- Look what you've done! - Nigel exclaimed.
- When I can't! I don't even know what I hit! - I shouted back.
My eyes were darting around the cockpit in search of whatever I bumped into. I saw Justine again. She seemingly realized that she distracted me, because she was frowning. That aside, she was also pointing somewhere towards the back of the rocket.
- Can anyone check what's going on there? - I said this as loud as possible, so that at least one person would hear me.
Luckily, more than one did.
Nebula was already on her way to see what's wrong, but Amber and Dawn were closer to the back, so they quickly found the issue: a piece of space trash.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I was afraid that I damaged the station, which would've been a very costly mistake. Cosmic garbage was by no means something to take lightly, but it was better than breaking something with people aboard, like the Pitstop Station.
Speaking of it, many astronauts aboard said station also looked at the piece of junk which caused the mishap. I was tempted to get up and see for myself. Nigel was maneuvering on his own, so I believed that he can take care of the navigation. I left my seat and flew over to the nearest window.
I have seen a lot of space trash during my career; most of it was either defunct satelites or old, decoupled parts of rockets that were left behind. However, this piece was different.
First of all, it wasn't made of mostly metal like the other garbage I've seen. Instead, it consisted of a wafer-thin layer of what appeared to be glass, with small metallic struts holding the structure together.
Secondly, it was very flat, looking like a giant glass shard.
- I think it's a solar panel - Dawn suggested.
- Might be, but it's really large for one - I commented. The shard was almost half the size of our rocket, much larger than any traditional solar panel.
- They have some big panels down there - Amber pointed at the Moon below us.
That was true. During our first mission, I got to see gigantic solar farms miles across, albeit from a distance. Still, the panels used in those farms were surely much bigger than those used in orbital vehicles.
- Those had a blue tint. This is more like a mirror: colorless and reflective - I observed the piece of space junk.
In the meantime, Einstein left the toilet.
- What did I miss? - he asked.
- A strange piece of glass smacked into our rocket, giving me chills - I briefed him.
- That does look weird - Einstein nodded slowly as he observed the drifting piece of trash.
- What are you doing out there?! - Captain Nigel barked - This thing is coming for a round two!
I jolted over to the cockpit with Einstein. The others were also following us, curious to see how events unfold. Nigel was right. The mysterious piece of glass was getting closer and closer to our vessel.
- This thing is going to slice through our rocket like a knife! - Sebastian, who also arrived, yelped.
I realized that the edges of the shard were very sharp and one of them was pointed at our fuselage.
- Do something! - Nebula exclaimed from behind.
Nigel was already changing course, but someone else had to handle the thrust. Since I was closest to the empty seat, I chose to steer the engines. I fired them up and our rocket started moving away from the junk. Still, it was much slower than the glass shard.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEk0dgg2Qw
- How do I speed up? - the dozens of buttons and triggers were overwhelming in this moment of stress.
- Look for the yellow trigger! It unlocks acceleration! - Einstein tipped me off.
It wasn't long before I found and switched it. The engines growled like they just woke up and our rocket jolted forward. The shard, represented by a pulsing dot on our radar, now appeared to be sluggish.
Justine looked at our spaceship one last time. Meanwhile, we were headed for Venus again.
- Time Skip -9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZptAIx2FA
I returned to the cockpit; this time, it wasn't a lesson. Einstein and Nigel were busy piloting the spacecraft, so I was only an observer.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Tx89YaXmn
It was a very busy day in general. Arika and Nebula were busy trying to get more out of the USB we fetched from Icebreaker-5, the stolen spacecraft from our previous mission. Claudius was fixing some flickering lights in the bedroom. Amber was training to fight without gravity, with Dawn joining her. Sebastian was scrolling on his phone, but as opposed to binge watching random videos, he was researching Venus to be as prepared for the landing as possible.
In all of this work, I was one of the few people who wasn't doing anything. So I decided to enjoy the views from our front window. I didn't say anything, so that I won't distract our pilots. Thanks to that glass shard we encountered twelve weeks ago, we all knew how important it is to stay focused while steering a spacecraft. Nebula even made a seminar of ignoring outside stimuli.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtYHDApuun
Now, Venus took up most of the view, with its various shades of beige, tan and brown. Interestingly, what I was seeing wasn't the surface, but clouds which covered the planet like a thick blanket.
I revised some knowledge of mine about this planet. Its surface is notorioulsy inhospitable for life as we know it, due to a very pleasent average temperature of 464 degrees celcius, a crushing pressure 92 times higher than sea-level on Earth known to flatten spacecraft and sulphuric rain falling from the sky, regularly dissolving unsheltered material.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnpeF6RhMJ
Unlike the hellhole below, the atmosphere (specifically an altitude of about 50 to 60 kilometers) boasted somewhat habitable conditions. This includes a surprisingly earthlike temperature range from 0 to 50 degrees celcius, pressure almost equal to earthly sea level and a nice view of the sky. The acidic rain is still a problem, but habitats are sheltered by a corrosion-resistant alloy known as Hastelloy.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0z50ItRSWv
Speaking of habitats, I was curious to see them in person. After all, we'll spend the mission in them. We were getting close to Venus and landing was due in about fifteen minutes, according to a timer on the control panel.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBnJuy75Vs
I decided to make myself useful and do some digging on the glass shard which we encountered near the Pitstop Station, as it was still puzzling for me. I left the cockpit, so that my typing won't bother Einstein and Nigel.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySOMDZi8dN
I tried a few combinations, including space trash glass shard, but the search engine seemingly didn't understand the size of the junk, suggesting it was a leftover solar panel. The images nearby showed bits much smaller than what we've seen earlier.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHxBHpQ1Wr
So, I added space trash massive glass shard, only to find virtually the same results. I continued scrolling for several minutes, but didn't find anything remotely useful.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWDDzjLS0s
- Looks like we're landing soon - Sebastian suddenly spoke.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44U2fzgaGL
While I was researching the shard, he finished his duty and came to observe the view as well. As it turned out, we were already soaring through the clouds of Venus.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkoSYW3rJl
For a minute, nothing was visible besides them. But then, a truly collosal structure showed up. It was a human habitat.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBjG47c9Iq
It was a giant metal sphere with windows and reinforced solar panels on top. Our rocket looked like a speck of dust in comparison. There were a few more spheres in the distance, identical to the one in front of us, save for the size, as many were smaller, indicating that they were built earlier.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrinLkFZ8qF
Veuns was colonized a mere three and a half years ago, yet the progress was extremely rapid, mainly thanks to the automation of construction. The first habitats were pretty small, made solely to establish a presence on the second planet from the Sun. Later, thanks to an incredible cooperation of various nations, along with the funds poured into AI and robot development, new spheres were established astonishingly quickly. All of them used the same technique to stay in the air: they were lofted upwards by light gasses (mostly helium), like cities stuffed into zeppelins.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoES0vFBcbA
We were approaching the biggest and closest habitat, which had a pretty imposing name: the All-Seeing Eye. This title stemmed from its size, spherical shape, and the fact that you can see every other habitat from this one. It was the centre of Venusian activity, because of its large population. Still, as we got closer, it looked very peaceful, despite its menacing name.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQH9lDtNbY
It seems like we were expected to arrive, because a gate opened shortly after we reached the sphere. We landed on a metal floor and Sebastian, Einstein, Nigel and I left the cockpit. We reunited with the others near the hatch.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwzYAE4ZGJ
- Get your oxygen masks - Agent Nebula commanded.
One delightful thing about Venus was that you only needed an oxygen mask to stroll around, which meant that we didn't have to deal with our spacesuits, which were a lengthy nightmare to put on. We got our masks from the storage room and made it back to the hatch. Claudius opened it and we left the rocket.
It was time to start investigating.
ns216.73.216.89da2
and then Add to home screen.