Soft rhythmic noises echoed through the rocky area on the small moon. A spacesuit clad figure hopped slowly along the purple terrain. The bubble of the helmet was dark, almost opaque to deal with the bright light and glare from the star light illuminating the area. The terrain was mountainous and rough, making things slow going for the figure. They came to a small clearing and stood before a small structure. “Mission log. Currently on moon Regal 6. Relay station 13 reached. Commencing Mission.” came a feminine voice as the darkness of the figure’s bubble helmet lightened to clear; revealing the face of a black and pink furred wolfess. Her long silver hair was tied up behind her head; keeping it all within the bubble. Her pink eyes roved over the small structure as she checked for signs of damage. “No damage to outside of relay station. Cause for malfunction likely a hardware issue. Entering station now.” she stated as she moved up to the door. The sliding metal door hissed as it opened after the pass code was entered. Carmen moved cautiously into the dark single room structure. Servers sat rooted in place in the room, humming softly as arbitrary lights glowed and dimmed lifelessly. The computer monitor sitting at the back of the room showed a constant icon on the screen. A red circle with a line across it diagonally, indicating an error. The door hissed closed as she looked around. She came to the problem before long. One of the circuit cards was loose and sat not fully in its slot. She smiled to herself as she shook her head. Something so small had stopped the communication’s relay station from working completely. As she stepped toward the circuit card she almost stepped on something in the darkness. A small purple blob rolled along the floor between the servers undetected. It stopped and seemed to be watching her as she pulled the circuit out to examine it for damage.

A moment later and the card was inserted back into its place. The image on the computer screen at the back of the room changed to show a green circle now, indicating complete functionality. Carmen smiled to herself again. She was hoping this would be an easy fix. She turned to leave the station and return to her ship, turning the opacity on her helmet back up as she stepped back outside of the structure.

“Carmen to base; Mission was a success. A circuit card was loose and halted functionality. Repair complete, and the station is fully operational. I am returning to my ship. I will give you a full report once onboard.” she reported as she began to hop forward back toward her ship. But unknown to her, the purple blob from before was now on the back of her suit.

The airlock hissed as it opened slowly, allowing her to enter the modest shuttle. “Shuttle Sweet Shuttle.” she said to herself as she turned the opacity of her helmet back to clear and climbed into the hatch. She looked behind herself to take one last look at the beautiful purple moon Regal 6 before the airlock closed, blocking the terrain from her view as oxygen flooded the chamber and afforded her the luxury of removing her helmet. The wolfess wiped a little sweat from her brow as she did just that. “After a job like that, I think a little celebration is in order.” she said as she began to strip from her spacesuit in the airlock. Placing the helmet in a place set for it on the wall, she unzipped the front of her heated suit. She couldn’t wait to get out of the heavy suit. It always slipped her mind how heavy the equipment that kept her alive in space was once the airlock kicked in and gravity no longer was an issue. Her ship kept gravity at Earth constant so that she never forgot it or suffered from muscle or bone deterioration while away from Earth. The purple blob moved around the floor slowly as she shed her suit, leaving only the tank top and short shorts she usually wore underneath. She stretched lightly as she pressed the button to open the airlock interior door. As she hung the body part of the suit on a hangar in the airlock chamber the blob took the chance to sneak past her into the shuttle. She sighed a little tiredly as she took a step through the lock next, the door closing behind her.

I tried out a few more new lighting and shading techniques here and I think it paid off.

Story and Carmen by electricfox777
Art by me, fc32