Floating at the edge of Dead-naught was a surreal experience. Lionel felt like a speck of dust as he overviewed its vast expanse; a whole other solar system, already bled dry of resources but beautiful nonetheless. Lionel blinked, his breathing slow. In the centre was an enormous arc of glowing light, surrounded by discs of bright, twinkling stars. They spiralled out into smaller and smaller clusters, creating a halo of light. The stars eventually faded into a fine dust gathered on the perimeter like morning dew drops. He had never been close enough to see a Milky Way before and for a moment, Lionel remained still, entranced by its ethereal beauty.

  Critical damage detected in Zone 7 Pipework. Zone 8 pipework failure. Minor failure detected in the engine room’s fuel cells.

  Lionel jumped, dragged back to reality.

  “Time until repair?” He whispered.

  The original assessment for pipework cleansing remains accurate: 3 days, 12 hours and 28 minutes. The engine room fuel cells will require a minor manual repair.

  “That.” Lionel rubbed a hand down his face. “That is to be expected.” He sighed. “Recalibrate to the new atmosphere.”

  There was a gentle whoosh as the environment around him shifted.

  Recalibration complete.

  Ignoring the fact that his control panel was flashing with various red and amber lights. He stepped away from his chair with a stretch and leant forward to gain a better look out of the window. He shook his head, it really was beautiful.

  The damage was done, he would fix it but right now he had other things on his mind. He wouldn’t waste this opportunity.

  Despite the damage, he was grinning like a fool.

  “Come on. Come on.” He said, bending over Searcher’s screen and urging it to go faster. His palms were clammy as he waited.

  It pinged.

  It was still here; closer than ever.

  “Harriet, let’s go.” He rammed the thrusters forward as fast as Rover could manage. The engine puttered to life, slow but closing the distance.

  The seconds dragged into minutes as he flew amongst the stars. And then he spotted it. A rock so dark it was almost black, camouflaged in the shadowy sky. If not for a strange force emitting from the rock, he would have flown right past it. It felt like it was simultaneously pushing him further away while trying to draw him closer. His body shook.

  Unable to fly closer.

  “What? Why?”

  There is a detectable increase in tension. In the current condition Rover would be unable to retreat, endangering the crew.

  “Aww, you’re worried about me?”

  The captain is an important part of the crew.

  “You flatter me.” He placed his hand to his chest, “I knew we were building a strong friendship.”

  But joking aside the one-man crew of himself would have to activate Plan B.

  “Okay,” he said, releasing his breath. “I guess we’re going old school.”

  He strode over to the storage closet and saw the long-ago retired space suit. He had purchased this mostly as a precaution, he never imagined he would actually use it during a flight on Rover. He usually went with another ship if he knew there would be a spacewalk. He lifted the thick sleeve of the suit and let it drop. This one didn’t have any of the modern features, there was no one-layer skin-fit, no easy breather, and no updated controls. This suit was clunky.

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  He removed it from its hanger. The suit was heavy with oversized cooling ventilation tubes and thermal layering, among additional layers to control the pressure from being in space. It had chunky gloves that made his fingers feel like sausages and tempered mask goggles with an attached oxygen regulator that made him look like he would be scuba diving instead of going into space exploration. Still It would get the job done.

  He pulled the suit on awkwardly. Shrugging his arms and shoulders in before fiddling with the zipped layers and adjusting the tubing on his regulator.

  “I’ll remain attached to the ship, I plan to grab the rock and you can pull me back.”

  Affirmative.

  “Good.”

  He waddled the few remaining steps to the airlock, entering the password to activate the doors which opened with a loud mechanical hiss. He hesitated briefly, his feet refusing to move and then he stepped into the airlock.

  “See you soon Rover.” He hooked the tether to his waist harness and locked it in place before mentally running through a safety checklist; Harriet would keep things in order but better safe than stranded.

  The airlock opened and his body lifted. He was met with a strangely sharp scent, an electric-tinged metallic smell that seemed to instantly stick to his suit. The world looked bigger out there, inside Rover it felt like a spectator sport but a solo space walk, he pushed aside the feeling that it was one of the riskier things he had done and grabbed an exterior handle to swing his body outside.

  Hand over hand, he pulled himself along the ship’s exterior, trying to distract himself by noting improvements he would make: upgrade that panel, tinker with that wiring, should he clean those windows?

  He was breathing heavily enough that without the cooling mechanisms, his mask would steam up completely. Surprisingly quickly he had run out of handholds and he perched on the edge of the ship looking at the space rock.

  Eyes on the prize. He thought. And with a deep breath, he released his hands and drifted away from the ship.

  His heart pounded in his chest, so fast he could hear the blood pulsing in his ears. He gave the thick cable a reassuring tug, then activated the suit's controls. There was a limited duration of propulsion that the suit could withstand but it was enough to get him there.

  He used the jets to guide himself forward, watching as the black rock became closer and suddenly within arm's reach. He grinned, it didn’t look like much but he trusted Searcher - after all, he was the programme’s creator. His clumsy fingers gripped the rock, drawing it towards his body. It was more rigid and firmer than he expected, and large enough that he had to cradle it close to his chest with two arms so as not to lose it. As he shifted his body to adjust his grip, he noticed the surface was unexpectedly shiny as if sprinkled with a fine layer of glitter.

  He mentally typed a message to the ship and for an uncomfortable breath, nothing happened. His tether held strong so he could potentially pull himself back but it would be tremendously difficult with the rock. Before he could begin to worry properly, he felt a firm tug at his waist as the tether pulled him back to the airlock safely.

  He giggled as the doors shut automatically. He’d done it! Yanking off his goggles and breather, he let them dangle by the side of his suit as he rushed into the body of the ship and put the rock on a central pillar.

  He circled it, examining every facet as he removed his gloves and space suit, dumping them on the floor to deal with later. It didn’t look like any space rock he had ever seen. Upon closer inspection, it even had a scaled exterior!

  “What is it Harriet? Can you complete a full analysis?”

  A bubble appeared over the rock as Harriet’s scan commenced.

  No.

  “Excuse me?”

  Full analysis incomplete.

  “For what reason?”

  Consent was not provided.

  Consent? That protocol was for living beings, did the rock have sentience?

  He reached out, touching the shell and flinched back with a yelp from the icy cold. He looked at his hand seeing blisters form against his skin. They didn’t concern him right now, the object held his full attention.

  “I think we need to warm it up.” He said with a shaky voice.

  Further evidence is required. You should not heat unknown elements in case of unforeseen reactions.

  Should he inform Harriet that it was because something inside requested it or would he sound completely insane?

  He couldn’t quite explain it, it didn’t exactly speak to him but when he touched it he felt connected somehow. It overwhelmed him with a rush of confused thoughts but the main emotion that stuck was the cold sensations and a desire for intense heat.

  He suddenly understood what Searcher had located. He knew exactly what was more valuable than two deceased dragons and their combined resources, something that was bound to bring a whole galaxy of trouble his way.

  “Harriet.” He took a deep breath, eyebrows raised and his gaze refusing to leave the shell. “I believe we are in possession of a dragon’s egg.”