So here we are with a late start for Blaugust 2012. Just a little piece that follows on from some of my earlier stuff, thrown together in a couple of hours when I realised I had no time left. Enjoy! Or don’t, I suppose, but if you don’t then I will be expecting feedback. >:O
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Sarah shivered. She couldn’t remember being this cold since she’d left home. The airlock was cramped, cold, and dark, and the suit that Ruby was holding out to her didn’t look like it was about to fix any of those problems in a hurry.
She’d seen Alex and Rachel returning in suits from working outside of the ship before, and this one didn’t look anything like the shiny, segmented ones they’d been wearing; it was black, with a rough texture and a rubbery resilience. Sarah grabbed it hesitantly before looking at Ruby.
“Is it airtight?”
The older woman laughed. “It isn’t even watertight, but I’m sure you’ll survive, kid. We’re only five metres under right now, and we’re going to gear up with air and comms before heading off anyway.”
Sarah gave the suit a dubious look. “It’s not even heated, is it? You’re treating this low-technology undertaking very seriously.”
“Wetsuits were good enough for this kind of water five hundred years ago, they should be damn well good enough for you now, girl.” Rachel’s voice, normally harsh and clipped, came across even rougher over the radio. Not that the aquatic was even wearing a suit; she had simply stripped, grabbed a radio, and stepped into the airlock. Naturally, this fact hadn’t stopped her from picking up on a chance to belittle the newcomer.
It had been strange, seeing that casual assurance. Rachel was clearly perfectly at ease in this place, as if millions of years of drowning instinct had been engineered away by whatever had toughened her skin and sharpened her teeth. Sarah had thought her afraid to go outside earlier, but the water, at least, had clearly held no fears for Rachel.
Sarah nodded to her partner and strapped on the breathing mask as the water pooled around her feet. The chill was worse than she was expecting, and her feet felt numb by the time the water had reached her knees. She felt a shock as it reached her waist and crept in through the zipper at the small of her back, and then felt buoyancy slowly defeating gravity as it boiled past her elbows and then over her shoulders.
“Ready?”
Sarah nodded as Ruby palmed the door release. At least, she thought, she would get to see the sun. Brightness broke in from the edges as the hatch ground open. She took a deep breath and swam out into the light.