Chapter Text
Sound doesn’t travel through space. That’s one of the things Suletta has come to learn in her time as an astronaut. Waves lap at empty air, but nothing reaches her ears. Just silence. Silence, and the sound of her own beating heart.
Suletta tugs on the rope connected to her suit, and suddenly she’s flying backward. The sun looks way bigger from space than it does from Earth, and its light is absolutely blinding. Yet, Suletta still stares at it, even as she’s pulled back to the station and the door is closed shut behind her.
“Did’ya get it?” Chuchu, one of her fellow astronauts, unhooks the rope from Suletta’s suit. “The error message is gone.”
Suletta nods. She removes her helmet and holds it on her hip, carding fingers through her hair to straighten it out. “Mm, it was just a minor leak.”
Chuchu pats her on the shoulder and floats away, likely back to the control center with Nika to do any other last-minute checks. Suletta gingerly removes her space suit, thankful to be free of all the clunky mechanisms that go into it. She’s grateful, but some of the features are annoying and, quite frankly, useless.
She hangs her suit next to the others and places her helmet on the shelf. Her name is written on the side along with a tiny cartoon drawing of a bear, which she had carefully done herself when she first received her suit.
To think it had already been a month since she came to space. It had definitely been a lot to get used to. Going from being bound by gravity to completely weightless is its own thing, but there’s also… loneliness.
Sure, she has Nika and Chuchu, but Suletta misses her mom. She misses Eri, her sister, and she misses the few friends she had left from college.
But, thinking about that will only serve to make her more sad. So, Suletta turns away and floats into the main room of the station. Chuchu and Nika are huddled by one of the engines, speaking in a hushed tone. Suletta decides she’s not too interested in the conversation, instead digging into some of their reserves and pulling out a dry packet of tomato soup.
Another thing she had to get used to is the idea of “dry soup.” It still perplexes her. How is soup dry? Is it still soup? Isn’t the whole point of soup that it’s wet?
Either way, it tastes decent. Pretty much the exact same as the canned tomato soup you can get on Earth. Save for the creaminess of a fresh tomato.
Tearing into the package, Suletta fills the bag with hot water and waits. This part always sucks. The awkwardness of standing aimlessly with a packet of hot food in hand, basically inviting the surreal feeling of isolation in that one tiny moment.
Maybe Suletta is just a tad too obsessed with feeling lonely. Maybe, definitely, she's thinking too much, as Eri has always told her.
The last piece of dry soup melts into the broth, and Suletta stops thinking about it. She scoops a little liquid from the bag, blows on it to cool, and eats.
The metal of the spoon clacks against her top teeth. Nika and Chuchu’s conversation grows louder, but Suletta still doesn't listen. She just eats. Eats and turns her head to stare out into the endless expanse of soundless space.
She wonders what stars would sound like if she could hear them. Do planets make any noise? What about comets and asteroids when they fly past?
Is space as deaf as it sounds, or is it full of crashing and burning and music?
Suletta won’t ever know. That, more than anything else, feels lonely.
Her eyes drift along the stars, counting each one. She can barely see Mars through the expanse, but it’s noticeably there. Everything is stagnant, or at least it looks that way. Suletta knows that everything is moving, she’s moving, but space is just too large to see it.
One thing catches her eye. Something that moves much faster than the blinking stars around it.
An asteroid?
No, too small.
Comet?
There’s no trail.
Meaningless speck of dust?
Suletta is about to turn away, content with that classification, when the speck lights up on their radar. There’s a heat signature.
A person?
Suletta runs over to the radar and checks their vitals. Oxygen low; they don’t have much time.
“Chuchu!” Suletta calls out as she pulls her suit on. “Can you get closer?!”
“No can do, the station is set in orbit!”
Suletta curses under her breath. She pulls on her helmet and closes the door to the pressurization chamber. “I’m going!”
“Suletta, wait!” Chuchu tries to open the door, but Suletta is already drifting into open space. She takes a moment to gather her bearings, figuring out what’s up and what’s down, before her eyes set on the figure in the distance.
They’re not too far. Suletta activates her thrusters. She flies forward, arms outstretched. The person waves their hands in front of them, and their body writhes. Suletta pushes forward, wrapping her arms around them and pulling. She directs herself back to the station, fighting to stop the person from flailing about.
The door shuts closed with a hiss of steam, and Suletta lets go.
“Y-You’re safe now, I’ve got you!”
“Idiot!” The person, a woman, headbutts her. Suletta falls back with a yelp, eyes wide and mouth agape as the woman she just saved berates her for ‘getting in the way.’
“U-Um, I-I’m sorry?”
“You better be!” She retracts her visor, and Suletta is left awestruck by the most gorgeous eyes she has ever seen. The woman’s hair is a pure shade of silver, and it looks soft to touch. Her lips are thin and pink, and even while scowling, she’s absolutely beautiful.
Something else catches her eye. Suletta looks up, finding two sharp, winding horns.
…what?
“I was so close, and you just had to ruin it! You owe me.”
“...Okay?”