nostr:npub1nxty7rc9fdtcf3mq83wp4jsxqm9yz209e6fjn0qkjgm542x23vpqma055a After months of travel, bickering, and more games of cards than anyone without job security would admit to, Eden17 enters Mars sphere of influence.

Cmdr Lockhart's job was a final EVA to inspect impact plating on the Eden. This version, The Duration 3, has made The Evak Run six times, and the Commander twice; both showing signs of tiredness.

There are good sized cracks from the high temp fluctuations all over but this is Mars. Those aren't an issue. A missing I.P.? Yeah. Fuck.

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"I'm never volunteering again"

Those were Mirelle Scheleintzer last words in her personal log.

They found an abandoned space station on their way back to Sol System. Nobody wanted to go there. She, "The Brave Schelz" as they called her since her academy days, proclaimed "I'll go, wusses!" and so she did.

"This thing is still working", Schelz reported. Comms failed on her side. When her crew went to her rescue they found her LT-EVA suit free floating, empty…

#WritingPrompt

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Only two inches high, Zappazoids were still a formidable foe. A pair of cruisers, no bigger than bathtub toys, had dropped out of warp, shot the bolts off a panel, and inserted mechworms, which had to be removed by hand. Ensign Flores got the spacewalk duty, hoping the Zappazoids hadn't done this just to get a human out here.

A cruiser winked into existence and got in her face.

"Small is beautiful," it said. "Tiny is superior and you are a big oaf."

Then it disappeared.

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How many astronauts does it take to change a lightbulb?

Anastasia hoped the answer was one.

The LED array was inconveniently located far from the habitat module, but at least it got her away from the others.

Gus was driving her insane, but out here it was just her.

Well, her and all the eyeballs through telescopes supposedly staring at the adverts screening on the array, but best not to think about that. The money was good and it wasn't like she had a dick to enlarge anyway.

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Chessie floated slowly along in the Argos' massive cargo hold (half a million cubic feet); full of tech salvage and biological samples collected during the Europa mission. She had to find sample #3120.

As she searched, she did the math in her head, “3.5% of O2 left, so I have about 28 minutes.”

“Hurry Chessie, the Wyvern is close now,” the Argos AI said. That Europan monster had killed 21 crewmen.

“Found it!” she said out loud.

“Warning! It’s in the hold!”

Chessie opened the sample container, the Europa beetles launched directly at the Wyvern, a natural enemy, bombarding it with 200 °C acid; it screamed in agony.

NOTE: 615 count – couldn’t contain myself again tonight. "Apologies, the intermix chamber and containment field are stable."

nostr:npub1nxty7rc9fdtcf3mq83wp4jsxqm9yz209e6fjn0qkjgm542x23vpqma055a Hendricks was right. We shouldn't have invested so much in AI. GERNY, as the machine was called, had taken over the mission.

It was a routine milk run. Collect some environmental samples from this sector and head home. Then GERNY decided the mission needed to change. It first eliminated Rios on the pot. Then Hendricks inside the propulsion hatch.

Here I am trying to hardwire around the bot. I'm on my last breaths in the suit. GERNY keeps asking questions. I'm not going to make it.

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As she approaches one of the panels, a series of unfamiliar symbols catch her eye. The markings seem to pulsate with an eerie glow, captivating her senses. Her scientific curiosity intensifies, and she reaches out, hesitating for a moment before placing her gloved hand on the surface.

She remains resolute, knowing that this is the moment she has trained for—a moment that could change the course of human history.

"Switching off breaker DL341."

"Nope."

"DL341 on."

"Switching off breaker DL342."

The comms went silent.

"Sandy?" Joyce waited a few seconds watching the station slowly rotate past the broad disc of the Milky Way. "Control?" She re-engaged the breaker. "DL342 on."

There was a crackle of static, then a roar.

"CONTROL WE HAVE FIRE IN THE…" Static again. Joyce felt a jolt through her handhold.

"Control? Sandy?"

A final roar filled her ears then silence. Joyce looked toward the lock and saw venting.