Best of British Science Fiction 2022 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: NewCon Press
Published: 2023-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Call of the Void

J.K. Fulton

“We’re showing less than zero decimal five PSI down here. You are go to open the EV hatch and stow it.“

“EV1 copies.”

I begin the process to unlock and open the hatch, and get ready to move my bulky suit out of the airlock. It’s a slow and deliberate process. Dave – or EV2 as he’s known on this spacewalk – and I have been in the ISS airlock for nearly an hour already, waiting for the slow depressurisation, so there’s no rush. I’ve got a full day of work ahead of me replacing batteries on the Port 6 truss.

As I emerge from the airlock, I feel it again.

The French call it l’appel du vide – the call of the void. If you’ve ever stood on a tall building, or on the side of a cliff, and had a momentary urge to jump, you’ve felt it too. It’s not a suicidal ideation – in fact, psychologists think it’s the exact opposite, an affirmation of life, rather than a desire for death.

All I know is that whenever I’m on a spacewalk, the desire to leap off into the void is much stronger than I’ve ever felt on Earth. The laws of physics tell me that I’m not going to fall. I know I’ll just float around on the same orbit as the ISS. But my monkey brain says that it’s a long way down and I’m going to make a really big splat when I hit the ground.

“Tamsin, you are clear of the hatch.” Anya’s voice reaches me from Earth. She’s an experienced astronaut herself, although she’s ESA rather than NASA like me. Today she’s not flying, but is in Houston acting as ground IV Capcom – the primary contact between me and the engineers below. Believe me, it makes a difference when the person ordering you to do things in minute detail has actually been up here and experienced it for herself. “Remember you are live with children all across Houston today.”

“EV1 copies.” I suppress a groan. I hadn’t forgotten. We’re doing a special event with Houston schools, and I drew the short straw. A lot of the work we do up here has nothing to do with engineering or research, but is pure PR. “Good morning, Houston!”

I launch into my prepared statements. No, I didn’t get to write them myself. “Safety is so important up here. We have multiple systems that mean the possibility of becoming detached from the ISS is really small. You can see I have my eighty-five-foot safety tether permanently attached to a rail here. It’s a self-retracting cable that applies a small amount of force – if I become completely detached from the station, it’ll slowly reel me back in. I’ve also got a three-foot tether that I can use to hold me in place – that’s handy when I don’t want to fight against the tension of the long safety cable. I keep at least one hand on a rail at

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.