A lone figure, hidden within the blackness of space and so minuscule that you couldn't see him with your naked eye, floated through the serene and unnerving emptiness as he hurtled through the vacuum.
You'd find it quite surprising that he was somewhat calm considering the dire situation he found himself in.
"You know how people used to say that 'space is so vast and empty', or 'nobody could hear you scream in space'?" Jafferson Palmount spoke into his suit's intercom.
The approaching atmosphere of the big, blue planet created interference in the suit's intercom system and his pilot's voice just managed to crackle through.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, frein, but hold on!"
Jafferson chuckled to himself as his body turned around so that he was facing the planet. A warning label came up in front of him, warning him of the rising temperature that threatened the integrity of his suit. He ignored the warning and focused on the planet instead.
A lot of regrets raced through his mind when he saw the planet. The people called it Kor, after their deity and served as a symbol of hope for humanity as it reminded them of the 'Old World'.
He had to admit to himself that the planet did remind him of Earth.
His body turned slowly, and even though he couldn't see anything beyond the blackness of space at that moment, he knew of an almost countless number of ships and stations that orbited other planets in the System. Stuff that reminded him of the old sci-fi stories that his parents loved. They would have loved to see what he's seen.
It had been a while since he thought about his old family. It was only fitting that now that it seemed like he was about to die, he reminisced about his life. The old and the new.
He believed his parents would have been proud of what he managed to accomplish in such a short time. Not only had he survived this long, but he managed to find himself a good network of friends and those he could comfortably call family.
Through the worsening interference, he could hear his pilot and his best friend, or his besfrein as the pilot would say, struggle with the controls of the shuttle. He heard the man yell, "Work, you peetishaik!" and that made Jafferson smile.
The Universal Translating System didn't translate slang, so every now and then, a little bit of the pilot's Classic-Cryo-Ship slang slipped out and was something that made the man endearing.
Another warning appeared in front of him, and again warned him about the rising temperatures. He sighed and decided to activate his N-HUD. The warning message and the shrieking sound of the interference disappeared. The only sound that was left was a soft rumbling from in his suit because his skin slapped against the inner lining of the spacesuit as he started to fall through Kor's upper atmosphere.
How had this happened to him? He thought to himself as he thought back through the series of events that led to his current descent of death. It was just another shift. He and his pilot had been designated sector K-156 and things had gone as normal as his new normal could be. He then thought he noticed something out in the distance and went to investigate what it was. He had overextended his push, got caught at the edge of Kor's atmosphere, and now found himself in an orbital decay with the planet.
He closed his eyes tight and tried to breathe out slowly to calm himself. It didn't really work so he started to pray to Kor. He was never a religious person, and he never bought into the official religion of the New System, but he decided to pray to the deity anyway. Since he didn't know how to pray properly, he decided to get straight to the point.
"I don't want to die," Jafferson started as he looked down at the planet, "I've only just gotten used to this whole new existence, so I don't want to die yet."
He reminisced about the time he had spent in this new world, about the new life that he managed to cultivate, and about the found family that he was able to create.
"Things had just started to turn around and I didn't feel like a failure anymore," he continued, "And even though I don't believe in you right now, I promise you that if you give me a miracle that meant I wouldn't die, I am willing to believe in you."
He paused as he fought back the tears that threatened to run down his face and muttered under his breath, "Please. I beg of you."
And he waited.
As he continued to fall through the upper layers of Kor's atmosphere, the heat from his increasing falling speed started to grow, he realised that nothing was happening. His prayer had been left unanswered. There was no higher being looking down on him that could provide him with the miracle he needed.
That knowledge surprisingly left him feeling numb, but calm.
Well, I tried my best, he thought to himself.
A muffled hissing noise that came not from him or his suit started to grow and when he twisted around in his fall to face back into space, he was utterly surprised when he saw the JS-9218 shuttle that he had arrived in sector K-156 on was incredibly close to him.
Dangerously close, not only for him but for the shuttle itself.
The Junk Shuttles were never designed to go near any atmospheres. It didn't have the necessary heat protection or any landing gear as Junk Shuttles were only used to transport the junk that Metal Pushers collected to the Recycling Depot Stations that were scattered all over the New System.
He didn't know what his pilot was thinking, but the figure decided to turn his N-HUD back on to use the intercom.
"—ou rigind, turn on ——ntercom!" the pilot's voice screamed through the intercom. The interference was a little bit better now, but the static was still extremely loud and overbearing.
"Dexta? What the hell are you doing?" Jafferson yelled.
"Oh —eems you're——ha— on, real—— shaik of a plan!" The pilot yelled back.
Dexta Eastmore. Pilot prodigy, Classic-Cryo-Shipper, besfrein.
Jafferson's mind raced as Dexta continued to talk over the intercom. Though it often was broken up by the interference, it was obvious that the pilot was trying to explain some sort of crazy plan to save the figure.
"Dexta!" The man yelled, but the pilot continued to speak. The interference prevented a proper two-way exchange, but Jafferson decided that in the moments right before he died, he would reveal the truth to somebody.
"Dexta, I don't know if you can hear me through the interference, but I got something to tell you," Jafferson said, "I'm not who I say I am."
"What?" The pilot yelled over the static, "—eak loud, — hear y—!"
"I think I'm actually from another universe," Jafferson continued to explain, "One where humans still lived on Earth, and hadn't gone out to live in space. I had a mother, a father, and a couple of siblings. I had a girlfriend. I had a job I kinda hated — one not as dangerous as this one.
"I had a good life." He paused.
"But then, I was suddenly here, and it was so confusing and scary, but you were there from the very beginning, and you were so friendly to me. Even when I wasn't too friendly to you, you kept being my friend," The figure started to sob. He couldn't hold back the tears anymore.
"You even listened to all my stories about TV shows even though entertainment nowadays isn't the same anymore, you still listened to all my stories. Thank you. Thank you for being my friend.
"But this is way, way stupid, even for us. Save yourself, don't waste your life on somebody like me!" the figure yelled.
The shuttle didn't turn away and left him to fall and burn up through the atmosphere by himself. Instead, it matched the rate of speed and angle of the figure's descent and the side compartment of the shuttle slid open and welcomed the figure in.
Jafferson could see the airlock interior and the figure reached out and grabbed hold of the handle that protruded from the outer airlock door. He pulled himself in and the compartment shut behind him.
The shuttle went through its compression sequence and Jafferson unlatched the helmet of the spacesuit as the inner airlock door unlocked and opened. Beyond the door, multiple flashing lights and sirens blasted as Dexta scurried all over to try and keep control of the shuttle.
"What the hell Dexta?" Jafferson yelled.
"Sorry, I couldn't really hear what you talking about over the com, but I think I heard something about, whaseyou, TV show?" Dexta chuckled, trying to provide some levity to their current dire situation.
A console exploded to the pilot's right close enough that it made him flinch.
"Help me out, shaik crazy plan in progress," Dexta nodded his head to the co-pilot seat, his greasy and wavy blonde hair flopped around as he continued to wrestle with the controls.
Jafferson groaned but since the shuttle started to shake even more uncontrollably, he quickly shackled himself to the seat.
"What do you need me to do?" Jafferson asked.
"Well," Dexta started, "like I say, shaik crazy plan. First, save you. Then, bolst outer of shuttle wif radi shield and try boost out of grav well of Kor."
Dexta's slang was heightened in times of stress, and Jafferson struggled with the technobabble that he usually spouted when he was calm, so he gave the pilot a dead-eyed stare.
Dexta saw his look and laughed raucously, "Do what I say, when I say, ye?"
"Okay."
The pilot chuckled again, even as another console chimed a warning tune loudly.
"What's funny?" Jafferson asked.
"Just remind me, this whole deal. Kinda sound like one-a those thing you talk 'bout the TV shows," Dexta explained, "Whaseyou, in particular, you call them? 'Cold Open' I think?"