Castaway

Chapter 4 : Into the Mountain King Part 1

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

[Please connect to the nearby StarNet Connection for possible communication. If connection cannot be initiated; Please inform your nearest StarNet Relay Stations for connectivity problems.]

[...]

[BZZT!]

Click!

... Bzzt... Bzzt... Bzzt...

Click!

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

[Plea-]

"Alright, alright! Enough of the damn machine already!"

A man screamed on his communication module, as his body slightly moved in the opposite direction of his bulky engineering space suit. Angering him once more, he activated his suit thrusters to get back into position of inspecting the radiators of the space station. Only to hear laughter from the other side of the communication module with a hard accent, reminiscent of that of the Eastern Europa.

"My, my, Ethan! Your fat arse is the reason why you got into that situation in the first place! Talk about discrimination at it's finest~"

"The only discrimination I see in this, is how ALL of you are putting this damn maintenance job to me! I thought it was Alamon's turn!" Ethan replied with annoyance, as he began to physically tamper with the radiators with his onboard toolkits.

"Don't forget, he's our sole engineer at maintaining that classified StarNet computer. So he's hands are full." The Eastern European man then ended his reply with a nervous chuckle, as Ethan remained silent throughout the maintenance job.

"For fuck's sake..."

"Sorry brother! Kepler 76's are the hardy ones after all!"

This goes on for nearly 10 minutes of idle talk here and there, regarding on the maintenance radiators of the space station. Since there is no sound that vibrated into the deep space, it was only the sounds of the inside of the space station that Ethan keeps on hearing. Probably for the better so that he won't loose it with the sheer silence of the whole place. Same goes for the Eastern European man, whom just occasionally have some idle chit chat with the other crews that went pass him, or how the automated voice would echo once every while to inform them of some information about the station.

Clink... Clink... Clink... Clink... Clink...

This was the usual routine, not that it was unpleasant. It was simply that. A routine, not a torturous journey. It is just that silence that those two would agree is unnerving. Especially in space where sounds literally cannot be heard because of ironically the lack of space thereof, for it to bounce or absorb. The only place where sounds can be heard, is of course, inside the ship— Ethan's only comfort of the dread of silence of space. No communications, no radio traffic, no tapping on the shoulder, but just his suit that protects him from space.

His inner turmoil eventually reached to a boiling point when he stopped tinkering on the panel. The Eastern European man on the comms module then tapped the transceiver to get his attention, to bring him back to his senses.

"Hey, Ethan. Your not yet finished. What is up with the hold up?"

"... Just... just wondering how long we will be stuck in this situation..."