Open Mic at Galería Lunasol Berlin

We carried out another EVA toward the human sector.

Landing point: Galería Lunasol, Schierker Straße, Neukölln district, Berlin, Earth, Solar System. Outside — the usual city crust. Inside — a surprisingly warm capsule: incandescent lamps, carpets, cushions on the floor, paintings on the walls, sunflowers by the window and a poster that said LUNA SOL. The humanoids sat close together and relaxed, in low-power mode. The atmosphere was fit for breathing and for music.

At first the locals produced sound one by one and almost always acoustically. A wooden resonator, six strings, one microphone — a human stepped up and sent out a signal, sometimes in words, sometimes in melody. The others listened and supported. Humans call this an open mic: anyone willing goes on air, the queue is not fixed, the observer role keeps changing.

The local transmitters came up one after another. Jeannette worked voice and strings honestly, with no armor. Seigone, judging by the coordinates, had arrived from a neighboring creative system and ran her own frequency. Each one became the center of the room for a couple of minutes — and that, it seems, is what they call courage.

Then it was our turn, and the EVA became active. We plugged in the electric gear — a bit louder and with more sparks, a different way to negotiate with the atmosphere. We sent three messages from the catalog: Deep Space is My Home — about how deep space is not emptiness but a normal home; Cat’s Hard Day — about a hard day that makes sense anywhere in the galaxy; and Cat in Space — about a cat who finally left the cradle.

The locals received the signal. Some nodded along, some recorded it on their devices, some just stared at one point — the spot where, for a second, a hatch to the outside seemed to open. The colored lights in the room blinked back.

Contact is judged successful. Galería Lunasol is a warm, habitable point with friendly life forms and honest acoustics. Logged in the ship’s journal as a place worth returning to.

Returning to the ship. Until the next EVA.