《The Lonely Astronaut》


 Chapter 1- Lost In Space

    ¡°Helen this is Mark, you receiving?¡±


    ¡°Yep, what is it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve finished my maintenance check on the MSS(mobile servicing system), anymore task that I need to do out here?¡±


    ¡°Hmm- nope, the MSS was the only thing. You can come back in now, I¡¯ll help out.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Helen looked at the screen that showed the MSS along with Mark. When she was about to go help Mark, she saw something odd behind him, out in the darkness of space.


    ¡°Hey Mark, turn around.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±


    ¡°Just do it, I think there¡¯s something weird near the ISS(International Space Station).¡±


    ¡°Ok¡± Mark turned around to see a bright white sphere near the ISS. It definitely looked weird.


    ¡°Woah, what the heck is that?¡± Mark stared in awe.


    ¡°I have no idea, I¡¯m sending this to NASA HQ right now!¡± Helen took a screenshot of the thing and sent the files to NASA.


    ¡°H-Helen!¡± Mark suddenly screamed.


    ¡°Mark? What¡¯s wrong? Do you copy? Mark!¡± Helen went back to the screen to see an unbelievable and terrifying scene occur.


    The sphere that was near the ISS was now very close and Mark seemed to be getting sucked into it, his tethers were the only thing keeping him connected to the ISS.


    ¡°Mark! Mark, do you copy?¡± No response. Helen quickly went to control the MSS, the arm like contraption moved to where Mark is, grabbed his tethers, and pulled him back. But unfortunately the gravitational force of the sphere was too great and it ripped the tethers from the robotic arm, sending Mark straight towards it.


    Mark disappeared as he entered the sphere, and so did the sphere right after consuming Mark. It was like nothing ever happened, and Helen just floated there, dumbfounded.


    Meanwhile, Mark felt like he was going down an endless and puke-inducing water slide. It almost made him vomit, thankfully, it stopped a minute or two later, and space was once again visible.


    As soon as his dizziness stopped, he looked all around him. Nothing! No more ISS, no more Earth, and even the Sun was nowhere to be found! It was just a desolate part of space illuminated by countless of stars!


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.¡°What the fuck? Where am I?!¡± Mark didn¡¯t know wether to laugh or cry.


    He tried his voice communications with the ISS, he got something.


    ¡°Mark! Mark, do you copy?¡± A distressed and choppy voice of Helen came through.


    ¡°Helen! Are you receiving me? What the fuck just happened?!¡± Mark waited for some time, but no response.


    ¡°Helen? You receiving? Helen!¡± Mark desperately tried to get any more response, but in the end silence prevailed.


    ¡°HAAA FUUCK! I¡¯m fucked!¡± Mark flailed his arms in frustration.


    ¡°Sigh, ok. How long do I have to live?¡± Mark smiled bitterly but still thought it through.


    ¡°I spent about 4 hours doing maintenance on the MSS, and the oxygen, as well as the battery in my suit will last about 9 hours per space walk. Which means in about 5 hours, I¡¯ll be suffocating from the lack of air, while simultaneously be freezing to death because the battery that powers the heater in my suit, which keeps me warm, will run out of energy. Hah!¡± He bitterly laughed at his inevitable demise.


    Mark, although tired, spent all the time he had left to think about his life. He thought about his parents who were always there for him, his friends who stuck with him through thick and thin, and his fiance who patiently waits for his return. Imagining their sorrowful faces when they hear about his disappearance made him start crying, and realizing that he will truly die alone in space, made him cry like a baby.


    The tears just balled up on his face without gravity, it took some time for him to calm down, and even more time for the heater to evaporate all the tears that blurred his vision. When he could see again, he quickly looked at his specialized space watch and saw that 2 hours already passed. He also glanced at the small clipboard and pen on his wrist.


    ¡°Well, if I¡¯m going to die anyway, I should at least write a message to whoever finds my body in the future.¡± Mark grabbed the pen and wrote at the clipboard that contained the MSS maintenance manuals.


    ---


    [Dear future humans or aliens,


    Thanks for finding my body! If you forgot by now, I was the U.S astronaut who disappeared from the ISS, on 4/22/2020, due to some mysterious events. My name is Mark Huxley, male, and I¡¯m 27 years old. If the Earth still exists by the time you find me, I wish to be buried by my loved ones, but if aliens find me, well this is what humans look like! If you want directions to Earth, sorry, but I have no freaking clue.


    Sincerely by,


    Mark Huxley]


    ---


    After writing his message, Mark pondered for a bit, until he finally made a decision. Even though he had about 3 hours more to live, he chose to end his life right here and now by taking off his helmet. Waiting for his death will probably make him go crazy, so he chose to commit suicide, even though dying by the vacuum of space is painful and very unpleasant, at least it¡¯s faster.


    Mark braced himself, he savored his final breaths, and closed his eyes. When he was about to take off his helmet, a bright light appeared in front of him! It was so bright, he could see it through his eyelids. He opened his eyes and used his hands to shield his eyes.


    The bright object seemed to be getting closer, Mark noticed this and he panicked, but it was too late. He got struck by something, knocking him out, as he floated in space. Before he blacked out, he saw faint figures through a wall of glass, then blackness.

 Chapter 2- The Yjeomuns

    "Hmmn" Mark opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling with blue and white lights. He noticed that he was laying naked in a pod of some sort, and his body was covered with a weird gel-like substance that weirdly felt pleasant.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Mark thought as he started panicking, though when he tried to move his body, he felt weak. He started pushing on the glass casing that covered the pod, it wouldn¡¯t budge, but suddenly weird texts appeared on the glass. He couldn¡¯t read a thing from what popped up, it just looked liked complex lines and symbols.


    ¡°Heh, could I have been saved by aliens?¡± Mark thought back to his last memory where he was hit by something bright. Judging from the pod, and the mysterious texts, it was probably aliens. Although he didn¡¯t understand the symbols, he saw something at the bottom of all the texts, it was two circles, one was red, and the other was green.


    ¡°Is this really what I think it is? No, probably not.¡± Still Mark decided to press the green circle first, it just made the text go away. Mark panicked a little, but found out that the text pops up whenever he touches the glass. This time he touched the red circle, after some time the pod made noises, and it slowly opened the glass cover.


    ¡°Holy shit, that actually worked?¡± Mark happily thought as he sluggishly got out from the pod. He then saw an astonishing sight, there was nothing in the room except the pod, but the walls were covered with amazing designs of what looked like weird plants and animals. It was extremely beautiful, and left Mark in awe.


    ¡°Psht¡± Suddenly a part of the wall opened up like a door while Mark was fascinated by the images. 4 silhouettes came through, they looked very similar to humans, but they were taller, had long pointed ears, strange glowing tattoos all over their bodies, and wore strange clothing. Both parties seemed to be startled at the sight of each other. One of the four silhouettes, which seemed to be an extremely beautiful woman, who wore a more grander clothes than the other three, and had a small blue crystal on her forehead, screamed at the sight of Mark, in all his naked glory.


    ¡°AAAAH!¡± Mark panicked as the woman screamed, he panicked even more, as the other 3 pulled the woman back, and pointed a bunch of advanced looking spears at Mark. He raised his hands up, and backed away slowly.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Vetra suni!¡± The woman who screamed earlier, hurriedly shouted. With her command the other 3 retracted their spears, and Mark sighed, cold sweat dripping on his head. He looked at the human-like figures standing there looking at him, he looked down at himself, and realized that he was butt naked. He covered his dick in a hurry, and felt extremely embarrassed.


    ¡°Leni ja marani.¡± Ordered the woman. Then one of the three guards at her side, threw what seemed to be a bracelet towards Mark, he caught it and the same guard gestured for mark to wear it. Mark was confused but he still did their instructions, when he wore the bracelet, a holographic screen popped up in front of his face. It still contained symbols he didn¡¯t understand but it had the familiar red and green circle below. The guard pointed at the green, and Mark pressed the green circle.


    Like magic, clothes started to be reconstructed from the bracelet to the rest of his body, the clothes were black in color, had a simple design, but it was light and comfortable. When the last bit of his clothes finished constructing, an earpiece started to construct around both of his ears. After it finished constructing, the woman who gave orders suddenly spoke.


    ¡°Can you understand what I say?¡± Mark was startled, he was able to understand their language now! ¡°What advanced technology.¡± He thought.


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯m sorry for the commotion earlier, I hope we didn¡¯t startle you.¡± Smiled the woman.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I was just confused when I woke up in that pod.¡± He glanced at the pod.


    ¡°That¡¯s the newest of healing pods, we put you inside of it due to the critical condition of your life when our ship struck you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for saving me, my name¡¯s Mark, I¡¯m from the Human race.¡±


    ¡°I see. I am from the Yjeomun, and my name is Azariah Daeneiros, the 4th princess to the Daeneiros Throne.¡±


    Mark was surprised, he felt even more embarrassed thinking about how he exposed himself in front of an alien princess. He felt like he should kneel, he attempted it.


    ¡°Oh my?!¡± Said Azariah embarrassingly.


    ¡°Y-you! How dare you lowly creature!¡± Shouted one of the guards at Mark.


    ¡°Huh? W-what did I do wrong?¡± He panicked.¡±


    ¡°M-Mark, why are you doing that?¡± Azariah said, her face flushed.


    ¡°Oh, I just wanted to? You did save my life.¡± Mark said with a confused face.


    ¡°Then, I-I-I Accept!¡± Shouted Azariah as she ran out through the door, her face beat red.


    ¡°Huh? Wait, what¡¯s wrong?¡± He panicked again.


    ¡°You fool! I don¡¯t know if you meant it, but do you not realize that you¡¯ve just asked the 4th princess a hand in marriage?!¡± Said the guard who threw the bracelet at him.


    ¡°Wait what?!¡± Mark didn¡¯t know wether to laugh or cry, but somehow, due to some misunderstandings, he just asked a princes of an alien race to marry him.

 Fix & Edits Note

    Hello there everyone, It¡¯s IonicNeko! I looked at some of your criticisms in my novel, and I decided to go in a short hiatus to fix the first two chapters, because I can¡¯t agree more that I didn¡¯t start it off strong!


    I¡¯ve been so busy with many things but I will try to fix and edit the two chapters within a week. I already have 3 new chapters ready but I¡¯ll release them altogether with the edits.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I¡¯m really sorry, I know this is inconvenient, especially because it¡¯s in the beginning, I¡¯m really passionate about this story and it¡¯s better if I fix it now than never fixing it at all.


    If you guys have anymore flaws to point out in my novel, feel free to do so! Again I¡¯m really sorry about this, it is my first novel and what not.


    Thankyou! See you soon! ^_^