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My turn! 
SEP-010, Chapter 9.
Being in a claustrophobia-inducing space suit was one thing, Jamie Cunningham observed. The sound assaulting her ears. The feeling of the constant pressure on her skin. And the clammy, yet solid feel of the suit material on her skin continually served to drive the present into her head.
Then there was the view she was seeing through the glass in front of her head. The grey rock in front of her lit up by Constitution's RMS arm. The stark blackness of space punctured by the brilliant, clear spangling of stars above her. The azure-and-white gem of life floating fixed in the sky just above the horizon. And, turning to her right, Sienna and Svetlana just beginning to venture forward from the crew lift in a state of complete bedazzlement.
It was then that she realized she had no idea what to do. She had trained for an extravehicular activity before . . . but that was for another mission in a different life a million years ago. She was only supposed to go out if there was some sort of ridiculous problem with the satellite she released, and she was only supposed to go out with one other astronaut for support.
Her EVA training had nothing to do with extraterrestrial operations, nor did it have anything to do with supervising other astronauts whilst on an EVA, and she found herself hideously aware that she had a camera on her suit that was recording her every move -- or lack thereof.
She turned slowly in her spot, looking at the other two suits she could see. Sienna Morrison was now at work, doing her geologist thing, looking carefully at rocks and chattering with . . . herself? She could hear her voice over the radio loop, and most of the verbage coming out of her mouth, she couldn't understand.
Svetlana Zaytseva hadn't moved far from the ship. She didn't know if fear was involved, holding her back, or simply the fact the enormity of the moment hadn't caught up with her yet to allow rational thought.
That . . . led up to her . . . and she snorted softly as she picked a direction to walk.
The soil underneath her was soft, yielding, and she remembered the idle interest she took watching people like John Young and Neil Armstrong bouncing along the moon. That memory she called up, she tried to mimic as she moved . . . and to her immense relief, she found it relatively easy to get around. She bounced along softly, feeling relatively little fear of falling over.
She stopped 'moon-walking' as the light from Constitution's RMS arm began to wane, casting long shadows in the variations and striations in the surface in front of her, and she bent over to stick a gloved finger moon-ward. The powder-like dirt compressed underneath her finger, remaining rigidly compliant . . . and she smiled as she started to apply herself to her impromptu project.
A shadow formed in front of her after some time . . . and she twitched as her brain jerked itself back to reality.
"You're in my light," She said softly.
"My apologies," She heard Svetlana's heavily-accented voice reply. "What are you doing?"
"We didn't take anything along to leave here," Jamie replied, "so I thought of this. It should still be here if anyone else comes here."
Svetlana nodded as she read:
SEP-010. WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2020. CONSTITUTION.
LANDED SAFELY DURING SOLAR STORM.
B. ADKINSON J. CUNNINGHAM
A. DOWNS S. MORRISON
S. ZAYTSEVA
"You have been busy," Svetlana said.
"Yes, I have," Jamie conceded triumphantly as she stepped back to look over her work.
Svetlana continued reading the text:
STS-51L
J. RESNIK R. MCNAIR S. C. MCAULIFFE
G. JARVIS
STS-107
K. CHAWLA M. ANDERSON L. CLARK
I. RAMON
Jamie Cunningham watched with interest as Svetlana took a knee herself, and started to write:
"Your guys, huh?" Jamie asked lowly, and Svetlana nodded.
"We have our own fallen heroes on our side of the world."
"Thank you for sharing," Jamie said softly as their eyes locked, and Svetlana nodded stiffly to her.
"Hey, Murdock! C'm'over here," Jamie heard Sienna say loudly. Turning on a heel, she saw Sienna bent over, looking at something on the ground.
"Houston, did you get any of what Svetlana and I were doing on the ground?" Jamie asked.
"Affirmative, Jamie. We got some good video of that. Thank you for that."
Jamie turned back to her mural on the ground.
"Just a second, Sienna," She said as she took a knee once more, and wrote on the ground:
WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
Hopping over to Sienna's position took a few minutes longer than Jamie or Svetlana wanted, but when they arrived, they found Sienna crouched over a curious outcropping of rock.
"What's that?" Jamie asked. "What did you find?"
"If I'm right . . . help me dig this out, will you? And be careful; that rock could be sharp anywhere along its surface."
They dug at the rock carefully.
* * *
"Christ. You, too?" Anthony Downs growled in disgust as Brian Adkinson downed a pill and washed it down with a water packet. Adkinson turned his head sourly as the taste of the pill lingered in his mouth.
"Just a headache," He said as he feigned a throat-clear. "Head's been bothering me for a while."
"Yeah. My stomach's been bothering me all week."
"I think we have a pill for that, too," Adkinson grinned.
"Shut up," Downs growled.
"How that RMS arm doing?" Adkinson asked mildly.
"I've got it reefed straight upward by the shoulder joint, with the wrist joint sticking out right now. I'm a little leery of putting any more english on it than that; they didn't exactly test this arm in any sort of a gravity and I don't want any of the field joints ripping apart. I think that could be a Bad Thing."
"Good enough. Where are our ladies right now?"
"Ahh, from what I've gathered, I think Sienna wants to take some samples back with us."
"Oh really?" Adkinson mused.
* * *
"What is that?" Jamie Cunningham gasped at the football-sized, silver-and-blue hued rock at their feet.
"That, my friend, is a bloody huge rock," Sienna Morrison remarked. "If I'm not mistaken, that's the biggest anorthosite I've ever seen."
They stared at the rock. It probably weighed close to--
"Damn rock's gotta weigh a hundred kilos," Sienna grated.
"How are we gonna get it back to the ship?"
"We roll it," Sienna said firmly.
* * *
SEP-010, Chapter 9.
Being in a claustrophobia-inducing space suit was one thing, Jamie Cunningham observed. The sound assaulting her ears. The feeling of the constant pressure on her skin. And the clammy, yet solid feel of the suit material on her skin continually served to drive the present into her head.
Then there was the view she was seeing through the glass in front of her head. The grey rock in front of her lit up by Constitution's RMS arm. The stark blackness of space punctured by the brilliant, clear spangling of stars above her. The azure-and-white gem of life floating fixed in the sky just above the horizon. And, turning to her right, Sienna and Svetlana just beginning to venture forward from the crew lift in a state of complete bedazzlement.
It was then that she realized she had no idea what to do. She had trained for an extravehicular activity before . . . but that was for another mission in a different life a million years ago. She was only supposed to go out if there was some sort of ridiculous problem with the satellite she released, and she was only supposed to go out with one other astronaut for support.
Her EVA training had nothing to do with extraterrestrial operations, nor did it have anything to do with supervising other astronauts whilst on an EVA, and she found herself hideously aware that she had a camera on her suit that was recording her every move -- or lack thereof.
She turned slowly in her spot, looking at the other two suits she could see. Sienna Morrison was now at work, doing her geologist thing, looking carefully at rocks and chattering with . . . herself? She could hear her voice over the radio loop, and most of the verbage coming out of her mouth, she couldn't understand.
Svetlana Zaytseva hadn't moved far from the ship. She didn't know if fear was involved, holding her back, or simply the fact the enormity of the moment hadn't caught up with her yet to allow rational thought.
That . . . led up to her . . . and she snorted softly as she picked a direction to walk.
The soil underneath her was soft, yielding, and she remembered the idle interest she took watching people like John Young and Neil Armstrong bouncing along the moon. That memory she called up, she tried to mimic as she moved . . . and to her immense relief, she found it relatively easy to get around. She bounced along softly, feeling relatively little fear of falling over.
She stopped 'moon-walking' as the light from Constitution's RMS arm began to wane, casting long shadows in the variations and striations in the surface in front of her, and she bent over to stick a gloved finger moon-ward. The powder-like dirt compressed underneath her finger, remaining rigidly compliant . . . and she smiled as she started to apply herself to her impromptu project.
A shadow formed in front of her after some time . . . and she twitched as her brain jerked itself back to reality.
"You're in my light," She said softly.
"My apologies," She heard Svetlana's heavily-accented voice reply. "What are you doing?"
"We didn't take anything along to leave here," Jamie replied, "so I thought of this. It should still be here if anyone else comes here."
Svetlana nodded as she read:
SEP-010. WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2020. CONSTITUTION.
LANDED SAFELY DURING SOLAR STORM.
B. ADKINSON J. CUNNINGHAM
A. DOWNS S. MORRISON
S. ZAYTSEVA
"You have been busy," Svetlana said.
"Yes, I have," Jamie conceded triumphantly as she stepped back to look over her work.
Svetlana continued reading the text:
IN MEMORIAM:
APOLLO 1
APOLLO 1
E. WHITE V. GRISSOM R. CHAFFEE
STS-51L
F. SCOBEE M. SMITH E. ONIZUKA
J. RESNIK R. MCNAIR S. C. MCAULIFFE
G. JARVIS
STS-107
R. HUSBAND W. MCCOOL D. BROWN
K. CHAWLA M. ANDERSON L. CLARK
I. RAMON
Комаро́в Доброво́льский Паца́ев Во́лков
"We have our own fallen heroes on our side of the world."
"Thank you for sharing," Jamie said softly as their eyes locked, and Svetlana nodded stiffly to her.
"Hey, Murdock! C'm'over here," Jamie heard Sienna say loudly. Turning on a heel, she saw Sienna bent over, looking at something on the ground.
"Houston, did you get any of what Svetlana and I were doing on the ground?" Jamie asked.
"Affirmative, Jamie. We got some good video of that. Thank you for that."
Jamie turned back to her mural on the ground.
"Just a second, Sienna," She said as she took a knee once more, and wrote on the ground:
WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
Hopping over to Sienna's position took a few minutes longer than Jamie or Svetlana wanted, but when they arrived, they found Sienna crouched over a curious outcropping of rock.
"What's that?" Jamie asked. "What did you find?"
"If I'm right . . . help me dig this out, will you? And be careful; that rock could be sharp anywhere along its surface."
They dug at the rock carefully.
* * *
"Christ. You, too?" Anthony Downs growled in disgust as Brian Adkinson downed a pill and washed it down with a water packet. Adkinson turned his head sourly as the taste of the pill lingered in his mouth.
"Just a headache," He said as he feigned a throat-clear. "Head's been bothering me for a while."
"Yeah. My stomach's been bothering me all week."
"I think we have a pill for that, too," Adkinson grinned.
"Shut up," Downs growled.
"How that RMS arm doing?" Adkinson asked mildly.
"I've got it reefed straight upward by the shoulder joint, with the wrist joint sticking out right now. I'm a little leery of putting any more english on it than that; they didn't exactly test this arm in any sort of a gravity and I don't want any of the field joints ripping apart. I think that could be a Bad Thing."
"Good enough. Where are our ladies right now?"
"Ahh, from what I've gathered, I think Sienna wants to take some samples back with us."
"Oh really?" Adkinson mused.
* * *
"What is that?" Jamie Cunningham gasped at the football-sized, silver-and-blue hued rock at their feet.
"That, my friend, is a bloody huge rock," Sienna Morrison remarked. "If I'm not mistaken, that's the biggest anorthosite I've ever seen."
They stared at the rock. It probably weighed close to--
"Damn rock's gotta weigh a hundred kilos," Sienna grated.
"How are we gonna get it back to the ship?"
"We roll it," Sienna said firmly.
* * *
