photo by NASA (yes, THAT NASA – which is why you want to click through to the full size picture for the full effect) via Unsplash
‘Are you there? Dawson? Are you there?’
‘Yeah, yeah, I’m here, Flores. Breathe slow now. Tell me what can you see.’
Cold misted Flores’ visor. Her limbs were stiffening, breath coming harder. She should stay quiet, conserve her oxygen, but what was the point now?
‘I see black,’ she breathed. ‘A lot of black.’ And silver, shreds of silver from the destroyed space station. And in the distance something white, a helmet shining on top of a motionless torso.
She looked away, towards the velvet black, the sprinkle of stars dancing like fairy lights on a string. If she just reached out, she could touch …
‘Flores? Flores?’
Written for Three Line Tales. See here to share, read and comment.
Word Shamble 
One of my worst nightmares, after seeing 2001. I am there, about to let go…
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I know! I can’t imagine how terrifying it is to do a space walk. Amazing, but terrifying! Thanks Jane 🙂
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The cold too, so cold your body just cracks up.
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I don’t think I’ll bother going 🙂
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Me neither. Rome’s cheaper and more interesting.
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Oh, here, here! Give me Rome/Pompeii/Herculaneum etc etc
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Space can remain the final frontier as far as I’m concerned.
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🙂
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‘The velvet black’ — a phrase that stuck in my mind. And the fairylights simile. Stark and beautiful and immense but sparse writing, and an atmosphere that reminded of the film ‘Gravity’ (also stark and beautiful). A perfect complement to the image.
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Thank you very much Chris! Great film, Gravity – not for those with motion sickness though 🙂
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An end, but perhaps not the worst way to go. She’s reaching for something more. It makes me think of the 1980’s song “Black Velvet”
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Ooh, yes I know that song! Thank you Mandi. Yes, worse ways to go. Though lonely, I think. Thank you for reading 🙂
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Reminded me of the movie Gravity, with Sandra Bullock. Loved the fairy lights strung on black velvet
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Thank you Crispina. Yes, starkly beautiful out there. Not a comfortable place to be I think.
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When I was ‘young’ I wanted to be an astronaut. Of course, I was never fit enough, and lived in the wrong country, and loads of other barriers to it. But the thought of floating through space, seeing the world from far-far away . . . probably the reason I read loads of SF!
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The thought is at once fascinating and terrifying, though more terrifying I think. I prefer terra firma 🙂
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