The Experiment

Mary emptied the glass of water in one big gulp. She lazily scratched her scalp and turned on the TV. That vixen Caroline Duprovsky was on screen blabbering words with her fat little gob. Mary didn’t quite listen to what she was saying, but was focused on the name that showed up below her hideous, beefy face. Caroline Duprovsky, news anchor, ETV. It was damn unfair. Mary had worked so much harder than Caroline, ranging from playing with retarded children to interviewing presidents, while Caroline had sat in her office spouting orders to her subordinates, but apparently sleeping with the boss can get you a quick and unjust promotion. Meanwhile, Mary could sulk and rot here on the International Space Station. If only it had been the Moon or Mars, then it would have been a challenge and possibly even considered a promotion, but no, it had to be the ISS. Place had been dead for the last decades, only acted as a museum and a travel destination for the unlucky few who could never afford even a weekend on the Moon. Ever since its launch in 1998 it just kept on expanding, the old, deteriorating parts were removed as needed and new ones were added. Most of the original modules still remained, although they had undergone heavy maintenance several times, and served as the main museum.
Mary threw her glass into the wall. It shattered in dozens of tiny pieces. Mary sighed and reminded herself to keep her temper under control. The cramped living space was driving her nuts. If only there hadn’t been artificial gravity, then the room would at least feel interesting to be in. She walked to her closet and took out a black suit and a black skirt. Why did she have to wear the damn skirt?! She had always preferred pants. She got dressed and threw her blue bathrobe on her bed. Today was her big chance, as she was going to report live back to Earth, about some experiment she still had no idea what was all about. Hopefully her superiors would see her great talents once again, and let her come back. She found a new glass in the cupboard and poured some water into it. She took a handful of different pills from another cupboard and placed them all in her mouth simultaneously, and, accompanied by water, swallowed the pills one by one. After finishing all the water, she tried crushing the glass between her fingers. She continued to press hard, her head going all red from the effort, before she finally realized that it was actually a glass, and impossible for her to crush. She had got to talk to someone about her sudden fits of rage, before she beat some unlucky, incompliant person to death. Anyway, she would have to deal with that later, she thought, and walked out the door and headed for the docking area.

Giles had waited for this opportunity his entire life. He had been working hard every day and endured wars and financial crises, and could finally reap the fruits of a tough working life. In spite of being in possession of a hard-working spirit, he had never been able to accumulate much wealth and would never be able to afford a trip to the Moon. This was the best he could get, and he intended to enjoy every second of it. He and his wife, Laurie, had arrived yesterday and were given one of the low-class cabins. Although it was small and Giles constantly smacked his head against the roof, he decided not to let it bother him. This was the reward for years of monotony. The first few hours Giles had spent in the observation module, looking down at Earth. Strange, Giles had thought, how, when you finally get out of its oppressive and captivating atmosphere, you look down at it with amazement and awe. The place you so eagerly left. Philosophical ponderings weren’t something Giles usually spent his time on; he preferred a cold beer, a barbeque and a relaxed evening in the backyard.
Today was Giles’ 70th birthday, and the first, and likely only, in space. After retiring one year ago, he’d spent most of his time planning this trip and how to celebrate his birthday. Especially the celebration had been difficult to figure out, but he believed he had everything in place. He would take his wife to “Terra”, the four-star restaurant with an amazing view of Earth, and then they would take the “Galaxy Express”, a small, tram-looking vehicle, which took its passengers on a flight around the ISS while pinpointing several spectacular cosmic occurrences, and finally, to add a perfect stroke to a perfect “evening”, they would, together go on a space walk. Nothing could spoil their happiness.

Mike was getting ready for the space walk. He sat on a white bench-like object and rested his head against the wall. It wasn’t fair, why did he have to stay here and entertain tourists, while all the fun stuff was happening further out in the solar system. Today was his last workday anyway, as he was going to speak with the commander of the ISS, and tell him that he would quit if he was not transferred. But enough about that, he still had to complete one more boring space walk. Funny, Mike thought, how something you wanted to do your whole childhood becomes a bland and uninteresting. He reckoned he had been on several hundred space walks, he had lost track of it years ago. Today might be a bit different from the rest, Mike thought, as he had heard of an experiment as well, although he didn’t know what exactly this experiment was all about. Perhaps even enjoyable.
A technician walked through one of the doors leading to the changing room where Mike was sitting. Mike didn’t know his name, but liked to call him Helga, which he found absolutely hilarious. Mike had a horrible sense of humor. Helga opened the space suit container and pulled out several pieces of bright, white components that, when attached to each other, formed a space suit. Mike lazily got on his feet and reached out his arms. The technician began putting on the parts, and in a matter of minutes he was ready to enter the void. Before leaving for the exit hatch, Mike asked what this experiment he’d been hearing about was. Helga sighed and told him the horrific news.

Darren sat in the chair at one of the telescopes at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. After most of the real scientific astronomic research had, like everything else, moved either to the Moon or Mars, he could use the telescopes to his own pleasure. Night after night he would watch the sky. Darren had never had the opportunity to go to any of the major observatories in the solar system, but he didn’t really care. This was the reason he had become an astronomer anyway. To observe the sky at night. The now gargantuan International Space Station sometimes blocked his view, but it didn’t matter much as it was always an impressive sight. He also had heard the rumors of some experiment, but didn’t care much. The universe should not be calculated or even understood, only seen, was his mantra.

Mary was screaming at her assistant as usual, when she noticed the hatch to the exit area opened. She tried to calm down, force a smile and looked at camera. “Are we gonna be live?” she asked the cameraman. The cameraman nodded, and a genuine smile lit up Mary’s face. Finally she could show her talents to the world. The cameraman informed her that she would have five minutes to prepare herself, before they went live. Mary ripped out the coffee cup that her assistant was holding out to her, like a zookeeper reaching a piece of meat to an irate lion, out of her assistant’s hands. She finally felt relaxed as the warm fluid ran down her throat. She looked as the as the astronaut made his way out into the dark vacuum of space. When she saw what the astronaut was carrying in his right hand, she nearly lost hold of the cup in horror.

Giles held his wife’s hand as they made their way out of the other exit hatch. They slowly floated out into the endless dark wastes. Giles laughed out of a mix of fear and excitement as he looked around him. Finally he had reached his reward. He turned around and looked at his wife as they both floated blissfully through space. At the other end of the space station, he saw another spacefarer float into space. He was holding something in his hand, a bottle containing some form of black fluid. When he saw what it was, he began laughing once more. Not out of fear or excitement, but out of amazement at the strangeness of humanity.

Mike walked floated through the hatch. Is this what we’ve been reduced to, he thought, a damn advertising pillar?! He floated to the center of the encircled area and turned to look at the camera on the inside. Good thing he was wearing a space suit, so they wouldn’t see his anger-twisted face. He waved to the camera and opened the bottle. The dark fluid was pulled into space.

Mary still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A bloody bottle of Pepsi! Who the hell had thought about that!? Suddenly the astronaut turned and waved to the camera. She imagined the smug expression on his stupid face. He’d probably been paid millions to do this. The soda inside was pulled into space. But then something strange happened. Something that no one could have foreseen. The soda reacted with the void. Strange sparkles went out in every direction and the astronaut was forced to move backwards. Mary was almost blinded by the sharp light and the camera fried, leaving the viewers on Earth terrified.

From Earth Darren could see the strange collection of blue light and sparkles growing slowly larger. This was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Perhaps it had some connection to the experiment? Suddenly he felt something shake beneath him. Was Mauna Kea not so dormant after all?

Mike was trying to get away from the blue light, but felt himself being pulled ever closer. Soon the blue light consumed everything in his vision, and he lost consciousness. At the same time Giles and his wife were trying to get to safety, but to no avail. Holding each other’s hands they were pulled inside the blue light. Mary watched with great sadness as the space station slowly moved towards the light. The metal creaked louder and louder, but all Mary could think of was how all her chances at the fame she had so longed for were now all gone.
On Earth, Darren was still observing the strange new celestial object, when it began coming closer towards Earth. Or was Earth moving towards it. At first it moved slowly closer, but began accelerating faster and faster. Shortly before contact, Darren removed his eyes from the telescope and watched it with his naked eyes. He smiled softly at the beauty of the blue light, before being pulled inside it. The Earth was quickly consumed, and the rest of the solar system followed. The universe slowly collapsed inwards, all because of a bottle of Pepsi, which caused a rift in space and time.