inner door is a serious door but is lighter in construction than the other door. It looks like someone is constraining me to this place…and if this room is of any indication, there are many of them…

I drew my attention back to the alcove and focusing on the helmet. The exterior seemed to be similar to that of the tank hanging behind it. It was very smooth and contoured. The faceplate had a definite look of being able to withstand very high pressures. The odd item with it was that you could not see thru the faceplate to the interior. Not mirrored but blocked by some means. From the general size of it, it also looked as if it was made for a child. Although it does look like it is solid enough. I mean, from the appearance of this I would have to say that it was very much able to contain an atmosphere in it. In fact, it looks damn good if you ask me.

I steadied myself, reached to touch this item, kind of expecting it to … ah I do not know what I am expecting it to do. Again, I felt another shock, softer than the one I got from the tank. But instead of making a purring noise it lit up. I could see a HUD lighting up on the faceplate and other interior lights. Then lights on the front of the helmet started to illuminate through the odd surface. I had seen no definition of them being there before.

The lights startled me, I put my right hand on my chest. I could feel my heart rate racing. Righting myself and checking if I … ah, you know wet myself. I had pulled my right hand down and grabbed my crotch area, no not this time.

I always joked with myself about being incontinent in a situation like this, I am approaching fifty now, and things like this happen to men as they age.

The lights on the helmet called my attention back to the situation. Their brightness was astonishing, but I am having a little difficulty telling how it is done. The surface seems to be emitting the light.

This has got to be something for extremely deep water to have lights as bright as these, real dark…

I could see something on the faceplate, various lighted shapes were being shown on it. This was definitely some operating data, showing various symbols in various corners of the faceplate. It was odd that I could not see thru the faceplate, just the symbols flashing around the faceplate.

This is a structured display like nothing that I have ever seen…why can’t you see inside the helmet?

So, I reached out with both hands and picked up the helmet. The familiar blue electrical arc reached out and made contact with the middle finger on my right hand. The little zap was expected this time, it was not so bad. It still made my finger jump more than I was expecting.

With it firmly held between both of my hands, I rolled it forward, so I could look through the bottom opening.

“WOW!”, I said.

What I was seeing on the outside could not even hold a candle to what I am seeing now. There was an intense glow coming from the faceplate and I can see several icon, symbolic looking items. I do not think that I can read them, they’re kind of small.

How are they doing this?

The intense glow was the view looking out from the inside of the helmet. I could not believe what I was seeing. Some kind of variable light imaging technology, it did not look like night vision, I have seen that before. I could see the interior door through it, it glows green around the perimeter.

If only I could get my head in there… this was some pretty high tech equipment here… bright lights and a dark windowed shield, it does not make sense…

So far, I have been looking inside of the helmet, trying to see something of importance and it never came to me to really look at the helmet. Moreover, the bottom surface of the helmet, until now.

It is alive…

There seems to be a mussel like wiggling creature living along the edge of the helmet. What I can see, closely resembles the edge of an abalone around its shell. And it is moving in gentle waves around the opening. The outer surface looks as if it is its shell. Must be the reason for the beautiful but odd texture and coloration in the surface. There, I can see its mussel like… whatever you are… it looks like it has griped onto the inner shell of the helmet.

I bring my finger up to touch it and the mussel seems to react. It reached for me, anticipating me touching it. I pull back reflexively.

How grouse. Wow, they put a living helmet on their heads… I am not touching that thing again…

Interesting, holding it in my hands I can feel a slight vibration coming from somewhere inside.

Must be some kind of fan in there … somewhere…

I twisted the helmet around to get a better view on the display.

I got the best view that I could. I could not read the information on the display, it was definitely showing a language, but not one that I understood. In fact, I have seen many written languages, I think it is kind of elegant the waving and special characters that are used in them. Take most oriental languages, they are almost works of art than a written language, I think that they are absolutely beautiful. But this was nothing like I have ever seen before. Some of it had oriental characteristics with an artful flair, but it was not Japanese, Chinese, Cambodian, or any other language that I have seen written. Others were very symbolic in nature. And one of those characters caught my attention. It was an upside-down triangle that had a solid circle in it. But it was more than that. The triangle was made of three smaller solid triangles, each creating a point in the bigger triangle. There was such detail in it. The center circle was pulsing in a red color.

Red of all colors. I would only use red if there were an issue or something that needed attention. This had to be some kind of warning to some kind of a problem, but what was the problem?

I looked down at where I lifted the helmet off of, there was a wiggling pink ring where the helmet sat. It might be some kind of a seat for it, I thought. I went to place the helmet back on this seat that I took it off a few seconds before. Call me crazy, but as I neared the seat it jumped out of my hands and reseated itself. I stood and stared down at the helmet as it adjusted itself rotating side to side on the seat until it came firmly in contact with it and stopped. Then the lights and display slowly dimmed to darkness, obviously shutting down.

I startled myself again and jumped as the backpack drew my attention as it purred down. Wetness check again, no I’m still OK. It is not that I know what I am going to do if, well when I wet myself. I am just aware of the thought that it might happen.

As I collected myself, the flashing red symbol kept running through my head. I looked around the room, past the row of suiting stations another time trying to see if they have a … ah! there it is. I had caught sight of an interface panel near the airlock looking doorway. I moved closer to it to see it closer. I did not see any controls or knobs or buttons anywhere on it. It just looked like a smooth surface. I turned my attention to the portal in the doorway. I casually looked through it and there was another smaller room on the other side of it, as I suspected, it was the airlock. I could see the outside door now, it was made of a single window that looked to bulge inward. And through the door leading outside the ship.

… outside the ship …

… Ah …

Outside the ship I see stars …

I stood there in astonishment with my gaze focused out the inner door porthole, I am sure that it was long enough that drool started to run down my chin. Yes, my mouth is open, better close it, and I snapped closed my jaw.

I watched intently, to insure that what I was seeing was really what I was seeing. I focused on a light. It was blinking just like a star would. I expand my sight and I see a star constellation right out there beyond the door, it kind of looks like Orion’s belt. Yes, there are the three stars in a kind of crooked line. I was having trouble as I could not see enough from my vantage point, but as I concentrated on the surrounding stars … I believe that this is Orion’s belt. I could see more stars. These ones I do not know of and did not look familiar. I never did very much star recognition, just browsing through encyclopedias and seeing some fold out from the middle of the book. I never really spent a lot of time memorizing information like this, boy do I feel foolish and needy now for this. If I only had known then that I would need this information now, well so much for hind sight.

I am in space … these suits are not underwater gear they’re space suits. Looking back at one of the suits, “for very small people” I said aloud.

WOW! I returned my gaze outside of the ship. Realizing that I am on a space ship I just stood there and gazed.

I do not know for how long I just stood there looking at the great beyond. How did I get here?

I started to rethink my last steps and pulled back from the portal. A whish of a sound happened right beside me. A panel unfolded from the wall. It was in two sections. The one above looked to be some sort of display and the lower one, more horizontal, could be in the input area, a keyboard possibly. Both were solid black in color, you could not see through them.

Feeling a chill up my back I spun around quickly to see if there was someone that was about to scare me by touching my shoulder.

… But there was no one there …

… Fear …

Fear had started to crawl through me. My senses were now running on overload as I spun around, not knowing what I will see or find. Fear was taking more of a grip on me and I think that I felt a breeze across my right ear, so I spun around again.

But this time I brushed my hand across the console. Another activation spark brought me back to my senses, which made the console illuminate.

I looked down at the console, wondering how WSIWYG this device would be. Most of the console was dimmed except for one icon at the upper left corner of the panel. I touched it. The panel came to life, symbols appeared on it and moved across and around it until they lined up and stopped moving. “Well so far so good” I said.

The screen immediately started displaying a larger symbol of the red one that I saw in the helmet. Same three triangles and the flashing center circle. This is bad. I believe that something is trying to tell me that there is a problem here.

Still shaken from the discovery I thought that I felt the wisp of air blow by my ear again. I was startled again and spun around not knowing what to expect, there was nothing there. Just my nerves falling all about the place. I need to get a grip …

I regained my composure and turned back to the console. I searched the console for something intuitive, but I found very little, it all looked like gibberish to me.

The display was displaying several lines of symbols, most were darker in color. They started from the right side of the display the extended to the left. The lit up one was the suspected warning symbol. No wait, there were three others that were illuminated more to its left, but they were not flashing red. I gathered my nerve and gently touched the first one to the left of the warning symbol.

“I really hope that this is not the emergency door open button” I whispered under my tongue.

Fear started to come up within me again. then the display changed to some kind of view of a ship and I calmed down. I looked back at the airlock door, it was still closed. The display was showing a side view of a ship of some configuration, and it was big. It looked like a very fat cigar. There was a flashing blue light that was showing some location in this ship. Just as I was focusing on the blue light the ship on the display began to rotate on the screen. It rolled up, so I was looking at the top view of the ship. The image blinked, and a curved section disappeared from the side of it. As the view rolled around I was able to see the damage much better. It was a as if something took a giant bite out of the ship removing maybe a third in the center section of the ship. It was probably lucky that it was even holding together as it was. There were many flashing lights around the edge of the missing area of the ship.

And then there is this blue light, still flashing away. I put my finger up to the screen and it focused closer on the area of the ship. As it continued to rotate it kept focused on this area. I think that this is me and where I am in this … ah … ship.

Man, it’s was a big ship.

I saw a symbol that looked like a sun showing on the upper corner of the screen. Hoping that I do not do something wrong or that I would regret in my after life, I closed my eyes and touched the sun character. The view returned to the full ship still rotating on the display. Then it rotated to an isometric view of the ship and leaders with a symbol that looked like the letter “R” but backwards, sat the end of them showed up pointing at the damaged areas. There were more than you could count.

Before I touched another item, I stopped and thought about what I was doing. Reality check: I stated the facts.

• I have no idea where I am. And I mean this in multiple contexts.

• I have no memory of how I got here.

• I am in outer space. WOW!!! This is something that everyone must think about at some time in their life, and I am actually there. A smile comes to my face just thinking about this idea.

• I am in a changing area connected to an airlock that can let you go outside of the ship.

• There are many spacesuits with air tanks, nothing in my size.

• I have found a console that I can communicate with the ship.

• The ship looks to be having a titanic sized event. Not good!

• I do not know the language that is used on the console, the language of these people.

• I am messing around with items on the console, wait … what!
 

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Remember that little thing ‘that I do not know what I am pushing on this console just strike you as being really dangerous’. Your right … no I’m right … well you know what I mean. I really like the thoughts of trying to figure this out, but I need to try to keep safety in mind.

What’s the worst thing that could happen to me? Thoughts of doors flying open and my body being ejected out into space. Then thoughts of what effects the body would have if it was subjected to the vacuum of space. Most likely it will be cold so there will be freezing problems. But in vacuum your body would most likely expand or explode. This puts you at a bursting point right when you freeze. This is not a good sight. I shuttered.

I need to protect myself, but how. I looked at one of the suits, as one of the stations was quite near the console. Trying to figure out the basic size of these people … Damn, I hope that they are people. I never even thought of that! Aliens have taken me into outer space! You can be darn well sure that they are not from Earth …

Yea Earth. I have no idea how to get back there, home … Stay focused!

Yea … protect myself, in one of these alien spacesuits. Maybe I can make it larger somehow by making two into one. I pulled myself together and looked closely at the spacesuit. You know it doesn’t have any seams … isn’t that odd. I lifted an arm of the suit and I was right, there are no seams in the fabric, if you can call it that. It seemed to be rather thick and almost gelatinous. Kind of like squeezing a gel pad. I released the sleeve and where my thumb was it left an imprint, and I would swear that it kept my thumbs shape. But then it released and smoothed it surface again.

The fabric itself was silvery on the surface. You could not see any fabric weave, it was one continuous surface. Estimating the being’s size that wore these small suits, they were nor more than four feet tall. Very small and slender bodies. They did look humanoid in form. It looks like the bodily proportions are similar.

I do not know how I am going to get into one of these suits?

OK so the size of the suit is an issue, I will have to work on that.

What else is here?

I moved away from the console and as I moved further away from it the dimmer it got. I stopped and looked back and it brightened up again.

The console noticed that I looked back at it and it changed from some kind of standby mode back to active again. And it recognized this.

I will have to investigate this further later … not now. I turned back to the opposing door. It was not as aggressive as the door to the airlock. It did not have a window, so I do not know what is beyond it. It looks like it slides into the doorframe, it does not swing open. On the left side of the doorframe is a small display, I did not see this before. It is showing two characters separated by a line going down the middle of the screen. On the left side of the line is three diagonal parallel lines. On the right side of the line is the red triangle symbol and its flashing center. This has got to be some kind of danger or warning symbol, I will make a note of that … wait I do not have anything to write this down with.

This is the first time that I noticed what I was wearing. A pair of slip-on shoes, jeans and button front shirt. I checked my pockets in my pants and shirt, all were empty, not even lint. No wallet, no keys, no comb, no nothing. This is really strange as I would never be anywhere without these items.

“So, I am here with my brains and beauty. And since I left the later at home, I will have to think my way through this.” I spouted. I knew that there was no one to hear me but it makes me feel better to hear noise every once in a while. Even if it has to come from me.

I suspect that the warning symbol in the door frame screen is saying that there is an issue on one side of the door and the other side, the side that I am on is three diagonal parallel lines. I hope that that means that it is good.

“So, it is bad on the other side of the door, no leaving that way”, I stated.

I stepped back from the doorway a little to get a better look at it. It looks like the materials on this end of the room are different from the materials on the other end. This door looked like it was made of metal. Not too sure what type of metal but it looks like normal sheet metal work, forming or something like that. The door to the airlock has a fluidity about it with no direct formed edges. More oddities.

My mind wanders again as I think to myself, what if someone was watching me … right now. I do not think that ‘if’ is the right statement here, someone is watching.

I scan the room for any sign of a camera or video input device and I find nothing. There must be some way to monitor what was going on in this chamber. I mean this looks to be some sort of advanced ship from an advanced civilization, there must be some kind of monitoring. I walked the few steps back to the console end of the room, I felt the air wisp again by my face which stopped me a couple of steps away from the console.

This air wisp is disturbing to me. I looked around the room again and looked for the ventilation vent … there was none. I see nothing in the chamber that could induce air movement. But I still feel it when it lofts by me. Whatever it is, it does not seem to be harming me, at least that I can tell. It is another thing to add to my weird items list to look into, when I have the time.

I am the alien in an unknown environment. I am worried about anything and everything. And since I have no knowledge of anything, I am deeply worried. This may drive me over the edge. But I have to focus if I am to get out of this safely.

The console lit back up as I came closer to me, so there is a sensor somewhere that is telling this equipment to come to life. I sure do not see anything. Maybe it is some kind of biometric system. Whatever it is, it is totally alien to me. Better watch the use of that word alien from now on. It is going to be hard to properly apply it.

The console had changed. The screen above was pulsing a golden color, maybe to alert someone to something. The lower area had changed it symbols to a different set than what was there a few moments ago. They were larger than the previous set and there were fewer of them. One of them was flashing the same golden color. The symbol that it displayed kind of looked like a strung bow with an arrow notched but pointing straight down. The gold color made it looked like it was shimmering.

Three things came to my mind right then. This console is alerting someone that there is an issue. I am being directed to a logical entry on a console that replicates a color that is flashing steadily on a screen above. I really hope that whoever made this console made it with some form of intuitive usage concept … or this is not going to be good.

I gently bit into my bottom lip to contemplate my decision, I pressed the flashing symbol. The upper screen changed from the full ship view to a close up on the chamber that I was in. it showed a rough wireframe image of the room with a blue blur at the console, I believe that this is me. But there is a reddening spot near the door of the opposite end of the room. The spot was small near the upper corner of the door and you could see traces of other red items going toward this point. The room started to resolve itself on the screen, and I was looking at a pealed view of the room. It is like you had taken the inner wall away from the scene from the side that you are looking from. It was amazing, you see I am right there. And on the screen, it replicated my motion of my hand to the console. And the red point was still there at the doorway, right there. On the screen I saw my hand pointing to the red spot on the screen.

I am sure of it now, someone is watching, using this alien … odd method to follow me. More later items for the list.

Now there is a fine line between action and reaction but this one hit me like a brick wall. The console was warning me of a leak in the room, right at the door. I am losing atmosphere. A small bead of sweat started to trickle down my forehead.

I looked at the point that was identified and I could not see anything, at least not anything visible. But so is the air that I breathe, can’t see that either. I am positive that the bead of sweat had many friends at this moment.

I drew my attention to the console once again. The lower panel had changed again to different symbols, this time there was only three. No make that four. The last one was in the lower left corner, it was a silhouette of a white circle in a yellow circle. My best guess is that this is a previous screen or possibly some kind of a cancel function. The other three symbols were what concerned me, and a quick glance to the upper screen made me believe that the red dot was getting a little larger. My ears just popped. I turned my head toward the errant door and I could see a small darkened stain leading to a point on the door. The point was right at the edge of the door, right where the screen was identifying the issue.

I turned back to the lower console just as a bead of sweat dropped onto the surface. There were three functions in front of me, and little time to figure out what they mean. I pressed the symbol farthest to the left, it was three lines on an angle that was connected on the ends by another angled line but going the opposite direction. This had a small translucent circle just above the upper end of the connecting angled line. The upper screen changed into a dual view. The main view shrunk into the upper right corner to a minor portion of the screen. The rest of the display was showing how to put on … a spacesuit.

It did a close up on one of the alcoves that had a humanoid figure in front of it. The figure started with the suit, stepping into each of the legs first and continuing onto the arms of the suit. You could see the figure rubbing his hand up the front of the suit, this looked to have sealed it up to its body. Then it grabbed the helmet and placed it over it head. The suit looked to come up its neck and attach itself to the helmet, it was kind of rude looking as it snuck up the figures neck. Then the helmeted figure turned its back toward the tank and it leapt to the figures back.

The flashing on the smaller screen just got worse and caused me to look away for a moment. The leak is getting worse. The lower panel of the console now had changed again, but this time it had many selections, more than I had time to review. I drew my attention to the lower left corner, the circle in a circle symbol was there. I held my breath again and pressed this symbol.

I was right it brought me back to the previous three figures. One of them was flashing the glowing golden color on and off, it was the one on the right. As I watched the flashing symbol I saw that it had many layers of color. They just did not come straight on, they grew in intensity to full on and off. I looked at the smaller screen again and yes it was indeed getting larger. It seemed to me that I was hearing something, like a high-pitched squeal.

No time, have to keep going. I touched the flashing symbol. What was that, off to the left of me a panel slid open. It was between the console and the alcove. The opening was only about a foot wide, but it was almost as tall as I am. A rack slid out of the opening. It had shelves in it of different heights. On the top shelf were these … ah … gun looking devices. They had two major tubes about eight inches long and what looked to be a three-inch trigger. I picked one of these out of its saddle from the shelf. I gently turned it so I could glance down the barrels at an angle making very careful not to touch the trigger. The tubes were empty. I could see a mechanism in the bottom of the tubes. Lower down the shelf unit was a rack of dual tubes, must have been a dozen or so of them.

I looked back at the screen and I saw the humanoid figure spraying something that looked like whipped cream from an item that looked quite similar to what I am now holding. It must have been on a loop to get me to do something because it reset the image to the figure standing in front of the rack and grabbing one of the guns and a tube set from the lower area. The figure showed how to load theses tubes into the gun. Then the figure walked over to the door, pointed the gun and shot it at the door. This was where he came in on this show. The image looped again.

I leaned over toward the rack and grabbed one of these double tubes of sealed matter. They were heavy and connected by some means. It was a very strong bond between the tubes, I could not separate them. I looked at the gun and the tubes and tried to slip them into the gun. But it was not a simple as that, I needed to watch the figure again. I turned my attention toward the screen just to see the figure spraying the door again. I was already here, get me back to the start. A few split seconds and it restarted again. The smaller screen was flashing now, and the red spot was definitely getting larger, even on the small screen you could easily see it now. I looked at the leaking door and now the blacked streak was almost two inches long. The squelching was starting to become more audible now, I was losing major pressure in the room.

I pulled myself back to the display again and it was back to the spraying event again. Damn, focus will you. I forced myself to watch the console and keep my thoughts from the leaking door. It focused in on the gun and clearly showed the installation of the tubes. I looked down at my hands and saw that I was trying to put the tubes in backwards. I flipped them in the air and caught them correctly and they slammed into the gun. I trotted toward the door at the opposite end of the room, it only took a few steps. But as I got closer to the door the noise grew to a shrill. I stopped a few steps away from the door and pointed the gun at the darkening spot, and I shot it. The trigger dispensed a stream of goop, and it burst toward the doorway. The material must have partially solidified as it left the gun because it seemed to slow the leak but all it really did was leave a 3-foot long icicle point right back at me. The front of the spike looked to have bonded with the door to at least slow the leakage. I quickly examined the results and figured that I was too far away for the material and it solidified before it could completely flow into place and seal the door. I need another cartridge, fast.

I panicked and tripped over myself turning around which threw me to the floor. The air went out of me. I seem to be having trouble breathing, I do not think that it was the fall. The room may be losing air. I pulled myself up and lurched toward the rack, good it was still open. I grabbed another set of canisters and slammed them home in the gun. Unluckily for me I was still hanging onto the trigger. It shot off right into one of the alcoves. It solidified and struck the helmet residing in it and knocking it to the floor, right along with the spike of goop.

“Calm Down”, I spouted to myself.

I grabbed another tube set and loaded it, making sure that I was not hanging onto the trigger this time. It did not take a lot of force to install them, I probably came close to breaking the gun on previous loads.

I made my way back to the leaking door. The air was definitely getting thinner as I am having trouble getting a full breath of air. I got within a foot of the door and shot the goop gun again. This time it flowed around the surfaces and the spike, and it solidified.

Immediately the noise stopped, and I dropped to my knees gasping for air. There was little left. I forced myself to crawl to the opposite end of the room. I raised my head to the console and it had changed to the three-symbol screen again, I must have been successful in my last task. The center symbol was now cursing thru the multi-color scheme, but its main color looked to be blue between the flashing. It had the shape of an upside-down horseshoe. I pulled myself up to the console, the air is very thin now, may not have too many breaths left.
 
Without further delay I pressed the center symbol and fell back to my knees. All of the sudden I could breathe again. I took a long breath and exhaled three times before raising my head. On the console the smaller screen had no red spot, all that I could see was a bar graph increasing to some level and stop. I looked closer and it was in between two pointers just on the side of the bar, I hope that this means that we are in good condition.

Righting myself, I looked at my handiwork with the leaking door. There was a blob of stuff all over the top edge of the door and a spike sticking straight out of it. one thing was for sure. The inside of the ship that I was on had been compromised. Beyond this door was the vacuum of space.

I said aloud, “I hope that I do not need to go back out that way, because that stuff has made a real mess out of that door.” I walked slowly back over to the internal door. I touched the blob and it was very firm and solid. I pushed at an edge of the material to verify adhesion and it did not budge. Whatever that stuff was it sealed the leak and the door, maybe permanently.

“Pretty good stuff, remember that in case you need it later”, I said feeling better about myself.

The goop gun still my one hand, I lifted it up to take a closer at it, but my sight out of the corner of my eye drew me away. The cabinet that opened was now closed, I startled myself once again. I made a quick pace back to the opposing end of the room. I reached up and felt around the wall where it was just moments before. I could not even feel a seam. And this surface is really odd. Where I touched the wall left a finger imprint for a split second in it, fantastic.

Alright regain yourself, “I hope that this will open again if … I … need it …” I sputtered to myself.

The console brought me back to right again. The lower panel still had the three symbols, why these three symbols. I needed to understand what these symbols were.

The first was a warning that brought me to this screen. The right item on the screen allowed me to seal a leaking chamber. The middle item gave me atmosphere. And the left item showed me how to get in a spacesuit. Were they in some kind of order?

Yes, they were in priority order from right to left. Stop the leak, regain room control and then … then … get in a spacesuit. This thought spun my head … I need to get in a spacesuit. I spun around looking at the nearest suit. I cannot fit into this … can I?

It took a few seconds for the panic to subside, but I brought my attention to the screen. I had made a mistake. My American thinking almost cost me my life. I mean, that I was thinking left to right, just like my heritage taught me. And a simple thing like reversing the order could be disastrous. Talk about thinking outside of the box. I paused to look outside of the window again. The stars were shining bright and glistened with every second. I could definitely see them better now, even more than at my home in the country. The image of all of those stars brought that smile back to my face once again.

“I do not think that I am in the box any more, and that view proves it. Stop thinking two dimensional!” I spouted. Speaking aloud was more to get my focus back than as a method of communication. Did I need that focus now!

I looked back at the console again. The three symbols, all in right to left order … but we need to prove that … how.

I had been to the suit screen before, so I was less nervous about pressing this symbol. I paused my hand from pressing the third symbol to memorize the second symbol. I want to make sure that if I see this symbol again I know what its purpose is for. I focused on the symbol for another second to burn it into my memory.

“This symbol has provided me with air to breath” I thought to myself.

I proceeded and pressed the third symbol. The symbol was less of an issue with my nerves but the static shock that I got when touched the panel still made me jump. Some of these symbols are of a higher priority than others and I want to make sure that I remember the crucial ones.

The upper screen changed to the figure putting on the spacesuit again. And as I looked away the lower panel changed to the larger array of symbols. I focused on the symbols. There were five lines of them centered on the panel. The first one had seven symbols in it, the second had five. The third only had three, the forth had four of them. The fifth had eight and it looked like they may extend off the screen, there could be more.

The layout of this screen was right to left as the lesser symbols were a shorter line than the higher numbers, which crossed the panel. Now let’s stop and think about this before I go further. I know the right to left and if I took a moment to look closer at this screen when I saw this earlier I might have noticed this trait.

“Out of the box thinking,” I spouted to hold focus. Are these symbols laid out in an order like the three-symbol panel? Are they in order? I do not know … yet.

Let’s look at the options are they in top to bottom order also? Or is that bottom to top? This drew me back to thinking out of the box again. Languages that I have seen in my life. There were some of them, I do not know their names, but they also go right to left. Well some of them go top to bottom, like Chinese. I do not believe that I have ever seen one that goes bottom to top. I am going to set this as a rule that bottom to top is not right … I hope. So right to left and top to bottom order.

“I better be right on this one,” I mumbled. “But are they in some kind of order?”.

On closer review there seems to be some kind of connecting line going between the symbols. It is very faint but there is definitely a line between them. Did the previous screen have these lines? I do not remember seeing them, but we were in an urgency crisis and it is tough to see details when you are in this mode.

I took a chance and touched the corner symbol to return to the previous screen. I was intently watching the lower screen this time and I could see the symbols change. No, they looked like the old set faded away and the new ones faded in. Very cool! I looked closely at each symbol, they were high quality. What I mean is that they are very smooth looking with no jagged edges like on a pixilated display … like the one that I used back at home.

I looked closely to see if there was a connecting line on them as there were on the previous screen, there were none. The lines have a meaning, but what was it. I pressed the previous symbol again. The panel changed, fading out the predecessor with the new ones.

Focus on the connecting lines. They definitely were in between each symbol on each line, they are horizontal. They did not traverse vertically between the symbols. The symbols were in a soft blue color this time. There was none of the multi-color pattern that I saw before. This was easier on the eyes with the black background. No wait a minute … the five symbols on the right of the display just changed to the flashing color change mode. Was it seeing another issue that I needed to pay attention to or could the console just be giving me a little advice … kind of a help mode?

The symbols were still flashing in the multi-color pattern. But something spectacular happened … well I think that it was spectacular. The top symbol on the right of the panel of symbols increased in size.

Something is guiding me … I hope.

Just these few symbols displayed on the panel would take me some time to review and memorize. It was an impractical task on unnecessary symbols at this time. I need to focus on priority items for now. I’ll go with the console’s suggestions … for now … and hope that it is as smart as it looks like it is.

The suggested selection was the symbol at the top right corner of the panel. It was about one and one half times the size of the rest of the symbols. It looked like a large slice of pie, a very colorful pie. The colors were rolling like waves across the surface of the pie from the center to the outside edge. There were three soft blue angled lines at the bottom of the pie slice symbol.

I touched the flashing symbol. I was not ready for what happened.

The upper screen changed again. The two views that were displaying on it changed shape to each others size. On the ship view it zoomed into a close up of the room with myself at the right side of the view. To the left of me on the view I could see the translucent image of the humanoid figure that was dressed like I was. Although the figure was semi-translucent the clothing looked like replica’s of exactly what I am wearing.

The figure was standing at the center of the chamber in front of the second alcove away from me. It took a step forward and something moved in my peripheral vision to my left. My head jerked to see what it was … it was the translucent figure dressed as I am. Note to myself, if the view shows you in it and something else, it is probably happening, for real! The figure did not turn its attention as I fell backwards onto the airlock doorway. Being that this was the first full sized individual that I have seen since I arrived here, where ever that is, it startled me. As I righted myself using the doorframe as support, not daring to change my sights attention on the translucent figure. I watched as the figure stopped a step in front of the spacesuit. It turned around facing outwards, its translucent eyes not even pausing to look at me as they passed by me. It started to undress, removing its shirt, shoes and pants and placing them in a pile on the floor. It then removed its underwear and socks and dropping them in the pile.

Standing in front of me was a naked translucent figure of a male humanoid. This was the first time that I noticed but the figure had my stature, tall and heavyset. I was standing on my own at this time and I moved back to the console. I took my eyes off the figure for a moment to look at the console. The figure was now turning around toward the alcove and reached out to the spacesuit.

I turned back to the live action and the figure grabbed the suit by the neck and opened it up showing an opening that goes from neck to crotch, maybe a zippered or Velcro opening of some sort. The small suit that the figure had in its hands was absolutely miniature to its size, but it insisted on putting on the space suit. But to my eyes the figure went to place its leg into the leg hole and the suit expanded. It was like it grew larger than what was needed. Also, I noticed an air gap between the translucent leg and the suit. It got its full leg into the suit as it had stretched to be bigger than its host, this was fascinating. The figure continued onto its other leg with the same results. Then the figure worked the suit up to its arms.

This was probably the first time that I really noticed the gloves of the suit. It had five fingers, I mean four fingers and an opposable thumb built into it. It was built for a humanoid figure. That means that entities on this ship were not too much different than I am. Maybe not in stature but in shape, figuratively speaking. But the suit seems to be capable of stretching to the occasion. Hopefully it is not over-stretching its boundaries.

I watched as the figure slipped it arms into the suit, again the suit compensating for the figures hefty size. Then the figure used it gloved hands and pressed the seam opening together, starting at the crotch and working up to its neck. I watched as the suit changed. The front seam seemed to disappear as if it was never there. Then it collapsed onto the figure. It looked as if it released the air gap that it had provided to allow the figure into the suit.

Looking at the figure with the suit on and then looking down at myself. “WOW, this is not going to look good,” I exclaimed. The figure had my build, which is to say I am not the shapeliest person to put in skin tight … ah … tights.

But the figure continued as it grabbed the helmet and lowered it onto it head. I would swear that the helmet grew to fit over it head … ah, I get it now. The spacesuit is self-sizing and self-sealing, and that goes for the helmet also. As I watch the suit changed its neck structure to what looked like an abalone’s pink edge of its foot as it moves across the ocean bottom. It started to crawl up the neck of the figure until it made contact with the helmet’s bottom edge. It worked its way around the figure until it looks like it sealed itself to the helmet. At least that is what I am being led to believe. There is that led issue again. Is someone leading me down a specific path? No time for that now, pay attention to the now!

The now suited figure still visible thru the visor of the helmet turned its back to the alcove. My jaw absolutely dropped with what I saw. The air tank must have sensed its need as it produced a couple of slender legs from somewhere on its sides and jumped to the back of the suited figure. It seated itself on the figures back and I watched as two ruffled rings extended to the suit and attached itself to the suit … somehow. Then it seated itself upon the back of the figure and the legs disappeared as fast as the appeared.

The figure took a step toward the center of the room and disappeared. I was still in awe-struck shock from watching the show … or lesson … or whatever that this was. Let’s call it teaching for now.

I looked back at the alcove expecting to see the suit, helmet and tank missing but I was wrong. The teaching show that I just watched was nothing more than that, it was just an illusion or a projection of some kind. A very adaptive projection at that. I will have to re-look at how this was done later, no time for it now. There is another issue.

My ears just popped again. I looked at the opposing door and I could see nothing. So, I turned back to the console again and the view of the chamber had returned to its full view. Once again you could see the lines showing another leak had occurred. This time it is lower on the door, beyond the area that I had already sealed. I had to make a choice, a very quick choice. Do I seal the door again or do I get in a spacesuit? Since the door seal may only be a temporary fix the choice was quick, put on the spacesuit!

The console started flashing again, there was no time to wait. I went to the first alcove near me and I started undressing. My shoes were slip-ons and they came flinging off in mid stride. I then dropped my pants and kicked them out of the way. As my socks came off flying across the chamber the sound of a high pitch whine started to be heard. I paused to listen but quickly continued on to removing my shirt. Standing there with only my underwear about to put on a spacesuit I thought about if I really needed to totally disrobe before putting on the suit. But my objection was quickly noted with a display appearing on the back wall of the alcove. It showed the figure removing its undergarment, so I abided and dropped my drawers. I stepped out of them and grabbed the suit hanging in front of me. I grabbed the collar as was shown to me and I separated the front seam. It slit open to the crotch almost by itself. I fitted myself into the suit and closed the seam from the bottom up to the top. Then I braced myself as the sizing happened.

Its retraction of the air gap that now separated me from the suit was energizing. I do not know how to explain this, but I feel better and … well not so bothered by the situation. The suit feels like someone just put a million little rubber tips next to my body, holding me and supporting me in many ways. It feels good! I did not expect this!

But my moment of exhilaration was short as the whine just popped heavily and you could hear the escape of air, my air. I grabbed for the helmet putting it over my head. It slid down smoothly, I knew from seeing the figure do this, the helmet expands as needed, just like the suit. But when the suit climbed my neck shivers went down my spine. It was unnerving. My heart rate climbed for a moment, I could feel it. But then something happened, my bodily functions calmed down with an external influence, the suit. It must have some method of medically calming someone, I feel like I have been slightly sedated. I mean it is not a lot, but I can feel a slight buzz, a euphoria feeling … from something.

The helmet came to life, all of the sudden. It must have made full contact with the suit as the whine also calmed. Displays showed various symbols, all I am not familiar with but the warning symbol that I have become so aware of. This one is starting to become a nuisance.

I remembered that I had not attached the tank to the suit, so I turned around like in the training and I could feel the sudden jerk of something jumping onto my back, it was the air tank … that has legs. Now the training was lacking something … sound. As when the tank attaches it makes the most interesting sound of a giant sucker slurping its way onto your back. You know I never did see an opening in the back for an air tank attachment. I wonder how this is done. Alright quit drifting, this medication has a little drawback. It is going to be harder to focus. Add this to the to-do list, and get back to it latter.

The heads-up display was showing me the view of the chamber with the red leak that was accelerating. I went back to the console and thought about going back a page to get the wall panel to open but before I got to the back button the wall opened once again. It extended the rack and I now knew what to do. I grabbed another holster and filled it with a cartridge. On the HUD the training on what to do was once again showing me how to plug the hole, I disregarded it. I walked the few paces to the other end of the room, pointed the sealant toward the now obvious blackened stain appearing on the door. The shot was perfect. I was within two feet of the spot and this gave it enough time to flow over the problem area before solidifying.

There was a good foot of spread in all directions. Feeling good I brought the holster up and blew across the point. It was right then that it really hit me that I was in a spacesuit. My breath just reflected off the faceplate, back at me.

The flashing display returned to normal. Man, I am glad for that, it was getting real disturbing. Other than a couple of dozen items being displayed to me that I had no understanding of, I was doing pretty good. I mean I would have thought that I would be freaking out from being in an enclosed space. Tight spaces really make me feel a little touchy. It is a fear that I have had for some time now.

But the view is really good from in here. The field of vision out of the helmet is a lot better than I would have expected. I can move my head freely, I am not feeling any restrictions from the spacesuit. It is almost if the suit’s weight is not there. With the goop gun still in one hand, I reached up with the other to touch the faceplate surface. WOW, I can feel it. This was odd as the hand holding the device did not give me the tactile contact that I just felt with the other. This is really weird. Satisfied with the results I turned back toward the closet. I put the holster on the rack and as soon as I pulled my hand away from the rack, it retracted and the door slid closed. Once again you could not even see a seam where the opening was.

I stopped in my tracks, thinking about what just happened. How did the closet open? How did it close? I had not touched the console.

What happened there?

I was thinking how to run the console to open the closet … I was thinking, only thinking it.

Let’s test this! I went over to the closet and thought about opening the door by console symbols. It did not open. I must be doing something wrong, the console, I am not looking at it like I was. I moved over to the console and thought the symbols that I pressed to get the closet to open … but nothing happened.

My HUD was flashing a symbol. It looked like a backwards letter E or a squashed number three. But it was making its appearance worthy right now on the HUD. I dropped the thought as I now was wondering about what the symbol meant and it disappeared from my HUD. This means something …

“I got it,” I erupted. Not only was I thinking about how to do it, there had to be a situation that would require it. Something put two and two together and opened the closet right when I needed it … to. I thought it and it happened but only in the right situation. Another thing to check, the list is getting big.

Now what to do? I am in a spacesuit near an airlock! There is space outside! This is the first time that I could relax since I found myself here, I mean really relax. I have been in total chaos since I arrived. I would like to have a little enjoyment for a change.

I turned toward the airlock door and took the couple of steps toward it. I stopped to think about what I was doing. I was protected, I am now in a spacesuit, breathing air … yea breathing air. How much air do I have? On the HUD a soft blue bar enlarged to show two arrow points like the one I saw on the console. But where it had the arrows as some kind of limits, this one had them, one at the top of the bar and the other at the bottom. A possible full or empty indication. I will accept that this suit is telling me that I have the green to go for air … maybe.

This suit seems to be intelligent, like the console. I would hope that it will identify something to me if there is an issue with my suit. Please don’t let there be a problem with my suit.

I stood there looking out at the stars, almost in awe. Then while turning my attention to the doorway’s frame looking for some kind of control, I mumbled to myself “I wonder how you get outside?”

I fell back just as the doorway opened to the airlock. A whoosh of air blasted by me equalizing the pressure between the rooms. The one that I am in obviously had less pressure, I had forgotten to pressurize the room, step two.

“Well there are equalized now”, I said. Then the little voice in my head starting speaking up again. Careful, safety first! I respect this, but I stepped through to the inside of the airlock.

This is something that I have been wanting to do, well you know forever. I barely noticed the door closing behind me as I stood in awe of the starry view before me. The outer door, a sheet of curved glass, is all that is between me and outer space. It is astonishing … beyond words … I love it.

The scene is an aging man who had already accepted that he would never make it to the stars standing a mere inches from outer space.

I do not know how long I just stood there, it could have been only minutes, it could have been hours. It was like lying on your back on a grassy hill on a dark moonless night, staring at the sky … endless.

But as the saying goes, ‘all good things must come to an end’ this one must at least be paused. The HUD was trying to tell me something. I brought my attention back to the display. There was another symbol flashing on it. It was shaped like a circle with a line going from the center of the circle off to the left of the circle. This one was of a different color, one that I had not seen before. It was an interesting red-purple color, almost the color of red wine. I like this color!

How do I touch this symbol? There must be some way to make an input to this symbol. The suit was completely smooth on the exterior, there was no input panel there, at least that I could see.

“If only there was a console in here. I am just learning how to use them”, I said aloud.

The suit must have sensed this confusion with me and signaled for a console, maybe it was the ship or someone on the ship, I do not know. As moments latter a smaller panel unfolded out of the wall. They lit up with the lower panel showing the five strings that he saw out in the other room. The second from the bottom was now displaying the multi-color scheme signifying primary selection. It was the circle and line symbol. It only had four symbols in its line.

I touched the flashing symbol. Again, I was startled as the translucent figure re-appeared beside me. This time it was in a suit just like me. The figure walked over to the wall to the right of the airlock door. A horizontal panel opened, and a shelf slid out. On the shelf was some items that looked like the tongue of my tennis shoes back home. The figure grabbed a hold of one and pulled it out. It was some sort of belt type device. It had many cylindrical chambers on it, maybe ten or twelve of them. It looks like half of them had a small pointed device on the bottom end of the cylinders. The figure took the belt and wrapped it around itself. There was some kind of clasp and it placed this over the belt like material. It seemed to connect itself and tighten appropriately. The figure image faded away as it stood back with its hands at its side.

“So, I need a belt. I was kind of hoping that these britches would hold up on their own.” I joked with myself.

I stepped closer to the shelf, and as like it was before, the figure does not really take one of the items, it just appeared that way.

I grabbed one of the belts and pulled it off the shelf. The full length came out of the wall somehow. Yea, I know look into this later, put it on the list. I wrapped the belt around myself and clasped it. I could feel the belt tightening on me. Compared to the suit this I could actually feel.

I looked down and spouted, “Kind of flattering but I would have made it longer, so it would cover more.” I was making the comment to whoever might be listening because looking at this scene of a husky man wearing a skin-tight bodysuit. The belt could have been more covering.

“Alright, now I feel like Batman, or is that Fatman”, I boldly stated. Standing with my hands on my hips. Looking at my reflection in the airlock door, I came to the conclusion that I really needed that Batman cape, it would cover more of my … er … size.

“I do not know if I want to run into someone now, I might scare them,” I blurted. I did look a sight.

Ok, I am ready for a spacewalk … I think. There were no more flashing symbols on the HUD or one the console. “I am looking green for a go!” I stated. “Now how do I open this airlock door?”

And speak and you will receive. As a soon as I ended the statement I could feel the air being released from the chamber. I started to float from a lack of gravity. Gravity, or the lack there of, was not expected. Something more that I need to investigate, but later, put it on the list.

I was rocking forward and back on my feet and slightly pushed off just as the gravity went away. This is mad, such a small action could produce such a reaction. And you know why, because this is outer space. And there are no boundaries in space and physics prevail.

This is the ‘any action creates an equal but opposite reaction’ issue.

If the roof were not there I would just float away. That would be until another gravity source or object changed this fact. Try to keep this in mind, I will. But you have to admit, being weightless is way too cool.

I was finally able to touch the ceiling. I noticed that it was made of the same material as most of the outer chamber. It was firm, but you could leave an imprint in it if enough contact with it happens. I found this out by the bump that I had with it to stop my flight. It was almost jarring. That is the equal but opposite reaction, and this time it hurt. I need to expect that a harder hit will be in my future, be prepared for it.

This is odd, I did not see this before. There was a tubular handle here on the ceiling. It was big enough for one hand to hold onto. It looked like it was one piece with the wall, I see no seams or welds here. How are these things possible?

I know, I know, put it on the list.

I grabbed the handle … and it started to move … across the surface … pulling me along with it. It stopped by the airlock outer door. I used its steadiness now to put me upright in front of the door. As my feet touched the floor they grabbed it. It felt like my feet were touching a fine sandy beach. It was sloshy and soft just as the beach. It may just the feeling that I receive when walking on any surface. It was odd but workable as I worked my feet back and forth.

The suit changed again on me. It puffed up kind of like before when I put it on. But now I can still feel it making contact with me. It is like it just got thicker, I know that sounds weird but that is what I think it just did.

Another thing for the list, gad it is getting big.
 
I must be getting close to this door opening, but before I could finish the thought the door did open. It was beautiful … it was incredible … it was spectacular. It was an expanse of space and it was everywhere. I stood there captivated by the sight. It purely was everywhere as I panned my sight from right to left.

Now how to get out?

I took a step to get to the edge of the doorway.

I am sure that there is a proper way to get out on the surface of the ship. Somehow that evaded me at the moment.

I grabbed the door frame and rolled my body over the edge to kind of sit on the exterior wall of the space ship. I still had my feet attached to the inner floor. I lifted my left foot from the floor, not knowing what will happen. It did let go of the floor. Then I pulled the second foot off the floor.

I still had a death grip on the doorframe, I was not going to allow myself to float away. That whole concept was not allowed. I lifted my feet and swung them over the door frame. Hoping that they would indeed re-attach to the outer surface, I lowered them onto the surface, they hooked right back up with the surface. I exhaled heavily. I am taking a very big chance. I have no experience with traversing the surface of a ship in deep space. Be extra careful, keep alert.

I stood up, righting myself so I was standing on the outer surface. I looked down at the door way and just as fast as the door opened, it closed. It was an odd feeling looking down, perpendicular to the floor below. But now, I am outside, I hope that I can get back inside when I need to? It was a scary thought of thinking how to reverse how I just got out, but I dismissed it. I do not need my imagination to get involved in this, stick to the facts.

I am standing on the surface of a space ship, the starry sky is everywhere. I am in a spacesuit.

Let’s see where we can go!

I turned away from the airlock door to see the curvature of the ship extending away from me in all directions. As I panned right, I could see another airlock in the far distance. I panned left and there was another, maybe a football field length away from me.

“Gads, this thing is big,” I exclaimed. The other airlocks were a good sign, I decided. In case I need to get back in, in an emergency. Not to mention the fact that the one I came from was seriously having an issue.

Evaluating the situation, I decided to traverse this way, perpendicular to the plane of the airlocks. To the top of the ship, if that is a real statement here. I am in space, there is no up or down out here. Just an expanse of space, a lot of space.

I remembered the physics of this situation. You are in space, it takes the same amount of energy to move as it takes to stop, even in zero gravity. The same amount of energy thing stuck with me. I was not the most physical specimen to be doing this, I would tire easily.

Let’s take this slow.

I stared trudging across the surface, keeping the airlock in mind as I continually looked behind me to register myself to the airlocks. I worked to focus on taking the next step, and then the next step. And I watched my feet, this helped me in trying to not notice how far I was traveling.

But as I watched my feet taking the steps I was able to discern why I was feeling like I was walking on sand. As I lifted my first foot, it did not directly let go of the ships surface. It kind of looked like I was pealing the soles on my feet off the surface. More of like the sole had some kind of adhesive on it and I was pulling it free on every step. To my foot it felt like I was pulling my foot out of the soft sand. And when I put my foot down again the sole had a grabbing sensation. As the sole got to within an inch of the surface it leapt to the surface and cushioned the remaining foot as it came down. Again, this gave me the sensation of stepping onto the soft sand and my foot sinking into it. I watched it intently watching the foot release the surface and grab on the downward placement. It was fascinating.

This suit was creating this contact adhesion, most likely, to ensure that I do not float away when standing on the surface. I did not want to find out what would happen if I did lose contact with the ship, so I kept the steps slow and steady. I did wonder what would happen if I did lose contact, that there must be something to assist in this issue. But, I was not ready for that test right now.

It was tiring so I stopped to see just where I was, catch my breath. On the HUD I could see an external view of the ship. The blue dot, that was me. The air lock door was still visible on the map as a grayed-out dot on the surface of the ship. “Good, I know where to go back to, to get back inside of the ship,” I murmured. It showed that I was part-way to the edge of the ship that I saw before on the display below.

I looked at the suit … ah status … indicator … whatever bar and it was still indicating that all was OK. At least I hopped that was what it was telling me. In all it could be telling me that I am about to perish, and I need to get back to the air lock. I hoped that it was the predecessor. I would expect that there would be some kind of alarm is this is the issue. At least I hope that there would be something to this effect.

I really hope a lot lately.

I got myself moving again, step and step and step …

I was still trying not to focus on how far I needed to go, so I concentrated on my feet. Step and step and step …

It was not too long, and I caught a hint of a view that I was near the edge of the. I stopped and looked up, it was like I was looking at the edge of the world and this was the drop off. I was a mere ten or twelve steps from the edge now. I continued but I could feel the anxiety growing as I crept up to the edge. From here you could see the curvature of the edge as it stretched away from me, and in both directions.

Being a little wary of edges of any cliff, I stopped a couple of steps away from the edge. I kneeled down and crawled the remaining steps to the edge. Boy was I glad that I did this as I reached the edge and put my gloved hands on the edge and pulled myself to it.

It was a direct drop off, no it was even more than that. It actually curved away beneath me.

I am in a place that I would have never expected to be, ever. I could have cried in ecstasy of the moment, if it was not for the shock I was feeling.

On the HUD, there was a closeup view of the ship. A blue dot was stationary on it. That was me, not moving from the spot. The display pulled away from the location to fully understand the position. The blue dot was actually horizontal to the floors of the ship. The view continued to pull back, the ship rotated into view. The farther we pull back the smaller the dot became. As the whole ship came into view you could barely distinguish the dot standing on the side of the exterior.

The ship had a definite issue. As a large portion of it was missing. The missing shape resembled part of a hemisphere. You could see a definite curvature across the missing section of the ship. It was like something in a hemispheric shape changed places with part of the ship. Where the part of the ship went that existed before the event was unknown. Could it have been someone who knew that an event was going to happen and where it was going to happen, but they got a little too close to the action. And what was here is now gone.

I looked across the missing section, I could see the far edge clearly from here. That is when I noticed the sky again. Incredible does not even come close to explaining the view that I now saw. A spaceship damaged beyond belief sitting in a nest of stars that were totally unrecognizable.

And I was spared, how and why?

I stood there looking at the starry sky, it looked so different to the sky that I would normally see at home. What I was seeing now was unhindered by earth’s atmosphere. Faint stars were even visible. I started scanning the area for Orion’s belt, looking left and right for it. Then it dawned on me, that it was directly above my head. You understand that I was seeing Orion’s belt out of the doorway of the air lock and since I am now standing on the outer surface of the ship, this would put it right above me. I arranged myself to the doorway and the floor therein. I then raised my head to look above me. I stood up and bent my knees so my body was more parallel to the ships surface. Yes, there it still was. This was a relief to me as I liked to have some point of reference, now more than ever. But something was wrong with the belt, I am not quite sure what it is. There are the three major stars that comprise the belt. The two on each end were normal looking. The one to the left was higher than the other two. The center one is quite bright, more than I remember. The third one on the right was more fuzzy than what I remember.

It looked like more of a cloud of gasses than the single star like the other two. Maybe I am wrong in this being Orion’s belt. I scanned the expanse and I was able to identify the rest of Orion. It looks like a man with a bow in his hand. Yes, this was definitely Orion. But I do not remember the cloud being the third star in the belt. Somehow it was not right, I just cannot not identify what that is.

I looked at the cloud, it was very tall. In fact it looked almost as if it was two different clouds. Wait a minute, these are nebula clouds. The top nebula is brighter than the lower one. But the lower nebula is longer.

I am closer to Orion’s belt than I would be on earth. I definitely have to look farther right to left to visualize the Orion clusters, it was definitely it. But why does it look different. You see there is the bow on the left and the man’s head on the right. Below the belt are the star clusters that make up his legs.

I am not too sure why I feel that this cluster of stars looks wrong to me, I will have to add it to the list and move on. At least this gives me a point of reference that hopefully will help me later.

I stand back up and look over the surface of the ship. It was smooth, almost too smooth. I do not see any seam’s, like you would see if the exterior was made of several plates. There is also no visible sign of fasteners, I do not see anything holding the skin to the ship.

I kneeled down and touched the surface. WOW, this is amazing. I can feel the surface of the ship through the gloves in my suit. It was similar to the surface inside of the air lock and the same color.

I turned back to the items at hand, the edge of the opening. It was cut so smooth, so perfectly it was as if someone cut thru it with a very long exacto knife. It was not torn, or does it seem like it was burnt by any means. It was just a perfectly cut edge.

I crawled to the edge of the cut. I reached my hand out and it came in contact with the edge. It wiggled. I retracted my hand quickly. The surface reacted to me touching it, almost as if it were alive. This is a big add to the to do list. I swallowed my fears and pulled myself to the edge. The surface shuttered again but I had to see.

As I pulled myself into view I was able to discern more of what I was seeing. The opening in the ship was large. It had to be ten or twelve football fields wide. I could see several sparks igniting at points in the opening. In fact, they were everywhere. I could tell that there were many levels in this ship. I would expect that the sparking that I see is maybe truncated wiring, but truncated by what?

Right at that moment an amorphous blob of glowing matter emitted from some large tube below. It detached and moved away from the surface, continuing its flowing and ever-changing shape. It looked to be growing larger, maybe thinning out a little as I can slightly see thru it now. It erupted at that moment into a blinding light display. So many moments of bright flashing lights at a moment where I was so well adjusted to the darkness, I was blinded.

I could not see a thing, there were bright splotches flashing all over my vision. I did not know what to do so I froze. My hands still hanging onto the trembling edge, hoping that I was not going to float away. Really hoping that my blinded vision is temporary.

I no other thought for a long time, I do not know how long. Just breathing, in and out, in and out …

I must have been staring for a while now as my eyes are starting to get dry, I blinked a few times and I could start to see something again. Blurry at first but there was definitely some vision returning. I exhaled heavily. A few more moments and it cleared a little more, it looks like it is slowly coming back. I was lucky … this time.

Memo to self, DO NOT STOP AND WATCH THE GLOWING BLOBS! They just might blow up!

My vision was returning the longer I waited, I can see the edge clearly again. There is still that white flashing light in the one eye … wait that flashing … it is on the HUD.

I am still not able to see clearly but I am looking at a row of characters on the HUD. They are still a little bit blurry, but I can see six, no seven, wait there are eight of them. The seventh one to the left is flashing. I do not recognize this shape here, it is not one that I remember seeing before.

Wait … I am thinking left-right again. These people are right to left readers. And from what I have seen already, the more important ones are on the right side. This might be very important.

“Damn … I wish I had some way to translate this, so I could understand it.” I exclaimed aloud.

The sound seemed to bounce around the inside of the helmet, almost as if it was echoing around me, absorbing into the inner surface of the helmet and bouncing right back off. More list items.

With my sight returning, I looked over the edge. There was a curvature to the removed section of the ship. And this curvature was all across the missing section of the ship. Correlating the curvature in all directions of the removed section of the ship I would deduce that something had taken a spherical section of the ship and left no evidence of the removed section.

All that I can think of was one of the terminator movies where one of the terminators had appeared at a location that had existing material. The terminator appeared in a sphere. All that was there was vaporized leaving the terminator.

Now I do not see any evidence of vaporization here, no burning, no particles in the area showing that there was ever something even there. I would have expected to see debris, but there was none. Other than the odd sparking that I am seeing from possible truncated power lines, there really is no sign of what was there.

It was more like whatever was here vanished and what showed up took over its position and location. But I cannot be too sure … more investigation is needed … another item for the to do list.

I can see all the levels in the ship below me, must be forty or fifty. I am going to have to find a way to get down there on one of them. The first one is maybe twenty feet to the floor and I am thinking that I am going to have to float down there to make it inside of the ship or find another way in. Just the thought of detaching myself from the surface of the ship was discerning to me.

So, I changed my thoughts to finding another way into the ship. I could use the door in the air lock that I came out of but I think that I have permanently sealed that one. I should be able to use one of the other ones that I saw.

Let’s think about this objectively. These air locks, they need to be in an accessible area. I would expect that there would be one on the top or bottom surface also. With a size of ship the size of this one, there should be a few of them. This way an individual could climb out of a ladder to the surface of the ship. I would expect that the top or the bottom would be the most advantageous way to exit the ship, but I could be wrong.

I stood up and started looking for an air lock. Since I was on the top surface of the ship there should be one around where I was. I looked as far as I could across the curvature of the missing section of the ship. I could not see anything at first, but then I noticed something about a footballs field away from me. It looked like what ever took part of the ship away may have removed part of an air lock door, I could see no others.

I decided that this was probably my best chance of getting back inside this area of the ship. I moved away from the cliff of the ship, I really disliked the drastic view off that edge. As I got about ten feet from the edge I turned toward my next destination, the partial airlock.

I kept walking sandy step by sandy step always keeping a little distance between me and the edge of the ship.

“No since being too close,” I thought to myself.

After I had traveled about half the distance to the air lock door that I saw another bright flash of light. This could have only been another one of those blobs of energy detonating. It was amazingly bright, but it looked to have no scarring effect on the ship, it was just light. It startled me, and I believe that it made me jump. Because right now I was not in contact with the ship and drifting away from it. I looked down at my feet and they were not in contact with the ship, this is bad.

Several of the cylindrical chambers on it stretched out away from the belt itself almost like they were on a post that stretched. They stopped about three inches away from the belt and small openings appeared on the top surfaces of each one. Not all of them did this, maybe two thirds of them did. I looked down again and I was definitely drifting away from the surface.

It was hard to judge but I think that I am now about two feet off the surface of the ship. Then something spectacular happened. I was still looking down at the moment and I saw small exhaust bursts come out of the top of the cylinders on my belt. I stopped moving away from the ship. The belt has miniature jets in it to alter my trajectory or drifting as in my case.

The suit must have detected my distress and responded accordingly, I hope. You don’t think that this would allow me to fly, would you.

As I thought about the airlock, the suit did something. I felt a boost from the belt as it pushed me closer to the air lock door. This was great, I have been trudging across the surface and I had booster rockets strapped to my waist. Who knew?

I did not travel fast, this was good as I was still a little shaken because of where I am. As I got closer to the door of the air lock I felt other boosts that slowed me down. I reached down with my toes and the belt seemed to acknowledge this and lowered me to the surface, so I could stand upon it again. Relief swelled over me.

Alright you can fly, make a note of that. This was a great relief as I could feel the fatigue in me as I was walking across the ships surface. I was not in good enough shape at all for this physical effort needed to walk across the surface. If there was someone watching, I must be giving them a real show today.

I kneeled down and put my hand on the door. It had a portion of the top missing that extended past the curved edge. I worked myself, so I could grab the remaining edge and I pulled. I must not have known my strength, the door came off its seat and floated up past me, just missing my helmet. I watched steadily as it slowly floated away into the darkness. I was surprised that it only got a few yards away from me and it disappeared. The darkness hindered seeing anything very far away. Then, I caught a glimpse of it as it reflected some glint of star light. It was still floating away.

“I hope that I do not have to pay for that”, I stated.

I looked down into the air lock expecting to see a way in, but I was wrong. You see the curvature of the missing section of the ship passed thru the changing room that I could see clearly now. The door to the inside of the ship was missing. I am not going to get in this way.

But I could fly … how did I do this again. I remembered that I jumped off of the surface of the ship, very slightly. I tried this again but was stopped when the soles in the feet of the suit held strong. This was not going to be easy.

I have to remember, situation, application and possibly thought needed to exist for something to happen.

It was now that I finally noticed my exhausted state. I was tired from traversing the surface of the ship. I do not think that I have enough energy to get back, this is not good. I am supposed to be watching this.

I focused on the HUD. The bar that I saw before had changed. The indicator on one side was now lower than the other. Possibly identifying to me the level of my exhaustion. The opposing indicator on the line was stable, maybe the suit’s indication. More to add to the list.

Right now, I was in distress, the suit must have noticed this. The soles of the feet released their contact with the ship and boosters were pushing me away from damaged area and back toward the perimeter of the ship. I watched the HUD and it showed me moving across the surface of the ship. Not to the airlock that I left from, but a closer one.

I was becoming thoroughly exhausted, I could feel it now. Why did I not notice this before, I am a fool. I have been out here too long.

When I reached the airlock, the suit righted itself to the floor inside. The door opened, and I was pushed inside by the thrusters. I came to a stop and was lowered to the floor inside. The outer door closed. Gravity and atmosphere happened almost at once. I was back on solid ground.

In my legs, I could feel the tiredness. Each step I took to the inner door of the airlock, were difficult. The inner door opened, and I stepped inside the changing room. The door behind me closed and I collapsed to the floor.

Before I blacked out from exhaustion, I watched as the tank from my back dislodged from me, the legs walked it over beside an alcove. There was a suit already in it, so the tank lowered itself down to the floor. The legs became arms and withdrew the helmet first from my head. There was an odd sound as it popped loose of the suit. Then it literally pulled the suit from my body and laid it beside the tank and helmet.

My naked form now lying on the floor, fell asleep.




My eyes opened, not there but here in this reality. I was lying in my bed, my wife beside me. I sat up, still feeling the exhaustion I felt before on the ship. It was like I had not slept during the night.

But, my mind was racing with what I had just experienced. I had to know more. I started with Orion’s belt. The attached is my research that I did this day, here in this reality.

The big item I saw was that I was truly looking at Orion’s belt. But from the opposing side. As far, as we on earth are from them, I was that far, but on the other side on them. In our view of the sky, the center star it is the farthest from us. This is the reason it was so bright in the dream. I was closer to it.

And the angle of the three stars that I saw in the dream was opposite than we see here.

As I stated before, I continued this dream over the next months. Sometimes the next night I was there, sometimes it was weeks before I returned. Always, it was time continuous. The same amount of time passed in the dream that passed here. I kept notes of the rest of these dream sequences. This is the only part that I jotted down fully. One day I may continue, if there is time. Haiku …
 
Haiku, that was outstanding and fascinating!

I hope you are still faring well on the spaceship and that you may find the time to continue the series. I would very much like to follow this up.

I have been pondering the question, whether dreams that feel like 3-d reality are more real than others, like being in a parallel reality. So far I am still insecure. I had some dreams that felt like hardcore 3-d reality but the dream stories were not spectacular. One was about a parking problem in my neighborhood. What puzzled me a bit is that in each dream the landscape of well known areas was quite different from my current reality.
 
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