Space

AKA RANGER
On a distant unnamed planet, the Phobetor stood uselessly, no longer the pristine spacecraft
that it was meant to be. Not a single soul roamed its halls, save for a young woman in the
bridge.
The young woman, whose name tag read KARA, sat cross-legged on the floor while she
tinkered with an object that resembled a watch. Her ashen face, covered by a mop of fair
hair, was scrunched with immense concentration as she screwed the case back on.
Alright, moment of truth. she set the precision screwdriver down and took a breath, her eyes
squeezed shut as if in silent prayer:
"Roessel, this is Phobetor, RADIO CHECK, OVER." Kara recited as calmly as she could,
"Roessel, this is Phobetor, RADIO CHECK, OVER."
Much to her dismay, however, silence greeted her. The time that she had taken to fix the
communicator was for naught.
"Shit."
Kara felt a cold knot form in the pit of her stomach-- she was truly on her own now.
A cacophony of images played itself out in her mind's eye; death by asphyxiation, death by
myocardial infarction, lethal hypothermia--
"No! No! NO!" she violently shook the communicator, every inch of her overcame with a
sudden panic, "You HAVE to work! GOD DAMN IT!"
Her body quaked with rage as she forced it open with the screwdriver, "I can't die here, I
can't..."
But in her manic state she fumbled, a screwdriver through her hand the unfortunate result.
Consumed by immeasurable pain, Kara released a blood-curdling scream.
Kara sat alone in the interview room, adrenaline still fresh in her system. She couldn't remember a
time when she was this nervous, not even back when she was an intern at Roessel General Hospital.
That, she thought, was a cakewalk compared to this.
For years she had prepared, with countless nights of incessant studying, strict diets, and not to
mention a strenuous exercise regimen. Her entire life had built up to this moment, and she could not
let herself fail the second time.
Who wouldn't be as anxious as she was if they were in her situation?
But she had made it through this time, after a multitude of tests and gruelling interviews, Kara had
now earned the title of spacewalker.
She felt a grin creep across her face, her nervous energy now replaced with giddiness.
--