14 April 2026

Unplanned explorations

I was on board a very large spaceship in outer space. The spaceship offered everything you could possibly imagine, from large dining areas all the way to vacation areas with a beach and a fake ocean with mechanically generated waves.

I was part of the engineering division of this spaceship and was on my way through the engineering section when I suddenly saw a suspicious character walking through restricted areas. He was a tall, lanky man. Not much hair was left on his head, and his skin looked a bit weathered. Despite his lean build, he looked strong. He must have been from the mechanical area. Somehow, the man had a mysterious air about him. When I looked at him, I just had this inexplicable feeling that he was playing an important role. I followed him, and at this point I don't even remember whether it was a coincidence because I had to go the same way or if I deliberately followed him to see where he went. Anyway, that doesn't matter anymore.

Barely inside the mechanical area, we bumped into each other, and I took the opportunity to strike up a conversation. It was brief, and the man was curt. He seemed bothered. I did not know by what - possibly by me. Just before he was about to terminate our brief conversation, I asked him what his job was. He laughed and looked me dead in the eye.

"Well, my job is to see what happens when reactors melt down on a large spaceship in outer space."

I was confused. I asked, "And, uh... this is something we are dealing with?"

To my shock, he simply replied, "Yep!"

By that point, more employees from the mechanical area had joined us in the hallway. They were frail-looking; all of them looked quite old, weaker than the tall man I was talking to, and most of them were balding as well. The people here also looked poorer than the more posh people from the engineering division, who invested more time and effort in their appearance.

"That's precisely how it is!" chimed one of them in.

Apparently, our reactor is on the verge of melting down and we already have strong radiation leaks. Nobody on the ship was informed about this. The mechanics recounted the story of how it all happened. There was this old mechanic. He had been with the ship since it was built. He never minced his words and he was headstrong; he didn't take any nonsense, not even from the highest people in the chain of command. He looked more like a beggar than a critical employee in the spaceship's mechanical division and he smoked like there was no tomorrow. I had seen the man before, but I never knew who he was. Anyway, this man always knew what to do; he knew the ship and in particular the reactor inside out. The ship was aging and maintenance had been neglected for decades. But the old mechanic kept it going anyway, even if it meant periodically retightening old screws and who knows what other tricks to make things not fall apart. His work was never recognized, so he didn't attain any power or status to speak of. But that didn't bother him at all. It was clear that this man lived for the craft and he lived in his own world and seemed to be happy to do so.

Unfortunately, his attitude was not liked by his superiors, so he was let go. In fact, you could characterize it more like he was bullied out. The man left, never to be seen again. Who knows how you can disappear like that on a spaceship in outer space. Soon after he was pushed out, things started to fall apart. Despite the best efforts of the remaining crew, they did not have the knowledge and expertise to keep this brittle, aging reactor running safely. And then it happened. All they did was neglect to retighten an old, rusty screw. The screw fell out, probably loosening itself due to mechanical vibration, and that left a hole which was apparently the start of a series of events that destabilized the reactor. The reactor is now in a state where it is slowly leaking more radiation and overheating. Nobody could stop this process, and it wasn't for a lack of trying. Currently, the people in the mechanical area are the most affected, but the entire ship is already exposed to dangerous radiation levels, and these levels are only going to rise from this point forward.

One of the mechanics opened his mouth and showed me his tongue. A large, cancerous sore was visible on the side.

"That's what I'm dealing with right now. Yep, not ideal!"

Understatement of the year. These men were tough as nails. The frail appearance of the mechanics made a lot more sense now. The problem must have already been going on for a while.

Shaken by this conversation, I returned to the dining area. Despite the fact that the area was very lively and busy at this point - it must have been around lunchtime by now - I perceived everything as eerily calm and quiet, as if my head were wrapped in cotton. My mind wasn't able to form any thoughts; I was just standing there, watching all these untroubled people happily go about their business, all the while, unbeknownst to them, their fate was already sealed.