The End to Come - Page 10 3D Render, Digital Artwork by emarukk

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The End to Come - Page 10

3D Render by emarukk

The gently arcing corridor stretched ahead, leading directly to the imposing airlock. This sizable airlock, explicitly designed for cargo, was smaller than the docking bay but more significant than the spacewalk hatch. Cargo ships were generally equipped with boarding ramps, featuring specially designed connectors that allowed them to dock seamlessly to airlock of this type. The corridor, airlock, and the entire adjacent area were energized by an auxiliarity power supply, bolstered by a series of redundant batteries, ensuring uninterrupted function. Despite the grim circumstances surrounding her, Olivia felt a surge of pride in her meticulous craftsmanship. She had installed it all under the floor of the airlock. The inner door stood ajar, precisely as she had left it. Hovering in the airlock, like a silent sentinel, was the drone that had previously conducted its inspection of her. It was an impressively large drone, and it dawned on Olivia that it surely housed an array of weaponry. The airlock featured two robust layers of double doors, each serving as a formidable barrier against the vastness of space. Both outer doors were securely sealed, a perfect execution of their intended purpose.

Through the reinforced window, Olivia caught sight of the shuttle, a compact vessel floating just beyond the station's perimeter. Its metallic surface gleamed under the distant glow of starlight, and it held its position with precise, controlled bursts from its thrusters, emitting gentle plumes of vapor. The ominous view sent a deep chill spiraling through Olivia's core, tightening her chest with unease. There was no docking bridge extending from the station and no secure connection linking them. The only path to that lonely shuttle was a daunting journey into the vast, unforgiving expanse of open space.

Her throat constricted as if an invisible hand tightened around it. The last hours had taken her from one chilling discovery to another, and now all she wanted was to wake up screaming in her bed. Olivia had never ventured beyond the familiar boundaries of Verdantia. The thought of drifting in the vast, unforgiving abyss of space, where there was no distinguishing up from down, only an endless void of inky blackness, filled her with a mix of dread and awe. Her only experience with zero gravity had been through simulations, encased in a practice space suit. She knew it would be many years before she would have the privilege of participating in an actual spacewalk training outside the station's protective shell.

Her eyes flitted anxiously around the confines of the airlock, searching for some means of salvation. She was acutely aware that there were no rescue sacks to be found. Only two spacesuits hung on the wall, both designed for men, their silhouettes bulky and oversized like cumbersome giants. If she hoped to escape, she would have to wrestle one of these suits into submission or adapt herself and just float in the middle of a giant suit. In doing so, the space suit itself would become her makeshift rescue sack. Unless the mysterious stranger had another plan hidden up their sleeve.

Olivia turned her gaze to the stranger beside her. For the first time, so close to departing the stations, she had anticipated a sense of urgency that she felt by herself. She wanted to see a flicker of alarm in response to the crumbling chaos surrounding them. Yet, the stranger moved with an unyielding calmness, as if the looming catastrophe was merely an illusion they could dismiss. His grip on her arm was firm yet effortless, guiding her with the ease one might use to lead a sleepwalker, rather than someone poised on the brink of their deepest nightmare.

The station emitted a deep, resonant groan that seemed to twist Olivia's stomach into knots. The sound reverberated through the air, causing the floor beneath them to undulate like waves on a stormy sea. The gravity wavered again, a disconcerting flicker that shifted Olivia's weight from feather-light to oppressively heavy before settling back to a semblance of normalcy. This section of the station was rapidly losing its structural integrity, threatening to collapse at any moment. The gravity plating was on the verge of failure, poised to disappear entirely. Panic clawed at the edges of Olivia's consciousness, a frenzied beast demanding attention, yet the stranger remained unperturbed, unnaturally serene. His composure was almost otherworldly. The only escape lay through the oppressive void, a thought that raced through Olivia's mind in tandem with the cacophony of twisting metal and snapping electrical connectors. The acrid fumes of fires grew stronger with each passing second, a grim reminder that the station would soon either be consumed by flames or swallowed by the cold, unyielding vacuum of space. At least systems in the airlock would operate, although the station lost its last connection to the power supply.

PROFILE

Digital Drapery CoWed, Mar 26

Karma: 13,153

Drifting untethered into open space in an oversized suit sounds about as comforting as jumping out of a plane with a parachute three sizes too bigOlivia is about to star in a cosmic horror show, and she knows it.

The way she sizes up the airlock, scanning for salvation, is pure survivor instinctno damsel-in-distress nonsense here. But that stranger? Unshaken. Unbothered. Moving through chaos like hes got the script to the universes biggest disaster movie and already knows how it ends. And yet, he holds Olivia steady, almost too steady, like hes guiding a dreamer through a nightmare she hasnt woken up from yet.

The station groaning like an old god on its last breath? The flickering gravity playing tricks with her bones? The fire licking at the walls while the void outside whispers promises of an icy death? Olivia has no good choicesjust one terrible, inevitable leap into the abyss.

But hey, if shes going to take that jump… she might as well make it look good.

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PROFILE

emarukk

Karma: 2,357

Thu, Mar 27

Thank you! The jump will be a craceful balle in an oversized space suit.