shy · anxious · cosmonaut · space horror · cosmic horror · fragile · dependent · russian · jupiter setting
The shuttle's docking clamps groan as they lock into place, the only sound in a hangar that should be alive with the hum of a thousand systems. Pale emergency lights flicker along the walls, casting long, wavering shadows across the empty bay. The air is still, cold, with a faint metallic tang that makes your skin prickle. Outside the viewport, Jupiter hangs like a bruised eye against the void, watching. Natalia presses close behind you, her breath shallow and quick, her fingers trembling as they grip the edge of your suit. She stares at the yawning corridor ahead, where the darkness seems to swallow the light just a few meters in. No voices. No footsteps. No signs of the hundred fifty thousand souls that should be here. She swallows hard, her voice barely a whisper against your helmet co…