Gravity

      The black fabric of space stretched endlessly around, dotted with firefly-like stars frozen in place. An Earth-made rocket floated silently in the void, hiding a human inside and keeping the vacuum at bay — preventing it from stealing both his oxygen and his soul with its mere presence.       Astrodude… was asleep. For the first time in a long while, he was sleeping peacefully. Humans tend to adapt — and so did he. To living planets. “Astrodude!”       Half-asleep, he flinched at the sudden call and rubbed his face with both hands, grumbling quietly as he fumbled with the straps that held him to the bunk — his usual route to the realm of dreams.       “Oh, were you sleeping?” The voice was familiar. Turning his head toward the sound, the man saw the Moon peeking in through the front viewport. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.”       “It’s fine,” Astrodude sighed, starting to put on his spacesuit.       After fastening all the gear and opening the airlock, the astronaut floated out toward the moon, who was waiting patiently outside. “Did something happen?” he asked sleepily, still not quite awake.

***

Astrodude now sat inside the ship, flatly refusing to come out.       “Come on, Astrodude!” Luna tried once more to coax him out. “It’s not dangerous!”       “No way!” the man protested, afraid even to move in case the moon saw him through the window.       “I’m not going to drop you onto my surface, I promise!” the astronaut felt a faint jolt, as if the ship had started moving. “See? I’m not dropping your rocket!”       “I’m smaller than the rocket!” Astrodude nearly howled, gripping the ship’s metal walls even tighter. “Luna, please!”       “What if I promise that if you fall, I won’t touch you again for the rest of your mission?” the moon offered, trying a different tactic.       “If I fall, no one will be able to touch me again — and that will be the end of my mission!” the man shot back, blocking yet another failed argument.       “Then how about we call Earth? If anything happens, he’ll pull you back or grab your ship,” Luna said, almost in despair, still hoping to catch the Earthling with his gravity.       This idea had come to him suddenly. He desperately wanted to interact with the Earthling — but lately, just talking hadn’t been enough. He wanted to hug, in the way celestial bodies did — to press close with gravity, to embrace without crossing the forbidden distance.       Astrodude said nothing. He didn’t want to do anything risky, and floating near Luna’s orbit — especially with the risk of falling — was out of the question. Sure, he was curious about how these cosmic bodies “embraced” each other, but testing it firsthand? Absolutely not.       “Astrodude, I swear I won’t drop you,” came the voice from outside the rocket.       That was the last straw. The man sighed tiredly.       “Fine. Call Earth. I don’t want to do this without some kind of backup,” the astronaut replied in a resigned tone.       The rocket swayed slightly as the Luna let go. Well, he’d better get mentally prepared for a cosmic hug.       Earth appeared fairly quickly. There was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, which he tried — and failed — to hide. Astrodude sighed, floated out of the ship, and looked at Luna with cautious distrust.       A moment later, something invisible squeezed him from all sides, pressing him together and making his body instinctively curl into a ball.       Letting out a muffled, unintelligible noise — as if he were literally being squeezed breathless — Astrodude tried to straighten up. It was difficult, but eventually, he managed to unfold himself and stand upright, staring at Luna’s wide, satisfied grin.       “See? I didn’t drop you!” said moon proudly — and immediately twitched, accidentally pulling the unprepared astronaut a little closer.       Astrodude flinched and tried to drift backward, doing his best not to curl up again, but the Moon’s gravity held him firmly. He hung there helplessly, suspended in space, caught in the satellite’s pull. Even the jetpack on his suit didn’t help — he tried it instinctively, but it wasn’t strong enough to fight lunar gravity.       So, until he was released, he simply couldn’t escape. Great.       “I can’t get out,” Astrodude muttered, trying the jetpack once more just to prove his point.       The pressure on his back slowly eased as the gravity around him faded. The man exhaled in relief and was about to head back toward his ship — when Luna’s surface suddenly began rushing toward him. “You dropped me, Luna! YOU DROPPED ME!” Astrodude shouted, trying to slow the fall with his jetpack, but it wasn’t powerful enough to keep him aloft so close to a celestial body.       A stronger gravitational push came from all sides, pulling him upward again and away from the Moon. He instinctively curled up once more as the force pressed around him — but when he was finally at a safe distance, the pressure vanished, and he felt the welcome weightlessness he’d missed so much.       “Sorry,” moon murmured awkwardly, drifting back a little.       Astrodude blinked a few times, avoiding the sight of the cosmic bodies as he tried to steady his breathing.       “Thanks, Earth,” the astronaut said to his planet, preparing to climb back into the rocket. “I… I just need to rest a bit.”       With that, he slipped inside and began removing his gear.       “Sorry again, Astrodude,” came Luna’s quiet, guilty voice through the ship’s hull.       “It’s… it’s fine, don’t worry about it,” the Earthling replied, glancing at the enormous, sorrowful eyes outside. “Really. I’m not mad. Just… a bit scared, that’s all.”       The satellite gave him a doubtful look but didn’t insist further, finally leaving him alone.       And finally, the man was able to return to the peaceful sleep that had been so unceremoniously interrupted.