Twinkle

Author : Zach Williams

Alex felt his eyes blink open before he realized he was awake. The window peering into the speckled darkness outside was the first sight that greeted him as consciousness reasserted control over his mind. He yawned and stretched out his arms as he glanced around his small room. The Spartan living space had not changed at all since he’d fallen asleep. Control lights blinked their various states of activity and repair. The white walls continued to keep the vacuum outside at bay. Alex supposed he might as well get things over with.

He reached down and untethered himself from the black bungee cord hooked to the wall, allowing his body to drift unimpeded. Alex reached out to the cold metal handhold and nudged himself over to the only door in the room. Both thick slabs of metal were closed in a hermetical seal. He reached out towards the blinking controls on the left hand side that would open it.

…Nah, not just yet. Alex pulled his hand away and spun himself back around. With the ease of years of practice, he stopped his spin by reaching out and grabbing the handhold, then gently pushed along the right hand wall towards the window. He smiled as he recalled some of his early misadventures with zero gravity. It had been so easy to forget how long his limbs were and how much power even a small push could have.

When he reached the window, Alex grabbed onto the handrail that surrounded it and gazed out into the silence. Lots of people said that space was empty, just a blank void. They were wrong, though. Space was filled with silence. Even the minor amount of tinnitus softly ringing in Alex’s ears seemed like an ungodly racket in the absolute quiet. Movement out of the corner of his right eye caught his attention and he turned his head.

An intestinal mass of wires and shrapnel floated through the void, spinning and dancing around each other in a silent ballet against a backdrop of twinkling blackness. How long had it been since the disabled satellite had miraculously knocked his room off of the space station? Apparently not long enough for his air to run out.

Alex used more of his dwindling air supply to heave a sigh. The window was facing away from the earth. If he wanted one last view, he’d have to go outside after all.