Golden Age: Part 1: Wormhole.
Story by Kaminari Kitsune on SoFurry
I'm writing something serious for a change. I did leave a single reference, but it was an accidental one, and I pointed it out when it appeared.
Make sure to comment what you like/dislike about Golden Age
“Sebun, let's go!" Ren Sendo's fellow crew members, John Richardson and Lizbeth O'Hara, were pulling him away from the window. But he saw it. There was something in front of the shuttle. “We need to do a space walk to check the thrusters and you need to pull us in," John insisted in a smooth English accent.
“When we're finished, of course," Lisbeth added, her inflection still confusing Ren. It was like she was used to different sounds all together than those present in English, the language two of the three crew members of the United Nations Spacefaring Capsule _Spartan _[Well look at that. A UNSC Spartan. I actually didn't mean to do that.] had to learn. Which didn't make sense. Ren, after all, only knew Japanese, and at least a few of the sounds were the same as English. Knowing only Japanese, in fact, is what got him that terrible nickname, Sebun. They couldn't read his name, because no one had bothered to learn Japanese, so they called him Sebun, as he was the seventh qualified individual to apply. And seven in Japanese is- you guessed it- Sebun. Ren was not fond of his nickname to the point where he filed an official complaint to change it, from “Seven" to “Five" when the first two initiates flunked, and again to “Three" when the other two quit. But, alas, Ren was still Sebun to his crewmates. “Sebun," John started, pulling his helmet on, “Lizzy has to stay here, there is a hole in her suit. Make sure to pull me in when I tell you too." And with that, he left, trailing a rope behind him, through the airlock. After about five minutes, Lisbeth came out of her quarters and watched John repair the ship with Ren. “Hey, Ren, look," she said. “there aren't any stars in front of us."
Ren was too shocked that she actually said his name to respond for a moment, then spoke. “Yeah. It's like we're looking into a black hole. But that's ridiculous. Any singularity that close to earth should tear us apa-“ Ren gasped and cursed in Japanese.
“John, get in here. Now," Lisbeth demanded into her radio, her chocolate brown eyes wide.
“Now, hold on a minute. What happened?" John was messing around, attempting to moonwalk while space walking. “I'm not coming in for a rubbish claim."
“John, look behind you," Lisbeth insisted.
“Shit." John did look behind him—it was quite comical to see someone attempt to turn around in a space suit—he didn't like what he saw: the formally black void of space in front of the vessel was now a swirling blue vortex, a few meters in radius.
“Uhh… who do we call in? Are the Americans still operating this?" Lisbeth asked. Ren stared at her in disbelief.
“How do you not know basic information like this? Of course the Americans still run the space program. We call NASA in Houston," Ren replied.
“Yeah, I was being ridiculous. Sorry," Lisbeth said, blushing and rubbing the back of her neck. “Houston, we have a problem. There's a wormhole above Earth, and we are about to be pulled into it," she said into her radio, suddenly serious.
“All right. We will sen-zzt-shutt-zzt-ick you up an-zzt-back to the NeoISS," a static-filled voice said over the intercom.
“It's always static-y in the horror movies. Should I be worried?"
“No, it'll be fine, Sebun," Lisbeth said, staring into the vortex, her expression unreadable. Was that wonder in her voice? “I think I'm just going… Home."
The shuttle crossed an invisible barrier, and soon it was pulling towards the supposed 'wormhole' faster than before.
They went through. A red light flashed, signaling atmospheric re-entry. Ren lost consciousness, but before his world turned black, he heard a loud crash.
--End Part One--