Rewired (451 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.88 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (View user info) at 2006-11-07 12:00:49 EST
Imagine for a moment that you have just undergone a fairly violent process, and are now in a state of suspended animation. You are weightless. You are looking back into everything you have ever experienced from a point in space and time that is outside of that experience. There is nothing, from your new perspective, with which to compare yourself. That is why motion has stopped for you. You feel relieved; calm. It is indescribable, partly because your senses are still adjusting, and partly because there is hardly anything to describe. Gravity is not acting upon you as it once did, but it is still acting.
And then, in an instant, the reality of where you are is wildly adventurous and dangerous. It is overwhelming. You are roughly 200 miles (320 km) above Earth, in low-orbit, tethered to the International Space Station (ISS). Although it doesn't feel like it, you are moving at an orbital velocity of about 5 miles per second (8 km/s). And although you can't see any, the possibility of being shredded by space debris weighs heavy on your mind. Even something as small as a grain of sand, at that velocity, can pierce your suit like a bullet and depressurize it. If that happened you could die very quickly from lack of oxygen. Not to mention if something larger hit you or, worse, detached you from your life-supporting tether.
That is where I am right now, on a spacewalk with fellow mission specialist Joan Higginbotham, folding a part of one of the solar arrays for optimal sunlight capture. My name is Nicholas Patrick. We've only been out here for an hour and a half, and we've already orbited the Earth once. This whole experience has been something like a rebirth, and we're only three days into the mission. This suit is my new skin; this tether is my new umbilical cord.
Joan must be experiencing some of the same exhileration. I catch her glancing at me and we smile at each other from across the truss. This is her first mission too. Something about the culmination of decades of training and dedication, and the comraderie of facing the same thrills and dangers, is bringing us together. That's understandable, but I think there is also a genuine mutual attraction developing.
On the surface, we couldn't be more different. I'm a white man born in the United Kingdom, she's a black woman born in Chicago, Illinois. We don't speak the same way, or use the same words, but from the conversation we had last night I knew immediately that we were kindred spirits. It reminded me of my first date with my wife: it was disappointing to go to bed. Over the next several days, it is our crew's responsibility to completely rewire the ISS's electrical systems, in order to bring the solar arrays online that were installed on this and previous missions. I'm hoping that we will have a chance to get to know each other better.
Normally, that would be unthinkable. I have a wife and kids, one of which was just born in September. I follow a fairly rigid set of personal morals. I'm not particularly religious, it's just that, having studied and practiced engineering for so long (I have a Ph.D in mechanical from M.I.T.), I guess I have become accustomed to dealing with absolute systems. There are questions and answers; causes and effects; right and wrong. Marriage, and my fidelity in conjunction, has been one of those absolutes for me.
It's just that, there's something about this mission that is changing me. There's something about the international cooperation to build this station, the dedication to new scientific discoveries, the contributions to humanity. It's causing me to see everything from a new perspective. I have reached the pinnacle of my ambition and experience, and so many things seem less significant: my job as an astronaut, the temporal insanity of political institutions, my marriage. It's all coming to me in a flash. And so many things seem more significant: the goals that I haven't accomplished, the places I haven't been, the things I have yet to learn. It's changing my entire worldview.
Everything that I have seen and touched and thought since last night has a visceral quality, like I'm experiencing it for the first time. I am overwhelmed with the importance of things that are common to us all, especially music. It's like there has been a soundtrack to my life playing. Right now, I'm hearing a song called "You are free" by Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts. Am I evolving? I hope that I can find these words after we rewire the station and return to Earth. It might help my wife understand why I need a break from everything. I'm not talking about shirking responsibility. This might not even end my marriage. I love my wife, and my kids are even more important now than ever. But there must be changes.
"
Time is moving on, you and me
You and me.
Suffering is gone, you are free
You are free.
I know I let you down
Those days are over now
I'm no longer who I was,
no longer who you thought I was,
I'm no longer who I was,
no longer who I thought I was.
"
Maybe I can just play her the song that's playing in my head. Maybe that will help to explain how it happened that I'm the one that came back rewired.
________________________________________
Author's Note: This is based on a true event that will be happening in December 2006. It is a fictional and speculative account of a real person. The names have NOT been changed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-116
User Reviews
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-11-17 15:54:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Late +2
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2006-11-08 09:29:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done.
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2006-11-07 22:01:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Sucks to be you.
Submitted by garudave (user info) at 2006-11-07 21:57:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
One fatal flaw: all female astronauts are dikes.
Otherwise, nice writing.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2006-11-07 19:24:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
What the hell is this???
1 - I thought I had until midnight tonight to post something.
2 - In NO way should Murphy be penalized for my fuck up. This should count as a UM submission against my forfeit.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-11-07 19:07:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
ORBITAL PEENER ATTACK
Submitted by MadameDestrukt (user info) at 2006-11-07 18:43:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Neep
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-11-07 14:09:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
NEGROES IN SPACE
Coming soon to a theater near you.
Rated R for profanity, nudity, extreme violence, drug use, extreme female buttock manipulation, smoking, poor taste in wines and champagne, big pants, gold teef, strange made-up African sounding names, fast-food product placements, fellatio, ebonics, dog fights, big fat black bastards holding portable stereos on their shoulders, ridiculous hats, parkas worn in the heat of summer, prolonged and excessively complex handshake rituals, improper use of handguns by holding them at silly angles rendering accurate shooting almost impossible, too many babies, not enough dads, women who don't improve their minds by reading books while sitting in a hair salon chair for three hours straight at least once a week, malt liquor, and one more soundtrack so shitty it is a wonder Tupac doesn't pull himself up out of the grave and bust open an economy-sized can of ass-whuppin on the whole rap/hip-hop industry.
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2006-11-07 13:21:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Not sure why Bart changed the programming on UM submissions...
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-11-07 12:32:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
cool enough
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2006-11-07 12:29:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you
(spoken)
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows"
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....
"Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do."
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2006-11-07 12:02:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Damn, I guess I missed it by 49 seconds...