157th Entry

April 2^nd, 2037

1035

Dear Space Diary

“3.0! Get back inside! There’s a meteorite! You need to get back in, now! Hurry! I don’t understand, she’s not responding. What the hell are you doing?”

She can’t hear you.

“But everything’s working! I checked the equipment twice this morning! 3.0! MARY!!!”

You turned the microphone off.

“…You could have said something.”

I did.

CLICK

“3.0! There’s a meteorite!”

“I know, it’s cool, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“And incidentally, I know you turned the microphone off. That’s just rude. Also suspicious. I’m on to you two.”

There’s no time. Get inside! It’s going to hit the side of the ship.

“Pfft. Like that’s going to hurt the ship. These things are strong.”

More specifically, it’s going to hit near the engine.

“Oh cool, I’ll have a good view from here.”

“3.0, you idiot! It’s going to hit where YOU are. It’s going to hit YOU.”

“…Will it hurt?”

YES IT WILL HURT! It’s pretty small but it’s still going to do some damage. Get out of there.

“Can’t you just turn the ship!”

“I’m trying! But the autopilot is still locked. I can’t change it unless I lock on to something else, and if I do that I’ll never be able to get it back on Earth. Hurry, you’re almost out of time.”

“Ok, I’m going, I’m going.”

1037

3.0, move!

“I’m moving!”

Move faster. It’s getting closer! You have to get back inside!

“Do I have to be back inside to be safe? Can’t I just be, you know, not where it is?”

The hull may be strong enough to not take any damage, but it’s still going to throw us about. The autopilot will correct the course, but you’ll be knocked free.

“I can hold on fine, thank you.”

Do you want to bet… your life?

“Do you have any idea how corny you just –“

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

It hit us!

“I’m aware of that.”

Are you ok?

“Which side of my skin is the blood meant to be on?”

Inside.

“Then I’m mostly fine. Can you see 3.0?”

…No, the camera’s busted. Can you raise her on the microphone?

“Hello? Hello? 3.0, are you reading me?”

Try something a bit louder.

“Mayday! Mayday!”

That’s too loud.

“Sorry, I panicked… Nothing. No response. Maybe her receiver is broken.”

I’m going out there. How’s the ship? Any damage?

“Nothing on the scanner.”

That’s odd. It felt like quite an impact.

“Of course, it’s entirely possible the scanner’s damaged.”

Ah.

1045

Open the airlock.

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTT.

We don’t know what state she’s in. We better prepare for the worst.

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!”

THUMP

…Ow.

“I’m not dead!”

How did you avoid getting hit?

“That was easy. I jumped.”

Jumped?

“Yeah. We’re tethered to the ship dummy. I just jumped off, held on tight, and then climbed back in.”

Great, we’ll let’s get back in where it’s safe.

“I’ve just proved it’s safe outside too.”

“Careful 3.0, you don’t want to tempt fate.”

“HEY FATE! YOU SUCK!”

Sigh…