Bl00n-lvr
BL00N-LVR
DeviantArt Link : BL00N-LVR
Synopsis: Two astronauts embark on a long mission to secure a sustainable source of latex for the human race.
Landing
The space shuttle pierced the heavy atmosphere of the blue giant and prepared to land. The atmosphere was thick and dense. Smaller reddish particles were hitting the windows of the control room like heavy rain. Laura and Paul were both excited and anxious; this planet was unable to be scanned from earth and further studies hinted at a possibility of molten rubber formations at the core, which, if true, could provide the human race with a sustainable source of rubber. Scientists believed that a surface like formation must have been formed due to the way light and radioactive waves bounced away. Human intervention was a last needed resort and the highly trained Laura and Paul were selected for this dangerous mission. At 0.0041096192426877 light years away and traveling at about 2.5M km/h, the round trip needed 42 months, this was no easy mission especially when communication with home was delayed by about 36 hours.
“Engaging landing protocol.” Said a calm Paul, flipping switches.
The shuttle was now facing away from the planet. The engines started roaring and a smooth descent was achieved. The shuttle kept descending and suddenly, a multicolored sea of orbs engulfed the ship.
“looks like latex, though they look inflated, like balloons.” Said Laura, her face glued to the small window.
“Surface scanners deployed, we finally have a chance at knowing what the hell is going on with this planet.” Exclaimed Paul.
BEEEP BEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
The surface planetary scan beeped, it was done scanning BL00N-LVR.
“Oh my god Laura! there is no solid ground anywhere on this planet! It’s all Balloons, I can’t land the ship, there’s no surface, we have a very limited fuel supply, I sent all the info to HQ but We’ll need to wait 72 hours for a reply, and we’re…”
“Just calm down Paul, I think these balloons can hold us still, if they formed a big fucking planet, they may as well hold a small space shuttle, turn off the engines.”
“What? are you crazy? we’ll sink to the planet core and barbecue ourselves.”
“Just turn them off! what’s our alternative? Wait 72 hours in orbit? the planet is very big, if we won’t slow down we’ll just get out of here and abort the entire thing.”
The propulsion engines ceased, the sound of the raging combustion engine is now replaced with rapid fire sounds of explosions, as the shuttle started sinking further and further down the planet.
Laura and Paul stared at each other in sheer terror as balloons flew past the windows at alarming speeds, indicating a fast descent.
Eventually, the descent slowed down, and so did the sound of balloons popping.
“Oh its getting darker down here.” Remarked Paul.
“How far down are we exactly? this is getting a bit scary.”
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
“8 kilometers. Not much, but quite deep.”
The shuttle came to a complete halt. The balloons were holding the entire thing in place.
“The difference in pressure must be playing a major role in this environment. Balloons down here are considerably smaller than the ones we initially saw, have you noticed?” Said Laura.
“I wasn’t really paying attention, but it makes sense, since they’re able to hold us still.”
Laura put on her exosuit and grabbed a sampling kit while Paul was shifting through scientific documents.
“Based on the reports we have, the planet has a core which emits molten latex and a bunch of gases. My guess is that the latex and gas mix together as they float away in bubble like shapes before cooling off and looking like balloons.”
Laura put on her helmet and added: “Sounds reasonable. Let me gather samples. Open the airlock, I’ll grab a bunch of balloons and… Uh… I guess I’ll pop them and gather the latex pieces.”
Paul was skimming through the results of the previous scan.
“No. Don’t do that, the atmosphere is 99% methane, although not as hot as I thought. Just bring me a balloon or two and we can see what kind of gas is inside. I expect it to be methane, but I want to be sure first.”
The interior doors of the airlock opened slowly. Laura stood inside the small room before the doors closed tightly. After a few seconds the doors to the outside world opened, and Laura was quickly taken back by a wave of tightly inflated balloons, squishing her against the very same door she came through.
“Paul, uhm.. Heh.. I’m getting squished by balloons, uh.. Would you please open the doors for me?”
“HAHAHAHA, I saw that, bet it feels nice. Let me get rid of the methane first.”
The airlock closed shut, catching two balloons in the process. The door squeezed the balloons until they slipped away from the ship and joined their brothers outside. The air was wooshed out of the airlock and the interior doors opened, letting Laura and a sea of balloons inside.
As the balloons entered the shuttle, they started inflating until the pressure was finally equalized. They went from about 12 inches to 24 inches in a second.
“Holly molly, did you see that Paul?”
“yeah, quite fascinating.”
Laura grabbed a balloon, which was quite heavy, and started inspecting it, running her gloved up hands around its smooth surface. She finally found something.
“Hmmm, well first of all, They’re clearly very similar to balloons back home, they have the same shape, some even with bulging necks! and there is a thick piece of latex that’s protruding from the neck. It looks like a mouthpiece, but it’s sealed shut. Seems like as the core is inflating the balloons, they’re getting pulled away simultaneously due to the difference in pressure, which is what is giving them this familiar shape. When they pop, they fall down to the core where they melt again and the process repeats. What a fascinating phenomenon. The latex’s so thick too, no wonder we heard them exploding from the inside of the ship. Must be super loud.”
Laura grabbed a pin from the nearby drawer and started fiddling with the latex piece that was protruding out, trying to create an airway, or something akin to a mouthpiece.
Paul got his equipment ready and started inspecting his own balloon. He found some dark patches inside which couldn’t easily be seen due to the thickness of the latex. Paul held the balloon up at the light and stood below it, trying to look at the weird powder residue at the bottom of the balloon. He ran a quick and inaccurate signature scan on top of the balloon which revealed methane. A wooshing sound took him by surprise. He looked behind him, and saw Laura without her helmet, adding air from her breath to one of the huge balloons.
“What are you doing?”
“Having a little bit of fun!”
“Are you out of your fucking mind? These balloons contain methane and your breath contains oxygen Laura, stop!”
“Sorry, but the last time I inflated a balloon was 10 years ago when I used to work at a party store. I miss parties.”
“You're going to miss a lot of things if this balloon explodes, seal it shut and put it aside, don’t get anywhere near it, oxygen and methane aren’t friends.”
Paul ran a bunch of tests on his own balloon, trying to find out the components of the reddish powder.
“Uhm.. Laura? does the balloon you just inflated contain a reddish powder?”
Laura rolled the now sealed balloon over and spotted some dark powder inside.
“I think so yeah.”
“Laura, you just created a bomb.”
“what is it?”
“Red phosphorus.”
“…annnd?”
“What do you mean And??? stay the fuck away from that balloon Laura, get over here!”
“I’m a mechanical engineer not a chemical engineer, so if you could just tell me what the hell is going on”
Paul cut her off, staring at all those giant balloons: “Laura, red phosphorus is used in matchsticks, when you apply heat or friction, it becomes white phosphorus AND WHITE PHOSPHORUS IMMEDIATELY BLOWS UP IF THERE IS OXYGEN!!”
“Wait.. but my balloon doesn't.. or.. you lost me there.“
“Your balloon contains red phosphorus which, when heated up, or friction is applied to, will turn to white phosphorus, which will light up because YOU FUCKING BREATHED OXYGEN INTO IT AND THE WHOLE BALLOON EXPLODES IN A FIREBALL OF METHANE!! THE WHOLE SHIP IS FILLED WITH OXYGEN AND WE’RE DEALING WITH METHANE FILLED BALLOONS READY TO BLOW US UP LAURA, YOU GET IT NOW?!”
Laura immediately took several steps back until she stood behind Paul.
“We need to get rid of those. Now! Throw them away through the emergency door in the test block!” Exclaimed Paul.
“We can’t do that! If we open any door more balloons will force their way through.“
“The only solution i can think of is making them explode in the test chamber.“
“What? Are you serious?“
“Listen, we have a thermal suit and an oxygen tank, I'll vacuum the test chamber and you'll pop them inside, there's little oxygen in the one you blew up, so it shouldn't be that bad. The others won't explode in a fireball though since you didn't put oxygen in them and the test chamber will be a vacuum. Just puncture the latex so the balloons burst and I'll siphon all the methane out of the ship. Can you do that?”
“I'll do it, been a long time since I played with balloons.”
Paul and Laura gathered all the balloons inside the test chamber. There were almost 50 of them. Laura was changing from her exosuit to her thermal suit which could withstand extreme temperatures. Paul went to the small cabin outside the chamber and started pressing some buttons.
Laura fastened the oxygen tank on her back and hooked it up using a tube to the front of her helmet, similar to a gas mask. She grabbed a long and sharp pin and went inside the small test chamber, surrounded by multiple balloons.
She sealed the doors closed and Paul flipped a switch, which started a couple of loud engines.
“Laura can you hear me?”
“Yes, the sound on this helmet is quite bad, but I can hear you alright.”
“The chamber will now slowly turn to a vacuum, I’ll let you know when you can start. It needs about 5 minutes.”
Laura started walking among the balloons, looking for the special one.
A very loud buzzing sound started and balloons seemed to get bigger every second.
“Paul? the balloons are getting bigger, you think they will pop on their own?”
“Honestly, I don’t think so, the latex is so thick I think it can hold up.”
The balloons were inflating on their own due to the lower atmospheric pressure in the chamber. The latex was starting to get more and more transparent, almost crystal looking.
Laura found the special balloon she inflated earlier and started undoing the knot. She hesitantly sat on a random balloon, feeling it expand below her. She moved the oxygen tube to the right compartment of her helmet and approached the now untied balloon to the valve on her helmet, and switched it to “OUT”. Her helmet basically had three compartments, one in the center, right in front of her mouth, one to her left, and one to her right. These big squares were designed to accept valves and tubes from different types of gas tanks or filters, and they can be individually switched to either be “OPEN”, which will make the airflow freely move between outside and inside the helmet, “OUT”, which will only allow air to go out of the helmet, but not in, and “IN”, the opposite. These types of helmets are very expensive, they’re designed to withstand radioactivity, extreme heat or pressure, and keep out toxic gases. Laura approached her mouth to the center valve and started breathing out air into the balloon. Most balloons by that time had inflated to about 36 inches. Laura’s heavy suit was distorting the balloon under her, but also helped keep her balance since she couldn’t reach the floor with her feet now.
“Laura I don’t think adding more oxygen inside the balloon is a good idea.”
“I want to blow it up until it explodes, I always loved doing that to balloons, just to see how big they can get. The suit will protect me don’t worry about it. How much time’s left?”
BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP………BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP
“The process is done, you’re in a vacuum now Laura.”
Knowing what was to come next, a huge grin appeared on Laura’s face.
All balloons in the room stopped growing. They have reached a humongous size of 45 inches each. The beautiful engineer continued inflating the huge balloon through her helmet while being supported by a massive, now crystal looking balloon. Her flaming red suit sank inside the latex, giving the astronaut one of the best seats on the ship. The balloon was resisting her deep breaths, making it harder to push more air in. The balloon had a massive neck, all the way to the glass of her helmet. Shaky breath after shaky breath, Laura turned her head and glanced at Paul, who was avidly watching her performance. The massive balloon swayed from side to side, bouncing and bopping away. Laura placed a hand on top of the balloon, pushing it down and squeezing it between her legs, holding it steady with her thighs. She kept forcing air inside the straining balloon. Laura was shaking and sweating, knowing that an impeding explosion was on its way. The valve inside the helmet was sloppy, she was having trouble gripping it with her sliding lips. The balloon’s neck was so large now, that it started slipping away from the compartment. Laura held the mouthpiece with her other hand, trying to hold the balloon still and keeping it from slipping away. The balloon was resisting big time, and Laura was clearly struggling, both physically and mentally at this point. The balloon was absolutely rock hard, and was at least twice the size of its companions. The red powder inside the balloon was now completely visible, the balloon was almost completely see-through. Another shaky puff of air went deep inside the balloon. Laura was panting and out of breath. She had to grab what was left of the neck using both hands and apply a firm grip to keep the monster from escaping. The small and almost invisible girl took a long and deep breath, and with all her might, forced it all inside the beast. The Latex gave up, whipping away into a thunderous explosion. The red phosphorus instantly reacted and turned into a striking and violent yellow cloud which set the methane ablaze. The entire room lit up in a big fire blast, making the entire vessel tremble and rattle. The deafening blast took away several balloons, including the one Laura was sitting on. She fell to the ground right on her tail bone. The vessel squealed and creaked, leaning a few more degrees north, before suddenly sinking a bit deeper inside the planet. Several explosions were heard from outside as the ship sank a little more. Paul hugged the swaying door for balance, while several balloons next to Laura rolled to her direction.
“Holy shit! Are you okay?” asked Paul.
“Ah.. Ahhhhh.. I think I’m fine, my back hurts a little.”
“I really want to both scold you and watch you do that again, heh.”
“Yeah.. Being stuck in this small ship in the middle of nowhere for what… almost 2 years now? Come on in, let’s have some fun.”
“Uhm, no thanks, I’ve always been a little jumpy around balloons.”
“Oh come onnnnnnnnnnn, you’re wearing a fucking exosuit! You’re invinsible man. Hahahaha, I can’t believe you’re scared Paul.”
“I’m not that scared, whatever, make room I’m coming in.”
Paul Pressurized the test chamber again, and then restarted the vacuum process, delayed by a minute. He opened the vault door and entered the room. Laura was waiting for him, sitting on a huge balloon which was now shrinking.
“I like physics, its fun. Climb on top of one before they start expanding again.” Said an enthusiastic Laura.
Paul walked slowly towards a balloon and straddled it.
“Just let all your weight on the balloon, they won’t pop. Don’t be scared.”
Paul sank slowly into the balloon as he carefully let his body be completely supported by the latex. The Buzzing sound started again and the chamber was being vacuumed once more. The balloons started expanding, hugging both astronauts’ bodies. Laura started bouncing on the balloon, giggling. The neck was jutting out after every bounce. Paul was watching Laura nervously. She bounced harder and harder until the balloon exploded everywhere, sending red mist and latex pieces all around her. Laura laughed and giggled, removing bits of latex from her helmet. She stood up and grabbed the pin from her pocket.
“I want to try and prick one, ready?”
Paul stood up and took a step back. Laura grabbed the nearest balloon and squished it between the glass wall and her body. She held the pin with her left hand and glanced at Paul.
“Oh come on Paul, it isn’t this scary. Our helmets have noise canceling technology, come on get closer.”
Paul walked slowly and nervously towards Laura.
“I’m not really scared of them popping, it’s just that they’re huge, they look intimidating!”
“Here, feel it with your hands.”
Laura guided Paul’s hand and ran it across the balloon’s smooth surface. She placed the pin against the balloon’s body, teasingly.
“It’s okay Paul.”
She pricked the balloon, which disappeared suddenly, shaking the room a little. Both astronauts heard a low, ravaging boom. Laura went and brought another pair of balloons, she handed one to Paul, and gave him the pin. Paul nervously put the pin against the balloon, and tried pricking it nervously. He tried quickly jabbing the pin, closing his eyes. He failed miserably as the pin slid across the surface. He opened his eyes, trying to gather himself. Laura gently grabbed Paul’s arm and tried guiding him. She held the balloon with one hand against the wall, and Paul’s hand with the other.
“No need to be so fast. Just be gentle, go slowly.”
She guided Paul’s hand slowly and gently on to the surface of the balloon, before gently pricking it. It disappeared in a violent explosion, making the other balloon roll away. Laura’s suit was completely covered in bits and shreds of overstretched latex. She couldn’t help but giggle while trying to wipe her helmet. Every now and then, a thunderous explosion shook the vessel and the sea of balloons completely covering it. They both kept bursting and exploding the remaining balloons, completely covering the entire floor of the test chamber with red phosphorus and shreds of burst and spent latex.
After all balloons were broken, the test chamber was completely filled with methane. Paul activated the ventilation system and the methane was slowly being expelled out of the ship. Laura was gathering all the phosphorus and latex bits with her broom, and took some rubber pieces as samples. Paul returned to the control room, the deep scan had completed, which revealed information about the core, atmosphere, gravitational fields and all sorts of things. The mission is considered a success, now was time to leave.
“Isn’t it strange how the most beautiful things in life tend to be the most dangerous?” Said Laura, looking at all the balloons through the window, which was covered in small bits and shreds of balloons.
“Yeah, nature tend to be like that unfortunately.”
Paul engaged the thruster, and the engines screamed to life, making all the balloons below them pop. The vessel started sinking again, falling faster and faster, before Paul slid the thrusters all the way up, slowing their descent to a complete halt.
“Good bye balloon world!” Said Laura.
The ship started ascending inside the sea of balloons, their surroundings getting brighter and brighter, until they got out of the latex ocean, sending balloons flying everywhere. The vessel escaped the dense atmosphere, and sunlight from L4TECS-W0LD, the system’s only star, lit up the interior of the advanced spacecraft.
“Engaging Hypermaster, powering bay 6 to 12, initiating hyperdrive in 5… 4… 3…”
The ocean of balloons was reflecting back the beautiful sunlight. Laura gave the planet one last look, before zipping through the vast emptiness of space.
Comment